HAM radio/amateur radio FAQ

[Dirt Rider]

have they lowered the price for GMRS license yet?

 

[DaveInDenver]

Dude, good summery. One of the things that really drives me nuts is the assertion that Winlink being uses by Terrorist! Get a grip. Anything someone wants to ban something, they either scream "think of the children!" or prattle on about terrorists. It's so boring.

In this day and age of endless ways to send and receive messages, I cannot fathom some commie terrorist powering up a ham radio to get comms. Not when you have end to end encryption available on iphones.

There's a lot made of iMessage or Signal. Now that's encrypted messaging.

I wonder what these guys think of spread spectrum, something the FCC asked hams to take beyond the miliary and experiment with 40 years ago. Or PC-ALE, the automatic link establishment on HF that frequency hops to find the best paths.

 

[axlesandantennas]

There's a lot made of iMessage or Signal. Now that's encrypted messaging.

I wonder what these guys think of spread spectrum, something the FCC asked hams to take beyond the miliary and experiment with 40 years ago. Or PC-ALE, the automatic link establishment on HF that frequency hops to find the best paths.

After reading some of the postings on the Zed, I can guarantee you they don't like any of it. Seems like if it's not Morse Code, they think it's awful. Perhaps they might try RTTY and PSK31, but aside from that, they seem very adverse to new tech. Funny for a hobby that is driven by technology. I think sometimes what it boils down to is that they don't understand it, and therefore don't like it.

 

[Axelwik]

https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk...tilityor-both-a-battle-over-spectrum-heats-up

It's not just Winlink they don't like, it's anything they can't tune up and listen to with a boat anchor. It seems to me to boil down to not liking people experimenting or simply enjoying themselves. I take the opposite tack I suppose and try to practice the radio arts by taking every "opportunity to self-train, intercommunicate, and investigate technical matters."

Amateur radio wasn't just sitting around chatting about the weather and your health, although conversation is certainly one aspect. It's about advancing radio and being a practiced auxiliary communication system for whatever might come up and needs it - space, military, weather or civil emergencies or just supporting marathon organizers.

What K0IDT is claiming about Winlink and sailors is no different conceptually than how most OHV users use ham radio now, as an alternative to going with GMRS in effect. Or what about APRS or any digital voice mode?

But who cares as long as it's valid and useful application of the spectrum? The part that disappoints me is K0IDT's position comes from indifference or laziness. He calls Winlink "encryption" because it can't be understood listening with a plain AM/SSB receiver. Of course it sounds like digital noise to the ear and requires a modem and software (almost always open source and usually free) to make sensible, but it's certainly not encrypted. I might find agreement with him over PACTOR for amateur Winlink, but ARDOP exists to fill that void legally and financially.

A simple Google search will tell a listener what mode to use to decode it. The same argument could be made for SSB or FM, which sound like interference to an AM receiver. Technology changes and being unwilling to tolerate some spectrum being used for it doesn't mean the whole service has to be held static.

For sure. Amateur radio was founded, and continues to be a means of experimentation, and should be encouraged as a means to develop new forms of wireless communication. It's one of the big reasons that we still have access to the spectrum that we do. Hams have a rich history of developing things that are now used by all of us, such as cell phones, satellite comms, and many digital techniques used by the telecommunications industry, military, etc. The LIDS causing harmful interference should be prosecuted to the fullest extent possible because they're hindering this time-honored process. The spectrum is for all hams, not just the grumpy old ****************** with their 3-6 kHz-wide SSB and AM loudmouth, love to hear themselves talk, modes.

 

[DaveInDenver]

The LIDS causing harmful interference should be prosecuted to the fullest extent possible because they're hindering this time-honored process.

And it's not just on 40m they're doing it. Intentional interference is something the repeater operators here in Colorado (I think NM, too) have been dealing with lately on the linked systems (Colorado Connection, Skyhub Link, Rocky Mountain Ham DMR). Just don't get it. We just lost our 3.5 GHz spectrum to 5G phone operators, why muck up what we do still have on 2m and 70cm?

 

[pith helmet]

I just read this entire thread over the last couple days and have some questions I don’t see addressed here. I live in a rural community and am interested in ham at home more than mobile and not as a hobby initially, but for emergency communications.

I have thought about it for years but I don’t know any hams personally to talk to. Recently with the pipeline hack and with the natural disasters we have here, i.e. hurricanes and tornados, seems that it would be beneficial to me and my neighbors to be able to send or receive emergency info if there is no other way. I know this is one of the main uses of ham but how is it used in these situations?

The way I’m made it would surely become and addiction and I’d have one in the Jeep next, but 100% interested in getting into it initially just for emergency comms.

Thanks in advance.

 

[DaveInDenver]

The questions you're asking @pith helmet are core to ham radio but can be complex to answer because the scope and scale vary with the emergency. It could be as simple as your radios are an alternative to cell phones and range all the way up to a nation-level coordinated net of amateurs.

I suggest you start with the ARRL, who is our U.S. organization that works with hams, the FCC, municipal governments, FEMA, Red Cross and DoD. They have some web content and books that get you started. Your county and state will probably have some role for amateur radio. In some places it's a critical asset to the fire, police and SAR. In some it won't have much official role but the local hams will probably have some organization still.

http://www.arrl.org/amateur-radio-emergency-communication

http://www.arrl.org/emergency-communications-training

Beyond this there's surely hams around you involved with ARES and RACES. ARES is Amateur Radio Emergency Service and RACES is Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service, the two organizations are complementary but fill somewhat different roles.

http://www.arrl.org/ares

http://www.arrl.org/ares-races-faq

The key part of all of this is preparation. The reason we hams tinker with our radios and chat on the air is to test our stations and practice operating. That way you know your stuff is working if you ever actually need it. Sometimes the chats are informal, what we call ragchewing. That's just ad hoc conversation. Other times it's more formal, what we call nets. That's where one station is the control operator and runs the discussion similar to having a speaker who controls who has the floor.

You don't have to get all formal about ham emcomm, though. Just putting radios in your truck and home that get used regularly is something. If you can get reliable power, know how your radios work and how to find and tune frequencies you can then later figure out how to get in touch or participate in emergency nets that might arise.

 

[pith helmet]

@DaveInDenver Thanks for the links and insights. I especially appreciate the last part about easing into it.

 

[DaveInDenver]

@DaveInDenver Thanks for the links and insights. I especially appreciate the last part about easing into it.

Yup, get them installed and don't be afraid to use them. It may not always be riveting topics but just keying up and saying good morning to the regulars on a local repeater during your commute is significant. You know your radio works and get to know other hams around you.

 

[ChadHahn]

It may not always be riveting topics ...

I was listening one afternoon and two guys were discussing what the best jarred spaghetti sauce was.

 

[DaveInDenver]

I was listening one afternoon and two guys were discussing what the best jarred spaghetti sauce was.

Yup. There's a daily morning net here called the Oatmeal Net and it's literally a 10 second check-in with your call sign and what you had for breakfast. Taken out of context it's silly but what it amounts to is 20+ long time friends checking up each other every morning. Gen Z would do it with a quick text, same thing though. Seinfeld was able to build several seasons of TV shows around the routine nothingness that usually makes up daily life.

 

[Billoftt]

I was listening one afternoon and two guys were discussing what the best jarred spaghetti sauce was.

Mr. C’s


Sent by electrons or some crap like that.