Posted: 2/27/2011 3:29:49 PM EDT
| What does it take to key up a couple of 2 way Handheld ham radios? Can I buy a couple and talk to my buddy down the street or must I get a license for them to work |
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You can buy them but its illegal to use them without an FCC license. Getting the basic technician license is easy. Its also less expensive and is valid longer than the GMRS license. The license free options are CB, FRS and MURS.
How far 'Down the street'? A few hundred feet, or miles? |
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Your drivers license and conceald weapon permit won't mean much after TSHTF but untill then.... That was my point! There is a whole lot more than just throwing up any antenna and trying to make contact during the Zombie apocalypse! A lot of people will really be screwed. Studying to get your Ham license you will learn many many valuable things that will help you with comms if SHTF. It is not only worth it, I think it is necessary. The main thing you want to look at also is the fact that just like any tool you need to become proficient and learn the limitations of your gear. |
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Ham is pretty controlled, especially during SHTF. repeaters are put into emergency net modes and traffic is generally expected to be health and welfare or emergency traffic only. simplex <radio to radio> would work but depending on band and terrain your range would be limited to 10-25 miles typically.
if you don't want to get the llicense, please stay off the ham bands. |
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K. Now if the S does HTF then what happens? The license doesn't mean much after that but it allows the radio to function?  I'm slow, but I still don't get it. I'm sorry I was being a smartass in my first post. Your license has your call letters you must use to legally transmit. You can use any radio without a license in a true emergency. Yes you can key it up out of the box if you know how to program it. Ham radio is well monitored and can be tracked for illegal transmissions. You are on the right forum to do research on how to get you and your buddy the license. Not hard and you will learn alot about how to use these radios. |
| Got it. So when the Ham is keyed up then the call letters(or whatever) will flash or transmit somehow so they know who you are and can track you. Is this correct? I thought that if the S does HTF then you wouldn't want big brother to know where you were or what you are doing. I guess it all depends on the situation. They should get much better reception than a normal handheld though right? |
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So when the Ham is keyed up then the call letters(or whatever) will flash or transmit somehow so they know who you are and can track you. Is this correct? Only if it's a digital radio. Analog radios don't do this. However, you're required to give your call over the air every 10 min and at the end of a contact. You typically won't hear people on digital IDing since the radio is sending it every time they transmit. |
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Got it. So when the Ham is keyed up then the call letters(or whatever) will flash or transmit somehow so they know who you are and can track you. Is this correct? I thought that if the S does HTF then you wouldn't want big brother to know where you were or what you are doing. I guess it all depends on the situation. They should get much better reception than a normal handheld though right? Oh DEAR GOD! Unwrap the tin foil. You have registration on your car? The Man knows who you are. Pay taxes? Yup, there too. No one prevents you from bootlegging on the Ham Bands. I spoke to a guy on 2m one evening and the call he gave me was a club call. Another gave me a call from Michigan (also an 8 call like Ohio) and said he lived locally. Foxhunters live for this shit. Get a Ham Ticket it is cheap or often free. The Laurel VE team eats all the cost and the tests are free. |
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Loosen the tinfoil, brother. The amateur radio community is largely self policing. Maybe self regulating is better. The rules are there to make sure it stays an enjoyable hobby with some really important applications in emergency situations. With out the rules, it would degenerate into the chaos that is CB.
Regarding the relative capability of this or that radio..... it depends..... on a lot. You really really need to read AR-Jedi's 'Ham Radio 101' thread . It will answer a lot of questions. |
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The radio won't say your call sign, you have to do that. Read the threads up top of this forum. 'jedi's "Ham Radio 101" is a good place to start. We can answer questions you may have.
On a side note..if SHTF, you could just forget to identify if you're worried about Big Brother...but we Hams have our ways to track you.... 
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Quoted: Quoted: Got it. So when the Ham is keyed up then the call letters(or whatever) will flash or transmit somehow so they know who you are and can track you. Is this correct? I thought that if the S does HTF then you wouldn't want big brother to know where you were or what you are doing. I guess it all depends on the situation. They should get much better reception than a normal handheld though right? Oh DEAR GOD! Unwrap the tin foil. You have registration on your car? The Man knows who you are. Pay taxes? Yup, there too. No one prevents you from bootlegging on the Ham Bands. I spoke to a guy on 2m one evening and the call he gave me was a club call. Another gave me a call from Michigan (also an 8 call like Ohio) and said he lived locally. Foxhunters live for this shit. Get a Ham Ticket it is cheap or often free. The Laurel VE team eats all the cost and the tests are free. nothing illegal about that..... clubs are not restricted to HF, and as far as address goes as long as he gets his mail there too it doesn't matter.
