2M Recommendations For Beginners Please!

[Dave Bennett]

OK, radio selection is fairly straightforward. Antenna selection / mounting is not nearly so easy. I have started another thread just for this...

http://expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10411

 

[Desertdude]

Dave, I will make this a sticky to help other members find the FAQ info.

 

[Dave Bennett]

Dave, I will make this a sticky to help other members find the FAQ info.

Thanks Pasquale!

 

[p1michaud]

Radio selection

OK, radio selection is fairly straightforward.

Tacodoc,
Great thread! I'm currious what radio you selected. I'll take a guess that it's a dual band, either a Yaesu FT-7800 or Yaesu FT-8800. I've finally convinced 4 people from our group to switch over to 2m from CB so we are all going to purchase our equipment at the same time. They are leaning towards the Yaesu FT-2800 but from what I'm reading here, I may try and convince them to go with another unit.

Cheers :beer:,
P

 

[1leg]

My .02
A dual band is better. I gives you more Freq. and more repeaters. The IRLP node near my location is @ 449.300. I'm very happy with the yaesu 7800. Remote mount head. I don't think the 2800 has it. Plus i would split the cost between the 4 of you and get the programming disk and cable. Makes for loading repeater easy. Ham radio outet has a deal somtimes that you can get the remote head kit for free with purchase of the 7800. that's what I did.

 

[p1michaud]

2m purchase

My .02
A dual band is better. I gives you more Freq. and more repeaters. The IRLP node near my location is @ 449.300. I'm very happy with the yaesu 7800. Remote mount head. I don't think the 2800 has it. Plus i would split the cost between the 4 of you and get the programming disk and cable. Makes for loading repeater easy. Ham radio outet has a deal somtimes that you can get the remote head kit for free with purchase of the 7800. that's what I did.

Thanks for the heads up on the programming disk and cable I'll have to look into that.

 

[noah]

Ham Radio

Like most folks we have Cell Phones and air cards for our computers.
Since we spend a lot of time beyond the range of cell service we have
invested in Amateur Radio ( Ham ) A license approved by the FCC is
required. There are three levels of license and most people start
with the first level and work up. Upon passing the exam the FCC will
issue a license with your individual call sign. My call sign is AB7KD
and you can insert this in Google and it will show my location. APRS

Also you can send E-mail using your Ham Radio and send and receive
text messages to other Hams. You can connect Ham radio to a computer
or GPS and see other Hams in your location

Email is limited to only 65 characters however you cannot receive
Email. Good for emergencies.

The first level allows you to use repeaters all over the US, Canada
and most foreign countries.
Most repeaters are monitored by other hams and some repeaters are
linked to other repeaters around the country and to the internet.
See Repeater link.

Almost every city with a population of 25,000 or more will have a Ham
Radio club. Any radio club will give the license test and will help
in preparing for test. Contact the radio club in your city or the
nearest larger city. PLEASE do not let the testing intimidate you!!

The test is multiple choices and all of the questions are in the prep
for license book.
See Book Link

Another interesting mode is Echolink and it allows you to communicate
with other Hams around the world using your computer when connected to internet. See Echolink Link


Repeater Link http://www.artscipub.com/repeaters/

Book Link http://www.amazon.com/Technician-Class-Gordon-
West/dp/0945053452/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?
ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200613907&sr=8-1

Echolink Link http://www.echolink.org/


Links for information http://www.hello-radio.org/

http://www.eham.net/newham/


http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/ham-radio1.htm

http://www.aa9pw.com/radio/


This is our APRS link to show our location using a GPS and a Ham
Radio. http://www1.findu.com/cgi-bin/find.cgi?call=AB7KD

Hopefully this info will help.


Carl AB7KD and Nancy AE6XL

http://ncnoah.com/Default.ASPX

 

[nwoods]

I've been reading about the merits of HAM and off roading for a while now, and I have decided that I'm going to go for it. I started a little bit of online searching about radios and whoah! quickly found myself way over my head. Now obviously I have not yet studied the materials for the test, but I was wondering if this one question made any sense:

Is there a radio that can transmit and receive on multiple bands, such as 2M, CB, and GMRS and FRS? Most in my club have FRS/GMRS, and in larger groups or multi-platform groups, CB is still the defacto standard, cheezy as it is.

