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So, drat you all, I'm looking to get into ham radio now. I'm reading through Ham Radio for Dummies, looking through the linked study guides, doing practice tests on QRZ, and soon to try and get in touch with the VE running the Taipei Tech exam in June. And so, I've got one question (for now) - I suspect it would be, but would an HT be sufficient a rig for a newbie?
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Apr 27, 2008 19:19
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McRib Sandwich posted:Anyway, I don't want to clog up the thread with long posts, but if you have more questions about HTs, just post them here. I'd be happy to do a feature comparison on some of the models out there. If I could take you up on this it'd be much appreciated. I'm off to Hong Kong on Thursday, and I plan to check out a couple of ham specialists while I'm there with the thought of perhaps buying an HT. Any suggestions what I should be looking at, like particular features or recommended models? I'm not looking to drop a huge bag of cash, but I don't want to end up buying some cheap pile of poo poo either. I'd especially like to know if there's anything to watch out for as far as getting in on IRLP or Echolink or anything like that, since I don't hold out much hope for significant English-language conversation with local hams. On a vaguely related note, I finally managed to check out the 40m band on one of my radios this past weekend, and holy god is there a lot of activity. Considering how damned hard it seems to be to get ham equipment here, I'm bloody amazed. Sure, it's basically all in Mandarin, but it's a start.
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Apr 29, 2008 08:32
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McRib Sandwich posted:Do let us know what you end up getting! Thanks for the advice! Even though I ended up seeing it too late, it's good to see my instincts paid off, 'cause I did basically what you suggested and checked eham reviews for a couple of HTs I was looking at on Thursday once I got into Hong Kong. I ended up with a couple of models in mind, and on Friday I went to CQ Shop in Sham Shui Po and told the guy there I was looking for a good HT for a newbie to see what he suggested. With his help and a memory of the reviews, I settled on a Yaesu VX-6R. It seems pretty nice, although even for someone who's generally reasonably tech minded holy crap are there a lot of options and abbreviations on this thing! Luckily I've still got until late June before my tech exam to get used to most of the settings. sub supau fucked around with this message at 04:37 on May 3, 2008 |
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May 3, 2008 04:15
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Just scanning the 2m band and thought y'all might be interested to know that yes, even in the Inscrutable Orient ham radio appears to be practically the cellphone for the elderly. E: And it certainly sounds like 2m is home to a shitton of taxi radios. Is this common in sane countries too? sub supau fucked around with this message at 13:23 on May 6, 2008 |
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May 6, 2008 13:18
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I hate you bastards. First AstroZamboni's thread gets me spending money on shortwave radios, then this thread gets me interested in ham radio, and now, after practicing on the QRZ practice tests for a while, I finally find out there aren't any English-language ham licensing tests in Taiwan (bar the ARRL one in June, but only Americans are eligible), and so I have to spend my time not only learning about ham radio regulations and various other radio-related things, but doing it in loving Chinese. And yet somehow this hasn't put me off. It's all your fault for making what I should still consider cellphones for old people interesting.
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May 12, 2008 08:25
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mwdan posted:As long as you pass the required test, you can take the next one in order. God I'm so jealous of you people. Taiwan's ham rules require Class 3 (tech, essentially) hams to have at least one year's operating experience before they can test for Class 2. Plus the Class 2 test still has a compulsory code section.
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May 23, 2008 06:42
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I can't speak for ham radio, since I'm still studying for my Class 3/Tech license, but as far as shortwave goes, Voice of Korea - the North Korean propaganda vehicle - is fantastic, and seems to have recently changed to beefier transmitters too. Burma I get nothing out of, possibly thanks to China being the least considerate user of spectrum imaginable.
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May 23, 2008 12:50
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After an email exchange with another foreign ham here, I found out that apparently all you need to be eligible for the ARRL license examination is a permanent US mailing address for FCC contact. Can anyone confirm this? And also, if this is right, is there any way I could sort one out, preferably online, even if it's just a PO box or something? I know this sounds weird, but the more I learn about ham licensing here (mostly exemplified by the fact that there are, apparently, only two non-Taiwanese hams who've passed the licensing procedure) the more I want to go do the ARRL volunteer exam here next month and use that to get operating privileges here.
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May 24, 2008 12:52
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Thanks for that. I've got the mailing address thing sorted out, and now I'm waiting on confirmation from my contact here first, but it certainly looks like you hit the nail on the head. Once again Taiwan's retarded political situation (aka "don't piss off the Chinese!") makes doing anything interesting loving absurd.
