CB, Ham & Communications etc

[landroversforever]

so what sort of things does the test involve?

[western]

so what sort of things does the test involve?

all the info at http://www.rsgb.org.uk/

a foundation licence sample exam paper here print it & have a go.

Foundation licence is set up so the syllabus can be completed over a weekend ending with the exam, if successful, the instructor/examiner will pass your details to RSGB & your lifetime licence will be issued

[MrKev]

Anyone reading this got any good suggestions for 6m, 10m or longer suitable antenna solutions for a disco?

[western]

might be better off asking here have a look at W&SPLC for mobile antennas.

[ChrisB]

Anyone reading this got any good suggestions for 6m, 10m or longer suitable antenna solutions for a disco?

You might need to be a bit more specific than that with your requirements - single band or multi-band antenna, whether you're prepared to drill the roof / body, or need gutter/other non-damaging mount. What are you intending to connect it to radio-wise?

I have used a slightly cut-down CB whip for 10m, and a 1/4 wave whip for 6m with good results.

Happy to help!

Chris

M0TVA

[ThreeSheds]

so what sort of things does the test involve?

As a Scout you may well find that a local Venture Scout group has an amateur radio section who could help.

Firstly you can't do it by yourself - there is a need for a practical component to be completed before the exam and signed off by an authorised person. This is pretty simple stuff involving things like adjusting a dipole (made of two extending aerials) to get the best SWR, and is usually done as part of a training course.

Next the 'exam' which again needs to be supervised and marked by an authorised person. This is 25 multiple choice questions and really shouldn't be a problem for anybody who runs a Land Rover (and has de facto demonstrated a higher than normal technical ability ) Actually the exam wouldnt be a problem for anyone who has read the booklet

The main study aid for the exam is said booklet (<£5) available from amateur radio stores and most clubs or the RSGB (Radio Society of Great Britain).

There are three levels of licence: Foundation, Intermediate and Full, the above info relates to foundation only, and once you have that you would be permitted to transmit on most amateur bands but with the limitations that you use commercial equipment only (no home-brew) and transmit with no more that 10 Watts.

10 Watts doesn't sound much but the other day I was listening to a someone in Stockport (40 miles and with 1500 feet of South Pennines in the way)) who was only using 5 Watts

As for cost - you can set yourself up with a decent hand-held unit for less than £100 (I bought my rig from a local shop with a 3 month guarantee - important I feel, since until I get my licence I can't test it properly). The training will vary - if you can find a local authorised trainer (which I couldn't) then you might get it for less, but in my case I had to join the local club (£20) and pay for a course (£20). Then the final cost is £23 for the exam. The licence itself if free and for life.

From my (limited) knowledge, I would suggest that the best setup to start with in a Land Rover would be a hand-held 2 metre unit plugged into the vehicle electrics and a roof mounted antenna. This way you can use it in the car or out on foot and when you get home you can remove it easily for security and perhaps plug it into a battery and base-station antenna in the house too.

Final point - I am afraid that I can't direct you to a decent AR forum since I am still looking for one...

HTH,

Roger

[cipx2]

Try these forums:

http://www.amateur-radio.co.uk

http://www.hamradioforum.net

and http://www.hamtests.co.uk/ for some mock tests and licence info.

[Wingnut]

Call sign here is 2W0PDE

CB is still usefull for general banter, MSA 81 meg. is good for its purpose (as far as it goes) but Amateur Bands are head and shoulders above both of them in terms of quality and clarity. All I have in my vehicle is a 5 watt hand held transceiver (2m/70cm) with an external ariel on the roof via a mag. mount and it works a treat.

Ham frequencies are self policing as far as manners and protocol are concerned (if you start acting the fool or using foul language then nobody will reply to your station) and the user's code of behavior is taught as part of your training; but be under no illusions, OFCOM can and will prosecute you for breaching any of your responsibilities laid out in your particular License Class and remove your Licence.

Peter.

[gus]

EA4EEN, since 1981. Madrid Spain

[landroversforever]

aside from those who use it for things such as communication at motorsport events etc... is it in it most basic just chatting to anyone and everyone across the UK/rest of the world?

