[Communicator]

Hi y'all,

In the U.S. you rely much more on HAM radio's and CB's than we do in Europe. Sounds logical, because in Europe we all live in highly populated areas. The downside of that is that HAM radios and CB are being forgotten. They end up on attics or even garbage dumps. We do have a few thousand fanatics in the Netherlands and one of my main goals is to let the people see the importance of a backup comm device. At least get some portable CB devices to gather INTEL. Or some PMR portables to maintain communications with your loved ones in the neighborhood without getting outside.

In the years i've gathered some equipment. And i think i have a nice setup now.

Rigs:

• Yaesu ft817nt All Mode.(HAM radio)
• CRT SS 6900n All mode (CB) 40Watts
• President Lincoln (CB) 30Watts
• 2x Danita 640 FM (CB) 4 Watts
• 1x Midland Alan 42(CB) 4 Watts
• WebDSR Dongle 50Hz~1500Mhz Reciever (laptop)

Antennas:

• Sigma Montova 8 Turbo
• Dipole Inverted V (DIY)
• Dipole Inverted V (1:1 balun)
• Wilson 1000 magnet for my car.
• dv 27 (mounted on a car rim).
• Allbrecht discone antenna 50Hz~1700Mhz

The Montova is standing on a 30Ft retractable aluminum pole.

I rebuild a powersupply of a 19" server to become a 32A 12v powersupply for my rigs.
And i build a truck-case for my lincoln cb with a foldable solarpanel (45W) and a 12v 7A battery. The solar panel will load the battery within a day with average cloudy weather.

I also bought the datacable for the Yaesu 817 for digital communications like RTTY,PK31 etc. And with the free software i found it is also possible to send CW (morse). Advantage of morse on the 80meter band is that it carries much further than speech because of the narrow bandwidth you need for morse.

Next month we have a meeting with our community and i will give a workshop there, teaching how to setup a inverted v, or use a mobile antenna with a car rim, trying to make contact with other stations in the region.

Very fun to do!
So... What are your rigs and set ups?

 

[PalmettoTree]

I am an expired HAM. Cell phones have killed the interest. If there is a SHTF there will be regrets.

 

[jadm]

I am interested but I don't know where to start, and there is also a money factor.
How much does it take to get to get into this???

 

[Communicator]

I don't know the prices in the U.S. but in The Netherlands prices vary from $30-$999
It all depends what you want.

A cheap and complete setup will take about $100 of your money. If you can manage to get your rig second hand, it would save you a lot! i'dd advise you to get in contact with a local HAM club to gather more information and to see the advantages yourselves!

 

[whoppo]

First: Welcome to the group Communicator
In the US there has actually been somewhat of a resurgence in Ham Radio... partially because people are realizing that the commercial communications infrastructure is vulnerable to failure and partially because they've eliminated the Morse code requirement in licensing. I've been licensed for 30+ years and over that time I've admittedly drifted in an out of the hobby. For the past decade both I and my wife, who is also a "ham", have kept fairly "radio active". I'm an ARRL Volunteer Examiner and truly enjoy being part of bringing new operators onto the air. I've been fortunate enough to sign the CSCE's for hundreds of new hams from 6 years old to 86 years old. We also participate in the emergency communications side of the hobby. I'm both a county and district EC for ARES/RACES/CERT and the emcomm resource for our county's EMA.

Over the decades we've managed to collect way too much equipment, both old and new. I'm particularly fond of vintage radio gear. Here's a sample:

Heathkit DX-100 Transmitter - 160-10 meters AM/CW, 100+ watts (Modified for broadcast quality AM audio)

Hammarlund HQ-129-X Receiver - General HF coverage (Sounds great.. and I love the "cheese doodle" signal strength meter!)

Kenwood TS-520 Transceiver - 80-10 meters, SSB, CW (Nothing special, but it's a fun rig to operate)

Gonset Communicator - 6 meters AM (A classic surplus rig that still works like a champ!)

