Christian ADV Rider Forum

I'm now licensed, KK6RHW

Amateur Radio/Ham Radio is a huge world with a lot of different types of equipment.  I'm just going to use the portable, handheld radios as an extension to my moto life.  All radios (tiny FRS, CB, Ham, cell phone) are pretty much connect line of sight, so the more power you transmit, the farther the signal can effectively be received.  The FCC regulates how much power you can transmit by your license, and all the above radios have to be used with a license.  FRS, MURS, CB, and cell phone use fixed frequencies and are licensed by category.  Ham radio usage is licensed by the user.  FRS and MURS(?) are allowed to only transmit at 1/2 watt, cell phone may be the same, and CB is limited to 5 watts.  However, the basic Technician class license allows you to transmit up to 200 watts, higher class licenses up to 1500 watts.  With those power limits, FRS is only good for about 1-2 miles max, CB IDK, 5-20 miles?, but my little $35 Baofeng handheld is only a little bigger than a FRS and is good for 5-10 miles with the stock antenna, 20-30 miles with a good antenna.  A good 1/4 wave antenna is less than $20.

So back to line of sight and add terrain.  You can pretty much consider all radio communications only good for line of sight.  If your buddy is 1/2 mile away, but over a ridge, you won't be able to talk to him.  FRS, MURS, and CB are line of sight and point-to-point (one radio connects to another radio), or Simplex.  This means you can only talk radio to radio, remember the ridge example.  Ham radios are also line of sight and can work on Simplex, but the Ham radio community has set up a large number of repeaters in strategic locations to cover more area.  So, if you and your buddy are tuned to the same repeater frequency, as you talk the repeater retransmits the signal.  As long as you and your buddy are in line of sight with the repeater, you can hear each other.  The repeater can also pick up weaker signals and boost them.  150 mile distance for a repeater seems to be no problem.  Another example:  if there is going to be a bunch of guys gathering where there isn't a repeater, you can build a mobile repeater and set it on a high point for an event.

Ham radios aren't as simple as FRS, and you are required to have your own license-but that isn't hard.  You also need to know the repeater frequency in the area you are in, but there are tools to help you find them and you can program them into your radio.  Its pretty much a manual system.

Ham radios are what you want to do with them.  They are either souped-up FRS-like radios or a hobby unto itself.

I'm a ham (KE5ET)...