Entry Level HAM Radio Recommendations?

[GFED]

Can anyone recommend a good entry level HAM radio for emergency situations and maybe a little playing around with but nothing too fancy.


Thanks

[2MuchMark]

Curious about this too.

[Godsmack]

http://yaesu.com/

[rowan]

This question is a bit like asking what software to use for starting a TGP. Cue Shemp...

[iwantchixx]

http://yaesu.com/indexVS.cfm?cmd=Dis...5&isArchived=0


holy fuck,

haha friggin cool

[Godsmack]

Originally Posted by iwantchixx

http://yaesu.com/indexVS.cfm?cmd=Dis...5&isArchived=0


holy fuck,

haha friggin cool

Yes its a spaceship.. i love that machine, would buy it just for all the buttons
Yaesu makes awesome radios.

[the Shemp]

Originally Posted by rowan

This question is a bit like asking what software to use for starting a TGP. Cue Shemp...

thanks for the mention, bro
i dont want people to forget about me ...

[MrGusMuller]

Kenwood!
12 yrs ago I wanted to be a radio amateur (CT) ...
Always wanted a Kenwood

[BradBreakfast]

I would recommend a 2 meter Yaesu or a dual band 2m/440 radio if you can afford it of at least 5 watts. Buy a spare battery and replace the stock antenna with a higher gain omni directional and I'd also have a mobile antenna ready as well.

I used to talk to other states with a handheld with very low wattage and a high gain mobile antenna on top of Mt. San Jacinto in California.

I've been registered since I've been 16 and I'm 27 now. A few times people have gotten smart and asked if I went to college for RF engineering when I had to correct them about something RF related... they always shut up when I can pull up my "Technician" license in the FCC database.

One thing HAM knowledge has really helped me better understand is wireless networking. You should totally get your license. A Technician license isn't hard to obtain.

[Sunny Day]

http://www.flickriver.com/photos/badwsky/3309915402/

73 was the magazine for Hams

My GfF's dad was editor & HAM legend. Girl in the boots is my GF's sister.

[JFK]

Originally Posted by Sunny Day

http://www.flickriver.com/photos/badwsky/3309915402/

73 was the magazine for Hams

My GfF's dad was editor & HAM legend. Girl in the boots is my GF's sister.

The mag was a a Lousy Dollar in 1971

[GFED]

Originally Posted by BradBreakfast

I would recommend a 2 meter Yaesu or a dual band 2m/440 radio if you can afford it of at least 5 watts. Buy a spare battery and replace the stock antenna with a higher gain omni directional and I'd also have a mobile antenna ready as well.

I used to talk to other states with a handheld with very low wattage and a high gain mobile antenna on top of Mt. San Jacinto in California.

I've been registered since I've been 16 and I'm 27 now. A few times people have gotten smart and asked if I went to college for RF engineering when I had to correct them about something RF related... they always shut up when I can pull up my "Technician" license in the FCC database.

One thing HAM knowledge has really helped me better understand is wireless networking. You should totally get your license. A Technician license isn't hard to obtain.

thanks for the info... yea only thing i know about HAM is that some BBS's in the 80's were run off them instead of a computer and modem like I had.

[rowan]

Have you looked at UHF CB? For emergency use, the general public is probably more likely to have that type of radio.

[2MuchMark]

Originally Posted by Godsmack

Yes its a spaceship.. i love that machine, would buy it just for all the buttons
Yaesu makes awesome radios.

Same here - that is a cool looking machine. Could not find a price on it though.

Had a CB like this one when I was a kid:


Lots of fun.

[Coyote]

I had recieved an ad from a ham in our club which had the wouxun uv3d (pronounced 'ocean') for $57, including shipping. I can't seem to find it at the moment, so If you're interested drop me an email, coyote - linuxdude - com, and I'll have him re-send it to me.

@BadBreakfast: You participating in this year's field day?

[Jey p]

I used to be a ham radio operator since I was 14yo and then I kind of had to quit that hobby when I started working in the adult industry hehee.
Actually I remember I was around 19yo and I used to connect to American BBS stations on 10meters to download pictures of naked ladies. Such a pervert! LOL
I have a lot of experience on this field, and I also worked for Motorola repairing they radio devices ( I have an electronics engineering background )
If you want something simple and easy to use I would suggest the famous "Citizen Band" of 14Megs. Those ones are super cheap and you can have some nice long distance communications too.
Email me at [email protected] or call me on skype "idsonline" and I would be more than happy to help you out!

