So you just got your amateur ham radio license'

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So you just got your amateur (ham) radio
license. Now what?
First of all CONGRATULATIONS ! ! ! and
welcome to the hobby. People get their license
for a number of reasons and which radio should be
your first depends upon what your initial
intentions are. In this presentation we are
going to focus on buying a radio for emergency
communications only.
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What is your budget? This is a very serious
question because it will dictate which direction
may be best for you. While new amateur radio
gear is probably as inexpensive as any of us have
ever seen it, it is still not cheap. Likewise
its not the intention of this presentation or
Harris County ARES to recommend one particular
brand over another.
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What is your budget? There are two different
routes you can go initially. First, you can
purchase a hand held (HT). While an economical
entry choice offering great flexibility, it has
some short comings. Second, you can purchase a
mobile rig for your vehicle. While some
mono-band VHF only mobiles are quite inexpensive
they limit you to your vehicle unless you have a
means to pull it out easily.
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Going the HT route There are a number of good
mono-band and dual band HTs to choose
from. Before you make any decisions look at what
other people are using and ask them what they
like and dont like about it. And knowing what
they know now, what would they buy today, and why.
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Going the HT route OK you have chosen which HT
you want for your first radio and you want to use
it for your mobile station. One of the biggest
mistakes all hams in general make with a HT is
thinking that they can have a great signal while
operating their HT from inside their vehicle. On
certain days, in certain parts of town and on
certain repeaters, this may be true, but dont
expect this to be the norm for every situation.
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Going the HT route You should count on, at the
least, buying a good, 3dB gain, or better
antenna, mounting it on your car, and connecting
it to the HT. This can be a permanent mount or a
magnetic mount antenna that can easily be moved
from one vehicle to another. Before you make any
decision, talk to a number of people and look at
their installations to see what may work best for
you. One of the best ways to do this is to go to
some of the club meetings and just look around
and ask questions.
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Going the HT route Another thing you want to do
is purchase one of the short strain relief cables
that goes between the radio and the coax so that
you do not have the heavy coax hooked directly up
to the radio. This will protect the antenna
connector on the radio from stress that could
damage it. Another important item is to get a
cigarette lighter plug power cord for the radio
to ensure that you are putting out full power all
the time.
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Going the HT route To round out your mobile
installation, the last item to consider is
picking up a speaker mic or headset to use with
your HT. Remember A HT, plugged into the
cigarette lighter and with a good antenna will
produce about the same quality of signal as a
permanently installed mobile radio on low power.
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Going the HT route Since weve talked a little
about what you can do to make your HT perform
better while operating mobile, lets talk about
how to make better use of your HT when using it
as a portable station. Since we are talking
about Emergency Communications (EmCom) lets look
at how to ensure that you can always achieve your
mission.
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Going the HT route One thing you may be called
upon to do is to shadow an official around and
be a point of contact for them. This will
require you to operate your HT in a true hand
held portable fashion. This may require you to
actually be transmitting very little or a lot.
Since many HTs will go through batteries
somewhat quickly, you need to be prepared in the
event you are going to be transmitting a LOT.
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Going the HT route No matter which HT you
purchase get a AA battery pack to go with it.
You can always grab a brick of AA batteries
and not be worried about running out. You can
also buy additional NiCad, NiMH LiIon batteries
from either the OEM or other aftermarket
vendors. And you can use a small SLA battery
with a power cord for your radio.
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Going the HT route Like when using a HT as a
mobile rig, the standard OEM antenna leaves a lot
to be desired for performance. There are a
number of aftermarket antennas that will improve
the signal over the OEM antenna. Most of these
are much longer and flexible. And some are made
of aluminum and can extend to a half wave
offering additional gain. However those can be
easily damaged.
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Going the HT route If you are actually going to
be at some stationary site you can hook up a
mobile or fixed station antenna to your HT. When
doing this use the best feedline possible and
keep it as short as possible. This is vital to
improving your signal. By adding an external 12
VDC power source you can greatly improve the
reliability of your operation.
