Entry level radio comm set up

[vmax]

How much does heavily wooded areas affect line-of-site? There are no terrain or structures to interfere...but we're in the middle of the thicket. Thanks -

(Appreciate the thread, btw. Learning, here)

If your antenna is down in the wooded area..it has a greater effect..the less obstruction between the 2 stations the better

Any way to get the antenna up over the tree tops would make a world of difference

 

[Tnhawk]

From entry level to advanced, there are many variables in amateur radio.

However it has consumed much in time and dollars that would have otherwise been spent on guns, reloading and range time.

 

[@TX_1]

What in the hell are you even talking about or talking to?

Sorry, some how I got off thread. I see why staying on topic is so important.

 

[@TX_1]

From entry level to advanced, there are many variables in amateur radio.

However it has consumed much in time and dollars that would have otherwise been spent on guns, reloading and range time.

I understand. And I suffer from far too many "projects". RF and reloading and building stuff.

 

[PUCKER]

At our weekly "cigar therapy session" (last night) a few buddies and I were discussing HAM and such...one of the buddies is Rally Point Bravo when TSHTF....he lives outside of the FW area but he's originally from Montana, his daughter currently lives there - they were just talking about communication when / if cell / internet goes down...yes - we all just saw "Leave the World Behind" - not that far fetched, really. We have some ideas...being that I'm just at the "dipping my toe" in the water of the HAM world most of this is about my pay grade / skill set list....for now. HF might be that ticket? Still learning...and a loooooooong way to go.....obviously!

 

[lonestardiver]

Get your ham ticket. Your technician test is not hard, then work on your general license class. Then you have HF at your finger tips.

When I studied for my extra class and GROL licenses, I used hamtestonline.com where you can learn, take practice exams, and it keeps track of your progress and retests you on topics you are weak on.

It uses the current question pool. When I used it for my extra, I spent about 40 hours of study/quiz time which allowed me to pass it on the first attempt. When I took my general, years before, I also had to pass a 5 word per minute Morse code test, which is no longer required.

 

[TheDan]

The farm is out by lake Granger and has some grade to it across the 70+ acres. My place is out in Leander which is roughly 40 miles away, my GF's is in Pflugerville which is probably only 25 or 30 miles from the farm.

GF can likely hit the Georgetown repeater with a Baofeng HT. Definitely would with a better antenna. You'll need a fixed/good mobile antenna to hit it from Leander. A HT should hit the Taylor repeater from the farm. The Georgetown and Taylor repeaters are linked. Everyone talking needs at least a Tech license, tho.

Will all that still work if the internet and power goes down? Depends on how dedicated the guys running the repeaters are.

SSB CB base stations with good antennas at each location would probably be able to do simplex all on their own. For certain if you bump the power over legal a little bit.

 

[TheDan]

Digital RF systems are intended to be controlled by gate keepers.

DMR is an open standard. I don't know any DMR repeaters around here so it's not really useful, tho.

The Fusion repeater in Rockdale is awesome. The digital signal is always clear and can be picked up over greater distances.

 

[Brains]

SSB CB base stations with good antennas at each location would probably be able to do simplex all on their own. For certain if you bump the power over legal a little bit.

If the FCC hasn't given a shit about all the people running amplifiers on 11 meter in the past few decades, I seriously doubt they'll care in a SHTF scenario. Or if they DO care in that scenario, we will have no care for what they'd say about it.

IMHO.

 

[@TX_1]

DMR is an open standard. I don't know any DMR repeaters around here so it's not really useful, tho.

The Fusion repeater in Rockdale is awesome. The digital signal is always clear and can be picked up over greater distances.

I'm old school HF, Advanced in 1976, Extra in 1985, GROL in 2000. Have taught GROL classes. I know about digital, but am not impressed about weak signal and selectivity. Digital is meant to be controlled by web.

 

[Havok1]

Great thread! I’ve been considering some type of radio setup, but have a lot to learn on the civilian side of comms.

 

[@TX_1]

Great thread! I’ve been considering some type of radio setup, but have a lot to learn on the civilian side of comms.

It appears to me that there are already quite a few Ham's on the forum. I'm pretty new here. I live in the Big Nothing between Ft. Worth and Lubbock. We do have a good active Ham Club, and are building networks. I ran a Navy/Marine Corp MARS station out of my home for 19 years, started that in 1976 when I was living in NM. They were shutting down when I left MARS in 1995.

 

[TheDan]

I love SDR, but it will (likely) never match the performance of a tuned analog circuit.

