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ham radio

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Watched a clip from 9-11...amoung many thoughts I had:
how to communicate with each other? During 9-11 cell towers were overwhelmed and regular phones were ineffective (at least in my area)

How many of us have thought about learning about Ham radios? Or, how many of us know what we are doing with them?

I am thinking of looking into classes and am wondering how one gets started.
Thoughts?
 
Watched a clip from 9-11...amoung many thoughts I had:
how to communicate with each other? During 9-11 cell towers were overwhelmed and regular phones were ineffective (at least in my area)

How many of us have thought about learning about Ham radios? Or, how many of us know what we are doing with them?

I am thinking of looking into classes and am wondering how one gets started.
Thoughts?

Good practice exams here: http://www.eham.net/exams/
ARRL has some decent books: http://www.amazon.com/ARRL-Ham-Radi...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1261453345&sr=8-1
Also, check out the Amateur Radio Thread in the member's section

Good luck!
 
Many folks were put off from getting started with Amatuer Radio because of the morse code requirement. Since morse code is no longer a requirement, obtaining a license is not as difficult. While having a license would probably not be a consideration in a survival situation, it would be a good idea to obtain one while learning how to operate the equipment and determining which networks to communicate over.
 
One thing that I found frustrating is that during a storm emergencies we had Civil Defense basically take over the local 2 meter repeater that was privately funded. Most of us got this going so we could help our selves out. We would be dead a long time waiting for the government to solve our problems.
If your planning on emergency communications invest in some antennas so you can communicate on direct.
 
This is something I've been eyeing for years. Sometime this spring the Cape Ann ham club (http://caara.net) is giving a "Tech in a day" course. Show up in the a.m. with lunch and $15, take an all day class and take the test in the late afternoon and walk out with your Technician's Class license that same day. Given your Lat. Lon., this may be too far away, but the Cape Ann ham club is supposed to be a good one with a clubhouse and regular activities.
 
This is something I've been eyeing for years. Sometime this spring the Cape Ann ham club (http://caara.net) is giving a "Tech in a day" course. Show up in the a.m. with lunch and $15, take an all day class and take the test in the late afternoon and walk out with your Technician's Class license that same day. Given your Lat. Lon., this may be too far away, but the Cape Ann ham club is supposed to be a good one with a clubhouse and regular activities.

You won't "walk out with the license" as the FCC has to generate the call sign and mail you your credentials. But yes, you can do it all in a day as far as learning and testing.
 
I used the practice tests available at QRZ.com (link) to prep for my technician test and I aced it on the first try. At least go for your technician, it's really easy and grants band privileges that would be quite sufficient from a preparedness point of view.
 
I used the practice tests available at QRZ.com (link) to prep for my technician test and I aced it on the first try. At least go for your technician, it's really easy and grants band privileges that would be quite sufficient from a preparedness point of view.

I agree with this. If you find the online tech tests doable, then go for general. You don't pay any more to take both tests if you pass the tech.

I found these pod casts useful in preparing for the tests:
http://www.hamradioclass.org/
 
This is something I've been eyeing for years. Sometime this spring the Cape Ann ham club (http://caara.net) is giving a "Tech in a day" course. Show up in the a.m. with lunch and $15, take an all day class and take the test in the late afternoon and walk out with your Technician's Class license that same day. Given your Lat. Lon., this may be too far away, but the Cape Ann ham club is supposed to be a good one with a clubhouse and regular activities.

Where on their site is the info for this? I can't find it.
 
Where on their site is the info for this? I can't find it.

The "Tech in a day" class isn't on their web site. I've got a flyer that I'll post this evening. The date is TBD but I'm guessing March or shortly after.

PM sent:

Here's the flyer that a Cape Ann member was handing out this fall. I deleted the contact info for this post because it was his personal email and phone #. If you email the Cape Ann Amateur Radio Club (http://caara.net/) I'm sure they will put you in contact with the right person.

Tech-in-a-DayClass_0002.jpg
 
PM sent:

Here's the flyer that a Cape Ann member was handing out this fall. I deleted the contact info for this post because it was his personal email and phone #. If you email the Cape Ann Amateur Radio Club (http://caara.net/) I'm sure they will put you in contact with the right person.

