Posted on 01/10/2021 5:35:47 AM PST by OKSooner
This topic has come up at least a couple of times in the last few weeks; I'd like to bring it up once more for one's own selfish needs.
One is interested in a starter Ham radio kit that for now will be used as a receiver only at home.
Later, one might wish to get the FCC license and acquire the means to transmit also but for now the interest is in a receiver with the following specs:
Reasonably portable, battery power capability would be nice. Scans available radio bands for traffic if possible. Made by a reputable manufacturer located ANYWHERE ON THIS PLANET EXCEPT CHINA. (I.E. USA or Japan, most likely.) Any reasonable difference in cost would be justifiable...
One also modestly suggests that others consider taking an interest in Ham radio.
"Voluntary vanity fee paid."
Ioc 7300
Thank you. I’ve been interested in this also.
I wouldn’t spent too much on a ham transceiver seeing that you don’t have a license. A shortwave radio with SSB might serve your purposes better right now and they can be relatively inexpensive.
Getting your Technician license is relatively easy, I did it so it can’t be too hard. There are two great resources on the internet, HamStudy and HamExam dot org. You can take practice tests. I am currently studying for Extra class license and have a Gorden West book. What I do is go through and cross out all the wrong answers so that each time I look at the question I see the correct answer.
Once you get your ticket then take a look at transceivers.
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3923234/posts
Love my IC-7300 with my OCF dipole. I also have an IC-718 for field use.
Your question is overly broad to give a specific answer IMO, but what I would do is start learning at the Amateur Radio Relay League website.
It’s a wealth of information, about how to get licensed, who administers the test, books you can purchase to study for the exam, etc....
I would not want to run out and purchase a piece of equipment and find out it doesn’t do what you are interested in.....
Once you have an idea of what the Ham Radio Community is all about, start simple, get a basic handheld device.
I started with a Baofeng UV-5R for about $30 purchased off of Amazon....I learned how to program it, how to make it scan and later once licensed I could transmit on it.
A word of warning, no handheld device will scan all the amateur radio bands for traffic, upgrading to something that might and also be able to transmit will require a higher class license.
They’re 3 levels of Ham License...
Technician Class - the first and most restrictive.
General Class - what most casual users think of when they think about Ham Radio the ability to use a antenna and talk to people over great distances
Amateur Extra Class - basically gets you more privileges
Then if you want to move up to a General Class Ham License, that requires a jump up in expense, a radio and antenna are required and can be a headache to figure out.....
I have my Technician and General Class license.
The tests are not difficult, you do have to study a little to get the license....
IC,,,
I got a Tech license and
I’m not sure what
“IC”-——is?
I still worry ‘bout “73.”
Try Palstar in Piqua, Ohio. Paul makes the best equipment in the world, period. He has many patents and famous customers like Joe Walsh. Most of the others are made overseas like MFJ.
No question those are good choices, but if he’s anything like me when I started, my knowledge was minimal at best..
I would not have had any idea in the world what a IC-7300 or OCF Dipole was much less how to use it...
Ping
Just looked at the price of the IC-7300; too rich for my blood right now.
Any recommendations on a shortwave?
What is your budget for a radio?
You want to just listen?
Look at the Tecsun PL-600. The only bad thing with the inexpensive radios are that they are all made in China.
Hey FRiend,
It’s about $1400 with tax, but the very best thing there is that checks all your boxes is the IC-705.
It has it’s own battery, and is about the size of a small brick. It’s very light by any standard of radio and it is an ‘all-band’ radio.
All you need to do is hook the right antenna to it and it does the rest no matter what band you are on.
It’s got a visual display that allows you to actually see where there is a radio transmission and it allows you to lock onto it.
It’s a TRANSceiver, meaning it receives and transmits.
You COULD get a scanner for cheaper, but when you get your licenses you’ll want to transmit too.
Also, if things go dark for a while, the FCC isn’t going to be going after non-license holders, per se.
If you are transmitting person to person on a frequency that is not a repeater, chances are nobody is going to say anything.
Illegal, yep, but so will a lot of things be illegal that frankly were legal, like being a conservative. Or being a white male Christian.
VHF/UHF radios are fine, but they are line-of-sight. The 705 can do it all.
I think the repeaters are going to be targeted pretty quickly. A lot of ham clubs are coming up with band plans.
You can come up with one for your family and friends - a band plan and a check-in comms plan (Look up the frequency for each day of the week and contact your family each day at the same time is a good, simple, band/frequency plan).
Simplex (press the button and talk, then take your finger off the button and listen) is easy to do. Locally you can do this with handheld radios (they are called handy talkies, or HTs).
A cheap one that you can also tune to Marine VHF is the Baofeng UV82-C. I bought them by the dozen for my Scout Troop and gave them to kids when they passed their Tech exam.
Yup, Chinese. Who cares at this point, and this is a radio, not a phone with a tracking chip.
Buy a five pack and you can give them to your family members.
I bought a piece of software that allows me to program a band plan in there, plus all the marine VHF channels so I can use them on boats (also not legal, but I don’t care).
About $50/copy out the door, or cheaper in packs of 5. They used to sell them in packs of 10 and 12, but apparently you can’t buy them that way anymore.
You can use the UHF bands to receive satellite, by the way. Building a satellite antenna is not hard, and it is interesting. There are a ton of ham radio satellites in the sky (the ham community has been very successful getting satellite payloads on just about every shuttle launch back in the day).
IC is a prefix for amateur radios made by Icom.
The IC-7300 is a popular radio made by Icom.
The IC-7300 is not a “starter” radio. Even a used one can cost $1,000.
73 is shorthand for “best wishes.”
It is a common ending for ham radio transmissions in Morse Code or voice.
For now. I might eventually want to get more into it, but it would probably quite a way down the road (like a few years).
I would assume that if all hell breaks loose they will be coming for the hams. Better not to advertise.
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