HAM Radio [& The Horror of it All]

Got this like $40US Baofeng UV-5RA-plus, 2-Band HAM (one band is like
down around 140 for freq, other starts around 400), months ago and now
just it getting up and working. More like programming it via USB
serial-reported COM3/4 cable/chipped-device with CHIRP open-source
radio software.

Got it to work (updated VB routines and lots of finagling/hacking on
an older XP/SP1). Total newb, so I've tons of radio terms, features
on this radio for a reason to learn them.

Dumb 1st question. In a big metropolitan area, tons of people,
sophisticated trunking systems and government voice encoding and
stuff.

Though, all I want to use it for is a scanner. Get some "repeaters"
in and working, hear some noise other than prerecorded computer
generated Nation Weather Services programming.

So far I'm not having much luck...it's like an episode from "The
Walking Dead." That normal? When's all the traffic supposed to be
happening?

Beginning to wonder whether a CB would have served better.

Flasherly wrote:
Got this like $40US Baofeng UV-5RA-plus, 2-Band HAM (one band is like
down around 140 for freq, other starts around 400), months ago and now
just it getting up and working. More like programming it via USB
serial-reported COM3/4 cable/chipped-device with CHIRP open-source
radio software.

Got it to work (updated VB routines and lots of finagling/hacking on
an older XP/SP1). Total newb, so I've tons of radio terms, features
on this radio for a reason to learn them.

Dumb 1st question. In a big metropolitan area, tons of people,
sophisticated trunking systems and government voice encoding and
stuff.

Though, all I want to use it for is a scanner. Get some "repeaters"
in and working, hear some noise other than prerecorded computer
generated Nation Weather Services programming.

So far I'm not having much luck...it's like an episode from "The
Walking Dead." That normal? When's all the traffic supposed to be
happening?

Beginning to wonder whether a CB would have served better.

Look up the band plan for your area, then see if the scanner is scanning
the right area. Amateurs can only obtain licenses for limited bands.

http://barrowhamradio.org/images/art...r_BandPlan.pdf

You can also wait for night-fall, and see if skip brings in more
stations for you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_propagation

The antenna on a hand-held will likely be more effective at
the higher frequencies. Just a guess.

Paul

On Sat, 19 Apr 2014 18:51:04 -0400, Paul wrote:

Look up the band plan for your area, then see if the scanner is scanning
the right area. Amateurs can only obtain licenses for limited bands.

http://barrowhamradio.org/images/art...r_BandPlan.pdf

You can also wait for night-fall, and see if skip brings in more
stations for you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_propagation

The antenna on a hand-held will likely be more effective at
the higher frequencies. Just a guess.

I read that too on the antenna, looked around and went ahead with an
extra, better one. Do whatever you want with it, legally w/out a
license, until not just listening or illegally pushing the TRX button.
General forum talk is 35-60 miles reception range with this unit -
depending, to include severely limited, on conditions.

Find what local frequencies I can, I guess, and start studying how to
correctly enter/store their parameters. Then try the scan part. Not
sure about that higher freq, second band. I know I've got something
either on power lines behind me or interference nearby -- got a
shortwave that's effectively useless because of it, although I don't
hear its "signature churn" on this HAM thing so far. The local
government weather station comes in nice, just kind of strange see how
limited repeaters or general frequencies listed available locally
(it'll hold 128 channels), then plugging them in and not hearing
anything. So far.

Flasherly wrote:
On Sat, 19 Apr 2014 18:51:04 -0400, Paul wrote:

Look up the band plan for your area, then see if the scanner is scanning
the right area. Amateurs can only obtain licenses for limited bands.

http://barrowhamradio.org/images/art...r_BandPlan.pdf

You can also wait for night-fall, and see if skip brings in more
stations for you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_propagation

The antenna on a hand-held will likely be more effective at
the higher frequencies. Just a guess.

I read that too on the antenna, looked around and went ahead with an
extra, better one. Do whatever you want with it, legally w/out a
license, until not just listening or illegally pushing the TRX button.
General forum talk is 35-60 miles reception range with this unit -
depending, to include severely limited, on conditions.

