Amateur radio

[Norval]

Hello all, been into radio since I was a kid back in the 50's.

Have sent a few this way to get their basics and information.

Good work everyone.

Originally Posted by Bill Ryan

We're in close touch with Henry Deacon about Amateur Radio and intend to post much more about this on Avalon in due course. There's already an introductory section about Amateur Radio here.

We're wondering if any other visitors are radio 'hams'. Many people (including us) want to learn. Some may be a little daunted.

What's needed is NOT technical expertise, but patience and an ability to teach and communicate with people who are starting from zero and who may not be technically minded.

What might be very useful is a whole section of this forum devoted to an Amateur Radio Q+A. Henry Deacon would contribute, but is not in a position to lead or organize this.

Anyone out there?

I've had CB Radios for around 40 years, and they are more for LOCAL Area than Long Distance like Ham Radios, and much Cheaper. If you can find a Base Rig, 40 channels or even the old 23 channels, get it. It is easy to LISTEN to various people by using a piece of wire about 18 feet long hooked over a curtain rod. But DON'T Key (press) The Microphone or you will Blow the Final Transistors. For Listening the piece of any wire, even speaker or lamp wire, cut to length will let you hear people within a few miles.

You could get a BASE "CB Antenna" and put that on a 5 ft piece of pipe in a Tree (above the Branches- the higher the better RANGE for Hearing and Transmitting) and have about 50 -75 feet of Coax Cable with a connector on the end to plug into where the Antenna screws in.. It is important to find a radio Shack, and ask If they Know of any cb'ers who could give them advice, or go to a truckstop and ask the people selling CB's about Base Units and Base Antennas.

You can operate a Mobile CB SET in the house or building using a power supply. Thee can be found doing a Google for "CB Radios". If you have a Mobile CB in the Car, and a CB Antenna (magnet or stationary, you can sit in the car, and listen to traffic on Ch 19 or other channels, but be careful the Battery in your vehicle does not go dead.. Start the vehicle after about 10 minutes or IF your talking , have the vehicle running... But the Radio ...in any case... should be MATCHED to The CB ANTENNA For Safe Receive and Transmit Performance.

You can find a HAM Operator (or CB Operator) usually by the BIG Antenna located near a house or barn. Hope this helps..

We have drake 3 transceivers and hallicrafter model S382 transceiver, we are still looking for dc power supplies for the drake (we have a DC 3 and TR 3). Most of our stuff is tube because it is impervious to the electromatic pulse of nuclear bombs. My husband was in the coast guard for 14 years active duty and 3 years reserve, the field he worked in was electronics/communications.
We also have a Ham Radio and Morse Code software course and exams which we have not completed yet. We also have schematics for almost all the tube radios out there on CD's. We also have antennas.
Does anyone know of a source for dc power supplies?
We have a lot of other miscellaneous radio equipment, always had the intention of getting Ham radio operator license. So now may be the time to get going on this project. I spent some time in Ecuador with some Christinan Missionaries and he was a Ham Operator, this is of course how he communicated with friends and families in the states. This is what sparked my interest in this area and because of my husband 's background in the coast guard in electronics/communications, he will be working on the technical part of repairing the old equipment.
elijah_housee

As great as the info is, I don't think we have time to educate ourselves. Can someone just put some workable model numbers on the thread. I can learn later, now is a time for collecting and prep.
As an aside, I do find it meditative to be in the groove here, but ...still a lot of crap floating around though!
Namaste'
Find the Light!

[Steve_A]

Hi Bill,

Wow. You just brought me back to my young adult life when everybody had a CB radio! It's when I learned the phonetic alphabet.

I would imagine that a CB radio would be sufficient for communication in the event of any major world disaster as speaking to somebody on the oter side of a screwed up world would not be very useful. No British Airways to fly you there.

Of course there would be the problem of radio inteception by unwanted ears and tracking.

I suppose that all those old 'straight 40s' will be taken out of mothballs and put back on the market.

