How many pilots here also use HAM radio?

[squale]

Just wondering if anybody was an amateur radio operator as well...

just wondering what the benifits of this could be?

 

[Otto Coarsen]

just wondering what the benifits of this could be?

Good question,
I've always wondered what the benefits (or even entertainment value) talking on a ham radio would provide.

When I was a kid, I lived in this little row home in Philly, and my next door neighbor had this massive antenna protruding from his back 6X6' patch of lawn... He had a moustache reminiscent of a fondeller of small boys, and spent hours upon hours transmitting god knows what over the airwaves... He always bragged to my father about how far his antenna could transmit signals.. What a rotton existance... His poor wife....

When I was a teenager, I found a CB radio in my grandfathers attic. My cousins and I used to plug it in and harass truckers, calling them homos, losers, douchebags, etc... trying to piss them off to the point they would always threaten to "triangulate" our position and beat our arses...

It led me to think here tonight... Besides harassing people from a safe distance (kind of like this website) what service could a ham radio provide. (obviously not including HAM radios used by people living in EXTREME remote places like the outback or antarctica)

Edumacate me...

 

[pilotman2105]

Just wondering if anybody was an amateur radio operator as well...

just wondering what the benifits of this could be?

I'm a ham. Know more about a radio than I care to think about. Some of the knowledge transfers nicely to aviation, other knowledge is useless.

For example, when you id a VOR station (with morse code), I don't have to look at the dots and the dashes. I just have to know the identifier and I can tell if they match.

Other stuff like how to build a radio is completely useless in the cockpit.

It's fun, but expensive. Radios are ~$300 for a decent VHF radio.

All it takes is a test and ~$10 to get the license. Books, etc. are probably $15-20, and if you want to learn code, you'll either need software for the comp, tapes, or CDs.

Check http://www.arrl.org for more info. PM me if you'd like. Just don't ask 50 million questions.

 

[squale]

yeah I guess I got to find a nice site to do some reading and learn about the different frequencies and types of modulation..

 

[scubabri]

Ham radio, in kinda the spark, er, no pun, of modern radio. H.A.M, some people stand's for Home Amatuer Mechanic.

Ham radio has provided maritime radio services, search and rescue services, radio patches for military personal.

Ham operators bounce signals off the ionosphere, satellites, (OSCAR and AMSAT dedicated sats), ground based repeaters, the moon, transmit over microwave signals.

They travel to far lands to allow other ham operators to say "I talked to someone in..."

There are ham radio operators in just about every country and on every continent, Barry Goldwater, King Hussain (late), Donny Osmond to name a few, are ham operators.

I became a ham radio operator at 12, learning morse code at 5 words per minute, and learning radio electronics, and regulations. That lead me to a very good career in computers, which allowed me to become a professional pilot.

So that's kinda the scoop.

sb

 

[squale]

yeah but just was is the purpose of HAM radio? like what can you do with it?

and how does it relate to flying?

 

[FearlessFreep]

Getting yourself a Technicians Ham Radio License gives you the opportunity to communicate on certain frequencies and operating modes. There are some 2 meter FM handheld rigs that are pretty capable. By use of repeaters you can extend your range, and make phone patches using DTMF. Getting your license will illuminate all the different options available for each different level.

There are some areas of the country here that communication is afforded by Ham operators. Hams also get into emergency communication services and will engage in different drills. They also get into "fox hunts" competitions in which they simulate a pirate or illegal ham operation and hunt down the physical location.

As far as aviation goes 2 meter rigs are widely used in Hang gliding for communication between pilots while flying and during cross country flights with ground crews for retrival purposes. A fair amount of Hang glider pilots are licensed hams specifically for this purpose.

As far as the rest of GA goes I don't think that there is a lot of applications for hams, other than if you go towards the code side your going to then have Morse memorized for all those navaid identifiers.

I have my ham license (technician), but hardly use it. Most of the chatter on the freq's has to do with radios. When I am hang gliding, I am not too interesting in talking with other pilots - I like the quiet. I just use the radio when I have to.

FYI - In Dayton OH they hold the largest ham convention every year. Don't remember what time of year it 's held.

 

[flexlrpilot357]

It doesn't relate to flying, at least not directly. Like pilotman said, knowing morse code is a little bit useful. That's about it.

Ham radio is the chat room of the pre-internet days. You talk to people all over the word, or in the next county, and then you exchange QSL cards- basically a post card with your call-letters and location. It's usually about as useful as this forum, except there is no profanity.

In the days before satellite communications and cell phones, hams were very important for getting communication in and out of disaster areas. They also are instrumental in reporting on severe weather conditions like tornados. Some of the astronauts are ham operators, and every time one of them is in orbit, it's a big thing to talk to the shuttle.

That's about it. I got my license when I was about 14, but haven't used it in years.

 

[squale]

so I guess a tranciever or aviation reciever is probably more useful... I live about 15.5 STRAIGHT-line distance from the airport I fly out of and am curious whether I could pick up ATC and the pilots taxing with a tranceiver from my home.. what do you guys think?

 

[Jedi_Cheese]

You won't pick up ground operations.

 

[squale]

well can't you buy a good external attena to give you more range?

 

[Jedi_Cheese]

VHF (the radios) are line of sight only. You might be able to pick something up if you put up a good enough antenna but I doubt it.

I live 7 miles from a class C airport and I can sometimes pick up something (and I live on a hill and about half of the distance is a lake). My apt here is ~5 miles and I barely pick up the ASOS.

 

[squale]

so you can mainly only get planes over head huh?

how far can these goes in line of sight? like when you are up in the air, how far of a distance can you get on these 5w Transceivers?

and what are the best Trancievers? Icom?

