Baofeng Ham Radio.....What the heck? LOL....I'm such a Luddite

[1srelluc]

My daughter sent me a Baofeng radio for my "preps"....She said Amazon blew them out for $17.00 shipped....I know they are very popular among the anti .gov crowd.

I'm like WTF am I gonna do with this? I damn sure am not getting a ham license.

I did find this so I guess it will get me going.

 

[odanny]

The good news is you have at least 4 years to learn how to use it.

 

[1srelluc]

The good news is you have at least 4 years to learn how to use it.

There's that I guess.

 

[ozro]

Those radios require a ham license to broadcast on the ham bands, but no license to listen.
The gmrs channels require a license to broadcast on those channels.
No license is required to listen to any band.
No license is required in any emergency situation.
Licensed hams are the ones that will turn you in.
That radio is a great deal, but quality is not the greatest.
I own a few of those, and others of better quality as well.
KK7NAA
and
WRXU622

 

[1srelluc]

Those radios require a ham license to broadcast on the ham bands, but no license to listen.
The gmrs channels require a license to broadcast on those channels.
No license is required to listen to any band.
No license is required in any emergency situation.
Licensed hams are the ones that will turn you in.
That radio is a great deal, but quality is not the greatest.
I own a few of those, and others of better quality as well.
KK7NAA
and
WRXU622

I know that much already. Yeah, I've heard that the "hammers" are assholes like that.

Can I hear "truckers on CB"?

 

[ozro]

I know that much already. Yeah, I've heard that the "hammers" are assholes like that.

Can I hear "truckers on CB"?

You can download the software to program that radio for free. The "cb" channels are actually part of the 11 meter band. This radio doesn't do ssb, so you will likely only get the main 23 cb channels.

 

[ozro]

A good upgrade to that radio is an external antenna. A magnetic mount antenna for it is about 15 bucks on eBay or Amazon. Otherwise, whenever you switch bands you need to switch antennas.
If you don't get an external antenna, using it inside a vehicle is next to impossible. Using the vehicle as a ground plane increases the signal. Like, standing in the bed of a pickup, or holding it over the hood of your car.

 

[JGalt]

View attachment 1038147

My daughter sent me a Baofeng radio for my "preps"....She said Amazon blew them out for $17.00 shipped....I know they are very popular among the anti .gov crowd.

I'm like WTF am I gonna do with this? I damn sure am not getting a ham license.

I did find this so I guess it will get me going.

Those things are cool as hell for the low price, I have three of them. I have them programmed to receive the Police/Fire/EMS channels in my country and the surrounding counties. The transmit function is disabled, so I don't accidentally interrupt their signals. I also have them programmed for the FRS and GMRS channels, as well as the radios they use at Walmart.

There's a lot of information for those online. If you didn't get one with your radio, get a CHIRP cable and download the software.. That interfaces the radio to your computer and makes programming much easier.

 

[mudwhistle]

View attachment 1038147

My daughter sent me a Baofeng radio for my "preps"....She said Amazon blew them out for $17.00 shipped....I know they are very popular among the anti .gov crowd.

I'm like WTF am I gonna do with this? I damn sure am not getting a ham license.

I did find this so I guess it will get me going.

You might want to start learning code while you're at it.

 

[mudwhistle]

A good upgrade to that radio is an external antenna. A magnetic mount antenna for it is about 15 bucks on eBay or Amazon. Otherwise, whenever you switch bands you need to switch antennas.
If you don't get an external antenna, using it inside a vehicle is next to impossible. Using the vehicle as a ground plane increases the signal. Like, standing in the bed of a pickup, or holding it over the hood of your car.

I used to do commo for a living in the military. My senior Commo SGT asked me when I got on the team if I had my Ham license. I asked him what the fuck for. He thought it was a given that every Commo SGT be a Ham operator.

Because the technology is so outdated I never bothered.

Nobody in communications knows code anymore. They pretty much use the internet on teams now.

But I need something I can strap on my wife and talk to her when she wanders off. At least I will be able to give her directions home over the radio.

 

[Auld Phart]

interesting, but I'll wait til spring.

doubt I'd get very good reception inside.

 

[1srelluc]

Great info guys! Thanks.

 

[Natural Citizen]

I've always thought that ham radio was a pretty neat niche. Never was interested in a license, though.

Betweeen that and the police/fire scanner it's always interesting listening at the very least.