Ok,

Being this is the ham radio section I'll assume that most people have a few radios,

Now, not including hf gear how many radios?

I have a farm and a large house...

Sure most of the time the phones on the property work great and don't have any issues...

But, in a shtf, does anybody have a stash of radios VHF/UHF for local communication?

I have 8 radios ear marked as emergency radios, now I don't want to get into any FCC debate, because if it's shtf or what I don't care about the FCC...

I have a communications building that is right at the base of my antenna tower, it covers about 25-30 miles with just a ht...

So, I've even been thinking of putting in an emergency repeater...

What's everybody's thought?

Too many to count... A lot of them are vintage rigs that I collect though,

7 HF rigs currently and shopping for a few more

As far as VHF UHF goes I have a bunch of handhelds, couple 6 meter base stations, couple mobiles, and an all mode Yaesu that works full duplex on 2m and 70cm for satellites

I am also acquiring as many 2.4ghz wrt54gs routers as I can for HSMM-MESH, a few fellow hams and I are dense packing the area with them for backup networking in case of emergency

None.  All I have is my one HF rig.

But it doesn't really matter, because I don't have anyone to talk to, anyway.

i still need texas on 2 or 3 bands for worked all states

I have three Yaesu FT-8800s and two FT-60s.  An HT for my wife and I, a mobile for each of our primary vehicles, and a mibile in an EMCOMM box that doubles as my home station.  I can set up the mobile at home for cross band repeat if necessary.

No HF (unless you count CB) but it's just a regular AM radio.

VHF: Yaesu FT-2900 (installed in mobile), Yaesu FT-270 (stays on my backpack though I kinda want a FT-60), Motorola GM 300 (high band model).

UHF: Baofeng UV-5R Plus, 2 Icom IC-F221S (one is installed in my car, the other sits on top of the GM 300 as a base radio), Cisco 3G cards (which I have 3 of and no use for), and a bunch of 2.4GHz wifi equipment.

I've got 3.  Mostly because I was an idiot and listened to a friend instead of buying what I'd planned on during a shopping trip...  Wanted an IC-910H for VHF/UHF and a IC-703+ for HF.  My friend talked me into getting an IC-7000 instead of the 703...  I regretted that, do NOT like the 7000 and ended up ordering a 703 a little while later.  The 910 and the 703 get fairly regular use.  The 7000 is an expensive paperweight, never should have gotten it.

If I was starting fresh right now, I'd only have one.  The IC-9100 can do all the above, plus more, better, for about what I paid for 2 of those 3.  :-)

Live and learn, eh?

2 in the truck

7x Moto HT1000s
1x Moto MT2000
2x Working Moto Maxtrac Mobiles
3x EFJ 5100s
1x Marine Handheld
2x amateur handhelds
2x amateur mobiles

All 137-174 or 380-470.

Along with that boxes of batteries and other BII for Motorola, Yaesu, EFJ, and MBITR.

I'm about to PCS again and think I'll clear out most of it.

I really don't know, especially when you factor in backup equipment and BOLs.
Of the top of my head, 3X Icom 7200, 3X Yaseu 817, 3X FT-7900, I think 5X 2900s,
a IC-7000, I think 4-5 HTs of different types, 6 FR160 recievers, about a dozen
or more XRS 900 MHz frequency hopping HTs. I know there's a lot more.

One HT and one HF manpack.

One.  Because my 2000D was expensive

Home:
KENWOOD TS-590 HF
HEATHKIT SB-200 AMP
KENWOOD TMV-71A VHF/UHF


MOBILE:
YAESU FT-857D  HF/VHF/UHF

KENWOOD TM-261 VHF ( work vehicle)

HANDHELD
YAESU FT-60
BAOFENG UV-3R
BAOFENG UV-5R

Too many radios but it's never enough. I think I'm addicted.

Handhelds. About 6 or 7, a few dual banders. Realistic HTX-202 is still my favorite.
Mobile/base VHF&UHF - about 5, one is an Icom dual bander.

HF Base rig: Yaesu ft-1000MP MARK V. After 10+ years and many other high end rigs, I'm still in love.

Emm Comm portable  - Yaesu FT-857D, great little radio.

Digital, base rig - another FT-857D. It replaced an IC-7000 which was not doing well as a base radio.

Mobile - It used to be a FT-857 but I stuck an IC-7000 in there. It'll do for now. My least favorite radio.
             
Back-up radio - Old beat up and abused IC-706. It still works like a champ.

