Got a ham question/problem?

[Stuart Robinson]

I have some questions but as I have yet to pass my foundation exam (due in 2 weeks) please bear with me if my questions seem over simple. :?

Firstly the foundation licence in the UK only allows me to transmit with 10W – what is the equivalent power restriction for the US licence at Technician level?

The UK 2 meter band is only 144-145 but the US is 144-148 so my UK Kenwood 700E dual band wont be much use but… I can get it extend the TX/RX but removing a wire and a resister – will I get into big trouble if I then try to use it in the US?

Taking an antenna on the plane might be an issue – I own a comet SBB4 which is a 3.0dbi ½ wave on 144. Is this worth taking with me or should I just purchase one in the US and throw it away?

What frequencies should I be monitoring. I guess 144.550 and 446.100

Realistically what range on both RX and TX can I expect from 10W over the flat plains?

Suggestions on how to get hold of the ARRL repeater book.

My call sign will have to be
W5/M3???/M or W0/M3???/M depending where I am? (last three letters once I get my M3 call sign)


Finally I found this site – which seems to be a great resource for frequencies
http://www.caps.ou.edu/~kbrews/spotfreq/

 

[Tony Laubach]

Taking an antenna on the plane might be an issue – I own a comet SBB4 which is a 3.0dbi ½ wave on 144. Is this worth taking with me or should I just purchase one in the US and throw it away?

Stuart,

I would definately just buy one when you get out here if you don't mind passing off a few bucks. Bringing one of those on a plane, I wouldn't imagine it stands a good chance to safely make it here anyway. And for a rather inexpensive price, you could definately get yourself something that would do the job.

 

[David Drummond]

Firstly the foundation licence in the UK only allows me to transmit with 10W – what is the equivalent power restriction for the US licence at Technician level?

The entry level license in the US is the No-code tech. Max Peak Output power on VHF an UHF is 1500 watts.

The UK 2 meter band is only 144-145 but the US is 144-148 so my UK Kenwood 700E dual band wont be much use but… I can get it extend the TX/RX but removing a wire and a resister – will I get into big trouble if I then try to use it in the US?

I don't think you would have any trouble with a modded radio so long as you aren't transmitting outside what your license allows. Not sure about Canadian licences, but the FCC in the US states that in the event of significant threat to life or property, you can transmit on ANY frequency that you have ability to.

Taking an antenna on the plane might be an issue – I own a comet SBB4 which is a 3.0dbi ½ wave on 144. Is this worth taking with me or should I just purchase one in the US and throw it away?

You could pick up a decent dualbander for less than $50 at most Radio Shack stores that you find in just about every city of any size at all.

What frequencies should I be monitoring. I guess 144.550 and 446.100

If you want to talk to chasers, most of us monitor 146.55. Other than that, you will want to find out what the spotter frequencies in use in the area your going to chase are. They vary quite a bit.

Realistically what range on both RX and TX can I expect from 10W over the flat plains?

Obviously depends a lot on the terrain, your antenna and your SWR. Given good flat terrain, and a great gain ant, you might be able to hit a repeater at 10 miles in a thunderstorm.

Suggestions on how to get hold of the ARRL repeater book.

order one from the ARRL.org website

Finally I found this site – which seems to be a great resource for frequencies
http://www.caps.ou.edu/~kbrews/spotfreq/

Excellent frequency resource. I have many pages from there printed out and put in a notebook.

 

[Tim Stoecklein]

David, funny you should mention the kbrews list. I just got done reviewing the freqs in my radio, and was comparing the kbrew list to the 2004 Repeater Directory. There seems to be a lot of outdated information in there for Kansas and Nebraska, any input from what you've found?

I must say that I used to think that radios programmable via computer were a waste of function, but being able to enter and rearrange 200 frequencies while I am sitting on the couch is much easier than entering them in the radio via mic control :wink:

Tim

 

[Stuart Robinson]

Thanks Guys ~ good high quality answers there and straight to the point – just what I would expect from the StormTrack forum.

 

[Max Slover]

Taking an antenna on the plane might be an issue – I own a comet SBB4 which is a 3.0dbi ½ wave on 144. Is this worth taking with me or should I just purchase one in the US and throw it away?

An option might be to get one of MFJ's ultralite antennas. They are about $15US and pretty much a toss away antenna. Should get you through your time here in the states.

My call sign will have to be
W5/M3???/M or W0/M3???/M depending where I am? (last three letters once I get my M3 call sign)

I believe you would sign M3XXX/W5 (or the appropiate callsign zone). I've heard someone else here in the states for travel identify that way before.

Another possiblity for some of these answers is to hit the message boards on Eham. I found some discussion on the TM-700 and the mods that can be done to it on www.mods.dk so there is another source you might check out.

 

[Pat Palmer]

Stuart,

The US and UK have a reciporical licensing agreement, which means you need no other license besides your UK issued one. You are limited to the frequencies and power your license class allows.

