NWI Ingo General Post

[melensdad]

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

So if you are in your car in Merrillville at Gander Mtn and you family is at home in the ghetto where all you north of 30 ganstas live, can you get in touch with them via your ham radio?

And, if YES, then how much of a process is it to get the signal relayed/bounced through 2 repeaters to get from Gander Mountain to da hood?

 

[jedi]

So if you are in your car in Merrillville at Gander Mtn and you family is at home in the ghetto where all you north of 30 ganstas live, can you get in touch with them via your ham radio?

And, if YES, then how much of a process is it to get the signal relayed/bounced through 2 repeaters to get from Gander Mountain to da hood?

From my understand from NapalmFTW but he needs to chime in.

1) With just that radio no as is.
2) With the radio connected to a bigger car antenna (ie. like the ones you see on cop cars) iffy depends on lots of variables but the radios are only 3W I think so you are limited in terms of how far your signal will go alone.
3) With the radio using a car "ham radio" like how Napalm has then probably yes as the "car radio" is more powerful and can re-send the signal further
4) By using a repeater yes as most will send your signal another 50 miles out.

When we get the radios Napalm will be programing them with all the area repeaters. From my reading it's not a hard thing to do you just need to know the feq they are on and a few other items (found online or by whomever owes the reapeter) to do it.

Not sure if you can do a multiple bounce of your signal from one repater to another.

I know Napalm does a bounce to "network PC" which in turn sends his signal to a repeater back in england so he can talk to his friends back home.

 

[melensdad]

Wait, do you expect me to believe that Naplam has friends?

Oh, and as for the radios, it seems like they are limited to line of sight transmissions like other portable units, the higher the antenna and the more watts the farther the transmission but signals will be blocked by buildings, terrain, trees, etc. So the advantage to HAM radio is the repeaters. But if the power grid is down are the repeaters also down?

 

[jedi]

Wait, do you expect me to believe that Naplam has friends?

Oh, and as for the radios, it seems like they are limited to line of sight transmissions like other portable units, the higher the antenna and the more watts the farther the transmission but signals will be blocked by buildings, terrain, trees, etc. So the advantage to HAM radio is the repeaters. But if the power grid is down are the repeaters also down?

Yes on no power = no repeaters.
& thus why most repeaters have backup generators since everyone (public, police, fire, emt) depends on the repeaters they are the first item (highest priority) to get back online so to speak.

Otherwise it goes back to the "old times" I send to Naplam via line of sight he in turn sends to you and you send further south ans so one. Basically we become the network so to speak.

 

[Bill B]

Wait, do you expect me to believe that Naplam has friends?

Oh, and as for the radios, it seems like they are limited to line of sight transmissions like other portable units, the higher the antenna and the more watts the farther the transmission but signals will be blocked by buildings, terrain, trees, etc. So the advantage to HAM radio is the repeaters. But if the power grid is down are the repeaters also down?

That depends on a lot of variables which include frequency and power. By FCC regs a ham operator is limited to 1.5kw of transmission power which will take you a long way. While in Hammond I frequently listen to our trains north of O'hare and our locomotive radios are only 50watts. I am by no means an expert, but with a mobile (in auto) radio speaking to a base station (in home) a distance of 20+ miles isn't unrealistic, unlike FRS or similar where 3 miles is a miracle.
I look at it as a form of communication redundancy. Cell phones can be easily overwhelmed, FRS is very limited (both in power and avaiable channels), a CB has more power but there are literally millions of them around. Ham radio has literally hundreds (thousands?) of channels available, very few operators and, for all intents and purposes, almost unlimited power.

 

[NapalmFTW]

Ok, I came into this thread late but...

With those radios we're buying the range is low but other bands/higher power means more range.

These days towns like Hammond use an 800MHz system (as does the state "SAFE-T"). This requires a ton of receive and transmit sites and there are deadspots (think about how many cell towers there are out there).

In the olden days state police etc.,used low band (40MHz or so) and the range on that was pretty decent ... 20 miles or so or Line of sight.

HF / shortwave extends the range even more. Everything below 30MHz and above around 1.8MHz is HF/shortwave. If you're really serious about keeping in touch after the **** hits the fan then you need shortwave. Forget CB and GMRS radios.

