Basic Prepper Comms for Newbie

[Cameramonkey]

Oh, and luckily, at only $25 a pop (ish) its not the end of the world if you need to buy a ham AND GMRS radio. The nice thing about buying the 5r/5x they share batteries, chargers, etc.

EDIT: and supposedly the 5X is a full 5 watt*. Yes, power isnt everything, but its more transparent than the blister pack models that only speak in distance. (which is BS and equally inane as the power only discussion)

Which reminds me I need to get my meter out (and adapters) and actually test them. (spot on 5 watts)

 

[gassprint1]

Oh, and luckily, at only $25 a pop (ish) its not the end of the world if you need to buy a ham AND GMRS radio. The nice thing about buying the 5r/5x they share batteries, chargers, etc.

EDIT: and supposedly the 5X is a full 5 watt*. Yes, power isnt everything, but its more transparent than the blister pack models that only speak in distance. (which is BS and equally inane as the power only discussion)

Which reminds me I need to get my meter out (and adapters) and actually test them. (spot on 5 watts)

Is there a way to "turn up" the watts like you can on a cb radio? Was also guna comment on the unlock thing till you mentioned somewhat being able to. I would assume the same chipsets were used to satisfy fcc regs but able to use a backdoor method to enable 100% like the previous units were. I am thinking this because it's cheaper to program vs buying different chips with old ones going to waste collecting dust. We had done crystal swaps and turned the trem pods up on walkytalkys back in the 80s for fine tuning.

 

[Super Bee]

Bought a still in the box Uniden 436HP scanner today for $325.00 off Marketplace. After looking on E-Bay that was a steal of a deal. They are $500 to $650 on there. FWPD is encrypted which sucks, but I can hear everything else.

 

[indyblue]

35 dollar GMRS FEE for 10 years for the family.
midland 50 watt GMRS radio.

CB’s seem to be dead. Midlands gmrs will give you repeater upside and a long range G connect about 10 miles and will work with the older fmrs radios.

Yes, CB is dead. they’re repurposing that radio frequency for other uses so CB should no longer be used because it may interfere with devices using the band now. GMRS is the new FM replacement for AM CB.

 

[Super Bee]

Yes, CB is dead. they’re repurposing that radio frequency for other uses so CB should no longer be used because it may interfere with devices using the band now.

Hmmm, They may want to let all the truckers know who still use it. I drive 75 between Lima and Cincinnati quite often and 19 can be quite busy at times.

Its not like it was 20 or 30 years ago but there are still quite a few people out there using it.

 

[pitbulld45]

I dont have the radios to try this but here it is

 

[Shadow01]

One thing to consider when SHTF, I seriously doubt that anyone from the fcc will track you down for using ham without a license. Until SHTF it’s a different story. GMRS would be the best unlicensed option, but consider having the HAM option in your back pocket just in case.

I’m curious if there were a major multi state or country wide disaster and I happened to find an empty home in my search for sanctuary and it had a working HAM radio, what are the real world consequences if I used it to reach out for help as an unlicensed person?


edit to state I wasn’t aware GMRS required a lecense

 

[Super Bee]

Bought a like new Royce 625 CB base station with mic. Looks like new and works perfectly. Older CB collector out of Rockford Ohio kept this one nice. Now, just need to get an antenna.

 

[jsx1043]

I think CB would be a lot of fun to mess around with and try to go hillbilly HF and see what kind of distance we can get, since the airwaves have opened up a lot and they’re so cheap and plentiful.

 

[gassprint1]

I think CB would be a lot of fun to mess around with and try to go hillbilly HF and see what kind of distance we can get, since the airwaves have opened up a lot and they’re so cheap and plentiful.

There are shops around that will tune them up past the stated watts. Back in the 90s, i use to stop at the big truck stop at us6 and 51. Forget the name..but they had a repair shop there.

 

[jsx1043]

There are shops around that will tune them up past the stated watts. Back in the 90s, i use to stop at the big truck stop at us6 and 51. Forget the name..but they had a repair shop there.

Yeah, that’s kind of my thought with it. Since the CB airwaves are free (versus ham and GMRS) and you can get into it rather inexpensively, I think it would be cool to establish a network as a SHTF backup. I’m not a radio pro by any means, but I understand the limitations of various systems. And now that FM has opened up on CB, and there are some decent handheld options out there, I can see it as a viable option for folks wanting to stay off more complicated/regulated bands.

I also need someone to explain single sideband to me like I’m five, and how it works with CB, as I know that was a thing for a while and might provide more “security through obscurity.” (I think)

 

[gassprint1]

Yeah, that’s kind of my thought with it. Since the CB airwaves are free (versus ham and GMRS) and you can get into it rather inexpensively, I think it would be cool to establish a network as a SHTF backup. I’m not a radio pro by any means, but I understand the limitations of various systems. And now that FM has opened up on CB, and there are some decent handheld options out there, I can see it as a viable option for folks wanting to stay off more complicated/regulated bands.

I also need someone to explain single sideband to me like I’m five, and how it works with CB, as I know that was a thing for a while and might provide more “security through obscurity.” (I think)

I'm no expert either, i just know how to use them. I actually have a big handheld 1 that was the gfs grandfather i found.

 

[CPE1704TKS]

One thing to consider when SHTF, I seriously doubt that anyone from the fcc will track you down for using ham without a license. Until SHTF it’s a different story. GMRS would be the best unlicensed option, but consider having the HAM option in your back pocket just in case.

