View Full Version : Ham radio
I found out last Friday that the local ham guys were giving a license exam session over on the island that is our county seat. I thought "what the heck, how hard could it be?", being somewhat desirous of enhanced radio communications here after by recent experiences with our fire/EMS/police handhelds and repeaters.
So I hopped on the ferry Saturday morning, and crammed for the Technician and General exams on the way over, using a free iPhone app. Total study time, one hour from a cold start, though I do have a degree in electrical engineering and a physics background to help or confuse me.
35 questions, you need to get 26 correct to pass. 4 choice multiple choice questions.
Victory - the stuff wasn't terribly hard.
If you've ever wanted to get your ham license, go for it. A short bit of time with one of the exam flash card apps, and you will be set. No Morse code needed anymore.
Last night I dug out my old shortwave receiver, and improvised an antenna out of a long wire, and did a quick look-see to determine if my site had any potential at all.
I had my daughter help with the antenna, as she's cramming for an AP Physics exam on electromagnetism.
All the setup is in my man-cave, which due to recent projects is strewn with Geiger counters, radios, fire/rescue gear, and some firearms in various states of repair.
Kid looks around, as we get started hooking the The Antique Radio: "Dad, this looks like the set from some Cold War bomb shelter film!"
Two minutes later, we tune in our first station.
Korean. Out of Pyongyang, in Spanish, directed at Cuba and South/Central America, playing patriotic Soviet-style anthems interspersed with news stories about Fearless Leader, and how the people need to rise up all over the world.
"Huh" says my daughter. "It seems to be more of a time machine than a radio..."
Next station we tuned in: Radio Cuba, from Havana. Playing...all night long, on all their channels....fun samba music.
Kid quips "I think that communism stuff isn't going to last long there..."
Then: "I bet they don't have Twitter and Facebook in North Korea, probably they are still using MySpace."
Today's project: I'm building a battery-powered repeater kit in a weatherpoof Pelican case that I can leave on the edge of any dead-zone valley I enter when responding to an aid call, so that we can have radio connectivity once we get down in. I may make up several, so we can leave them behind us like breadcrumbs.
Fascinating. Thanks for sharing that. It stimulates my imagination.And what a neat activity to share with your kid!
Gardenarian
5-1-13, 7:31pm
This is something I'm considering. There are a lot of ham operators where my cabin is; in an emergency it could easily be the only way to contact the outside world. Glad to hear that it is not too difficult - I wish I had a friend I could apprentice with!
I honestly thought that ham radio was a thing of the past. How interesting to find out that it still functions.
It seems to be going like gangbusters these days, with lots of local repeater networks for amateurs using the 2m band from handhelds, and all sorts of data-over-radio networks set up to gateway things, even over the Internet. The mountain I live on is so tall, relative to the local terrain, that I can chat with people in Seattle on a wee handheld. Which could be Real Handy if there's trouble here.
Our local hams set up a county-wide email system for our emergency services agencies, and have it linked to the state network, and it all runs sending digital data over ham radio networks, so all the agencies and stations can send email and data to each other even if all other methods have gone away in a disaster. Just takes laptops, and a case with radios the preconfigured setup they have constructed.
It doesn't seem to be a purely old-guys-with-ear-hair sport anymore.
Getting rid of the Morse Code requirement really helped popularize ham radio. The tumbling price of hardware didn't hurt, either.
I had a Technician ticket "back in the day" when you had to know Morse Code. I strongly disliked that I had to learn it because as soon as I got a General license, I had no intention of sending or listening to Morse Code. I let it go like a lot of other hobbies when life hit me head-on.
Ah, bae, thanks for giving me a trip down memory lane....
This is interesting. Didn't I read somewhere that ham radios were a big help during 9/11 when cell phones etc. were either overwhelmed or not working?
This appeals to the survivalist in me. I'm going to check it out.
ToomuchStuff
5-2-13, 1:39pm
Dropping Morse code was in part (from what I have been told) was due to the increased use of computers with Ham radio. I don't remember if it was last year, or two years ago, the space shuttle had a communications failure and the ham network that was setup for emergency backup, was activated as a just in case measure, while they were working on fixing the problem.
