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Ham radio operators are saving Puerto Rico (2017)

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Re: Ham radio operators are saving Puerto Rico (2017)

#51

Post by dpeck »

chrissnell wrote: post #32
Tunecrew wrote: post #23

Apparently this exercise was not quite what it was made out to be: http://adam.curry.com/html/PleasecancelyourARRL-1508324966.h... http://www.kb6nu.com/weighing-puerto-rico/ (FCC Amateur Extra class here)

That story on Adam Curry's blog was not written by Curry himself, but by a Richard Dougherty (NS0S) of Kansas City. The Reddit story it linked to was deleted, so take this all with a grain of salt. That said, it doesn't surprise me in the least. There are a lot of wannabe-cop wannabe-military whackers in the amateur radio community, unfortunately. (NW5W here)

Its one of the things that has kept me away from amateur radion. I'm interested in decentralized/emergency communications and have a good understanding of RF, I've even picked up a couple of Baofeng handheld units to listen in on things and get more familiar with that part of the spectrum but the other people involved in the hobby aren't exactly the kind of folks I want to hang around enough to learn from.

Re: Ham radio operators are saving Puerto Rico (2017)

#52

Post by alex_hitchins »

To anyone interested in taking up the hobby, it's very easy to get started and if you get into the rhythm of studying it's possible to go from Foundation to Advanced in about a year. I was fortunate enough to go from M6 to M0 (I'm in the UK) in just under a year. Intermediate (2E0) isn't much of a stretch past foundation but the advanced (M0) took dedicated study time. The excellent bit about gaining Full licence is the ability to transmit in most other countries (providing you adhere to the local laws).

Re: Ham radio operators are saving Puerto Rico (2017)

#53

Post by clarkmoody »

dpeck wrote: post #51
chrissnell wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That story on Adam Curry's blog was not written by Curry himself, but by a Richard Dougherty (NS0S) of Kansas City. The Reddit story it linked to was deleted, so take this all with a grain of salt. That said, it doesn't surprise me in the least. There are a lot of wannabe-cop wannabe-military whackers in the amateur radio community, unfortunately. (NW5W here)

Its one of the things that has kept me away from amateur radion. I'm interested in decentralized/emergency communications and have a good understanding of RF, I've even picked up a couple of Baofeng handheld units to listen in on things and get more familiar with that part of the spectrum but the other people involved in the hobby aren't exactly the kind of folks I want to hang around enough to learn from.

There are plenty of ugly people in any hobby, but getting your license and spending time on the air is the best way to hone your skills so that when the emergency happens, you'll be able to make a difference.

Re: Ham radio operators are saving Puerto Rico (2017)

#54

Post by twothamendment »

rhombocombus wrote: post #42
friesen wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. I picked up a slightly more expensive baofeng (UV-5X3) for my fist radio. Sured it's far from the greatest radio in the world (although it's leaps and bounds ahead of the UV-5R), but it gave me an inexpensive path forward. My only real complaint is that the included antenna is garbage for transmitting. So I built a cheap roll-up j-pole out of some old twinlead. The radio works quite well with that. I have si…

The nagoya flexible antennas dramatically improve the functionality of the Baofeng HTs (particularly in 70cm). I have had zero trouble with the four or so I have loaned out or otherwise lost. That's the real beauty there, if you lose one it is frustrating but ultimately trivial compared to a yaesu or something.

The nagoya is often recommended for beginners with Baofengs. I got when when I was starting out and it is better than the stock antenna, but you have to worry about who is selling "real" ones and who has fakes.

Since then I've discovered these: https://signalstuff.com/product/super-elastic-signal-stick/ They are my go to antenna for HTs. I've never had one break, they perform great and they aren't too expensive. I love that I can take it off and tie it in a knot to shove into a small pocket in my backpack. Try that with a nagoya.

Re: Ham radio operators are saving Puerto Rico (2017)

#55

Post by tomswartz07 »

jpmattia wrote: post #29
Ao7bei3s wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look, a decent Yaesu costs 5x as much, and the Baofeng fully fulfills the role I recommended it for - which is to get a beginner started quickly. The entire point was that you don't need to take part in the pay to win game. Noone said Baofengs are high-quality devices. But that's kind of the point, and it is easily good enough to get onto a local relay to get some easy satisfaction and practice the non-technical aspe…

> Look, a decent Yaesu costs 5x as much Old timer says: My Kenwood (3 tube final amp) cost about $700 in 1978, so I'm a little amazed at modern pricing. -- KA1BKM

Adjusted for inflation, that $700 in 1978 is $2,661.15 in 2018 money.

