Amateur (Ham) Radio BS and Callsign Thread!

You need to check out 4x4ham.com ... mostly jeep guys, but a bunch on FJs too. They do an Arizona run every few months.

 

I had 2 true dual band / dual rcv radios and sold them and got these instead. they are dual band but single rcv. i have 2 of the same because i like the radio and they are D-star. so now i once again have the functionality of a dual band.

 

Speaking of people acting like kids. On this very forum, there are individuals who think it's okay to buy a VHF radio cut out some resistors and bam! They got a race radio. All the cool kids got race radios! What's worse is they post in a public forum, when and where they will be at a future date, and the illegal frequency they'll be using. It doesn't get any dumber than that folks. That's just plain stupid.
Yes and once they have done that it will also TX on PS bands. Too bad the FCC is strapped for personal a stiff fine and confiscated radios would go a long way to put an end to that. This is my major complaint with the cheap Chinese radios they will TX out of band with no mods. With the one way transmissions that are allowed they must be ID'ed well they should be ID'ed with a "testing" by XXXX etc. ARRA broadcasts info related to ham radio that is legal and rebroadcast of space station stuff is also excepted because it is amateur related.

 

Here is a good site for you 4X4 ham guys they have a net on 40 meters 7.225 Wednesday night at 8:00 eastern and Sunday at 11:00 eastern. offroadhams.com good web site too.

 

So you are saying that all offroad events that run "race channels" are illegal???? I happen to have my Technician license and I have a modded Radio. I am on a couple desert race teams that run "race" frequencies. I have my radio programmed in a way so that 2M/70cm are on a completely different memory presets, than my Race frequencies. Does that make me a kid? Maybe we should just call the HAM police and have them all arrested

 

If the FCC can't track down all the jammers on the notorious 147.435 repeater.... . Just last night someone kept playing the racist song koon town and kept calling the old 435 owned then N over and over the whole night along with other graphics obscenities..the new owner of the repeater was in on it as well and never reset his repeater and allowed it to happened..this kind of thing has been going on for years along with a few other that includes other repeaters outside the 2m spectrum with no FCC envolvement. I doubt the FCC will go out of their way to see if someone's radio is out of band here in SoCal at least.

 

FIFY

The FCC relies on us to report violations, I am sure they can not track down every report of out of band or unlicensed broadcast. However, if enough Hams report the issue to the FCC than they will take action. Sounds like you and anyone else you know in the area need to become "squeeky wheels".

 

I did, I sold it and went back to a 706MKIIG, the 7000 is voltage dependent for power out, in many cases if I was 12.6 or lower VDC I would only see 70-80 watts peak whereas I am seeing 100watts down to 11.9 VDC HF that is. Plus the supplied mic sounded terrible it was like talking in a tin can.

 

If you only knew the history of the 147.435 repeater lol

 

WORD! The Animal House is alive and well...

 

May have to figure out where im going to mount this, Christmas gift from last year...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhbujVWcvPI

 

Nice, me wants!

 

Brandon, No. The race shops/teams hold the FCC license for the VHF frequency. For example, PCI Race Radios is authorized for 151.625 (the weatherman). If you are working for them you are authorized to use it. However, if you look at their site you'll see many radios for sale. Note that none of them are amateur radios, they are all part 90 FCC certified for the business band.

To make a long story short, amateur radio equipment can not be used to transmit outside the amateur bands under any circumstance (unless threats of life or limb), to do so is illegal and you could have your amateur license revoked for life and be subject to fines as I understand it. I personally don't agree with it, but I understand the reasons why (more on that below.)

You can however acquire FCC part 90 certified radios and use them on the business bands and the amateur bands, with no problem.

This of course leads us to the inevitable question of why? The answer to which has been hashed out many times over on the interwebs. Here is a good thread on the subject of why.

I think amateurs are supposed to report harmful interference in the amateur bands. Repeated amateur radio violations (harmful, malicious interference) should be reported... However, what Monkeyproof said is important. More on that below.

Yes. I have read the history and it's both morbid and fascinating at the same time. My takeaway analogy from reading is/was that at least two choices could be made.

1. Allow the garbage to be spread out all over the place.
2. Allow the garbage to coalesce into a confined space and do nothing about it.

Since it's been going on for what 30+ years, the general consensus is that the FCC tolerates it as long as it's confined to a small place (one or two 2M repeaters).

Also, it's been suggested that if someone wanted to "clean up the garbage" that someone must have money, power, and be politically connected at a high level. If someone were to do that, then history would repeat itself as I understand it.

The real issue here is people using itinerant VHF frequencies for which their not authorized for. Although being out in the desert probably mitigates the problem (more on that below). Also, I have observed a trend on TW of individuals buying amateur radios, cutting out resistors and using them out of band. Additionally, some of the common desert race frequencies are also licensed to other businesses in neighboring towns/cities. For example, the Checkers Racing Team in Los Angeles is licensed for 151.925 Mhz. Well guess what? A different business in San Diego County also holds an FCC license for that same frequency. The geographical separation makes it possible. All that said, the risk is interference caused by people who should not be operating VHF radios on frequencies they are not authorized for. I hope that makes sense.

Now I personally don't really care that people do that, but I think people should understand the risks of doing so.