I have my grandfathers old Ham raido, but the frequencies have changed with digital separation, so it hasn't been used in a while. (think it is passed being update-able) I've kept it due to the stand and power supply, just in case I do find a good deal on one (that is what would drive me to getting my license). Last estate sale I knew was having Ham equipment, was bombarded (and sold out) in the first five minutes.
Didn't I read somewhere that ham radios were a big help during 9/11 when cell phones etc. were either overwhelmed or not working?
Most likely. Networks of ham radio operators assist in any number of disasters, including hurricanes, earthquakes, and big fires. Of course, you still need some juice for the radio...
Of course, you still need some juice for the radio...
You can get by with a pretty minimal amount of juice, and a pretty minimal setup.
I can now set up my station in < 10 minutes, and power it for quite some time with just a couple of batteries, which can be topped off with solar. From the NW corner of Washington, on the 40m ham band, with only this portable antenna, I can reliably contact from California to Alaska without issue, as well as Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, and Arizona with only a teeny bit of additional work. I can also hit the state Emergency Operations Center from here.
And I'm not in a particularly good spot, if I relocated to the top of the mountain I'm on, which would take another 20 minutes, I'd do much better. If I moved the station down to the beach, and reconfigured the antenna to take advantage of the ocean, I'd be able to pull off some fun things too.
There seem to be regular regional traffic nets at several times of the day, you'd only need power for a few minutes a day to check in and pass traffic in an emergency.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-mu6nU2eCLLI/Uedosk2pR-I/AAAAAAAAIKo/T16nWZsohgw/s720/Awesomized.jpg
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-TYhHUA1Okus/UedolxPcPSI/AAAAAAAAIKQ/oL9YtglN4wM/s640/Awesomized.jpg
My Grandfather was a ham! He lived in rural Alaska from 1946-71, and was the linkage between AK & the continental US during the '64 earthquake, and between the Antarctic explorers in the 60's and their families. We grew up getting their calls from Auke Bay, AK, patched through to a local ham so they could call us at no charge, crackly lines & all.
He built his equipment out of Heath kits. When I was visiting my grandparents at their retirement Airstream place in Sequim in 1981, I mentioned that I would love to inherit his ham radio set-up. He growled at me that I was a girl, and that was the end of that. My Mom has his AK license plate with his call letters framed in her house. I have no idea what happened to his equipment.
My Grandfather was a ham! He lived in rural Alaska from 1946-71, and was the linkage between AK & the continental US during the '64 earthquake, and between the Antarctic explorers in the 60's and their families.
Apparently there are still a reasonable number of people on the air practicing their operating skills, their network control skills, and traffic passing. Seems like enough to still rely on to get information through in an emergency situation, especially if the emergency is only regional.
I tried an experiment today with two of the noon 40m nets, and managed to be read quite clearly by a fair number of folks when I was running only *5 watts of output power*. That's a game-changer, power-budget-wise.
Realize, you don't have to be able to talk to *everybody* on these traffic-passing nets, if you can talk to "some* people, they can relay your traffic.
It also means I can get to surrounding states with a radio that fits into the palm of my hand, which makes hiking to the top of the mountain 10x easier :-)
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-OvcG0RRIgEY/UgQK_1rnTZI/AAAAAAAAIXY/NoWlJ49TBUI/s720/Awesomized.jpg
My dad was in the Merchant Marines, and I don't recall the exact details, but he would sometimes call us from sea with a ham radio operator as an intermediary. It was always a big treat since Dad was gone 6 - 9 months at a time.
Some of the guys on another forum I hang around on devote some time to ARES. You could have worse hobbies.
http://www.arrl.org/ares
bae, around the time I let my ticket lapse, 2-meter was an up-and-coming thing. Given what can be done with cell phones (different technology, I know) and FRSs, I'm a little surprised that radios aren't smaller than handheld. Is it the size of the radio transmitter that keeps them from getting smaller?