 

[Jedi_Cheese]

Icom is the way to go IMHO. I have an older Sporties unit I got a good deal on (it is actually a rebranded Icom).

You can easily get signals from 20 miles out while in the air. I don't use my handheld too much but it will suffice in an emergency.

 

[pilotman2105]

so you can mainly only get planes over head huh?

how far can these goes in line of sight? like when you are up in the air, how far of a distance can you get on these 5w Transceivers?

Elevation is key. They higher you go, the more range you'll have. Depending on the local interference, etc., a difference of 10 feet can extend your range by a mile or more.

and what are the best Trancievers? Icom?

Icom, Kenwood, and Yaseu (sp?) are the good brand names. You'll pay for them though.

If you want an aviation application of ham radio, there is a guy that regularly flies his aircraft over North Carolina with APRS (Automatic Packet Reporting System). Essentially, this is a VHF system where computers a linked with a ham radio and a gps. The radio transmits digital signals which are interpretted by the next APRS station. That information is then rebroadcast, thus following a "chain." The computer displays location, speed (is applicable), etc of the station. Some people also put them in cars. I use to have a stationary APRS station, but have since taken it down.

A group NC has recently created a system of weather stations which reports the local weather. The APRS software shows temp, wind, dewpoint, etc.

You can do as much with it or as little with it as you'd like.

 

[squale]

yeah I have heard of that... that's pretty cool stuff... but for what I am looking to do it's a bit of overkill.

I mainly am just looking to get some use out of listening to ATC and other pilots nearby to get familiar with the jargon..

Unfortunately, it is looking like I will have to be sitting at the airport to hear this though... too bad somebody that lives by the airport couldn't leave a reciever on all day hooked to a computer and broadcast the audio over the internet.. I know there are certain ATC sites that does this (for instance JFK tower), but those places are just sooo busy for a newbie to pick up what's going on...

 

[satpak77]

more info

I mainly am just looking to get some use out of listening to ATC and other pilots nearby to get familiar with the jargon..

If you live in a house, for 100 bucks you can have an antenna set up that will allow you to receive VHF comms from 100 miles away.

For cheapo antenna, I recommend you go to Radio Shack and buy this ($22)

http://www.radioshack.com/product.a...y_name=CTLG_008_009_010_001&product_id=20-176

I recommend you go to Home Depot and get about 3 sections at 5+ foot each of plastic PVC tubing, and place them inside this tripod ($27), which will be bolted to your roof. If you have zoning restrictions, you can put the **CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED** antenna in a backyard tree, the antenna does not care how it got elevated.

http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog_name=CTLG&product_id=15-517

I recommend a Radio Shack or Uniden scanner, since you only care about aviation, just spend what is needed to get that. Do NOT buy from Sporty's, WAY OVERPRICED. You can buy scanners all day long on Ebay, lots of reputable sellers on Ebay and its 2004, Ebay has a good reputation.

With such a setup, you will hear aviation traffic within a 100 mile radius of your house, and the "ground stations" (Tower, Center relay sites), within about 20 miles

good luck

 

[pilotman2105]

Re: more info

If you live in a house, for 100 bucks you can have an antenna set up that will allow you to receive VHF comms from 100 miles away.

For cheapo antenna, I recommend you go to Radio Shack and buy this ($22)

http://www.radioshack.com/product.a...y_name=CTLG_008_009_010_001&product_id=20-176

I recommend you go to Home Depot and get about 3 sections at 5+ foot each of plastic PVC tubing, and place them inside this tripod ($27), which will be bolted to your roof. If you have zoning restrictions, you can put the **CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED** antenna in a backyard tree, the antenna does not care how it got elevated.

http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog_name=CTLG&product_id=15-517

I recommend a Radio Shack or Uniden scanner, since you only care about aviation, just spend what is needed to get that. Do NOT buy from Sporty's, WAY OVERPRICED. You can buy scanners all day long on Ebay, lots of reputable sellers on Ebay and its 2004, Ebay has a good reputation.

With such a setup, you will hear aviation traffic within a 100 mile radius of your house, and the "ground stations" (Tower, Center relay sites), within about 20 miles

good luck

I've found the Shack to be a rip off on most parts. Go to a hamfest, or better yet, build your own. You'll learn a lot in the process. The calculations and specifications for building one are fairly easy, especially if you only want to transmit on a narrow band such as aviation VHF.

Do some searching for books on antenna making. Even a basic ham book should have that info.

 

[squale]

What frequency does HAM use? I was looking here at this tranceiver which also does HAM and wondering is there anything that this tranceiver doesn't do, lol..

http://www.avshop.com/catalog/product.html?productid=5135&categoryid=34

Do you think a dedicated HAM radio has more features?

 

[pilotman2105]

What frequency does HAM use?

If you'd read the websites you post completely before you jump to ask a whole bunch of questions, we really wouldn't harrass you as much. The website you gave lists that information.

I was looking here at this tranceiver which also does HAM and wondering is there anything that this tranceiver doesn't do, lol..

http://www.avshop.com/catalog/product.html?productid=5135&categoryid=34

The radio doesn't wipe your a$$. Actually, there are quite a few things it doesn't do. But seriously squale, if you're not sure about becomin' a ham, don't buy this radio. You can find dedicated aviation radios with more memory and more features for less money.

Do you think a dedicated HAM radio has more features?

Squale, this radio covers one band of about 10 ham bands. Other ham radios have VOX capabilities, duplexing, installed TNCs, morse code, and some have 20x the power.

Do some research on your own before you go and just start posting questions.