Find what local frequencies I can, I guess, and start studying how to
correctly enter/store their parameters. Then try the scan part. Not
sure about that higher freq, second band. I know I've got something
either on power lines behind me or interference nearby -- got a
shortwave that's effectively useless because of it, although I don't
hear its "signature churn" on this HAM thing so far. The local
government weather station comes in nice, just kind of strange see how
limited repeaters or general frequencies listed available locally
(it'll hold 128 channels), then plugging them in and not hearing
anything. So far.

Doesn't the unit have a channel scan mode ?

Connecting an oddball antenna is OK, as long as you don't
key the mike. You want the antenna impedance to match the
impedance of the radio, before pumping power into the
antenna. For receive, a mismatch would be an efficiency issue,
but wouldn't damage anything.

For example, if I had your radio right now, I could hook it
up to the TV antenna I built (good for UHF and VHF combined).
It uses a balun, and has close to 75 ohms impedance looking
into the balun (actual impedance varies with frequency). Which
would be a rough match for a 75 ohm radio. Some antenna configurations
are 300 ohms, and air line or ladder line can be as high as
450 ohms differential. And you don't have to build an
antenna, to figure out the impedance. Software like 4NEC2
can be used to simulate antenna performance, and tell you
all sorts of things about it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numeric...magnetics_Code

http://www.qsl.net/4nec2/ (used to verify my antenna)

My antenna is five feet high, five feet wide, and more
than 18 inches deep. And has a gain of 15dBi. And the beamwidth
is kinda narrow, so you have to point it at the signal source
on the horizon. The actual antenna performance, did not
match the simulation (there is gain at the top of the UHF
band that should not be there).

This is what hams use. The tower (elevation), is more than
half the battle. Elevation helps a lot.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yagi_antenna

Paul

On Sat, 19 Apr 2014, Paul wrote:

Flasherly wrote:
On Sat, 19 Apr 2014 18:51:04 -0400, Paul wrote:

Look up the band plan for your area, then see if the scanner is scanning
the right area. Amateurs can only obtain licenses for limited bands.

http://barrowhamradio.org/images/art...r_BandPlan.pdf

You can also wait for night-fall, and see if skip brings in more
stations for you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_propagation

The antenna on a hand-held will likely be more effective at
the higher frequencies. Just a guess.

I read that too on the antenna, looked around and went ahead with an
extra, better one. Do whatever you want with it, legally w/out a
license, until not just listening or illegally pushing the TRX button.
General forum talk is 35-60 miles reception range with this unit -
depending, to include severely limited, on conditions.

Find what local frequencies I can, I guess, and start studying how to
correctly enter/store their parameters. Then try the scan part. Not
sure about that higher freq, second band. I know I've got something
either on power lines behind me or interference nearby -- got a
shortwave that's effectively useless because of it, although I don't
hear its "signature churn" on this HAM thing so far. The local
government weather station comes in nice, just kind of strange see how
limited repeaters or general frequencies listed available locally
(it'll hold 128 channels), then plugging them in and not hearing
anything. So far.

Doesn't the unit have a channel scan mode ?

Who knows. I'm not sure if he's using "ham" in a generic sense, or
if it's actually labelled as such.

I've never heard of the company, so clearly it's one of those cheap
Chinese imports that are now starting to come over.

If it's more like a commerical handheld, which happens to cover the ham
frequencies, it may require programming. Oddly, that is in part to ensure
the commercial stuff isn't used in the wrong place, all kinds of knobs
means someone might just start using a ham frequency "because it was
empty". So you'd need a computer, and a cable, and the programming
software.

There is less and less one can receive. The "public service" stuff moving
higher in frequency, or to trunked systems which mean you really don't get
anything from just tuning the frequencies. And since most transmissions
are short, no matter what the service, that doesn't leave much for
listening.

He seems to get the 162.XXX MHz weather stations, so the thing seems to
work. I'd argue that the weather stations are some of the most consistent
VHF transmissions, I was going to say other than broadcast, but the
weather stations are broadcasting, albeit in the VHF marine band. A busy
repeater may be on quite a bit, but one has to find one first.

Michael

On 04/19/2014 09:11 PM, Michael Black wrote:

There is less and less one can receive. The "public service" stuff
moving higher in frequency, or to trunked systems which mean you really
don't get anything from just tuning the frequencies.

Our local PD went with digital a few years back, and then last year
encrypted everything, including the dispatch line. Apparently they
will give out an encryption code to "major news organizations", but the
rest of us are SOL. *******s.

Jon