Quoteloss of (GASP!) cellphones . . .

There is always texting  ::)

Watching current TV shows (without a TV  :o ), I can see some changes. I was watching "The Walking Dead," in which one character who survived says "We stayed with that guy who we thought was crazy but he had a bunker and supplies, he knew..." Or something to that effect.. Hell, a survival store opened in my town, first one ever, recently. I wouldn't be surprised if movies pop up in which some prepper saved the day.. Mark my word.

Yet, most don't see it. Especially women. I remember my ex girlfriend joking with her friend about that woman's husband who is a prepper. I tried to explain why it was a good idea, but it fell on deaf ears. I would almost hope for a SHTF situation just to be proven right But I can't wish for that, I know it would suck more than my bruised ego.

I try to give all my areas of preparation the same budget. It goes in waves. I am finishing a radio streak, entering a camping gear phase right now.. Great thing is, I can combine the two activities!

The problem with our current technology is that is is brand new. We discovered electricity, made tubes, then quickly transistors and microprocessors. We're still evolving very quickly. I mean, look at an iPhone! Yet, we have not experienced any large scale failure of technology. Well, not global or Nationwide anyway. I am sure the people from Fukushima would argue the point. When I built my radios, I had to ground myself.. Imagine that.. You touch the little gizmos and they fry.. What does that tell you? It wouldn't take much to send us all back to the 1850s (which coincidentally I am reading about right now). Look at a World population chart and how the graph shoots straight up as soon as we started using oil and electricity.. Remove those and the graph line will plunge to it's previous natural level.

We may all have some fantasy of thriving in a Mad Max landscape, rescuing maidens and reorganizing society with our knowledge. Be the "Postman" (by David Brin) with our radios.. Nothing wrong with a bit of dreaming. In truth all we want is not to die and not be hungry, cold and scared all the time, know what's going on. Radio certainly is an important part of achieving some of those goals. Food, security, medicine, shelter, we all know the music, we're just learning to dance. Problem is, many poeple, including the ones close to us sometimes don't hear the music. It might seem crazy to dance without music to some... Certainly it does no harm. We would be so lucky if that music was only in our head. It just takes a good hit on a big drum, like in Ural to remind us we're right, and get some to start taping their foot. Just invite them to the bal, but don't start too fast..

Ah, time for my sked with Ray on 20m... You guys have a great week-end,

Gil.

The MFJ-9402 is a great radio. However, it is SSB only, no FM. You can't use it with repeaters. You can't use it to communicate with an HT. Depending on where you live, you might not hear many people on 2m SSB, if any... Also, you would need to use a horizontally polarized antenna, as it is the convention with SSB VHF. It will get you your 30 miles, most likely using a Yagi on both ends.

A pair (or more) 2m HTs will serve you well for very local communications, 4-5 miles radius. A better choice for a base station would be to find a used Icom 2m multi band radio, like the IC-271A I used to own and Tim has.. It is probably the best, having SSB and FM, and the tones board for use with repeaters. If my KX3 wasn't going to get a 2m module in a few months, I would have kept mine for sure. They go on Ebay for about $300 to $350. You could of course try the HTs with higher antennas, like the Slim-Jim I describe in the antennas section.. If it doesn't work then you can try something with a bit more omph... The FT-2900R has 75W and costs only $160...

Gil.

Another Friday night polluted by a contest. the whole 40m band is unusable, including QRP calling frequencies! AAHHRRRRRR !!!
Inconsiderate jerks!

Gil.

You will not get 30 miles between two HTs. A few miles at most, maybe four or five. With high-up antennas on both ends, maybe 15 miles..

Gil.

QuoteGil sold his VHF system

I still have my HT and I am waiting for the KX3 2m module...
No doubt I perfer HF though...

Gil.

QuoteWhat is "echolink"?

Echolink is a system linking radios to the internet. So, you could talk to someone in another state using a simple 2m HT. Useless for emergencies because then you would of course simply send an email or use Skype or something. Useful only if you're 1. in range of an Echolink repeater. 2. The repeater is on. 3. The internet is working. Very limited use... Personally, I would not bother with it. Winlink, sending emails through radio, I will get into. Echolink, I don't think so.

Gil.

QuoteAdvice here was to take the test before buying a radio, so no radio yet.  If the radio does the switching automatically, is that a feature I need to consider when purchasing, or is it pretty much standard?

I would say pretty standard with the big brand names. You can verify this by downloading a model's manual from the manufacturer's web site. I think the point is not necessarily to get the test before you buy a radio (I had five radios before getting my tests, three of which I built), but to avoid buying a radio before you have learned enough to make the correct choice.

Gil.

