NWI Ingo General Post

[NapalmFTW]

Let's hope so. It's weird because her brother is a "gun nut" like me but its OK for him since he was in the army (her words, not mine).

Ahhhh... you womenfolk. I will never understand some of you.

D.

 

[jedi]

Jedi, you can't talk crap about my ugly gun on the radio, you'll have to talk to the owner himself!

And she's not ugly, just big-boned! I'm gonna miss her a bit, but this means I'll have to come to the meet & shoots for sure now!

Napalm, hopefully, with time, your wife will come around and see the light.

That reminds me of when my aunt would take me and my older cousin to the school to buy the school uniform pants. He was a tad bit "round" and thus the nun would tell my aunt oh we have a few "husky" size left just for him.

 

[geronimojoe85]

Hey!

I used to wear "Husky" sizes.

 

[Bill B]

Hey!

I used to wear "Husky" sizes.

"used to?"

I don't, I just wear fat sizes.

 

[geronimojoe85]

Kettle?

 

[Bill B]

Depends, is a kettle the bigger one? If so, yes.

 

[lonehoosier]

Leave us husky people alone. We out number you.

 

[jedi]

c what u stared t_star

 

[NapalmFTW]

I used to be skinny before I came here...

I remember though I went to Dayton Ohio for a ham radio festival (Dayton is the biggest hamfest in the world) and I felt small :/ I weighed around 280 at the time and I really did feel like the odd one out.

Hams are some of the most disgusting people on this planet and when a bunch of them get together its really bad.

 

[melensdad]

I was talking with Ghost of Winter at the Cigar & Guitar event last Thursday in Schererville at the 1101 Cigar Lounge and he asked me about the HAM RADIO thing.

I have to ask. Why? What is the point of it? Is it actually useful or is it just another hobby to pour money into?

What is VHF radio?

How does ham differ from FRS/GMRS radio (yes I realize those are short range)?

Are there different types of HAM licenses?

 

[Newbomb92]

I cringe everytime I go north of US30. I'm sorry, but I grew up in Saint John. In High School, we would chase tail all the way up to Indianapolis/Ridge, now it's gotten bad. I lived in Highland for 2 years and I'm so glad we moved. No offense to you guys but the degeneracy rate is horrible. I'm about to to buy an older Ford Taurus and paint it flat black, roll through like Robocop.

 

[jedi]

I was talking with Ghost of Winter at the Cigar & Guitar event last Thursday in Schererville at the 1101 Cigar Lounge and he asked me about the HAM RADIO thing.

I have to ask. Why? What is the point of it? Is it actually useful or is it just another hobby to pour money into?

What is VHF radio?

How does ham differ from FRS/GMRS radio (yes I realize those are short range)?

Are there different types of HAM licenses?

You SHOULD of came to the demo that NapalmFTW did at my house and it would have answered all of this and more. I'm going to try and give you the short summary on it.

--HAM LEVELS--
Yes there are different levels of HAM licenses. Currently the FCC has 3 levels that the general public can get:

- Technician (lv 1)
- General (lv 2)
- Extra (lv 3)

Each level allows you to transmit on more frequencies.
Here is a PDF with all the frequencies give to HAMs.
http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Hambands_color.pdf

& a better detailed break-down here:
Frequency Allocations

Here is the list of all US frequencies and who can be on them.
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/files/ntia/publications/2003-allochrt.pdf

As you can see everyone has a small piece of the pie. Military, commercial radio, FRS/GMRS radio, your wireless router, your wireless alarm key chain, RC cars/boats/planes, etc.

--HAM vs FRS/GMRS--
Both "radios" operate under the same principals. You hold down the transmit and out goes your voice/data and if someone on the other end is on the same feq. then they can hear/get the data.

With FRS/GMRS radios you do not need a license to operate. However they have a limited range depending on make/model but I think per FCC rules they can go no more than 100 miles. This is due to the max. wattage they are allowed. Not fully sure on this but I know that the FCC does have a cap on them. Plus slice of the feq. pie is much smaller than HAM so they only have a few channels on their radio.

HAMs on the other hand are not limited to just a few channels. More over (& this I learned when I studied for the test). By getting licenses from the FCC if you have a radio and are getting disturbance from someone near you on an "unlicensed item" (FRS/GMRS radios, wireless router, etc..) you have a HIGHER PRIORITY then the unlicensed item so you could get the FCC to shut them down if needed.

--WHAT IS VHF RADIO--
The feq. that HAM have (which others also have) are divided into varies bands.

HF = High Freq
VHF Veyr High Feg
UHF = Ultra High Freq

The various bands are used for different applications such as sending morse code to the other side of the world. Talking to the other side of the world via a sat or bouncing your signal off the moon. Or doing local comms within your area, etc.

VHF from my understanding is what we would mostly use for local comms. For example me talking to you in South Lake County.

--IS IT USEFUL--
This is a loaded it depends question. & opinions will vary.
In cases of emergency and/or power loss this may be the only way you can communicate with the outside world or get information.

For example during Katrina this was how the locals stayed in touch with each other and police.

NapalmFTW said it best at the demo. It's another skill you can offer in case SHTF.

When emergencies occur the FCC authorizes HAMs to become the emergency network (via 2 HAM organizations) and they volunteer by doing the comms for LEOs, EMTs, etc.

