Influencer I
- 2,358
- First Name
- Dillon
- Last Name
- Wilke
- Member #
-
20298
- Ham/GMRS Callsign
- KJ7LVO/ WRQL275
- Service Branch
- USAF
Maybe I should start driving around tuned in to 146.520 and just see what happens...
Overlanding+Ham=Resurgence?
- Thread starter NC Old Man Overland
- Start date
Explorer I
Your teeth will be whiter, your MPG higher and pretty girls will look your way more often. Hahahaha, sorry, could not resist.
Enthusiast II
- 539
- First Name
- Dragan
- Last Name
- Grubesic
- Member #
-
22574
- Ham/GMRS Callsign
- KE0ZZI
Just read your post. I was in the same position.
I had my exam yesterday after waiting for a quite some time.
See my post in HAM test online thread or just hit me up for info.
Explorer I
Enthusiast II
- 539
- First Name
- Dragan
- Last Name
- Grubesic
- Member #
-
22574
- Ham/GMRS Callsign
- KE0ZZI
Thanks for the info. Must have been a run on slots because April is completely booked and you cannot select May on the online form.
just a safety tip... if you're going to be driving and operating the radio at same time, keep the remote head up high. you should keep your focus on the road, but if you're going to look at your radio, at least keep it where you can see the road in your peripheral vision. if you mount it where you have to look down, while driving, that's really dangerous as you have no peripheral vision.
congratulations!
generally, the idea is to monitor the national call, and if you feel like having a discussion with someone, move to another frequency so you don't annoy everyone else monitoring the national call frequency. so scan the local repeater frequencies and the national call, and a couple others that various groups use. 145.56 is popular in the gun community, for example, like 146.46 is for offroad.
Ian_Hgn
Rank 0
Contributor I
Definitely. Installed the Ram Track Mount on my dash and the radio is in my peripheral. going to put up a thread with the install when I get the pictures off the camera.
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Member I
I agree that overlanding and ham radio go hand in hand. All my trucks have some sort of rig, and I am going to add HF to my LR3 here in the next month or so when I so a major refurb.
Love hearing that other folks are into APRS; I am a data mode nerd so I have always ran it. The LR3 has a Kenwood D700, the D90 has Yaesu FTM-350, and I have handhelds with it as well. Plus the HF rig in my D90 is set up for Winlink for long distance e-mail that has been pretty reliable.
@NCPI007 packet is definitely still around, but not having the hey day of the 80s and early 90s. Until recently there were enough nodes that I could connect from East County San Diego all the way to Mendocino and Placer counties using nothing but packet nodes along the state. Unfortunately the backbone seems to stop after Ojai, I am guessing something broke or someone lost interest and the next node wasn't maintained. If you wanted you could still plug in that PakRatt and get on the air. In fact, APRS uses the same packet modems so you could even run an APRS fixed station with it.
I am also happy to see that the Amateur Radio world has started to accept that one of the largest groups of new hams is folks going offroad. There was a lot of resistance at first, lots of old timers angry that folks just wanted to use 2 meter simplex on trails and didn't care about the hobby at large. But then they realized that the sheer number of people buying radios means newer models with newer features... radios that are sealed/waterproof, etc.
In the end, I am just happy that two of my favorite things to do intersect so perfectly.
Love hearing that other folks are into APRS; I am a data mode nerd so I have always ran it. The LR3 has a Kenwood D700, the D90 has Yaesu FTM-350, and I have handhelds with it as well. Plus the HF rig in my D90 is set up for Winlink for long distance e-mail that has been pretty reliable.
@NCPI007 packet is definitely still around, but not having the hey day of the 80s and early 90s. Until recently there were enough nodes that I could connect from East County San Diego all the way to Mendocino and Placer counties using nothing but packet nodes along the state. Unfortunately the backbone seems to stop after Ojai, I am guessing something broke or someone lost interest and the next node wasn't maintained. If you wanted you could still plug in that PakRatt and get on the air. In fact, APRS uses the same packet modems so you could even run an APRS fixed station with it.
I am also happy to see that the Amateur Radio world has started to accept that one of the largest groups of new hams is folks going offroad. There was a lot of resistance at first, lots of old timers angry that folks just wanted to use 2 meter simplex on trails and didn't care about the hobby at large. But then they realized that the sheer number of people buying radios means newer models with newer features... radios that are sealed/waterproof, etc.
In the end, I am just happy that two of my favorite things to do intersect so perfectly.
Explorer I
I, also, have an aprs fetish :) It’s great around town but not so much in the remote places that I go (for my purposes). Starting to get real interested in it for trip and convoy management ...
Traveler III
- 770
- First Name
- Sean
- Last Name
- Layne
- Member #
-
22944
- Ham/GMRS Callsign
- KN6IQS
