Ham Radio

[eddiemed]

Is a ham radio a good communication option for SHTF??? Seems not to be a very popular route of communication.

[hobowh]

great option, but you need to get a unit with a broad coverage, and that is not cheap. For local comms it will be to much power and easy to triangulate, but for distance you'd be set. Of course then you need an antena tuner, antena (what type), cableing depending on scenario power (lots depending on radio). Oh wait and lets not forget they are not cheap. for local coms there are a lot of options in handheld units that have variable power at 500mw or less.

I am not saying someone without a liscense should buy these and they should defenitaly not use them if they do not have one. Just saying they would be an option if something did happen and regulation went away, or you take the time to get liscensed.

[gnihcraes]

there was a big thread started a while back about this, but I believe it's been lost in the rebuild of the forum.

Depends on what situation happens and how useful the radios are. EMP might kill most things and hamradio is only good with tube type radios. (few)

If it's just a disaster type situation, then everything will be good.

Radio License is a must though. It will be a problem if everyone says "I'll just use the radio and no license in an emergency" then we have a situation where nothing works because nobody knows what they are doing with the radios and frequencies causing issues for everyone who wants or needs to use them legit.

There are a handful of hams on this forum.

[ChadAmberg]

Go take the technician license test, its easy and cheap. It'll give you a great introduction. Then pick up a relatively cheap used handheld VHF/UHF radio and start listening to it on the local repeaters, get a feel for how it works. Then start talking. Here's one for 50 bucks: https://www.hamcity.com/store/pc/UV-3R-MARKII-CAMO-10p2789.htm so it's easy to have one for your family in each car.

Handhelds are great to keep in a metal ammo can: any EMP pulse at a frequency able to get through the lid means you'll be too worried about saying "I'M ON FIRE".
After you get used to that, you can see about getting an upgraded license and picking up an old HF radio for long distance comm, and keep that protected also.

The most likely disaster scenarios are the ones like the fires going on now, civil unrest, flooding, etc., and having a ham radio handy will really help you as a source of intel as to whats going on and where.

[sellersm]

Here's a story about this: Local CO guy and Ham Radio (http://www.gundigest.com/survival/emergency-radio/video-ham-radio-activation-on-colorado-summit?et_mid=566774&rid=62915024)

Here's a synopsis, there's a video at the website if you follow the link above:


Ham Radio and The Colorado Wildfires

According to a story in the Denver Post (Colorado wildfire: Colorado’s amateur radio operators fill in wildfire-coverage gaps 6/14/12), ham radio operators are providing the last-ditch mode of emergency communications where commercial networks can’t reach or have failed through parts of Colorado ravaged by recent wildfires.

A 5:15 a.m. phone call Sunday asked amateur radio operator Randy Long to find more volunteers to aid communication in the High Park fire zone — and warned him to evacuate his home.

Long, an Amateur Radio Emergency Service coordinator for Larimer and Weld counties, fled his house southeast of Buckhorn Mountain and started rallying more licensed ham operators to work the fire.

Since Saturday, he has been managing operators staffing eight-hour shifts around the clock. They’re doing such things as setting up portable radio repeaters and relaying messages between the fire lines and command posts. About 40 operators have volunteered.

To assist in the Colorado wildfire, the volunteer radio operators reportedly set up over 50 portable repeater stations in the mountainous regions and surrounding population areas to keep communications going.

An amateur radio repeater is a self-sufficient, automated station which receives transmissions on one frequency and retransmits them on another frequency at higher power. It allows “weak signal” stations to be heard over large areas, making them ideal for emergency communications.

The amateur radio operators are assisting agencies like the Red Cross, FEMA and local and state law enforcement by passing logistical traffic such as supplies needed, ground reports, and other critical data for emergency responders over the wildfire area.

