Amateur Radio FAQ

ToolAA said:

Thanks. Seems stupidly cheap. FYI if you intend to purchase 2 units then each one must be a different color in order to get the discount price.

Click to expand...

Good to know because usually on Lightning deals you can't get more than quantity one at a discount.

Biggfoot44 said:

Heck, just ordered 3 .

Added - Stand by for a plea next week concerning ( whatever needs to be done with/ to them to make them talk to each other . I'm in touch with and comfortable in my Luddite-ness .)

Click to expand...

I got mine wednesday and tried to program the NOAA weather channel as well as local Police/ems. I discovered the free CHIRP programming software and ordered a usb programming cable for $8 which should make the programming even essier.

ToolAA said:

I got mine wednesday and tried to program the NOAA weather channel as well as local Police/ems. I discovered the free CHIRP programming software and ordered a usb programming cable for $8 which should make the programming even essier.

Click to expand...

Chirp for those is crucial.

I have a tip when programming things like fire/police/ems, WX, and other things that you will never ever want to transmit on but want to listen to. Set up an offset/split frequency. Traditionally, offsets are for repeaters where you listen on one frequency and talk on another. In this case, you can listen to the frequency but in the event that you accidentally key the mic that your transmit is on something you are authorized to use (like FRS or MURS).

For example, I have mine set to receive on 154.25MHz to listen to HoCo Fire.
That channel transmits on 151.82MHz at low power which is MURS and is not licensed. That way I never have to worry about legal ramifications or interference if I bump the mic.

You can accidentally get yourself into a lot of trouble with these radios. If you program split frequencies like I recommend then you can have a lot more comfort.

The problem with these Baofengs, for me, is always the charger. They just don't last.

Kenwood TM-V71A arrived last week. Stopped by HRO to get a Comet GP-3. LMR-400 cable, check. New crimper arrives today. Man, this gets expensive quick. And I haven't even touched HF yet.

I have already made stronger and better contacts than with my Kenwood TH-F6A HT that I bought years ago and still like.

Getting my General license in two weeks.

Baccusboy said:

The problem with these Baofengs, for me, is always the charger. They just don't last.

Click to expand...

The charger doesn't last or the battery?

The only problem I've had with their drop-in charger is getting the radio aligned in it right when I drop it in so it will charge. That's not confined to Baofengs though.

The dual color LED does a pretty good job of letting you know it's in there correctly if it needs a charge.

Hyper-W said:

Chirp for those is crucial.

I have a tip when programming things like fire/police/ems, WX, and other things that you will never ever want to transmit on but want to listen to. Set up an offset/split frequency. Traditionally, offsets are for repeaters where you listen on one frequency and talk on another. In this case, you can listen to the frequency but in the event that you accidentally key the mic that your transmit is on something you are authorized to use (like FRS or MURS).

For example, I have mine set to receive on 154.25MHz to listen to HoCo Fire.
That channel transmits on 151.82MHz at low power which is MURS and is not licensed. That way I never have to worry about legal ramifications or interference if I bump the mic.

You can accidentally get yourself into a lot of trouble with these radios. If you program split frequencies like I recommend then you can have a lot more comfort.

Click to expand...

Good advice. I'm not familiar with MURS, but FRS and GMRS are still a no-go with this logic. Unlicensed use on either FRS or GMRS are limited to 1/2 watt or less and the unit cannot have a detachable antenna. I think most, if not all, HTs will fail both of these requirements. Looks like MURS is okay.

I bought a baofengtech (UV-5X3) from Amazon on prime day. The charger was dead out of the box. Called Amazon to return for exchange, They asked me if I would get my own charger if they refunded half the purchase. I did, and took the wall charger apart, ( there is a screw under the label ) The circuit board 110v input is two wires soldered to the the 110v blades molded into the case. Cold solder joint, wire not attached. Heat up iron and good to go, took longer to find screw under label.

Keystone70 said:

Good advice. I'm not familiar with MURS, but FRS and GMRS are still a no-go with this logic. Unlicensed use on either FRS or GMRS are limited to 1/2 watt or less and the unit cannot have a detachable antenna. I think most, if not all, HTs will fail both of these requirements. Looks like MURS is okay.

Click to expand...

Despite having a GMRS and ham license, I still use the MURS frequency because the other two would require my callsign when I transmit. That being said, I'd much rather see someone accidentally key the mic on FRS using a non-type certified radio over having someone potentially interfere with emergency services.

