Comms - HF

mac1_131 · Jan 1, 2023

ToolAA said:
Not to derail this thread, but I have been really working hard over the last few years to remove my personal information from online databases. I discovered one website that seems to have data-mined the FCC database to include personal information sold as part of their people search service. I would think the FCC has some rule in place which states that users of the FCC ULS cannot use the data for profit, but I couldn’t find any information about who can access the ULS data and how it can be used or shared.

I really think the FCC should consider amending the personal licensing rules to redact the holders actual street address from general public view.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The online info is a two-edged sword. The self-policing aspects of amateur radio really need it. You take that away, any chance of self-policing goes away and all falls to the FCC (who will not do it).

On the other hand, there are some really bad actors out there. I have some experience with them. The kind of people the FCC will not even approach without US Marshall's SOG (SWAT). For the most part, they leave them alone; is it worth another WACO for enforcement of what is really a hobby?

But, those guys have access to your name and address too, and when they paid me some love with their criminal behavior (threats of violence), I had concerns that they knew right where to come. On the other hand, we at MDS are usually pretty well armed, more so than those guys might think.

So its a real dilemma, have the info there or not have it there. I kind of lean on keeping it, maybe it could be opted out if you prove to the FCC there is a valid reason. On the other hand, the FCC is not good at all modernizing systems. I think the ULS received a recent back-end update but before that, you would be shocked how outdated the back-end running all that stuff was. Just to process a license you had to use XP or older with all kinds of unsecure old program versions or it would not work.

Mark75H · Jan 1, 2023

Pretty sure the ISS repeater is 437.800 — 145.990. Maybe you are thinking of simplex contact with the astronauts.

Yes, you can have an address other than your home mail address in the FCC database. A lot of people use a PO box to avoid having their home address published.

K31 · Jan 1, 2023

mac1_131 said:
The online info is a two-edged sword. The self-policing aspects of amateur radio really need it. You take that away, any chance of self-policing goes away and all falls to the FCC (who will not do it).

Uh, yes and no, you don't have to transit from your location or the location on file, ever, so it's not going to be a deterrent to bad actors that people know their address. Also, yes, there have been plenty of them that are licensed but how many of them use their callsigns for continuous bad behavior?

K31 · Jan 1, 2023

Mark75H said:
Pretty sure the ISS repeater is 437.800 — 145.990. Maybe you are thinking of simplex contact with the astronauts.

Yes, you can have an address other than your home mail address in the FCC database. A lot of people use a PO box to avoid having their home address published.

You're correct, I was speaking of voice with the astronauts.

mac1_131 · Jan 1, 2023

K31 said:
Uh, yes and no, you don't have to transit from your location or the location on file, ever, so it's not going to be a deterrent to bad actors that people know their address. Also, yes, there have been plenty of them that are licensed but how many of them use their callsigns for continuous bad behavior?

I know, you just have to be able to receive mail there. It still works in most cases.

And yes those criminal enterprises set up on HF rarely give their callsigns, but they know who they are.

cap6888 · Jan 1, 2023

Sorry jump into this thread, but I figured it was a good spot since it was active.

Can anyone recommend a book to get me prepped to take the Technician test? My goal this year is to get my license, and I have a flight (hopefully) this weekend, so plenty of reading time. TIA

Mark75H · Jan 1, 2023

The Gordon West study guide is the most concise, the ARRL book is the most thorough. Hamstudyonline is the best online. Work on both the Tech and General, the overlap is large and you might as well get General at the beginning.

jc1240 · Jan 1, 2023

I like this series of books. They have only the correct answers. As the author says, why study hundreds of wrong answers?

Amazon product ASIN B09TRXHRCQ

cap6888 · Jan 1, 2023

I found the Gordon West book. One for Tech and one for general. Guess there is a combined version. What does the General license do that a tech can’t?

jc1240 · Jan 1, 2023

cap6888 said:
I found the Gordon West book. One for Tech and one for general. Guess there is a combined version. What does the General license do that a tech can’t?

