I talk to the Texoma area every day on 7.195 from Edmond. Lots of hams in that area. You can start on 2m pretty cheap. Lots of used gear on Qrz.com QTH.com and ebay Next hamfest in OKC is this summer. Always used gear at hamfests. I retired from trucking in 2006. I got tired of CB and got in ham to use in the truck. In local emergency cell phones are useless. Tornado's take out or damage towers and hams get a lot of use helping in communications. New Jersey hams got a lot of use in the hurricane. Lots of fun Go for it!!
I talk to the Texoma area every day on 7.195 from Edmond. Lots of hams in that area. You can start on 2m pretty cheap. Lots of used gear on Qrz.com QTH.com and ebay Next hamfest in OKC is this summer. Always used gear at hamfests. I retired from trucking in 2006. I got tired of CB and got in ham to use in the truck. In local emergency cell phones are useless. Tornado's take out or damage towers and hams get a lot of use helping in communications. New Jersey hams got a lot of use in the hurricane. Lots of fun Go for it!!
You can get into a Chinese-made handheld for around $50, add another $30 or so for a magnetic mount antenna for the car. Minimal cost for a minimal set-up that's easy to remove so theft would not be an issue. Performance around the metro area with the various repeaters should be fairly solid. It would also be usable at home and an outside antenna would be a good thing to have rather than just the antenna on the radio. Performance might suffer if you don't choose a good quality coaxial cable to connect to the antenna. This is why most in-home units are the larger radios (portable as you called them) with higher output to overcome the loss with a longer connection to the outside antenna.
I drug my feet and drug my feet. Finally just did it ... And I'm glad I did, even though I haven't spoken a word on a radio yet. LOL Which reminds me ... I gotta get GC to hook up that radio we have ...
Fork over the $25 to HamTestOnLine and do the study sessions every night for a week or so. Then find a place to take the test. You will do fine. You won't need to buy any other books or study guides, the "course work" is provided with the questions. I learned a lot more using their method of study than I did with the books. And it was quicker for me. Maybe because I study better the way the computer program was set up, than I do in a traditional classroom setting (which I was in, too). We took the class at Red Dawn that was 10 weeks long. The instructor was good, but if I hadn't found HamTestOnLine I don't think I would have passed the test because I was having a really hard time with it. I'm not good with technical stuff ...
Which reminds me ... I need to get back on it and get my general and extra tests done and over with.
And BB lets us know another interesting factoid about her...glad to know you're planning to upgrade, too. I was 20 years as a Tech but got my General in Fall 2011 and have had a lot of fun with it. I'm working on the Extra upgrade studying now with a plan to test at the Claremore hamfest next month.
Does that WX call mean you're interested in weather/storm chasing? If so, are you coming up to Tulsa for the Skywarn training with the Tulsa weather service office tomorrow? I've occasionally been the Net Control Operator @ the weather service (WX5TUL) and have talked to your emergency management people during weather events in the McAlester area.
Great for you, I hope we have a big turn out at the testing sessions. Stop by and visit the tables. If I had an OSA T-Shirt you might recognize me either driving one of the carts from/to the parking lot or sitting at the either the RCWA or MCARC tables. WB5Y (That is a hint/reminder for the moderators, how about working on some kind of a deal for some gear? ) Good luck to you, it is easier than you think.
I was licensed at one time as a Technician Plus, meaning I could also do code. However, even though I had both a 2M and a 10M in the way of equipment (Radio Shack), I let my license expire on me back in 2002. Oddly enough, when I used that link provided earlier to see if I was still in the database with my old call-sign, it was still there.
In my case, I didn't use it as much as I thought I would, so it wasn't a constant reminder to check my expiration date. Then, when we sold everything to move into our RV, I sold the equipment since I didn't have a license. Still wondering if that was a good idea or not.
Just an afterthought....are the repeaters for 2M still operational when power goes off? In other words, do they have backup generators, or do they also go down?
Oh, and Dustin.....I think your Grandfather would love to talk with you on the radio. Get after it.
In my case, I didn't use it as much as I thought I would, so it wasn't a constant reminder to check my expiration date. Then, when we sold everything to move into our RV, I sold the equipment since I didn't have a license. Still wondering if that was a good idea or not.
Just an afterthought....are the repeaters for 2M still operational when power goes off? In other words, do they have backup generators, or do they also go down?
Oh, and Dustin.....I think your Grandfather would love to talk with you on the radio. Get after it.
I've been into it all my life. My cowboy/outlaw/truckdriving uncles got me hooked on cb radios/sideband when I was a kid riding with them in the truck. Since then I've enjoyed radio clubs and talking to people across the world. The 'thing' to do was to get post cards from your contacts pinned all over your walls. My fav set up was a Yaesu base with a homemade 1/4 wave antenna made from $11.00 worth of stuff at ace hardware. Just talking about it makes me want to get back into it.
Can someone educate what HAM radio is?
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