New to Ham and Communications

[Gilcano]

Hi guys, I'm new to HAM radio and communication devices. A friend gave a couple radios and equipment but I want to know more about this devices. Here is a list of the equipment.

ICOM IC-R2 Communication Receiver

ALINCO DJ-V5 vhf/uhf Dual Band FM Transceiver

ALINCO DR-605 [tx/rx] Twin Band FM Transceiver

UNIDEN MR-8100 Scanner

UNIDEN BearTracker 800 BCT7 Scanner

and a UNIDEN PC68XL CB

I'll appreciate any comments
Thanks

 

[kb2vxa]

Read the manuals?

 

[N_Jay]

Do you plan to get a license to transmit, or do you just want to listen?

 

[Gilcano]

Read the manuals?

That's the problem. He does not gave any manual and thank you for your help. I want to see if I can set up a "shack" with this equipment ( is what you called, right?), but first I need to get the "General" or "thecnician" FCC licence.

 

[smason]

Your friend *gave* you these?

Wow, good friend!

 

[N_Jay]

Your friend *gave* you these?

Maybe they "fell of the back of a truck"?:lol:

 

[firetaz834]

Wish, I had friends like that. But, on the serious side if you don't have the manuals search the internet for online manuals.

If you plan on transmitting then plan on getting yourself licensed to be able to transmit on the radios that have transmit capabilites.

But, you also can learn alot by just listening to what you hear on the different bands. And last but not least welcome to the wonderful world of amature communications. I'm sure you will enjoy it. Oh, and one last word of advise I had been told and felt should pass it on. Enjoy it and have "fun" with it.

 

[Gilcano]

Wish, I had friends like that. But, on the serious side if you don't have the manuals search the internet for online manuals.

If you plan on transmitting then plan on getting yourself licensed to be able to transmit on the radios that have transmit capabilites.

But, you also can learn alot by just listening to what you hear on the different bands. And last but not least welcome to the wonderful world of amature communications. I'm sure you will enjoy it. Oh, and one last word of advise I had been told and felt should pass it on. Enjoy it and have "fun" with it.

Thank you "firetaz" fot your comments. On the serious side I can tell you all that "this" friend was like a mentor to me. He taught me many things, He was a FIREFIGHTER and was involved in many rescue operations like 911 in NYC. He was seriously ill for the past 3 years with many complications, like a heart surgery. He also had many problems due to diabetes and unfortunately he passed away this year at 60.
He always wanted me to have his radios, so I'll appreciate you stop with the jokes.

 

[trace1]

Doesn't your "friend" know anything about these radios?

You can always GOOGLE or YAHOO too...

 

[K9GTJ]

Hello and welcome.

I don't have any of the specific radios you mentioned but I can give you a general idea about them.

The Icom IC-R2 is a general coverage receiver. You can read a little more here - ICOM IC-R2 Wideband Scanner Receiver ICOM R2 - You can download a manual here - Terms and Conditions - Icom America It can be a fun little radio but it doesn't do trunking which will limit the systems it can scan.

You can download manuals for both Alinco radios from here - Alinco Both are your typical 2m/70cm dual band radios. (One is an HT and one is a mobile radio or base radio by adding a power supply of course.) Neither one will be of much use unless you get your amateur radio technicians license. That is pretty easy to do with a couple of weeks of studying.

The Uniden 8100 looks to be old and while it is a 100 channels scanner, I wouldn't get too excited about it.

The BCT7 manual is here - http://www.uniden.com/pdf/BCT7om.pdf It looks to be preprogrammed with a lot of frequencies. Easy for a user but not very flexible. There are a few programmable channels but again it doesn't do trunking so has limited applications.

The last item is the old basic CB Radio. Not much to talk about but get an antenna and enjoy.

 

[zz0468]

Doesn't your "friend" know anything about these radios?

His friend took the info with him when he died.

 

[Gilcano]

So the I-COM IC-R2 is a receiver, that means I can use it like a regular radio to listen AM or FM stations?
The 2 ALINCO are "Transceivers" so they can "transmit"?
and lastly....What is trunking?. I will print the manual for this radios.

Thanks

 

[brandon]

So the I-COM IC-R2 is a receiver, that means I can use it like a regular radio to listen AM or FM stations?
The 2 ALINCO are "Transceivers" so they can "transmit"?
and lastly....What is trunking?. I will print the manual for this radios.

Thanks

Affirmative.

Here is a good article from the WIKI on trunking
Trunking Basics - The RadioReference Wiki

 

[Gilcano]

Do you plan to get a license to transmit, or do you just want to listen?

Maybe I'll set up a "Shack" in the future, but first I have to get licenced, right? And also learn more about HAM RADIO COMMUNICATION.

 

[smason]

Maybe I'll set up a "Shack" in the future, but first I have to get licenced, right? And also learn more about HAM RADIO COMMUNICATION.

You can certainly still set up a shack for listening, I did that for quite a long time before getting licensed, and have been in listen-only mode for the last 8 years or so. You can learn a whole lot just by monitoring.

P.S. Sorry to hear about your friend.

 

[raisindot]

Doesn't your "friend" know anything about these radios?

You can always GOOGLE or YAHOO too...

My god, didn't you even read his message? His good friend passed away and left these to him as a legacy of their friendship, and this is your response? If this isn't an abuse of the "New User" rules I don't know what is...

Suzie

 

[BuffaloJustice]

Sorry about your friend. It seems to me the prudent thing to do is get a hold of a Technician License manual and study. It doesn't take much to pass the Tech test and then you can use what he left you. In the mean time go to the database and find the frequencies for you area and get those into the scanning/receiving radios you have. Then you can decide what stuff interests you the most. If you want to get your ham ticket I would program the amateur frequencies and listen, you will learn alot. There's a good intro to Ham Radio at eham.net and lots of information at arrl.org.

 

[Tedm]

Hi,

Everybody I made a mistake and the 436 -data disk metal 'door" message go away from me.

Anyway I just want to get a couple of cards ready to go and a new metal "door"

Best Regards
Sincerely,
Ted

 

[Tedm]

Hi,

I notice it say I live in Concord.

That what when my Uncle was in the nursing home and my dad was still a bit ill after beiing hit by a car.

I was just there to take care of the place so the vandalism and break ins would stop.

I was very strange that year.

Dad got hit by a car and almost died and my Mom died a week after he got hit.

Them my Uncle died a year later on the same month my mom died.

My other Uncle just died on the same month too.

Not a good luck month for my family.

Anyway I need to change back to Menlo Park,

Thanks

Sincerely,
Ted

 

[trap5858]

You can get a Tech ham radio license pretty easily and could use the two VHF radios in the 2 meter band.

Look into a ham radio club in your area for Tech license classes- they are free and someone in the club might be able to help you operate the radios.

The internet is a good place to start looking for the manuals to download. Some of those radios might be intuitive to operate.

Best wishes and welcome to hobby