No it's not. It's a private repeater. You have to ask permission and good luck getting it. It took him 4 months to reply back to me.Is the 550 part of a linked system?
No it's not. It's a private repeater. You have to ask permission and good luck getting it. It took him 4 months to reply back to me.Is the 550 part of a linked system?
I'm way way south of the ICE machines....doubt if I could even hit it from here. So are homemade multi element beams permitted on GMRS? If I put in a station could I make a beam and aim it at a repeater? Most of what I have seen online are verticals.No it's not. It's a private repeater. You have to ask permission and good luck getting it. It took him 4 months to reply back to me.
I know some that can hear a Repeater but can't get into it with a traditional antenna have had good luck with a yagi antenna.I'm way way south of the ICE machines....doubt if I could even hit it from here. So are homemade multi element beams permitted on GMRS? If I put in a station could I make a beam and aim it at a repeater? Most of what I have seen online are verticals.
Our club in Northern Indiana is participating. One of our HAMs has a pole barn or garage on his property that we will set up the radios in with antennas outside. Not sure about power sources but we have generators. I understand the garage is heated so that is good!Anyone participating in Winter Field Day this weekend? Weather will definitely make it a challenge.
I understand. If you are in a club, and using the club equipment you can operate on other bands even if only at Technician class. That is what I've done the past couple of Field Days. All I have for radio equipment right now is a dual-band handheld.I might listen in on winter field day but it wouldn't be any fun unless I finally upgraded my license to a General Class... Local HAM repeaters are pretty dead normally... GMRS is normally popping though although my local one is down for upgrades on the tower they are on...
Yeah I did that a couple years ago right after I got my license... It was fun but I would like to do it on my own fuel per sey... I did get the Yaesu FT-991a in but didn't get any antennas up on the house yet to properly use it... or I might get on 10 meters or 6 meters and see if I could find someone to talk to... everyday and not for field day cause that is supposed to be out in the wild... lol... I made a Squarolo for 6 meters but haven't got it up to test yet...I understand. If you are in a club, and using the club equipment you can operate on other bands even if only at Technician class. That is what I've done the past couple of Field Days. All I have for radio equipment right now is a dual-band handheld.
If you are doing the event with a club or group or even with one other higher licensed operator, you can operate on HF as long as you have an appropriately licensed control operator. You will have to use their call sign but it is fun and you gain experience. Good luck!I might listen in on winter field day but it wouldn't be any fun unless I finally upgraded my license to a General Class... Local HAM repeaters are pretty dead normally... GMRS is normally popping though although my local one is down for upgrades on the tower they are on...
Great write up, thank you!I encourage everyone who has an interest in radio communications to get their amateur radio license. The Technician test is fairly easy. Just do some online studying and try to get the concepts rather than just memorize the questions and answers. Also, don't freak out about having to get every question correct on the test. Each Technician test has 35 questions and 26 correct answers is a passing grade.
Don't stop with just getting your license and buying a radio. Just like your shooting, you have to practice. Get on the air, check into local nets, use your radio so you understand how it works, what it can do, and its limitations.
As for radios, I strong recommend against the Baofeng handheld radios that are so popular. Yes, they are cheap. But, they are also cheaply made, hard to program, have receivers that are easily overloaded, and often transmit spurious emissions. Just like with guns, if you buy a cheap product, you often get inferior service. I've owned the Yaesu FT-4X and FT-65. They are less than $100, but are better quality than the Baofengs and are backed by Yaesu's US importer. The Yaesus also don't put out the spurious emissions that many Baofengs do.
Don't get sucked in by the 8, 10, 15 watt claims made about some Baofengs. It's a lie. I bought one that an eBay seller advertised as 10+ watts. It puts out 6 watts on my test equipment.
Once you get your license, I urge you to get involved with your local club. Some clubs are still meeting in person while many clubs are meeting online. You'll get to know the hams in your area and it's a ham radio tradition to help fellow hams. This is called "elmering". I was fortunate to have some good elmers and I try to be a good elmer to others.
