rf_patriot200
Active Member
Right and a way to describe the difference is, Gmrs gives you a tiny sliver of the communications pie, where as Amateur Radio gives you the Whole pie, topped with whipped cream !
Making the most of whats left of the VHF/UHF bands
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I fully agree, but the electronics hobby community has seen a sharp decline in vendors. As mediocre as it was, there used to be a Radio Shack (or two, or three..) in every community. If I needed a 100K resistor or a 47pF capacitor NOW, I could probably find it down the street at RS (in those mysterious parts bins in the back of the store that the sales staff knew nothing about),
Having soldering skill is worthless without something to solder. Additionally,, most modern equipment uses SMD technology that requires more finesse and equipment well beyond a 50W Weller soldering gun.
Basic fabrication skills are important, too. The kind of stuff many of us learned in wood or metal shop in school.
Two meters is alive and well.. There's more to ham radio than chatting on a repeater using FM or some digital mode. Below is a screen grab I took from this site--> Display Reception Reports It shows all the stations in Britain/Europe that are active on FT8 as I type this reply.
Since FT8 is done using USB, each of those stations has an SSB capable rig. Many use them to talk using SSB rather than FM or Digital. Have you checked out 2m SSB in your area? There are other digital modes such as meteor scatter (MSK144) and APRS. Go to aprs.fi – live APRS map and zoom in on your area. You'll most likely see dozens of hams near you that are active on 2 meter APRS. They aren't talking on 2m but they are using it.
Many might call FT8 mindless, but it does take more technical skill setting up an effective VHF/UHF FT8 station that it does to access the local repeater using a Baofeng HT.
Then there are satellites.. The low orbit 2m/70cm FM repeaters are very popular.. And many invest in the extra equipment required for the higher orbit linear SSB birds. How do I start with satellites ?.
Since FT8 is done using USB, each of those stations has an SSB capable rig. Many use them to talk using SSB rather than FM or Digital. Have you checked out 2m SSB in your area? There are other digital modes such as meteor scatter (MSK144) and APRS. Go to aprs.fi – live APRS map and zoom in on your area. You'll most likely see dozens of hams near you that are active on 2 meter APRS. They aren't talking on 2m but they are using it.
Many might call FT8 mindless, but it does take more technical skill setting up an effective VHF/UHF FT8 station that it does to access the local repeater using a Baofeng HT.
Then there are satellites.. The low orbit 2m/70cm FM repeaters are very popular.. And many invest in the extra equipment required for the higher orbit linear SSB birds. How do I start with satellites ?.
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Spider255
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There are always things to be soldered even with modern electronics, whether that be repairing something or tinning wires, its always a good skill to have and so is electronics.
Lets say your expensive pair of headphones ends up with a broken connection or your laptop charger for example... or anything, rather than chucking it in the bin and spending money replacing it, you can easily repair it, a bit of soldering & heat shrink goes a long way. I always prefer to tin wire as it makes a better connection even if I'm crimping or using a connector.
Spider255
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Unfortunately there isn't any 2 meter activity in my area... There was an SSB 2 meter contest a few days ago but other than that its not used very much at all probably 1 maybe 2 days a year.
The only FM activity I get are two elderly chaps on 144.700 MHz FM having the most mundane boring conversations & a net on 145.550 FM but its a bit out my way and I can only hear the net controller and nobody else. The VHF/UHF WebSDR receiver which I also use to monitor barely has any activity. The only satellite that I got on 2 meters was the International Space Station on 145.800 MHz.
There was a fair bit of FM 2 meter activity last summer so hopefully things might pick up but each year that goes by there are less and less people sadly.
Spider255
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I have no DMR now because the local DMR repeater has reduced output and hardly anybody can use it unless they are down the road from it, all other DMR repeaters are out of my range. So with that, DMR is out of action for me and nobody uses digital simplex.
2 meters FM dead
70cms FM dead apart from one echo link repeater.
Nothing on 4 Meters
This leaves me with 10 meters and CB, below that on other HF bands the noise floor is pretty bad and makes things hopeless. CB and 10 meters are still usable so I can make DX contacts during the day on 10 & 11 meters and then CB FM chat in the evenings. I'd rather use 2 meters for local chat because local CB 27MHz for local chat is crappy compared with 2 meters.
The other thing about CB is that it can be hard to have a conversation because many people are talking over the top of one another and some are using high power which wipes out some users., other times you can't get a word in edgeways when nobody is leaving a break to give others a chance to speak. I am grateful CB radio is alive again but sad that Ham radio can't be busy like CB is.
That is my situation for radio.
2 meters FM dead
70cms FM dead apart from one echo link repeater.
Nothing on 4 Meters
This leaves me with 10 meters and CB, below that on other HF bands the noise floor is pretty bad and makes things hopeless. CB and 10 meters are still usable so I can make DX contacts during the day on 10 & 11 meters and then CB FM chat in the evenings. I'd rather use 2 meters for local chat because local CB 27MHz for local chat is crappy compared with 2 meters.