[western]

Yes, no special language is needed, most overseas operators will converse in english, only other licenced operators though,

if your thinking about going for the foundation licence find your nearest club on the map * then scroll to the region listing for more contact info http://www.rsgb.org/local/

area 9 or 10 covers your area.

[landroversforever]

having seen this I think it would be fun and useful, as I plan to part of the 4x4 response network once I have a LR.

Guessing you need the basic license to just listen?

My Grandfather had/has a small handheld he used to use for listening in on ATC at Birmingham international! guessing that comes under amateur radio?

[western]

once you have the foundation licence & been allocated a callsign, you can use for both transmitting & recieveing, your GrandDad may have a just a airband scanner, anyone can use them for listening only to aircraft & air traffic control.

nobody except ATC/Aircraft can transmit on airband it's still a VHF AM band not VHF/UHF FM like ham radio.

there's shortwave recievers about to, which I believe have to have a licence or be registered.

[Part1cle]

We were both licenced - I had the callsign G0EMS and Lin had 2E1DHP but we've not been active for some time.

Used to do a bit of work with Raynet as well as contests on 144Mhz (2M).

I might get my licence back sometime as it's now free....

Henry

[ThreeSheds]

Guessing you need the basic license to just listen?

I was told (and I have read nothing to contradict this) that you don't need a licence to posses the equipment or to listen, just to transmit.

I have owned a 2M rig for a few weeks now and will be taking my foundation licence on 22nd of this month.

[cipx2]

It's ok to listen as long as you use receive only equipment.

It's ok to own a transmitter (with/without receive capability) as long as it's not installed (connected to a power source and to an antenna) or used.

See 'How licensing works' and 'Exemptions from licensing' at http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radiocomms/ifi/enforcement/law

[simonr]

Since it's had a few mentions, I thought I'd explain what Raynet is - for the un-initiated.

Raynet is the Radio Amateur emergancY NETwork. It was set up as a voluntary group to assist in communications, in particular between the emergency services during emergancies.

Surprisingly, before the advent of mobile phones, the Emergancy Services did not have a (mobile) method of talking to one another. Obviously afdter a disaster of some kind, this is quite helpful to coordinate the efforts.

When mobile phones became popular, many people saw Raynet as redundant - why bother when you can just ring them up?

Raynet (at least the Raynet groups I was involved with) started to decline in that period.

However, after a few emergancies it beccme clear that very often, the mobile networks are the first thing to go down - so not ideal for emergancy communications and Raynet has seen a resurgence.

In many ways, it's the radio equivalent of the 4x4 Response Network - so there is, and should be, a cross-over between the two.

Si

[ThreeSheds]

I was told (and I have read nothing to contradict this) that you don't need a licence to posses the equipment or to listen, just to transmit.

I have owned a 2M rig for a few weeks now and will be taking my foundation licence on 22nd of this month.

Obviously I was wrong on the above point - good job mine isn't connected then!

[TJ101]

Also a foundation licence holder

Like Western, i could have sworn their is a topic on here the same as this one,

Also to keep it relevant !!!

Can anyone suggest a reasonable dual band aerial 70cms/2metres for the defender, lost mine somehow a few weeks back !!

[Cartman]

I passed my B class test back in about '84 and dropped out of radio dabbling around 8 years later. Just had enough really and LR's came along and the rest of life. Fast forward 20 years and I found out the morse requirement had been dropped and fancied something to stick in the car for the commute and came back on 2 metres. For those down this neck of the woods you'll find me on GB3SH/GB3SN when in country.

Last year (before the exchange rate crashed - luckily) I picked up a new FT897 for the office but it hardly gets used. When it does it is 2 metres and rare forays onto 70cms. But the plan is this will be rigged up to go in the FFR 109 once it's rolling

Paul G1CLH

[Bull Bar Cowboy]

In the past interoperability between our emergency services was limited to one UHF simplex channel that was not widely available to all personnel. However, it should also be taken into consideration that each of the services have their own rules on engagement and interoperability which will be undertaken at the Gold / Sliver / Bronze level dependant upon the severity of the incident. It has always been the misnomer that RAYNET filled this function, however, RAYNET have had, and still do have, a very prominent part to play in any long term severe incident. Also, in the event of a complete catastrophe RAYNET would probably be able to provide communication links whilst the primary communications bearer was repaired (4 hours max)

In today’s communications environment, by the end of 2009 / early 2010, all three public safety services will be operating on the Airwave Tetra network which incidentally is the worlds largest fully operational Tetra system.

