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Amateur (Ham) Radio BS and Callsign Thread!

Discussion in 'Sports, Hobbies & Interests' started by The Traveler, Jan 29, 2013.

  1. Oct 31, 2013 at 7:35 AM
    #421
    Chipskip

    Chipskip N7MCS

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    Finally came in the mail!!!!!

    :yay::yay::woot::woot:

    [​IMG]
     
  2. Oct 31, 2013 at 7:36 AM
    #422
    SoCaltaco65

    SoCaltaco65 Well-Known Member

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    oh nice, someone is going to have fun this weekend.
     
  3. Oct 31, 2013 at 7:36 AM
    #423
    Spencer

    Spencer Future President

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    ?? Dunno what ya mean
    New to this whole thing just installed a rugged race radio on mine and two other friends trucks. So far I've gotten clear calls over 20 miles but wanted to see how it'd work while I was on top of a mountain where someone brighter than myself had installed cell towers. Can't wait to get my cert
     
  4. Oct 31, 2013 at 8:01 AM
    #424
    MonkeyProof

    MonkeyProof Power Top

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    Rugged radios offers some pretty nice products, especially their 110w radios. Just to bad that the race radios are not FCC type accepted to be on amateur radio bands just to let you know. You'll no what I mean once you start studying for your exam.
     
  5. Oct 31, 2013 at 10:13 AM
    #425
    Crom

    Crom Super-Deluxe Member

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    Christmas in October! :kona: Let us know when you get it connected up. I'll look for you on aprs.fi. :)

    Do yourself a favor and call Rugged 888-541-7223. Ask them a simple question. Is is legal to operate (transmit) with your VHF radio without an FCC license? I just did that and I was either lied to (most likely) or the customer service rep was grossly misinformed. He was friendly and polite though. :thumbsup:

    If you dig a little deeper and obtain Rugged Radios frequency list that they program into their radios, at the top of this list is this little warning:
    Content provided is included for the sole purpose of providing educational information on a passive basis. Frequencies shown have been compiled from various sources. It is the end user’s responsibility to observe FCC regulations for proper use and programming of any radio frequency
    Please note the passive basis. What does this mean? It means for listening only. They know the limits of the law and when you key up one of your race radios without operating under an itinerant FCC license, it's illegal.

    Now I'm going to prove it to you. I give you two exhibits for your examination.

    The first is a partial screen capture of Rugged Radios frequency list they program into their radios for sale. Notice the highlighted frequency of 151.925. Exhibit two is an FCC License frequency search by geographic location [CALIFORNIA], and I searched for active licenses. You'll note that there are 44 business that are licensed for that frequency with 1-10 shown.

    Exhibit 1 a
    rugged-radios1_261421b0c6835981b69f374b043a3c88068170b5.jpg

    Exhibit 2

    freq-151.925_b73411552bbbd6c9b2a0e6935323da1e50e8d858.jpg

    Take a look a that list. If you used that frequency for example, you could interfere with Hospital operations, or the State of California... Both of which probably has deeper pockets than you and they could file complaints to the FCC which may come after you...The bottom line is that by transmitting with your race radio, your committing an illegal act and you subject yourself to potential financial and legal troubles. Do I write this to make you feel bad about your radio? No. It's to educate you and help protect you from the ignorance and misunderstanding of others.

    If it were me, I'd return the race radio and buy a dedicated ham rig and get my amateur license. One of the biggest drawbacks of the Vertex gear is you can't program it yourself. The ham gear is all programmable by the operator.

