Hobbies

I’m gonna resume. My hobby of wood working and block printing letterpress

 

I thought about picking up amateur radio or electronic designing as a new hobby, but that costs money, sadly.

 

Ham radio can be relatively inexpensive. Search for a local club. Used gear and wife antennas can get you on the air. It helps me.

 

I want to learn more about ham radio. small hand held

 

Check out the ARRL website. A Chinese firm, Baofeng, has introduced very inexpensive (< $100 new) VHF/UHF handheld transceivers that are able to work through repeater towers.

Enjoy!

 

I've heard about Baofeng, and I saw that there are radios that have TNC and APRS capabilities built in. One area of Ham Radio that I am more interested in packet radio. My dad, mom, and I used to have a license back in 2000. Sadly, I let mine lapse. My dad ran a packet radio BBS back in the day. I see that it has changed so much and it seems some of the questions from their pool has gotten easier than it was back when I got it the first time around.

 

I did packet back in the day but am not up to date on how active that mode is. ARRL can put you in contact with a local club who should know more. No use spending money before you know the lay of the land.

 

Too, there are exciting active digital modes on HF and the Morse code requirement has been removed. Pays to learn more.

 

Yea, I had a friend telling me about digital radios that use the Internet as a backbone: DMR. Be kind of cool to checkout some day.

 

I looked a yaesu had a 60 and a 65 model. I’ll check out this baofeng brand. Thanks for the tip
Now the big question. Do you need a license for a hand held?

 

A lot of hams are active in emergency support; digital VHF/UHF is the method of choice. And connection via the Internet can allow local-like conversations with stations far away.

 

Yes, but the test is straightforward. Local clubs hold relatively short courses to get you up to speed and then test you.