Re: Mobile HAM
Originally posted by dbarker
I've thought of getting a HAM license. What do you guys do with the radios? Contests? Competition? Shoot the Bull? Are they a good source for emergency communication in a mobile unit?
CB is too full of wackoo yahoos. FRS and GMRS are too short range for anything other than "bring more money dear" or backing into a camp site. Cell phones are good on major highways, but not worth a spit in the back country.
Dennis
I didn't know either before 1995. Some of the guys I was CB'ing with knew about ham and told me they were going to take the test. Next thing you know I'm a ham.
Most of what goes on in Amamteur Radio is shooting the bull. There are a zillion different frequencies/modes/interfaces to do that with, but most folks start with a simple 2m FM transciever in the car. Pretty much anywhere in the country you can "hit" several different repeaters and they re-transmit your signal so you have anywhere from 50-100 miles of coverage minimum. You'll find all sorts of folks on there talking about just about anything. You won't find the general mayhem that dominates the CB frequencies.
A guy from here was in Vegas last year and he used his hand-held to talk back into Nashville--through Vegas repeaters/internet/Nashville repeaters.
2-meter radios will almost always get you through in an emergency. They cover where cell-phones don't. They don't get jammed in emergencies like phone lines (land and mobile)do.
The whole basis for the FCC allowing Hams to have the radio spectrum that we do lies in the necessity of emergency communication. Many hams work on and practice emergency communication skills and techniques. Every year the ARRL has a contest called "Field Day" and it is a North American emergency communication simulation event. The bands are unusually crowded during that event with everybody trying to contact as many stations as possible using every type of communication legal for the contest. Groups get extra points for setting up in the "field" putting up antennas, and generating their own power. Most ham clubs make a big social out of that weekend.
But like I said, most of us are shooting the bull, most of the time. You can make phone calls on many repeater systems. Some will store messages for you. Some are linked to many other machines for expanded coverage.
I live in a rural area, but I'm nine miles from "Short Mountain" which covers most of middle TN and has several ham repeaters on it. I can us my HT with less than one-watt and talk all over middle TN through these machines. With my mobile 50-watt rig (standard output of 2m rigs) I can hit repeaters all over the place.
With my HF rig and a wire in some trees, I can talk all over the continent on some bands and the world on others.
Okay it is a HUGE hobby with hundreds of things to do, I could ramble for days.
I suggest you look up some local ham clubs and meet a few hams. Tell them that you are interested in becoming a ham--most will be happy to help. Ask them what the popular local repeaters are. There may be 40 repeaters, but typically only 5-10 of them will carry most of the traffic. Put those frequencies into a scanner and listen to what goes on. Find out when "nets" are and hear the locals "check in" to the net. Various nets have various purposed--they'll announce that at the beginning of the net.
If you run into a sourpuss, find somebody else. Most of us are still enthusiastic about the hobby.
W1ADE
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