You can't really separate the two these days. Everything is SDR. An Icom 7300 is an SDR; the computer is just built in. Your HackRF has to have analog amps and filters built into it, too. The difference is quality of the build and design. Also just the fact it's plugged into a computer with a USB cable might be enough to desense it. Computers tend to be noisy.

none of them will transmit on GMRS frequencies without a modification that most people can't do without sending it in and it may void the warranty

Hams are supposed to be good with electronics. Open that thing up!
lol... warranty

Digital is meant to be controlled by web.

Yeah that's the way most people use it, and that's unfortunate. It works quite well as a simplex or repeater mode. I love how the radios can still pick out the signal even if it's buried in the noise floor.

Good stuff here y'all. Turns out I have a baofeng uv-5r that a buddy gave me over 5 years ago.

If you want to meet up for lunch sometime soon I can show you how to program it.

 

[@TX_1]

DMR is an open standard. I don't know any DMR repeaters around here so it's not really useful, tho.

The Fusion repeater in Rockdale is awesome. The digital signal is always clear and can be picked up over greater distances.

You said:

"Yeah that's the way most people use it, and that's unfortunate. It works quite well as a simplex or repeater mode. I love how the radios can still pick out the signal even if it's buried in the noise floor."

----

Long ago, I ran teletype. Began with a Model 19 machine and a home brewed Twin Cities TU. Then I got a Fleisher TU-170. Talk about picking signal out of the noise floor. It was a slicer type unit, and was analog. The filters were incredible. You could not hear the signal and the TU would still pick it out. Wound up with a Robot 800 Keyboard. It ran baudot and ascii, It was very good, but did not hold a candle to the TU-170 terminal unit.

I recently bought a nooelec RTL-SDR adapter, downloaded some cell phone software for it, but have been so busy with other projects that I have not done much with it. Rifle build, reloading, scrounging stuff for both of those interests has taken priority.

I always have more projects than I can handle. Head Shake.

 

[PUCKER]

Get your ham ticket. Your technician test is not hard, then work on your general license class. Then you have HF at your finger tips.

When I studied for my extra class and GROL licenses, I used hamtestonline.com where you can learn, take practice exams, and it keeps track of your progress and retests you on topics you are weak on.

It uses the current question pool. When I used it for my extra, I spent about 40 hours of study/quiz time which allowed me to pass it on the first attempt. When I took my general, years before, I also had to pass a 5 word per minute Morse code test, which is no longer required.

Yes, working on that with hamradioprep.com - I need to get back on it, took a break during the holidays! I was given some good advice by HAMs on an the AR-15 board: go ahead and study / prep for the General and Extra licenses as well....their rationale was that studying for those will make the technician level easier / more understandable and that you can take the tests at the same time for a few bucks more....so, aiming for that - we will see where reality sets in though LOL!

 

[TheDan]

The test is multiple choice and all answers are published. Most efficient way to study is to just memorize the answers. That way when you take the test you don't have to read the whole thing, you can just pick the correct answer

 

[PUCKER]

The test is multiple choice and all answers are published. Most efficient way to study is to just memorize the answers. That way when you take the test you don't have to read the whole thing, you can just pick the correct answer

What I like about the system that I'm using is that there's a video with a guy explaining things - everything he says is in captions with the video...the correct answers are in blue....after the video then the text is all laid out, you read it, same thing - all the correct answers are in blue....they you are given a test on the subject material, multiple choice - the same questions / answers from the exam test. It's pretty cool. If you get the answer wrong (only happened with a few so far) there's an explanation....I always want to understand the why / what about a subject....to learn / understand!

 

[PhulesAu]

I just discovered an intriguing youtube video from notarubicon. It shows a phone app that allows you to send and receive digit text messages over gmrs hand helds. No interwebnets needed.rattelgram available in apple and Android app stores.

 

[lonestardiver]

Never heard of it.
From a quick look, it’s just another digital mode although without the normal modem or TNC.

 

[cycleguy2300]

Ham license is best option (I got my license back in '97). If you already have a Baofeng from a few years ago, chances are it's a model UV-5 or one of the close variants. A programming cable is VERY helpful to set frequencies and add alpha-numeric labels to the channels you program in.
You'll also want to get an external antenna since the built-in antennas on those HT's won't reach but a few miles, unless you have a repeater close by.

The uv-9r pro (mirkit store on amazon) is only $35, but uses a MUCH better connector that Disco32 makes a REAL, high quality PTT adapter for Peltors etc.

Disco 32 makes good stuff, I use their ptt on my apx8000xe so I can use my Peltors if I want



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