I'm doing an AAR on Hurricane Harvey and comms is my biggest failure.  

I live in Katy about a mile from where they pulled that guy out of the back window of the Tahoe the other night.  Getting my license has been on my list for awhile but I never made the commitment to do it due to a busy schedule; I've realized this was a HUGE failure on my end.  I have a Baofeng UV-5R and am able to tune in to the local repeater from my house.  As information was getting tossed around I found myself unable to either respond or ask clarifying questions because I'm not a licensed ham.  This has been very, very frustrating.  It seems that there is a good group of local guys here and many of them were mobile today giving updates on flooding and open gas stations / grocery stores.  I'm actually listening to the weekly 2m repeater net right now and picking up some good info.  

Once upon a time, I read all the appropriate threads on where to start and how to study.  I even dug through all the test questions and was pretty confident I could pass technician easily and have an okay chance at general.  I even know where I'm going to hide a small j-pole on my roof for running a 2m / 70cm base station in my house!

Another thing that popped up was that I had sketchy comms with my brother who lives about 40 miles away (straight line distance).  We'll both need to step up our game and get licensed and some proper equipment.  Do we need general to be able to talk during commo blackouts?

So... will one of you guys keep me accountable?  I need to get a license ASAP and follow that up with a base station and mobile unit at least on the 2m band.

Howdy! Its about time you get your lazy butt in here. Also get your brother on the books.
40 miles in the flats is doable on 2 meters. Yagi and 50 watts probably will do it.
So, get your nose in a book. I want you to find a test session and post when it is. I'll give ya a week to report that back.
You should be easily ready to test within the next 30 days if your serious about cracking the book. Hit the tech section. Theres online sample tests. We will post those up shortly. Once you are hitting it in the 80%+ start on the general section. Much of those 2 overlap.

Damn, I am being held accountable too.

I am the brother.  Looks like I am stepping up my game as well.  I will be setting up a small mobile setup to use in the house.

My main goal will be to keep my cost down where I can.

Study and study more, my sister in law just moved to Katy after her husband got out of the Air Force.  They are doing well but neither one of them thought an emergency kit would be useful, he has lived in Katy his whole life from what I can tell. But hopefully this event has shown you that it is useful to have and I am sure that you both will keep studying and get licensed as soon as something is available and the friendly people here will keep you on track for getting those licenses.  Study tech and general and get both then you can reach out further in the event something like this happens again.  Stay safe!

By all means, we'll help hold your feet to the fire. Focus on tech for now, that sounds like what  you and your brother need at the moment.

Make sure your practice stuff is for the current tech pool.

Now, here's what I'll ask of you. You tell a gripping tale in the OP.   Share it, brother. Help the unwashed masses know why ham is good, and why they need the training and gear.

May you and yours come through unscathed in this time of trial.

NUTT, there is no difference between a mobile and a base station but where it is mounted... in your car or on
your desk.  In your car you will have connection to a mobile type antenna, and do not even think about plugging
it into your cigarette lighter socket.. excuse me... "Power Point" as they are now known.  You need to run good
large diameter wire (no less than 10 ga) to your battery.

Whatever radio you put in your car, buy an identical model for your QTH (home station).  Program them both
similarly for frequencies, but for your mobile rig, you will want to program in repeaters in other towns that you
may travel to or through frequently.  Set the power to High for all repeaters on your mobile, and turn down when
you can.

For your base station, you can leave out stations at such a distance you cannot reach them.  Set power for the
local repeater as low as you can and still have a "full quieting" signal report.  For example, my local repeater is
just 4 miles direct, and I don't need more than 5 watts to reach it.  Other repeaters 20 miles away or more, yes,
I use more power... 10 watts, 25 watts, as needed.

At home, the higher you can mount your antenna, the better.  

You will need a power supply that can supply the 12-15 amps required by a 2m rig.  But do yourself a favor, go
on and buy a 22-25 amp power supply.  I'll recommend the Samlex SEC-1223BBM to you.  It has backup battery
features you may want... especially for hurricanes, and other power outage situations.

