Amateur Radio Operators on Geekzone

Forums › Off topic › Amateur Radio Operators on Geekzone

scottjpalmer

5972 posts

Uber Geek

Moderator

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#35040 2-Jun-2009 22:27

So, how many of you are Amateur Radio Operators?

Something I have been meaning to do for years but never got around to it.

I have just found new inspiration in car rallying, this time it might actually be it now that my main radio hobby of scanning is being halted by the emergency services migrating to APCO P25.

Make yourself known :-)

1 | 2

36 posts

Geek

#223801 10-Jun-2009 23:13

Have an amateur licence, dont use it, but spent years working with radio, as a technician, so see enough of it at work, lost interest in it as a hobby

johnr

19282 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#223806 10-Jun-2009 23:48

You could always try a good old CB or PRS

John

Stu

Hammered
8288 posts

Uber Geek

Moderator

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#223808 11-Jun-2009 00:24

Cost has always put me off. Scanning has been a long time hobby. Grew up with Dad involved in Fire and the Auckland airport. I do have PRS radios but not much fun there!

stevehall

36 posts

Geek

#223858 11-Jun-2009 08:52

PRS has plenty of repeaters around the area, shame you are probably 50 years too young to be close to the same generation of people using them, if you can find a quiet spell (normally when the news is about to start, or after 7 when its their bed time) you may be able to use one.

But its a cheap way to communicate, all licence free, dont listen to the amateur bands anymore, should really program up a radio on 2m or 70cm and see whats out there now.

I know they have a system with IP linking of repeaters via the internet, so you can now communicate overseas, guess this may have spoilt the excitemenet for some of making a long distance contact on HF etc

Police are still Analogue but their Apco P25 Portables are being distributed out, but not fully Digital yet, they talk about it all being done in time for RWC2011

johnr

19282 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#223859 11-Jun-2009 08:55

stevehall: PRS has plenty of repeaters around the area, shame you are probably 50 years too young to be close to the same generation of people using them, if you can find a quiet spell (normally when the news is about to start, or after 7 when its their bed time) you may be able to use one.

Hope none of them hang out on GZ

John

tonyhughes

Hawkes Bay
8476 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#223864 11-Jun-2009 09:14

Can I step in here and make a crack about Amateur Telephone Operators (lolololol).

Got the bulk of my radio training with Red Cross ERT Unit 12 (Marlborough) - we had (they probably still have) a series 3 V8 landy loaded with radio gear from bunghole to breakfast time including HF.

Further experience as part of the NZ Rural Fire Service (East Coast)

Most recently, working for a communications company that sold and serviced (in house) Motorola radios.

rscole86

4970 posts

Uber Geek

Moderator

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#223888 11-Jun-2009 10:11

Wellington will be all digital within a few weeks, hutt valley already are.

Lenovo

Shop now for Lenovo laptops and other devices (affiliate link).

mjb

996 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#223949 11-Jun-2009 13:15

NeoTech: Cost has always put me off. Scanning has been a long time hobby.

The cost is now negligible. Licensing is one-off for a lifetime license, directly to a general grade license (no Morse test, so you can operate HF after sitting your exam.. just some logging required for the first 50 contacts or something)

stevehall: PRS has plenty of repeaters around the area, shame you are probably 50 years too young to be close to the same generation of people using them, if you can find a quiet spell (normally when the news is about to start, or after 7 when its their bed time) you may be able to use one.

No PRS repeaters here in Dunedin, thankfully. it's a waste of band space.

stevehall: But its a cheap way to communicate, all licence free, dont listen to the amateur bands anymore, should really program up a radio on 2m or 70cm and see whats out there now.

Same old, same old. Ragchewing about the weather, and indirect petty comments about other operators and the politics in the national body. pretty inane and boring really.

stevehall: I know they have a system with IP linking of repeaters via the internet, so you can now communicate overseas, guess this may have spoilt the excitemenet for some of making a long distance contact on HF etc

IRLP or Echolink. The former is waaaaaaay better, you're guaranteed to reach people on actual tranceivers, rather than Echolink which is an Amateur equivalent of Skype, but with far fewer bells and whistles. The audio is terrible too. IRLP is mostly ADPCM, and they really encourage node operators to actually get the audio levels correct from the outset.