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-OvcG0RRIgEY/UgQK_1rnTZI/AAAAAAAAIXY/NoWlJ49TBUI/s720/Awesomized.jpg
Ah, reminds me of the good ole 70s
Big Ben, this here's the Rubber Duck, we just ain't a-gonna pay no toll. So we crashed the gate doing ninety-eight, I says let them truckers roll, 10-4. :~)
Sorry, I know your stuff is more serious. Two cross country trips in a Chevy Malibu Station Wagon will do bad things to you.
http://www.overdriveonline.com/files/2011/03/cobra-cb-radio.jpg
flowerseverywhere
8-9-13, 7:29am
living in the hurricane path ham radio is huge around us. Something I intend to get involved in as well. They use little hand helds and many people have antenaae in flagpoles. Clever.
I didn't know anything about ham radio, but I was interested and wanted to learn. I attended a three-hour cram session and passed the first exam the first time. I bought a little rig in the hopes that I, too, would be able to pick up interesting stuff from hither and yon. Unfortunately, all I was able to do, with my tiny antenna emerging out of my "shack" (which was a corner of my bedroom in Pahrump, Nevada) was to connect with the local group of "old guys with ear hair" crowd.
Typical examples of the fascinating stuff I could hear:
A: It looks like there is some rain and there is a big puddle on the corner of Bell [sic] Vista and 372.
B: Yeah, I had to put my horses into the barn so their hooves wouldn't get muddy.
Therein ended my fascination with ham radio! I'm glad you're picking up cool stuff, though, BAE. One of my first EFL students, when I taught in Finland in 1990, was a dairy executive who had collected a zillion ham radio cards from all over the world. It took twenty years + for me to get my license, but that's what inspired me. Too bad it didn't work out, and here in Israel, ham radio is kind of a no-no, so I got rid of my rig when we moved to Florida.
bae, around the time I let my ticket lapse, 2-meter was an up-and-coming thing. Given what can be done with cell phones (different technology, I know) and FRSs, I'm a little surprised that radios aren't smaller than handheld. Is it the size of the radio transmitter that keeps them from getting smaller?
The 2m/220/440 bands are quite suitable for very small handheld radios. I have a tri-band that covers those and all the emergency/fire/police frequencies that is miniscule. However, it puts out 5 watts max.
To transmit on the HF long-range ham bands, you end up needing batteries, power supplies, and heat sinks that make the radio pretty big. That small one I pictured above is about the smallest practical radio there is if you want to transmit voice, and it only puts out 5 watts, which is problematic. If you want to put out 100 watts, which is about the "norm", you need something like the other radio I pictured, which is backpack-portable, and needs a 5-20 pound battery to run it. Remember the Serious Hams put out 1500 watts...
And have silly big antennas.
I had some success today using the research of Tesla to create an antenna that used my mountain as part of the system and making contacts with super low power, but that is Serious Voodoo :-)
Now, if you are willing to do the Morse Code thing, there are seriously radios built inside Altoids Mints tins that will reach around the world, with almost no power.
... all I was able to do, with my tiny antenna emerging out of my "shack" (which was a corner of my bedroom in Pahrump, Nevada) was to connect with the local group of "old guys with ear hair" crowd.
I feel your pain!
I have focused my efforts on connecting up with other emergency services organizations. I'm one of the operators for our fire/rescue department, and county emergency services department, and have a pretty specific mission :-)
SteveinMN
8-10-13, 10:35am
Now, if you are willing to do the Morse Code thing, there are seriously radios built inside Altoids Mints tins that will reach around the world, with almost no power.
.- .... -- -.-- --- .-.. -.. ..-. .-. .. . -. -.. -- --- .-. ... . -.-. --- -.. . .-.-.- .-.-.- .-.-.-
a physics background to help or confuse me.
I wonder how many people got the Google doodle today...
http://www.google.com/logos/doodles/2013/erwin_schrdingers_126th_birthday-2002007-hp.jpg
.- .... -- -.-- --- .-.. -.. ..-. .-. .. . -. -.. -- --- .-. ... . -.-. --- -.. . .-.-.- .-.-.- .-.-.-
-- -.-- / .... --- ...- . .-. -.-. .-. .- ..-. - / .. ... / ..-. ..- .-.. .-.. / --- ..-. / . . .-.. ... .-.-.-
http://www.qrpme.com/images/tn_Zomboids.JPG
.-.. --- .-..
