Help me with My interest in Ham Radio

Re: Help me with My interest in Ham Radio

You can spend as much as you can afford. Ham radio is next to boats and horses, as hobby expenses go.
Have to get your license first. Hamfests sell new and used gear, so you can enter with less than $500

VHF & UHF bands are mostly line of sight @ 5 watts power. Many local clubs set up repeaters on hilltops, and you can relay from there, to somewhere else. Often, small antennas.

HF works on ionosphere bounce, and that varys with sunspots, which are in short supply right now. I've talked East coast to West coast with 5W and a whip antenna, under the right conditions. Another day, 30 miles is good with 500W. Very condition dependent, and antennas are LARGE.

Re: Help me with My interest in Ham Radio

halfcrazy,
i thought i'd forward my last post from the other thread to here and eliminate it from the other one.

Re: xantrex xw 60 mppt CC
halfcrazy,
i wouldn't worry too much about the noise production for the antenna is the primary point it may be picked up from even though others are possible. most do not have a problem and most antennas are not inside with the solar equipment as bb had indicated he gets interference on the am broadcast band within 10ft of his garage and i think that's the same area his solar equipment is located. the am broadcast band could give you a rough idea if you have a problem and from what piece of equipment just by shutting off that piece of equipment and see the interference go away. i have an sb50 with a modsine inverter and my ability to communicate was not compromised from noise from them as i had no indication there was any decernable noise from them. i do admit that i did not conduct a thorough search for any noise either, but as long as it didn't stop my communications, then why fix something that doesn't need fixed? most interference will generally lessen as you go higher in frquency too, but there can be isolated strong spikes as you've read.
although i roughly gave you some info on ham recently in your revealing of your possible interest in ham radio, you did not say what your interests in it will encompass. are you looking to talk to europe or australia or just talk locally with other hams? most will do both, but it also depends on the license class and band of operation among other things. do know that the long distance stuff is dependant on the solar cycle, time of day, power levels, mode of operation, and the band of operation along with the weather sometimes, which if you'd like to know more about it i can help you with it some. there are other hams on this forum as well and they are invited to indicate if they have any problems with their operations, to what degree, and from what. right now halfcrazy, you don't know if there is a problem that would stop you and in most cases where there is a problem, it is usually isolated enough to certain bands or frequencies so it will not stop you from using ham radio.

Re: Help me with My interest in Ham Radio

to all,
this thread is off the beaten path a bit, but many ham stations will use solar for backup power for those times of emergency and nonemergency alike. this thread is being allowed by me because of the number of hams present here, because i too am one, and because it's a good fit together. many of you may not understand this aspect and you don't have to, but this particular thread is going more into the aspect of ham radio than solar just so you are aware.

halfcrazy,
in addition, i'll say most will start at just technician and talk locally (less than 50 mile radius and through repeaters usually) using fm on the vhf/uhf bands, but other methods of transmission are open to you as well. these other transmitting modes usually involve more money for the radio involved(even for used radios) in addition to more antennas to cover horizontally polarized communications. there are some exceptions as techs can use 10 meter ssb (single sideband which has 2 parts, upper {usb} and lower {lsb}) as well for long distances during stronger portions of 11yr solar cycles. same goes for 6 meters, but this is a vhf band with some hf characteristics. there are also cw sections (morse code) of hf available to technicians that give greater distances.
this is difficult to condense, but for more reliable communications beyond that 50 mile rough estimate (note that it is possible to talk farther than this on vhf/uhf with the right equipment and antennas) most get a general (or better) class license to gain a great deal of hf priviledges. the antennas get bigger as you go lower in frequency and all of the bands are referenced to in meters (i failed to mention before in my references) as well as in frequency. generally, the hf radios get a bit bigger and pricier.
for new stuff there are many places you can shop at and is usually mailordered, but at hamfests (flea market for hams) it is possible to see/buy some of this stuff in person as well as get some used stuff. many do license testing at these events also and are called ve sessions. you can check for dates and places for arrl sponsored hamfests at http://www.arrl.org/hamfests.html#listing most of the hamfests require a fee to enter btw and is usually like about $5, but some are more. not all of these events they list are the big good ones and some are non arrl (amateur radio relay league) so it may be an advantage for you to find a guy in your neighborhood to help in advising you as well. if you go to one of these hamfests try to seek out somebody that can help you get into it. these are sometimes clubs and you don't have to join a club (or a repeater either once licensed) if you don't want to and some may try talking you into doing that. it's not a bad thing to join them, but i just wanted you to know it's not required of you.
enough for now as my wife said i've got to go to the store.:roll:

Re: Help me with My interest in Ham Radio

Hi Half ..