    Nothing wrong with using vertex gear on the amateur bands. Hell, you can use anything or build anything as long as your gear does not QRM anybody and you adhere to power restrictions, etc. As a side note, I want to hear more about Tim's old converted land mobile equipment. How heavy was that Micor? :D
     
    Last edited: Oct 31, 2013
  6. Oct 31, 2013 at 10:27 AM
    #426
    MonkeyProof

    MonkeyProof Power Top

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    Had no idea about vertex operating on amature bands ..to bad can't program repeater sets into the race radios offered by rugged radio
     
  7. Nov 1, 2013 at 5:29 AM
    #427
    maineah

    maineah Well-Known Member

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    Ok here is the deal the land/mobile radios are type accepted radios they have very tight freq. tolerance many of those radios will work in the amateur bands more often than not they require propriety software to program them (dealers). Some require a complete re-tune because they are numb as a hake out of band (very poor receive). It is legal to modify them to operate on the amateur bands but it is not legal to modify a ham radio for the land/mobile service. Over the years we have used old land/mobile gear for repeater service because they are very rugged and have a much greater duty cycle that the ham gear. There are also a large number of them in service as ham mobile radios most often the more modern ones because they are synthesized and smaller. The old stuff had crystal controlled frequencies and you had to have crystals cut to the freq. expensive and a pain in the back side. This is OK for a repeater because you are only dealing with two frequencies. I still have a Micor operating on a site in Conway NH that I re- built in 96 all 25# of it, it was an old state police mobile unit There is another Motorola base in my shop that is far more modern it is a complete unit with a power supply it tips the scales at close to 200# it will replace the Micor. For you guys transmitting on a licensed band (land/mobile) for fun you are playing with fire if you interfere with the service they were intended for trust me they can find you.
     
  8. Nov 1, 2013 at 3:08 PM
    #428
    Crom

    Crom Super-Deluxe Member

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    :eek: 200 lbs! :D Totally awesome. :)
     
  9. Nov 1, 2013 at 3:09 PM
    #429
    Crom

    Crom Super-Deluxe Member

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    Check this out... postd on ARRL's site

     
  10. Nov 2, 2013 at 5:48 AM
    #430
    maineah

    maineah Well-Known Member

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    Yep and CB is generally used on AM. What happens the operators all ways think more is better so they add a power mike full gain and a 1.5 KW amp over modulate the AM and cover well over 20 KC's in either direction blissfully thinking that sounds good on the other side but having no concern that they are transmitting all over the place. Big brother is listening and for good reason.
     
  11. Nov 3, 2013 at 1:26 PM
    #431
    romafern

    romafern Hug diz nuts

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    Thinking of adding a second battery...
    could you elaborate how they can find you? Please. I am getting ready to start studying for the tech test...I am all about being legal.

    Thanks.
     
  12. Nov 3, 2013 at 1:43 PM
    #432
    Whitster

    Whitster Well-Known Member

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    In the old days we'd use directional yagi or loop antennas. We'd go on 'foxhunts' as a hobby.
    Now days they have sophisticated dopplescant systems, like on the top of police cars with the four or five short vertical antennas, like the Lojack systems.
     
  13. Nov 3, 2013 at 3:58 PM
    #433
    romafern

    romafern Hug diz nuts

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    Thinking of adding a second battery...
    Something like a GPS enabled system along with APRS?
     
  14. Nov 4, 2013 at 4:36 AM
    #434
    maineah

    maineah Well-Known Member

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    It's pretty simple by using triangulation as Whitser said loops work pretty good just follow the strongest signal. Big brother has very sophisticated systems that make our stuff look pretty funny. Years ago the FCC had vans equipped with tracking devices and drove around neighborhoods. The ham guide lines are pretty cut and dry about power and band plans and what you can and can't do it will all be there in your study book. Most of the problems come from people that just don't care or feel they are above the law and can do what ever they want (free county etc.)
     
  15. Nov 4, 2013 at 8:24 AM
    #435
    Whitster

    Whitster Well-Known Member

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    Years ago the local Denver FCC office was having trouble sourcing intermittent, pulsed interference to a local PD. They brought in an unmarked heavily customed Suburban with a thicker-than-usual roof which contained an electronically rotating antenna, like the old goniometers only solid state. While here it was always parked behind a chain link fence at night. They found the source in two days, but never revealed what it was.