So Bob you are correct inthat if the power goes out you won't be able to use the repeaters... but there's ways around that. Mobile repeaters (I have one) in a high spot.

I can go into this more in a second ham class.

 

[jedi]

I can go into this more in a second ham class.

Yeah but he missed the first one and is a WAY SOUTH of US-30 member and I'm not sure I want to see him at my house. He will stink up the place.

 

[geronimojoe85]

I'm down for a Ham Radio 102!!

 

[jedi]

I'm down for a Ham Radio 102!!

Well Ham Radio 101-b will be at my house so we can program the radios.

 

[NapalmFTW]

I may even try and cover operating through a sattellite if I can afford the antenna.

If the SHTF scenario isn't because of a solar flare then the amateur sats may still be operational.

There are some open and operational SATCOM (military) satellites which are regular used by radio pirates.

The second class I think would be some practical uses of radio. I alluded to it in the last one but there are lots of "fun" things you can do whilst pushing the envelope....

 

[lonehoosier]

Boy now I know how everyone felt like when we were talking about store gas. WTF do you need ham radios for. Sorry I could not help my self

 

[NapalmFTW]

I admit the handhelds are useful but not for long range comms. With an antenna on the roof of your house (you don't need a huge tower) you will be able to get decent comms with 5-10Watts out.

There are some Chinese mobile radios too which are on eBay and they do 50W output. Ideal for the car or your house with a good external antenna.

 

[jedi]

Boy now I know how everyone felt like when we were talking about store gas. WTF do you need ham radios for. Sorry I could not help my self

Paging WD... Paging WD

 

[melensdad]

... WTF do you need ham radios for...

I still don't know. Certainly don't see a "need" for it. Possibly can see it as a recreational pastime and even as something where the local emergency folks might want to work with some of the HAM operators, but don't see a need.

 

[jedi]

I still don't know. Certainly don't see a "need" for it. Possibly can see it as a recreational pastime and even as something where the local emergency folks might want to work with some of the HAM operators, but don't see a need.

I think you missed the joke lone was going with that text.
Some members jumped on his back when he posted about "the need for some gas cans" so we was making a joke about "the need for a ham radio".

Old & slow now-a-days hu Jamacian?

 

[Davegrave]

I don't know if we NEED gas cans or HAM radios. But I don't know this: We NEED a dedicated NWI HAM thread so you can all stop making this thread suck with your nerdy radio talk.

 

[jedi]

I don't know if we NEED gas cans or HAM radios. But I don't know this: We NEED a dedicated NWI HAM thread so you can all stop making this thread suck with your nerdy radio talk.

don't be hating f00l.

Actually we should probably toss the HAM RADIO talk to the NWI MSG Google Group instead but if it's going to annoy DaveGrave I vote we keep it here.

Unless Dave would rather talk about how W.H. died? They says she did not drown but was ODed on meds and alcoholo.

 

[lonehoosier]

I can make this thread really good if we talk about storing propane under your house in a unapproved cylinder. I will bring the hotdogs.

 

[melensdad]

I think you missed the joke lone was going with that text.

No. I know exactly what he went through.

But I took his post, edited down the relevant portion, and replied to it because I honestly don't know how useful it really would be to be a HAM operator in a SHTF situation.

 

[NapalmFTW]

I still don't know. Certainly don't see a "need" for it. Possibly can see it as a recreational pastime and even as something where the local emergency folks might want to work with some of the HAM operators, but don't see a need.

I look at having a ham licence (and more importantly the skills to operate) as another tool in my arsenal (heh I said arse).

If you look at shows like Walking Dead most of the time they're using CB radios or old police radios. These folks are just button pushers. They don't know how to operate anything aside from a push to talk switch.

If they had an HF radio or even something a little more fancy than a walkie talkie they could probably organise something bigger than just a rag tag bunch of folks.

I would say you don't NEED ham radio skills in a SHTF scenario (zombies, nuclear war, solar flare etc.) but for something smaller like extreme weather events, large fires etc. they come in real useful for information gathering (knowledge is power) and organising help/escape.

EDIT: If "we" were more organised as a society with more MSGs, you would have a couple/few skilled radio operators in each one and be able to maintain contact with other groups.

If there was a SHTF scenario where there was still some society operating (ie: red cross reception centres etc) you could have HF comms between the different ones in various counties.

Right now I think it's all too spread out and not organised enough.