Who is interested in the hobby of amateur radio, which is still relatively free of hipster cancer? Who is already involved? We can get together in this thread to promote anons becoming new hams and answer questions as well as just talk the hobby.
A lot of people don't know that in the U.S.:
- you don't need to know Morse code
- you can get started for less than $100
Relatively free of hipster cancer but it has old-age cancer instead. 99% of the people you'll hear/talk to are boring as shit.
Not to mention the complete lack of privacy mandated by law. The unlicensed bands are more fun
>old-age cancer
the reason I put up this thread is to get younger people into it
good luck, it's gonna die because of outdated regulations and all the do-good cunts who love the regulations more than the radios
I say this as someone who has a license and some radios, I just think it's been a long time coming
I guess i dont get angry about only being able to use it for certain purposes? Or say certain things? I have the Internet if I want to edgelord.
I just think its neat and the old guys are pretty interesting guys with a lot of stories.
Some of them are, many are not. Have fun on the air cunt.
What did you do that pissed them off? I know there's a story.
What do I need to get started? my gramps loves this shit and I think he should try this before he dies
varies by country, but for the US:
1. VHF/UHF FM radio - the Baofeng UV-5 goes for around $25 on Amazon though there are other better Chinese radios for under $200
2. book related - $20
3. exam fee - $15 max
To find an exam:
arrl.org
passed the test using only hamstudy.org. the questions on there are from the exam question pool
Yes, the exam is multiple-choice and the org that devises the question pool releases the whole pool with answers - take as long as you want to study.
bamp uwu
>Unlicensed bands.
Are you on a vehicle or something? People where I live triangulate and report just for shits and giggles
he's probably just an edgelord making shit up or he's on 11 meter where they just let people dump garbage all over it so they don't mess up other bands
There is the constant shitposting on 3.840Mhz kinda fun sometimes.
is that a bantz channel? tell us some of the unwritten stuff about HF if there's more
I kind of want to buy a baofeng just to talk on all the license-less bands with one device.
As I understand it there are three areas of the radio spectrum you can talk/shitpost on without a license:
-"VHF", used by boats, docks and harbors. Don't know what it is or what it means.
-"CB", Citizens Band, used by truckers, hikers and hunters.
-And whatever it is those consumer walkie talkies anyone can buy at the stores uses, but I don't know what those are.
If I buy I Baofeng, can it transmit on all of those three things? If it can I will just buy one and never get a ham license.
it's a couple of guys trolling each other
youtube.com
Baofeng won't give you CB, just get a CB like Uniden or Cobra - CB is fun though. You can get a decent CB and whip antenna for like $200-$250 + installation if you don't know how to do it yourself.
Don't know about marine radio but you probably need a license plus dont fuck around with stuff that involves safety if you dont want to get in trouble.
Consumer - FRS/GMRS - you need a license for GMRS and FCC is getting sick of people using storebought radios to transmit on GMRS channels that arent shared with FRS and are forcing manufacturers not to put those channels on the FRS radios so I'd stay away from those, also you're likely to exceed wattage on the FRS channels with a Baofeng if you care.
tl;dr: just get your technician license it's easy
Baofeng radios are VHF/UHF. VHF and UHF are just frequency ranges.
With a Baofeng radio, you can do marine VHF, 2m (VHF) and 70cm (UHF) HAM radio, GMRS, and FRS. You can't do CB because it's in the HF frequency range.
GMRS and FRS are what those cheap consumer walkie talkies use.
With a ham license you can use repeaters to talk to people within maybe 20 miles of you. Also you can bounce signals off of satellites to talk to people much further.
I think getting licensed is a good gateway to getting into the "free bands".
Getting licensed and joining a club will give you a reasonable understanding of radio and some experience of good operation.
Many people on the free bands are still good operators, we don't need people completely shitting up the airwaves.
>You can get a decent CB and whip antenna for like $200-$250
Noooope.
>FRS/GMRS - you need a license for GMRS and FCC is getting sick of people using storebought radios to transmit on GMRS channels that arent shared with FRS
No you don't? I don't see how. Children can buy these for 16 dollars at a store up the street from me.
VHF I am told does not need a license. Taxi captains in my area told me so.
>You can't do CB because it's in the HF frequency range.
Then how come people without a license can use it if it is HF? I thought all HF required a license.
CB is HF (11 meters, around 27MHz), but not in the ham bands. There are ham bands above and below that frequency.
the license is like 10 dollars for ten years and you don't need to take a test. kids and flagging crews use it in my area. the kids are kinda annoying spasticlly pushing the PTT button for hours on end.
fcc.gov
Why do you say nope? Obviously you can spend more- my fixed cb setup was a lot and half diy. But my cars were all less than $100 of kit.
There are some assholes that literally hunt you down if you don't have a licence or do something slightly out of regulations.
that said, radio is the means of communication if everything else is fucked so you should get familiar with it and at least own one transciever.