You can use the supplied bracket to screw your radio to the bottom of a shelf over your desk, or as I do, put the
bracket on bottom, tilting the radio up for better viewing, and put some vinyl or rubber feet on bottom so it does
not slide around.

Get your license, it is not hard.

No excuse for not having a license as the Technician exam has been dumbed down to where even a retarded Neanderthal could pass it.

There are several online practice test sites and books available to help you out: http://aa9pw.com/radio/,  https://www.qrz.com/hamtest/,  http://www.arrl.org/exam-practice,  http://www.eham.net/exams/

If you just want to memorize the questions, get this one: http://www.arrl.org/shop/ARRL-s-Tech-Q-and-A-6th-Edition/
If you want to know what and why, this is what you seek: http://www.arrl.org/shop/ARRL-Ham-Radio-License-Manual-3rd-Edition/

I wish you success in getting licensed, just make sure you don't stop at Technician. General is where it starts to get good because you can do more than line of sight communication. My rural property is 3.5 hours from my house and I talked to two of my buddies up there tonight on just 15w and a wire antenna in my yard. I was plugged into a wall, but the radio would have still done it on the internal AA batteries and takes up barely any space in a pack. General opens up more opportunity for digital communication too, which is probably the most robust means of communicating next to CW. You can also send email (slowly) via HF radio without having an internet connection.

Something else to consider if you love freedom is that being a HAM and knowing how to use a radio means never being muffled and not always being held hostage to propaganda when you get news. You can say your piece and get straight dope from people who were there. Rather than wait for a paid media whore to tell you what the narrative is supposed to be.

for the last 3+ years, I've been podcasting about Ham Radio-Just For You!
My show was born out of this very sub-forum after these guys convinced me to FINALLY get my ticket!
Most recently, I've posted a Where To Start Page on my site, it also has links to multiple podcast episodes
(Here is the How To Podcast Episode)

you can find the page here: LINK

you've landed in the best spot on the Net to accomplish your goals-now, get 'er done
We're Here To Help!

I got my tech specifically for emcom, got my extra because of the vanity callsign I wanted

Got the HF because Hell I have a license to talk on HF

and then started having real fun.

I had no idea I would end up being hooked on HAM radio.

Study the questions and answers, learn enough to be able to remember the answers and worry about really knowing stuff outside of the answers when you get hands on.

and take the tests, they give you the damn answers ahead of time!

Once you get your ticket learn and use your radio(s). I just got done with checking in to the Lincoln K0KKV net. I'm the only one from Omaha that does it on a mostly regular basis. (37.1 miles, and a few hills). The Lincoln guys have a couple that check on on the Omaha nets. We pass traffic between the clubs.

Point is to use and know what your radio can do. I'm just running a 9' vertical antenna and 50 watts tonight.
I have a 4 element Arrow Yagi and also a 160 watt 2 meter amp at my disposal. As long as I can get the yagi in the air, there's no reason I cant work those guys.

Thanks all. I'll take a look at testing times and try to verify that they'll actually be holding the exams given the continuing issues we are having around town.

I attended a class given by my gun club president back this past Winter.

We used the ARRL study books (Tech & General) and QRZ for taking the practice tests. https://www.qrz.com/hamtest/

Of the 11 of us sitting for the exam, everyone passed Tech and 7 of us passed General.

That's the way that I'd go to get licensed.

What did it for me were audio books by Michael Burnette and hamstudy.org..
Once you get going don't stop. Keep studying and take the next test.

I've made this point many, many times to various folks who say they want nothing to do with talking to other amateurs, that they only want to talk to their own family or group during disasters.  All those other people out there are a huge resource.

Now is probably not a good time to find a local VE testing session, but whenever you have time, go through the online study / practice test sites and go through the material. Take a gander, if not a serious look, at the General material in addition to the Technician. For many, passing both is very feasible, and gets you access to all amateur bands even if you're only thinking about VHF stuff now.

My equipment advice would start with taking a pass on the J pole and getting a higher performance antenna for your house. An inexpensive option is the Tram 1480. With a little luck and favorable terrain, you might be able to make the 40 miles on 2m FM simplex with decent antennas. A small tower at one or both ends would help. With a repeater 40 miles is no sweat, as you probably know.

