School me on Ham Radios.

[eaglegolfj]

I know you are to supposed to have a license to operate them.
Looking for dependable, and not trying to break the bank.

[JakeM]

are you looking for a hand held or mobile rig for the car?

[60 Deluxe]

I can't speak for other brands. My dad, uncle, brother, and myself have had Kenwood gear for well over forty years now. I haven't heard of any of them failing. Dad had his 520 recapped a couple of years back because it was getting a little fuzzy. It has tube finals in it and he asked the tech to replace them. The tech called and said there wasn't anything wrong with the tubes so he was going to leave them in and just send a couple of new ones back with the unit. That old stuff lacks some conveniences found on the new gear, but those tuners are hard to beat. Personally, I like twisting knobs and even bought some vintage receivers and tuners to play music on.

[Pineywoods]

I've also had some interest in learning more about them.

[Laszlo]

Start here. http://www.arrl.org/

[TxKronik]

Don’t get caught up in baofang. There is a lot of hate or love. The truth is they are ok. They are cheap and convenient but they aren’t all that rugged and have some issues associated with being cheap. If you can afford it try to get up into the 100$+ arena for entry level equipment. If money isn’t an issue name brands like kenwood etc for 300-500$ have some really nice features.

Dual band with digital is a nice feature.

You need a license to broadcast not to listen. License is cheap test is $15 given by volunteers. The book from arrl is not to expensive. But the material is in depth.

[DarrellS]

I have a lot of HAM equipment I'm about to put on the market if your interested. All of it is ICOM brand.

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[Hills of Texas]

I have interest in this as well, just never pulled the trigger. What’s needed for a vehicle unit? How does the licensing work and what kind of range can I get? I have a place out in the big bend that coms are next to impossible and have often thought this could maybe be an emergency communication if need be. Don’t want to break the bank but think it’s a great item to have on hand.

[Stick bow]

I’m a radio operator, you can have and will hear some great conversations on HF ( high frequency) the best thing is “they” can’t shut down the radio waves . The entry level test was easy and that will give you some HF privilege, but if you want to get into the good talk . Go for your general class or above license to get on the active bands . The cost of equipment can get pricey so what I recommend for us budget guys is. Buy one or two pieces of equipment at a time eventually you will build the station you want. You will be looking at a transceiver, antenna tuner possibly, power supply, antenna and coax cable . That’s the basic equipment there is more but not necessary. I would also say buy once cry once , if you go with cheap equipment the sound quality can get poor under environmental conditions.

[Hills of Texas]

Ok so this topic yesterday peaked my interest. I’ve thought about the ham radio thing in the past, just never jumped in. What’s a decent startup mobile unit that doesn’t break the bank? If I enjoy messing with it I could put more money towards it in the future. I looked at the Baofeng units and reviews are all over the map from junk to great. Also have started looking for licensing class in my area. I’m having a hard time finding the class locally. Sounds like they may have been postponed do to covid.

[SharpEnd]

In for the learning from the experience here.

[Stan R]

Ok so this topic yesterday peaked my interest. I’ve thought about the ham radio thing in the past, just never jumped in. What’s a decent startup mobile unit that doesn’t break the bank? If I enjoy messing with it I could put more money towards it in the future. I looked at the Baofeng units and reviews are all over the map from junk to great. Also have started looking for licensing class in my area. I’m having a hard time finding the class locally. Sounds like they may have been postponed do to covid.

I studied on line. I think it is ham test dot
com. Lessons the lots of practice test.


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[Hills of Texas]

I studied on line. I think it is ham test dot
com. Lessons the lots of practice test.


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I’m there now. Thank you

[Laketex]

I've been interested in getting back into it as well. Got my Tech no code in high school and let it lapse years ago. I think I'm finally at a point in my life where it will be both fun and practical, as well as needed in emergency situations.

[MadHatter]

If anyone needs ariel work done, holla