Except for a little bit of CW (morse code) and a tiny bit of phone (voice), technicians don't have much in HF. General opens the HF world and Extra gives you some lower frequencies in the same bands Generals can use. By being Extra-only, there is less congestion, but smaller pool from which to make contacts.

Mark75H · Jan 1, 2023

cap6888 said:
I found the Gordon West book. One for Tech and one for general. Guess there is a combined version. What does the General license do that a tech can’t?

Tech has very limited HF privileges, General has something like 86% of all bands. Extra gets you into those other 14% fringes around General.

ETA: The HF bands allowed by the General license are what most people think of as ham. Tech license privileges are mostly local line of sight comms with some HF that happens to be working well right now because of this part of the solar cycle.

gamer_jim · Jan 1, 2023

K31 said:
You generally need a 2M/70cm antenna to work amatuer spacecraft unless you just want to listen (or just want to transmit but that's probably not a good thing for anybody). One band is transmit and the other is receive. They can be different for each individual spacecraft. An exception is the ISS which uses 2M on two frequencies. Some amateur spacecraft also use other bands beside 2M/70cm but also use one band for transmit/one for receive.

Thanks for the input. It is a dual bander. I'll consider today a win if I can assemble the thing and learn how to track a satellite for receive. My radio is a Yaesu FT-60r. I think it can do split frequencies.

Ultimately I would love to learn how to build a satellite tracking rotor with my Raspberry Pi. I know there are plenty of commercial solutions out there but my goal is to learn, not just do the contact.

Any other advice or resources?

gamer_jim · Jan 1, 2023

cap6888 said:
Sorry jump into this thread, but I figured it was a good spot since it was active.

Can anyone recommend a book to get me prepped to take the Technician test? My goal this year is to get my license, and I have a flight (hopefully) this weekend, so plenty of reading time. TIA

First: go to hamstudy.org and get an account (free). Register (requires email) then take the tech exam BEFORE you start studying.

Second: Get the ARRL technician's manual in spiral bound. Get the real book, not ebook, so you can take notes and easily flip back and forth. Read it cover-to-cover.

Third: Go back to hamstudy.org and re-take the tech test. It will tell you what category of questions you need more study on. In the back of the ARRL Technician's manual will be an index of pages by category. Go back and re-read them. If you log in with an account hamstudy.org will track your progress and what questions your struggling with the most--It will give you those questions more often.

Resist the urge to just memorize answers. My exception to this was in the electronic circuitry categories for my general test. I have no desire to build my own radio but it's still good to know. You really need to understand the FCC rules, general radio principles and safety. Feel free to ask questions and get involved with a local group.

TheBert · Jan 1, 2023

gamer_jim said:
Thanks for the input. It is a dual bander. I'll consider today a win if I can assemble the thing and learn how to track a satellite for receive. My radio is a Yaesu FT-60r. I think it can do split frequencies.

Ultimately I would love to learn how to build a satellite tracking rotor with my Raspberry Pi. I know there are plenty of commercial solutions out there but my goal is to learn, not just do the contact.

Any other advice or resources?

Look at telescope tracking devices. If they can track a star they should be able to track a satellite.

Mark75H · Jan 1, 2023

TheBert said:
Look at telescope tracking devices. If they can track a star they should be able to track a satellite.

Maybe. Star transits are hours, satellite transits like the ISS are minutes.

Receiving from satellites is not difficult at all. I have heard the ISS multiple times with a Baofeng and regular Nagoya whip. Antenna polarization is important, but you don't need thousands of dollars of equipment to start on this.

6-Pack · Jan 1, 2023

ToolAA said:
Not to derail this thread, but I have been really working hard over the last few years to remove my personal information from online databases. I discovered one website that seems to have data-mined the FCC database to include personal information sold as part of their people search service. I would think the FCC has some rule in place which states that users of the FCC ULS cannot use the data for profit, but I couldn’t find any information about who can access the ULS data and how it can be used or shared.

