Alright, I'll get into this!

[crockett]

Since Trump was banned on all his outlets and big tech is now destroying Parler in order to remove yet another form of communication for conservatives, and conservatives being banned and censored left and right, I have decided to fall back on a backup / alternative form of communication by learning for the Technician and General license!

Ordered both books and will try to buy my first radio tomorrow, the Kenwood TH-D74A, before they all sell out. Kenwood stopped production on these because the audio chip plant burned down not too long ago. While this is one of the most expensive handhelds radios, I want quality and features right away. I hate having to upgrade. Buy once, cry once.

I also need to buy this first radio before passing the test, in order to commit myself to following through. Once I have spent 600 bucks, there is no way back.

Further down the road I will install a dipole antenna in my attic with another home based radio, for anything long range.

 

[Historian]

Sweet!   A couple of us have been serious ham radio operators for years.  

Anyway.  I love the hobby.  I have logged over 100 countries and all 50 states.  

You might want to learn about the ARRL and ARES groups.   Both are excellent organizations.

For testing i like Ham Tests Online as a test system help in your efforts to get your ticket.

The important thing with a hand held is to know where you local repeaters are and know how to program your radio.

RF Finder is a good product for that.    I can program a radio in about 2 minutes with data from that website.

Edited January 11, 2021 by Historian

[Historian]

One interesting thing to note:  If you join the ARRL you have access to all their publications.  They have a fantastic magazine for people breaking into the hobby,

[Historian]

Interesting you should find an interest in this type of radio.  We have more licensed hams today than ever before.

Something amazing to note is how much I starting to hear with the political climate how much this may be a vital tool for communication in general.

[Walt Longmire]

I have a licensed marine radio. Also CB radios in my KW and pickup with another I can use as a home base in the house but it isn't set up right now. Could be up and running in a few minutes.

[Walt Longmire]

Also have a couple of scanners although they are old ones.

[Historian]

50 minutes ago, Walt Longmire said:

Also have a couple of scanners although they are old ones.

They likely still work just fine.   The freqs don't change too often.

As for the CBs they can be very useful in their scope. 

[crockett]

I tried to get that Kenwood THD74A and missed out on the last opportunities by just a week.

Kenwood's audio chip manufacturer had a massive 4 day lasting fire at their plant and there is no other maker, so they discontinued this radio and a bunch of other related products. Its now sold out everywhere, demand was extremely high when customers found out that they will be gone soon.

I'll keep an eye on eBay for now because I really want this handheld. I had great luck with Kenwood products in the past and this little radio gets me excited for now. I need something I can start fiddling with. 

 

[Fog]

I have CB's in all the vehicles. We travel some very remote roads, no cell signal for miles, but every truck on them "has their ears on."

In the family car I have a CB that also has SSB. My understanding is I need a license to use the SSB? I also believe it has longer range? Never used it, wanted a unit that would scan the CB channels and it came with SSB. 

I used to work with the local ham club a little bit, they ran communications for major incidents, or at least showed up and were available. I know they were a godsend for SAR in the canyons. One guy had a backpack repeater with solar panels he would deploy on a rim and it would let the teams "in the dark" have comms.

One thing I remember was that they had modems they linked to radios, allowing computers to communicate over very long ranges. Data rate was pretty low with UHF.

We certainly need to get control of the backbone so that they can't keep cutting people off.

[Historian]

17 minutes ago, Fog said:

 

In the family car I have a CB that also has SSB. My understanding is I need a license to use the SSB? I also believe it has longer range? Never used it, wanted a unit that would scan the CB channels and it came with SSB.

 

Interesting.   You might need the license for the SSB operation but we would need to know what frequency that on. 

Who made the CB?  And what model is it?

If it's on a ham band you are likely to get more range out of it.

 

[Historian]

28 minutes ago, crockett said:

I tried to get that Kenwood THD74A and missed out on the last opportunities by just a week.

Kenwood's audio chip manufacturer had a massive 4 day lasting fire at their plant and there is no other maker, so they discontinued this radio and a bunch of other related products. Its now sold out everywhere, demand was extremely high when customers found out that they will be gone soon.

I'll keep an eye on eBay for now because I really want this handheld. I had great luck with Kenwood products in the past and this little radio gets me excited for now. I need something I can start fiddling with. 

 

Ebay is a great place to look for used equipment.   You might also look around EHam.com and QRZ.com and see if you can find it there.

That radio does D-Star.  You could trunk yourself to the internet with that radio if you had a repeater or hot spot.

 

[Fog]

2 hours ago, Historian said:

Interesting.   You might need the license for the SSB operation but we would need to know what frequency that on. 

