I am new to this ham thing and getting a mobile transciever for my M1009 Blazer. Thinking Yaesu FTM-350 AR. Like idea of APRS and packet. Pappas and I live in the mountains and need to be able to communicate.... All the time. Any thoughts, experience, suggestions?

The HAM forum over on arfcom has lots of really smart guys. Worth the trip over there. It's in the outdoor forum. I need to get off my butt and get my ticket.

N9YVD here. I'm not an active Ham but I maintain the license. Surprisingly the hobby is growing.

IMHO having a good HF radio and the means to power it without the power grid is a survival tool. A good HF rig is capable of receiving upper and lower sideband, AM, FM, as well as digital transmissions such as RTTY. Most general receive radios can't do that.

I'm moving this to survival and preparedness.

I had a Technician license, but the internet has largely taken over as the method for chatting with people you hardly know.

Had my technician license for a while. Never had a radio... This whole rifle can thing got in the way

Looking to talk with local Group of military vehicle afficianados who also have radios.... And living in the mountains... A backup plan for cell and internet is never a bad idea.

Havent been on argcom since banned for BS then reinstated.. Never even posted that I can recall

You are right robert. Internet. Thats why I am kinda digging the APRS and packet stuff in some of the new radios. Internet features without cell or wifi... Hmm me likey
That FTM350AR seems to do a lot of cool stuff.

No license, interested in it off and on.

In the old days HAM was handy in my neck of the woods when hurricanes knocked out phones, etc. but as Robert mentioned other technologies have taken over in recent years. The last time a hurricane knocked out services down here people found text worked even when voice didn't on the cellular networks.

I still think nothing beats a decent HAM for real SHTF scenarios, I plan to get one some day but maybe not ever a license.

Interesting on the text. Mst of our cell towers here have some sort of battery or generator backup. First thing people do when the power goes out however is clog up all avail cell tower freqs so you cant get through. Especially true where I live where there are VERY limited cell towers. Hell sometimes during the day here I cant get cell call out due to too many users. Seen it at Silencerco too. We are right across the road from from the local amphitheater which hosts all the large outdoor concerts. When that place is filling up for a show, I cant get a cell call out. The APRS fucntion on the ham can send radio text messages to any one with APRS function on their radio and it can discriminate so you only get messages from people you want to.. Thats my understanding of it anyway. My real goal of this is, well for one, learning something I dont know that most people dont know about.. Which is fun
And two, being able to communicate vehicle to vehicle or vehicle to base station in the event of power outage or other emergency/ disaster. I think text is probably how it would mostly get used.

Used Gordon West's books to prepare for Tech and General tickets. I'm no-code...Can learn the first 10 characters and then it all runs together for me.

My family and close friends have VHF on ham bands for around town. I can get on HF for longer distances. We've used GMRS to keep in touch locally during power outages and when cell towers are all clogged up.

I'm sure everyone that posts their call here knows that very personal info can be obtained via a specific i-net site relative that call sign.

Just a note

Hi
N5SKD
Was very active a few years back, mostly 10 meters and 2 meter local net.
My home burned and water flooded my celler which ruined all of my equipment.
Lots and lots of fun and many new friends.
Just don't have time, or wife's permission to get back into it. Always something....more important to take care of first..My wife didn't like the hours and hours quietly enjoying myself in the celler. Internet Packet, marrying the computer to HAM is a load of fun, if it is still around

N1AJM

I think. It's been 20 years

From the right spots with a decent antenna, only a few watts of power will work over a hundred miles in the right terrain. With VHF/UHF radios you can easily buy or build a couple of small beam antennas for some point to point comms. There are also repeaters all over that are open to use. Use non standard frequencies for simplex comms and there is a good chance nobody will hear you.

When I used to live in Casper, Wyoming I would go to the top of Casper Mountain and talk with people in Rapid City, SD because their repeater was up on the top of a mountain and so was I.

Portable VHF or UHF antenna are easy to build and can be pretty compact.

Have fun,

KELLY
HK91
NM7H

I'm supprized no one brought up CW. Text and voice burns power and cw can be heard even when band condition's are bad 5 watts and a long wire can get out in the worst situation possible.I have several rigs I built myself that will work on batteries or a home made hand powered generator and a Vibroplex bug. Old extra class N3XXX

I've been licensed and been active for 26+ years, currently hold an Extra class license.

Last year when we had the earthquake in VA, no cell and SMS texting had a 5 minute lag time at a minimum.

Something else to look into is winlink/airmail, it give you the ability to do e-mail from pretty much anywhere in the world without having to connect to the internet.

