Ham radios??? Yeah, i need some info.

[boostamante]

Also, you may as well buy the radio before you get your liscense. You wont be able to use it to "chit-chat" withouth a liscense, however the rules clearly state that in an emergency (threat to human life) Anyone is allowed to use any channel/ power level neccesary to save a life. Better to have it and not need it imho.

Also: Get your liscenses before June, they are changing the test in June, and the books will be much more expensive, as they havent been out for 10 years

i plan on doing it ASAP. but yeah, i planned on getting the radio before i got my license. Wont use it till but i agree with what you said.

 

[kastein]

So the more i think about it the more it makes sense to have one in case of an emergency. So im looking into buying one and also need info on where to study up for the exam.

I read about the "no code" license and wonder is thats what i need to be looking to study for. Also, do i need a Dual Band or a single band. I know the Dual bands cost more so im guessing the Single might be a better choice.

I found this link for the handhelds. Let me know if you guys have a preferrance.
https://www.hamcity.com/store/pc/viewCategories.asp?idCategory=27

Julio

aa9pw.com has some great online practice tests you can take. That's what I used. Most of everything else has been covered.

if you get caught using a ham radio (out of band) modified they can take your ham license and fine you up to $10000 just food for thought!

Correct.

Radios are "type certified" by the mfg. Most ham rigs will transmit out of band, but usually require modification to do so. If you modify it to transmit out of band and you splatter all over the place and cause interference, and you continually do it, whoever you're interfering with can file an FCC complaint, then the FCC can and will track down the interference. If they find the offending transmitter and it's not type certified for how you're using it they can fine you up to $10,000. The guys that get that fine and see jail time are usually intentionally interfering with valid communications. Keep that in mind, as long as your signal is the right deviation, and not causing interference, then no one is going to come banging on your door.

With that said, just get your ham radio license. There are books available at ham radio outlet, or if you want, go here and continually take the "Technician Exam"

http://www.qrz.com/p/testing.pl

I'm a fan of Yaesu radios, they have some around the $120 mark at HRO that will work great for you. The FT2800M is being discontinued, and is a good deal right now. The FT1900 would be my choice for a new 2m rig, it's SMALL and outputs around 60-65 watts. You can pick up a magmount single band antenna from "The antenna Farm" for about 30-40 bucks.

Look in your area for the test, usually in socal you can take it on any Saturday at someplace around town.

All correct. I can't believe the 2800 is being discontinued, I have one and love it, pick one up if you can. If you take out your stock radio and gut it, the 2800 will fit almost perfectly in its shell with about a 1/2" gap to the side. People ask me why my car stereo has a microphone attached to it.

Out of band transmissions can and will get you in trouble whether or not you are interfering with anyone - it is much much more likely if you are interfering though. Generally the only people who will report you for out of band operation that is not interfering with anyone are busibodies who look around for people to report, it's like a homeowners association but on the airwaves. General rules to avoid getting smacked:
* don't transmit on any frequency your license does not permit you to. This means stay within the frequencies allowed for a Technician class license - google for "amateur radio band plan" and you will find a nice printable chart that shows the allowed ranges for each license class.
* listen all you want, unless you are committing a crime (this should not be an issue... :nono - in many jurisdictions, having any radio or scanner capable of listening to 2-way comms on your person or within your vehicle will automatically turn even a misdemeanor into a felony. Don't do it.
* most ham radios will allow you to listen out of band (on the frequencies they are capable of tuning anyways) with no modifications, but will not transmit out of band without modifications.

Not going to ever happen. Radios are sold to the public with the upper channels available, you can make a radio from scratch if you want to and there is not shit they can do about it. Modding you radio for upper public freq. is totally legal, if you have been informed otherwise they were wrong. Radio manufactures even make available the info for the mods.

SPOBI. Modding it to do so is legal, actually using it to transmit is not legal. Stay within the bands you are licensed for.

