Radio Day


Anybody going to this? I've been somewhat interested in getting a radio, so I'll check it out if I'm off.

That's called 'field day'. They'll have a radio or two you can use to get on the air and see if you like it. They'll get extra points for letting you get on the air. 

Field day is a world-wide ham event and depending on the station's 'classification' - points are awarded for a variety of things, mainly most contacts. It gives hams practice in setting up portable communications stations. 

Station classifications vary by things like 100% solar powered, mode of transmission, etc. All emergency communications oriented.

I hope you make it and I hope it interests you enough to take up the hobby. 

Arfcom's Ham Radio Forum

I'm studying for the tech exam now. I might see if I can make the local field day. If I get enough study I might see if I can take the test.

I guess I don't fully understand the purpose, aside from the utility of having long range comms. Hopefully I can see what the big deal is at this field day.

If the SHTF your cell phone will be useless. They could shut down the internet and broadcast media. Ham radio will still work. 

Field day is basically an emergency communications drill. 

I would like to get a hand held unit for this very reason.

Could be useful in my A.O.

Excellent point. When Hurricane Katrina hit, all cell phone towers and land lines went down. I couldn't call my Dad who lives in Biloxi to find out if he survived or was hurt or what was going on. Horrible feeling. I ended up driving down from Dallas with a truck full of gas, water and supplies to go look for him. Luckily, he was OK, but the lack of communication was very stressful til I finally got to see him in person. I've been considering ham radios because of that.

Yep.

Basically, it's an insurance policy on having reliable communications, come hell or high water.

Even if you never use it during normal times, it's a great asset to have in your back pocket.

Ham radio is also great for tinkering - A lot of modern communications methods got their start on the ham bands.

As with nearly everything else technology oriented, unless you use it occasionally - you won't know how when you need it. When the SHTF...it's a bit late to try and figure out how to run Pactor3 on an NVIS path.  

Like I said,I understand the utility, I just haven't figured out the hobby aspect.

As far as a hobby, some people just like to get on there and talk to other people or join onto "nets" which is basically an on air meeting where you discuss a topic of interest. The Dallas club has daily nets and a weekend net where they usually do like a book review. It can get kind of nerdy or weird, but sometimes it's fun and interesting. I usually don't talk much myself. And that's all local stuff, VHF/UHF frequency. I have a 22ft antenna in my backyard hooked up to a 60 watt $135 Kenwood VHF radio. At 60 watts, I can hit the Ellis Co repeater in Ennis , TX 25 miles away. That repeater is linked to 2 other repeaters in Ellis Co., so I can pretty much talk to any other users in Ellis Co., probably 1/3 of Johnson Co too.

The useful part for me is the weather, if there's hail or tornadoes, they usually spin up in Ellis Co before they get to my house or business. Gives me some warning, time to prep, hide cars whatever.

And this is separate from HF ham radio that operates on a different frequency and requires a different license, different and more expensive radios and bigger antennas. You can easily drop $1k just getting a basic HF setup running.

I have a little icom 703 10 watt portable HF radio. It has the power of a mouse fart and it still cost me $500. The long wire antenna was $100 and if I move it around, I can receive Mexico, South America, the Caribbean, Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, etc., sometimes, Europe or Africa, but I've never tried to broadcast out on it since I'm not licensed. It's just an interesting toy at this point.

I never got into ham. Had a base station when i was in high school. Had so many 102" antenna's on our roof it was crazy. Had sidebands, linears and stuff like swr meters. Had a cb in the truck for awhile but just got away from it all.

There is a guy in cut n shoot that sells ham and cb stuff. He had old tubes and new stuff. Cant remember the name

Cool, sounds fun. I'll give it a go.