Tech-in-a-DayClass_0002.jpg


THE DATE HAS BEEN SET for the TECH-IN-A-DAY class!!!

Sat. Jan. 30, 2010
8:30 - 4:00 (includes test)
(Must sign up ahead of time)

ETA: thanks to RADIO for finding this link to more info.
 
Last edited:
When Haiti first happened, I thought, "Are there any hams in Haiti?"

There was a story on eHam about a Hatian Father (catholic) that has been radioing back to Florida on 20m I believe to reports status for family memebers back in the states.

Here's some info about traffic for support.

Summary: The following message is my final update to all section
members regarding the emergency in Haiti. For future situation reports
on what we, and the greater amateur radio community are doing on behalf
of the Haiti relief effort, please visit our ARES website at
http://ares.ema.arrl.org. I'm sure you will share my pride and
gratitude toward those of our own, and other section's radio kindred,
who are directly involved with the rescue effort.

If you can help with 20m communications, please check into the
appropriate nets listed below. Whether you are part of our ARES team
or not, good NCS's are always needed! You can also monitor some of the
20m traffic on frequencies listed below, and on the Echolink receive
only *NEW-ENG* conference node. If haven't yet joined Echolink, you
can do so at the www.echolink.org website. Your callsign is all that
is needed for free software and authorization to use the service.

No EMA ARESMAT operations are anticipated at this time. However, if
you would like to help more directly with the relief effort, please
contact the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army directly. Bi-
and Multilingual skilled individuals are especially needed. If you
know of non-hams with these skills, especially in the Boston
Haitian-American community who we may be able to pair with hams, please
let me know.

At a minimum, cash donations made directly to the above named
organizations, are a powerful help to their relief efforts on the
ground. May I also remind you that phishing will be rampant in the
coming days, so please be cautious before responding to email and
telephone solicitations.

Here is the latest information:

===== Begin quoted message =====

Hello to all..

The following is a situation report on the Amateur Radio response to
the Haiti Earthquake. Eastern Massachusetts ARES has received a number
of Health and Welfare requests to Haiti. We have also received requests
from the media on whether we have made contact with the affected area
of Haiti but we are not aware of any Amateur Radio Operators in our
section who have made contact with Haiti. There was brief contact made
on one of the HF Nets earlier today. This information is listed below
as provided by ARRL and other groups along with a link to an ARRLWeb
Story:

http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2010/01/13/11288/?nc=1

On Tuesday there was a 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Haiti, which has
since been followed by serious aftershocks. Communications in and out
of Haiti have been disrupted. No word has been received as of yet from
any of the national HH Amateur Radio operators. The DailyDX notes that
HH2/HB9AMO, Pierre, is OK and was located about 140 km north of
Port-au-Prince in Cap Haitien at the time.

The IARU Region II Area C Emergency Coordinator, Arnie Coro, CO2KK, is
coordinating the multi-national response by hams. There are organized
nets on 7045 and 3720 kHz and amateurs are asked to monitor but also
keep the frequencies clear of non-essential traffic. Amateur Radio
operators should also be aware that emergency traffic pertaining to the
Haitian earthquake is expected on the SATERN frequencies of 14265, 7265
and 3977 according to SATERN's leader, Major Pat McPherson. The
Salvation Army has a website up for H&W traffic and other news at
www.satern.org.

Amateur Radio operators are circled around Haiti in Cuba, Florida, the
Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Venezuela and other locations
listening for any calls, but so far only one station has checked in.

Rich Moseson of CQ Magazine reported to us that Father John Henault,
HH6JH, made contact late Wednesday morning with the Intercontinental
Assistance and Traffic Net (IATN) on 14.300 MHz, the IARU Global Centre
of Activity frequency for emergency communications. He said that he was
safe, but had no power and no phone service. He was operating on
battery power and hoping to get a generator running later in the day.

Please keep the nets clear for emergency and priority traffic on
frequencies :
14300
14265
7045
7265
3977
3720

Additional frequencies may be activated on different bands at different
times of day, so be sure to listen carefully before transmitting to
make sure you are not interfering with emergency traffic.