In the US, sign with your call sign with /W# at the end (M3XXX/W4 in my neck of the woods). no other issues to worry about. You probably already know that "/" phoenetically is "stroke"

The antenna suggestions are good advice, I can't add much else to them.

 

[Pat Palmer]

I noticed a few ham related questions, and there is lots of goos info from lots of good people in this thread! Info regarding mag mounts and dual band rigs are in this thread.

 

[Karen Politte]

Stu -

Did you get your HAM license yet???

I GOT MINE! Yup.....I am now a new HAM - Technician Class!!!!!!

KR

 

[mrobinett]

Congrats Karen! Ive been a ham for over ten years now but I still remember ripping open that envelope from the FCC (before websites with callsign lookup) and getting on the air for my first QSO. I still remember the hams name and call I talked to first.

 

[Jason Montano]

I have a question that is more oriented towards CB's. I have a CB in my car along with my HAM radio. I mainly use the CB for receiving NOAA WX band while I talk on the HAM. I currently have the CB attached to a radio shack CB antenna. I can pick up NOAA WX bands pretty well, but not nearly as well as on the HAM radio. I think this is b/c the CB antenna is designed to receive 20-30MHz frequencies while the HAM antenna is designed for 2 meter 144-148 in particular, which would be much closer to the NOAA WX band frequencies of 162.400-162.550MHz.

My question is this: would using an antenna designed for 2meter HAM work on my CB and would it be better for receiving the NOAA WX band while still working on CB frequencies? Thanks for any assistance.

 

[David Drummond]

I have a question that is more oriented towards CB's. I have a CB in my car along with my HAM radio. I mainly use the CB for receiving NOAA WX band while I talk on the HAM. I currently have the CB attached to a radio shack CB antenna. I can pick up NOAA WX bands pretty well, but not nearly as well as on the HAM radio. I think this is b/c the CB antenna is designed to receive 20-30MHz frequencies while the HAM antenna is designed for 2 meter 144-148 in particular, which would be much closer to the NOAA WX band frequencies of 162.400-162.550MHz.

My question is this: would using an antenna designed for 2meter HAM work on my CB and would it be better for receiving the NOAA WX band while still working on CB frequencies? Thanks for any assistance.

Might help a little, but probably not as much as you would like. Keep in mind the 2m band is pretty close to the NOAA frequencies, which is one reason you are getting it so much stronger there. CB is WAYY off. I get better NOAA on my ham radio than I ever have on ANY other type receiver, including my scanners. My ham has an alert tone that sends an audible alarm when a NOAA tone is detected.

 

[Pat Palmer]

Look at the situation in terms of wavelengths. Your basic mobile vertical antenna is a 1/4 wave. The formula for a 1/4 wave is (234 / frequency in MHz). At 146.0 MHz on 2 Meters, this length is 19.2 inches. For NOAA WX radio at 162.50MHz, it's 17.3 inches. These are close enough for the same antenna to function well.

CB channel 19 is 27.185MHz, with a 1/4 wave antenna being 103.2 inches. The reason most commercial CB antennas are shorter is they have a loading coil at the bottom. This adds inductance which increases the electrical length of the circuit. The radio still thinks it sees a 103.2 inch antenna, even though the physical length of the whip may be 60 inches. The only saving grace for NOAA WX is that the frequencies are close to the 6th harmonic for CB (27.185MHz X 6 = 163.11MHz) In other words, a 1/4 wave CB antenna is a 1.5 wave NOAA recieving antenna.

Because of this difference in wavelength, a CB would see a serious mismatch to a 2M antenna. This could blow the finals of a CB. A 2M 1/4 wave antenna would only be a 1/24 wave. You could run a tuner in line to tune the 2M antenna to CB, but the loss of power would be staggering, and be rather inconvinient on the fly.

Hope I didn't put y'all to sleep with this explanation.

 

[Jason Montano]

Pat and David, thanks for the help and explanation. I guess I might have to bite the bullet and invest in a second HAM radio. Or I may take another route and buy a scanner.

 

[Stuart Robinson]

Slightly off topic ~ but KR asked me how my UK licence course was going..

Well I have now passed all my hardware / operational things as required by the U.K. OFFCOM. This includes items such as Morse (YUK), operation on VHF, HF, UHF (I had to establish a contact and conversation and exchange signal reports etc) actually during my first H.F. exam the chap I spoke to was in Maine USA ~ 4,700 miles away from me , what a way to start my amateur career !!! (100 Watts into a 6 element beam) and other items such as SWR tuning an antenna etc.

Any way I now have the written exam to pass which is set for the 18th April. This is a multiple choice question job and I just need 18 correct answers out of 25.

One thing of interest … Here in the UK at Novice licence (M3 Level) I am limited to 10W into the antenna ~ but in the US I understand that this is 1,500 watts ~ astonishing.

73 de STU