So although my reply may well be tongue in cheek I would advise that long distance radio communication in that context would not be ver useful and that short distance 'good buddy' truckers type radios would be the way to go to start up smaller communities.

After a while, if there would be a need to expand the survivors would figure out how to broaden their scope.

Best regards,

Steve

Originally Posted by Bill Ryan

We're in close touch with Henry Deacon about Amateur Radio and intend to post much more about this on Avalon in due course. There's already an introductory section about Amateur Radio here.

We're wondering if any other visitors are radio 'hams'. Many people (including us) want to learn. Some may be a little daunted.

What's needed is NOT technical expertise, but patience and an ability to teach and communicate with people who are starting from zero and wno may not be technically minded.

What might be very useful is a whole section of this forum devoted to an Amateur Radio Q+A. Henry Deacon would contribute, but is not in a position to lead or organize this.

Anyone out there?

[Operator]

Hi OMs,

I will be ready to listen in ....
Currently I am not allowed to use the equipment to transmit. Local regulation requires me to have it all checked first.

Haven't done that yet since I moved to my 'radiant zone' (a little less than 5 years ago).

I will have to hurry up this a little (although I guess I will use it anyway in case of emergency )

I will have to construct an antenna as well ... enough space here. I think I am going to construct a half wave dipole (for 20 meters) aiming for the US.

73, dah-di-dah !

[brightstar]

Yes, for local CB's would work good indeed. I still have all of my old equipment, just not an antenna now. But one can also usually, depending upon the radio, have some lower or higher channels added also. I did this with my base, and during times that skip worked could talk way off indeed, Jamica, Wyoming, etc. from the east coast. I also have a set of crank powered walkie talkies and some battery powered walkie talkies. Will look into this HAM radio stuff though and see what my budget might allow.


brightstar

[spaceman44]

Does anyone know the difference between CB and HAM radio, and which is the better one to buy?

[Operator]

Originally Posted by spaceman44

Does anyone know the difference between CB and HAM radio, and which is the better one to buy?

CB is shorthand for Citizen Band and is meant for general public to use. Truckers e.g. use this a lot to keep in touch while on the road.

HAM radio is more for individuals who are in the experimental and learning branch of this doing it as a hobby.
Experimental may extend to a lot of things: self building electronics, experiment with antennas, studying propagation of radio waves etc.
It's also not limited to 'radio'. Sometimes it's about data or telex transmissions or even television etc.

This is the basic difference. Most of the times CB channels are more crowded. It may depend on your local situation.
In HAM radio more frequency bands can be used all having different characteristics.

How to get into this and where to buy is a local matter, I can't advise you on this.

Success !

[Waterman]

Here is some information that might help those trying to find radios.
I have picked out two models. One is more portable than the other,
and I picked Yaesu brand as an example.

Make sure you view the video links they give a really good feel for
what to expect. These are not tube types but can be up
and running faster that the tube types.

Consider getting one of these to operate now and then learn how to
protect them from EMP which is an inexpensive endeavor.

Remember you do not need a license to get a radi

Here is a link for a Yaesu FT-897D (D means deluxe an update to the
original by adding the 60 meter band)
A nice feature about this one is that there is space internally for
optional battery power. For not just one but two internal batteries.
Each battery is about $125...
http://www.universal-radio.com/CATALOG/hamhf/1897.html
http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=gYKLWDz9neM

Here is a link for purchasing a Yaesu FT-847:
http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/135F.
It is HF (which means high frequency that can communicate worldwide)
+ 2M, 6M, and 70cm Transceiver

This site has a nice picture of the Yaesu FT-847 front with easily
readable controls.
http://www.rigpix.com/yaesu/ft847.htm

Here is a YouTube video of the rig in operation....
This rig may look intimidating but is easy to use.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS6weQiHmRQ

Here are some videos showing a more portable radio, the Yaesu 857D.

