Finally Giving Radio A Shot

[theshadowknows]

I was browsing around Amazon the other day looking at radios and ended up buying a GMRS radio. After a couple of weeks of just listening, I decided to get my license and a callsign so I can transmit. This is somewhat new to me, but there's a group of guys in my area that all seem to know each other, and it feels like a good vibe. 

Eventually, I may go for a ham license, but I think this was a good first step. Now I want to learn morse code. Lord help me.  

[Maxmars]

Excellent !!!!

I came close to getting my FCC license (before the kids - when dinosaurs ruled the Earth) and was all set to get into the community.

I hope you find the whole experience as amazing as I did.

Read up on your propagation theory...

[FlyingClayDisk]

If you 'want' to learn Morse code, that's fantastic, but just know it is no longer a requirement for any class of amateur radio license.  The CW requirements were dropped by the FCC in 2007.  Just FYI.

I think along the lines of what Max is saying, antenna design is where it's at.  Master that, and the sky (literally) is the limit.

Congrats! 

[theshadowknows]

Yeah, but I still want to learn morse code just to know it. My girlfriend is interested in it too. Especially with me constantly yammering about inevitable nuclear war lol. It's nice to have a backup communication option. I got her a radio too.

[theshadowknows]

Finally got it all figured out and connected to a repeater. I'm looking forward to getting more into this.

[l0st]

I got my hands on a higher-end motorola radio off-lease for cheap a few years back. Where I used to live, there was a 900Mhz ham repeater network that spread a few states that I was interested in checking out. Unfortunately, I was never able to successfully obtain the "code plug" needed to unlock the ham bands.

I still have some old FRS radios. Its probably possible to modify them for GMRS. I spent some time poking around with an RTL-SDR but the GMRS frequencies seem dead where I'm at now. I could use a better antenna, though.

I was able to get a P25 scanner running with the SDR and could listen in on the local emergency services dispatch, but everything else was encrypted. I miss the 80s/90s with my old Radio Shack scanner and virtually everything in analog. It was awesome finding out what was going on around town before it hit the news.

[Raptured]

I'm completely ignorant when it comes to radio transmitting/broadcasting on a personal level.   What exactly is the draw of it that can't be accomplished using a telephone or internet forum?

not being critical -merely curious

[l0st]

I'm completely ignorant when it comes to radio transmitting/broadcasting on a personal level.   What exactly is the draw of it that can't be accomplished using a telephone or internet forum?

not being critical -merely curious

I find transmitting somewhat less exciting than listening, personally. But with stuff like ham radio one of the draws is getting QSL cards and making contacts over extremely long distances. From a technical standpoint, there's mostly nothing this does that can't be accomplished by phone and internet in the year 2024, but that wasn't the case in the 90s and earlier. Probably why the hobby is somewhat dying out and I think this is a shame because we can easily have another Carrington Event at any time and long distance wireless comms will immediately become useful again.

QSL cards may sound lame, but you do have to remember that these transmitting rigs hams use are all for the most part "home built" and sometimes even the transmitting equipment itself has been built by the operator. So, there is a sense of personal satisfaction and accomplishment one gets from knowing that what you built actually works or even works well. Kinda like the famous scene in Back to the Future where 1955 Doc Brown sees his working Flux Capacitor from 1985 and drops to his knees screamng "it works!"

[Raptured]

I find transmitting somewhat less exciting than listening, personally. But with stuff like ham radio one of the draws is getting QSL cards and making contacts over extremely long distances. From a technical standpoint, there's mostly nothing this does that can't be accomplished by phone and internet in the year 2024, but that wasn't the case in the 90s and earlier. Probably why the hobby is somewhat dying out and I think this is a shame because we can easily have another Carrington Event at any time and long distance wireless comms will immediately become useful again.

QSL cards may sound lame, but you do have to remember that these transmitting rigs hams use are all for the most part "home built" and sometimes even the transmitting equipment itself has been built by the operator. So, there is a sense of personal satisfaction and accomplishment one gets from knowing that what you built actually works or even works well. Kinda like the famous scene in Back to the Future where 1955 Doc Brown sees his working Flux Capacitor from 1985 and drops to his knees screamng "it works!"

Good stuff.  I can totally understand now.  I'm not good with electronics much but I find it very interesting.  I miss a lot of the hobby and craft stuff we did as kids.  I loved putting model cars, planes and ships together (only to blow them up later with firecrackers).   Model rockets were a blast too but I can count on one hand the number of times a shot actually worked as advertised (chute opened and it didn't fall a mile away).

Thanks for the reply