QuoteOr do you mean that some radios do this automatically...?

Yep, mine does, the Yaesu FT-270R. Most of them do. If I tune to a frequency in the repeater part of the band, it automatically puts it in split mode with the 600KHz offset. I don't have to do anything. Of course I may need to set the correct tone, but that's it.

Gil.

Quoteam I switching back and forth between frequencies?

No, the radio does that for you automatically.

Gil.

Someday, someone might just put a whole QRP rig in a chip.. I can't wait for that.. We already have tiny mixers and audio amps.. To pass a checkpoint, you'd just swallow it! LOL.

Gil.

Hello,

I would say digital is more secure than Morse. Someone could record a Morse communication and play it back many times to finally decode it. Digital works fine but requires more gear and knowledge. The chances of being listened to are slim on Ham frequencies already... Morse, even less, and digital, extremely unlikely. I wouldn't worry about it. Start with voice modes for their simplicity. Once you understand more about modes, operating, propagation and antennas, try Morse or digital, or both. You will most likely use the same equipment anyway.. I love Morse because for me, it is the essence and origins of radio. To this day, nothing beats the simplicity of it and of the radios used. It can also be used with a flashlight, banging on something, touching someone's arm, blinking your eyes, the possibilities are endless.

Gil.

QuoteI guess I should ask, what is the difference between using voice (which is what I picture radio to be) and the "text and files" that you refer to.  Is the text more like typed messaging (actual text messaging) or more like Morse?

Hello. There is the privacy issue mentioned by Luke, though anyone who can do some research on the Internet can find out how to decode a digital mode. Simply downloading a program like Fldigi allows to decode many digital modes. Real encryption is illegal on Ham bands. It is peculiar, because encryption is not illegal on the internet. Go figure.. Anyway, it is also a matter of efficiency. Digital modes are more efficient than voice, meaning that you get more range for the same power. Personally, I am not a fan of digital modes because they require more gear, which means more stuff to carry, more batteries to charge. I believe in a real national emergency there would be few stations operating digital. I am not part of any emcom group, so basically, in it for myself, friends and family, none of whom are Hams.

My favorite mode is sort of a digital mode though, and that is CW, Morse code. You can do amazing things with Morse code that wouldn't work any other way. Last week I had a 830 miles QSO using 100mW! A tenth of a Watt! It takes a long time to learn (at least it did for me), but brings great rewards. I have a Rock-Mite radio I built that fits in an Altoids mints box and reliably gets me heard 600 to 1300 miles away. You can't do so much with so little using voice or a digital mode. A small CW transceiver will run 30Hrs on a few AA batteries..

If you want to know what's going on in the country, get a short wave receiver, or make sure the Ham radio you buy allows listening to SW. For example the Elecraft KX1 allows SW listening, even though it is a Morse code radio only. Most radios these days allow listening outside of the Ham bands.

Gil.

Quotehey, speaking of that, did you ever get an antenna tuner? I completely forgot about you needing that! If not, do you still need it?

It was an analyser I needed. No big deal, I got around that... As to bands for digital, whatever is used for Winlink, and that would probably be 40 and 20m.

Gil.

QuoteWhat types of HAM radios can I transmit and receive CB on?

You can't legally transmit, only receive. My KX3 for example can listen to CB but will not transmit. The only Ham radios that can do that are some kits or modified radios. My K2 would transmit on the CB band. It is still illegal to do so. Some export model CBs can transmit above and below the CB band, but that is illegal as well. Too bad... the CB band should be part of any Ham radio, but unfortunatelt it isn't going to happen...

Gil.

Hello Bob,

AM or SSB is the same whether you are talking about Ham or CB. It's just a legal distinction. AM has a carrier and two sidebands. SSB has one of the sidebands, period. You can listen to AM while in SSB mode, if you tune off the carrier to one of the sidebands. I never tried to listen to SSB while on AM.. Bottom line is, you want to be in the same mode. You will hear the other guy if he is in the other mode, and you then just flip the switch to make it intelligible. LSB and USB are mirror images of each other...

Trying to communicate using different modes, AM and SSB is not going to work...

AM has less local range but sounds better. The problem with CB is the noise. When you listen to the CB band using a Ham radio, it sounds very quiet. Switch to the CB and you get a lot of static. Why? That's the difference between $150 and $700... When I listen to channel 38 LSB with my KX3, it seems like the radio is off, until a signal appears. Of course we're talking about a $900 radio with DSP filtering... That said, an MFJ-9410 will beat the pants off a CB and costs $300. I have nothing against CB, because you get a lot for your money though.

Maybe someone else here can tell us if you can listen to SSB while in AM mode?

Gil.