Here they are talking on 3.685.00 you can see the frequency displayed
in the video
http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=YNDwEOncc74&NR=1

Some folks are wondering what it might look like to set up and have a
mobile unit. Here is a mobile setup not exactly a cross country lightweight
backpacking setup and remember the music is optional lolol.
http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=WjEZAa...eature=related

Many have an interest in being able to carry in a backpack a way
of communicating worldwide so here is how you would set up for
backpack use.
http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=cV9iJI...eature=related

One thing I would have added to this backpack for long term use is a roll
up solar battery charger. Some portable solar chargers like the one you
will see here is not a roll up.
http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=nHbx_Qhc8mU&NR=1
http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=TdMIeABaH7Q&NR=1

The FT857D can be obtained brand new for $719.95 at this link
http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/hamhf/1857.html
It is 160 meters through 6 meters with FM ability on 2meter and 440Mhz

Here is demo of the FT-857
http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=eDbfzldRCY0&NR=1
In the demo they are operating on frequency 14.261

As you can see the 857 is very mobile, and compact.

[Tyler Macmillan]

Hooray! My first Avalon post. As many of you may agree, this is all important stuff.

Here's another consideration - not sure if it's been discussed yet. There are groups of hams that already have the HF gear in your local communities. RACES and ARES are emergency communication groups have organization by county and state. Here in CO these groups can be tapped to augment state emergency services. Now I haven't been directly involved with RACES or ARES, but I do know they practice their emergency nets (discussed in this thread) and adhere to some standard protocols for message traffic. That is to say, a Ground Crew member could hand a written message to a local ham operator who could transmit it to the Project Avalon 10m or 20m net, etc.

Right now I've been focusing on 2m (VHF) and 440mhz (UHF) for local communication, and have not focused as much on HF, primarily because I only hold a Technician license from years past. I have a 2m/440 Icom mobile rig (intented for a vehicle), and plan to install in the basement for local communications. Hard to say how local VHF/UHF repeaters will will handle EMP or solar spikes.

Timeout here for some basics, if needed:

* The lower the frequency, the longer the wavelegth. Longer waves can bend more, so to speak. Think of a sine wave... if it's 10 meters long, the peaks and valleys are not as 'bunched up' compared to a wave where peaks are 70 cm apart (UHF).

* Longer waves can curve around the earth, etc. But shorter waves can cut through buildings and stuff, although they have to be straight. Think cell phones and portable radios like half-watt FRS units commonly available.


I'm gonna stop and just post this for now. I'm a ham but no expert, certainly not on HF topics. I'm really trying to consider the audience and share/ask on what is most needed, so i'll try to keep following this thread. I also emailed Bill and Kerry a couple months ago with some decent info about radios and EMP I found in a field manual - fm3-3-1 I believe

http://www.globalsecurity.org/milita...olicy/army/fm/

[Operator]

Originally Posted by Tyler Macmillan

RACES and ARES are emergency communication groups have organization by county and state. Here in CO these groups can be tapped to augment state emergency services.

Hi Tyler,

Welcome to the forum and thanks for the added info. I am not familiar with the way those groups are organized but depending on the kind of circumstances
it may be a disadvantage that they are 'known' to state officials.

1. Abuse of such a network to deliberate distribute (unnoticed) dis-info
2. Take it out before it's effective

So be careful an let us be aware of who are to be trusted ... difficult task in difficult times ...

73

[Operator]

almost 9pm GMT ... somebody ready to rock 'n' roll ?

[Powerinourhandsl]

Hi everyone , i got my ham licence when i was 16 , a long time ago lol. I went into Ham radio because i started with CB, and caught the bug. I am an expat englishman and have not really set a station up down here in the canaries due to spanish paper work involved in changing the licence. But i have all the gear , hf up to 2 meters, and did operate for a short time here using my uk call sign with spanish prefix , None of the locals had a problem with that although you are not supposed to use a prefix forever lol. The radio autorities here are non existant, and practically every taxi driver uses 145.500 as a local chat channel with is completely against the rules. So i don´t see a problem firing it all up again. The last time was 3 years ago. Since i lived in a small apt at the time i built a small magnetic loop antenna for 20m and 15m. That was only 5ft in diameter and worked surprisingly well. It is also a great hidden antenna if you want to be clandestine.