Who made the CB?  And what model is it?

If it's on a ham band you are likely to get more range out of it.

 

It's a President McKinley

https://www.amazon.com/President-McKinley-USA-Channel-Radio/dp/B01N0A8GO2/ref=sr_1_1?crid=301PIXG6GWQXB&dchild=1&keywords=president+mckinley+cb+radio&qid=1610399197&s=electronics&sprefix=president+%2Celectronics%2C234&sr=1-1

 

We only take a few trips a year, never needed the radio, but a few times I've had in on going into a storm just to listen to what the truckers were saying. 

I like it overall. Other rigs have uniden or cobra, and a couple have old radio shack units. They all work for talking to other nearby CB's, listening to log trucks call out markers, or talking to the loader in the rock pit.

[crockett]

3 hours ago, Historian said:

Ebay is a great place to look for used equipment.   You might also look around EHam.com and QRZ.com and see if you can find it there.

That radio does D-Star.  You could trunk yourself to the internet with that radio if you had a repeater or hot spot.

 

 

Not going to use digital, want it for 3 band and being able to program it easily on a computer. My setup is supposed to be a backup to all other commutation methods I have, hence if the internet and cell networks either get censored, cut off, or destroyed.

Back to the roots.

[Historian]

12 minutes ago, Fog said:

It's a President McKinley

https://www.amazon.com/President-McKinley-USA-Channel-Radio/dp/B01N0A8GO2/ref=sr_1_1?crid=301PIXG6GWQXB&dchild=1&keywords=president+mckinley+cb+radio&qid=1610399197&s=electronics&sprefix=president+%2Celectronics%2C234&sr=1-1

 

We only take a few trips a year, never needed the radio, but a few times I've had in on going into a storm just to listen to what the truckers were saying. 

I like it overall. Other rigs have uniden or cobra, and a couple have old radio shack units. They all work for talking to other nearby CB's, listening to log trucks call out markers, or talking to the loader in the rock pit.

Wow.  That is not your average CB radio.

40 AM and 80 SSB Channels- 40 AM, 40 Upper Side Band, 40 Lower Side Band

So it's a standard CB radio.   But you can use upper or lower side band...but its all CB...so you don't need a license for it.

 

 

[Historian]

6 minutes ago, crockett said:

 

Not going to use digital, want it for 3 band and being able to program it easily on a computer. My setup is supposed to be a backup to all other commutation methods I have, hence if the internet and cell networks either get censored, cut off, or destroyed.

Back to the roots.

Buddy of mine wrote a book on hardening your radio gear from EMPs if you want to go that far.

There are many digital modes you might be interested in.   I can send email via my radios.   Images as well.   I can also chat with people.  Those listening can't understand what's being passed but could read it with a PC.

Winlink...

 

[Fog]

1 minute ago, Historian said:

Wow.  That is not your average CB radio.

40 AM and 80 SSB Channels- 40 AM, 40 Upper Side Band, 40 Lower Side Band

So it's a standard CB radio.   But you can use upper or lower side band...but its all CB...so you don't need a license for it.

 

 

Thanks.

It's probably wasted on me. I just read reviews and knew I wanted scanning, I also wanted it to be high quality, good sound etc. 

Talked to a couple truckers and they recommended President. 

So that is how I ended up with it.

[Historian]

Just now, Fog said:

Thanks.

It's probably wasted on me. I just read reviews and knew I wanted scanning, I also wanted it to be high quality, good sound etc. 

Talked to a couple truckers and they recommended President. 

So that is how I ended up with it.

It's not lost.  In fact it's quiet interesting.   Never realized they were making CBS with this function.  

What you can do with it is work the top or bottom of the band...and those on the other side won't hear you.  It's a way of sharing the space.

The truckers were not kidding.  That's a nice CB.

[Historian]

[syntaxerrorsix]

Someone has to say it, buying a model that is discontinued BEFORE you bought it means that support will be limited.

 

As a first radio a mobile will serve you better.  It gives you more power and more options for the same or less money.

 

I'm a Kenwood guy myself but I wouldn't buy ~$600 HT for any reason in the world.  

 

A good first radio that you can use at home or in a vehicle?  Kenwood TM-V71A.  Widely available, parts are easy to come by.  50W, easy to program without software, tried and true.

 

 

Oh and BTW, there is no such thing as buy once cry once when it comes to Ham gear.

 

An HT should be one of the last things a ham gets not the first IMO and certainly not one over ~$200.  

