There are many aspects associated with getting into ham radio, but this post will focus on why it is a positive for vandwellers. I will cover other aspects of ham radio in future blog posts, such as taking the test, what equipment and cost, and using your radio.
I was into CB radio, in the day, having a license for mine, when it was required. I still remember my now defunct callsign of KYK-6428.
It worked well talking to others and to home base until sun spots and people in other countries started to put linear ampliers on they radios and made the radio unusable due to background noise. Today its an option again as the background noise is much less, but at what value?
If you want to talk to others and your a vandweller CB is only good for a few miles and background noise can be anoying trying to pick up a distant signal. and adjusting the squelch only reduces reception. CB is ok for listening to truckers, who are the primary users and some off-roaders, but your better off with the Waze App for traffic information as it is crowd supplied.
If you need help, as you know cell phone is best, but when in those special spots in National Forest or BLM and there is no cell phone service on the back road, CB will not do it for you either. Yes, there are satellite communication products that can work for you, but they come with a monthly service fee.
What often does and will work in remote areas is ham radio and it doesn’t come with a monthly bill!
This was the reason I chose to get my Ham Radio Technician License last fall. Not only do I end up in places without cell service on my travels, I also hike into remote areas with no cell service.
The advantages of Ham Radio are many even at the Technician level.
1. Ham radio no longer requires learning Morse code. It is designed for anyone who is willing to take the time learn the rules and pass the test.
Above are flash cards
Above is the practice exam
3. The test to take the Ham Radio test is at most $15.00.
5. Many ham radio groups give you one free year of membership with passing the test. This a good opportunity to meet and ask questions.
6. Equipment is inexpensive. You can get an inexpensive two-band portable radio on Amazon for $100.00. Mine above costs about $120.00 and comes with everything you need.
7. The other ham radio operators I have met are helpful and you will find others who are novices as well that you can get your questions answered.
8. There are national calling frequencies on the most popular two bands that a Technician can talk on. At the RTR this year there was a group who met by calling on these frequencies.
9. In stead of a few miles with CB radio with your Technician Ham License you can use repeaters that are at high elevation and will take what you transmit and repeat it real-time to a large coverage area. Signal coverage can be often 100+ square miles. But on linked repeaters like some in Utah when you callon one repeater it connects many. In western Utah that’s from Boise, ID to Flagstaff, AZ. This many hundreds of square miles to ask for help.
9. After the RTR in Quartzsite, I attended Quartzfest in Quartzsite on BLM land. I met people there that I were at the RTR.
https://quartzfest.org/
10. Unlike CB radio ham radio, is managed by the ham radio operators and monitored not to have problems like CB.
11. There is an App that will tell you the closest repeaters.
12. You can call to ask general information not available to you outside of cell service.
13. If you, or someone you come across has a true emergency, you can solicit help. The more Ham Radio operators that listen to the frequencies in their area you may be able to help others too.
14. It can be an interesting hobby that with further skills, testing and more expensive equipment you can talk to others hundreds of miles away.
15. The best part of all this post is that it comes to you one week before the ARRL nation-wide Field Days. Attend one near you and I’m sure you will learn a lot about what you can do.
That’s right the fourth full weekend in June is Ham Radio Field Day with one near you.
Below you will see all the Field Day locations in Southern New England, where I live.
I’m sure that there are other positive points. You can buy a study book or not. I chose to study to the test. The bank of questions is set and publically available. I chose to study all the questions and looked up what I didn’t know online. My friends chose to study the book. We just have different ways of learning. There is no right or ring way.
If you are a vandweller and hike like me with others this year, the ham radios were valuable when I went off looking for trails or views and I was able to call from my portable to them and not have to hike all the way back.
I hope this explains getting into Ham Radio and you consider passing your Technician exam
Brent
Brenton MacAloney KC1KOV
macaloney@hotmail.com