I don't want tons of radio gear added to the clean console of my rig. I'd like one radio to do it all.

Does this exist?

 

[AndrewP]

Does this exist?

No, and specifically not legal per the FCC. It isn't legal to transmit on CB frequencies with amateur gear.

They keep CB and Ham about as separate as 2 things can be.

 

[frgtwn]

No.

In a word, no. As I understand it, ham radios are approved by the FCC as stand alone radios, and will only transmit on the approved frequencies. Many, however will receive on other frequencies, and it is possible to monitor what is going on on other bands.

This can be confusing. Some of us have been on trips with three radios going, and it is a real pain. I am looking forward to a trip in the spring that will be 2 meter ONLY. What a relief.

I find it interesting the level of reluctance to make this change to HAM. A week-end of study and 200 bucks can get you an upgrade that will be one of the most valuable "mods" in your repertoire.

That's my 2 cents.

Dale

 

[nwoods]

My .02
A dual band is better. I gives you more Freq. and more repeaters... I'm very happy with the yaesu 7800. Remote mount head. I don't think the 2800 has it.

The 7800 appears to be a good radio, but if you are on a strict budge, another option to consider is the ICOM-208H. It is dual band 2m/70cm, similar in power (50 watts), and has a very compact body and remote head that fits about anywhere, and I like the fact that it has selectable screen backlighting, so I can choose green to match my dashboard lights.

So far, it seems pretty easy to use, and has a nice handset.

One thing to consider, and I was very surprised by this, is that you need to buy (and plan where to install) a speaker! I am so used to my Cobra WRX-75 cb radio, that I thought all handsets had speakers in them. Not so!

Here is the 208H, with the remote face still attached:

 

[nickatnite]

OK guys, another question.

I just read thru this thread and got a question.

How far will I be able to talk with people on the 2m bandwith?

I've looked around at a few of the HAM sites here in Baton Rouge and New Orleans, but it seems that they are all a cut and paste from one main site.

I mean, can I talk to some of you all on the west coast if I get the right skip?

I had a few friends that were into HAM's before Katrina (and heard alot about their use during Katrina), but now I haven't heard from them in ages and haven't responded to emails.

 

[TheRoadie]

I'm not licensed yet, but from reading up, the "skip" phenomenon applies to lower frequency bands like the old tube-based transceivers used to use. 2M might be reflected by the ionisphere for a few hundred miles, but that's not what's depended upon nowadays.

I think you can get 10-40 miles line of sight in "simplex" mode where you talk to somebody on the same frequency, like CB.

For a wider, but regional range, most ham clubs have repeaters on mountains or tall buildings that you have line of sight to, and the repeater uses "duplex" mode to receive on one frequency and retransmit on another one, and the person you're talking to just has to have line of sight to the repeater, not to you. This more than doubles the radius you can talk with, or quaduples the area.

And for really long distance or international communication, you talk to a repeater, the repeater uses VOIP to communicate over the Internet to a far distant repeater, and THAT repeater needs to have line of sight to the person you're talking to. The chain isn't totally made up of radio paths, but the Internet is in the middle.

Finally, repeaters can have a phone patch connection to a wired phone (or cell?) line, so the final part of the chain could be to a non-ham operator who just has a phone. Or emergency services. Or a helicopter dispatch service.

Correct me if I'm wrong, any current active hams.

 

[Pskhaat]

Correct me if I'm wrong, any current active hams.

It's not really deemed `duplex' due to semantics but yeah, you about covered it It's important to note that there are 10m/6m/70cm/-- repeaters too, the concept is not specific to VHF and above. Bandwidth and antenna length is quite limiting at lower freq's and thus one rarely sees this in HF though.

 

[Carlyle]

I have a restricted maritime radio telephone operators cert from Canada, will this cover uhf as well as vhf that I've always used in the past?