>You can get a decent CB and whip antenna for like $200-$250
Ridiculous prices man. I'd rather buy a top tear sdr for that
take all that shit in your car
i remember when text chating/ voice message with smartphone wasnt a thing those where so cool, now they just seem unnecessary and low quality full of static audio = (. technology is getting better and boring with time
Fucking dumb assed kid. You will grow up some day
*sip*
I'm studying for the test right now. May give it a shot in a few weeks. Thought I'd start on a cheap handheld baofeng and then upgrade from there if it still interests me after a while.
I'm listening to two old bastards discussing one guys autistic insistence
on using Windows 7 instead of 10. It's just like a voice version of Jow Forums. 3.871.73 btw.
daytime nets are where you can hear about gout and having strokes
Sending memes via SSTV is the best use of a radio.
Pretty much.My local nets are pretty bad all of the time though.People either call in with their call signs, or they call in to report the death of another ham. It's depressing as fuck. I like to listen in on 80 meters, there's usually at least some humorous political ranting going on.The words commie and nigger get thrown around a lot, and I've heard several instances where offended people try to transmit over the discussions.
I'm interested, but the hobby is full of a bunch of old, retired engineers with zero social skills.
>go to ham club meeting at my uni to check it out
>sit down in second row for presentation
>old guy walks in and claims "this is my row, but the new guy can sit here haha"
>old guy sits down next to me, turns his back to me and talks to another old guy in the row behind him
>I'm boxed in between this guy and the wall with no hope of easily introducing my self so I quietly wait for the presentation to start.
I'm sure he wasn't meaning to be rude. I think that he was probably ignorant of that possibility, but it would have been nice if he had said "hey user, welcome to the club" instead of "hurdur chack out the new guy". I'm sure there are a lot of people in ham that are normal, well adjusted people, but I have to wonder. I talked to the president during the meeting and he told me that most people there are retired engineers and the club is only at the university because a few students are on their roster. He said most don't show up on a regular basis and they have trouble attracting new members. I wonder why?
HAM radio is going to be dead in ten years. All the people in it are people who picked it up in the '60s, they're not going to be around for much longer.
I like to do satellite stuff. I'm on the FM sats only at the moment, waiting on ICOM to release that new IC-9700
heard the opposite when a tranny started bashing trump lol
he still uses his "dead name" on air which is funny af
Yeah but that's because younger people like us dont stick with it.
got my license at the beginning of this summer. All amateur bands at up to 200W.
had a couple QSO on 2m and 70cm with my alinco dj 500 so far.
not sure how to get into bigger bands because the price for setups is pretty high and I can't put up an antenna here anyway (besides magnetic loop).
I'm kind of interested in getting a pixie kit for CW on 40m (should be ~1.2W)
but again, no clue about the antenna and when I was looking at keys and their abnormal high prices it kinda put me off.
any tips?
btw, anyone interested in 2m/70cm: don't get a baofeng
they break super easy and there's lots of interference.
>btw, anyone interested in 2m/70cm: don't get a baofeng
I purchased one today. Oh well, it was only $20.
Baofeng radios are too powerful to use on FRS and GMRS channels. In fact, Baofeng's are essentially useless for anything but licensed channels. Yes, they will work, but they exceed the power output for non-licensed channels.
I know hardcore hams who use them, they're fine, only interference problems I have are using it close to my computer and they disconnect my USB peripherals, but they're still decent and worth the money
You can listen on websdr.org if you don't want to fuck with transmitting or buying radio equipment.
Phew. Any antenna suggestions? I hear the stock antenna is shitty.
Don't bother with the Pixie kits. I have a few and they do work, but they're pretty awful to use. They don't filter out surrounding signals well, so it's really hard to hear anything. Also, the tuning range isn't very wide. Get a QRP Labs QCX instead. They're $50 and work really well. They have a little key right on the board, plus a 3.5mm audio jack for connecting an external key. I mostly use mine for WSPR and it has gotten from the northeast US to Australia and Antarctica on 40m at 5w. I just use a telescopic whip antenna with a loading coil, which is pretty compact. MFJ sells a morse key for $15 that you can connect to the QCX using the 3.5mm jack. It's definitely more difficult to build than the pixie kits though.
As for the Baofeng, I've never had problems with the two that I have. They're pretty good for new people in my opinion.
this
10 years ago people said it would die in 10 years
3840 is great
>t. pirate radio
you guys make shortwave more fun
I think I will get a licence and never key up. I don't want to talk to these boring fucks about their gout
im thinking of doing a pirate radio with a raspberry pi but i dont really have a need for it and im poor asf.
at this point i pretty much just do aprs
alright, will look into that.
the pixie is only 3 bucks or so, so I thought why not
not sure if I can put up a whip antenna here
also, lots of buildings, so I'm probably better off with a magnetic loop
I use the stock one fine but I'm close to the repeater. Look up the radio on Amazon and it might recommend one that goes with it
New to radio amateur stuff..
Where to start?
look for local clubs
find out what you have to do to get a license in your country
listen in on websdr.org
##hamradio@freenode
personally I did a course which was 6 saturdays long and then took the exam right after.
they covered everything from the test + I met some people with similar interests
Thank you.
