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We're in a Golden Age for Amateur Radio

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Re: We're in a Golden Age for Amateur Radio

#141

Post by jglazko »

macintux wrote: post #82
cronix wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Do people just talk to random people on the radio? Some do, just like the internet. You're random to me, and we're conversing. Remember "chat rooms" and similar (IRC)? Mostly anonymous people talking to each other. Yes you might have some people you "know" in there, but there are strangers as well.

My problem with ragchewing is that here, I can respond to random comments as they interest me, and I can carry on a short conversation if I wish to, but I’m really not interested in shooting the breeze with a random stranger. Or frankly, even people I know.

I don't ragchew - but the newer digital modes are great for seeing how far your signal can reach. And sites like PSK Reporter are great for having passive validation of how far your signal actually goes, without even having to make a two-way contact.

Re: We're in a Golden Age for Amateur Radio

#142

Post by Uberphallus »

A question for the international crowd, I want to take the license exam. I live in France, and the closest exam center is like 300 Km away, exam dates always on weekday, so I'd need to take a day off for that. I live near Monaco, had a look but I can't find anything regarding exams, some people hold licenses but they don't answer to my emails asking about it. Is there a comfortable way to obtain the license around here?

Re: We're in a Golden Age for Amateur Radio

#143

Post by madshiva »

Uberphallus wrote: post #142

A question for the international crowd, I want to take the license exam. I live in France, and the closest exam center is like 300 Km away, exam dates always on weekday, so I'd need to take a day off for that. I live near Monaco, had a look but I can't find anything regarding exams, some people hold licenses but they don't answer to my emails asking about it. Is there a comfortable way to obtain the license around he…

Same question but for Switzerland too.. I'm totally lost with the news legal license needed or not.

Re: We're in a Golden Age for Amateur Radio

#144

Post by madshiva »

httpz wrote: post #30

I have a license because my high school teacher made us do it but I never quite understood what hobbyists do with it. I see how it can be a useful skill to have for people in a certain profession but as a hobbyist what do you do? Do people just talk to random people on the radio? I'm genuinely curious.

I have talking to people and we exchanged postal card (QSL card), that confirm each communication, quality, etc.

That was a lot of fun, each country contacted. The far you go, the more you are happy :)

Re: We're in a Golden Age for Amateur Radio

#146

Post by superkuh »

int_19h wrote: post #78
jimmcslim wrote: post #29

I'm interested in amateur radio but always feel that I can't get anything done without a big honking antenna?

For VHF and UHF , that's not generally true - e.g. a simple quarter-wavelength antenna (exactly what it says on the tin - a stick antenna that is 1/4 of the wavelength on which you intend to operate - so e.g. for VHF 2m band, we're talking ~20" long, and for UHF 70cm it's even shorter) is perfectly sufficient to work repeaters, and to communicate with others directly within the radio horizon. For HF, you do need a la…

>For VHF and UHF,

For VHF and UHF it matters that your antenna is very high up (on a pole, roof, or whatever w/line of sight if you want more than a couple blocks) more than your antenna 'size'. So even VHF/UHF/Microwave you still need something "big" unless you're just communicating with your next door neighbor.

There's no magic in RF. The cell system for phones only works because they pay the big bucks to put cells on every high point they can.

Re: We're in a Golden Age for Amateur Radio

#147

Post by girmad »

themodelplumber wrote: post #75
cnnrro wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I also learned how effective logging can be, and have applied that in just about every area of my life. This statement really piqued my curiosity. Would you mind expanding on it?

Sure, as a radio operator, even just a listener-operator, you quickly find that A) you are expected to keep a log, and in many situations _must_ keep a log (contests are a good example), and B) a log easily runs circles around your memory. As it turns out, logs also provide a helpful context for bridging the gap between the subjective and objective lenses, both of which are helpful and needed for solving problems, re…

I think you're on to something. I'd love to dig even deeper about this topic maybe with some examples of your logs, as well as the time commitment this practice requires.

Re: We're in a Golden Age for Amateur Radio

#148

Post by jimhefferon »

rv-de wrote: post #63
jimhefferon wrote: post #52

The problem is that many on the bands are miserable people. It can be discouraging. The radio is a lot of fun. (I love Morse.) But a sizable percentage of the radio-ers make you want to do something else.

More like grumpy nerds or race-war-fearing survivalists?

I don't want to give entirely the wrong impression. I'm active in the local club (have been the treasurer in the past and have dinner once a month with a bunch of the members), I've met a number of great people, and I like the tech stuff.

But you often run across a lot of anger. Some of it is grumpiness-- I have other hobbies and in other hobbies it is not the case that the culture is that things are bad and sure to get worse-- but there is absolutely also an aspect of craziness. I have heard, for instance, a local ham with a UK accent being berated at length on a local repeater for being a foreigner.

I don't get the anger. If you have the leisure to do something that you say you enjoy, why are you mad all the time?

The most recent incident for me was that I was on voice during a Sunday morning making some calls and someone with max power starts talking over me. When I say the frequency is in use, I am told that everyone knows this is his frequency on Sundays, and then he goes back to spouting hateful stuff with what is, I presume, the same group he always spouts it with. That'll keep you off the radio for a while.

One of the things I like about Morse is that I find that the people pride themselves on their manners. But there are other things also, including just that I always thought it was neat, since I was a kid.

Re: We're in a Golden Age for Amateur Radio

#149

Post by Uberphallus »

ablation wrote: post #145

Are those cheap Baofeng radios decent? Was considering getting into this and using one of those as a starting point (to listen at first, obviously, not broadcast until I've got a licence.)

They're decent for their price... but you won't hear much, as they're stuck in 136-174 MHz (some AM airband, but the radio is FM) and 400-480MHz (local PMR446, some pager networks operate here).

Also no digital modes, and max bandwidth (25 KHz? don't remember) limits what you can postprocess in the computer.

Otherwise, they're fine for low bandwidth stuff. They work great as ghetto amplifier for 433MHz applications.

To get started I'd rather recommend a RTLSDR dongle, they're under $10 and you can listen (though not transmit) from 24 MHz to 1.7 GHz at 2MHz bandwidth: you can capture images from weather satellites at ~145MHz, scan for weather stations at 433 MHz, various telemetry at 868/915 MHz, airplane tracking, L-band satellites... for some of these things you'll need some sort of filtering and amplifying though.

Re: We're in a Golden Age for Amateur Radio

#150

Post by eythian »

jeffwass wrote: post #123
httpz wrote: post #30

I have a license because my high school teacher made us do it but I never quite understood what hobbyists do with it. I see how it can be a useful skill to have for people in a certain profession but as a hobbyist what do you do? Do people just talk to random people on the radio? I'm genuinely curious.

Back in the 80’s, before there was Iridium satellite, my uncle would use HAM radio to keep in touch with us while sailing his boat between Hawaii and California. Even though my household weren’t HAM’s at the time, he’d “call” us every few days through a “phone patch” to give status updates in the middle of the Pacific. Basically, he’d make connections to various HAM’s somewhere, trying to find someone who could do a…

> Checking your email in the middle of a field?

Checking mail on the BBS on the MIR space station. Kids these days trying to get an extra 10m range out of their wifi...

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