Getting set up for HF in Canada

[philcollings]

Hi guys my name is Phil. Im interested in amateur radio but I live in the rural prairies in Canada and there’s no way to communicate with any vhf hams as our distance is too far apart and there are no repeaters close by. I have not pursued my license yet, I’d like to research this a bit more. As you can understand lots of this seems like it is over my head just starting out.

I guess the option that seems attainable and maybe more practical would be HF. I do have a tower set up for farm use but would consider putting antenna up for rx only to learn more about HF after I received my license. I was looking at the moonraker X1-HF and the icom 7300 pair as I already have lmr600 cable running to the top of my tower. I like the idea of listening and eventually communicating across the globe. With all this being said, I’m looking for some information about what I would possibly be able to hear from rural prairies in Canada? Please don’t take this the wrong way, but it seems like HF is either dying or it has definitely become less used. Obviously I do not know this from experience, just from different forums.

Ideally it would be great to communicate or listen to other countries, obviously that speak English. Are there any other frequencies that I would be able to hear? Military, navy? Stuff that is just cool to listen in on? I hope you guys can help me with this, obviously I’m very green but I am eager to learn. More or less just trying to figure out if HF is worth the investment. Thanks again and I look forward to hearing your opinions and information.

 

[ve3ext]

Phil email me at ve3ext@gmail.com,we,ll discuss there
Jerry

 

[philcollings]

Thanks for the reply! I’ll send you an email

 

[KC5AKB]

Welcome to the fun!

 

[robertmac]

What's your closest town/city so we can search for amateur repeaters near you. Being on the prairies, you might be surprised how far the signal will go.

 

[philcollings]

Hey guys I just got in for the night and have a early morning tomorrow. I will read through this tomorrow and reply. Really appreciate the help and replies! Just want to be able to able to answer properly and not rush it

 

[mrweather]

The Canadian prairies is a pretty large area. Are you in AB, SK or MB? There are certainly amateur radio clubs in all three provinces. Radio Amateurs of Canada is our national organization and they have a list of active clubs.

 

[philcollings]

Hey guys, I am in southern part of Saskatchewan. I have used the repeater book to locate the closest repeaters for 2M. That being said I think I’d be more interested in HF. This seems to be more of a challenge and more likely to receive various types of communications. As you can probably tell I am very new to this. By the replies that I’ve seen it would seem HF is very active.
A few of my questions are what is SDR and how would it work with the 7300? And what is the benefit to using SDR?

 

[jwt873]

Yea, trying to sip water that's gushing out of a fire hose can be frustrating

Google can be your friend when looking for answers. In the search box, enter "What is SDR Radio" Here's one pretty good explanation of SDR What is SDR and what can you do with SDR? - Latest Open Tech From Seeed

Also, you will need a federally issued ham license to operate on any amateur band. The entry level Canadian amateur exam is considerably harder than it is in the US. You don't have to be an electronic engineer to pass, but there is quite a bit to know. It takes a bit of work.

This link takes you to a practice exam given by Industry Canada --> Exam Generator - Practice Exam | Amateur and Professional Radio Operator Certificates It will give you some idea of what to expect. (It will probably be all Greek to start with, but you'll pick it up eventually). Many ham radio clubs offer ham exam classes.. If you can find one it will help a lot.

In order to obtain HF operating privileges, you must obtain a mark of over 80% in the basic exam (This is called Basic with honors). With less than 80% you're limited to VHF/UHF only.

And.. YouTube is kind of a wild west.. But if you search for amateur HF operating, you'll find a few videos that will show you what happens on those bands.. Don't take everything you see there as gospel.

 

[N4GIX]

Just for information, the Icom IC-7300 is an "SDR" (Software Defined Radio). I own an IC-7300 as well as a Xeigu G90. Both are SDR.

They both perform much better than my FT-857D which is an "old school" traditional radio.