The difference for ham radio is that you, as the ham, are required to make sure you are meeting the signal transmission requirements (harmonic supression, bandwidth, etc) while for commercial radio equipment, CBs, FRS/GMRS, etc the radio manufacturer is required to have the radios type approved before sale. I believe there is a limitation in that manufacturers may only sell a certain number of non type approved ham radios in a year without having them approved by the FCC, but I'm not sure. You still are not allowed to transmit on the "upper channels", whatever those are - what frequency ranges/bands are you talking about when you say "upper channels"?

 

[FordGuy]

We are not talking about being in non-public bands, just the upper public bands as used on all off-road races. anyone can buy a radio off the shelf for this but there is not many radios that do both, and most manufactures build there radios to be modified for this use. I think most know if you start talking on a police etc..band you are going to get heat.

 

[saki669]

"All correct. I can't believe the 2800 is being discontinued,"

I'm not sad at all that the FT2800m is toast. I spent the better part of a year trying to find out what was wrong with mine. I bought one for my wife and one for me after we finished our tickets. Turns out the radio has a major flaw with one of the final amplifiers. Symptoms include not being able to transmit more than 50 ft or so, garbled audio, etc. It receives just fine leading you to believe that something is wrong with the antenna. I replaced it with an Icom 2200h. No problems at all! Its smaller, cheaper and has more power. The wife's rig is still working fine but I'm debating on replacing it to ward off potential problems. Do a google search for 2800m problems, you'll find plenty. I'm not a Yaesu hater, I just hate the 2800.

 

[kastein]

They don't build them to be modified for that unless they want the FCC on their rear end - the relevant US code is part 97.317(b)*. You're probably talking about FRS, which you don't need a license for but still need a type approved radio for... technically. Unless someone literally catches you in the act and really has a bug up their butt you will not get in trouble for it but you are still violating federal laws by doing that.

2-meter tends to have longer range than 70cm (FRS is in the 460MHz range, right above the 70cm Ham band from 420-450MHz and intermingled with the 70cm Commercial/Police band from 450MHz up).

§97.317 Standards for certification of external RF power amplifiers.

(b) Certification shall be denied when:

• (1) The Commission determines the amplifier can be used in services other than the Amateur Radio Service, or
• (2) The amplifier can be easily modified to operate on frequencies between 26 MHz and 28 MHz.

While this does not explicitly state anything about radios rather than amplifiers, and is more targeted at HF amplifiers which can be easily modified to be used in the CB band, it will almost certainly be used against any company which produces radios easily modifiable to be used on FRS channels - when the FCC thinks the ease of modification is intentional, which would be the case if the manufacturer published instructions for doing it. Usually it's easy like you said (removing or bridging a solder pad, cutting a wire, etc) but the documentation is not so blunt about it.

EDIT: oh, hadn't experienced that failure on my 2800 yet... I'll have to look into it. Thanks for the heads up!

Also, it probably sounds like I'm a real kilocycle cop... I assure you I'm nothing of the sort. I just hate to see inaccurate information go unchallenged...

 

[FordGuy]

My Radio came with the instructions on how and which diode needed to be removed to transmit on the 150.xxx ish bands, it was from Icom. It was titled, TX wide band modification instructions.

 

[jeeperjohn]

Is there such a thing as a radio license that encompasses all radio bands/frequencies?

 

[kastein]

Yep. It's called working for the fed :roflmao:

Frequencies are allocated on a geographically local, as-needed basis for most of the commercial/public safety bands. Marine and aviation bands are only permitted for use by those with the correct licenses/need, you identify using the ship name or registration as your callsign IIRC, or your plane's tail number in the case of aviation. You use whatever marine channel or tower frequency the port or control tower you're speaking with wants you to.

Frequencies below 3kHz (or is it 300Hz, I forget... either way, a huge antenna is needed) and above 275GHz do not require any license from anyone to use. They are self policing for the most part though, because extreme technical skill and large quantities of money are required to build equipment capable of operating in those bands.

The feds have a large amount of the spectrum allocated to themselves, the secret service has its own allocations along with most of the other branches. TV has a lot as well, each old analog channel was something like 6MHz wide, I'm really not sure on digital TV signal specifics. AM and FM broadcast also have large allocations, along with satellite communications and cellular telephones.