OP, would you be willing to share your AAR when its done?  Or at least the sections that are safe for public disclosure?

BTW, if you get into HF you will need a power supply that will handle the increased amperage draw of the HF radio.  Most HF radios pull around 20 amps, so you will need a PS that will do that continuous duty.  I use a 35amp Astron power supply, and have plenty of amps to spare.

My son regularly talks 2m simplex with a ham about 30 miles away over hills.  My son has a 5.5 dbi gain omni at 18 feet high and a 25 watt radio.  The other fella uses an 11 dbi yagi at 20 feet.  Since you will be doing a point to point link, get two yagis or quads and put them up as high as you can pointed toward each other.

I'm working on getting my brother to get his license also.
For VHF you can get a Kenwood TM-281. Its a great first radio and only about $130.

Again - thanks for all of the replies.  I did find where I could take the test but think that actually scheduling it locally might be a problem for the next month or so.  I'll study up though and take the test as soon as I can.

What comm black out??

Don't beat yourself up, but keep motivated.  I'm in pretty much the same boat and general area.  Working to be more prepared for the next unplanned disaster.

I just got my technicians license this last weekend. Studying for the general and extra.  My radio is floating around on a UPS truck somewhere here in town.

ARES Amateur Radio Emergency Service (http://www.harriscountyares.org/) is something I'm looking into. Check out their training page. I did CERT earlier this year and have taken most of the required FEMA classes but think I would be more interested in getting into the comms side.  Lot of interesting training and opportunities for personal accountability.

You might be able to make 2m from a 50W base/mobile work on a vertical with some decent gain (think of gain as amplification (transmit and receive) that an antenna provides).  I'm running a Comet GP1 that has made 5W contacts on 440 18 miles away full quieting (no static).  

Bear in mind if you are running a vertical antenna and your buddy is running a horizontal antenna you'll have problems.  But as far as extending your distance a Yagi (a direction antenna with gain) on one end or the other with a regular antenna might make things work.  A Yagi (or other directional antenna) works like a flashlight vs a light bulb in the open.  A regular vertical antenna is like a light bulb.  It emits a signal (light) in most every direction.  So if you are trying to send a signal to a particular location, the energy is also sent in other directions as well.  A Yagi works like a flashlight.  It has a reflecting element that directs the signal in a particular direction so the signal is more focused (intense) in the direction it is pointed.  However, from the sides or from behind the signal is not visible and they cant see (hear) you.  The Yagi also amplifies received signals as well, so you can better hear distant stations. Polarity (direction the antenna is pointed) is very important.  If the other station has a vertical antenna and you have a sideways antenna (either holding your handy-talkie sideways or you put your truck shiny-side-down) you may not hear the station.  An antenna that is positioned horizontally when trying to receive a signal from a vertical antenna will see a 20dB (decibel) loss.  Basically, every 3dB is a doubling.  So an antenna that has a 3dB gain will transmit what looks like 100 watts from a 50 watt transmitter.  If you have a 20dB loss a 50 watt transmitter will look like a .3 (one third) of a watt transmitter.  No bueno.  Or think of it like this.  Find a pair of 20dB hearing protection ear muffs.  Now sit in a lecture.  This is what it's like for your radio.  

Problem with trying to get 40 miles is that you are exceeding the line of sight of the earth's curvature.  In order to have line of sight 40 miles away (assuming same elevations above sea level) you would have to have to be about 300 feet high. My earlier mention about making a contact 18 miles away on 5 watts?  There's a valley between us.    So start with finding out what your elevations are (Google Earth is a good start) and if you have enough elevation difference you may be able to pull it off.  And while there is an effect called ground wave propagation, its not something you'll likely see at the frequencies you are operating at.  This is why radio stations are located on high points like mountaintops.  

At the end of the day if there's no mountains directly between the two of you, and you otherwise have a clear line of sight and somebody has some elevation, you could probably talk to each other on a couple of 50 watt radios with some halfway decent antennas such as a Diamond X50 or Comet GP-3 (pretty much the same antennas) offering 4.5 dB of gain on the 2m frequency or 7dB of gain on 440 and under $100.  Worst case you might have to bring your squelch down and put up with some static.

