Amateur (Ham) Radio BS and Callsign Thread!

Passed the element 2 on 1/14/14. Thinking of studying and testing for element 3 in march. I have been checking the FCC ULS daily, still no call sign

2 coworkers have been hams for 40 years each, one has their extra the other has a general. Both of them primarily work HF but they each have 2 meter HTs and claim great performance working repeaters in their trucks with only a mag mount antenna.

I bought the

$40 Baofeng UV-5r Ham Radio Long Range Handheld UV5R Dual Band 3800mAh Rechargeable Two Way Radio Walkie Talkies for Adults with Earpiece,Speaker Mic and Programming Cable Full Kit (Black-1Pack)

Baofeng UV-5r and can receive repeaters up to 50 miles away but have not attempted transmitting yet. I know you can't compare the TX range of a 4 watt HT to 50 watt repeater mounted at 500', but the Baofeng seems to fit a nice niche. Anywhoo, overtime i'm sure I'll get a dedicated 2m mobile rig, probably a yaesu. Then move on to 10 meter and HF as I get my general. No turning back now!

 

^ Congrats!!

My buddy passed his on the 11th and hasn't gotten his call sign yet.

Yaesu makes great radios. When you get that mobile look at the 8900, it does 10m and 6m as well as 2m and 70cm.

 

Thanks Chipskip. I saw the 8900 it looks like a nice rig. Is there much activity on 6m? 70cm seems like its dead in my area. A lot of local nets on the 2m repeaters especially spring time for severe weather season. Living at ground zero in tornado alley is what really sparked my interest in ham radio.

 

6m depends on your area, there are several 6m repeaters in my area. The right propagation and it could be hopping. 10m is hot right now, but 6 months ago it was dead. Having the extra flexibility in an emergence is priceless.

You should be fine with a cheap 2m radio, but 70cm is used occasionally. There are a few repeaters in my area for it, but not a lot. The police and other agencies tend to use them, it's nice to be able to tune them in and listen.

But, it all depends on your area. The 8900 is a cheap way to get 2m and 10m, the other two bands are just bonus.

I have an 8800, and wish I had gotten the 8900. When I get my general, studying now, I'll get a HF rig, but it won't be cheap and I will keep my 8800 to monitor the 2/70 and still be able to talk HF.

Overkill is the hobbie is a good thing!

 

I also had a roommate in college that was a ham. At the time he had a gen1 TRD Tacoma. He mostly utilized the packet radio an APRS. For instance he went on a solo mt biking/ hiking trip in Alaska one summer and posted up all his locations on APRSworld.net. He ended up getting his electrical engineering degree and started his own company that makes various sensors for weather stations, wind turbines, data loggers and modems. Pretty cool stuff!

 

Aprs is another thing to consider in getting a rig. The Kenwood 710g is very capable 2/70 rig with aprs.

I just got a Kenwood d72a HT to add aprs, I run it with a mag mount antenna and a gps display. I chose the HT so I could have aprs while I was hiking.

Again, everything depends on what you plan to use it all for.

Checkout 4x4ham.com they have some good info too.

 

That is the beauty of repeaters up at 500' plus, they can hear a little signal. Good repeater antennas have gain figures in the 11 dB range I have no problem talking to my friends on Mt Washington simplex (ht to ht) with 5 watts it's 30 miles from my house while they are anywhere from 3500' to 6000' up the Mt. With a good antenna on your truck you will be surprised how well you can do with 4 or 5 watts. Congrrats on getting your ticket. As a Tech you have voice privileges on 10M 28.3 to 28.5 SSB only at 200 watts max. When 10 is open the world is at your door step if it’s not it’s pretty boring.

 

The 8900 is a nice radio but if you are buying it for the 10 meter band as a tech don't bother it is FM only so there is nothing in it for you. The general class can use it for 10 meter repeater stuff but there is not many 10 meter repeaters and you would be hard pressed to find simplex stuff. That being said you do get 6 meter FM. 6 meters is called the "magic " band out of the clear blue 6 will open up and you'll get calls from a thousand miles away on 52.525 simplex and what I do when the band is open I turn off the PL on the repeater so it can receive repeaters from many hundreds of miles away to add to the fun.

