Great advice upthread! They’ve already answered your questions.
For myself, I just wanted to be able to communicate if the grid goes down, not start a whole new hobby. This is a solid site to get it figured out and get some knowledge: https://hamstudy.org/login
Not long back I decided to get my ham licence and it was so much fun learning all that new shit that my life nearly turned around. No joke. The end result is that I got the Technician, then General, then Amature Extra licenses in short order. Now I study electronics in my free time a bit. Which is harder than it sounds to a dweeb like me who has minimal math in the background.
Bought a cheap Paofeng (Baofeng) 5RA (and a few extra for the Faraday Cage as they were on sale for >$20). It’s shocking to sit in the office having this cheap ass radio tuned to the local FM station, then set it to scan and pick it up and join a conversation talking to some dude in Louisiana and another in New York (I’m west coast) as clear as day. If I were to do it again I’d get a descent radio to start with and pass on the Baofeng (which is an amazing radio for the price, they almost were giving them away). Anyway, I’d encourage you to get started in - check out and register on that site, it’s free and it’s very good.
Definitely. Everyone needs some solar panels and battery chargers set up and working, so you have a 12v supply at home before the big one takes down the grid.
I don’t remember the bill number. I’ll find it. It was passed quite a few years ago. Ham Radio was designated as a emergency service or something like that. HOA’s now, under this federal bill have to allow you “reasonable” antenna accommodations. HOA’s have been sued over this shortly after this bill passed. They lost or couldn’t afford to fight it so, antennas are indeed going up regardless of HOA restrictions. They can’t ban antennas all together and what you and them can come up with that’s “reasonable” seems to differ from neighborhood to neighborhood I will find that bill number so you can read up on it.
I always wanted to talk off bed springs in the attic or the patio furniture.. wrought iron fence or maybe turn the umbrella over the table out back into a satellite dish .
Trying to get a match on a chair has just cost me an arm and a leg.
Best bet would be to get a pair of Uv5r’s, find a local repeater and see if you two are getting good repeater coverage. Then maybe you can get a license and begin talking. I had got a uv5r a few years ago, just tune in to listen to local repeaters sometimes, never got a license.
I realize this is an older topic, but I just ordered a set of these:
I realize this is GMRS and not Ham, but it’s mainly for listening and maybe communicating over short distances, and having weather/NOAA bands for emergencies.
Having only owned “kid-style” walkie talkies in the past, I’m excited to play around with these.
Like I mentioned, it’s not only for listening. Plus neither of these two radios have NOAA/weather bands. I already have a radio similar to those you mentioned, so I thought I’d look into something slightly different.
If your main goal is to talk to your dad 40 miles away, you do not need Ham, gmrs will do, i’m sure you can find repeaters in your area to connect to. and you do not need a test for gmrs license, you buy it like a fishing license, 1 for the whole family, so you and your dad can use same license.
However unless shtf, you are better off with either a phone call, or an internet radio. i do not know much about internet radio, but with digital radios you can encrypt your communication, and no one but your dad will hear, cuz with analog, pretty much anyone on same band will hear your conversation.
Consider getting some Baofengs, quanshengs or radtels. These are walkietalkies but should receive HAM radio. You can listen (Rx only) with no license. If you like it, consider getting a license to transmit and a more powerful radio.
Nah, i personally dont own the Baofeng, just a cheap PMR446. Considering getting one but thanks for the advice. I guess its like saying to the flashlight community “I edc my phone flashlight”
Baofeng is is absolutely acceptable taking into consideration the price. I have spoken to 1000 ham radio operators, they all have several and they all love them. Myself included.
It will not replace your Kenwood/Yaesu/Icom, but that was never the goal.