MANTECA (CBS13) — A San Joaquin County man is credited with saving his friend’s life from hundreds of miles away. A small black ham radio travels with Bill Scott everywhere.
“On Saturdays, I’ll hear check-ins from just about every part of the world,” he explained.
I have a small hand held Chicom radio that I frequently listen to, basically I leave it on as I go about my day. I made up and installed a modified J Pole antenna to use with it.. I'm not licensed so I can't legally broadcast so sometimes there's lots of dead air. The local repeater let's me hear weather reports, communications of local hams and occasionally boat traffic reports since I am near water. Never heard any connections from anyone across the country though.
ReplyDeleteJD
Get a high frequency radio, something that covers the 20 meter band. You will be busy then.
DeleteDaryl
@JD:
DeleteDaryl is right, to hear long range stuff, you need an "HF" radio/receiver. Your HT (handheld) is typically operating in the VHF/UHF bands, which is, by design, used for short-range commo. Very occasionally there will be aberrant atmospheric condition that lead to "ducting" the VHF signal much further than usual, but typical distance is measured in the tens of miles, best case.
If your HT allows you to tune to HF frequencies, it will almost guaranteed to be receive only and even then, your antenna is both inefficient and also designed for entirely different frequencies (where it is still relatively inefficient). To effectively hear HF, your antenna should be high and long.
Learning more and getting licensed is a huge help in emergency operations and it is far better than just having a radio 'in case'. Very much like buying a firearm that you never shot or trained with, and expecting to be able to defend your effectively with - you can't. And also like a firearm, someone untrained can interfere with the success of others who ARE trained.
I am a "VE" (volunteer examiner) and assist out team with administering the licensing exams. We have a very high pass rate for new operators getting their 'tech' license. Most people don't have much trouble with it if they are even a little technical and study some, we've even had pre-teen kids pass the exams.
Find out who runs the repeater you're near and check out their club. Many/most clubs offer both classes and exams, and are very happy to help newcomers.
Find your area here and see if you can find your local repeater's call sign:
https://www.repeaterbook.com/repeaters/index.php?state_id=none
Good luck,
Ed
Guys, thanks for your inputs. I've used business radios in my work before so I understand the basics of how, what and why of radio communications. I also have participated in winter and summer field days with the local club a few times but I don't have enough interest in it to study and get licensed, plus my god the cost of getting into HF, lol. My interest simply is local information.
DeleteJD
God Bless both these men, and may they continue to live good lives. =')
ReplyDelete2021 will be my 50th year as a licensed ham. It’s a small community that provides a big service, all at no cost. We are always responding to weather events, earthquakes and other disasters. Easy to get your tech license but the real fun is on HF which requires a General or Extra class license.
ReplyDeleteI will never be able to dunk a basketball or run a four minute mile but I can send and receive Morse code at 30+ words per minute!