>you don't need to know Morse code
You kind of do if you want to actually have a conversation on HF without erecting a tower and dropping a ton of money on a radio and an amp, especially given how the sunspot cycles have been getting worse and worse with the current being the worst since radio waves were discovered. Sure, digital modes that meet or exceed the weak signal performance of morse code do exist, but they are either so limited in how much text you can send that they're worthless for anything beyond scripted exchanges or pretty much unused.
>you can get started for less than $100
Just don't start with a Baofeng or other cheap VHF/UHF radio unless you already know people who you can use it to talk to. If you're interested in VHF/UHF recommend starting with an RTL-SDR as you can scan every band from 10 meters/11 meter CB to past the 23 cm band and see what activity there even is locally. They can also do various digital voice modes which may or may not see much use where you live. I say this because where I live is basically dead on every line of sight band other than CB, with the only amateur radio activity being occasional short conversations about trivial matters that would probably be better communicated via SMS, one net a week that just involves people announcing that they are there, and the occasional Skywarn net during severe thunder storms.
Can't you just use a repeater? There are a ton of them over here
>outdated regulations
Such as? If you say the ban on encryption, that's a good thing as if it didn't exist the bands would be overrun by businesses and people who want to claim what limited bandwidth there is as their own private internet backhaul. If anything kills amateur radio it will be the privacy issues on HF pertaining to new technology with SDRs that can record all HF activity simultaneously being inexpensive, skimmers that can currently convert any and all QSOs in any mode other than phone to text for easy searching by a computer, and crowdsourced TDoA transceiver locating with SDRs becoming available, combined with modern cell phones with their ever increasing coverage and push to talk apps killing off casual VHF/UHF usage. Some Skywarn groups have even stopped using amateur radio gear and moved over to the Zello app due to it being more user friendly than installing a radio in your car.
>FRS/GMRS - you need a license for GMRS and FCC is getting sick of people using store bought radios to transmit on GMRS channels that arent shared with FRS and are forcing manufacturers not to put those channels on the FRS radios so I'd stay away from those, also you're likely to exceed wattage on the FRS channels with a Baofeng if you care.
That's not quite accurate. The FCC did prohibit dual use FRS/GMRS radios, but in doing so they also increased the max ERP for FRS radios to 2 watts and started allowing the use of the additional GMRS channels on FRS radios. Basically all the old blister pack FRS/GMRS radios are now FRS radios.
Yeah, those are where the little activity I mentioned is. I've only ever heard a couple conversations on 2 meter simplex over the past few years.
I get your point about seeing what's going on in your area but an RTL-SDR is almost as much or more than a UV-5R depending on the antenna package.
Serious question: What is the point of these? Outside of learning the technology itself, I don't see any recreational use that can't already be had on the internet.
That's like saying why have sex when you can squirt your semen in a Dixie Cup and she can extrude it into her pussy with a turkey baster.
>but an RTL-SDR is almost as much or more than a UV-5R depending on the antenna package.
That RTL-SDR brand RTL-SDR model with the dipole antenna costs about as much as a UV-5R with no accessories, but it can scan much faster than the UV-5R's pitiful 3 channels per second that can lead to you missing activity and kill your interest early if you live in an area without much activity, can cover frequencies that the UV-5R can't, can handle digital modes lie DMR/D-STAR/YSF/P25 that would set you back hundreds to get dedicated radios for each, can do AM and SSB on the 11 meter band which would set you back another $100+ if you wanted a CB radio with those features, can do band surveys that you can let run all day while you're away and then see what frequencies there was activity on and how much activity there was, and other stuff I forgot. Baofengs are only good as a first choice if you already know about what activity you can expect in your area or have friends to make activity.
Having fun communicating long distances without relying on trillions of dollars worth of infrastructure to transmit whatever it is you want to transmit. Also, when it comes to HF you can have fun building your own equipment as well.
There's all kinds of stuff you can mess around with pretty easily. There's satellite images, pirate satellites, sstv, pocsag, morse code, it's not all about shooting the shit over the air,though listening to some of these guys can be pretty entertaining and informative.Some of the big nets are pretty close to being on the level of professionally produced podcasts. I'm unlicensed, and I do all of the above with a couple of sdrs and a couple small antennas. Listening to police and emergency stuff can be fun too, if you live in a fairly populated area. There's lot's going on that you never hear about.
Got my license in middle school. Fun times.
I own a digital police scanner, that's about the extent on my interest. I used to work in TV news and listening to the scanners was part of my job.
What kind of antenna is this? What would I need to Google to bring it up?
Jeep whip antenna
I have that model, you can scan ham bands on it. Listen in or find the nets in your area, they are /comfy/.
Not that guy but I inherited a ssb setup on a boat that I dick around with very occasionally which is technically illegal.
Marine VHF is almost totally unregulated.
Amateur radio operators are like Pilots, they all have Stockholm syndrome for the feds.
*blocks your path*
Ive used one of these to do the whole ADSB plane thing, its cool but it gets boring fast.
You can also pick up pager messages, they are not encrypted
>Be cop
>Using unencrypted digital
fug I am buying that thing as soon as it's out
will pair nicely with the IC-7300 on my desk already and let me start fucking about with all the interesting VHF/UHF shit like moonbounce