Amateur radio ham

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Manchesteral
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Amateur radio ham

Postby Manchesteral » Sat Dec 21, 2019 10:23 pm

Serious question, as I approach my golden years, heading for 69 now I find that some of the things that moved me when I was younger no longer interest me so I'm doing some very loose research on alternative hobbies.
Does anyone have any idea of the basic cost of an amateur radio ham set up and what difficulties/obstacles would be involved, where would I start, thanks in advance, Al :-)

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knowal
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Re: Amateur radio ham

Postby knowal » Sun Dec 22, 2019 12:06 am

I'm a radio ham and could set up a basic VHF / UHF station for less than £800. Short wave about the same. Look on eBay for good second hand transceivers.
Very ball park as I'm not currently active. I do have a licence, which is the first thing you will need, so you need to study, locally.
I hope to answer this in more detail when I have time.
It's a great hobby which can be taken from one country to another, very easily.

Lyric
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Re: Amateur radio ham

Postby Lyric » Sun Dec 22, 2019 12:26 am

Where will you be living (you need a license from your your country of domicile) and what do you envisage doing ? The Tony Hancock "Friends all over the world, none in this country ....." type therefore HF coms or relatively short range vhf communication ?
I am not current with things modern, it is probably 25 years since I operated and the internet has altered such a lot.
Lots of information at rsgb.org
G8J##

Manchesteral
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Re: Amateur radio ham

Postby Manchesteral » Sun Dec 22, 2019 4:01 am

Thanks for the response Lyric, I'll be living in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, in a fourth floor apartment, does that affect reception, transmission etc ? I'm planning to just communicate with different people from outside my normal social circle !

Lyric
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Re: Amateur radio ham

Postby Lyric » Sun Dec 22, 2019 5:34 pm

You are way outside my expertise unfortunately living in Spain.
If you were in Manchester I would tell you to get to the Stockport Radio Society where there is a wealth of experience.
Here are some random thoughts.
In my opinion you will need a Spanish license for which there will probably be a written test, almost certainly only in Spanish and fairly technical.
Is the fourth floor the top floor ? If not that will be very restrictive.
See if you can find a local Amateur Radio Club.
If HF or VHF/UHF an external antenna is, generally, a requirement. In Spain that is likely to be a problem with the building owner/community.
Google Amateur Radio Gran Canaria.
more as it occurs to me

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Manchesteral
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Re: Amateur radio ham

Postby Manchesteral » Sun Dec 22, 2019 8:39 pm

Thanks for the input Lyric, I'll be on the 4th floor of seven with no access to the roof, looks as though I won't be moving ahead with this project but I will do some local research. another question, what is a "scanner" ie for listening in to radio traffic and is it illegal ?

Lyric
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Re: Amateur radio ham

Postby Lyric » Sun Dec 22, 2019 9:48 pm

A scanner sweeps a band of frequencies possibly preset say 118 to 136 Mhz (that's the Aviation communication range) and stops when it finds a busy frequency.
Legality is down to the individual administration, obviously the police bands are out of play as is Airband in some countries (UK certainly) these laws are widely ignored.

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knowal
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Re: Amateur radio ham

Postby knowal » Thu Dec 26, 2019 7:15 pm

Manchesteral wrote:Thanks for the input Lyric, I'll be on the 4th floor of seven with no access to the roof, looks as though I won't be moving ahead with this project but I will do some local research. another question, what is a "scanner" ie for listening in to radio traffic and is it illegal ?
Why not get a HF receiver, which gets all the radio amateur short wave bands and start listening?
There's an Icom IC-R75 on eBay for less than £300 and you could put wires up inside the room and listen in.
We are currently at Solar minimum which restricts the bands a little, but as the next solar cycle gets going, world wide reception should be possible.
It would give you an opening into the hobby and you would know if you really would get interested.
No licence required for listening.

Manchesteral
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Re: Amateur radio ham

Postby Manchesteral » Fri Dec 27, 2019 10:08 am

Thanks for the replies and suggestions, still thinking :think:

Beachcomber
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Re: Amateur radio ham

Postby Beachcomber » Fri Dec 27, 2019 11:51 am

I take it this wouldn't fit on the roof of your apartment!
Untitled-1.jpg

Manchesteral
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Re: Amateur radio ham

Postby Manchesteral » Sat Dec 28, 2019 9:58 pm

Mmm, the neighbours might have something to say about that :-)

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Re: Amateur radio ham

Postby Chiny » Wed Feb 05, 2020 3:16 pm

An old thread I know but perhaps this forum newbie could add a few pointers. I’m on an iPad not the main machine so no links but Google the “points”.

I’d suggest “RSGB” for a lot of help for beginners. “Apartment aerial antenna” for discrete aerials. If you just want a listen without buying stuff, try a “web sdr” ISTR that sdr.hu works, giving you the chance to listen, via the web, worldwide on many frequencies. One balcony aerial could be a dish pointing at “es’hail oscar 100” a geostationary satellite, and of course “es’hail sdr” will let you listen with your browser.

Actually apartments are a nightmare for local noise, ADSL rubbish and gizmos galore all generating noise. In my apartment days, I used to go mobile and portable on a motorcycle; cars or backpacking sounds more up to date.

If the listening interests, then by then you will have discovered what you need for the transmit side. See how it goes.


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