What about the other services ……………. British Red Cross, St John Ambulance, WRVS, Salvation Army, Oxfam, and many other support agencies.

RAYNET will have a huge part to play in the assistance of communications with all of the above agencies that are required long after the incident has been stabilized.

I think there is an inextricable association with Amateur Radio emergency response and a ‘no road’ capability. Therefore this is probably more ‘on topic’ than many may think ……………….

Let us look at a real devastation…………..Katrina

The losses to communications were three million customer lines, more than one thousand cellular sites and 37 of 41 radio stations (two AM & two FM survived). More than thirty percent of the remaining cellular sites were disabled. All three 911 call centres completely disabled , and 650 out of 800 LD trunk lines out of service . Add to this 2 million cable customers with no service. 90% of the police / Fire / Ambulance communications were lost mainly due to infrastructure damage.

The Police immediate response was with Sat Phones and the setting up of Sat Comm links although this was a slow process.

In the hours following the disaster the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) volunteers in Louisiana provided an outstanding service, however, they were limited with gaining access to the disaster zones (too dangerous).

Interestingly another major player with setting up a communications network was the US Red Cross. These guys managed to set up a Sat Comms network using auto TracStar equipment in record time giving other services gateways to the outside world. Incidentally the guy who was responsible for the Red Cross effort is a radio ham - David Craig KF4FWO.

[simonr]

has always been the misnomer that RAYNET filled this function

Although it has never been the intention that Raynet filled this role, it has certainly been the case (at least in the past) where they have.

Even though there was a plan for this kind of thing, there (only in my experience) was often nobody with the technical experience, kit or more importantly the time to set up things like mobile repeaters. In my time, often Raynet ended up sitting on top of the South Downs passing messages from one side to the other.

Although things like Tetra are very impressive and in the event of a failure it may be possible to repair any eventuality in less than four hours - there is little that beats the redundancy offered by a geographically dispersed and mobile group with battery operated equipment.

These days, sat phones will easily provide the same functionality - and maybe there are enough of them to provide ample comms - but I think that Raynet still provides the same role it always did - that after everything else has failed they will probably be able to rig something up.

Si

[Bull Bar Cowboy]

Although it has never been the intention that Raynet filled this role, it has certainly been the case (at least in the past) where they have.

Even though there was a plan for this kind of thing, there (only in my experience) was often nobody with the technical experience, kit or more importantly the time to set up things like mobile repeaters. In my time, often Raynet ended up sitting on top of the South Downs passing messages from one side to the other.

That would have been general and not operational deployment as this would have been dealt with at interservice Silver command level............

In years gone by I have been out on many a snowy or flooded night setting up both 'in band' and 'cross band' repeaters in some very dodgy locations .......... However, there are some very definate rules governing the climbing of structures during adverse weather and darkness........

Although things like Tetra are very impressive and in the event of a failure it may be possible to repair any eventuality in less than four hours - there is little that beats the redundancy offered by a geographically dispersed and mobile group with battery operated equipment.

I can’t say too much other than the sites have a very large operating redundancy capability. Also complete generator powered multichannel base station trailers may or may not be available at very short notice in any given location

RAYNET will always have a part to play as often the larger organisations take a finite time to get their ar$e into gear............

[western]

TJ101 Can anyone suggest a reasonable dual band aerial 70cms/2metres for the defender, lost mine somehow a few weeks back !!

my shorter antenna for 2/70 is a Watson 77LS more info here good little antenna, mine is currently doing service here at home with my 2nd Kenwood TM-D700.

Slightly longer is the Watson 770HB here super antenna great signal properties.

[simonr]

I used to have a Watson 770HB on my truck - very good antenna for the money.

Even used it attached to a back-pack while skiing with a load of other Amateurs. I think they thought it was excessive until me and two others were stranded on the wrong side of the mountain when the weather closed in. Managed to get a crackly contact with one of the others to let them know we were OK and not to call mountain rescue just yet!

I also used it to chat with a chap in Oslo once (from Horsham) on 2.5 watts output. Conditions were obviously in our favour - but it was still good.

Si