[Woodchuck]

I Know nothing about these. I just bought a Cobra 75 All-in-One Kit from Cooltech and installed it. Worked great for two days then died (CoolTech was great and is sending out a replacement as I type). I was a little disappointed with the range however and thought it would be much further.

Is there such a thing as a radio that does CB and Ham? Do I need a license for a Ham? Yada...Yada...Yada...I really just want to communicate on the highway for traffic and weather/road conditions and talking on the trail. It would however be nice to be able to reach someone if I where in the middle of nowhere and something went wrong.

Please teach me and start BASIC...I know NOTHING about these things!

THANKS

[Jerry Bransford]

Proper antenna installation & the tuning of that antenna (done by adjusting its length) is key to a CB or ham radio working properly. You won't get the radio's full potential range unless the antenna has been tuned which allows it to radiate the transmitter's full power.

There is no legal radio that will allow you to legally operate on both CB and ham bands.

Yes you need a license to use a ham radio but the beginner's ham license which is known as a Technician Class is easy to obtain after a very simple written test. You can learn enough to pass the test after a couple hours of study from the many available Technician Class license preparation courses. Some are in book/CD form, others can be done online. Once you get your Technician license, the FCC will issue you your own personal radio callsign which is required to use the ham radio bands.

No license is needed for a CB radio which is what 99.99% of all the offroaders use. I have both in my Jeep but I rarely use my ham radio while offroad since not many offroaders have their ham license.

For talking while offroading, on the highway, getting road conditions etc. a CB sounds about right for you.

If you want to check into ham radio, click on www.arrl.org/ & then click on the "Getting Started" link at the very top of the page. If you want to go ahead and get a course to earn your Technician ham radio license, look for "Gordon West" ham radio courses, he's a great teacher who makes it simple. You don't need to learn complex radio theory, electronics theory, or morse code to get your Technician license... you just have to learn some regulations regarding its use & a few very basic things which even young kids can master.

[PhulesAu]

For additional information.... QRZ.COM Callsign Database MFJ also makes some good study guides for the tests.

[darg]

Originally Posted by kcgigs

10 meter radios have way more power.

And that's the reason why it is not legal. Also it would not help since the counterpart of the talk on air has maybe only the legal 4 watts and can not reach you, but they can hear you, so what?!

HAM is much more than just chitchat on the air. There is APRS for example, a GPS supported tracking system for free where you can either send your location and a short message to other HAM stations or into the APRS net where with help of Google earth the message is displayed for others. Good in case of emergencies when Mom and Dad are looking for you after you got lost or stuck.

Also the radios and all the other equipment is of much higher quality than the CB radio crap that you can get. OK, some are also more expensive but you get what you pay. I have my license since beginning of January and I bought at first a small hand held trans and I have to say, the IPhone is a POS against this thing

Even with the Technician class license you can go down to 10m, power level is through the roof when you can afford the right amp and you will never look back to CB.

But there is a catch and that's the license. Not everybody's thing but the Technician level is easy and I hope more people are coming up the ranks from CB.

For me, CB is still on board due to not everybody has a license but I love my Yaesu VX-8DR and I'm looking at the moment for a mobile with dual VFO, APRS and 50 to 100 watts

[XJ99]

Also, with ham radio you can use repeaters,
which helps with the range of your station.

Here's an example of a contact I made when
I was wheeling at Uwharrie. People couldn't
get a cell phone to work, and I talked to a
guy that was on his way to Wilmington using
a repeater located in Raleigh.











If you're interested in ham radio, check out
some of the online practice tests.

QRZ.COM QRZ Ham Radio Practice Tests

eHam.net Ham Radio Practice Exams

AA9PW FCC Exam Practice


The best thing to do, is get a cheap
scanner and listen to the local repeaters
in the area. 2 meter is 144-148 MHz, and
70cm 420-450 MHz.

Here's a couple of clubs in your area.
Usually they love showing people that
are interested in ham radio the ropes.

W5PAA - Aeronautical Center Amateur Radio Club, Inc. - Oklahoma City, OK

Del City Amateur Radio Club - W5DEL

http://www.k5eok.org/


BTW, I use my ham radio every day.
I can't remember the last time I even
turned the cb on. We have some very
active repeaters in the area, and the
conversations can make an hour drive
seem like 10 minutes.

[darg]

Clubs are a good idea to get a starting point with HAM. I'm also looking for one in my area. The possibilities are endless and it's easy to overlook something or get lost.
CB is just too limited but when wheeling with non-HAMs the smaller evil :-)

[RARECJ8]

by far ham is the way to go. we now have over 20 licensed hams in our 4x4 club and each one has the same opinion: once they got their license they wonder why they waited so long. 2 meter/70 cm are much better bands and FM mode of communication offers endless possibilities. (I've been playing w/ 2M SSB-- anyone else play there?)

less than that, look into MURS radios. used commercial motorola gear is cheap on ebay, CL, etc and a shop can program the radio, but it is a shared band. another way is GMRS which does require a spendy license but no testing. These can also be obtained online for cheap and programmed-- don;t waste your time with the blister pack combos they sell at costco, etc. They do not have removable antennas and are of very limited range.

either way, find your way to FM based transmissions, legally of course, and that old AM based CB will soon end up in the closet.

[Jerry Bransford]

Originally Posted by RARECJ8

either way, find your way to FM based transmissions, legally of course, and that old AM based CB will soon end up in the closet.