HF Amps: Commander HF-2500. Ameritron ALS-600 (solid state)

Want list:
Dream radio - Yaesu FTDX-5000.
Maybe - Elecraft k3 and/or KX3.

My name is Gyprat and I'm a HAMoholic.

LOL

Op asked:




Not Enough! I'm a poor in earthly riches, but have a house full of beautiful children

People just keep giving me surplus radios...

I have 4 HF radios of different pedigrees.



I also have 3 2-meter mobile rigs and a VX7r.



Why? Because I can.

I have way too many, because I have BRD.  And just bought another VHF mobile LMR radio because it was a "good deal" and because I've been wanting to try that model .

If I may ask, what VHF radio did you just pickup?

i got some spare room if u get full up :)

Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile

Home

Yaesu FT-857D


Truck

Yaesu FT-2500M


Handheld

Baofeng UV-5RA
Alinco DJ-180T


Vulcan94

Well,

Great,

So next question, are they a part of your shtf/disaster plan?

I have lots of ht's and some mobile rigs, and some hf...

My plan is most likely a bit different than most being on a farm in the country...I'm about an hour from Minneapolis...

So, I have enough radios for my family and friends that may be over at my place for emergency plansyes I have a few expensive radios, and lots of cheaper radios...and accessories...

I see radio as a critical aspect of security and general farm Maintence  as well.

I have a dedicated building for radio gear on site...

Even looking at putting up a 2m or 440 repeater as well...

Btw: me and several of my friends and quite a bit of my family has ham radio license and several are ex. .mil one contractors. And a few railroad ...so for me and my friends and family most of them get the necessity for communication, even my Gm is getting it...

My gf at first laughed at the large business phone systems in all my buildings, but now doesn't laugh and uses them each and every day for communication, even getting on board for the radio thing now...

I'm fortunate to have people that recognize the need for communication and can imagine the hole it it was to not work...

How but you?

How does comm play a role?

Bret

Most of my radios are SHTF, particularly the HF (for information and news) and the
eXRS handhelds (for short range tactical comms.)

My vehicles have 2M/70cm rigs, primarily for those personal SHTF moments
(in AZ the coverage on highways of 2M is way better than cell coverage, particularly
as you head to the northeast part of the state.)

Really the only non-SHTF radios I have are my 2M HTs. Those are mainly fun curiosities.

Icom F1721.  I don't even have the previous surplus LMR radio I got (Kenwood TK730) on the air yet.  Tons of surplus LMR stuff floating around right now due to narrowbanding.

Too many, and no good reason.

TS-480HX
Flex-3000
FT-817
Two UV-5Rs
Motorola Astro Saber III
PRC-144 clone
VX-8R
IC-2720

I understand...I've spent some time in arizona and Nevada over the years.

Where I live I get way better comm with 2m than cell as well...there are quite depe river gorge for the rivers...

All my vehicles have mobile rigs except the gf Volvo, but that's down right now from a massive deer hit...but this summer I'll get it fixed and put in a new rig...

I might upgrade all the rigs...I still run 8500 mr. Potato head radios...they have served well over the years...

My house is rather big and also use radios for the farm on a regular basis...especially during harves time...

I have a couple hf and all mode rigs as well n the shack...

My latest foray was trying out some cheap china radios...I bought 8 baofeng uv-5r radios and I'll see how the do this summer...but surprising they work quite well..

My shack is not in the main house but in a small building of its own...so, I don't get out there as much as I would like...

For shtf I'll run ht's for local property and the shack for off property type of comms..

Bret

Yaesu FT-950 and an AL-811 Amp
FT-897D backup to the FT-950

(1) FT-857D in a sealed ammo can with tuner, battery, and assorted cables and a VHF/UHF roll-up antenna for the camper
(1) FT-857D in the truck
(1) FT-817ND for low power digital

FT-8800
TM-710A in the truck
IC-2800 in the wife's car
(1)VX-6R
(1) VX-7R

440 repeater on 444.125+ 100.0 tone
TK-705 Kenwood remote base for VHF
TK-981 900Mhz for microwave backbone for the UHF repeater and linking

(1) older Standard 2m/440/6m tribander in the Polaris RZR

As my wife says, "To many radios"

Having communications if standard methods go down is the whole reason I started looking into HAM radio.  Every other form of communication we use (cell phones, landline phones, internet) relies heavily on infrastructure that I have no control over.  I wanted to have something that would work without outside help and the best way to accomplish that over the ranges I was interested in (10-20 miles) was with HAM radio.

