Any Ham Radio Operators on FHC?

This is all I see.... wierd

 

You tube has a lot of videos explaining stuff. I'm learning as well. I have both analogue and digital radios. The more experienced amateurs have whole ham shacks with very expensive equipment. Mine is simple, shtf type radios, backup batteries ect.

 

Able to pickup comms across the US as well as Australia & Russia today. I had my channel set for the cannon mountain digital repeater not to far from here. It's sits at just over 4000ft.


Both the baofeng's analogue on left and the analogue/ digital on the right. The one on the left was 30 bucks which is a good price for 5 watts.

 

I'm just getting into this myself, so I'm half clueless, and as I progress, I'm slowly learning.

To answer your first question, depends on the line of sight, the curvature of the earth, and mountains etc between the two of you. There very well could be a repeater between the two of you, But the radio antenna, is key. I've switched the stock rubber ducky antenna with a better one already, right after I bought it. It helped. There are different antennas one could add, either buy or make for different frequencies. Di-pole,j-pole, etc. Some antennas are line of sight, some bounce off the ionosphere/ atmosphere to reach another repeater. To have great reception, there are many ways to add antennas to your house, as simple as sling shotting one into a tree etc. Becoming mobile, adding one to your car or truck, and plugging into that. It just depends, you might need nothing! I don't have anything on my property in terms of antennas. I will pick one up for my truck though. We are relatively high above sea level here so its not to difficult to hit the repeater. Once you know what frequency the repeater is recieving and transmitting, you'll program your radio.(as well as offset,color,etc) That repeater sends and transmits to the next repeater, to the next, etc. I was listening in on the Netherlands last evening. The amount of stuff you can do is endless and im just scratching the surface. Some guys communicate with the space station! That's a little beyond what I'm looking to do. You do need an FCC cert to transmit, the test is supposedly easy, and im still debating on doing that.

If the guy your looking for is transmitting, you can find him online. There is a list of amateur radio enthusiasts online, you can get their call sign approx address ect----


Try this link to start. The smaller radio above is UHF/VHF 5 watt on the 2meter/70 centimeter band.
North Dakota Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference



Many folks and I mean many have repeaters. Our handheld radios are repeaters, mobile repeaters in vehicles, in cell phone towers, on mountains, hills, high buildings etc. In paradise ca, during those fires, coms went down. (As well as 9/11) and the amateur radio guys helped the fire company and saved people's lives! And now Ca wants to ban them. ....





Checking out your local amateur radio club can be extremely resourceful too!

 

Some come with the programming cable depending where you buy. Did yours come with one?

Here's the website to help with programming.

Scroll down.... I downloaded the chirp software which makes programming a breeze.

Baofeng UV-5R PLUS [5 Colors] | DUAL BAND | 4/1W | 128CH | FLASHLIGHT

 

I've watched quite a few of his videos. The antenna I upgraded was a suggestion from one if his videos.

 

I'm not planning to get super deep into it, just the basics, again for preparedness purposes. I have alot to learn though.

 

There is a CB in my new to me FJ if I ever get it back LOL. Seems fun, I remember my fathers as a kid, it's right above the rear view mirror in a plywood box, it will be interesting to see if it works.

 

Yes, citizens band. A very small area of frequencies. They are handy, I had one in my jeep, mainly while on the trails.