So, what can you do with a Technician license? You can talk using any mode (FM, CW, SSB, digital voice, various data modes, etc.) on any frequency above 30 MHz. The 2m band (144-148 MHz) is the bread and butter of amateur radio. Simplex range on 2m (radio to radio) depends a lot on the height of the antennas above ground, the gain of the antennas, and the power output of the radios. Handheld to handheld will only get you a few miles. OTOH, there's a lot of activity on 2m simplex (146.520 MHz) around Indianapolis and you'll hear guys from Fortville, Greenwood, Fishers, Avon, etc. They all have towers (40-60 feet) and gain antennas. You won't get that range with a handheld radio and a rubber duck antenna (the stock antenna that comes with the radio).
Let's talk about repeaters for a moment. Repeaters are a great way to extend the range of a handheld radios. For the most part, amateur radio repeaters are owned by clubs or individuals. Repeaters operate under the license of the club or individual who owns the repeater and repeater frequencies have to be coordinated so that they don't interfere with each other. Keep in mind that you have to program your radio with the input and output frequencies of the repeater.
Let's say you want to use the 146.700 MHz repeater in Indianapolis. You have to program your radio to listen on 146.700 and transmit on 146.100. Most radios do this repeater offset automatically, but you need to check to make sure your radio is programmed that way. BTW, the 146.700 repeater antenna is at around 600 feet above ground on the Channel 13 tower. It hears a lot and people from Anderson, Muncie, Martinsville, etc., often check in. But, it may still not hear your 5 watt handheld with a rubber duck antenna. You can help your handheld's range by using an outside antenna such as a J-pole or an inexpensive vertical like the Diamond X-30. Just getting your antenna outside the house and 10 feet above ground will help your range a lot.
Also, some repeaters require a CTCSS (aka PL) tone in order to access them. For example, the 146.970 MHz (146.370 MHz input) repeater in Indianapolis requires a 107.2 Hz tone. If your radio doesn't transmit that tone, you won't get into the repeater.
Keep in mind that repeaters are a shared resource that take time and money to build and maintain. Support your local repeater organizations.
While digital voice modes are all the rage, I caution you about spending a lot of money to get into one of these modes. D-STAR is probably the best mode in terms of features, but it's dying and their are no D-STAR repeaters in Indianapolis any more (though there may be one in the Noblesville/Atlanta area in the future). Yaesu System Fusion is popular because Yaesu offered clubs killer deals on the repeaters, but only Yaesu makes System Fusion Radios. DMR is popular because of the availability of cheap, Chinese radios, but Indianapolis hams seem to struggle to keep DMR repeaters on the air.
The most popular thing to do with digital voice repeaters is "repeater linking" which allows you to talk to people outside the range of your local repeater. However, we've been doing repeater linking for years before digital voice came along. The 147.315 MHz and 443.425 MHz repeaters in Indianapolis are connected to the Internet Repeater Linking Project (IRLP). You'll sometimes hear guys from southwestern Indiana on those repeaters and you'll hear guys from eastern Pennsylvania during their net on Sunday evenings. The 146.880 MHz repeater on the west side of Indianapolis is an EchoLink repeater which is another analog repeater linking system. And, then there are simple repeater to repeater linked systems like the W9WIN system. The 444.325 MHz repeater on the south side of Indianapolis is directly linked to repeaters in Bloomington, Bedford, and other cities in southwestern Indiana.
Well, I think I've typed enough. I've been a licensed amateur radio operator for 30 years. I've volunteered for public service events like bike rides and marathons, I've been a severe weather spotter, I've been a club officer, I've helped maintain repeaters, I've set up a table at hamfests to test radios, I've been a volunteer examiner at radio license test sessions, I've made contacts into all 50 states using the 20m and 40m HF bands, and I've made contacts with almost 100 countries on HF. I know a lot about amateur radio, but I certainly do not know it all. You never stop learning.