Any Ham Radio experts out there?

[Hilltop]

Looking for recommendations on a base station setup

[Yummyrum]

Been a lot of years for me since I had a ZL3T.. callsign but ....

What are you licenced for ? HF , VHF/UHF

Do you just want to chat on the local Repeaters or DX ,sorry I aren't up with the current trend in Commercial Rigs. but a few more clues might help spur someone into responding .

[Hoosier Shine9]

Been a lot of years for me since I had a ZL3T.. callsign but ....

What are you licenced for ? HF , VHF/UHF

Do you just want to chat on the local Repeaters or DX ,sorry I aren't up with the current trend in Commercial Rigs. but a few more clues might help spur someone into responding .

ditto
What are you wanting to do?
HF, VHF, UHF, DX, Local Repeaters......

KB9 land
73's

[The Baker]

I started on a crystal set and didn't get much further.

Geoff

[Hilltop]

Been a lot of years for me since I had a ZL3T.. callsign but ....

What are you licenced for ? HF , VHF/UHF

Do you just want to chat on the local Repeaters or DX ,sorry I aren't up with the current trend in Commercial Rigs. but a few more clues might help spur someone into responding .

No license, as I'm still looking at radios. I wanna chat from coast to coast. Im not up to date on any of it yet. DX, Repeaters are like a foreign language at this point. I want a base station not a hand held with range enough to chat all 48 states if possible. Info on books to learn, License info, Radio recommendations etc are appreciated

[OtisT]

di di di / da da da / di da di / di da di / da di da da // da di da di / di da / da di / da // di di di di / di / di da di di / di da da di //

da di di di / di / di / da di // da / da da da / da da da // di da di di / da da da / da di / da da di //

da da da / da / di di / di di di

[Hoosier Shine9]

di di di / da da da / di da di / di da di / da di da da // da di da di / di da / da di / da // di di di di / di / di da di di / di da da di //

da di di di / di / di / da di // da / da da da / da da da // di da di di / da da da / da di / da da di //

da da da / da / di di / di di di

Otis,
that took me too long to translate, haven't played with that since 1990 when I got my novice (old school when they had 5 licenses).

[Hilltop]

di di di / da da da / di da di / di da di / da di da da // da di da di / di da / da di / da // di di di di / di / di da di di / di da da di //

da di di di / di / di / da di // da / da da da / da da da // di da di di / da da da / da di / da da di //

da da da / da / di di / di di di

Lol! Is that Swahili? French maybe? Radical Liberals Morse code perhaps? Or did you pass out with a jar leaning over the keyboard!!!! This ham radio may be to advanced for me as I steer away from psychedelic substances like LSD, I did try a glass of mushroom tea in my youth, never again!! I laughed so hard for so many hours I thought my gut was gonna fall out. Its just whisky and coffee for me nowdays, yep I'm pretty boring, but alive .

[OtisT]

di di di / da da da / di da di / di da di / da di da da // da di da di / di da / da di / da // di di di di / di / di da di di / di da da di //

da di di di / di / di / da di // da / da da da / da da da // di da di di / da da da / da di / da da di //

da da da / da / di di / di di di

Lol! Is that Swahili? French maybe? Radical Liberals Morse code perhaps? Or did you pass out with a jar leaning over the keyboard!!!! This ham radio may be to advanced for me as I steer away from psychedelic substances like LSD, I did try a glass of mushroom tea in my youth, never again!! I laughed so hard for so many hours I thought my gut was gonna fall out. Its just whisky and coffee for me nowdays, yep I'm pretty boring, but alive .

What? You don't need to learn Morse code these days to get a ham license? Di and Da are shortened versions of Dot and Dash that you can say more smoothly when speaking Morse code. I had to learn that to get my license back in the late 70s. My dad was a combat signalman in the pacific during WWII, special forces before special forces existed, and we always had ham and CB radios on at home and in the shop. He taught me Morse code so I could get our ham license at 12 or 13 years old.

Funny story: A few years after WWII my dad was applying for some form of radiomen job in LA. He was in a lobby with dozens of other folks all milling about, waiting to be interviewed, with some soft music playing in the room. A few folks left the room but no one was called in for an interview yet. My dad finally noticed that in all the background noise was the gentle di and da of code coming across the sound system, mixed in with the music. It said to say nothing and to go through a specific door. He, along with the others who noticed the code got the jobs.

da da da / da / di di / di di di

[Hilltop]

Lol! pays to pay attention. Think I'm gonna stick with the kind you talk into though. Any advice on a base unit

[OtisT]

Lol! pays to pay attention. Think I'm gonna stick with the kind you talk into though. Any advice on a base unit

Sorry. been too long and anything I used to think was cool is probably shit now. Best of luck.

[Hoosier Shine9]

Hilltop
go to ARRL.com (American Radio Relay League)
they have lots of information on there.
You Might want to see if there is anyplace close to you that is offering "classes" for the license. The Red Cross in some areas is fairly cooperative too.
or look for "strange" license plates as an example..... W1AW...... That is the call sign for the ARRL. And if they are in a parking lot and the person is there ask if there is a local club. they may know

good luck
73's

[Hoosier Shine9]

Otis,
only 3 licenses now.....
Technician
General
Extra

and NO CODE EVER.....
not sure how I feel about it but.........