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OP, get a ham license. The process of getting licensed will teach you most of what you need to know.
As for your license question, no, there is no technical requirement to have a license in order to transmit. Any Tom, Dick, and Harry can buy a radio online and transmit on it immediately, with no license. But, they'll 1) be douchebags, and ignored or hunted down by licensed hams, 2) be clueless about the complexities of radio communication, 3) be unable to access resources such as the local ham club or ARRL or whatever, 4) did I mention they'll be douchebags Don't get a radio without a license. It's completely fucking retarded. As Egypt demonstrated, being a licensed ham doesn't get your equipment confiscated or anything. They just jam the shit from central locations. |
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You don't need a license to purchase the radios. If you connect an antenna, power source, and press the PTT button the radio will transmit. You need a ham license to do this legally.
Do not think for a second that you can use them without a license and not get caught. As said above, fox-hunters live for that kind of stuff. I personally have tracked a transmitter in the next state that was transmitting on out repeater input frequency causing harmful interference. |
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Got it. So when the Ham is keyed up then the call letters(or whatever) will flash or transmit somehow so they know who you are and can track you. Is this correct? I thought that if the S does HTF then you wouldn't want big brother to know where you were or what you are doing. I guess it all depends on the situation. They should get much better reception than a normal handheld though right? Oh DEAR GOD! Unwrap the tin foil. You have registration on your car? The Man knows who you are. Pay taxes? Yup, there too. No one prevents you from bootlegging on the Ham Bands. I spoke to a guy on 2m one evening and the call he gave me was a club call. Another gave me a call from Michigan (also an 8 call like Ohio) and said he lived locally. Foxhunters live for this shit. Get a Ham Ticket it is cheap or often free. The Laurel VE team eats all the cost and the tests are free. nothing illegal about that..... clubs are not restricted to HF, and as far as address goes as long as he gets his mail there too it doesn't matter. Can't you keep your callsign the same, even if you move from one callsign region to another? |
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The radio won't say your call sign, you have to do that. It will if you're using digital. Every time I key up on P25 or D-Star my call sign shows up on compatible radios. Folks not using digital won't be able to hear you say your call so there's no point. Quoted:
Can't you keep your callsign the same, even if you move from one callsign region to another? Sure. It might annoy some people but there's nothing forcing you to get a new call. I'm in 4 land but know plenty of 2's, 8's, 1's etc. |
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Got it. So when the Ham is keyed up then the call letters(or whatever) will flash or transmit somehow so they know who you are and can track you. Is this correct? I thought that if the S does HTF then you wouldn't want big brother to know where you were or what you are doing. I guess it all depends on the situation. They should get much better reception than a normal handheld though right? Oh DEAR GOD! Unwrap the tin foil. You have registration on your car? The Man knows who you are. Pay taxes? Yup, there too. No one prevents you from bootlegging on the Ham Bands. I spoke to a guy on 2m one evening and the call he gave me was a club call. Another gave me a call from Michigan (also an 8 call like Ohio) and said he lived locally. Foxhunters live for this shit. Get a Ham Ticket it is cheap or often free. The Laurel VE team eats all the cost and the tests are free. nothing illegal about that..... clubs are not restricted to HF, and as far as address goes as long as he gets his mail there too it doesn't matter. Can't you keep your callsign the same, even if you move from one callsign region to another? Yes, you can even get a vanity from another area. |
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Using club calls on 2m is fine and acceptable. What would make a club call on 2m any different that 40m?
I spoke to a guy on 2m one evening and the call he gave me was a club call. Another gave me a call from Michigan (also an 8 call like Ohio) and said he lived locally. A long while back when you moved to a different call area you had to get a new call to reflect your new area. Not any more. It's getting more and more that the call area in an ops call doesn't mean squat. Shoot even the semi-famous YouTube ham K7AGE is out of CA, the 6th call area. I heard of a few dog lovers who have K9 vanity calls and they live all over the place. Get the guys call and look it up on QRZ.com and see if he is for real. Back to the OP. Dude, get licensed. Studying for the Tech test took me a grand total of two weeks of an hour a night studying. I aced it. The Tech ticket ain't rocket surgery. Set up a station and operate. Buying a couple radios to stuff in your go-bag will do you no good when the SHTF. Kinda like buying a rifle you've never shot. Sure you're sending bullets or RF downrange but will you hit your target? |
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I thought that if the S does HTF then you wouldn't want big brother to know where you were or what you are doing.
