Ham Radio Installation

I am not. I am probably one of the guys the Ham guys hate. We run the PCI and Rugged race radios. Stick to the off road channels. I have been thinking about buying my own frequency for our group since the channels are getting pretty crowded now the car to car has gotten so popular with side by sides and Jeeps. 50 watt in the RV and SxS I can get from the top of a dune back to camp at little Sahara. Just dumped my truck for a SUV to try it out. Be nice to have one in it for day trips to the dunes.


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Not sure why the hams would hate you. We like all sorts of radios. It looks like PCI and Rugged are making a killing on those things though! Almost makes me feel bad. The frequencies used by those are very close to the frequencies on the 2m ham band and the same chinese companies make ham radios that are basically the same but the ham versions cost 1/3 or less. For example, the Rugged RH-5R is basically the same radio as the UV-5R. Rugged sales it for $85. The UV-5R is under $25 usually. The GMRS bands are usually pretty empty I find and you can get 50w radios there too and they cost a lot less than PCI/rugged radios too.

If I remember right, there is pretty good ham radio repeater coverage at the dunes and I could get around pretty good with just 5watts. I haven't been to the dunes in a couple years though so I may be wrong.

On a lot of forums the HAM guys complain because we all should be licensed. Yes you are right all the radios are Chinese unless you go Kenwood or Motorola. Amazon has them all if you know what you are looking for. I have 6 UV5Rs I have programmed with CHIRP. It would be nice to learn how to use the repeaters.


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Most repeaters just work on an offset input frequency that you transmit on to hit the repeater.
I started on CB in the late 70's as a kid and got into "shooting skip" on lower side band 38 mainly.
Then I found out about handhelds being able to cover distances with repeaters (didn't even know about IRLP) and wanted a HAM so I got an ICOM 2m/6m/440/1.2ghz handheld on sale for 275 I think.
This was around 95-96 and I didn't have a HAM license then.
The HAMS are a bunch of really nice guys that don't argue, yell, cuss and play music or make sounds over their frequencies.
Too many CB'ers do so there has always been some issues towards them.
I learned how it worked (I already knew calling CQ and QTH and QRT etc from shooting skip all over the country on 11 meters) so I made up a call sign since you kind of have to have one to get anyone to talk to you.
Then the darn internet got popular and anyone could look up call signs so they knew you weren't the person you made up--or you were in wrong location for that person etc, so I got my license.
2m is so dead now compared to what it used to be. You can use echolink app and talk on 2m over your smart phone too.
I think the coolest is IRLP.
You enter tones on your handheld to link you to I guess from a local repeater to another persons local repeater and you are talking to them on their repeater as if you were within 25--50 miles of them but you can be 2000 away.
I talked to a guy in Long Island NY 3 different days from SW OH.
Really neat!

For local get an export radio. I got s Magnum S9 years ago and love it.
The 10m guys sit around and shoot the shit much like CB but not as prim and proper as HAM guys.
They don't use call signs most of the time and just use names or handles - mostly names- "first personals"

They used to have Monday or weekly "check in" and clubs they maintained.

The export radios have a lot more power than 4w CBs usually 25-50 and they can flatfoot it a good distance esp at night like 30-40 miles.

Fozzy said:

On a lot of forums the HAM guys complain because we all should be licensed. Yes you are right all the radios are Chinese unless you go Kenwood or Motorola. Amazon has them all if you know what you are looking for. I have 6 UV5Rs I have programmed with CHIRP. It would be nice to learn how to use the repeaters.


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You will have to get your license to use the repeaters. It is super obvious if someone is on there and not licensed and it is super easy to track people down who are using it illegally. Like mentioned, the ham bands are fairly under utilized at the moment so it is a great mode of communication and you don't get any of the garbage stuff going on like on all the unregulated bands. Licensing is super easy, I know 6-8 year olds that have passed the test.

Baofeng got hammered by the FCC so I think newer versions of their ham band radios will not work on the frequencies you want to use. The UV5r is technically an illegal radio because it works on frequencies outside its certifications and intended use.

Now that we have fully derailed this thread...

I love my Baofengs!! I didn't know they changed things. This sucks. It will raise prices on the old ones! Hopefully there will be a simple mod or hack like on many other brands to restore what the factory legally has to block.

TobyU said:

I love my Baofengs!! I didn't know they changed things. This sucks. It will raise prices on the old ones! Hopefully there will be a simple mod or hack like on many other brands to restore what the factory legally has to block.

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I don't know that I would use the word Love with Baofeng but...I do have a couple and for the money they serve their purpose but they are no where near the quality of my nicer equipment. I was very resistant to getting any but they do fill the cheap disposable radio niche. They are difficult to program in the field, easy with chirp but otherwise not intuitive.

From what I understand they will be blocking the out of bounds frequencies via software. Because they are Chinese I suspect it will be very difficult to figure out how to open them back up, they seem to have the most convoluted menu system and programming I have seen. I am sure someone will figure it out though.

My chinese TYT DMR radio is super fun though! That has been one of my most fun radios yet. Not totally sure why but DMR has been fun to mess around with.