It's not going to replace long distance contact using HF by a long shot.. there's a lot of "It's not real amateur radio" involved (I disagree, it's doing something new and interesting, and involving a few different technologies, so it's definitely amateur radio - experimentation and all)

HF is still popular, and can be a really rewarding experience if you spend the time building your own antennas, amplifiers, transceivers, etc etc. The now too common trait of just buying expensive equipment that removes all the skill is not where it's at. (IMO).

73 de ZL4DM.

contentsofsignaturemaysettleduringshipping

scottjpalmer

5972 posts

Uber Geek

Moderator

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#3066808 21-Apr-2023 23:57

scottjpalmer: So, how many of you are Amateur Radio Operators?

Something I have been meaning to do for years but never got around to it.

I have just found new inspiration in car rallying, this time it might actually be it now that my main radio hobby of scanning is being halted by the emergency services migrating to APCO P25.

Make yourself known :-)

I finally got it last weekend 🤣

psychrn

1603 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#3066812 22-Apr-2023 00:32

I got my Ticket Last November after doing the Hamcram weekend at Branch 89 -Radio Electronic Group here in Hamilton.

A eekend is taken up where you study the theory and do the exam on the Sunday Pm. If you pass you get your Ham Radio Ticket that night.

Been on my Bucket list for many years

Cheers and 73"s

Chris

ZL1CJH

GZMCC. Lenovo Yoga C640. 8 gb Ram and 256Gb SSD, Cam Am Spyder 2016 F3 LTD. GoPro 5 Black, Samsung S22 Ultra, Huawei Watch D. Samsung S6 Lite Tablet, Amateur Radio Callsign ZL1CJH

dukester

475 posts

Ultimate Geek

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#3066818 22-Apr-2023 06:49

I’ve had my licence about 15 years. The local amateur radio club in Timaru still has monthly meetings. I’ve helped out as a radio point for a few car rallies and mountain bike events using a mix of uhf/vhf and cb radio. Biggest issue I had was not having the time to dedicate to the hobby.
The best time I had on radio was around the eighties when CB radio was going strong. I meet a lot of great people, and a few not so great. Was a fun time. I found amateur radio a bit more on the serious side. Equipment is reasonably expensive to buy. I was more interested in other things so radio was my passion.

ZL3CPO

paulgr

850 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3066880 22-Apr-2023 11:16

Had license back in 1980s. Was going to renew it but antenna restrictions have got rather draconian in the past 15 years or so, especially in residential areas. Many new subdivisions only allow sky dishes, even a 2m whip would stand out now.

kyhwana2

2563 posts

Uber Geek

#3066890 22-Apr-2023 12:26

Yep! ZL4KYH here

Got licensed in the between times, in august 2020.

I mostly do digital modes on HF, though I will occasionally break out the old analog voice to talk to people overseas via HF ;)

There's some interesting HF radios coming out these days like the sbitx v2, which runs on a raspberry pi and is open source..

Check the NZART website for licensing stuff

neb

11294 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#3067017 22-Apr-2023 16:24

paulgr:
Had license back in 1980s. Was going to renew it but antenna restrictions have got rather draconian in the past 15 years or so, especially in residential areas. Many new subdivisions only allow sky dishes, even a 2m whip would stand out now.

Same here, I know they went to lifetime licenses at some point... just checked and it's still active. Wow.

Virgil

Dangerous Chocolate
206 posts

Master Geek

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#3067030 22-Apr-2023 17:51

scottjpalmer:
scottjpalmer: So, how many of you are Amateur Radio Operators?

Something I have been meaning to do for years but never got around to it.

I have just found new inspiration in car rallying, this time it might actually be it now that my main radio hobby of scanning is being halted by the emergency services migrating to APCO P25.

Make yourself known :-)

I finally got it last weekend 🤣

(Checks date) - Oh, nice! Something I'm thinking of doing also. I was a regular CBer back in the 80's as well in Auckland, but since moving to Rotorua the band is completely dead. Still a scanner enthusiast, and maybe one day like you I'll make my ham license :-)

Cheers

Lurking ...

1 | 2