All of my radios have the exact same programmed frequencies and frequency banks to facilitate fast and easy coordination if several users are trying to communicate in an emergency.  They all also have the local emergency frequencies programmed in for scanning.  Makes communication and intel gathering pretty easy at the local level.  I have not yet gotten into HF, and didn't originally plan to, but I'm starting to think that way.  I plan to get my general license in a few months and I'm sure once I do that I'll dive in.

I have one of those and never use it, it's almost a collector item.  Last one I saw on ebay sold for like $500.

Sounds great!

I've been a ham for pert near 20 years...now, in that time I've chased tornadoes, and lots of other things...

I've worked with emergency services in the area...and build comm trailers used for a few counties in many exercises and a few real needs as well.

I've over the last few years gotten nothing but crap from most .gov with thier big budgets since 9-11...

So, anyhow, I've quit most of all the volunteer time, and free back haul for local agencies...so, I'm not involved with it anymore...

So, now im going to use my resources for my personal projects...

Hence, I'm on here and a few other and starting to sort my projects for this year...

I'm going to rebuild my radio tower...this summer but it's not #1 on the list.

Already have all my radios programmed identical...and 4 backup configs if there is an issue with frequencies or what not.

Working on my dummies guide to comm book as we speak...you never know when shtf who will need to run one of your radios.

Thinking of putting a SDR in the shack...have gigabit network installed to all buildings on the property.

This summer I want to install a UHF repeater here as well.

And, test all my hf gear and all mode gear.

I'm also hopefully get a friends place tower up in the air and we both have 5ghz to link the two.

After it all gets tested and running perfect ill have to write a book about it :)

Last project on my list for ham stuff is to see about remote extenders in my vehicles...

Any other great ideas floating around out there?

Bret

It is funny you mention this.  I've been a cop for over 10 years and I had never even heard of ARES or RACES.  After hearing about and looking into HAM radio, primarily after stumbling upon stories about its use in disaster areas like post Katrina or the rash of tornados a few years ago, I found information about a local ARES group and thought it was strange I had never been told about any civilian radio resources in our area.  I did some checking and our local emergency service radio systems, and state backups, would almost certainly fail in the event of a disaster like that and we'd be unable to communicate.  I wanted to have an option available to me.  I have no idea why my department doesn't have any sort of liason or agreement sent up with our local ARES group but I plan to find out and change that.  It is foolish for us to ignore a willing and useful resource from the community.

Not enough

Well,

I'll see be carefull...

The .mil wannabes in the Leo's you know the people...will pounce on this like a rattlesnake to a mongoose...

And blood and venom will be used...

Ok, back quite some time ago, our county emergency manger...was ex. .mil and knows the need and use for comms and the ability to deploy in a moments notice...

So, that worked great and we had a great thing going until his retiring...the the county game the em position to the deputy sheriff...and not hire the position...bad idea.

Now, before his retire we had a dedicated group with comms and computer systems 12 remote radios and remote wifi to computers available 24/7

After the change a few years ago now, this trailer has not even been seen...

Now, at this point me and me assistants will no longer do ares or races...

So, we are now doing private projects to handle our core of people in the area that need comms...

I've decommissioned my county feeds from my tower installations and the three towers are getting up on a 5 ghz back haul in an ATM style ring mode.

I'll be recommishing my tower this summer with the 5ghz back hauls and new antenna cluster and new computers.

I have currently dedicated 7 new antennas and all new gigabit fiber layer in gound that will be coming up with this project.

I have my first batch of new ht's up and running...I'll have all mode hf 6, 2, 1.25, 70cm, 902, 1296 back up soon,...

Now, this resource used to be dedicated to ares duty now it's getting redeployed for private uses...

Now, I'll always help if needed, but I've had to bring the control of my assets back in house...no ares, races, county, state, fed involvement.

I have my assistants that I've worked with for the last 15 years at my side with this as well.

So, bottom line, I've been doing this for 20 years and still it comes down to politics...

My rambling for the day on this topic.

Bret

We had a Red Cross rep come over to our local HAM club. He is a HAM too. In his presentation about Red Cross communication activities he pretty much told us that HAM radio and especially HF has no value to them for emergency communications. They are more interested in people with IT skills

2- HF rigs
4- dual band mobiles
5- dual band ht's
1- 2mtr only ht

Kind of like guns, knives, tattoos. You can never have just one. The most recent purchase was a Yaesu FT-7900 that is installed in the Jeep. It had been a few years since I bought a new radio. I have old reliable equipment. All Yaesu except for one Kenwood 2 mtr mobile.

Exactly, I used to do work with them years ago, but not anymore...and I did loads of it for them too...

