Intro to Radio Communications

[CJGarza]

For the needs I have it looks like a HT.

1) "listen" to local radio, including emergency transmissions.
2) Transmit short distances (inside of a city).

As interesting as listening to intercontinental radio transmissions may be (and honestly, it does intrigue me), my needs are more modest. Mabe later a midsized (for my truck) will be purchased. After I have much more, I will get the badass machine.

Does anyone have any suggestions on a good HT? mabe in the $300-$400 range?

[11Bravo]

$400 will get you about any HT you want; maybe two of them.
Kenwood TH-F6A or Yaesu VX-6R.
If you decide you want to do some APRSing find a good Kenwood TH-D7A.
Yaesu makes the VX-8R but it isn't as capable as the D7.
You'll have to look APRS up, too much to explain here, but it is what got me into ham.

[CJGarza]

Thanks for the info!! I am really taking a good look at the Yaesu VX-6R. Actually I may be able to afford 2, always good to have a spare, right?

[Heavy Metal]

I like the Yaesu VX-170.

It is built like a brick shit-house and is dirt cheap.

The only downside is where it is waterproof, you need to be closer to the mike to articulate it well.

[flecom]

Here's what I'm looking for:

1) A base station that can receive/transmit as far as possible without requiring licensing
2) A base station that is mountable in a standard 19" equipment rack
4) Mobile/Handheld units compatible with the main base station

Pretty simple. My relatives all live within a 5-6 mile radius from my house, so it would be nice to stay in contact with them via radio if the main grid ever went down. Obviously, greater ranges would be better, but I have no idea how to even begin going that route.

It seems like CB might work for me, but I know pretty much nothing about the subject, whatsoever.

It would also be nice to be able to hear what's going on in the outside world, if the excrement hit the oscillator. Are there any units out there that offer the capability to receive but not transmit? Is it possible to extend the range of reception without transmission, legally? How?

My needs are pretty basic:

1) Stay in touch with family
2) Monitor beyond my locality

Again, longer distance = better, but I'm starting out from square one. I didn't expect some of the responses received.

I really need some hand-holding on this. Any links for comprehensive information? Any recommended products for my aforementioned list of stuff I'd like to have?

Obviously more range is more desirable, and if licensing isn't extremely high-priced, then it's an avenue I may be interested in.

Consider my perspective to this area being a guy going from a break-action shotgun, and wanting to dive into NFA, showing up in the AR-General Discussion section.

the only base stations that your going to be able to use license free are CB and POSSIBLY MURS, depends on your area

i would recommend you look into a GMRS license, they are not very expensive, they cover immediate family, and let you use UHF base stations, with an outside base antennas at each location you should easily be able to communicate those distances...

to extend the range more you could setup (or if there are any in your area, ask permission to use) a GMRS repeater.. but you would ideally need a high-site for it... aka a building, tower, something

a repeater is a pair of radios (a transmitter and a receiver) that operate in full duplex... aka the receiver receives a signal and immediately transmits it out the transmitter on a offset frequency...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repeater

you can also make a "simplex" repeater, which uses one radio, to receive, record the transmission onto something (tape, digital recorder etc) and then when its done receiving the transmission, retransmit it on the same frequency... these are great because they can be small, and easily deployed, we use them in our SHTF drills, but they require some patience because only one person can transmit at a time so you have to make sure you dont key up over someone

heres my ham (2M VHF) repeater... its on top of a 550~ft building in downtown miami



equipment in the cabinet, repeater controller, transmitter, receiver, circulator/isolator panel, power supply (the cabinets next to mine belong to many three letter agencies)



duplexer/filter

this protects the reciever from the transmitter and vice-versa and allows both radios to connect to the same antenna at the same time and function at the same time...



us mounting the 24' antenna in the middle of the night lol

longest conversation i have heard on it between two people is from key largo to west palm beach... about 100 miles...

[QuietShootr]

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[QuietShootr]

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[11Bravo]

Damn!! the terminated, folded dipole is a VERY effective antenna for NVIS. Improv comm shot from vehicle to vehicle (stop, pull into protected area, deploy antenna) was perfect.

Antenna was only 5 feet off the ground.

Do tell, do tell.

[QuietShootr]

A few articles to help explain NVIS:

http://harriscountyares.org/training...ng_nvis_01.pdf

http://www.qsl.net/wb5ude/nvis/

http://www.w0ipl.net/ECom/NVIS/nvis.htm

[QuietShootr]

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