 

 

Edited February 3, 2021 by syntaxerrorsix

[Historian]

38 minutes ago, syntaxerrorsix said:

Oh and BTW, there is no such thing as buy once cry once when it comes to Ham gear.

An HT should be one of the last things a ham gets not the first IMO and certainly not one over ~$200.  

Lot of truth on that concept of buy once cry once...things change.   My beloved Yeasu 857D is not for retail anymore.  They still support it but i think in about four years that will be over.   Still a great rig.  I've talked to the world with it.

Never hard anyone complain about Kenwood. Usually its the reverse.  People love their radios.

May have mentioned i have a Yeasu 2980R as a base station rig. 80 Watts max.  The thing i a sledge hammer.  I hit repeaters 40 miles away with ease.

I am really looking at using my HT with an Spot of some kind.  That would allow you to talk to the world with an HT on D-Star, Fusion, etc.

[syntaxerrorsix]

39 minutes ago, Historian said:

Lot of truth on that concept of buy once cry once...things change.   My beloved Yeasu 857D is not for retail anymore.  They still support it but i think in about four years that will be over.   Still a great rig.  I've talked to the world with it.

Never hard anyone complain about Kenwood. Usually its the reverse.  People love their radios.

May have mentioned i have a Yeasu 2980R as a base station rig. 80 Watts max.  The thing i a sledge hammer.  I hit repeaters 40 miles away with ease.

I am really looking at using my HT with an Spot of some kind.  That would allow you to talk to the world with an HT on D-Star, Fusion, etc.

DMR is going to be the standard IMO but with a hot spot you can use pretty much any proprietary digital you like.

 

I use repeaters more than P2P but analog P2P commo is what got me into ham.  Anything that relies on the internet to be functional seems like cheating but I understand the appeal.  I've got a DMR and an NXDN HT so I get it, still it's cheating

[Historian]

30 minutes ago, syntaxerrorsix said:

DMR is going to be the standard IMO but with a hot spot you can use pretty much any proprietary digital you like.

 

I use repeaters more than P2P but analog P2P commo is what got me into ham.  Anything that relies on the internet to be functional seems like cheating but I understand the appeal.  I've got a DMR and an NXDN HT so I get it, still it's cheating

It's totally cheating.  But i like an unfair advantage.  

My FT100 can pipe directly to the PC without a repeater...using Fusion i can pop up on a repeater anywhere in the world.     Not a lot of skill in learning how to do it.  Also not exactly great in case of a disaster.  But you can always find someone to talk to.  Even with a tech license you can work large sections of the world. 

I'm not sure who the winner is going to be in the digital radio world.   My bet is you'll have radios that do DMR-DSTAR and FUSION all in one.

Anyway.  I got interested in it because i was working with VOIP technology at work and i wanted to know more about the workings.

[syntaxerrorsix]

1 minute ago, Historian said:

It's totally cheating.  But i like an unfair advantage.  

My FT100 can pipe directly to the PC without a repeater...using Fusion i can pop up on a repeater anywhere in the world.     Not a lot of skill in learning how to do it.  Also not exactly great in case of a disaster.  But you can always find someone to talk to.  Even with a tech license you can work large sections of the world. 

I'm not sure who the winner is going to be in the digital radio world.   My bet is you'll have radios that do DMR-DSTAR and FUSION all in one.

Anyway.  I got interested in it because i was working with VOIP technology at work and i wanted to know more about the workings.

Most of my day is spent mobile although I have 1.5 shacks at the house. EME and working satellites can be pretty fun but it's too much like contesting for me.  

[Historian]

1 minute ago, syntaxerrorsix said:

Most of my day is spent mobile although I have 1.5 shacks at the house. EME and working satellites can be pretty fun but it's too much like contesting for me.  

Tell me more about how you work the birds.  I'm very interested in this.   I have done it just not as a ham.  in fact, i set up the system at our SO/EOC for internet communications via sats.

Great project.

[syntaxerrorsix]

1 hour ago, Historian said:

Tell me more about how you work the birds.  I'm very interested in this.   I have done it just not as a ham.  in fact, i set up the system at our SO/EOC for internet communications via sats.

Great project.

FT-60 with an Arrow Ant is the go to rig. Gpredict and a lensatic compass for flight path.  Using a duplexer and a split lets me use one radio for up and down and then I run 5 channels off freq to adjust for the Doppler shift.

 

 

I'd like to mount it on a rotor and pipe it into one of the shacks.

 

This is the half a shack out in the shop...

 

 

 

This is the current office shack.

 

 

 

 

A prime example of there being no such thing as buy once cry once in regards to radio

 

 

Edited February 3, 2021 by syntaxerrorsix