Thanks for the pic, bae. I've seen headphone amps for stereos put into Altoids tins, too. If the Altoids people ever change the box, I think there will be gnashing of teeth and rending of garments in the electronics world...
I'm in love. I picked up this nearly-NIB Icom IC-703+ rig the other day for a song.
http://www.icomamerica.com/en/products/amateur/hf/703/default.aspx
I wish they still made this thing. It is sort of the little brother to the (also discontinued) Icom 706. It only puts out 10 watts, and can be set to put out much much less. It draws very little power in receive mode when running off batteries. It is small, light, robust, has a quite capable antenna tuner built in, DSP, and all sorts of other goodies.
It was well thought out to be a portable rig. It crushes my other small radio, the Yaesu FT-817ND, in performance and function.
And Icom designed a backpack meant to carry it and its accessories, and produced a reasonable portable antenna system for it, which integrates into the backpack. The control faceplate of the radio detaches, and can operate the radio from a small pouch on the backpack's waist belt or shoulder strap.
http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/hamhf/ic-703.jpg
http://www.radiowave.ro/441-1780-thickbox/icom-lc-156.jpg
I've only had it since yesterday, and running off batteries, using only a simple end-fed half-wave antenna thrown up into a tree here have managed to communicate quite well from Baja to Alaska, New Zealand, Hawaii, Japan, Arizona, Montana, Idaho, Nevada, and have checked into most of the regional emergency communications nets successfully with it, with solid signal reports back.
Win. Icom's stupid marketing guys killed it. It was too good, too cheap, and too reliable.
My county is made up entirely of islands in the Pacific. Several days ago, a submarine cable broke here. Apparently the telephone company, which is also most peoples' ISP, had no redundancy in their system.
As a result, Internet was down for most people, cell service down for almost everyone, landline calls could be made *on each island*, but not *between* islands. No landline calls possible to/from the mainland. 911 service down. People with medical lifeline devices - down. Fire alarms, security alarms, down.
Our fire and EMS and sheriff radio system remain functional.
Our local hams are pretty organized, and have a network of repeaters atop our various mountains and hills. They also drill very frequently passing message traffic, interacting with the various governmental agencies and NGO groups here. They maintain radio stations in each major fire station, the county emergency management center, and the sheriff's HQ.
Good thing - the hams have stepped in and totally saved the day. Supplies are still getting ordered from the mainland for our grocery stores and other important retailers by ham radio guys passing the traffic over to the mainland. Inter-island coordination of the recovery/repair effort is happening over the ham networks, to keep the fire/ems/sheriff emergency radio nets functional for actually delivering emergency services.
We have lashed together a workaround for 911 services that is going live momentarily, so we can return to having a single dispatch center with modern tools - we've been running the past few days doing dispatching The Old School Way, and with one center on each island, which has been a big manpower drain (imagine staffing 4-5 centers instead of 1, and having no tools...) One retired old lady surfaced with the old boards and index card system we used to use on this island, very helpful.
We could be cut off phone/Internet-wise from the mainland for weeks to come, worst case. Best case is another few days minimum. Workarounds to pass small amounts of traffic are being lashed together by our local power company, our ham guys, and some cooperative out-of-the-box thinkers in the phone company repair crews.
The Governor is likely to declare the county a disaster zone shortly, the economic impact of not being able to communicate is pretty huge. Imagine a community that relies heavily on tourism, and tourists can't call to book lodging, for instance...
Fun times, and a good reason to have a radio, know how to use it, and drill with other people who have a clue. I was in a meeting of the County Planning Commission today, pulled a radio off my belt, and got an answer from several islands away instantly. Nothing remarkable on a good day when cell phones, texts, and email work - today though it was Very Helpful.
Interesting reading about the loss of communication situation solved by ham operators, Bae. Our world is so dependent of instant communication via cable, cellphone.
