wordisbond45
Member
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2016
- Messages
- 2
Hey everybody, I just passed my technician exam and I'm waiting for my call sign in the fcc database.
My equipment is: an rtl-sdr scanner on my computer, an inexpensive Uniden scanner, and two cheap Baofeng handheld radios with a magnetic antenna on my car.
I got myself in to this hobby so there is a lot i still don't understand. Here are a few questions.
1. There are many repeaters in the several counties i plan to use my radio, there are so many that its confusing, how do i know which ones link to where, which ones actually have traffic? So far I've been going through various lists and programming the active repeaters in locations I'm familiar with in to my radio. Is trial by error the best method or is there a more comprehensive list to work with? without being able to transmit yet its kind of like shooting in the dark.
2. In an emergency situation where i don't have cellphone service and i need to contact anybody, what frequency would i transmit on where people are most likely to hear me?
3. Lets say I'm camping or hiking in a remote location and i give an unlicensed friend a radio to stay in contact, is that frowned upon?
4. What are the limits on what you can transmit? i understand music and offensive language is not ok but is there anything else i should avoid? i find that most people stick to technical discussions but i find the farther people stray from that the more interesting the conversations becomes. In other words how else is your freedom of speech limited on ham radio?
I know all the information i could need is already out there but it would be much appreciated to hear from the radioreference community. Thank you!
My equipment is: an rtl-sdr scanner on my computer, an inexpensive Uniden scanner, and two cheap Baofeng handheld radios with a magnetic antenna on my car.
I got myself in to this hobby so there is a lot i still don't understand. Here are a few questions.
1. There are many repeaters in the several counties i plan to use my radio, there are so many that its confusing, how do i know which ones link to where, which ones actually have traffic? So far I've been going through various lists and programming the active repeaters in locations I'm familiar with in to my radio. Is trial by error the best method or is there a more comprehensive list to work with? without being able to transmit yet its kind of like shooting in the dark.
2. In an emergency situation where i don't have cellphone service and i need to contact anybody, what frequency would i transmit on where people are most likely to hear me?
3. Lets say I'm camping or hiking in a remote location and i give an unlicensed friend a radio to stay in contact, is that frowned upon?
4. What are the limits on what you can transmit? i understand music and offensive language is not ok but is there anything else i should avoid? i find that most people stick to technical discussions but i find the farther people stray from that the more interesting the conversations becomes. In other words how else is your freedom of speech limited on ham radio?
I know all the information i could need is already out there but it would be much appreciated to hear from the radioreference community. Thank you!