    Another odd source of intermittent/interference was finally located west of Denver on a hilltop sharing many repeaters and broadcast transmitters. Many people had searched for the source and weren't able to find it.
    It was a raspy source with varying signal strength and very broadband.

    One night a TV transmitter tech was doing some routine maintenance and went outside in the cool fall evening to take a whizz. As he looked up into the star-filled sky he noticed a blue arc flickering on a joint on the tower.

    Daytime inspection revealed a broken weld and an apparent combination of wind and humidity would cause the high RF to arc about this break.
    A mobile welding truck was brought up to the site. The broken weld was rewelded and the interference stopped immediately.

    Intermittent troubles are always a bitch to find...a little luck always helps...

    ;->
     
  16. Nov 4, 2013 at 9:31 AM
    #436
    Crom

    Crom Super-Deluxe Member

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    Awesome. :D

    Back in August I read another story, I forgot to post it. Here it is...

    LOL at this fool.

    $32K Penalty Proposed for Use of a GPS Jammer by an Individual

    Full story here.

    BACKGROUND

    On August 3, 2012, the Enforcement Bureau (Bureau) received a complaint from the
    Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reporting that the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
    (Port Authority) had been experiencing interference during pre-deployment testing of a ground-based
    augmentation system (GBAS) at Newark Liberty International Airport (Newark Airport).

    The GBAS provides enhanced navigation signals to aircraft in the vicinity of an airport for precision approach,
    departure procedures, and terminal area operations.

    An agent from the Bureau's New York Office investigated the matter at Newark Airport
    on August 4, 2012. While driving toward the Guard Post India Gate at the Newark Airport, the agent
    determined, using direction finding techniques, that a red Ford F-150 pickup truck with New Jersey
    license plates (Red Ford) was emanating radio signals within the restricted 1559 to 1610 MHz band
    allocated to the Radionavigation-Satellite service and used by the GPS satellite navigation system.

    The signals emanating from the vehicle were blocking the reception of GPS signals by the GPS receivers used
    in the GBAS. Port Authority police and security personnel, working closely with the FCC agent, stopped
    the Red Ford at the gate. Using handheld direction finding equipment, the FCC agent confirmed that
    strong wide-band emissions in the restricted 1559 to 1610 MHz band were emanating from the Red Ford.

    The FCC agent interviewed the driver, who identified himself as Gary Bojczak and admitted that he
    owned and operated the radio transmitting device that was jamming GPS transmissions. Mr. Bojczak
    claimed that he installed and operated the jamming device in his company-supplied vehicle to block the
    GPS-based vehicle tracking system that his employer installed in the vehicle.

    Mr. Bojczak voluntarily surrendered the jammer to the FCC agent. After the jammer was removed from the
    Red Ford and turned off, the agent confirmed that the unauthorized signals had ceased. [​IMG]
     
  17. Nov 4, 2013 at 9:40 AM
    #437
    SoCaltaco65

    SoCaltaco65 Well-Known Member

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  18. Nov 4, 2013 at 7:04 PM
    #438
    romafern

    romafern Hug diz nuts

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    Thinking of adding a second battery...
    Great stories!! Keep them coming!
     
  19. Nov 5, 2013 at 9:45 AM
    #439
    Runn0r

    Runn0r Well-Known Member

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    Wow! so he was using it to hide on the job...fool!! quite funny.

    I had a question for you guys about connectors. I am re-designing my antenna rig idea, and now looking at a Comet antenna. I was going to go with an NMO mount but I could also go PL-259. The problem is most PL-259 mounts show 0-512MHz where most NMO show 0-1000. Are PL-259 connections more limited? and should I stay with NMO?
     
  20. Nov 5, 2013 at 11:05 AM
    #440
    Desert Drifter

    Desert Drifter Well-Known Member

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    Are you gong to be using frequencies above 460 mHz?
     

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