I really think the FCC should consider amending the personal licensing rules to redact the holders actual street address from general public view.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Get yourself a PO Box. I use mine for my GMRS and ham licenses. Never had an issue.

I also used to let a ham in Italy use my box for his US license (you only need a US address for a license, not necessarily be a US resident).

It’s also good for general privacy. I’m at the point now where most databases have my PO Box instead of my house address.

beetles · Jan 1, 2023

K31 said:
There are aspects of it that can be physically challenging. Summits On the Air (SOTA) for instance and there are many lightweight QRP transceivers on the market. For an HF antenna, a wire strung through the trees works very well and there are portable "sticks" type antennas. And yes, a majority of the people in the hobby are not marathon runners but I know some who are as well as many active duty military people.

For that matter, I wouldn't call young people (or people of any age) who play COD all day in their spare time models of physical fitness.

I don't disagree that the Morse requirement became a bit more like hazing to get into a club in recent times when other countries did away with it but it hasn't been a requirement for over twenty years.

Again, numbers of operators in the US may be declining in the last several years but the hobby is growing in many other ways.

I wasn't implying by "geostationary" that ham was limited to the sedentary (even if it is mostly a sedentary hobby, unless you are a tower-climber) but that because of the setup that most operators develop, especially building antennas and mounting them, it is a hobby more for settled people with their own houses rather than younger people with a habit of moving and living in rental apartments. The indoor setup might be a desktop transceiver, maybe an amplifier and a computer, but tinkerers being who they are, little "projects" sprout up and the work spreads out.

K31 · Jan 1, 2023

gamer_jim said:
Thanks for the input. It is a dual bander. I'll consider today a win if I can assemble the thing and learn how to track a satellite for receive. My radio is a Yaesu FT-60r. I think it can do split frequencies.

Ultimately I would love to learn how to build a satellite tracking rotor with my Raspberry Pi. I know there are plenty of commercial solutions out there but my goal is to learn, not just do the contact.

Any other advice or resources?

Yes, FT60r can do satellite work and do split frequencies but more important it can program several pairs to compensate for the Doppler shift when the satellite is anything but overhead (which is pretty much always). Fortunately, some people have compiled lists for various satellites you can just copy.

I'd start with some YouYube videos.

Other advice (and probably most of it you are going to get from YouTube Videos):

Download pass software for your phone.

Know your maidenhead locator to 6 alphanumerics.

Know your true compass directions.

Although you can use one HT most people want you to use two HTs (or one with two VFOs) , one transmit one receive so you can hear yourself through the satellite before you transmit.

Turn off the squelch, you'll never hear a satellite with it on.

Use a headset if you have one.

Eventually it would be good to have a voice recorder patched into your setup. Contacts are fast and passes crowded (you know, because of the dwindling number of operators) so you can go back to the recording to get info for your log.

K31 · Jan 1, 2023

beetles said:
I wasn't implying by "geostationary" that ham was limited to the sedentary (even if it is mostly a sedentary hobby, unless you are a tower-climber)

Good to know because I dug about 100 feet 2-3 feet deep of trench in 90 deg. heat to bury cable.

beetles · Jan 1, 2023

K31 said:
Good to know because I dug about 100 feet 2-3 feet deep of trench in 90 deg. heat to bury cable.

Are you venturing into ELF?

Comms - HF

The #1 community for Gun Owners of the Northeast

Member Benefits:

MSI Executive Member

MD Wear&Carry Instructor

"Part of that Ultra MAGA Crowd"

"Part of that Ultra MAGA Crowd"

MSI Executive Member

Ultimate Member

MD Wear&Carry Instructor

Ultimate Member

Ultimate Member

Ultimate Member

MD Wear&Carry Instructor

Podcaster

Podcaster

The Member

MD Wear&Carry Instructor

NRA Life Member

Active Member

"Part of that Ultra MAGA Crowd"

"Part of that Ultra MAGA Crowd"

Active Member

Users who are viewing this thread

Log in

Forum statistics