Questions of Amateur Radio??

[gnihcraes]

Figure 1 mile per watt transmission range on a ham radio, with no terrain in the way radio to radio. (simplex)

If you use repeaters, .25 or .5 watt will get you into the repeater fine with great potential output from the repeater. Depending on the repeater location, 100 miles output isn't out of the question, but the other side needs to talk into the repeater too. Location Location Location. Good equipment and antennas make a big difference.

A lot of the repeater sites are on generator, so they should be up and running for a while during SHTF. Also, the repeaters are usually on a different power grid, so if things are down here in the big city, the repeaters on the front range mountains are usually running. FYI, most ham repeaters are sharing locations with PD and Fire departments.

If SHTF, the repeaters will be loaded up with emergency communications and you're not going to be able to use it for your own purpose most likely. You'll be able to talk to the control station of that repeater and relay information possibly to whomever you need to speak, but it will be delayed with priority traffic for the emergency.

If you need emergency communication, it will be available and will take priority.

I rely on my Ham gear to listen as much as anything, you can pick up AM/FM/TV/News/Aviation/etc. If you can hear the ham stations talking about situations and news crews reporting situations, you'll know as much as anyone else without power and no tv or radio at home.

Echolink is Ham Radio Voice over IP. Its pretty cool, and you don't even need the ham gear to use it, normal PC with sound card and microphone. Connect through ham clubs and private users through the internet and talk to hams in another location on their radios. If the power is out, not much fun though.

Sun Spot cycle should be getting better in a few years, right now its low and long distance communications is limited.

[zteknik]

Me too. I downloaded the study guides and in my case it should not be too hard. Just one of things on the list.

years ago when i started in commo school they taught code over the an grc 106
i swear i kept hearing code for months after i finished AIT and now i can hardly remember it
its a good thing its not a requirement on the general test
id still like to brush up on it though that and on my ratt skills
i downloaded the practice program a few years ago, but cant seem to find it?im sure the arrl site can point me to one

[ChadAmberg]

I was just down in the basement letting the dog play, so I fired up my radios.

On one radio which is UHF and VHF, I heard a few locals chatting on one repeater, and a net on another. A net is a scheduled meeting of hams all on the same "channel" for the purpose of... whatever they want. Sometimes it's emergency communications practice, other times it's people talking about their latest surgery. UHF and VHF is basically what you get with a Technician license, which is pretty easy to get. For that, you can either use the handheld walkie talkie style radios, or your typical ham radio that looks like a CB in the car. Here's a few pics of my car install: http://chadamberg.com/drupal/MobileRadio

Then on my HF radio, I used digital modes to chat with folks in Michigan, Canada, and Idaho. A few weeks ago chatted with a young lady in Japan for a bit. The HF radios are usually bigger and more expensive, and you have to put thought into your antenna. Although for me, I picked up a box called a tuner, mounted it in a waterproof box, connected one end to a copper pipe for my sprinkler system for a ground, and hooked up the "hot" lead right to my downspout on my gutter. The tuner box makes whatever its connected to "look like" the right size antenna for what frequency you're on. This is good news for folks in HOA environments who can't put up a tower, or anything. I actually get really good performance out of it. For HF you need to upgrade to the General class license, which isn't that tough either.

The study guides make it easy, but finding someone local to give you a quick run through really puts things into perspective.

[gnihcraes]

Walter Cronkite on Ham Radio and the Hayman Fire. I know several of the people in the video, very good and smart people.


Interesting how this video is shown stopped above. WG0N Dave Basinger in that truck, extremely smart person and great guy. Does work for Channel 4 news if I remember correctly.

[zteknik]

nice setup chad!!
how do you like the kenwoods?
i remember the older rigs use to run hot and burn out the finals-or was that just on there hts?

[gnihcraes]

For those interested, here is the most recent list of Ham Swapfests. (Like a Gunshow for Ham Radio Operators) Usually a couple dollars to get in the door. Lots of weird people walking around, every car on the premise has 5 antennas on top.

There are presentations about various topics usually and testing if you have studied to get the license.

These are usually small shows anymore, the Ham Hobby has been slowly shrinking over the years. People just aren't interested in two-way communications via radio waves.

February 13 – ARA Swapfest, Adams County Fairgrounds, Brighton, CO


April 2 – Longmont ARC, LarcFest, Boulder County Fairgrounds Longmont, CO


July 16 – PPRAA Megafest, Lewis Palmer High School, Colorado Springs


June 25-26 – ARRL Field Day More info later


August 21 – DRC HAMfest, Jefferson County Fair Grounds


September 25 – Boulder Amateur Radio Club, BARCfest, Boulder County Fair Grounds, Longmont, CO

[zteknik]

hamfests are great!!kinda like a big swap meet
another good thing is when the local ham clubs have feild days
the one by me has them quite frequently-pearl-putnam emergency and amature repeater league
you get to see how they set up and run things and learn from some of the pros

[nontactical]

The biggest problem with HAM radio is that you have to be a huge geek to get into it.... unlike me, sitting in my basement pouring over ballistics manuals and reloading charts, surrounded by stacks of ammo cans, hoards of survival equipment and magazines, two gun safes and god knows how much gunpowder, with my wife yelling at me to come upstairs because we are hosting a dinner party.

Or yelling at the TV on election night and using the instant replay button while looking up candidates who I don't know enough about on my laptop... but going to the sporting clays range on Superbowl Sunday.

I practically have to beat the women off with a stick. Unlike those dorky HAM radio guys.

[gnihcraes]

The biggest problem with HAM radio is that you have to be a huge geek to get into it.... unlike me, sitting in my basement pouring over ballistics manuals and reloading charts, surrounded by stacks of ammo cans, hoards of survival equipment and magazines, two gun safes and god knows how much gunpowder, with my wife yelling at me to come upstairs because we are hosting a dinner party.

Or yelling at the TV on election night and using the instant replay button while looking up candidates who I don't know enough about on my laptop... but going to the sporting clays range on Superbowl Sunday.

I practically have to beat the women off with a stick. Unlike those dorky HAM radio guys.

Being in both hobbies Ham Radio and Guns among others things, I'm not sure which crowd of people look worse. I see way more hot women at the gunshow, but not many women of any beauty at the ham swapfests.

[nontactical]

Being in both hobbies Ham Radio and Guns among others things, I'm not sure which crowd of people look worse. I see way more hot women at the gunshow, but not many women of any beauty at the ham swapfests.

I hope it was clear that I was making fun only of myself... neither is exactly a chick magnet hobby.