Ham Radios

[murph]

Anyone got any recommendations where to get a 'Ham radio'. Looked at Maplins, ebay, tandy, can't seem to find any on-line store that specialise in this area.

Looking for something like this
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...=STRK:MEWAX:IT

[Apache]

I'm no expert on the Ham side of things, but there are a couple of members here who do it.

What band are you interested in? HF? VHF? UHF? Are you going for a licence of some sort?

Proper gear is a bit too specialist for Maplin really. Try joining a forum such as http://www.transmission1.co.uk/forum/ or http://www.eham.net/. They are both a good source of geekformation

[murph]

Looking for dual band.
I use to have a scanner that would allow me receive instruction unofficially or for me to interpreted movement in our own place of work or customers or landfill sites.
Given that these places knew that I was operating a scanner, it worked well until the scanner packed up.
We do have two way radio in the trucks, but they're very limited. Basically crap.
The idea being that whosoever premises I was going to, I could tap in their frequency & converse with them on a Transceiver.

[Apache]

Ahhh right. So what you need is either VHF or UHF 'business radio'. I've seen some that Rx both bands but only Tx on one, though I suppose dual band Tx must be around.

'Most' are on UHF these days - somewhere between around 400MHz and 470MHz, but some users are still using 136MHz-173MHz sets. Thats where most taxis are.

I think unless you actually know what frequencies / channels the people you want to talk to are on (and you can find out on the OFCOM WTR website) you'll need a scanner too. I have this in the truck.

[smiffy]

Ha,like the satnav in the heater vent....nice touch.

I got a 'Ham' radio when i bought the Jimny. I took it out and put it in the surf. Aint got a clue how to use it. Ha.
On mine it covers 70cm/2m frequency. These are the ones you can receive and transmit on. But you can hear lots of other stuff on other frequencies,taxi's,planes etc etc.
You need to obtain a licence as well before you can transmit,starting off at foundation level,which is enough to get you on the air.

Hers mine. http://www.icomamerica.com/en/produc...h/default.aspx

Its quite good as the main unit can sit under seat and the facia/control panel can be located anywhere with just one wire.

[Calos]

I wouldn't bother with much of what Maplin have in the way of Ham radio, it's entery level stuff but the books are useful though, so the local Hams tell me; yes I still work there hehe

There are radio rallies held around the UK wich have some interesting items, even more interesting people at them. May be worth a look-see.


peace
cal

[Rustinho]

Just because no-one else had done it yet...