Also in Lake County we are lucky that the police/fire/emts have not moved over to the digital bands so if you have a radio (like the ones in our group buy) you can listen in to their comms. YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO TRANSMIT TO THEM. So you can find out before hand what the heck is going on. Plus having your FCC license per IN law allows you to have a police scanner in your car. YOU ARE EXEMPT otherwise you are breaking the law.

Furthermore, you can do "private" comms between your family and you or your close friends since many people do not have HAM radios so you (at least in our area) you have most of the bands to yourself. Where as with the radios you buy at Wal-Mart everyone and their mommy can hear it.

"private" because once you transmit into the air anyone with the right equipment can "hear it" if they are on your feq.

--STARTER RADIO--
The radios we did in the group buy cost us $50 and it was a "cheap" investment for many of us to get started and at least learn the basics in case we ever needed it. I doubt that many of us will become like NaplamFTW who has bigger radios and knows the stuff. For all intents and purpose he is the COMMs guy for NWI.

For the rest of us it will most likely become another tool in our "prep" items.
A few of us will probably gain a little more skills/experience to do the basic stuff but not become "experts" by any means.

BTW I still have 1 unpaid radio and I have NOT heard from that member so if the radios get here Late FEB and it's still unpaid you are welcome to buy it at the group buy price. It's black color BTW.

-Jedi

 

[melensdad]

So in a SHTF type emergency situation I can use a radio to talk to YOU?

 

[jedi]

So in a SHTF type emergency situation I can use a radio to talk to YOU?

Yes in a SHTF the radios we got for the group will be able to talk to each other WITH OUT WITHOUT the FCC license. Along with any one else in the region that has HAM equipment.

Thus why I got 2 for myself. One for home and one for me. In a SHTF the family at home can use the radio to talk to me or others and I could care less if the FCC fines me later should the SHTF pass and we are all still around.

 

[melensdad]

I don't understand. I thought the radios you were getting required a license.

Are you saying that you'd use them regardless of if you had the license or not? Or are you saying that you got radios that didn't require a license?

I would bet that in a KATRINA type situation there were probably a lot of people with VHF Marine Radios that used them on land for communication. A big FCC "no-no" but I can understand why they would have been used.


FWIW, I'm thinking of buying 2 or 3 of these to take on a fishing trip to Canada, they are FRS/GMRS radios and should be good enough to reach from base camp to the far end of the lake, or from boat to boat.
http://www.cbradiosplus.com/shop/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=1102&IDCategory=12

http://www.marine-radio-store.com/cobra-mr-hh425livp-gmrs-vhf-hh-w-digital-voice-recorder.html

 

[jedi]

I don't understand. I thought the radios you were getting required a license.

Are you saying that you'd use them regardless of if you had the license or not? Or are you saying that you got radios that didn't require a license?

I would bet that in a KATRINA type situation there were probably a lot of people with VHF Marine Radios that used them on land for communication. A big FCC "no-no" but I can understand why they would have been used.

The radios we got REQUIRE a HAM license of at least level 1 TO TRANSMIT ONLY. Anyone can buy or have a "ham" radio and listen in. However if you wish to transmit you must have a license or else the FCC can fine you.

Probably correct on Katrina but I don't have any data on that.

In terms of my prior post I already passed the Lv 1 HAM radio exam so I will be ok to transmit once the radios get here. The rest in my household, however, can not LEGALLY transmit and probably won't get a license. However in an emergency I don't care if they do transmit as I will pay the FCC fine for them transmitting. Make sence?

BTW the radios we got in the group buy can be used for the following:
- listen to Ham Bands
- Talk on the Ham Bands
- listen to NOAA's weather reports
- listen to the police/emt/emergency feq (provided they are on analog like LAKE county and Chicago are.)
- listen to FM radio stations

 

[CTC B4Z]

so with the G8 coming this summer, you know all the higher ups are going to hotel out in he merrillville area.... What are your thoughts

 

[jedi]

so with the G8 coming this summer, you know all the higher ups are going to hotel out in he merrillville area.... What are your thoughts

On what? & by higher up do you mean those who will be at the summit?

 

[melensdad]

In terms of my prior post I already passed the Lv 1 HAM radio exam so I will be ok to transmit once the radios get here. The rest in my household, however, can not LEGALLY transmit and probably won't get a license. However in an emergency I don't care if they do transmit as I will pay the FCC fine for them transmitting. Make sence?

OK gotcha.

I'm presuming you got mobile units? One for a car and the other for the house? How far will a radio transmit without on a direct (non-bounced/non-relayed) transmission?

I know the FRS/GMRS radios claim things like 28 miles, but in my experience its more like 5 miles in optimal conditions (my house is on top of a ridge to a car that is on top of a hill).

so with the G8 coming this summer, you know all the higher ups are going to hotel out in he merrillville area.... What are your thoughts

NONE.

Just stay away from them and go about your business. They will have their riots/demonstrations in Chicago and the problems will likely be confined to a couple blocks.

As for where the delegates stay, just stay away from those venues. I doubt there will be problems, its more an issue of congestion and traffic.

 

[jedi]

OK gotcha.

I'm presuming you got mobile units? One for a car and the other for the house? How far will a radio transmit without on a direct (non-bounced/non-relayed) transmission?

I know the FRS/GMRS radios claim things like 28 miles, but in my experience its more like 5 miles in optimal conditions (my house is on top of a ridge to a car that is on top of a hill).

5 to 10 miles tops line of site is what i think NapalmFTW said without the use of a repeater.