DB
KA8***

dblas wrote:I've been licensed and been active for 26+ years, currently hold an Extra class license.

Last year when we had the earthquake in VA, no cell and SMS texting had a 5 minute lag time at a minimum.

Something else to look into is winlink/airmail, it give you the ability to do e-mail from pretty much anywhere in the world without having to connect to the internet.

DB
KA8***

I have been a ham radio operator for almost 5 years. It is a good hobby and expensive also. But the rewards of helping people in need out weigh the cost. Find a radio club in your area and go to a meeting, talk to the members and if you like it join. You first get your Tec license then you can sit for your general and if you desire go for your Extra. I hope you try it.

I just got my Tech license and then General a month later. I'm doing it for FPV RC airplanes. I have no radio equipment other than the 433Mhz transmitter for control and a 1.2Ghz and 5.8Ghz video transmitter. I may get into it more later on but it's a money thing...

kalikraven wrote:I just got my Tech license and then General a month later. I'm doing it for FPV RC airplanes. I have no radio equipment other than the 433Mhz transmitter for control and a 1.2Ghz and 5.8Ghz video transmitter. I may get into it more later on but it's a money thing...

Just a Tech here. Used to be more active when I lived in Texas. 2m/440mm and 6m mostly. I really think 6m is versatile/fun, but seemed few users. The 2m/440mm repeater/link systems were pretty functional for range. Control operator on a clubs weekly check in sorta burned me out. We did use packet radio on a couple of public service exercises. One was a couple of day long 150 mile or so river race that we set up operators at the check points that gave late/no show info for rescue searches. Worked a little with a video transceiver system.

Not set up now, but keep license active.

KD5XXX

I'm just getting into ham radio. I bought the Baofeng UV-5R handheld radio. I really enjoy listening to the chatter, check-ins and etc.

G'Day Fella's,

BadCatBigBat, thanks for the details of your hand held transceiver!
I just Googled them up and they are not very expensive and readily available so......

Doh!
Homer

kalikraven wrote:I just got my Tech license and then General a month later. I'm doing it for FPV RC airplanes. I have no radio equipment other than the 433Mhz transmitter for control and a 1.2Ghz and 5.8Ghz video transmitter. I may get into it more later on but it's a money thing...

I got my Tech and General last Oct (scored 100% on both, in one sitting. All the older guys grading them were very impressed.

This summer I got into FPV as well. Here my baby quad drone. 2.4Ghz and 1.3Ghz video.

Also putting a large, long range (10~20 mile) FPV rig now too! That one use long range UHF and 1.3Ghz too. Just built and antenna tracker too this weekend. Shoot me a PM sometime if you need some more info. I have the whole thing pretty well researched now.

mk23 wrote: ...This summer I got into FPV as well. Here my baby quad drone. 2.4Ghz and 1.3Ghz video...

Interesting. Flight time? Range? Payload? I've dabbled in HAM video xmission stuff. That is cool.

Flight time on the little quad is short. About 12 mins with full payload of 400g. Range right now is about 1 mile.

My big bird I am putting together is going to have a much longer time aloft. About 50~60 mins aloft and a range of 10~20 miles depending on terrain.

http://www.readymaderc.com/store/index. ... ts_id=1072

G'Day Fella's,

Mk23, very nice and well done!

But, if it gets within 50ish meters of me, it will experience a 1 1/4oz Technical Failure!
Probably #2's or BB's!!!

Merry Christmas
Homer

WS7PB, Extra Class

I also keep a powerful GMRS station, CB, and Marine VHF radios on hand.

I am a long time amateur with an N2 call sign as I started out in NYC, lots of memories and many silent keys too.

In all deference to others, non hams posting anecdotal comments about Amateur radio, I feel much as was said about Rock and Roll music, Amateur radio rolls on, why ? because at the end of the day, it is hands on rather than let someone else do it.

I am not operating currently, but my thing was 2 meters, 70 centimeters, and 6 meters with interest in upgrading to use 20 meters etc.

I do not expect non Amateurs to understand the Amateur Radio experience or the community either, something every one must experience in their own, hence the resources such as provided by the ARRL, founded by Maxim himself and WWW.QRL.COM I am sure the other poster was alluding to about personal information.

In any Civil disaster, Amateurs are there commiting themselves to the effort to provide emergency communications when everything else fails as did on 9/12/01, and Amateurs were there to fill in the void left by the fall of the Towers home to much Emergency and Public Service Radio Repeaters, do not depend so much on commercial services.

End of Rant.