MileHighAko

Finally had a chance to mount my ham radio. Install went pretty easy. Because I will use the head unit of this device quite a bit to send/receive position reports and text messages between vehicles, I needed to mount it high. I put it right next to my HTC Advantage x7501 (Pocket PC, cell phone, GPS, etc.). I drilled a hole in the center console and ran the wires down through it, so it looks great. The base unit is mounted under the drivers seat so I can easily remove it in case I need to operate outside of the Jeep (or forge deep water). Power via Anderson PowerPoles is run to connect to my RIGRunner (pictures) that is mounted under the kick-plate under the glove box (power for the HTC is the same). (pictures of antenna mount posted previously)

dmwil

That is amazingly cool!

What kinds of things do HAM radio operators do?

rfrogman

Looks fantastic.

KI4RQV - Nashville

JackMac4

I keep asking the same question to a coworker who has a HAM....he always shrugs his shoulders and says "I dunno"

Seems like an old time hobby with not much use these days...in the age of the internet....

But damn, sure does look sweet, huh?

rfrogman

Actually you can use voice-over-ip with the internet to make ham radio contracts remotely. There are a lot of cool things to do in amateur radio (HAM).

MileHighAko

Amateur Radio, aka Ham Radio, to some is an old time hobby. To others, it is a pretty exciting part of the experience. The question, what do ham radio operators do, has a very different answer depending who you ask, and that answer can be quite large.

First, consider this thread on an FJ Cruiser forum started by my trail buddy who I recently got interested in ham radio. Great conversation going on there. Here is the list he put togehter of why CBers should consider ham radio:

• More Power - CBs are limited to 4W, HAMs are legal up to 1000W
• More Clarity - FM provides a clearer, more understandable signal than AM (CBs)
• Less Interference - CB is subject to severe interference from lightning, engine ignition noise, and and other natural and man-made sources. Due to use of illegal amplifiers, CB signals often interfere with adjacent channels. Also CB signals often "skip" across long distances making it difficult to use some channels
• Greater Distance - One consequence of greater power is greater distance of communication. In addition hams can use repeaters, which are special receive-retransmit stations placed high on towers and buildings
• Modern - AM hogs frequencies, is noisy, and is subject to interference between stations. Hams use crystal clear narrrow band FM for short distance and and very efficient single sideband for long distances
• Courteous Operators - Generally speaking HAM operators are more courteous, 'trash talk' is virtually non-existant on HAM
• ARES Participation - ARES provides emergency communication for local government and community service agencies.
• RACES Participation - RACES is a public service provided by a reserve (volunteer) group of Amateur Radio (Ham Radio) Operators that is administered by local, county and state emergency management agencies, and supported by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) of the United States government
• Skywarn Paricipation - Skywarn is a concept developed in the early 1970s that was intended to promote a cooperative effort between the National Weather Service and communities. The emphasis of the effort is often focused on the storm spotter, an individual who takes a position near their community and reports wind gusts, hail size, rainfall, and cloud formations that could signal a developing tornado. Another part of SKYWARN is the receipt and effective distribution of National Weather Service information
• IRLP / EchoLink - A HAM can connect to a repeater and dial an IRLP or EchoLink node that makes a connection over the Internet to a repeater in another state or country.
  AutoPatch - A HAM can use the repeaters AutoPatch that allows them to make a phone call where cell service isnt available. They can call loved ones and let them know they will be late.
• APRS - this technology allows your HAM radio to beacon your GPS position to other HAMs or over the Internet so your family can see where you are in the backcountry
• Talk to Astronauts - with a HAM you can talk to the International Space Station as it comes overhead in orbit!
• Great for Parent/Child activities - my son (9yrs old) is studing for his license, this has been a great tool for us to grow closer and get smarter at the same time.

I'd add a lot of things to his list, but it is a great start for a new ham (for the record, I have both a CB and a ham radio in my JK... the ham radio is always on, I've only turned the CB on twice). My passion is in the emergency communications part of ham radio.

