Ham radio and ebiking

grindz145 said:
If you think that ham radio is just about talking to people on radios, you have no idea what ham radio is all about...
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True. I don't believe any other hobby existing has so many sub-hobbies within it. But not all of them will fit on an e-bike!

On radios, there are a bunch of new ones out recently, and there are basic ones. Depends on what you want. Visit the local Ham Radio club in San Francisco, they will help you. They conduct monthly tests for wannabe's to get licensed. My daughter got hers there.

Kenwood, Icom and Yaesu are the top brands of handhelds. You can find them at Ham Radio Outlet stores in the bay area, and they have lots of advice. It really depends on what you want to do with the radio. Do get a license though, Hams are not very tolerant of unlicensed use. And they are glad to help a new Ham starting out.
 
grindz145 said:
If you think that ham radio is just about talking to people on radios, you have no idea what ham radio is all about...
Click to expand...
Exactly.
I learnt a lot about electronics when I was 10 through a local amateur radio club.
I prefer construction. For me the talking is a lesser part but still fun sometimes to talk to the other side of the world directly without any intervening network etc.

I could re-crystal my 70CM ATV (Amateur TV transmitter) for the new bandplan (Lost the top of 70CM here :( ) or build a new one for 23CM and that might be fun on an ebike, live TV :lol:
 
another x-ham ..havent been operational for a bout ten years ..last rig yeasu 1000D with tri- band delta quad....im not up on the lates rigs, but i do remeber VOX OPERATED TWO METER WITH HEADSET, this could usefull on an e-bike. vox wouldnt work on a motorcycle of course.... time have sure changed... my test[for advanced] CW,20wpm..98%accuracy required....theory ,narrative answers[not multiple choice] 70% required... national and anternational regs %70 reqired... theory and regs exam,21/2 hours... more failed than passed.. Canadian standards :mrgreen: during ww2 thge government would pay you $2-00 for passing semaphore test...$5.00 for junior morse[10wpm] and $10.00[20wmp]senior morse.... $17.00 in the 40s for a high school student.. WOW!!
 
When I got my General license I had to do another theory test and 5 wpm morse code. Now you can just pay your 10 bucks - probably more now - and take the test. I used to do alot of psk and sstv and then got into 2 and 6 meters and atv. Still got a couple 2-meter mobiles and a 746 and atv. I am the only one in this little town with a 50 ft. tower in the yard :mrgreen:
 
When I took my extra you had to go to the FCC office in the Custom's building on Battery street in San Francisco and not only receive 20 wpm but also send it. Echoing off the marble walls, it was tough to receive (their headphones weren't much better).

When I took my General there, in a room of 15 or so and the same auditory conditions, I was almost the only one who passed in that group. The failure rate was pretty high. People had to try a few times. Traveling to SF was a big deal then, we lived 60 miles away. It was a very long day on a bus or get the folks to drive you.

Now the tests have increased a bit on the technical side, but they are from published question pools. The San Francisco group has a 90% success ratio on the entry level license just from reading the questions and correct answers through a few times and then taking the test. You come out of that test session with a license but no knowledge. That you have to find elsewhere.
 
All you have to know is some basic electrical theory, some rf safety and bandplan. Basically what frequencies you are allocated to operate on.
 
Wow! Astounding number of replies in a short time. Thanks a million.

My current rig right now is a Yaesu FT-817ND. I am wearing it via its neck strap on my left side with the microphone clipped to my shirt collar. For now the antenna is a rubber duck dual-bander (144/432) connected to the face of the radio.

I would like to get a dual band HT with some form of very flexible but long duck antenna and mount it to some spare plate on my rear battery rack. Diamond antennas makes a dual band duck antenna that is a true 1/4 wave on two meters and is very flexible. The general dimensions of the rack approximate a 1/4 wave ground plane at 144 mhz so I expect reasonable performance. I can mount the HT to the handlebars and use a 36-42 inch piece of coax to connect the HT antenna output to the antenna mount at the rear rack.

Some sort of headset with VOX would be ideal but I have found that wind noise is an issue. I may be stuck using a speaker mic.

And with a 12 volt output DC/DC converter I don't expect I'll run out of power :D .

Thanks again for your input.

73 Bill
AA1TH
 
extremegreenmachine said:
I actually had to learn morse code for my pilot license...so freaking stupid...wonder if that would help me for ham license? Is all it is is a morse code test?
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It would be helpful to you once you got your licence, here in the UK its no longer part of the licence structure, its used to be and in fact you had to learn it before you could operate on HF, they have relaxed this restriction now and so more folks can use HF if they want to, I still only use VHF and UHF at the moment, HF is too pricey and can cause problems if not setup right, I can also now speak to hams all around the world using the internet linked repeaters so its not so much of an issue for me.

If anyone wants to get in to the hobby on the cheap, the company wouxun make some really nice little radios, I picked up this 2m/70cm radio from HK direct for 60 dollars, amazing little radio works like a charm, they are also about to release a mobile radio as well.