But it might be worth researching packet radio and internet gateways, that way you could send a packet signal on hf half way accross the world , or to another country where the internet has not been closed down. Thus you could still send and recieve emails ( within reason , no 2 meg files here )

The international space station also has repeater facilities i believe , and ( its been a long time ) there were some ham satelites around that you could connect to .

One of the last big fads was 2m internet repeaters where you can dial in using a tone mic to a particular output repeater on the other side of the planet. So converting a walkie talkie in a long distance comunicator , but this system assumes that you have a working gateway in operation. If the internet has been taken down for what ever reason , your handheld will be limited to standard local communications. someone might be more in touch with what is avalible nowadays. I will have a surf and see what is practical

[Powerinourhandsl]

http://www.echolink.org/

A system where you don´t need a radio to talk on the radio , Basically you can use you pc as you transmitter , your voice travels over the internet then is broadcast at the gatway to a recieving station. Again , problem is the avalibility of the internet at the recieving end etc. but this would work crossboarder i imagine. Think no internet in the usa but access in mexico. Anyone along the mexican boarder could use a handheld to connect to an access point in mexico a few miles away, then dial in the where they want to come out.

There are handeld radios out there that are licence free the PMR446 band comes to mind but these are basically toys, and range is limited to a mile at most.
http://www.licencefree.com/

Here is a ham emergency network

http://www.iresc.org/

and this system , but would they switch the servers off? http://www.winlink.org/node/12

The Winlink 2000 system is a "star" based network containing 3 mirror image, redundant COMMON MESSAGE SERVERS (CMS), one in San Diego, one in Detroit and one in Perth, Australia. These ensure that the system will remain in operation should any chunk of the Internet become inoperative. Each Radio Message Server node (RMS) is tied together as would be the ends of a spoke on a wheel with the hubbing being done by the Common Message Servers. Traffic goes in and out between the CMS and the Internet email recipient, and between the end users and the Radio Message Server gateways. Multiple Radio-to-Radio addresses may be mixed with radio-to-internet e-mail addresses, allowing complete flexibility.

[Waterman]

Yes internet communications is really fun.

But isn't practical in an emergency.

Ham radios are good because the power, receive, and transmit capability are under the control of the ham operator. There is no middleman.

Waterman

[Gardavkra]

Hi Bill, I'm also a ham radio operator and also a volunteer examiner. I should be able to answer any question dealing with ham radio. I started another thread about ham radio here and then found this thread that you started. I would be glad to answer any questions, in a non-technical manner, that I can. It's farely easy to get a license now since the requirements have been relaxed over the last few years and Morse code is not required anymore.

[Topper]

xxx

[Magus2003]

Originally Posted by Bill Ryan

We're in close touch with Henry Deacon about Amateur Radio and intend to post much more about this on Avalon in due course. There's already an introductory section about Amateur Radio here.

We're wondering if any other visitors are radio 'hams'. Many people (including us) want to learn. Some may be a little daunted.

What's needed is NOT technical expertise, but patience and an ability to teach and communicate with people who are starting from zero and wno may not be technically minded.

What might be very useful is a whole section of this forum devoted to an Amateur Radio Q+A. Henry Deacon would contribute, but is not in a position to lead or organize this.

Anyone out there?

Hi Bill,

I am a ham. Have been since 1996 when I got my licence after a 6 month course, but only played around with electronics and radio and not transmitted.
Just actually got back into it again and have purchased a top range transciever an FT-897, that enables me to use all the frequencies from HF to UHF. I am still putting it all together so by the next week or so I should be in the position for transmitting.

I am in the uk, by the way...

Paul...
G7NTB