HAM Alternative

Do you have a pic of that

$125 UV-25X2 (Second Gen.) Mini Mobile 25 Watt Dual Band Base, Mobile Radio: VHF, UHF Amateur (Ham)

UV-25X2 mounted in the truck? Trying to judge the size, looks tiny.

 

Spec'd at 3.9"(W) x 1.4"(H) x 4.7(D)" (98 x 35 x 118 mm)

 

It is small. Just stuck down with velcro on the bottom, in the cubby forward of the cupholders.

 

I was reading this earlier today at "work"

 

Scientifically speaking, ham "thingies" covers anything that isnt CB...scientifically speaking of course.

 

To get the most out of these thingies, get the programming cables and the CHIRP software and unleash your inner geek.

 

Please do not punish yourself by attempting to program these SDRs from the keypad. Definitely spring for the USB cable.

 

What booted posted is correct!!!

Put simply, radios are "categorized" meaning that HAM is for HAM ONLY!!! GMRS is for GMRS ONLY!!! etc etc etc!!! Sorry for the caps, just trying to make that point very clear. Also, technically, you are NOT supposed to be using "Weatherman" channels without the "approval" of the group that paid for their particular frequencies.

 

I have ALL of the above!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA, I even have an analog non-digital narrow-banded 800MHz scanner that I can monitor CB/Fire/Air/Police (non-encrypted channels).

 

To clarify GMRS, FRS, CB, commercial, etc are all type accepted, meaning you technically have to buy a radio approved to the specs in Part 90 or Part 95. There is no type acceptance for amateur Part 97 other than a few exceptions for 10m/12m linear amps.

You can use any radio you want for ham, there's no restriction by the OET (Office of Engineering and Technology) at the FCC for the hardware you use. You can build your own (which is self certifying under your ham license), repurpose gear from other services, buy commercial ham radios, it's up to you. Probably 99% of ham repeaters are scrapped Motorola, GE and Vertex equipment from businesses and public service and never made specifically for ham use.

The only thing the FCC wants tested is commercial equipment for Part 15, which is EMI/EMC, which is checking for interference and compatibility with other electronic devices. Anything capable of generating or is susceptible to RF has to undergo this testing.

What your ham license tells the FCC is that you understand the technical requirements, will stay within the amateur spectrum and follow the few rules they ask (no politics, no swearing, no background music, give call signs, no encryption, etc.).

 

Yup.

I'd take a slight exception to this statement. Radios don't have to prove anything to the FCC for use on the ham bands other than Part 15 compliance. They don't test them for spectral purity per say or anything related to their use as a transmitter like they would for Part 90 or Part 95 or otherwise. That falls on you, the ham, to prove. There was a time when the FCC would ask you for log books and to prove your station was in compliance. That was the point of the tests, to demonstrate you knew what the heck you were doing.

 

For example, this is the FCC grant data for the Yaesu FT-8800R. Only shows Part 15(b) testing and approval as an "Amateur Scanning Receiver", just like the fella says in the article.

https://apps.fcc.gov/tcb/GetTcb731Report.do?applicationId=g5h2VvW6zP9DUwb9e58qqg==&fcc_id=K66FT-8800R

https://apps.fcc.gov/oetcf/eas/reports/ViewExhibitReport.cfm?mode=Exhibits&RequestTimeout=500&calledFromFrame=N&application_id=g5h2VvW6zP9DUwb9e58qqg==&fcc_id=K66FT-8800R

It's not a stretch to say the FT-8800 is a high quality transmitter and generally speaking a more spectrally pure and stable transmitter than most of the Chinese radios, but as long as you stay on frequency and within the channel bandwidth they're both legal to use on the hams bands. A radio that receives a Part 90 or Part 95 approval is also likely to be, those are actually tested for the FCC. We as hams usually also just trust Yaesu on their ham gear even if it's not approved for other services, although the ARRL tests most models of radios as another data point for us.

 

As a passionate ham, I think that this post is the perfect example of why people don't want to bother with ham.

 

I get what you're saying, it's dry and dull. But this stuff is fundamental to the hobby. Some of us still want the flexibility to tinker so if we just shrug it off the FCC will eventually just yank the plug on it.

Most hams can't do the engineering anymore but everyone should be aware and know the ARRL is advocating to the FCC and doing some of the work for us so that it doesn't just wither away.

If it's not something that's important, that's totally fine. This is why CB and GMRS exist - plug and play 2-way comm without all the fuss.

 

This is the crux of the issue.

1. CB is by default used because it's always been used. No one really likes it, some hate it and most are just indifferent in that it's better than yelling out the window. So it's tolerated as an ends to a means.
2. Some who didn't know better got FRS radios and that made sense. No worse than CB and lot smaller and easier.
3. Hams knew radio and when we showed the other club members our 2m mobiles they were floored by the range and quality. So they asked us, we told them how to get licensed, Elmered them and they mostly became hams, too. Maybe not as deep as the real geeks but certainly enough to know what's what.
4. Then there was a flood of people who just wanted 50W FM mobiles for an event or a few runs. They didn't care about ham but tolerated it as an ends to a means.

At step 3 we should have adopted GMRS or MURS within the hobby of 4x4. Hams would have adapted and everyone would be happy. But here we are. Hams will still adapt to whatever but there's a ton of people that at step 4 bought a ton of stuff and are now figuring out the bureaucratic nightmare and have no interest in replacing everything again even if GMRS makes sense.

 

@mwc273 has all that, I'll just bum his

 

Pretty much everything on this page in this thread tells me: "I already have enough hobbies. This shit is/can be complicated. My CB works good enough and serves a similar purpose."

I enough brain to work with other means beside CB. Do I feel like investing more time, money, and energy into something that I basically have to turn into a hobby to work properly? Hell to the NO!

All from reading what's been posted just on this here page #3

EDIT: this was typed as a response on #3, but is now on #4.

 

Bingo. I think what also catches people unaware is companies like Rugged Radios selling dual band HAM radios and not having any disclaimers on their site indicating licensing may be required to utilize them. I first went to their site to try to figure out what frequencies their radios use that are exempt from licensing and quickly realized that they aren't. Hell, not that the radios Amazon sells carry a disclaimer either, but still. The proliferation of the equipment leads me to believe that unlicensed use is probably much more widespread than I would have originally expected.

 

So, then, what happens when used without a license? Does the video kill the radio star?