I really only care about protecting the amateur bands.

As a general comment, if anything I wrote is wrong, please feel free to correct me. I've spent a lot of time reading and trying to understand these things and sometimes I mess up--but I try not to.

 

I like it!

 

You are a tech and never read the rules? Your tech ham license does not give you privileges in that band only the ham bands. First modding a radio is illegal it is not type excepted to transmit in that band just because "every one" does it that does not make it right. That band is also a licensed band the race teams are licensed to transmit in that band it also contains public service channels and P.S. link frequencies for their transmitters. I wish we had some "ham police" but I can tell you they do not take interference in the P.S. bands lightly so be careful where you TX.

 

They will if it interferes with public service transmission in a big way. The repeater trustee should have turned the repeater off. If I can hear the clubs repeater I can turn it off and have so more then once there is no excuse for that kind of behavior it is an easy fix. It may take awhile for a break in the offenders transmission but it can be done and the ability is part of the repeaters controller and is required.

 

As mentioned before, this has been going on for the last 30 years lol. There have been numerous discussions I've over the years at various HAM related websites asking why the FCC has enforced anything that's related to the 147.435 repeater. Why don't you Google 147.435 for yourself. Listsn to the many many many DVRs cepm over the years and youll get a taste of what the repeater is all about. The live feed at radio reference has been down for a week or two and that would be another way to listen and have your mind blown away lol.

 

Modding a radio is illegal? Or Tx out of band on a modded radio is illegal?

 

On a side note, the price keeps dropping on a great little VHF mobile radio
http://www.hamradio.com/detail.cfm?pid=H0-011362

 

Interesting read:

http://codegreenprep.com/2013/04/the-best-radio-for-frsgmrs/
Using Ham Radios for FRS/GMRS – Legal, Illegal, or a Grey Area?

Okay, so remember our comment in our article ‘A Prepper’s Introduction to Walkie-Talkie Radios‘ – the part where we said ‘always follow the law’?
We meant that when we said it, and we still mean it now. But….. It seems that perhaps the policing body, the FCC, doesn’t really care all that much, any more, about what happens on the FRS and GMRS frequencies, and as long as you don’t do anything too egregious, they may be content to ignore you.
This is almost definitely true of the diminished need to get an $85 five-year license to operate on GMRS frequencies, and may also be true of the requirement to only use formally approved radios on the FRS and GMRS bands, or so this message in a Yahoo Group seems to hint at. We asked the message writer for clarification and he wrote back to us simply affirming that the Baofeng radios are okay to use on GMRS frequencies without showing any proof of his assertion, so make of that claim as you will (hint – a lot of nonsense is put forward as fact in many of these forums).
We subsequently spoke to an official spokesperson at the FCC, but she first asked to only speak ‘off the record’, which we of course happily agreed to, and hoped that meant she would then speak frankly. Unfortunately she then proceeded to do nothing other than robotically repeat the official FCC regulations without giving any hint at all as to the real-world application of these regulations. However, she did disagree with the claim in the preceding paragraph that a radio that is not licensed for GMRS frequencies (Part 95 of their regulations) could be used on those frequencies if it was licensed to be used under similar frequencies by the FCC under either Part 90 (commercial land mobile use) or Part 97 (Ham radio operator) requirements.
Maybe the most that can be said is that if you are using a unit that conforms to FCC specifications for the GMRS service, and if you use it appropriately without causing interference or problems to other users leading to complaints to the FCC, and without going overboard on transmit power, then perhaps – just possibly perhaps – no-one’s going to come knocking at your door.
After all, if the radio conforms to FCC requirements, how would anyone even know that you were using a non-approved radio? It is only when you’re using a radio that doesn’t conform to their requirements (too broad a bandwidth, poor frequency control, too much power, etc) that you’re raising red flags in the broader radio using community (which does a fair amount of self-policing and reporting to the FCC about unlawful use) and possibly causing someone to complain to the FCC about you.
If you do choose to use a ham radio on these ‘Part 95′ regulated bands (there are four Part 95 bands – CB, MURS, FRS and GMRS, and all are close to ham bands, with appropriate ham radios usually being capable of working on the nearby Part 95 band as well), then some advice.

• To avoid drawing attention to yourself, don’t use ‘high power’ on MURS frequencies. MURS service is limited to a maximum of 2W transmitter power, although it does allow for external antennas.
• Don’t transmit on the FRS channels at all. They are limited to 0.5W of power and don’t allow external antennas – if you suddenly started transmitting on the FRS band with a 5 or 50W transmitter and a super external antenna, you’d be very obviously contravening the regulations and inviting someone to file a complaint with the FCC. The FCC might not voluntarily hunt down offenders on its own initiative, but it will respond to complaints.
• GMRS service allows for external antennas, repeaters, and up to 50W of transmitter power. You can probably use reasonably powerful ham radios and with high quality antennas on the GMRS frequencies and no-one will be any the wiser.

So, to answer the question we posed at the start of this section, in theory using unlicensed equipment on the GMRS or MURS bands is illegal, but if your transmissions conform to the other requirements of the band you are transmitting on, you’re probably happily in a grey area of non-enforcement – a bit like if you drive just a few mph over the speed limit on the open road.
All these worries would of course evaporate if you obtained a Ham radio operator’s license.