73's
from 9 land

[Yummyrum]

Hilltop
Seeing as you don't have a license yet and it will take a while to get one , may I suggest you get hold of an old Communications reciever and just gwt a feel for the HF band before you go spending several grand on a Rig .
There are lots of good old ones that are even 30 years old that will recieve pretty much as good as a new one and can be had for often nothing or a token amount . Kenwood R1000 or Yuasu FRG7 or FRG7000 were ledgendary .
Here's a couple I acquired lately . One was at the Tip ( free ) the other I picked up for $25 .Both work fine You can never have too many Monitor receivers . Even thou these two are old , they still look pretty good , you wouldn't kick'm out of bed for farting .

If you want to talk all across the country and possibly abroad then HF is the go as it uses bounce off the Ionosphere for the most part but it varies throughout the day and night . Somebands are better than others as the day changes .Signals are always varying and fade occurs as the Ionosphere changes . If you think you can just pick up the mic and talk then you maybe a bit dissapointed . This is why I strongly recommend haveing a good listen first .

On the otherhand VHF and UHF repeaters allow near perfect and guaranteed contact anytime ... but the range is usually limited to around a 50-100km radius .... fine if you are in a city .

Don't get me wrong , you can transmit long distances on VHF but you will need a pretty high power Transmitter and a bloody big antenna array . When I operated in New Zealand , I had a regular Sked with another Ham . We both had similar setups , a Rotatable 4x 10 element array ,100watt linears and reciever preamps . He lived on one side of the country and I on the other with the southern Alps between us . That was on 144MHz

VHF can also travel long distance via a rare phenomena called Tropospheric ducting and some of us had TV receivers and antennas pointing to Australia several thousand Kms over the sea . On random times you would see the Aussie TV Channels appear and you would spend hours hoping for a contact on VHF .




I guess what I'm trying to say is there are many facets to Ham radio ,some will tickle your fancy and others won't .
Like was mentioned , hook up with a local Ham Radio club . They will be able to allow you some first hand experience and maybe hook you up with a bit of gear so you get a taste .

[Hilltop]

Hilltop
Seeing as you don't have a license yet and it will take a while to get one , may I suggest you get hold of an old Communications reciever and just gwt a feel for the HF band before you go spending several grand on a Rig .
There are lots of good old ones that are even 30 years old that will recieve pretty much as good as a new one and can be had for often nothing or a token amount . Kenwood R1000 or Yuasu FRG7 or FRG7000 were ledgendary .
Here's a couple I acquired lately . One was at the Tip ( free ) the other I picked up for $25 .Both work fine You can never have too many Monitor receivers . Even thou these two are old , they still look pretty good , you wouldn't kick'm out of bed for farting .

Communication recievers.jpg

If you want to talk all across the country and possibly abroad then HF is the go as it uses bounce off the Ionosphere for the most part but it varies throughout the day and night . Somebands are better than others as the day changes .Signals are always varying and fade occurs as the Ionosphere changes . If you think you can just pick up the mic and talk then you maybe a bit dissapointed . This is why I strongly recommend haveing a good listen first .

On the otherhand VHF and UHF repeaters allow near perfect and guaranteed contact anytime ... but the range is usually limited to around a 50-100km radius .... fine if you are in a city .

Don't get me wrong , you can transmit long distances on VHF but you will need a pretty high power Transmitter and a bloody big antenna array . When I operated in New Zealand , I had a regular Sked with another Ham . We both had similar setups , a Rotatable 4x 10 element array ,100watt linears and reciever preamps . He lived on one side of the country and I on the other with the southern Alps between us . That was on 144MHz

VHF can also travel long distance via a rare phenomena called Tropospheric ducting and some of us had TV receivers and antennas pointing to Australia several thousand Kms over the sea . On random times you would see the Aussie TV Channels appear and you would spend hours hoping for a contact on VHF .




I guess what I'm trying to say is there are many facets to Ham radio ,some will tickle your fancy and others won't .
Like was mentioned , hook up with a local Ham Radio club . They will be able to allow you some first hand experience and maybe hook you up with a bit of gear so you get a taste .

Thanks Yummy, Hoosier and Otis. It appears I need to study this some more.

[Scottish auld balrog]

73's from GM land. Gave up the key over 20 years ago. Was an RTG to trade (shows age now )

No licence, no problem, 27Mhz SSB (Not FM ) or that band about 10Mhz CW still open used to be loads of sidebanders in my day back in the mid 1980's. Keep off 6.6Mhz though.
You had to make your own gear back in my day, or get old military stuff, RAF WWII amplifiers were handy, 1.2KW, made them CQ calls heard when Italy was active.
Computer QRM/QRN made me go QRT, computers killed the hobby as did TV's with no EMC

Amazing to look back and see so many new countries now, Europe has changed a bit, map has changed a bit too.
73's de
SAB