Just check Ebay for them, you can also get them in states or in the UK for a bit more if you dont want to deal with Ebay, they arent as good as the Yaesu Kenwoods etc but they are pretty amazing for the money, with this one in particular you can transmit on the FRS frequencies at full power and you can unlock it so it will transmit and receive out of band (should you ever need to)

KG-UVD1P.jpg
 
extremegreenmachine said:
Knoxie,

Whats the range on that thing?

E
Click to expand...

Range depends on many factors. If you are on a hilltop with a clear view you can talk 50 miles or more. If you are inside your car it might not get more than a few miles.

Ham Radio uses repeaters. If you reach the repeater your signal is retransmitted on a good antenna at higher power on a hilltop. This goes up to hundreds of miles. Or it can inject into the internet and come out anywhere on the planet.

You can connect a better antenna and get more range. You can also get external amplifiers for more power. Ham Radio licenses allow operations at fairly high power levels when necessary.

In a vehicle a small magnetic antenna helps a lot. On an ebike something similar can be done. You mostly want enough range to reach the repeater, then you can get to everyone on it.
 
fifthmass said:
Wow! Astounding number of replies in a short time. Thanks a million.
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Why am I not surprised... :lol: There must be common loss-of-sanity there somewhere :lol:
 
at one time the record for CW transmission was held by a French nun.. if i remember correctly it was 72wpm :!: :!:
 
My plan is / was to purchase the FTM-10SR , which AES has on sale for $199 . That radio is waterproof and compact, and can be mounted to the frame somewhere. The head can mount to the handlebars. The radio has bluetooth module available with a headset, but the front panel can be the microphone too. You can listen to commercial AM/FM/WX and plug in an iPod.

I figure that the hardest part is the antenna, but they have a license plate frame mount for motorcycle, it looks like the mount would be sufficient counterpoise for the available antenna, if you want local range , this would do it. Obviously it would not go very far.

It seemed to be low in the way of power consumption, so an eBay 12V "Convertor" would work to power the unit from your battery? I've seen them on there in the 24V and 48V ranges.

That's if you want to be a bit more serious.

Also as far as micrphone is concerned, there is a Jawbone one that should eliminate wind noise if you want to get all wired up.

I haven't done any of this yet, just talking.

KC2 YQF
 
Partycat said:
My plan is / was to purchase the FTM-10SR , which AES has on sale for $199 . That radio is waterproof and compact, and can be mounted to the frame somewhere. The head can mount to the handlebars. The radio has bluetooth module available with a headset, but the front panel can be the microphone too. You can listen to commercial AM/FM/WX and plug in an iPod.

I figure that the hardest part is the antenna, but they have a license plate frame mount for motorcycle, it looks like the mount would be sufficient counterpoise for the available antenna, if you want local range , this would do it. Obviously it would not go very far.

It seemed to be low in the way of power consumption, so an eBay 12V "Convertor" would work to power the unit from your battery? I've seen them on there in the 24V and 48V ranges.

That's if you want to be a bit more serious.

Also as far as micrphone is concerned, there is a Jawbone one that should eliminate wind noise if you want to get all wired up.

I haven't done any of this yet, just talking.

KC2 YQF
Click to expand...

Sounds like an interesting plan!
 
That FTM 10sr looks to be a really nice little rig. I would like the higher powered version for my car. I have a Vibe and there is no where to put a rig in that thing. I have always liked Yaesu mobiles.
 
I'm AC6GQ

Pretty rusty key at this point, but still have some equipment. I took the extra class exam back when you still had to do 20wpm code. I don't think I've used code since, other than messing around with using a TNC to send and receive it. My hearing is pretty messed up these days so RTTY/tor/PSK31 modes are more attractive. I did 27mhz stuff back in the '70s before I had a ham license. Heck, I was overvolting things to get more power even back then.
 
Man i am overwhelmed...but i want one..maybe more because we usually do group ebike rides...

Can someone just recommend a good hand held radio...ideally it could pick up aircraft frequencies too so that i can use it as a glider radio as well.

Just some small handheld i can get on ebay...direct from HK
 
Once you have a license, you can use other people's radio's through the internet, without even buying one. Plus you'll learn what you want radio wise. I don't like that the FCC (or equivalent) owns our lives, but they're actually kind of useful in this one instance.
 
Yep a license is cheap. Good for 10 yrs. Hams are some of the most helpful generous people you'll meet. We have a local Radio Shack that is a franchise and owned by a ham. All the locals call it the "Candy Store" He sells new stuff plus used gear on consignment. Pretty cool. Check out eham.net for reviews on equipment. I have an old Yaesu VX-1 I think . Got it for 80 dollars and it does am broadcast to 800 Mhz I think. Only 1 watt power but a great little radio for scanning. Plus I can hook it to an amp if I need more power. There is a book for prep called "Now you're talking" that is good to check out before taking your test.
 
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