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It’s two years now since I got the license to legally broadcast on the Amateur Radio bands. It takes skill, and knowledge. You can’t just tuck a ham radio into a bug out bag or emergency kit and expect to use it when you need it. I’m still screwing around with UHF/VHF radios. I also use the HF bands, made a few contacts, no international contacts from the US yet. Antennas are not just simple wires in a tree (but the can be if you know what you are doing.)

It’s two years now since I got the license to legally broadcast on the Amateur Radio bands. It takes skill, and knowledge. You can’t just tuck a ham radio into a bug out bag or emergency kit and expect to use it when you need it. I’m still screwing around with UHF/VHF radios. I also use the HF bands, made a few contacts, no international contacts from the US yet. Antennas are not just simple wires in a tree (but the can be if you know what you are doing.)

(post is archived)

[–] • 7 pts

I tried getting into HAM but the muh license fudds were unbearable. I should pull my shit together and try it again.

[–] • 3 pts

I watched YouTube videos while using my treadmill, 30 minutes a day and watched classes by W4EEY. I took practice tests on my smart phone. (Using a Free App.) before I knew it I was scoring a 100% on the Technician License test, I kept going, a month later I was also scoring in the high 90s on the General exam. I kept going, by my test date I was passing the Amateur Extra exam. On test day I paid $15, took the first test, 100%! Took the General test, 97%, asked for and took the Amateur Extra, 94%. (Fun to pass all three tests in one sitting but a word of caution I walked out with an Amateur Extra license but didn’t know jack-shit how to use ham radio! Hence my warning it takes practice, I’ve learned a lot in the last two years but no where close to what an Amateur Extra licensed ham radio operator should know, but studying hard.) HRCC YouTube channel has taught me a lot and helped close my knowledge gap.

[–] • 2 pts

Find your local club and try a couple until you find one you like.

Prepped Net and AmRRON also do a lot to train hams.

[–] [deleted] • 2 pts (edited )

It's easy. Read the question pool a dozen times the day before the test and go take it. Im going take the extra test in a few weeks so i can open up the rest of the HF bands. They dropped the CW requirements and you just run programs now that will decode and encode text. Still cool to learn it though for if you ever need to go old school with just a keyer.

[–] • 5 pts

The technician class license isn't terribly difficult to get if you have any understanding of basic math and can memorize some facts. I've thought about going for my general but never really saw a reason to do so.

I've always thought that if there truly was an emergency, no one is going to pay attention to licenses, and I'm going to be handing out pre-programmed Baofeng radios to friends like they were crack samples down on 6th Street.

[–] • 7 pts

I've always thought that if there truly was an emergency, no one is going to pay attention to licenses, and I'm going to be handing out pre-programmed Baofeng radios to friends like they were crack samples down on 6th Street.

This has been my approach as well. Something about asking permission to communicate just irritated the shit out of me.

[–] • 0 pt

No one's going to pay attention to license information in a real, all-hands-on-deck emergency. That's a point I have to stress to people, if we need to communicate and I have a bag full of handies, everyone I know gets one.

[–] • 3 pts

Everyone and their mom is getting into radio.

[–] • 0 pt

Not really, amateur is kind of fading just like chickenband is.

[–] • 1 pt

I thought this way too. But radio communication isn’t easy, it takes practice to get it right, learning the time of day to broadcast, the band conditions, the sun weather, the correct antenna, setting up your antenna correctly dealing with radio interference, and much more. If you try to practice without a license, the hard core experienced Ham Radio Operators have a fun little game called Fox hunting. They will find you and turn you in to the FCC for a hefty fine and and a possible license ban.

[–] • 2 pts

What's the point of "fox hunting"? Who's harmed by unlicensed broadcasts?

[–] • 2 pts

In my little experience, the unlicensed operators are people who buy a $25 vhf/uhf baofeng radio, and drive around with their transmit button pressed, or shout obscenity’s, interfere with repeaters and generally cause trouble. They don’t know the customs and courtesy’s of radio communication. Don’t care and enjoy the disturbance they cause.

It’s a pleasant experience to contact good ham radio operators. If an unlicensed operator did follow the standards, most experienced ham operators would realize it quickly but their reaction would be to encourage them to get their license and offer to help.

[–] • 0 pt

I'm talking more about getting the license itself, not how radio propagates during different times of the day. The license is easy to get, but I've never bothered using mine. No need, I have a pocket comms device that I can talk to anyone in the world, and if SHTF it's going to be fuck licenses. A technician license is good for mostly 2M and 70CM anyway, and it's just a title to add to your name at this point. Sure, you can pop 1500 on 6M, but why?