The other thing about CB is that it can be hard to have a conversation because many people are talking over the top of one another and some are using high power which wipes out some users., other times you can't get a word in edgeways when nobody is leaving a break to give others a chance to speak. I am grateful CB radio is alive again but sad that Ham radio can't be busy like CB is.
That is my situation for radio.
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An answer to some of this is right here in this very thread. People now think that getting an HT, hotspot, and some kind of Internet connection is the way to make contacts. Why bother with an antenna (even if you can put one up) or putting a radio in a car. Years ago yes we put magnetic mounts (carefully) and used lighter plugs on rental cars and you know what? It worked. Yes if you had to fly somewhere you were somewhat limited on what you could do, but at that, we still go it done.
It's been stated we need to move on with Technology. I use Internet VOIP at work for various things almost daily even in my small business if you count FaceTime and google (meet is it now???). I certainly don't need a license to do that. My customers don't have a license yesterday we talk VOIP and get it done. I dabbled in Hotspots long enough to get a couple friends setup on them. In that short time (several weeks) I decided it wasn't for me. I occasionally do, do some stuff as far as running a net or checking into a net that has VOIP support but at that, I'm on a DMR repeater close to my house that happens to have that talk group on it. If not, I certainly would not dig my hotspot back out to do that.
These are choices I've made that apply to me and the way "I" want to do ham radio. I don't have the right nor the inclination to try and convince anyone else to do it the way I prefer nor, will I make them feel less because they use hotspots, or do not use hotspots. If that's their thing, go for it just don't try and cram it down my throat and make me feel "less" because it's their opinion those that don't are not keeping up with technology. We've done VOIP since the early 90's that just I am aware of, and it's not new by any means, we're simply linking radios in the mix now. (also not new)
Good luck finding activity in your area, I hope maybe you can stir something up. Around here we at least have several simplex events a year that have the bands at certain times of the day so crowded people are trampling over the tops of others to try and get it done. We have repeaters still in use albeit not like in the 90s when I got licensed.
Again good luck and 73, key up and get out there if you can get one more, then maybe two, who knows. It all starts with that first mic (or cw) CQ.
Spider255
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Because I like radio... I like antennas.... why have a ham license to do voice over internet? you have to pay subscription for these voice over internet services. Its not radio.
I agree. 100% agree.
rf_patriot200
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Pay a subscription ? Huh?
Spider255
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No thanks.
I may give Peanut a try out of curiosity, but other than that I'm not interested in paying subscriptions for voice over internet nonsense. Its radio or nothing. If Ham radio is going to turn into messenger then so be it but I'll be using "radio" until its finished
Not sure what you're talking about here though, you obviously already have internet. I don't know if anyone paying for any subscription on the VOIP stuff in the ham Relm. Can you elaborate on what you mean here ??
rf_patriot200
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I don't Pay a subscription at All, for anything but my internet ! I use my hotspot for Yaesu fusion, Wires x, P25, or DMR and No subscription fee to anything .
Spider255
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Most walkie talkie apps charge a subscription particularly Zello.
I didn't pay for anything the short time I messed with it. I did DMR Yaesu's C4FM and D-Star. I still occasionally do D-Star and Yaesu's stuff if someone wants me there or there's a net I might listen too. I go in thru repeaters now though. Tonight for instance if all the stuff is actually working I might listen in on the Illinois Link net at 20:00 local CST.
This isn't what's being discussed here though. Your talking about phone apps and the Radio>hotspot>internet thing is totally different.
rf_patriot200
Active Member
I have Zello on my Motorola G Power, and I pay Nothing to use Zello ...
30 years ago, that's exactly what I did. Technology has moved on. Apparently, there are still a bunch of hams (not surprisingly) who haven't. I fly regularly for work. No reason to pack a mobile radio and coax and a mag mount when I can just bring a handheld and a hotspot that's the size of a pack of cigarettes. I can get on my local repeaters if I want, using DMR or Allstar, etc. Or I can use the handheld itself to access stuff where I am. Smarter not harder.
Why do I need to jump on board the internet HF train? And now because I don't care for it I'm not keeping up with technology that's been around for years and years? I tried it, it's just not for me. There are other things way newer than VOIP hams can do to "keep up with technology" as you put it.
We get it. You like internet radio. That's great. Enjoy it. I'll just remote into one of several remote bases I have access too and still keep the airwaves busy beyond what an ht will do. If I need to ham that radio that bad I'll just do that. Heck I've done that from a hospital bed. The Icom 9700 and Flex radios have made not even needing a radio or hotspot in your suitcase necessary.
I actually rarely do anything above HF. But when I do, I use the right tool for the job. I have two 5550e and a FT-7800 in my car. But when I travel, those stay at home....along with the antenna and mount. We get that you don't like VOIP. That's fine too.
But to get the thread back on topic, that's where all the VHF/UHF users have gone. You can like that or not. I don't care. But that's where they are. Last time I did some research on this and manipulated the databases to get rid of club calls, duplicate users, etc., there were over 120,000 unique US hams in the DMR database alone. Even if we have 500,000 active hams in the US (the number is likely considerably less than that), you're looking at probably 25% of active hams who got themselves a digital ID over the past several years. That's a HUGE number of hams.
