Non-licensed comms band for HF?

Joined
Jun 13, 2018
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Yes, true--It was quite an elegant solution to our communications need. We had tried any number of things to link this cabin to the outside world.... but we had to keep in mind that we let Boy and Girl scout troops use it, as well as some others who are not at all technically inclined.

Right off the bat we attempted CB radio, but we might as well used tin cans and string. Our experiments with GMRS was an equal flop- but experimenting with HF ham radio was very encouraging---- 160 metres with its superior ground wave crept right out of the amphitheatre and over the mountains (13 to 14,000+ feet elv.) We used this as one set of evidence for our license.
This license is fairly old now, originally issued under the now pass'd FCC Part 89-- as a Special Emergency Service licensee. Back then you had to list all you had attempted to justify an HF allocation, but we covered that in aces--- Heck, that is what I was good at..... ;)
Ever since we've renew'd under a "grandfather'd" status.

Today there aren't many domestic HF non-government users, though I have held other licenses in the Industrial Radio Pool. It wasn't too hard to obtain a license, with what we do here in these mountains---- 4637.5 KHz (U/LSB) was one of my frequencies.

I will strongly advise anyone, at least in the US, that wants to use HF radio for hobby, non commercial purposes--- get your amateur radio license :).

Lauri


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mmckenna

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Last I looked, AT&T (the wired phone company) had quite a few HF licenses for their old long distance cable repair crews. I had a coworker that ran into them working on an L-carrier repeater out in the middle of the desert in far eastern Arizona, and they had HF whips on their trucks.
Likely not used anymore, but at the time, it was one of the few options from out in the sticks.

Maybe the future of HF isn't dead, it just needs to be rediscovered. I recently received a pair of transportable HF radios from the state for our OES group. It'll do some form of digital voice on HF that is supposed to be pretty impressive, but I'm still waiting on them to provide ALE address assignments so I can use them.
 

WestB

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Its mine and a neighboring ranch

Its an old license that qualified our locations as "civilisation" years ago.

I have found the same success of using frequencies at 2 and 4 MHz for rural ranch communications and areas without telephone service. I have licensed and installed these types of systems and have found them to indeed be an elegent and reliable solution that didnt require more than some simple radios and dipole or loop antennas. I enjoy your stories and your places reminds me of some of the rural ranches in Idaho and Alaska. I would like to buy a a property like yours.
 

WestB

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I have set up HF communications systems for ranches. One was a 100,000+ acre cattle ranch that had no cell phone communications or tower sites nearbye. The 2 and 4 MHz frequencies using simple dipole or loop antennas was indeed an elegant solution that worked reliably using mostly skywave propogation. I only know of few places that are still using HF. One ranch is in Idaho and other is in Alaska.
 

trentbob

W3BUX- Bucks County, PA
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Feb 22, 2007
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I noticed her custom title says QSD - is that supposed to mean something?


I also have missed her stories.
Q- codes are used in amateur radio and started when only Morse code was used but are still used today with voice... QSD means is my keying defective/your keying is defective.
 

WestB

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2 MHz is good for distances usually of about 50-125 miles during the day and has great NVIS fill in coverage compared to 4 MHz and higher. It is also great for going around mountains and thru forests. What type of antennas are using? A horizontal dipole and inverted V dipole about 220 ft in length would be good but my preference would be a horizontal loop up about 45 ft, depending the distance you require.
 
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