[KevDen2005]

Go take the technician license test, its easy and cheap. It'll give you a great introduction. Then pick up a relatively cheap used handheld VHF/UHF radio and start listening to it on the local repeaters, get a feel for how it works. Then start talking. Here's one for 50 bucks: https://www.hamcity.com/store/pc/UV-3R-MARKII-CAMO-10p2789.htm so it's easy to have one for your family in each car.

Handhelds are great to keep in a metal ammo can: any EMP pulse at a frequency able to get through the lid means you'll be too worried about saying "I'M ON FIRE".
After you get used to that, you can see about getting an upgraded license and picking up an old HF radio for long distance comm, and keep that protected also.

The most likely disaster scenarios are the ones like the fires going on now, civil unrest, flooding, etc., and having a ham radio handy will really help you as a source of intel as to whats going on and where.


Since you have some knowledge about it...do you happen to know when/where/how to take the test? Any links or books?

Thanks.

[Great-Kazoo]

The_Fly is a comm guy touch bases with him, he did some volunteer work during the High Fire.

[KevDen2005]

The_Fly is a comm guy touch bases with him, he did some volunteer work during the High Fire.

I think it would be awesome to help with comm stuff during an emergency like that too...

I am sure those guys are much appreciated.

[ChadAmberg]

Since you have some knowledge about it...do you happen to know when/where/how to take the test? Any links or books?

Thanks.

I wish I still had my technician books because I'd send them your way. Let me ask though: Are you interested in simply getting a license to talk on the air, or really get into it?

If you have a decent memory, you can just study the list of questions and answers. http://www.ncvec.org/page.php?id=349 has everything you need to simply pass the test.

If you want to learn more using a book, then pretty much any of the books on Amazon for "Ham Technician" search that come up are good, just make sure that the one you get was published since 2010 when the latest round of questions came out. I think I used an older version of this book: http://www.amazon.com/Ham-Radio-License-Manual-Arrl/dp/0872590976

If you think it's something you'll really find interesting, there's local folks who teach technician classes for free all the time. Down here in COS there's always one running, and in Aurora there's this club: http://www.n0ara.org/index.html
they have pics of their classes, just contact them and ask. I've found hams to be a great friendly bunch of folks.

Hope this helps, let me know if you need any more info to get rolling...

[SpikeMike]

HAM radios, especially those with broad frequency ranges that include SSB (LSB/USB) are fantastic to have. But one should take the time to get licensed and take the time to learn Morse Code.

There are companies out there on the internet that sell kit radios for those of us who are on a budget. One that comes to mind is: http://youkits.com Check out their kits, this is a greta company that stands by the stuff.

Their TJ4A kit is a pretty good kit and yes, you need to know how to solder and read schematics (which is not all that hard.) Learning to solder is a requisite skill for suvival anyway, so learn it. You can get practice lab kits from Radioshack.

As far as EMP goes, you need to build a Faraday cage or box. There is a ton of information out on the internet on how to do this. Remember, grounding it to an "earth" ground is a must. Don't use your home's ground.

[streetglideok]

To find a place to take a test, go to the arrl site, http://www.arrl.org/find-an-amateur-radio-license-exam-session
enter your zipcode, and it will tell you when there will be tests. Sometimes they are at schools, sometimes churches(think LDS as they are big into emcomm), etc. I upgraded last saturday at the LDS in monument. $15 and an hour of my time, and I was done.

[two shoes]

My background is in electronics/calibration, avionics and micro-miniature repair, specifically. I have been pondering the tech license for a number of reasons. I do not know if my limited budget could allow me another hobby...

I did find an online practice exam and passed it 3 out of 4 times with just a vague memory of what I did 18 years ago... Here is the practice exam for tech: hamtest (http://copaseticflows.appspot.com/hamtest)

ETA: I don't really care so much about "talking" over the air as I am more wanting to get back into electronics portion. I held a 2M Blue card (Soldering to NASA Standards beneath a microscope) while on the .gov payroll. That and $5 will get me a Grande Frappaccino at Starbucks...