They will find you and turn you in to the FCC for a hefty fine and and a possible license ban.

So they say. That didn't stop someone from blasting crap over the talk-in channel at Dayton. You'd think one of the larger Eastern conferences would have someone just waiting to take care of people like that. When I used to listen to 2M years ago, it would happen quite frequently.

The last two shows I attended, there were very few people selling modern transmitters, and only one had a new dealer - but even that I don't remember seeing much more than those shit all-banders that will splatter on every frequency and let you transmit on WB.

[–] • 1 pt

I haven’t been to a show, they where all canceled. But the radios I did buy have served me well. I bought a Hammocan from Quicksilver Radio while drinking and downed an ambien. The radio showed up and I had no idea I ordered it. (No more ambien for me.) that led me to get my license. After my license I bought a Yaesu Ft-891, complicated menu system but good fun. Then I got a pristine ICOM ICR-75 for a very low price. It’s a receiver but really good at teaching me how to pull in a signal. I have it hooked up to a magnetic loop antenna, that I can rotate remotely. I installed a Yaesu FTM-400 in my truck.

What I’m trying to say is I’m having fun and I enjoy this.

[–] • 3 pts

The house I live in looks like a porcupine, we have UHF, VHF, HAM, dozens of property cameras, and dozens of hand units. I don't have a licence but I can operate under the owners handle as long as I verbally say it every 5 minutes or so (depends on the band). We were talking to Australians the other day from Southwestern USA, the frequency bounces off the ionosphere around the planet, and if the conditions are right, the scanner will pick up your own broadcast (around the world).

Investing in a HAM modem is next on the list, slow as fuck but it's apocalypse-proof Internet.

[–] • 0 pt

You should be looking into winlink or mesh radios, but by the wording in your post, I suspect you already know.

[–] • 1 pt

I just figure if the s ever hits the fan they will come for the licensed hams first ad they'll know who you are by your license.

If I was choosing I would learn Morse and set up laser terminals and even learnhow to send smoke signals. Not kidding . The Romans could transmit information across the whole empire in minutes by line of sight towers relaying smoke signals during day and occluded fires at night.

[–] [deleted] • 0 pt

The Romans certainly could do that using relay towers, but I have to question the efficacy of that system. It's probable that only the most simple of messages could be transmitted in this fashion, was probably error-prone as hell.

[–] [deleted] • 1 pt

hahahaha you fucking idiot cuck... 'get your license'... you dumb motherfucker hahahaha. Yeah when niggers are raping and pilaging and everything is on fire, better make sure you have your license. You know what you don't have? A girlfriend. Fucking weirdo statist, bitch.

[–] • 1 pt

You missed my point. You don’t need a license during the situation you described. But, you do need to know how operate your equipment. That takes practice, lots of practice. Get your license now, during the calm and learn emcom while you can. When your neighbors have fled and people are trying to break into your home is not the time to learn which knob is the audio and which one is the gain.

[–] • 1 pt

Why do you need a license? Isn’t radio completely untraceable?

[–] • 0 pt

easy to find you now a days. but you would need to be transmitting awhile and they would need to be looking for you

[–] • 0 pt

What practice does it take, you buy the CB, you find a frequency, you talk.

[–] • 0 pt

Never getting a license

[–] • 0 pt

I understand what you're saying and getting at and have talked to a few ham guys years ago. But what Is the benefits in your circle. If you said help the fbi are here and are gonna shoot my dog, what can those people do? Yes communication me be helpful but how many will consider using it.

[–] • 0 pt

If you and your neighbors aren’t faggots, you go and help em out. Like it’s been happening for thousands of years.

[–] • 0 pt

Yes but a couple radio or walkie talkie would be sufficient for short range communications. Ham is for long

[–] • 0 pt

any tips to find more local stations to program in besides just scanning, police stations etc, not trying to break the rules or subvert, just passive monitoring

[–] • 4 pts (edited )

https://repeaterbook.com/index.php/en-us/

It’s always free to listen. No license required.

Edit to add: most repeaters are owned by a club, search the web, you’ll find the club website. They usually host a net every week on their repeater. It’s a good way to go deeper into the hobby.

[–] • 1 pt

Look for a local "band plan" too. It may be more regional than local.

[–] • -1 pt

MANE brah I wuz pn a pirate radio station until dah feds took meh n. Sofin about profanity and NIGGAHS and shit