NW WA Meet / BS Thread

One time I was on the WABDR around Ardenvoir and picked up some dude in Cle Elum. Also i picked up some heavy spanish, could have been mexico, or eastern wa. lol

 

Just pointing out that for $15 and a little bit of time you're covered for 10 years, or for $85 and a little less time you're covered for 5 years and have a lot more bells and whistles available I will say that when @jeverich got stuck on a solo trip last year he was able to use his ham radio to get in touch with me through my cell phone and get the cavalry ready just in case he needed further assistance. Ultimately, it's your truck, your time, your radio and your dollar, you know what kind of trips you're taking and who you're going with

 

Speaking of which -> Expo portal FRS/GMRS

 

My understanding is that vhf, frs, etc. are line of sight limited, and power limited. At a tx antenna height of 6' and a rec antenna height of 6', with no obstructions between them, you would have a range of about 8 miles provided you had enough power (5watts) limited by the curvature of the earth blocking the signal. As you raise the antenna height and power, range increases. ( note antenna height does not mean longer antenna, just height) ham or preferably HF or sideband is the way to go for distance, but they don't always work close in.
Solution?
Get both!

Good news is google or Facebook or somebody says they are going to do global wifi coverage, so we can just Facebook or email each other!

 

Both would be a nice option...Even more so if you could do all three!

I hope they never do wifi coverage everywhere. People already cant disconnect from their damn phones and social media. Dont bring that shit deep in the woods

 

Free to first response!
Set of stock lug nuts
Set of stock fog light lamps
Set to 4" PIAA 45 watt driving lights with harness ,switch and relay.
You pay shipping in beer next time we meet up.

 

Why are the lights grieving? Because you decided it was time for separation?

 

US winch bumper for 05-11
Make a serious offer. Even a 3/4 serious offer. I want it out of my garage.
Will include a set of beautiful Chinese 4" cube lights. No harness or switch. We want good relations with China, right? Plus, with this bumper, you can bash a North Korean icbm to oblivion! And you can get North Korea to pay for it! ( just having fun, not getting political here)

 

Yes, they loved me but I betrayed them with led's.
Also, spell check.
You can mount them on your headache bar. Ummm bed rack I meant.

 

Truck mods on on hiatus for a while.

 

Dude these are FREE.
Plus I'll bring them up if you buy breakfast at Raging.

 

Yeah, that's the advertisement I read.

I mean article.

 

Man... Stupid fence is first. Wife put her foot down lol

 

I just wish I still even knew where to start with HAM

 

This is who I went through. Just do the questions over and over again until you have the answers memorized. Its literally the same questions/answers on the test. Numbers and all
http://www.hamradiolicenseexam.com/?gclid=CJ2xpdvY89MCFUZrfgod1lsIvg

 

I'll take everything if it hasn't been claimed yet.

 

PM ing you

 

oh that winch bumper. id have to totally revamp my lighting and suspension..and battery...and budget...which is a scary rabbit hole i guess.

 

You can pick up a radio and monitor the local repeaters before you have a license, you just can't broadcast. There is usually a get together on the air certain times and days where the old timers get on and complain about their crop of peas, the price of fuel, the weather, etc. It's about as interesting as it sounds but if you have questions it can be a great place to ask once you have your license. The technician license will mostly be VHF or UHF, which is essentially line of sight. There are some privileges on the HF bands, but it's pretty limited. The general license grants you more HF options. HF is not line of sight and can use the atmosphere to bounce the signal world wide or over the ridge that is between you and your buddies. HF mobile rigs are out there, but they aren't as common as the VHF/UHF stuff. All of my experience has been VHF/UHF.

Every county seems to have a branch of the ARRL, here's the one for Ellensburg: http://www.qsl.net/rcrc/nls/currentNL.htm
The second paragraph has info on test dates but you'll probably have to get in touch with someone to find the location. You may want to meet up and chit chat with some of the guys from the club, but my experience has been that some the club guys I've talked to are waaaaay into what they're doing and sometimes forget that not everyone is interested in using amateur radios the way they are.

Cheapie hand held radios can be had, but you'll get better performance with a plug in antenna. One advantage of the hand held is that it's easy to take it with you if you have to walk out. The downside that I find with the handhelds is that it's easy to lose in the truck unless you have a mount for it. Of course, if you mount it, you have to dismount it to get it close enough to use, then remount when done. The mobile radios offer a little more flexibility in that you can mount the head unit in a convenient place (they're typically about the size of an Ultragauge) and then run the mic somewhere easy to grab but have the radio itself somewhere else entirely. The nice thing about the mobile units is that you have the option for running higher power. For example, you could run 5 watts to chat within your group but bump it up to 50 watts if the SHTF and you need to get the word out. One word of caution that people don't always think about is that if your antenna is mounted in a poor location you may be able to transmit far enough for people to hear you but your antenna might not be able to pick any responses.

You want a good ground plane for the antenna. For me, running the antenna right through the middle of the roof gave me the best result (drilled a hole through the roof just above the dome light). That's not for everyone. Hood mounts or roof rack mounts are so-so but seem to be the compromise that most people go with. You really want your antenna to be in the middle of a big piece of metal. Also be aware that you want to keep your antennas separate. Don't mount a CB antenna next to a ham antenna next to your stereo antenna. That's a recipe for interference problems. I did CB on the driver side of the ARB bumper behind the bar.

I think if I were to go for an easy first time setup that won't be used often for the least amount of money, I'd go with a hand held dual band connected to a mag base antenna mounted to the roof. Not sure how that would work with your roof rack though. If you find yourself getting more involved or just can't stand the hand held, then move up to a mobile mount and use the hand held for your walkin out back pack.

 

@Louisd75 Good data. Thanks man!