Yesterday my two boys and I took the JK up in the hills to provide communications support for a large motorcycle rally here in Colorado. We were the communications team for one of the checkpoints where over 300 dirt bikes came flying by. We would radio in regular reports to the event coordinators, and using a laptop and APRS technology we monitored the progress of the sweep teams as they ran the >50 mile course to make sure nobody was stranded. It was great to be able to see them on the map and communicate to even officials their location, since here wasn't any cell phone coverage in this mountainous area. We ended up having to call search and rescue a number of times due to injuries (including medical chopper support), and without ham radio helping out there would probably still be bikers stranded out in the woods. It was a great experience.

dmwil

Thanks for the fascinating information! It sounds like a blast and appears to go hand-in-hand with a Jeep and its off-road capabilities.

I think it would be especially interesting during extreme weather events.

What is the ballpark price for a radio like that, and what is the cost of a license. Also, is it difficult to get a license?

Sorry for all the questions, but that Jeep setup really has me intrigued.

bikerglen

The D710 is $599. It's on the expensive side because of its digital packet capabilities. Ham radio guys upgrade and swap out equipment all the time. You can probably find it a swap fest used for quite a bit less.

You can get a decent dual-band unit without the packet capabilities for $200 to $300. (I'm an Icom fan. I'm getting a IC-208 for my Jeep as soon as I recover from my first round of upgrades.)

On licensing costs: I think I paid $30 or $40 for a few study guides and $13 for the license exam and license. It's good for 10 years.

The entry-level license (technician class) is pretty easy to get--12 year old kids get them all the time. Spend a week or two with the study guides and you'll pass the exam no problem. The tests do get harder as you go up.

Check out http://www.hello-radio.org/doityourself.html for information on guides, classes, and exams.

Two really cool things you can do with the entry-level tech license:

1) use repeaters -- if you don't have line of site to your buddy's vehiclle, but both of you are within line of site of a repeater, you can relay your transmissions through the repeater and still talk to each other. In the Colorado mountains, I've easily gotten into a repeater 30 miles away with 5 watts of power. Figure out how big of a circle that is. Also, many repeaters have phone patches that can be used to connect to 911 even when there's no cell phone coverage where you're at.

2) use APRS -- APRS stands for automatic position reporting system. With a radio like the D710 or even a non-digital radio with some additional electronics, you can broadcast your location and receive the locations of other vehicles in your party and plot them on a map in real time. If you're in a city, chances are someone will receive your APRS position reports and route them to the internet where even a non-ham can locate you using a site like findu.com.

MileHighAko is set up to do both of these. The 144.39MHz on the left is the national APRS beacon frequency.

(Note: I may have gotten the specs / capabilities of the D710 wrong. I haven't looked at this radio in depth.)

-Glen

bikerglen

Which rally was this?

MileHighAko

The event was the Rampart Range Motorcycle Poker Run. One of the guys in our ARES group modifyed two camel pack backpacks with an APRS unit (HT with GPS and extra battery) and we put them on the backs of two of the sweep team members. Then a handful of us were setup strategically to provide digipeater capabilities. We also had two portable repeaters setup at the event. The results were fantastic, and it made a huge difference in effort to help a handful of injured and broken down bikers.

As for the D710, you're right on the details you mentioned. It is one of the more expesive radios becasue of it's built-in ability to do packet and APRS operation. The entry point into ham radio and APRS capability is quite a bit lower. The D710 really is an impresive unit. It would take a pretty long post just to summarize all of the things it can do, but here is one: when driving off road I can beacon my position out. Another driver on the same trail can receive my beacon which tells them I'm 5 miles north of them and also tells them which frequency I'm listening on. They can simply call me on that frequency to get a trail report, or just to chat or whatever. Its little things like that which make it really cool.

Glen, what's your call sign? I'm W0AKO.