Ham Radio Field Day
Next weekend is the ham radio field day. During June 27th to 28th all amateur radio operators are encouraged to bring out their radios into the outdoors and operate with other amateur radio operators. This is also a great time to view how ham radio works and ask the operators questions.
My friend and I are planning to visit the local ham radio club to see their field day setup. Not only will we get to ask some questions and see a full radio operation, but also get more ideas of how we want to pursue ham radio further. While exploring ham radio there are some great areas to learn about it's much easier to just ask someone in person than read a book.
Will report how this turns out, but I think this will be a good experience.
Also I am hoping to get more information about the amateur radio ARES. ARES is Amateur Radio Emergency Services, a volunteer program that gathers ham radio operators in need of emergency communications.
Recently in Santa Cruz county a major communication line was cut. This in turn stopped almost all communications between the Santa Cruz area to the South Bay. Thanks to the ham community who helped out as line communication was down, but radio is always available.
Since I have a C.E.R.T. certification already I could be more helpful.
Will report back. :)
Showing posts with label ham amateur radio. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ham amateur radio. Show all posts
Monday, June 22, 2009
Monday, June 01, 2009
Amateur Radio HF
For the past few years I had my Technician class license for ham radio. Basically you are limited to transmitting on the UHF and VHF frequencies. After searching around I found that it's more interesting to find contacts in distance areas instead of local. So now I'm studying for my General class license which will give me access to the HF frequencies and able to talk much further than with VHF or UHF.
Here's a link with more details of each license and their benefits.
http://www.arrl.org/FandES/ead/classes.html
What do I want to do once I receive the General class license?
Basically have a HF radio set up were I can go anywhere and talk with people from longer distances, without the use of a repeater (a device that repeats a VHF or UHF radio signal to have further range). Such as this example of a hiker taking out his radio during a day on a local trail.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cV9iJIa5feo
If you are interested in learning how to pass your amateur license tests I highly recommend going to this site which offers great practice tests.
http://www.hamtestonline.com
For the past few years I had my Technician class license for ham radio. Basically you are limited to transmitting on the UHF and VHF frequencies. After searching around I found that it's more interesting to find contacts in distance areas instead of local. So now I'm studying for my General class license which will give me access to the HF frequencies and able to talk much further than with VHF or UHF.
Here's a link with more details of each license and their benefits.
http://www.arrl.org/FandES/ead/classes.html
What do I want to do once I receive the General class license?
Basically have a HF radio set up were I can go anywhere and talk with people from longer distances, without the use of a repeater (a device that repeats a VHF or UHF radio signal to have further range). Such as this example of a hiker taking out his radio during a day on a local trail.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cV9iJIa5feo
If you are interested in learning how to pass your amateur license tests I highly recommend going to this site which offers great practice tests.
http://www.hamtestonline.com
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