Programming with the split is a safety net in case you accidentally transmit. Ideally it would be something legal but ultimately it is about not interfering with critical infrastructure.

Hyper-W said:

Despite having a GMRS and ham license, I still use the MURS frequency because the other two would require my callsign when I transmit. That being said, I'd much rather see someone accidentally key the mic on FRS using a non-type certified radio over having someone potentially interfere with emergency services.

Programming with the split is a safety net in case you accidentally transmit. Ideally it would be something legal but ultimately it is about not interfering with critical infrastructure.

Click to expand...

I agree. Just wanted to point out that FRS and GMRS, though preferable, are not technically legal.

K31 said:

The charger doesn't last or the battery?

The only problem I've had with their drop-in charger is getting the radio aligned in it right when I drop it in so it will charge. That's not confined to Baofengs though.

The dual color LED does a pretty good job of letting you know it's in there correctly if it needs a charge.

Click to expand...

The charger... batteries are fine. The charger leads break, or work loose. 2nd baofeng... issues both times. Two different models.

My daughter is going to be 21 in Sept. I would like to buy her a nice shortwave setup. I was thinking a fantastic home unit with antenna, or if there are any good portables able to be used in the apartment. I don't know many names other than Grundig, Sony or Sangean? I could go $500-$1,000 for some nice stuff.
She does have her license too, so maybe a nice unit she can replace her Baefung with.

Blaster229 said:

My daughter is going to be 21 in Sept. I would like to buy her a nice shortwave setup. I was thinking a fantastic home unit with antenna, or if there are any good portables able to be used in the apartment. I don't know many names other than Grundig, Sony or Sangean? I could go $500-$1,000 for some nice stuff.
She does have her license too, so maybe a nice unit she can replace her Baefung with.

Click to expand...

Yaesu, Icom and Kenwood are the "big three" quality brands in the ham radio world.

If you're looking for a good dual-band handheld, I've always heard the Yaesu FT-60 mentioned as one of the best. I haven't used one myself, but they're widely considered a very solid radio. One of those will cost about $150. The performance of any handheld will be greatly improved with a counterpoise/"tiger tail" and/or a longer whip antenna. You can also build your own antenna - I built a 1/4 wave ground plane from a connector and some copper wire from the hardware store that works great. It cost me about $5 worth of parts and lets me easily hit a repeater 30 miles away on 5W of power with my handheld.

Moving up to a "home unit", I'd recommend the Yaesu FT-857D. It's compact and light enough to be mounted in a car or used on battery power while hiking, but also works great as a home station. It costs about $850-900 new and will do all the HF bands from 160M through 6M, plus 2M VHF and 70cm UHF, with appropriate antennas. This is the model I use at home and love it. If your daughter's in an apartment, she's probably not going to have the space for large HF antennas, but could look into a Buddipole. They can be disassembled and stored in a case as small as a laptop (if you get the "mini" model) and when assembled can work on 2M through 40M or even 80M with the extra large coil accessory. Reception won't be great in or near the apartment itself, but set up in a park or other open area, it should do well. A full-size dipole is always going to be better, but the Buddipole is a pretty good compromise for portability and space-restricted environments. Expect to pay about $200 for the basic Buddipole.

A little above your budget, but worth mentioning, the Icom IC-7300 is a widely-praised home station as well. One of those is closer to $1300-1400 new. You give up 2M/70cm capability, but gain a more sensitive and more selective receiver (better reception), built-in digital mode capability (vs. needing to connect a computer to work digital with something like the FT-857D), a 4.3" color screen with waterfall capability (that lets you "see" the RF waves from people talking, letting you tune to them much more easily - great for contests), and more. 160M through 6M. This will probably be my next transceiver purchase, once I can afford to do so.

Edit: Note that she'll need a General-class or better license to do anything meaningful on the HF bands (160-6M). Technician-class is largely limited to VHF/UHF (2M/70cm). HF is totally worth the upgrade though, as it lets you reach other hams well outside your local area (even around the world)

ToolAA said:

I got mine wednesday and tried to program the NOAA weather channel as well as local Police/ems. I discovered the free CHIRP programming software and ordered a usb programming cable for $8 which should make the programming even essier.

Click to expand...

Mine arrived about the same time as yours... and it has sat. I opened it up and put it on the charger last night.

So how did it go with the programing? Any tips, do's or don'ts? Should I order the cable and dl the SW? I'd like to set mine up to start listening and checking out the various features.

BTW - K31, thanks for the nudge. I ordered a test prep book from AMZ and will start working my way through it over the next few weeks.