I dunno, I've had my ham license for 15-18 years (General class N6TAY) and in my Jeep, I use my CB for offroading 10:1 (or more) compared to my 2m ham radio. I could live without my 2m ICOM V8000 ham radio while offroading with large groups of Jeeps but I wouldn't want to do without the CB that everyone offroad uses. Not many offroaders, in general, have their ham licenses.

Plus if you're traveling, it's not easy to have your 2m radio programmed for all the repeaters you'd need to talk via so I rarely use my 2m except in areas I frequent where I have the local repeaters programmed in. Yes I carry the ARRL Repeater Guide but even with that it's pretty impractical to have to program the 2m radio for all the repeaters you'd need while traveling. In my mountainous/hilly area, repeaters don't cover huge distances like they do in the flatter areas.

[RARECJ8]

jerry, can't you get into mt palomar machine? i've worked that even when maritime mobile way south of ensenada. Here near Reno/Tahoe we have a fine system of linked machines, the CARLA network and many now are on echolink. Imagine sitting in the middle of the black rock desert and using my puny handy talkie chewing the rag with a guy drivingto work in the UK. cool factorfor sure. most of our local repeaters have 911 autopatch so that helps. the entire rubicon trail is now fully covered with repeaters and its nice to have that option if there is a medical or parts emergency.

CB will always have a place in a jeep no doubt, but in the last couple years when on club runs point and tail gun have 2m coverage and yes, traveling with a CB is nice for looking for smoky bear. I have traveled all over the US of A with my FT60 and once one gets good at scanning for PL tone and are fast on the VFO dial, i've not had any issues. more listening than talking, right? LOL

The western reflector connects hams from Arizona to Alaska and all you need is local access and about 2 watts.

got my general in 1978, let it lapse and got the general back about 3 years ago. Have tries mobile HF work and that is...um... interesting and PSK31 offers new ways to QSO when at home. I hear some guys using PSK31 on 2m as well.


overall, given a choice, i'll take ham over CB for a number of reasons.

73

mb

[Jerry Bransford]

I have all four of the Palomar repeaters programmed into my ICOM but I don't recall being able to access any of them where I wheel out in the desert. I have a lot of additional desert area repeaters programmed in as well but they are hit & miss. In most of the desert areas I wheel in which are generally very remote, we usully resort to using simplex between us and we don't even bother trying to find a repeater.

[XJ99]

Originally Posted by Jerry Bransford

Plus if you're traveling, it's not easy to have your 2m radio programmed for all the repeaters you'd need to talk via so I rarely use my 2m except in areas I frequent where I have the local repeaters programmed in. Yes I carry the ARRL Repeater Guide but even with that it's pretty impractical to have to program the 2m radio for all the repeaters you'd need while traveling.

I have the ARRL repeater guide, and I don't
even bother prgramming them in unless I'm
going to be in the area for a while. When I'm
traveling, I just keep the radio on VFO mode,
look up a repeater in the area, then put the
tone in if needed. (very easy to do on my Yaesu)

With that said, I found I made a lot more contacts
if I just left it on the national simplex frequency
while traveling on the interstates. (146.520)

The western reflector connects hams from Arizona to Alaska and all you need is local access and about 2 watts.

When I went down to in San Antonio, I brought
a Yaesu FT-8800 with me. I was able to fire up
the East Coast reflector, and talk back to the guys
in Raleigh. I check in to a few of the 440 linking system
nets from San Antonio.

[n6tct]

RARECJ8 said, "Imagine sitting in the middle of the black rock desert and using my puny handy talkie chewing the rag with a guy driving to work in the UK. cool factorfor sure."

Absolutely. And quite doable: the Black Rock desert now has a pair of ham radio IRLP nodes (one UHF repeater with a 911 autopatch, IRLP node 7249, and one VHF simplex, IRLP node 3075), as well as an Internet-gatewayed APRS digipeater. See Black Rock Amateur Radio Association for more info.

Phil, N6TCT

[RARECJ8]

thanks phil i have that info and like it. there is also another repeater up there coming on line this spring IIRC coordinated by Dave, KD7YIM. Hope to get up there soon to help haul gear up to the vault.

mb

[rivalarrival]

I let my ham radio license lapse a few years back. Got my "No-Code Tech" when I was in 7th grade, but didn't use it for much.

I'm getting back into it now. The next test in my area is in March. The practice tests at QRZ.com say that I'm ready for Tech, General and Extra, so I'm just waiting on a date.

As far as CB vs Ham, there is no comparison. CB allows low-power (4 watts, IIRC), AM simplex voice transmissions on 40 channels in one frequency band.

Ham allows up to 1500 watts, various modulation schemes, direct, relayed, or automated communication of voice, data, images, or just about anything else that someone can think up, on bands ranging from the bottom edge of the radio spectrum, all the way up to light.

CB is great if you want to listen to truckers on the interstate. Which is definitely handy on long trips - you're more likely to get useful information about road conditions from a trucker than a ham. It seems like most wheelers have CBs.

Ham radio is superior in just about every other respect.

On a side note... I'm looking for some combination of mobile rigs for 10m, 6m, 2m, 220 and 440. Anyone got any recommendations? I'd prefer a couple/three multi-band radios, with redundancy on 2m and 440.

[n6tct]

RARECJ8, I should have mentioned that, thanks for mentioning it! The repeater you're talking about is indeed being set up by David Book, KD7YIM, under the auspices of the Friends of Black Rock High Rock. It will be located up in the Granites and should have fantastic range. For more info on it see David's great article in the Friend's newsletter: see Hams? In the Black Rock? Part Two-- Repeaters | Friends of Black Rock High Rock

Phil, N6TCT