The TOTAL breakdown of government services is the LEAST likely of all scenarios if things go bad. A partial breakdown is much more likely. And, as your question suggests, it is not likely that the FCC will go out looking for "bad guys" when there is a worldwide emergency going on. Read the Ham Radio forum. And start with Ar-Jedi's "Ham Radio 101." There are many interesting posts on there that show you why you should get into the hobby. The main reason to do so is, if you are going to use ham radio frequencies, you should get used to the practices used by hams, and used to the operating characteristics of your equipment. And, who knows... you just might even enjoy the people you meet! I've even known people who got married due to meeting via ham radio! 
She was the girl I was dating at the time. 
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Quoted: Quoted: The radio won't say your call sign, you have to do that. It will if you're using digital. Every time I key up on P25 or D-Star my call sign shows up on compatible radios. Folks not using digital won't be able to hear you say your call so there's no point. Quoted: Can't you keep your callsign the same, even if you move from one callsign region to another? Sure. It might annoy some people but there's nothing forcing you to get a new call. I'm in 4 land but know plenty of 2's, 8's, 1's etc. I'm living in 5 land with a 4 land call.....my address has changed in the database but I kept my call. If somebody gets annoyed over that....good..it'll keep them from getting annoyed with someone else over nothing.  |
| I'm not against getting a license. I saw the handheld radios and was really wondering if they would be better than the cheapo walky talkies. I'm only trying to communicate within a 5 mile radius in a small city. I don't want an antenna in the yard or a command center in my house. Will these do what I need even if I take the test and become legal? |
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I'm not against getting a license. I saw the handheld radios and was really wondering if they would be better than the cheapo walky talkies. I'm only trying to communicate within a 5 mile radius in a small city. I don't want an antenna in the yard or a command center in my house. Will these do what I need even if I take the test and become legal? Regarding the relative capability of this or that radio..... it depends..... on a lot. What radios exactly? What is the terrain like there? You really really need to read AR-Jedi's Ham Radio 101 thread . It will answer a lot of questions. |
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It is necessary to learn good operating techniques to make effective use of Ham Radio's diverse and largely home made infrastructure. It takes practice you won't get without a license.
WRT "big brother" in a "SHTF" scenario, I don't expect there'd be enough big brother to have any concern whatsoever over Ham Radio, what with the urban riots and all. It certainly isn't anything I'm worried about. |
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I'm not against getting a license. I saw the handheld radios and was really wondering if they would be better than the cheapo walky talkies. I'm only trying to communicate within a 5 mile radius in a small city. I don't want an antenna in the yard or a command center in my house. Will these do what I need even if I take the test and become legal? to answer your question. under good conditions and terrain... yes 5 miles is easily doable with these. Terrain plays a BIG issue in this however. i can talk almost 35 miles in one direction from my front yard with my ht. I can't talk from my house to my masonic lodge 2.5 miles away with 2 50wt mobile car radios. the lodge is in a radio hole from hell. |
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Quoted: Quoted: I'm not against getting a license. I saw the handheld radios and was really wondering if they would be better than the cheapo walky talkies. I'm only trying to communicate within a 5 mile radius in a small city. I don't want an antenna in the yard or a command center in my house. Will these do what I need even if I take the test and become legal? to answer your question. under good conditions and terrain... yes 5 miles is easily doable with these. Terrain plays a BIG issue in this however. I can talk almost 35 miles in one direction from my front yard with my ht. I can't talk from my house to my masonic lodge 2.5 miles away with 2 50wt mobile car radios. the lodge is in a radio hole from hell. |
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Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: I'm not against getting a license. I saw the handheld radios and was really wondering if they would be better than the cheapo walky talkies. I'm only trying to communicate within a 5 mile radius in a small city. I don't want an antenna in the yard or a command center in my house. Will these do what I need even if I take the test and become legal? to answer your question. under good conditions and terrain... yes 5 miles is easily doable with these. Terrain plays a BIG issue in this however. I can talk almost 35 miles in one direction from my front yard with my ht. I can't talk from my house to my masonic lodge 2.5 miles away with 2 50wt mobile car radios. the lodge is in a radio hole from hell.  THE JIGS UP!!!  IT'S MASONS WITH RADIOS!!!....RUN FER THE HILLS!!!  |