The situation is still chaotic and more information will be posted as
soon as possible. Information is being validated and shared between
many amateur groups and news sources as it unfolds.

Global ALE High Frequency Network (HFN) is now
on ALERT for Haiti earthquake Emergency / Disaster
Relief Communications (EMCOMM)

====HFLINK SPECIAL BULLETIN==== 13 JAN 2010
Alert: Haiti Earthquake EMCOMM

HFN Pilot Stations are active and ready 24/7
for ALE calling, relay, and internet messages.

All operators are encouraged to participate in
the ALE Comm Centre live operator chat room
http://hflink. net
and activate ALE radios on the ALE channels:

HFN net (text/internet/ sounding/ calling)
3596.0 USB
7102.0 USB
10145.5 USB
14109.0 USB
18106.0 USB
21096.0 USB
24926.0 USB
28146.0 USB

HFL net (emcomm/voice/ calling)
3791.0 USB
7185.5 USB
14346.0 USB
18117.5 USB
21437.5 USB
24932.0 USB
28312.5 USB

============ ========= ======
END OF BULLETIN
============ ========= ======
Bonnie Crystal, KQ6XA
International Emcomm Coordinator
Global ALE High Frequency Network
http://hflink. net

The following is an update as provided by Eastern Massachusetts ARRL
Section Traffic manager, Jim Ward-N1LKJ, concerning all the health and
welfare traffic received to date from all across the country and
internationally:

On Wednesday's 2:30PM Eastern Area Traffic Net, Earl WX4J from Florida
checked in and told all Hams to hold all Health & Welfare Traffic for
now. There are just no outlets for it at this time. They will keep us
advised.

Traffic can be listed on the Satern web page. www.satern.org On the
Satern Net on 14.265 they gave out the information, that the State
Department is giving out the phone number 888-407-4747 for all people
inquiring about loved ones.

73,
Jim Ward N1LKJ STM

The International Radio Emergency Support Coalition (IRESC) and the
Salvation Army Team Emergency Response Network (SATERN) remain active
supporting Haiti Earthquake Operations. Indirect contact has been
established via email and second hand reporting and info as relayed by
SATERN to IRESC and by IRESC operators. Direct contact to the affected
area is being attempted by both groups.

The *WX_TALK* Echolink conference node: 7203/IRLP 9219 reflector system
has been connected directly to the *IRESC* echolink conference node:
278173 for listen only purposes. It will remain connected for as long
as IRESC is active. Anyone with emergency/priority traffic or health
and welfare traffic should connect directly to *IRESC* echolink
conference node: 278173. Information on IRESC can be seen via the
following link:

http://www.iresc.org/

SATERN is active on HF and has performed liasion with IRESC. Per the
SATERN web site, SATERN activities are active on 14.235 MHz Primary for
daytime operations and 7265 and 3977.7 Khz for evening and night time
operations. Information on SATERN can be seen via the following link:

http://www.satern.org/

Once again, any stations that have HF capability or get any sort of
contact with Haiti and those people can assist with emergency/priority
traffic or health & welfare traffic are asked to make this known to the
Eastern Massachusetts ARES/ARRL staff, IRESC and SATERN to setup direct
contact and communications flow with the disaster zone. This would
benefit those with Emergency/Priority and Health and Welfare traffic
into Haiti. Stations that have Health and Welfare traffic to Haiti can
provide the info to these groups but it may be several days before the
messages will be delivered and relayed back so those that can help with
direct contact with Haiti or contact through relays could help speed up
the Health and welfare traffic flow.

We wish the best for the victims of this serious earthquake that has
affected Haiti. Another situation Report will be posted Thursday
evening or sooner if a significant development involving direct contact
with Haiti occurs.

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator
Home Phone #: (508) 994-1875 (After 6 PM)
Home/Data #: (508) 997-4503 (After 6 PM)
Work Phone #: 508-346-2929 (8 AM-5 PM)
Email Address: [email protected]
http://ares.ema.arrl.org
http://www.wx1box.org
 
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