thanks for the translation....

 

work? ummmm the S&R thing is volinteer. im an ME... sit at a cube all day...

gennerally dont HAVE to use it although there has been at least one occation were it came handy.

 

No problem. Although if it had been in Klingon, I wouldn't have been able to help.

 

Ham radio is cool. I've had my license for about seven years now. I have a mobile unit in my 4Runner - Kenwood dual band. Our local club has a repeater that I can hit from 50+ miles away. We also have "autopatch" which enables me to make telephone calls to any phone number through the repeater. Pretty cool. I also use a Yeasu dual band HT. I've modded it so that I can transmit and receive on the common FRS frequencies (not leagal). Very useful hobby...

Regarding studying for the test, there are several websites that have practice tests that you can do over and over and over again. When I got my license, I read the books and then took the practice tests several times a day until my scores were consistently in the 90% range. Went and took the test and passed with flying colors.

 

We use 2m hand held radios on my SAR team and operate on 150-174 MHz. I'm getting a Icom IC-V8:



http://www.icomamerica.com/products/amateur/v8/
As hand held radios go, this one is pretty good. Good, clear reception and transmission, even in the mountains. I've used Motorola, Bendix King, and Icom.

 

i got my license due to the CERT type thing we have at work.

i went to the ham cram. 8 hours on a saturday. then at 5pm, we got tested. i failed the first test... doh... passed on the second.

picked up a nice yaseu VX-7r. i like geeky things...

 

I don't think you'll ever regret getting your license. I got mine when I was just into college. They were offering a class through the electronics department at my comm. college. I roped my Dad into taking the class with me, and now 10 years later we're still digging into the hobby deeper.

The cool thing about amateur radio is that there are so many doors to keep opening in the hobby. Sure, a lot of guys just like to get on the repeaters and talk, but there are so many other aspects to the hobby.

One interesting aspect that I have gotten into is called IRLP. This stands for Internet Radio Linking Project. Basically, you can use a radio (even handheld) to talk to a node or repeater (radio connected to an antenna on a tall tower for better range), enter an access code, and call up another node or repeater anywhere in the world. I've literally been in Phoenix driving down the road and talking to my Dad back in Illinois.

The ham that introduced me to IRLP is a Jeep guy, but he loves going into the most remote places of Utah on old Jeep trails. He uses this same system to talk back to his wife in Phoenix. He checks in during the day, or sometimes just at night with a set of GPS coordinates to let her know he's safe and where he's set up camp. Take a look at his adventures here: http://www.ferrises.com/joeruby/

Anyway, good luck and I hope you find the hobby as interesting as I do!

Kent V.
KB9MAC

 

i finally have a break in my work schedule on monday so my work load will be light enough so i can sneak over to ham radio outlet and get some more info you guys have been a great help so thanks for all the info

 

careful, HRO might be a little intimidating for a first timer...

but, while you're there, pick up a copy of NOW YOUR TALKING... $20 or so...

 

My Dad is really into it. He has the highest level of liscense and a radio that was like $1500. I helped him put up a big antenna in the yard and such too. His callsign is NX8J. He keeps trying to get me into it but I get enough of radios at work.

Lamm

 

I've had my ham basic (Canadian version of the U.S. tech) for about 2.5 years now. It definitely is a great investment. Up here in Alberta, we have a 1000 km (600 mile) long gravel road called the Forestry Trunk Highway. It has another 3000 km (estimated) of seismic cut lines, gas/oil roads and logging roads branching off of it - probably less than 2% of those roads have cell-phone coverage but I would estimate that 95% of it is covered by ham repeaters - it really is a necessity for safety reasons (plus it has a high geek factor to it).

I have an Icom-V8 for my handheld and the darn thing is practically indestructible. My truck has the Icom V8000 installed (75 watts) - I have been parked on top of a hill in Calgary and been able to reach another ham approximately 60 miles away - it was not the clearest conversation but was still understandable. However, if I had to purchase another ham for the truck, I would probably go with a cross-band repeater due to the fact that I do a lot of hiking and it would be nice to have the truck as a "base-station" to hit other repeaters from my handheld.

James

 

There is a lot of information out there on radios but very little that I have found on antennas, can someone recomend a good antenna for the trail and make some mounting recomendations? I am primarily interested in 2M but a dual band antenna (2M/70cm) would be good too.

Thanks.

 

i picked up a $30 FMJ magmounted one for my yaesu HT.

i kinda noticed cleaner signals. could be the placebo effect...

nice thing about HRO, you can try it in their parking lot to see if it works or not...

lol.....

 

Thanks, good to know HRO will let you try them out. Hopefully I'll make it up there in a few weeks.

 

Most 2m/70cm antennas are small, the quarter wave for 2m is 0.5m or 1.65 feet compared to 9 feet for CB, so antennas have less tendancy to run into bits of landscape. Even the higher gain center loaded designs are relatively small.