The latest-and-greatest KENWOOD TS-990S is going for ~$7,979.95 (according to HRO)[1]

I'd say you got a deal back in the day. :)

[1] https://www.hamradio.com/detail.cfm?pid=H0-011672

Re: Ham radio operators are saving Puerto Rico (2017)

#56

Post by DamnYuppie »

dpeck wrote: post #51
chrissnell wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That story on Adam Curry's blog was not written by Curry himself, but by a Richard Dougherty (NS0S) of Kansas City. The Reddit story it linked to was deleted, so take this all with a grain of salt. That said, it doesn't surprise me in the least. There are a lot of wannabe-cop wannabe-military whackers in the amateur radio community, unfortunately. (NW5W here)

Its one of the things that has kept me away from amateur radion. I'm interested in decentralized/emergency communications and have a good understanding of RF, I've even picked up a couple of Baofeng handheld units to listen in on things and get more familiar with that part of the spectrum but the other people involved in the hobby aren't exactly the kind of folks I want to hang around enough to learn from.

Please note the channels you pick up on the Baofeng are VHF which are generally very close. As such the quality of the conversations will vary greatly from region to region.

Overall the HAM community is like any other in that it is varied and diverse. To truly enjoy HAM radio you will need to get a general license so you can get on 80,40, 15, and 10 meter bands. You will then get to find people all over the world, often times broadcasting from very remote or interesting places.

Re: Ham radio operators are saving Puerto Rico (2017)

#58

Post by GaiusAurus »

giancarlostoro wrote: post #5
jgrahamc wrote: post #4

The importance of ham radio is that it's infrastructure-less. People are completely used to the Internet and mobile telephones working without thinking about the infrastructure and its maintenance. With my radios I can talk to people all over the place point to point without any infrastructure at all.

After an article about the judge who did the case for Oracle vs Google and how he was a ham I got more and more interested in ham radios. The only downside is the cost of some of the equipment, but if you can reach a main city there's usually repeaters up on those buildings from what I've been told. There's so much to learn I feel and I don't know where to start truly, I've just watched a couple of videos and read a…

Most people are talking about Baofengs and similar Chinese-brand radios for inexpensive radios, which are mostly VHF/UHF range. There's also HF rigs that are inexpensive, like the uBitX (http://www.hfsignals.com/index.php/ubitx/), which you buy as an easy-to-assemble kit. It can do 10W on HF, and it's only 109$.

Re: Ham radio operators are saving Puerto Rico (2017)

#59

Post by taborj »

DamnYuppie wrote: post #56
dpeck wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its one of the things that has kept me away from amateur radion. I'm interested in decentralized/emergency communications and have a good understanding of RF, I've even picked up a couple of Baofeng handheld units to listen in on things and get more familiar with that part of the spectrum but the other people involved in the hobby aren't exactly the kind of folks I want to hang around enough to learn from.

Please note the channels you pick up on the Baofeng are VHF which are generally very close. As such the quality of the conversations will vary greatly from region to region. Overall the HAM community is like any other in that it is varied and diverse. To truly enjoy HAM radio you will need to get a general license so you can get on 80,40, 15, and 10 meter bands. You will then get to find people all over the world, of…

Except on 7.255Mhz. Stay away from those lids

Re: Ham radio operators are saving Puerto Rico (2017)

#60

Post by friesen »

twothamendment wrote: post #54
rhombocombus wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The nagoya flexible antennas dramatically improve the functionality of the Baofeng HTs (particularly in 70cm). I have had zero trouble with the four or so I have loaned out or otherwise lost. That's the real beauty there, if you lose one it is frustrating but ultimately trivial compared to a yaesu or something.

The nagoya is often recommended for beginners with Baofengs. I got when when I was starting out and it is better than the stock antenna, but you have to worry about who is selling "real" ones and who has fakes. Since then I've discovered these: https://signalstuff.com/product/super-elastic-signal-stick/ They are my go to antenna for HTs. I've never had one break, they perform great and they aren't too expensive. I lo…

Yup, that's the signalstick that I bought. Great little piece of kit.
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