Class on B.O.B. Communications

[Blitzfike]

Unfortunately, there is little QRP equipment available ready to go. Most is in kit form, and most of that is CW only. I still have my old TenTec Argonaut 509 which is a 5 watt output analog transceiver. It covers 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 meters. I have run it on a variety of battery packs with solar backup. I have a small antenna tuner that goes with it. I also have an Icom 706 MKIIG which will run from a watt to 100 watts depending on how I set it. It has so much microprocessing going on in it, that it isn't a good candidate for small battery power. It does good on 12 volt wet or gel cells with solar charging. I keep waiting for some enterprising chinese company to bring out a multi band multi mode transceiver witn about 5 watts output, but it hasn't happened yet. There is a company called elcraft that has some great kits, but they can run 8 or 9 hundred dollars for a complete system. Not my idea of a cheap backpack rig. I have converted a few CB radios to the 10 meter ham band, some are pretty easy to convert, and others were intentionally made difficult as an fcc requirement to be type accepted. 10 meters is great in peak solar cycles, but in the slack seasons, ground wave of about 20 miles is pretty close to the limit. I have a 6 band shortened dipole that I made that I use camping, I just throw a weighted line over a limb and pull it up in a tree. It is made from plastic coated aircraft ground cable, Pex pipe for the spreaders, a piece of PVC for the coil form for the 40 meter load coil. It covers 10, 12, 15, 17, 20 and 40 meters and is cut for the middle of the phone bands. I have one that is close to 20 years old and has been used in field day exercises and multiple campouts every year. I would really have to brush up to copy CW nowdays.. Jim

 

[SMS]

I hereby nominate blitz to teach the class!

That's good info...and it highlights the complexity of radio comms. It's definitely a lot to master, especially when one has competing priorities for a finite amount of funds and time.

 

[BadgeBunny]

Goodness, this is all sooooooo over my head ...

Sent from my KFSOWI using Tapatalk

 

[Old Timer]

I will vouch for Blitzfike
He has forgot more then most people know about communications.

You know, that did not come out quite right did it.

Jim does know his radio.

 

[TomMix54]

I was looking online about maybe taking some classes to get the "Ship Radar Endorsement" or any other endorsements. I also have a FCC General Radio Telephone License. I live in Norman Ok. I just became a member today of OSA just to respond to your blogs. So count me in if you want to. Thank you.

 

[Cougar]

There is an entire organization of people (ARRL) that teach HAM radio classes. They can also legally administer the FCC HAM test at the end of the class. I would suggest contacting one of the ARRL teachers that is local to you and either attending one of their regularly scheduled classes, or asking them to teach a special class for the interested okshooters people. CB radio and FRS are children's toys compared to a properly setup HAM radio. Ham radio can easily and fairly reliably talk thousands of miles. There is a 70cm band UHF repeater system in Oklahoma called the TARC super link where you can talk to most of the state through a battery powered "handy talkie." The entry level license, technician class, is a fairly easy test. This will let you legally use VHF and UHF radio spectrum at power limits wayyyyyy above CB and FRS. VHF and UHF will allow you to reliably talk several hundred miles. A step up from Technician class is General class and Extra class. These higher level licenses allow you to use High Frequency (HF) radio spectrum which "bounces" off of Earth's ionsphere, allowing you to communicate world wide. These tests are much harder, and the radio equipment more complicated, but these higher licenses are absolutely worth the effort if radio is something you enjoy. It is possible to hurt yourself or others (burns, shocks, etc) with radios, especially high powered radios. These classes will teach you what you need to know so that doesn't happen.

Listing of classes:
http://www.arrl.org/find-an-amateur-radio-license-class

Listing of FCC license Exams:
http://www.arrl.org/find-an-amateur-radio-license-exam-session

Test Question Pools (these are the actual questions AND answers that will be asked on your ham test.

http://www.arrl.org/question-pools

 

[WTJ]

Unfortunately, there is little QRP equipment available ready to go. Most is in kit form, and most of that is CW only. I still have my old TenTec Argonaut 509 which is a 5 watt output analog transceiver. It covers 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 meters. I have run it on a variety of battery packs with solar backup. I have a small antenna tuner that goes with it. I also have an Icom 706 MKIIG which will run from a watt to 100 watts depending on how I set it. It has so much microprocessing going on in it, that it isn't a good candidate for small battery power. It does good on 12 volt wet or gel cells with solar charging. I keep waiting for some enterprising chinese company to bring out a multi band multi mode transceiver witn about 5 watts output, but it hasn't happened yet. There is a company called elcraft that has some great kits, but they can run 8 or 9 hundred dollars for a complete system. Not my idea of a cheap backpack rig. I have converted a few CB radios to the 10 meter ham band, some are pretty easy to convert, and others were intentionally made difficult as an fcc requirement to be type accepted. 10 meters is great in peak solar cycles, but in the slack seasons, ground wave of about 20 miles is pretty close to the limit. I have a 6 band shortened dipole that I made that I use camping, I just throw a weighted line over a limb and pull it up in a tree. It is made from plastic coated aircraft ground cable, Pex pipe for the spreaders, a piece of PVC for the coil form for the 40 meter load coil. It covers 10, 12, 15, 17, 20 and 40 meters and is cut for the middle of the phone bands. I have one that is close to 20 years old and has been used in field day exercises and multiple campouts every year. I would really have to brush up to copy CW nowdays.. Jim

This. Field-expedient methods should certainly be a big topic for this discussion. There used to be some good Field Manuals that covered simple methods for terrain issues and the like.