[AdultKing]

A good basic HF radio is the IC-718 by Icom. For 2m/70cm I have the
Yaesu FT-7900R in the car and at home, a good handheld 2m/70cm radio is the Yaesu FT-60R which is a great little radio however I'd suggest attaching a third party high gain antenna for optimum use.

Remember that the most important part (for HF especially) is the antenna. If you don't get your antenna right then you wont have much luck with the radio.

[fris]

Originally Posted by Godsmack

http://yaesu.com/

great company i sitll have my modified ft-50

[CIVMatt]

Yaseu, kenwood, icom etc... what are you looking to do HF or just local 144 communication repeaters?

[fris]

Originally Posted by CIVMatt

Yaseu, kenwood, icom etc... what are you looking to do HF or just local 144 communication repeaters?

If i was buying i would get

Yaesu VX-8DR

http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/ht/0008.html

Dont know how easy it is to modify, My ft-50r i modified so i can speak on freqs, like security channels at hotels, drive thrus, etc.

[Why]

i have a Yaesu FT-270R, does everything i need. I use it for flying... and other stuff.

[Jey p]

can't believe so many people share this hobby here !!! I am very surprised!

[CIVMatt]

Originally Posted by fris

If i was buying i would get

Yaesu VX-8DR

http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/ht/0008.html

Dont know how easy it is to modify, My ft-50r i modified so i can speak on freqs, like security channels at hotels, drive thrus, etc.

that's a nice radio, I'll have to search around and see if I can find a sheet of mods for it

[Joe Obenberger]

Been a SWL my whole life - as a kid, in the late fifties and early sixties, I can remember sitting in the attic with my dad listening to HCJV, "The Voce of the Andes" with the warm glow of the tubes and dial from his WWII-era National receiver - that probably weighed 80 pounds.

Next to my computer, here at home, I've got a Japan Radio Corporation NRD-5350 and sometimes I use it with a program to decode CW and RTTY. Less often, I use a Grundig Satellit 3400 that I bought in Germany when the Army stationed me there - the Grundig repair people in Chicago say that it's the best DX radio ever built. I've got a modern Grundig Satellit 800 Millennium, but I think it's more consumer grade and a less serious radio.

I have a fancy loop antenna from MRJ but most of the time, I just use a longwire. One of these days, I'll get around to stringing up one of those multi-band dipoles over the back yard, but the problem would the the length of the coax to bring it inside, on the other side of the house.

With that Satellit 3400, I was able to track that nonstop, round the world flight in the tiny plane during the nineties, the two pilot experimental thing which was using 25 watts HF. Tracked them from Bolivia to landing in California when they switched to Aircraft Band and I lost them.

A long time ago, a client who couldn't pay a bill gave me one of those tiny Alnico triple-conversion all-band micro-minuaturized DX2 radios, but it's not very serious, and its only real purpose is portability - it does fit in a pocket.

Finally, got the digital version of the Sony ICF-SW7600F that I take along sometimes on trips to speak at webmaster shows, especially in Europe, but mainly use as a clock radio.

[Tom_PM]

Watch your papers for a local Ham Fest and go there and check for deals. Usually on a Saturday at wherever your local flea market setup place is.

[chipmunk]

Ranger (RCI 2970)-
Inexpensive and rock solid.


-=Chipmunk=-

[d-null]

strange how when people nowadays talk about ham radio, they are more often talking vhf or uhf than they are talking hf

[Rochard]

Years ago back when the phone company charged for long distance calls, my parents got fed up. My step father had his own business and my mother worked from home and there was a lot phone calls between the two. At some point they bought ham radios, base stations, and we used them just like a CB. I think we had a call sign, but we never used it. Eventually my father got a portable unit and we could pretty much communicate anywhere we were.

Not impressive today of course, but back in the 1970s when I was a kid that was so fucking cool.

[Rochard]

Originally Posted by PR_Tom

Watch your papers for a local Ham Fest and go there and check for deals. Usually on a Saturday at wherever your local flea market setup place is.

We had one of these at the local high school. I showed up for a football game and the parking lot was packed. Turns out they were having a ham radio swap meet.