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Going the mobile route Just like when we
discussed HTs the same basic rules apply for
mobile rigs. Do you just want to get a mono-band
for right now or do you want to get a dual band?
Do you want to get a dual band / dual receive?
Whats the difference? The only way to know is
to talk to numerous people, find out what they
like, and why.
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Going the mobile route Antenna choices become a
little simpler. Again you want to purchase at
least a 3dB gain antenna. Depending upon your
situation your choices are pretty much a
permanent or magnetic mount base. The only way
to know which one is best for you is to talk to
numerous people, find out what they like and why.
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Going the mobile route Now I have a mobile radio
but no hand held radio. What all can I do? Many
deployments may allow you to operate from your
vehicle. However, if you can mount your radio in
a way that it can easily be removed this will
allow you to be more flexible in assignments.
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Going the mobile route Because there is little
difference between the two, we will combine using
a mobile rig as a fixed (base) station and
portable station into one section. To turn a
mobile radio into a portable or fixed station all
you need is a 12 VDC power source and an
antenna.
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Going the mobile route 12 VDC power can be
provided by using a 110 VAC to 12 VDC power
converter or simply using a 12 volt deep cycle or
SLA battery.
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Going the mobile route For a portable antenna
you are only limited to your imagination and
budget. A 3dB gain mobile antenna on a magnet
mount base setting on top of a file cabinet will
work. A fixed station antenna on a short mast or
stand will work even better. The single most
important item is the feedline. When exceeding
as little as 50 on VHF and 25 on UHF you must
use very good coax to prevent unwanted signal
loss.
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Going the mobile route By asking around at club
meetings or during club or EmCom nets you may be
able to pick up a used mobile rig sitting around
on someones workbench. If that proves
unsuccessful, shopping the local swap meets and
on line web-sites may produce a suitable radio.
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Your first GO-KIT In EmCom you will here a lot
about Go-Kits Go-Kits fall into two categories
and are usually developed in stages and sometimes
even for specific needs. One Go-Kit is your
radio gear, and One Go-Kit is your personal
gear.
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Your first GO-KIT For your radio gear. For a
shadow assignment you will need ample batteries.
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Item last - SAFETY Goodness people safety,
Safety, SAFETY at any cost. Exercise genuine
caution when operating your radio while mobile.
Mount your radio in a manner that the controls
can easily be seen and reached without taking
your eyes off the road for more than just a VERY
brief moment. I know in modern vehicles this is
a real challenge but please make every effort
possible.
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Item last - SAFETY In the case of EmComm one of
the best practices is to mount radio in a manner
that a second person could operate your radio as
easily from the passenger seat as from the
drivers seat. This allows you to concentrate on
vehicular traffic and they can concentrate on
radio traffic.
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Item last - SAFETY Using a HT as a mobile
presents even greater safety challenges because
of the near micro sized displays and buttons.
There are mounts available to help you get the HT
into a position in your vehicle that will help
you see and reach controls easier than having to
grab it off the floorboard of your vehicle
because you had to hit the brakes when some idiot
cut you off and this was its resting place.
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Item last - SAFETY Electrical safety when
operating portable is as important as driving
safely when operating mobile. If you are putting
up an external antenna look overhead for any
height restrictions, electrical lines or other
risks that could damage your antenna and make you
or your station inoperative. Ensure that any
power converters are equipped with three prong
plugs and ground the antenna. Ground lift
adapters can get you killed so dont use them.
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Item last - SAFETY Cable safety. If you have
cables strung out all over the place get them out
of the way off foot traffic. If you cant protect
them from foot traffic then mark them in a manner
so that they will attract attention. We dont
want people getting hurt tripping over your cords
any more than we want your gear getting destroyed
because someone tripped on a cord and jerked your
400 radio off the table.