I've only been in it since the 80's...but if they want to shit on the people that offer items they can not have any of my resources...

Bret

I currently have :
9 HF rigs
4 VHF/UHF rigs.

I have lots of HF rigs because I like old tube gear.  Hey one is a Valiant 2.  AM only....  I have multiple VHF rigs but spend little time there.

The Red Cross is not what it used to be,  they're a business now. Unless you're a full time employee they do not want your help.  I've been down that road before.

Salvation Army from reports is more amenable, and appreciates amateur radio assistance.

Amateur radio sadly has not kept up with the times and often doesn't have the capability to provide the kind of services that are most in need in a disaster.

That's actually a very practical assemblage for a number of reasons, pretty much where I want to go.

I've got:

Home HF - FT-101E (because I love old rigs, I actually want a set of Kenwood 599's)
Home HF - FT-101EE (spare)
Home VHF - FT-2500M
Home HF/VHF/UHF backup - FT-817ND

Handheld VHF/UHF - VX-7R
Handheld VHF spare Baofeng howeveryouspellit

Emergency/backpack HF/VHF/UHF - FT-817ND (same rig as above)

Mobile VHF/APRS - some Yaesu I forget the model

900MHz re-programmed public safety radio which I never use

Future plans:

Mobile HF/VHF/UHF - FT-857D
Mobile VHF/UHF crossband/APRS - TM-710A

Emergency/backpack HF/VHF - KX3 (when 2m module is released)

Home HF+ backup/modern - IC-7000, FT-897, or FT-450D

Backup for everything - FT-817ND (same rig as above)

So, the final count for my plans:

1 - base "classic, something with tubes" HF radio
1 - base modern HF+
1 - base/portable VHF
1 - mobile HF/VHF/UHF
1 - mobile VHF/UHF crossband/APRS
1 - mobile spare VHF APRS self-contained set
1 - handheld VHF/UHF
1 - emergency/low-power/backpack HF+
1 - emergency/low-power/backpack HF/VHF/UHF backup for everything

That's a lot of money in radios, which explains why I don't have them all yet! I'm a fan of the philosophy that says get the radio that will do the job AND you enjoy operating, so I don't plan on having a dozen inexpensive redundant HF rigs that are dust collectors.

I'm looking at picking up one of the 900MHz banded Motorola's. Only know a few repeaters but I'm finding them dirt cheap. Only reason, some genius decided to put the official Skywarn system in the area up as a 900MHz system...don't know why.

Don't know anything about them, but they do have a bunch of networks up and running.  I occasionally hear them on 20 meters.  

SATERN

At home:

Yaesu FT-2000
Kenwood TS430s
Icom 746

Mobile:

Yaesu FT-857D

A Kenwood HT

More communications receivers than I can count.

November 6, 2005 I was spotting for SKYWARN when a tornado hit Evansville, IN. Killed 25 people.



The tornado was a long tracking bastard that mostly stayed on the ground for about 30 miles. It hit a mobile home park on the south side of town before proceeding NE up through some smaller surrounding towns.



I was about the first person on scene at the trailer park...and it was beyond messed up. I stayed until the first responders started rolling in, then I went to the county emergency management center and worked the radios.



2 of the neighboring counties had their dispatch systems knocked off the air. We got a ham radio operator into their dispatch center and relayed their calls to the State Police Post for rebroadcast to State Police on scene.



The deputy sheriffs, ambulances, and fire department assets pretty much had to go to one of several rally points to get their dispatch as the car to car comms were without the benefit of the local .gov repeaters.



Within a very few hours, hams were riding with the responders and using their ham radio gear to receive dispatch info.



It wasn't until about 18 hours into the event that crews were able to get the emergency generator back up and the antennas repaired that enabled the county dispatch to get back to business.



IMHO, any Department of Emergency Management in any county that doesn't avail themselves of the graciously afforded assistance that local ham radio operators offer...are putting lives at risk.



In the event I wrote of above, had it not been for amateur radio...more people would have died and more would have suffered with responders not knowing where to look for them.

This is exactly the point I hope to make.  Like so many things our comms depend on infrastructure that may fail in such a scenario and it is unwise not to have a fall back plan.

To decrease the noise level by making it so only the serious folks have access.

I was first licensed about 15 years ago, was really into it, but then high school, work, college - got in my way and I sold all but my Icom HT (W32A). In the past year I got involved in search and rescue in the communications and 4x4 group and have started building my radios back up....