[ChadAmberg]

My background is in electronics/calibration, avionics and micro-miniature repair, specifically. I have been pondering the tech license for a number of reasons. I do not know if my limited budget could allow me another hobby...

Ham radio has definitely gotten cheaper with the chinese handhelds breaking into the market place in the past year.

You can be up and running for 60 bucks: 15 for the test and 45 for one of these https://www.hamcity.com/store/pc/UV-3R-MARKII-CAMO-10p2789.htm.

[two shoes]

Ham radio has definitely gotten cheaper with the chinese handhelds breaking into the market place in the past year.

You can be up and running for 60 bucks: 15 for the test and 45 for one of these https://www.hamcity.com/store/pc/UV-3R-MARKII-CAMO-10p2789.htm.

Thanks Chad! WOW have prices come down... I'll go ahead and knock out the test here shortly.

[ChadAmberg]

Thanks Chad! WOW have prices come down... I'll go ahead and knock out the test here shortly.

Oh yeah... the Japanese handhelds (Yaesu, Icom, Kenwood) are still a couple hundred bucks for handhelds, but the chinese ones are really getting good reviews. Apparently you want to spring for the programming cable so you can set up everything on your computer, but once it's running, you'll be in good shape.

[Electromagic]

Get a ham license, then join a local club doing emergency response. Do NOT transmit without a license (a crime) but feel free to buy and listen. Learn on-the-air protocol and talk from a handi-talkie through repeaters across ALL of CO and do much public good with the things beside having fun. No, it is out of favor compared to video games and twitter but ham radio is still at the core of emergency communications response service. I'm an Emergency Coordinator in 2 states.

[jerrymrc]

Get a ham license, then join a local club doing emergency response. Do NOT transmit without a license (a crime) but feel free to buy and listen. Learn on-the-air protocol and talk from a handi-talkie through repeaters across ALL of CO and do much public good with the things beside having fun. No, it is out of favor compared to video games and twitter but ham radio is still at the core of emergency communications response service. I'm an Emergency Coordinator in 2 states.

Welcome. [Flower]

[streetglideok]

Been needing to look into the local ARES group and skywarn, but havent put one foot forward yet.

[KevDen2005]

I wish I still had my technician books because I'd send them your way. Let me ask though: Are you interested in simply getting a license to talk on the air, or really get into it?

If you have a decent memory, you can just study the list of questions and answers. http://www.ncvec.org/page.php?id=349 has everything you need to simply pass the test.

If you want to learn more using a book, then pretty much any of the books on Amazon for "Ham Technician" search that come up are good, just make sure that the one you get was published since 2010 when the latest round of questions came out. I think I used an older version of this book: http://www.amazon.com/Ham-Radio-License-Manual-Arrl/dp/0872590976



If you think it's something you'll really find interesting, there's local folks who teach technician classes for free all the time. Down here in COS there's always one running, and in Aurora there's this club: http://www.n0ara.org/index.html
they have pics of their classes, just contact them and ask. I've found hams to be a great friendly bunch of folks.

Hope this helps, let me know if you need any more info to get rolling...

I think that I want to start small. Get the license, get a small hand held and go from there. Listen to some radio traffic. Have a buddy of mine that has had his license for a long time talk on it with me. Use it camping and four wheeling and so on. It appears that it could be a very expensive hobby. I already have a gun and camping hobby, just started four wheeling, so I would need to start inexpensive. Electronics communication and radio signal have always intrigued me although I don't know much about it.

[streetglideok]

The hobby is what you make of it, so if you don't want to sink a ton into it, then you can do that. We got our tech licenses last fall and got our feet with with just some 2m radios. Theres not a lot of money needed to get into that part. Whenever or if ever you decide to go HF, thats where it can become bottomless, but not always. Once you get the hang of things, and get over any jitters, you'll be more then happy to get involved.