Need info

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Jpnaeve

Newbie
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Jul 16, 2014
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Anna Texas
Hello all,

I don't have any license but I was wondering about something. I live in Texas and my father lives in Iowa, and we both want to get into ham radio. What I need to know is would I be able to talk to him, if so, what band would we need to talk on and what license would we need to be able to talk on said band. Sorry if the lingo is off, I've been reading about it for some time and have not been able to figure out it it would be possible to do on a daily basis or not.

Thank you
Jesse
 

ka3jjz

Wiki Admin Emeritus
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Jul 22, 2002
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Bowie, Md.
Yes it is possible - although some would argue that the tool you would need to use isn't really ham radio at all. There are systems like Echolink which links repeaters from around the country and the world using VoIP. There are undoubtedly other such systems like this - and all you would need is a Technician license.

You would need to do some digging to see if there are any linked repeaters, stations or bridges that your father could use, but that's just a matter of looking up repeaters in both states, and seeing whether they both had Echolink (for example) capabilities. I'm not familiar with reputable repeater listing sites for either state, so I'll let those that live there comment on the type of linking system and the repeater(s) you both could use.

And not to put ham radio down at all - I am one, after all - but you could also do this, without licenses, using systems like Skype....,

Mike
 

teufler

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Dec 19, 2002
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ST PETERS, MISSOURI
iF YOU GET A HAM LICENSE, IT WOULD BE A GENERAL LICENSE , AND 40 METERS OR 75 METERS WOULD WORK. MIKE HAS MENTIONED SKYPE, ANOTHER IS OOVOO, WHICH NEITHER REQUIRES A HAM LICENSE, IS MORE SECURE IN THAT THE WORLD WON'T HEAR YOUR CONVERSATIONS. Echolink is available for technicians but you have to have repeaters at both ends that are hiiked to Echolink. Sometimes this is an obsticle. So in the shory term, Skype or OOVOO will work, allowing yoiu both to study on getting the ham license.
 

ampulman

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Aug 18, 2006
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South Jersey
A relatively easy solution (no studying, no license exams, little/no interference problems, fairly low equipment costs) would be for each to have an iPad.

Using the Facetime app, you would be able to converse 'face-to face'. This assumes that you both have internet capablility, which would be needed for 1 or more of the methods discussed.

To the other posters: for a point-to-point conversation, is it necessary to have exclusive use of the system at both ends?

Amp
 
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