.

Boxcab said:

Mine arrived about the same time as yours... and it has sat. I opened it up and put it on the charger last night.

So how did it go with the programing? Any tips, do's or don'ts? Should I order the cable and dl the SW? I'd like to set mine up to start listening and checking out the various features.

.

Click to expand...

First, I recommend you follow package directions concerning cycling the battery through a few charge/discharge cycles.

Second, if at all possible get the cable with the FTDI chip. There are fewer knockoffs and it works flawlessly on Windows and Linux. At least it has for me.

You should always download and save the config first when you program the radio (IIRC Chirp makes you do this anyway but it's a good habit to get into).

Boxcab said:

Mine arrived about the same time as yours... and it has sat. I opened it up and put it on the charger last night.



So how did it go with the programing? Any tips, do's or don'ts? Should I order the cable and dl the SW? I'd like to set mine up to start listening and checking out the various features.



BTW - K31, thanks for the nudge. I ordered a test prep book from AMZ and will start working my way through it over the next few weeks.





.

Click to expand...

Ok like K31 noted the difference between the cheap cable and the good cable is about $3 get the good one.

For programming the Chirp software has a menu to automatically import repeaters in any geographical area you enter. It gets this data from radioreference.com you need to create a username and pw on the radioreference website first. Or you can import from repeater book too. What is nice is it automatically populates the settings for each repeater.







Someone else recommended that you change offset field to "off" this will prohibit accidental transmission.

I'm still learning too but so far It's fulfilling several geek/tech/preper interest.

ToolAA said:

Ok like K31 noted the difference between the cheap cable and the good cable is about $3 get the good one.

For programming the Chirp software has a menu to automatically import repeaters in any geographical area you enter. It gets this data from radioreference.com you need to create a username and pw on the radioreference website first. Or you can import from repeater book too. What is nice is it automatically populates the settings for each repeater.

...

I'm still learning too but so far It's fulfilling several geek/tech/preper interest.

Click to expand...

Thanks, please continue to update as you learn.

Cable on order.




.

Boxcab said:

Thanks, please continue to update as you learn.

Cable on order.




.

Click to expand...

As K31 said, you should download from the radio first. This will force Chirp to recognize what settings are possible for your radio.
I don't believe you can stop the transmit function with a change to the offset value. The safest thing to do is set the transmit to a frs freq. Not legal, but better than transmitting on a police frequency.

Baofeng has its own software free to download. The Baofeng software allows you to set all of the configuration settings that Chirp does not. The radio comes with default settings that are for commercial and should be changed for amateur use. You can change all of them on one screen with the Baofeng software. The main difference with memory programming between the two is that with Chirp, you set an offset for transmit. With Baofeng software, you enter the transmit frequency. The software copies the receive frequency to transmit by default and then you edit it. This is a pain compared to just entering the offset but does make it easier for satellite since they sometimes use vhf for receive and uhf for transmit, or visa versa.

I have the 8 watt version bf fh8hp. This is $62 from Amazon and has some firmware improvements.

Sent from my SM-P600 using Tapatalk

P.S. get your license. It's not that difficult.

Sent from my SM-P600 using Tapatalk

Keystone70 said:

As K31 said, you should download from the radio first. This will force Chirp to recognize what settings are possible for your radio.
I don't believe you can stop the transmit function with a change to the offset value. The safest thing to do is set the transmit to a frs freq. Not legal, but better than transmitting on a police frequency.

Baofeng has its own software free to download. The Baofeng software allows you to set all of the configuration settings that Chirp does not. The radio comes with default settings that are for commercial and should be changed for amateur use. You can change all of them on one screen with the Baofeng software. The main difference with memory programming between the two is that with Chirp, you set an offset for transmit. With Baofeng software, you enter the transmit frequency. The software copies the receive frequency to transmit by default and then you edit it. This is a pain compared to just entering the offset but does make it easier for satellite since they sometimes use vhf for receive and uhf for transmit, or visa versa.

I have the 8 watt version bf fh8hp. This is $62 from Amazon and has some firmware improvements.

Sent from my SM-P600 using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

Newbee questions...

Are not transmit and receive offsets fairly standard? If not it must be fairly difficult to connect with someone that has different off-sets. Maybe this will become clear as I read the book.

Keystone70 said:

P.S. get your license. It's not that difficult.

Sent from my SM-P600 using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

Yep, in process. Just awaiting my learning materials.


Thanks for the education.


.