 

Just check the ULS, my call sign is KD0YWY! Unfortunately the speaker on my Baofeng crapped out. Time to get mobile rig and decent handheld. That settles the theory of cheap Chinese radios. Glad I didn't rely on that radio for an emergency.

 

Yep and don't drop them either. Congrats on the call!

 

Congrats on the new license/call-sign, ISU!

You others who've done the MARS/CAP mod, before I go crushing diodes in my Yaesu I wanted to be completely sure..... Is that what ya'll have done? Remove/crush a diode? This website is the only one giving instructions for an 8900r, but it refers to this as "extended transmission." Is that the same thing?

 

Yep, that is the website I followed for my 8800r. Worked like a charm.

When I ordered my Kenwood 72D, I paid the extra to have gigaparts do it for me.

 

Sweet!!! Did you crush it or use a soldering gun? Any issues re-programming?

 

My soldering skills aren't that good. I used a set of mini wire cutters and crushed it.

 

Excellent! Mine are terrible, too. Thank you!

 

I have got to ask you if you hold a MARS/CAP license it is illegal for the dealer to do it otherwise. The only thing it does is open the TX beyond the armature band it does not do a thing for the receive side. If this is something you would like to do yourself all though it is illegal to TX out of band the parts are very tiny if you screw up it is very hard to undo what you have done. You will lose everything in your memory if it has been programmed. I do not recommend “crushing” the part, with a very fine soldering iron of low wattage and a pick lift one leg of the diode or zero ohm resistor or remove it all together.

 

Technically, you could TX someone on a Motorola Walkabout, right? Your statement "it does not do a thing for the receive side" muddled things a bit for me. (Although I'm not suggesting illegal activity, it's just a question)

 

The mod does open up the tx on FRS/GMRS bands. You do not need a license for FRS, however there are very strict rules for transmit power and antenna type. GMRS does require a license, I think it is $85 for a lifetime license (whole family can use one license).

It is not illegal for them to do the mod or sell a modded radio. Just like it is not illegal for them to sell a ham radio to a non ham. the legal issue is completely in the hands of the operator.

If you are using the FRS network, on low power, and you are checking to make sure you aren't interfering with anyone else, than I don't think anyone is going to complain to the FCC. The Aux Amateur devision is tasked with monitoring ham bands, not CB, FRS or GMRS, so there isn't really a policing of these bands.

You still will be limited to the range of the FRS handheld radio, so anything more than low power would be a wasted.

Disclaimer: I am not suggesting you do anything illegal, you are solely responsible for your actions, transmissions, and equipment.

 

FRS radios operate on 300 mill watts with an antenna that cannot be removed. Your radio will not TX on that low power and your antenna gain increases the ERP way beyond the ERP of any FRS radio. So there is nothing you can do to make your radio legal in the FMRS band. GMRS is 25 watts and requires a license. All of the PS bands have now gone to narrow band the ham radios have not so transmitting on these bands is going to cause adjacent channel interference. Here is the deal guys maybe I’m a stickler for rules but if people continue to do this kind of things we as hams are going to lose even more of our radio spectrum the FCC can and has taken some of our frequencies already the public service bands and cell carriers want the frequencies don’t give them an excuse to take them they have enough money to buy them we don’t. Most radios RX out of band and need no mods to do so that is fine you can listen all you want. The RX range on my IC7000 is 30 KC to 199.999 MHZ- 400.000 MHZ to 470.000 MHZ out of the box that is a huge spectrum. The TX range is ham bands only. By the letter of the law the Chinese junk is not type accepted due to their dB ratings and poor wording but that is an argument for lawyers no need to get hams involved.

 

relocated the face unit of my FT-880. It is mounted to the lamp.mirror unit, very strong. Mic plug ran to a switch plate below the stereo.