Cheap Comms - Baofeng Radios

[Fentonite]

My radios and antennas arrived, still waiting on the cable. Looking forward to learning.

Question: what happens if someone uses certain frequencies without getting licensed? Do authorities actually try to locate and prosecute such villains?

[.40isthenew.45]

Question: what happens if someone uses certain frequencies without getting licensed? Do authorities actually try to locate and prosecute such villains?

Amateur radio is mostly self policing.... There is a "sport" called "fox hunt" they will find you and they will.... probably do nothing unless you are being a jerk, but it is still far better to be licensed.

I would go for my General license, but I don't think I know morse code anymore - haven't used it since 1970.

No code required for tech or general license... but I do think you have to have a current tech to get the general...

[Grant H.]

Amateur radio is mostly self policing.... There is a "sport" called "fox hunt" they will find you and they will.... probably do nothing unless you are being a jerk, but it is still far better to be licensed.


No code required for tech or general license... but I do think you have to have a current tech to get the general...

You're going to have to REALLY piss some of them off to get them to hunt you down.

Fox hunts are great fun, and a great learning tool, but aren't targeted at unlicensed users. I built a "fox" for the BARC Jr club. Used a cheap 2M handheld and a home built timed audio player that played my call sign in code and then transmitted a string of morse code that read "This is a fox hunt, come find me, and win the prize"...

Great fun to hide and then watch the rest of the club go chase it down using their handhelds, directional antennas (or shielding their omni antenna with their body and turning to try and detect the direction it's being transmitted from).

I got told I couldn't hide the fox anymore when I used an extremely directional antenna (home made, very tight, and isolated in all other directions) and bounced the 2M signal off one of the flatirons... The leaders of the club were not happy when they had folks swearing up and down that the radio was up on the flatirons and they needed to drive up there.

[Grant H.]

I mentioned to my wife that I had read this thread and thought I better get back into Ham Radio again.
I did it extensively when I wintered over in Antarctica in 1968-1969 with the MARS network relaying messages from us to our families in the States.
We could go over to Scott's Base and make direct radio contact with friends in New Zealand.
Long before satellite communications.
I would go for my General license, but I don't think I know morse code anymore - haven't used it since 1970.

They changed the rules a few years ago such that no licenses require code. Basically they realized that the majority of the code folks are all ~139 years old and most of the upcoming generations didn't want to.

My radios and antennas arrived, still waiting on the cable. Looking forward to learning.

Question: what happens if someone uses certain frequencies without getting licensed? Do authorities actually try to locate and prosecute such villains?

I didn't say this, but... (it's the anonymous internet, right?)

The FCC enforcement division won't give a rat's behind about you playing around. They have much bigger fish to fry (read corporate interests having them pursue license offenses that generate fines, payable to the FCC, to the tune of $10,000/site/day of offense (including retroactively)...)

The FCC relies on repeated complaints of offense before chasing someone down, and that list gets prioritized by potential risk to life, then monetary motives, then when they have time, (which was back in oh, 1803) they go after small potatoes...

[Fentonite]

I didn't say this, but... (it's the anonymous internet, right?)

The FCC enforcement division won't give a rat's behind about you playing around. They have much bigger fish to fry (read corporate interests having them pursue license offenses that generate fines, payable to the FCC, to the tune of $10,000/site/day of offense (including retroactively)...)

The FCC relies on repeated complaints of offense before chasing someone down, and that list gets prioritized by potential risk to life, then monetary motives, then when they have time, (which was back in oh, 1803) they go after small potatoes...

That?s about what I figured. (Not that I?ll violate any rules, of course)

[thedave1164]

That?s about what I figured. (Not that I?ll violate any rules, of course)

All you need is a Technician license, takes a couple hours of your time and about $15 to get you legal.

There are study resources on the web that have the question pool with the actual questions and actual answers you will have on the test, some are even set up to simulate the test.

You can usually find a test being given every month within driving distance, find out the local ham radio club and inquire.

If you are good at test taking, you could study for the General and even Extra, you can keep testing until you fail

[BladesNBarrels]

They changed the rules a few years ago such that no licenses require code. Basically they realized that the majority of the code folks are all ~139 years old and most of the upcoming generations didn't want to.
...

Thanks for the update on the requirements.
I'm not quite that old, but about half way there.
The radio shack on the ship had daily sessions practicing code with others in the fleet to maintain proficiency.
Most communications were exchanged by teletype, but when there were sunspots and interference, we went back to code.

[Irving]

My radios and antennas arrived, still waiting on the cable. Looking forward to learning.

Question: what happens if someone uses certain frequencies without getting licensed? Do authorities actually try to locate and prosecute such villains?

I hear that the fines start at $10,000, BUT like .40isthenew.45 was saying, I think you'd have to go out of your way to get yourself into that situation.

To be clear though, this isn't like CB radio where you can act like a normal person and go undetected. The rules require you to announce with your specific call number at certain intervals (it's the same rule that requires radio stations to constantly announce what station you're listening to), so while you can listen, there are very few situations where you could actually broadcast on a channel without breaking the law.

Emergencies are a different case all together.