My intention was a very short reply, however, between the whiskey and the science (but mostly the whiskey) a slightly longer response was necessary. If you are uncertain if this will work out for you, a dollar and a donut says you can contact your local ham radio club and ask if they could conduct an experiment to see if this would work and the hamsters at said club would be willing to try and see if it works.  I know I'd be willing to help out if called upon.

Ht's are cool but suck for dependable comms if you are way out..  Get a Mobile rig, stick with the a good radio brand...  Skip the China stuff,  no offense but get a good radio..  Get a good antenna for your vehicle and your house.  If you get a good vertical on top of the house 2m/440 works darn good.  If you can hit a repeater your brother prob can too..  Hf wouldnt work that well because your too close.  10m might work for you, and you have a small area in 10m for ssb in Tech license.
Band Plan If you need some help shoot me a im and I can answer any questions you have.  A couple good tips for a new ham is dont go out and buy a bunch of stuff at first.  Take your time and get what uou need, not what you want.  Uv-5r works good and is disposable for the money.  If it works use it.   Find an elmer!!!!   Find an elmer!!!!!     Any antenna works better than no antenna..   Oh, and find an elmer that lives close to you.  You can search your area and find hams in your area..   search here>  Grid Mapper  also a quick website for looking up callsigns >  Good Ham Search Tool  Get on QRZ and you can search as well..  Ham test prep android app helped me allot on the test..

Prosise

You can find the repeaters in your area here: http://www.artscipub.com/repeaters/

2 Meters will be your best bet for the distance you're seeking, but a 440 MHz machine may be your only option. That's highly unlikely, though.

A single band transceiver should be satisfactory, but if it's going to be in a vehicle, you may want the flexibility of a dual band rig 2 Meter/440 rig. There are several reputable manufacturers of these radios, of which Icom, Kenwood, Yaesu, and Alinco are the best known.

You'll also need a 12 Volt, 10 or 15 Amp power supply, and you can choose between analog and switching designs. Analog is simpler, but heavy. Switching is complex but much lighter. Choose your power supply based on your radio's listed current draw plus 30%. Personally, I prefer Astron's analog products, based on 30+ years of reliable peformance.

There are several dealers of ham radio equipment: Ham Radio Outlet, Universal Radio, Ham City, and MTC (Main Trading Co.) are a few.

Please study and get your Tech and General licenses together.  I did and was mad at myself for not studying for the Extra Class too.

Keep the 2m/440 setup and also get a good HF transceiver like the ICOM IC-7200 or the Icom IC-7300.  Set up an NVIS
antenna and talk to your Bro like he is next door.  You can use 40m during the day and 80m at night.  Here is a good link
for NVIS info.



NVIS Theory

NVIS AARL

Again - thanks everyone for your help.  I'll continue to check in on this thread and had a good discussion regarding this with my brother yesterday.  We're both committed to getting licensed.

I had a hell of a day working on cleanup at a friend's house.  The recovery effort in the Houston area is going to be significant.

Here is some upcoming test sessions. I would highly advise to call first to make sure they are still going to happen.

http://www.arrl.org/exam_sessions/houston-tx-77008-7025-11

http://www.arrl.org/exam_sessions/houston-tx-77058-121

http://www.arrl.org/exam_sessions/houston-tx-77092-3631-86


Do not plan it out to get it done months ahead. Set yourself the deadline of the test session and get it done.

To expound on that a little, do not fall into the trap that many do of thinking that you need to get a perfect score on the test or that you truly want to learn everything before you take the test.

The reality is that most of what you need to know to be an effective amateur communicator is not on the tests, and your real learning starts after you get licensed. Get the test out of the way ASAP.

37/50 ftw!