I’m curious if there were a major multi state or country wide disaster and I happened to find an empty home in my search for sanctuary and it had a working HAM radio, what are the real world consequences if I used it to reach out for help as an unlicensed person?


edit to state I wasn’t aware GMRS required a lecense

If you are in a true emergency situation and have no other option available, you can use any means necessary to make contact over a radio, with no consequences from the FCC. The bigger question will be, can you? Without some background in HAM radio, it may be very difficult to make contact with anyone very quickly. VHF/UHF repeaters are plentiful, but you need to know how to program them into the radio, if not already setup or know the national simplex calling frequencies like 146.52 or 446.000.
HF gets even a bit more complicated with time of day and different bands, as well as upper or lower side band settings, depending on the band you are on.

If you have an android or iPhone, there are a number of free or cheap apps to use to study for the tests. Technician and General tests are 35 multiple choice and Extra is 50 multiple choice questions. I have passed the first 2 using only the apps and a little common sense with the questions.

 

[Cmak85]

Does anyone know where a testing site is I live on the southwest side of Indy?

 

[cb46184]

Does anyone know where a testing site is I live on the southwest side of Indy?

https://www.midstatehams.org/ They have their meetings in Greenwood

 

[CPE1704TKS]

Does anyone know where a testing site is I live on the southwest side of Indy?

Check out the licensing section on arrl.org. You can see all of the testing sites and dates. Some require registration, some allow walk ins. I have not done the online testing, so I can't speak to that. What I would suggest is that once you consistently scoring about 85% on the practice tests, go find a testing site and give it a try. I traveled half way across the state to take the Technician test because there weren't many offered during the pandemic.

The advice I got from the group conducting the tests was don't wait too long to try the test, I only missed 1 question and they said I studied too much. Getting your license isn't the end of the journey, but really the beginning of what you can learn about the hobby.

 

[Cmak85]

Check out the licensing section on arrl.org. You can see all of the testing sites and dates. Some require registration, some allow walk ins. I have not done the online testing, so I can't speak to that. What I would suggest is that once you consistently scoring about 85% on the practice tests, go find a testing site and give it a try. I traveled half way across the state to take the Technician test because there weren't many offered during the pandemic.

The advice I got from the group conducting the tests was don't wait too long to try the test, I only missed 1 question and they said I studied too much. Getting your license isn't the end of the journey, but really the beginning of what you can learn about the hobby.

Thanks for the info after I posted this is learned of the online testing.

 

[hoglegs]

Yeah, that’s kind of my thought with it. Since the CB airwaves are free (versus ham and GMRS) and you can get into it rather inexpensively, I think it would be cool to establish a network as a SHTF backup. I’m not a radio pro by any means, but I understand the limitations of various systems. And now that FM has opened up on CB, and there are some decent handheld options out there, I can see it as a viable option for folks wanting to stay off more complicated/regulated bands.

I also need someone to explain single sideband to me like I’m five, and how it works with CB, as I know that was a thing for a while and might provide more “security through obscurity.” (I think)

CB is still legally an AM or SSB only affair, but I seriously doubt there would be consequences for running FM when you've got guys running 2000 watt splatter boxes on ch11 lol. That said, SSB is a weak-signal mode & is the way to go if you choose cb for shtf comms. A walkie with a rubber duck antenna (1/4 wave at 27mhz is 9 feet!) is pretty useless though & almost none have SSB anyway, (ah100?) so cb would be more of a base-base or base-mobile link. Single Side Band (SSB) is just a slice of the original AM signal, the upper & lower sidebands are where your voice modulates an AM carrier. So "regular" AM =LowerSideBand+Carrier+UpperSideBand. Or you can choose LSB (lower) or USB (upper), the advantage is the narrower receive bandwidth gives you the ability to "hear" much farther on SSB than AM or FM. When I'm bored on my HF rig (ham radio) I sometimes tune in to LSB on ch36-ch40 & routinely hear guys chatting 30 miles away with only 12 watts. Be warned though SSB requires fine tuning to "sound right" & some basic training for a non-radio person is required. Also many cheap CBs drift in frequency bad, so your contact may begin to sound like a dwarf if you don't retune often. Before I got my licence I used to "shoot skip" around the world on CB / SSB. If the band is open to skip that could be good or bad in teotwawki... Ahh the good ol' days of 11m lol.

 

[ditcherman]

Been reading about these things for awhile. A couple buddies i worked with years back were big into them and i think 1 was even some type of teacher or something for hams..
So.. I got a really great question. Not sure if it will be taken lite.
If things went bad and all..would it really matter if 1 had a radio license or not. I don't see it making a difference 1 bit. So why not get 1, learn about an such so then if it come down to it..your set.

My answer to your question is - because learning the test and passing it is easier than learning about the actual radios and their use. And then to reiterate what others have said, you really need the hands on use a license will allow to learn about the radios.
It’s a big rabbit hole with many tunnels that I’ve just peeked into.

 

[Cameramonkey]

LOL. Baofeng has started being lazy .
So one of the requirements of a FRS/GMRS radio is that the antenna must not be removable. They KINDA cheated on the UV-5G radios and used a set screw to lock the antennas down, but they arrived assembled. OK, kinda lazy, but probably enough to make the FCC happy.

Bought another set this week. It showed up disassembled in the same way the UV-__ ham radios arrive. But looking closer, all that is left of the set screw is a mold artifact. The antenna base is solid plastic, and where the set screw should be is only plastic with a ridge where the edge of the hole should be.