Strictly HAM:

Kenwood TM-V71A

Kenwood TM-281A

Icom W32A



SAR and occasionally a little HAM:

Wouxon KG-UV6D

Icom IC-F5061D

Icom IC-F6061D

Kenwood TK-7150

Kenwood TK-8150

Anytone AT-588UV

Motorola CDM1250

Motorola HT1000

Motorola XTS3000






 

Lost all my radios on a tragic boating accident.



I have a FT-7900 in my jeep that we use when offroading.



Have a Baofeng UV-3R as a cheap loaner radio.



Just built a softrock RXTX to get my feet wet with HF and SDR.

HTs
Yaesu FT-60 - my first radio.  Now lives in my GHB in my Jeep
Icom IC-92AD - Purchased to start playing with DStar but is one hell of a dual band HT also
Icom IC-51A - The new whiz bang Dstar radio that is revolutionary as HTs go!  Bought because I had to have the shiny thing

Mobiles
Yaesu FTM-350R - bought because it was a great deal and I loved the display, currently sitting mostly unused
Kenwood TM-D710 - this is my daily driver dual band radio
Icom ID-880H - Wanted a 50 Watt DStar radio and I didn't want the Kenwood TH-D72 I had sitting practically new in a box not being used

HF
Yaesu FT-817 - my first HF radio.  I also love QRP.  Currently lives in the Jeep in a bag with some wire antennas
Yaesu FT-897D - lives in a Pelican case.  This is my field day radio
Elecraft KX3 - the ULTIMATE HF receiver!  I can only play HF away from my apartment, and this thing ROCKS and is completely powered by a small portable solar setup I have

Well,

First off, ham radio is usually bulletproof...much more than any other quickly deploy able systems...

As of 4 years ago our group had the following.

A converted 32' Rv trailer...rear bedroom is the comm room.

Comm room has three operator positions with computers at every station, plus the main server is located there as well.

Each station has headset with boom mic and foot ptt...plus the ability to flip a switch and use the squawk box...

All computers logged into the main file and Im server...

Two more computer stations in the front of trailer...in living room, and kitchen...

Can seet about 8-10 people for a quick meeting...

All computers in the trailer are on gig Ethernet...and yes have a packet node as well...

12 spare vertex VHF radios, 6 mini laptops, emergency food, water and supplies...like blankets and such...

The rear of the trailer got an extension mounted on with cage for generator...and storage for 4 ez ups and 8 tables and 24 chairs...plus a small antenna array on top.

The front of the trailer housed the main antenna array...the mast was held underneath the trailer in a PVC pipe for storage. Bulkhead connectors for easy connections.

Last time we used this trailer, setup by me and one more in about 20 mins...our antenna arrays were so easy to put up...and basic not much can go wrong.

So it was used for some real comm usage over the years and such...

This trailer was at a couple of tornados and wild fires over the years...

The trailer in its final form worked better than anyone could think of...

So keeping up on new technology...this trailer was one day well getting som generator maintance done at the mechanics ... The county sheriff who just took over this area stopped out and wouldn't even let the mechanic reassemble the genny...no one has seen it since...that was about 3 years ago..

But back on keeping up...

Over the last year or so I've been doing some planning and assembling what I deem necessary for my place and friends as well...

Now, I have an extensive background in computer internetworking, security, and communications...

So, all within the ham bands I'm running 5ghz links to a few places...and between a few places it's even a ring...I run parabolic dishes for these links mounted at about 200' in most cases...

Each of these sites has at least one if not many more ham operators...some may have repeaters and voters available to link some other equipment for other needs as they might arise.

Ever location has genset and ups systems to keep systems up till the genny starts...

Each location has at least 1 or more centos servers running for at least 1 redundant copy of most files...

Each location has ht's and mobile rigs for comm use...

All but one location has hf up and running...the one that is down...well one tower there crashed...it was a freestanding 75'...a bolt fell out...tower fell down! Ouch!

Anyhow, most of the mobils I run are programmed and/or have the information for running a cross band repeater for extended rang.

The main place is my farm, I have 4 72u racks in my house alone, all populated with servers, high end automation systems and such...

I can run every leagle ham band from 160m-5ghz and some other experimental 10 as well.

There are people with much more equipment than me out there...one friend laughs at my wimpy ham radios...he even has dedicated satellite antennas with an auto tracking software and all sorts of toys...and he's most likely about the same amount of computers there...

I have only about 14 computers per se...but lots of iPads and iPods, etc...I'm typing this on my gen1 iPad right now...

So, don't think that all the hams are not with the times...and I didn't even get into the digital modes yet...

Just my couple of pennyies

Bret

P.s. yep I've got way too much security as well...and surveillance...and automatic things too...