Need help on portable ham radios!

No, they work both inbound and outbound. You can broadcast -- but if you get caught you could get fined. I think the fines are fairly hefty as well.

And HAM operators are proud of their licenses so... they will probably rat you out.

No fine for listening though :-)

greetings, I am a HAM radio operator.

You need the technician class HAM liscense to get started. You will need to contact your local HAM radio club and see when they offer testing.

Test, and join the club if you want.

Its not a difficult test but you will need to study beforehand, There are many good free study guides online, dont buy one.

Once you get your Liscense from the FCC go ahead and buy a radio.

If you want a handheld go with the Yaesu VX6 or something else made my Yaesu, if you want a Mobile unit for the car or house go with the Yaesu FT2900R which puts out 75 watts of power.

These are 2 meter radios which are most commonly used, and will be the most help for local disasters.

Hope I helped

They will transmit in the ham band and out of it (on frequencies used by MARS and other government organizations)

The fine for transmitting without a license is usually a $10,000 notice of apparent liability and siezure of equipment, and i can assure u, u will be caught pretty quick usually

Just get the license it is easy to get the tech license to use those... I took tech, general, and extra all in the same year with just a little bit fo studying

for tecnicianh just watch the videos on [link to www.hamwhisperer.com]


by the way u might want to check out the wouxun radios... i prefer them to the baofengs when it comes to chinese handhelds

if u want a REALLY nice radio get a Kenwood TH-F6A, which can transmit on 3 bands instead of 2 and has wideband recieve all the way down into the HF bands

73's

The ONLY way you can transmit with these is WITH an amateur license and THEN only in the 2 meter band (144 MHz).
These will transmit in the public service bands but when you get caught they WILL tase you.

nice site!

I have looked at this one as well...
[link to www.hamradiolicenseexam.com]

might add that the cost of testing and licensing is under $20
then you renew it every 5 years for free

there is NO excuse for you to EVER press the transmit button without being licensed FIRST

after you're licensed you will get a CALLSIGN which you will have to use to identify yourself as a licensed station during conversations every 10 minutes

the questions are a common sense based multiple choice
anybody able to tie their shoes can pass after reading the question-and-answer book once

it also discusses your safety when using an RF transmitter
so don't ignore it or you'll do permanent damage to your body

you can get free apps for your android phone or tablet with all questions and answers and simulated exam

you can 'modify'/ program that radio to also transmit on MURS and FRS frequencies where you do NOT need a license if you don't exceed certain power levels

if you think you can use ham radio frequencies unlicensed without using proper callsign you will be potentially found in a matter of minutes , even if it's an "emergency"
- and I'm not just saying it to scare you or whatever
it happens quite often
you might not be fined right away but but if you do it again you'll be very surprised when the letter comes with a

" Notice of apparent liability for a monetary forfeiture"
LO LOL

Hams use so called "offical observers" who's self appointed "job" is to track down bootleggers (unlicensed users)
they don't get paid, they do it for satisfaction and technical fun so you can't hide, just can't
they're dedicated mega nerd geeks worse that government agents, trust me, I know a few

hams participate in fox hunts where the object is to find a hidden transmitter in a large geographic area

just to make it more fun the transmitter transmits for very short time at varying power levels with often directional antennas to confuse readings and cause additional reflections etc etc

you can be found in a matter of minutes or seconds literally , same with any radio transmitting device

so

get a license, learn and have fun the right way

Op, if you care to state the city you are near I will post your local club or class /exam schedule for you

you will meet nice people, learn useful things and maybe even make friends

so what good would a ham radio be if the shit hits the fan, the gooberment can find you in seconds

well first of all if its that bad, they will be the only thing that works



but there are also ways of controlling your signal like using directional antennas, variable takeoff angles, and antennas such as NVIS antennas to control exactly where it is heard

How about Fort Worth, TX?

[link to www.dfwlist.org]

You could buy it and just go pirate radio. Fuck the licence.

foxhunters take pleasure turning people like that in to the FCC and whatever canadian organization is its equivalent

I just `lurv' people like you- I hone my foxhunting skills on ya

;-)

The proliferation of cheap handhelds on ebay from China has had one positive effect, I get plenty of practise rdf'ing them

(and I always drop the local RI's a line where I found em, complete with recordings and usually a pic of the offender using the radio to boot)

You can legally buy these handhelds (in some places only)BUT....

They have a very limited range without an external antenna or repeater- 3 to 5km tops in many cases

They are pretty much useless as a tx without the appropriate lisc, and should the SHTF, they remain pretty much the same

A `DECENT' 2m rig will get you line of sight (anywhere from 1km to 100km, depending on local conditions) 70cm pretty much the same...

A rig like my old kenwood (covers 1.5 to 28mhz) has with a roll of wire and a couple of trees, it gets worldwide capability, or with a small whip instead as much range as a 2m or 70cm rig

(admittedly, I have both a couple of `decent' 2m and 70cm rigs and I even have a cheap uv3r- its got a flashlight, I can listen to the local fm radio station as well as the 2m repeater and the local cops uhf channel and it cost me under 30 bucks brand new- less than a pack of smokes)

The portable Yaesu's VX-2 & VX-7R (i have both) have drop-dead beautiful scanning capability including conventional police, fire, EMS, coast guard, NOAA weather, built in altimeter etc...

did you say ham?

I frequently listen at night but once considered getting a license etc, but I have no intention of spending hours in a ham shack blabbing about useless crap and if TSHTF I am going to be more concerned about saving my own ass rather than blabbing on the radio.
Just sayin.

half the time i spend on my radio is talking about doom with people, there are many emergency nets, ARES (amateur radio emergency service) and RACES (radio amateur civil emergency service) nets, lots of people who have radios for shtf to talk to, and alot of people broadcasting info you will not hear on the news in distater situations, as well as the national weater service storm spotters (i am one) reporting conditions with no delay like TV and commerrcial radio

for example during hurricane irene there were spotters all over the northeast reporting conditions on the ground, i even heard a guy that was on the second floor of his house because his first floor flooded with a car battery and a QRP HF rig...

another reason to get it is if the internet goes (or gets shut) down... the backup to that is HSMM-MESH if you have a ham license... can convert linksys routers to connect to an AD-HOC network and with hi-gain antennas connect to others over 10 miles away with factory power output and much longer with a 2.4ghz amplifier

I do listen but I still have to wonder how much good it will really do if the grid goes down and things are in chaos and people will have a main priority of looking after their own butts instead of talking to someone rather far away that couldn't help them anyway. I will monitor SW at least to see how many are still alive if their is a nuke or nuke EMP while I sit and eat beans etc. cooked over my propane stove. BTW.....I have one or two backup receivers wrappedand protected against EMP. I guess all we can do is wait and see.

I have 3 of thebuggers I bought one dropped it a few times and it went a bit deaf but bought 2 more and they work very well.

In a doo doo hit fan moment a licence is the last thing any one will ask for. Just look at the books about radio codes and etiquette and the radio is a good tool.