In most of these cases, you aren't allowed on a frequency unless the local assignee (the police station, TV station, cellular network provider, etc etc etc) of that frequency gives you permission - generally, police stations will only give permission to their officers and radio techs, cellular providers automatically give you permission to use their allocations as their network assigns your phone a channel whenever you switch towers, etc.

I'm probably not explaining this very well, but it's about the best I can do.

 

[CharlesS]

Is there such a thing as a radio license that encompasses all radio bands/frequencies?

The closest the general public can get is an EXTRA Class License.

There are licenses ONLY for government use such as the one my son has in the Army as a IA.

For our needs the most you would probably use would be a General Class.

Charles

 

[terryg]

when I was in the usaf & flyin, we used uhf (short-range) vhf (long range), & hf (bouncing off the ionosphere), & a couple seccoms. didn't need no stinkin license! ham guys helped us out big-time during desert shield/storm so we could talk to our families.

 

[FordGuy]

So, we should all ditch the POS cb in our Jeeps and use 150.665 as our channel and have good clear Com.

 

[tcm glx]

So, we should all ditch the POS cb in our Jeeps and use 150.665 as our channel and have good clear Com.

X100000

 

[CharlesS]

So, we should all ditch the POS cb in our Jeeps and use 150.665 as our channel and have good clear Com.

Isnt that frequency on the edge of the Marine band.... ???

 

[kastein]

I'm pretty sure that's not legal... according to http://www.ntia.doc.gov/osmhome/allochrt.pdf it is allocated to fixed/mobile usage, which means you need a license. Also, the activity code is red, which means it's government exclusive... have fun there!

Why'd you choose that frequency?

 

[FordGuy]

I'm pretty sure that's not legal... according to http://www.ntia.doc.gov/osmhome/allochrt.pdf it is allocated to fixed/mobile usage, which means you need a license. Also, the activity code is red, which means it's government exclusive... have fun there!

Why'd you choose that frequency?

I just guessed!!! Its very close to our race channel and its open on my list of usable freq for the race teams. there are a hundred to choose from.

 

[kastein]

yeah... that's not gonna get you in trouble eventually or anything.

Seriously, don't transmit on a frequency without verifying that you have permission to do so. It's about the RF equivalent of illegal wheeling, the differences being that it's slightly less common to get caught but the feds will be after you instead of the state/local police or landowner.

 

[markw]

We are not talking about being in non-public bands, just the upper public bands as used on all off-road races. anyone can buy a radio off the shelf for this but there is not many radios that do both, and most manufactures build there radios to be modified for this use. I think most know if you start talking on a police etc..band you are going to get heat.

Yeah, it's interfering with someone's frequency. They've tracked people down for it. My FT8900 is the overseas model and it transmits out of band straight from the box.

 

[FordGuy]

Yeah, it's interfering with someone's frequency. They've tracked people down for it. My FT8900 is the overseas model and it transmits out of band straight from the box.

I think you guys are miss-understanding. I and all the people who race have a freq range that is legal for us to use, they are open public channels. By guessing I meant that I just picked one off of the list, which is what hundreds of race teams do, we just try and not use another teams freq. I may not be nearly as paranoid as some about the use, but not totally stupid, at least not all the time! :jester:

 

[kastein]

I think you're the one misunderstanding... I've not been able to find any sort of reference that says those frequencies are legal for public use, and I have found a reference posted on a governmental website which shows that entire frequency range as exclusively allocated to the federal government.

Maybe that counts as paranoia to you, but not using bands which are feds-only to the best of my knowledge counts as "not getting in trouble" to me.

http://www.ntia.doc.gov/osmhome/reports/slye_rpt/chapt2.html shows 150.05 to 150.8MHz as Federal allocated, used for dispatch... by the military.

If that isn't enough info for you about why you really should not be using it, well, I don't know what is.

 

[FordGuy]

Here are the exact freq that I know are ok. 151.xxx.xxx to 157.xxx.xxx