Just discovered this thread. Most of what I'd want to say has been said, but my 2.5 c:

A local club might be a great way to start before you get your license. A Tech license is a fine place to start, then you can get on VHF, 2 Meters lets say, and talk with others in your area. Perhaos some local club member will invite you to her/his location for some demos which will allow you to refine your interests.

Sounds to me that your interests would be best filled with the General class or Extra calss license, as these give essentially full access to the Ham bands.

In one earlier post you were concerned about your Noise generation. For FM work, usually the noise problems are greatly reduced, but not eleimnated.

I have a noise sensitivity as the ONLY reason for my off-grid site to exist is for Hamming. Am interested in very long-distance communication. The background noise level at the site, without my power equipment is nonexistant -- none. (except for noise from the Sun and Lightning Static). SSOOO my mission has been to design the systems for minimum noise gnereation or at least minimum noise radiation. Most ham operators in town have noise power levels thousands of times higher than my off-grid location, so at this point most of the easy things have been done.

SSOO I would not worry about any noise issue at your location, until it limits what you are trying to do on your radio.

And, Half Crazy, you are a technical person, so you will have no trouble, I am sure with the tests. Good Luck, Have Fun, Vic K6IC

Re: Help me with My interest in Ham Radio

Great ! Glad you're still interested 1/2 !

The more the merrier, especially R.E. people on the HF bands. The last few years
have been bad for propagation due to the low sun spots but I think things are
starting to come back now.

I worked Belgium from the car on the way into work today BTW so it isn't all that bad now. Now, If I could just get a good connection with Vic, K6IC down in California....

boB

Re: Help me with My interest in Ham Radio

boB, Neil, not sure if you guys are aware or don't care, simple look up on your call sign, I can zoom onto your roof top.
GP

Re: Help me with My interest in Ham Radio

GreenerPower wrote: »

boB, Neil, not sure if you guys are aware or don't care, simple look up on your call sign, I can zoom onto your roof top.
GP

Yea, that's one thing I don't like. That's why when I moved, I never updated my address with the FCC.

Re: Help me with My interest in Ham Radio

halfcrazy,
glad to hear you are picking back up on this. as to a radio you can get the big multiband radios with everything all in one package like boB and myself have or go with some separation like hf at home and 2mtrs in the car with a mobile radio and ht or just an ht if the repeaters are close enough. the filling of the needs are more variable in ham than they are in renewables so more input from you may be needed.
as gp pointed out and i mentioned to you as well, much info can be obtained by a callsign so if you don't want everybody here that access then don't place your callsign here in the forum when you get it.

gp,
i'm aware of it. are you a ham?

icarus,
hardly anybody uses am anymore. there are a few die hards on 160 or 75mtrs, but most use either fm (10mtrs and up) or ssb nowadays. edit to add that there are digital modes available as well for computer lovers.

Re: Help me with My interest in Ham Radio

Niel,

Nobody used AM when we used this!

It was our "emergency" radio when I was growing up! We had no phone, and the fancy radio was a '60s vintage Collins S line. My father kept the Dx 100 for emergencies. (actually had to use it once or twice,,, drew about 2 kw to power up!)

Tony

Re: Help me with My interest in Ham Radio

Correction,, not a boat anchor,,, but rather a ship anchor!

Tony

Re: Help me with My interest in Ham Radio

myocardia,
sorry, but every time the power goes out or you lose your isp connection there isn't any digital communication via the net. do you think during emergencies that all they did was use their computer or make a telephone call be it landline or cell? think again. don't get me wrong as what we do with the net and even cell phones are nice and even convenient, but they are highly vulnerable and unreliable. as a ham i was privy to direct communication with the national weather service during emergency weather conditions and i was able to keep abreast of the general circumstances being faced even if i had no power.
not everybody will like radio and that's fine as not everybody likes solar either. different strokes for different folks, but don't ever say radio is not needed and is replaced by the net as that's pretty far from the truth.