Quote:
Originally Posted by jaynjeep
Travis,
I got my licence years ago at the age of 15 I think.. My friend that got me involved and helped me with HAM radio passed away about ten years ago and I kinda got out of it after that... still like it a great deal.. just kinda slipped away unintentionally. Im not sure if my license is still active or not.. guess I should check
My call was KC4ASK... my friend that passed away was an oldtimer and had been in it for years.. he had contacts in every country in the word except a few... he was WB4MOG.. I wouldn't mind getting active again..
|
Jay, you should get your license back. It's a piece of cake since they dropped the Morse code requirement. I wish I had gotten into the hobby when I was a teen. May have kept me out of trouble and I might be able to remember more of those years!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Terry C
HAM radio has always fascinated me. You don't have to say if you don't want to but how much does a set cost? I understand like any hobby, you can spend however much you want but how bout an average one?
|
Terry, like I said to Jay it's easy to get your technician licence now. Search for a local radio club. They will be glad to help you get into the hobby.If you just want to work the local vhf/uhf repeaters you can get one of these chinese handhelds for $25 on Amazon. Spend another $15 on a better antenna. VHF/UHF mobile/base rigs are usually a few hundred bucks, depending on how fancy you get. Like I say you can get on the air for less than $50 thanks to the chinese!
An HF rig is probably going to cost you $500 minimum. Brand new top of the line rigs can run $10k.
Most guys will tell you spend 90% of your budget on antennas and 10% on radios. I make my own antennas. I paid $600 for this 18 year old radio that was $2800 new in 1997. Took me about an hour to fix the antenna tuner in it and it works perfectly now.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ol'George
We have computers, color tv and always something that seems more important/fun to do.  |
George, I enjoy those too, they require infrastructure to work though. If the S*** hits the fan one day and infrastructure goes down, ham radio will be the only thing left working!
Glad you enjoy some DX listening once in a while.
I just picked this desk up this week, so everything is not where I want it yet but it is starting to look like a ham shack.