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May 25, 2008 07:28
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How does Echolink fit in to licensing and operating requirements, especially if just used with a mic and headset on the computer VoIP style? 'cause holy Christ the more I learn about Taiwan's requirements, the more I'm tempted to just sit the US test next month, get my Tech and call, and just use Echolink like that until I'm out of this regulatorily fucktarded country. Would I just need my call, or does Echolink, even just as what amounts to a niche VoIP service, still generally come under radio regulation?
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May 27, 2008 10:42
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If you're just into the listening, East Asia's an interesting place, with some great shortwave stations like Voice of Mongolia and (best of all) Voice of Korea (as in Bad Korea, not Good Korea). There also seem to be a few hams in South Korea transmitting in CW in SW band(s) too, from what I've stumbled across in my listening. If you get your receiver going, I'll be interested to hear what you find over there.
sub supau fucked around with this message at 03:16 on Jun 3, 2008 |
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Jun 3, 2008 03:14
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Epicenter posted:EDIT 2: I also just heard a burst of distorted, traditional chinese-sounding music over the Japanese voices. I've heard of that jamming signal, actually.
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Jun 18, 2008 12:59
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Epicenter posted:This MFJ-1622 antenna looks promising, if I can just point it out my window and expect good performance.
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Jun 21, 2008 11:46
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Well, I'm now registered for this Saturday's US licensing test, one of 77 people testing in Taiwan's first ever such session, apparently. And I'm really amazed already at the ham community - I met a bunch of guys from the Chinese Taipei Amateur Radio League tonight, and they were awesome (hell, there was even a dude roughly my age there, which was a surprise), and I found out the the VE's handling Saturday's exam are all friends of the QSL manager (a Japanese guy) flying in from Japan on their own dime to help out. And so now that I'm set for this test, I have to ask - is the General exam much harder than Tech? I'm definitely sitting the Tech exam, but I figure since I don't know when the next session'll be, I might as well go for General at the same time, but since I've only got until Saturday and I haven't studied for that one, I don't really know.
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Jun 24, 2008 14:29
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McRib Sandwich posted:That is extremely awesome. Good luck on the tests! Given that it's going to be Field Day in the US, and because the session's so large, I wonder if they'll be bringing out some rigs to listen to the added activity on the bands... could be a fun time. quote:The General isn't a great deal harder than the Tech, and I know you've probably picked up a fair bit of knowledge about propagation and stuff from SWLing, so I would give it a shot. You might surprise yourself. Maybe look at a couple practice exams and see how you do, but not before you're confident that you can nail down the Tech exam, of course. Speaking of which, since Taiwan's not part of the ITU and has no agreement with the US, I can't start operating even after I've got my call, but I have a question - if you're on Echolink at your computer (not via any transceiver), where does that sit in terms of being able to operate? If I connect to a DX repeater somewhere where there is reciprocation with the US, am I good? I mean, I'm not using radio until that point, so....
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Jun 28, 2008 12:46
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Well, after a couple of weeks' wait, KC9NYK checking in 
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Jul 15, 2008 15:33
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Hartman posted:I got my tech license at the Last HOPE (failed the general with around a 50%). How long does it take the FCC to put a new license in their database? It sounds like it can vary a bit. Like sklnd said, some get them within the week, some have to wait a week or so. Generally, unless you're doing it from abroad, they seem to be pretty quick off the mark with it. The waiting loving blows though, doesn't it?
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Jul 22, 2008 04:53
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Hartman posted:Wahoo! I just got my callsign! I'm KJ4FMG! As for the radio, I don't know about the 7R, but the 6R I bought has done me well so far, although I haven't begun to transmit yet. Like the above two said, it's pretty daunting function-wise, but the basic functionality is easy enough to get used to and the manual covers everything thoroughly. I'd presume the 7R is similar. Speaking of Yaesu HTs, is there any way to get an adapter for the bloody screw-in headset socket on a 6R? Since I always take my ipod with me when I go out, I'd like to be able to just switch the headphones out to the radio rather than having to bring along a second headset just to listen to it.
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Jul 30, 2008 05:28
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Thanks, you're a champion. I'll head down the shop tonight and see if I can pick one of those up.
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Jul 30, 2008 07:24
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| # ¿ May 4, 2024 17:16 |
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Jose Pointero posted:I think we could do an Echolink net
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Aug 28, 2008 07:06
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