I am new to part of this area: Ham experience: 2 weeks, technician license, IT experience: 20+ years as a network administrator. Connecting the two: no experience whatsoever.
I got into ham radio mostly for communications in remote areas of Alaska and Yukon where we spend our summers. There is good repeater coverage in these areas, but no cell coverage. I have a Yaesu FTM-3200DR installed in my daily driver vehicle as a learning and practice radio, and I am very comfortable using it with repeaters for club nets and other contacts. I am shopping for a mobile radio for the traveling "summer home" van. I would like to purchase a radio that has the best potential to work with WinLink or other recommended technology so that we could check or send e-mail when in the bush for more than a few days. I sounds like we would need some digital mode to get connectivity at least equal to dial-up. Many repeaters are analog only, so this might be a hurdle.
Any advice on hardware and software would be greatly appreciated. As for hardware, I'm looking for advice on radio and connecting equipment needed to get to the computer (Mac, Windows, or preferably Chromebook). The choices are overwhelming me.
If you wish to move this to another forum, please do so. Thanks!
I got into ham radio mostly for communications in remote areas of Alaska and Yukon where we spend our summers. There is good repeater coverage in these areas, but no cell coverage. I have a Yaesu FTM-3200DR installed in my daily driver vehicle as a learning and practice radio, and I am very comfortable using it with repeaters for club nets and other contacts. I am shopping for a mobile radio for the traveling "summer home" van. I would like to purchase a radio that has the best potential to work with WinLink or other recommended technology so that we could check or send e-mail when in the bush for more than a few days. I sounds like we would need some digital mode to get connectivity at least equal to dial-up. Many repeaters are analog only, so this might be a hurdle.
Any advice on hardware and software would be greatly appreciated. As for hardware, I'm looking for advice on radio and connecting equipment needed to get to the computer (Mac, Windows, or preferably Chromebook). The choices are overwhelming me.
If you wish to move this to another forum, please do so. Thanks!