At last, done - reproduction of my fire station's UHF/VHF Winlink/packet radio emergency comms setup, and a 50w narrowband radio set up for our fire dispatch frequency. When the 'quake/tsunami take out that station, I'll have a backup right here at the house, no need to take off my fluffy bunny slippers!
(And it all handily fits atop my HF antenna tuner, that huge box, except for the wee laptop computer.)
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-BnKfO_H_Yx8/UxkOtX6ldZI/AAAAAAAAJ6k/u-PDgSjMB8Y/s576/Awesomized.jpg
For the second time in ~6 months, my entire county lost phone service, cell service, 911 dispatching, and a fair bit of our Internet connectivity. We are a remote community made up of small islands off the US mainland on the US/Canada border.
Luckily, we still had the playbook fresh, and heck, I hadn't even unpacked some of my kit from the ARRL Field Day this last weekend.
Spent the day at one of our outlying fire stations manning the station for walk-in emergencies. Our local ham folks and our fire/rescue agency play well together.
Check out my back-woods comm center :
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-FwHgDIDVJZQ/U7TbtutCxnI/AAAAAAAAK8Y/8N22hfHgR9Y/s640/Awesomized.jpg
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-d2gZlRkdyro/U7TbhGeEvJI/AAAAAAAAK7o/MhDfUnkZjvY/s640/Awesomized.jpg
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ZrAQ6zym5TY/U7TbS7gnVUI/AAAAAAAAK7Q/azLXtaHaSEQ/s640/Awesomized.jpg
Wonderful to see the preparedness and the comfort of knowing that it is available. Thanks for sharing.
ToomuchStuff
7-3-14, 10:08am
Hope you were busy enough to keep you out of that uncomfortable looking chair.;)
I have now finished assembling my perfect Zombie Apocalypse radio station.
The Elecraft KX3 transceiver, in combination with the Elecraft PX3 panadaptor. The receiver is one of the finest ones ever made, I can hear almost everything on it. It only puts out 10 watts of power maximum, which is miniscule, on the other hand it draws almost no power at all while receiving, and very little when transmitting - I ran it an entire day making contacts all over the world and did not deplete a small 7.5 amp-hour SLA battery, of the type you might find sitting in a small UPS for a PC, or in an alarm system. Today, on an overcast Pacific NW day, I was able to recharge the battery faster than I was drawing it down. You could run it for an afternoon off 8 rechargeable AA batteries, which fit neatly inside its case, if you don't feel like carting around a "real" battery.
It has a very good antenna tuner built into the radio, so you can use most anything for an antenna. I was playing with it using a simple wire thrown over a tree branch, something that took 2 minutes to set up. With that I was able to talk to Japan, Russia, Argentina, Alaska, most of Canada, and all over the USA with only 5-10 watts of power, less than a small lightbulb would use.
The panadapter attachment on the left allows you to see a wide range of radio spectrum, and quickly zoom your radio to the signal of interest. This is a game-changer, especially if you are operating on battery power and want to be efficient.
The whole setup is quite small (as you can see compared to the size of the standard PC keyboard they are next to), and weighs just a couple of pounds.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-CV-jZaEDuTQ/VFVUSqCX8TI/AAAAAAAAMbE/sPsn1jKX97g/s720/Awesomized.jpg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfK9KDwLsYM
I don't know if anyone suggested this, but first you need a dedicated, freestanding, man-cave "Ham Shack" building in the backyard, that is completely off limits to wimmin, unless they are bringing you a sandwich or are a pizza delivery girl. Also, you should be smoking unfiltered cigarettes & drinking a little--or hey--even a lot of whiskey every day, so you will develop that deep, rich baritone voice like Johnny Carson that is so necessary for radio broadcasting. Also, you should equip your ham shack with a 4537-456 zillohertz, qwe-786 Megadeth, 098nmz, double-thororeum wavebach resounder along with an Enderbsol #456789043-a4 Delaminor. Then learn Morris code(just ask any Eagle Scout to tutor you), and you will be able to shoot the breeze with Ham operators on other planets in distant galaxies. 10-4 ol' buddy. Have a good 'un. Over & out.
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