Ham Radio Operators?

[Danny46]

Did a quick search and all I found was CB stuff. Any ham guys in here? Did a skywarn class earlier and they all use ham radios so was looking to get licensed, get a radio, etc.

[Lone Sailor]

Not in years, but it can be a lot of fun.

[Danny46]

So whats the real difference between ham and CB radios? Sorry I am a complete noob to radios and all that

[Lone Sailor]

CB radios are only for shorter distance communications within the 40 channel 27Mhz band, it does not require a license to operate, and it can be used for business or personal use. Ham radio operators must have a license, must use a dedicated radio frequency spectrum, and they can only be used for private non commercial broadcasting, not to promote business. Basically a ham set up is a much more advanced long range capable communication device. You will have to take a test to get your license(I think you can even do them online now IIRC) and you will have to have an identifying call sign in order to legally use it. It can also be expensive to get started depending on what exactly you're wanting to do and how far you want to reach out and touch someone. There are a lot of cool things you can do with do with it, like moonbounce, talking by bouncing radio waves off the moon and use radio satellites in space. There is also strict etiquette on ham radios, they do not put up with the rude and crude thing like you will hear on a CB radio.


In laymen's terms, it's a cb radio on steroids and is much more capable of transmitting and receiving a large quantity and array of information as well as communication(voice, text, image and data).

[Danny46]

That was an excellent explanation, thank you. This may be a dumb question but is there ham
Radios you can put in your car?

[Downs]

Yup depending on model can cost from 200 to over 1000 dollars. I was looking at a VHF/UHF dual band setup for my car a while back and the cost was gonna be around 3 or 400 bucks.

You can find VHF and UHF handhelds that operate on 5 watts that work ok and can reach most of the repeaters in the DFW area. They work great for temporary installs with external antennas.

[ELVIS]

my old man was way into that crap when i was a kid. im talking antennas on his truck and a huge tower on the house. talking to fools across the globe from his truck and stuff. he got into it after getting back from nam. it seems like it would be obsolete these days since everyone i know can do the same thing with the smart phone in their pocket, but what do i know.

god bless.