Everybody has a reason for getting into Amateur Radio.  I have always been a closet prepper, having what i needed if the SHTF.  Code requirements turned me away..  But then I read no code, one of my favorite podcasts "The shooting Bench with Cope Reynolds" was talking about a uv5r for 30 bucks.  Was recomending people get a tech license and learn how to use the darn thing..  I had all the required items in my inventory but no comms.. Started reviewing the info and realized I had a slight advantage as I already knew electronics..  You still need to understand the material in the long run but not a whole lot of the material is remembered.  You will learn more the first week you put up an hf station than you will learn getting your tech/general.   Learn the questions to get your license, learn what your doing setting up your mobile/hf station.  Very good chance it could save a life one day..  It is a very good hobby if you like to tinker, and dont mind troubleshooting.  Ham test prep on android is good while you have a few minutes.  Kb6nu has a free pdf for the tech license, support him if you like his work.  I liked the gordon west book as it covers each question in detail.  But the most helpful item you can have IMO, is an Elmer..  I have no problems helping someone who wants to learn..  If you want to get a better Ht shoot me an IM and we can touch base.  Prob already mentioned but I really like the Fotime/hamradio360 podcast..  Go thru the list and pick some out to listen to.  The tortugas island podcast was very cool to listen to.  Kind of breaks down some technical items one has to overcome in a adverse location/climate.   Basically the same as a SHTF scenario..   Good Luck and keep us posted..  Enough of my rambling for now, I smell coffee.........
Prosise

My brother has found a testing session on 9/23 at 8:15 a.m.  If they put it on and I'm going to make an effort to get to that side of town and go through the testing - I'm hoping to pass Tech & General in one go.

Now I just need to peel off a few hours a week to study.

What I found helpful was to create a non-ham account on QRZ.com. Log in, go to Resources > Practice Amateur Radio Exams.

Skip the Technician or General practice exams and go to 'study a specific sub-category'. Work your way through each section. Once you've seen all 426 questions in the sub-categories, start working on the practice exams.  The Technician exam is 35 questions from that 426 pool.

What will slow you down is wanting to understand all the questions.  Learn the test instead. You've got the rest of your life to figure out what it all means. 

Rule of thumb is once you hit 85+% consistently on the practice exams you're a lock for the real thing.

What's nice about the QRZ interface is that it tracks your performance and suggests sections you need to study up on. 

If you get the Gordon West books, hit the Q&A Cross Reference in the Appendix which will list all the questions and tell you the page reference for them. Also has a breakdown showing how many questions from each sub-element pool they draw to create the exam. If 'Electrical principles and math for electronics' freaks you out, for example, you'll see that they only draw 4 questions of the 35 from that topic.

For getting my technician, I bought books and did a few practice exams. Not a very big effort. For my General, I went to https://hamstudy.org/general2015 and did the "study the question pool". It's nice because it highlights the correct answer. It helps to sink in, or perhaps trains the brain to recognize the correct answer as "familiar". Either way, I ended up ace-ing my test by using it. I'm a fan now.

I did hamtestonline and I used the KB6NU no-nonsense to get my Tech and General,  then hamtestonline and the ARRL Extra manual for Extra. Tech was easy. There's no excuse not to do it.

I'm in Katy as well and a member of KARS. Great group of folks and would be happy to help. The Tech exam is a cake walk and once you have it the fun begins. :)

My wife passed her Technician test after reading Gordon West's study manual for several nights. She had no clue about radios prior to that. It's a very simple test. She passed the test with "flying colors". They even publish all the correct answers! Once you get the study manual, highlight all the correct answers and don't even look at the wrong answers, read the correct answers only. It's easier to memorize it this way.

That's great.  I've been listening in on the 147.200 repeater for a few weeks and really gained a lot of info from the KARS guys during the storm.    I might reach out after I've passed my exam.

Stop by for breakfast and meet the folks. We meet at Luby's off Mason at 0800 every Saturday. You can't miss us, we're towards the back with a bunch of tables pushed together. Let me know if you decide to come by. You'll have a great time and the people are awesome and so willing to help you get your license. Most all are big into guns as well, so you get the best of both worlds. :)

Update? You said to hold you accountable

@NUTT

Thanks for the link, Got my tech several years back and never did anything with it, have been working in comms my whole adult life  (11 years SATCOM, 4 years MCI land lines and 20 cellular) but got down to this level, responding to hurricaines got me in gear to learn it and get my general, Just ordered the FT-60R and the goodies you recommended as a start (programming software too) Im about 40 miles up the road from you if you are still in the land of the beacon so expect questions.