point of ham radios??

[undomesticdiva]

Hi all, I've been hearing a lot about Ham radios the last few days since joining this site, can I have a full explanation? what they are, how they work, pros and cons? in full layman's terms please though

[Yorkshire Andy]

Imagine a big long term power cut and within about 24 hours mobile phone mast back up batteries will run flat...

Land line exchanges likewise.... Or following a earthquake


Or if your in rugged terrain or in a rural area and have no mobile signal..... MRT and cost guard use portable radios for this reason...

[Briggs 2.0]

The sort of radio you have in your home or car receives a signal that has been broadcast by the BBC or Commercial station for example, Radio 4 on FM is on or around 92.5, Radio 1 is on 97.7, etc, etc. Those figures are in MegaHertz and most home radios just cover the broadcast stations from about 76Mz up to 108Mz. It is possible to get a radio that covers a much wider band from 1Mhz up to the 108Mhz and this is usually called a Short Wave Receiver, and as a receiver it can only receive, it cannot not transmit.

A ham radio operator is a licenced individual who has equipment capable of transmitting and receiving on frequencies allocated by the authorities, in the UK's case, Ofcom. The terms of the licence are dependent upon operating the radio equipment to strict guidelines and on set frequencies.

I could waffle on for ages so perhaps the best thing to do would be to visit Youtube and type in ham radio and you'll soon get an idea of what ham (amateur) radio is all about.

For me, it's a means of back up comms as Yorkshire Andy mentioned. Should the world flip upside down and inside out, with the radio equipment I have I should be able to maintain contact with people outside of my immediate area, UK wide and beyond.

Briggs

[undomesticdiva]

The sort of radio you have in your home or car receives a signal that has been broadcast by the BBC or Commercial station for example, Radio 4 on FM is on or around 92.5, Radio 1 is on 97.7, etc, etc. Those figures are in MegaHertz and most home radios just cover the broadcast stations from about 76Mz up to 108Mz. It is possible to get a radio that covers a much wider band from 1Mhz up to the 108Mhz and this is usually called a Short Wave Receiver, and as a receiver it can only receive, it cannot not transmit.

A ham radio operator is a licenced individual who has equipment capable of transmitting and receiving on frequencies allocated by the authorities, in the UK's case, Ofcom. The terms of the licence are dependent upon operating the radio equipment to strict guidelines and on set frequencies.

I could waffle on for ages so perhaps the best thing to do would be to visit Youtube and type in ham radio and you'll soon get an idea of what ham (amateur) radio is all about.

For me, it's a means of back up comms as Yorkshire Andy mentioned. Should the world flip upside down and inside out, with the radio equipment I have I should be able to maintain contact with people outside of my immediate area, UK wide and beyond.

Briggs

Imagine a big long term power cut and within about 24 hours mobile phone mast back up batteries will run flat...

Land line exchanges likewise.... Or following a earthquake


Or if your in rugged terrain or in a rural area and have no mobile signal..... MRT and cost guard use portable radios for this reason...

aaahhh i see, half of it still makes no sense (i haven't had enough coffee yet ) but i'll try youtube, i did try googling it but it wasn't very "layman" friendly

[metatron]

Ham radio is useful if you know or what to talk to other hams. Its a licence that allows you to use a chunk of the radio spectrum allocated to the hobby.

[Wulfshead]

OK, let me try for you.
Imagine CB radio which works on the 11 metre wavelength and then think of a CB which can work on many, many more wavelengths.

FM 2 metre wavelength works at a bit over the horizon and mine on 10 watts can easily get 20 miles plus and further with the more power (watts) used.
Now the HF (High Frequency) wavelengths work in a very different way to 2 metre FM and the HF works by 'refraction'
Imagine your HF signal is a ping-pong ball in a 70 Kilometer high box.
Your transmission is the ping-pong ball which when it leaves your HF radio does not just go in a horizontal straight line to the horizon. What the HF signal does goes up at an angle and then refracts of the layers of the atmosphere between 70 km and 400 km high (Ionosphere) and bounces back down to earth before bouncing again and again.
In that fashion the signal can travel thousands of miles and if a amateur station can hear you they stand a very good chance of getting a signal back to your station.
Now there are ways which we can run a station without worry of electricity from a supplier being disrupted. My radios are able to be run from leisure batteries which can be trickle charged from my solar panels.
Although CB is the emergency comms network in Britain the Amateur Radio licence holders have an emergency network that already works in the community when called upon.
That service is called RAYNET and has been used for things such as marshaling events up to stepping in to handle the user services needs when their own radios fail or even as a first response comms.
Nepal used the amateur service to help while the governmental agencies were getting theirs set up.

There are quite a few preppers here that use Ham radio and I dare say the CB frequencies also.
To use amateur radio one must sit an exam whereas CB does not require a user to have qualification.

If you have any questions then please ask, radio is an important prep tool and not as hard to gain a licence as most people think.

Wulfshead

[undomesticdiva]

Nope, still not the foggiest

[Devonian]

Now this may rub a few people up the wrong way, but for me Ham Radio's really are a waste of time as a prep. But a lot of people get a lot of enjoyment from them and they are more of a hobby that has prepping benefits.

Basically the benefit of a Ham Radio is that you can communicate with 'other ham users' in areas much further way.

BUT.... as I see it (others will disagree) it is only really of any use at all if you have a group of friends, family other preppers that you know who are also licenced and equipped to use ham radios.

For me, I have no need (or desire) to talk persons in other countries or even in other parts of the country.

If you need to communicate locally, with others in your family/group you could use 2 way radio's (posh walkie talkies) or CB. CB is probably far more widely used and a large number of truckers use it; as do farmers and other groups.

But it's horse for courses and you need to decide what is best for you....

[Deeps]

Nope, still not the foggiest

I'll have a shot at it then, I'm not a 'Ham' but I was a communicator in the Forces for about 27 years (I know a bit about radios even though I'm not a 'ham').

Having the ability to communicate to others can be vital, depending on what you're doing or trying to achieve. Even in the 'prepper' world, it will depend if you're expecting the 'full zombie' or more 'flood/loss of power/water'. If you're think that we're going to be wiped out (for whatever reason) apart from 5% of us then potentially radio could be very useful, as long as you've got power. If you think that you might have to do a few days in a sports centre in a sleeping bag then your phone charger might be more useful.

I see it as a hobby myself but it does seem to be popular on here, whatever floats your boat and it certainly doesn't do any harm to know your way round the principles of radio and basic 'fixing'. If you know people who have 'ham' radio (and the ability to power it independently) then it could be useful but I think we're looking at a fairly small number that would be close enough to you to be useful 'allies', unless you've been in contact with them before any SHTF scenario, you'll still have the worry that they might not be your 'cup of tea' (ref other thread ). I suppose if you could get your hands on a set in a SHTF scenario, then the licence is irrelevant.

I'm biased, I love Comms, the ability to be in contact others could be very handy but I think the uses of 'ham' radio might be limited post apocalypse. If there's no EMP though, some short range 'walkie talkies' might be handy if and when you have a group working together, again dependent on if you can charge them (or have enough batteries to cover a few days, depending on the scenario).

[Hamradioop]

Ham Radio give you the ability to communicate internationally, without telephones and mobiles. The amount of frequency/channels allocated allow more chance of success than CB which is comparatively restricted. In the event of a world wide Event it is likely to be the mode of communications between isolated communities.
Just think of it as a telephone without wires. Mobile Phones actually are individual wide band radio transmitters that use a system of repeaters or cells.