Additional Current Inventory:

1X - Kenwood TS-2000X - 160 meters through 1.2 GHz All Modes - 100 watts
1X - Icom IC-706mk2g - 160 meters through 440 MHz All Modes - 100 watts
1X - Kenwood TM-D700A - 2m/440 FM - 50 watts
1X - Kenwood TM-741A - 2m/220/440 - 50 watts
1X - Anytone AT-5888UV - 2m/440 FM - 50 watts
2X - Icom F5061D - VHF 136-174MHz FM Analog/Digital - 50 watts

2X - Vertex VX-P924 VHF Handheld FM/P25 Digital w/ AES encryption and 3000mAH IS Batteries - 5 watts
2X - Icom ICT90A 6m/2m/440 Handheld FM - Receives 500KHz - 1GHz - 5 watts
2X - Wouxun KG-UVD1P 2m/440 Handheld FM - 5 watts

1X - Kenwood TKR-720 VHF Repeater - 50 watts
1X - Kenwood TKR-820 UHF Repeater - 50 watts

Antennas (fixed):
1X - 160 meter dipole, fed with balanced line - tunes easily from 160meters through 10 meters
1X - 6 meter dipole, fed with coax
2X - HF tri-band yagi's (1 cushcraft, 1 Hy-Gain)
2X - 11 element VHF yagi's
2X - 11 element UHF yagi's
1X - Diamond X50N VHF/UHF vertical
1X - Diamond D-130NJ Discone - 50MHz through 1.3GHz

Antennas (mobile)
2X - High Sierra Sidekick HF "Screwdriver" w/ 3', 6' and 12' (collapsible) whips
2X - Laird B1360W wideband VHF
Various Diamond VHF/UHF NMO mount antenna's

I could spend all day adding stuff to the list... I need to get rid of some stuff.

 

[PalmettoTree]

Anyone doing any moon bounce? I never tried it and not sure how practical it is. But, it just seemed like a neat thing to do.

 

[Boss Dog]

Primary General Coverage Transceiver - ....ICOM 720A
Secondary General Coverage Transceiver - Hallicrafters FPM-300

Primary General Coverage Receiver - ........Kenwood R-300
Secondary General Coverage Receiver - ....Hallicrafters SW-500

Primary CB Transceiver - .........................Robyn SB 520D
Secondary CB Transceiver - .....................Johnson Viking 4740

Airfield/Tower Receiver - .........................Hallicrafters CRX-3
Emergency/Police Receiver - ....................Realistic Patrolman PRO-3A
Emergency/Police Scanner - .....................RadioShack PRO 2015

Toy ......................................................Hallicrafters S19R

Still trying to figure out what size pics to upload but you can see them in my album COMM's
I'll work on it again later, now to bed.

 

[MikeyPrepper]

Want me one

 

[tirednurse]

Me too, me too!
I have wanted to do this for years but don't know where to even start. used to be big into CB's but would like the longer range the Ham's have to offer

 

[Captjim_NM]

For the past 15 years my amateur radio station has been TenTec gear. This past year I started transitioning to ICOM gear with a IC-7300. My picnic table portable/backpack station is an ICOM IC-703. At gunshows demonstrations I use an ICOM IC-7200. About 36 years an amateur radio operator. de KA5SIW

 

[Demitri.14]

Me too, me too!
I have wanted to do this for years but don't know where to even start. used to be big into CB's but would like the longer range the Ham's have to offer

Start here: ARRL | Licensing, Education & Training | Getting on the Air

Study for your technician License and join a Radio Club. The rest will just fall into place !

If you want to just listen to Ham Stations, use a Web SDR websdr.org

 

[inceptor]

I have no brand loyalty. I buy and use what I like using. For mobile I still have an old icom 2720. I also have 2 Kenwood TM D710A's, all in storage. Right now I have a Yaesu FTM 400D that I'm finally getting around to maybe using the digital stuff.

For HF I have 2 Kenwoods, both bought from the same person. The TS-450S is currently out but I haven't been on HF in a number of years.

Quality gear is a must if you want it to last for years. People seem attracted to the Chinese stuff but I've heard too many horror stories to count on them as my primary. Yeah, I own a couple of Baofeng handhelds but they have purpose and are currently in storage. None of this is cheap and was purchased over a period of time. I just might add another radio for mobile use.

I fired up the 2720 the other day. I'm going to loan it to a new ham. The problem is that I'm going to have to relearn how to use the darn thing. Dang if I remember and I messed up some so I'm going to start from scratch and reprogram it. It's an old rig but still works fine after all these years.