Outdoor Radio, HAM, FM and Weather

>>881679
I have a BaoFeng UV-5R meme radio and a Radioshack Pro-528 receiver. Meme radio is for camp-walkie type comms and FM radio receiver, Pro-528 is for scanning and trunked frequencies.

Neither are waterproof but I keep them in a waterproof Pelican container.

File: antenna info.jpg (96KB, 1800x244px) Image search: [Google]

96KB, 1800x244px

>>881698
>obligatory

File: uv5r.jpg (561KB, 792x3458px) Image search: [Google]

561KB, 792x3458px

>>881698
>>881746
Also might be worth posting this.

File: 1446545641218.png (616KB, 900x1136px) Image search: [Google]

616KB, 900x1136px

>>881698
>>881746
>>881764
And this.

File: frs_gmrs_pmr_murs_bus_marine_wx_ham_2013f_500.png (233KB, 500x1411px) Image search: [Google]

233KB, 500x1411px

>>881698
>>881746
>>881764
>>881765
And this

>>881764
>>881765
>>881767
Nice thank you!

File: i-RhcPLdC-L.jpg (66KB, 400x600px) Image search: [Google]

66KB, 400x600px

>>881679
Now that you have a decent radio, you can experience how awful the baofengs are.
They're great radios for the $30 it'll cost you, but they're not great radios.

My Vertex/Yaesu gear was decent. FT60 got dropped from towers a couple times, frozen in the snow, baked in the sun, and it lasted about 8 years. Kenwood makes good gear too.
I'm really spoiled with my Motorola gear now. If "Mother M" hadn't bought out Vertex's commercial line I'd probably still be running their equipment.
I'd like to get my hands on some Harris gear.

Ham test is easy. Entire question pool is available online, plenty of sites for practice exams (I suggest aa9pw.com).

>In the flatlands they put tall towers on little hills
>here we put little towers on tall mountains

File: 51H0TDSW1JL._AC_UL320_SR184,320_.jpg (20KB, 184x320px) Image search: [Google]

20KB, 184x320px

>>881679
>stay connected with the world for news updates and weather reports.

Non ham here. I just bring pic related for this. Roughly 100 hours listening time from 2 double As, I've dropped it in creeks, on rocks, still works. Fair to good fm reception, good am reception. Costs 10 bucks and small/light.

For plain old am fm, I'd recommend an analog over digital for better reception of weak signals and they're harder to break.

>>881679
>BaoFeng may be cheap and offer lots of features, but they are pretty crappy and probably should be avoided.

they really arent though.

i own top tier equipment but end up carrying my baofengs more because i feel less paranoid about breaking a $60 radio

also, the radio hobby has some of the snobbiest god awful gear queers that will latch on to one brand like a pitbull to a babies leg and not let go. Dont listen to those guys.

>>881953
>Now that you have a decent radio, you can experience how awful the baofengs are. They're great radios for the $30 it'll cost you, but they're not great radios.

When the radio industry is charging top dollar for 20 old tech that is surpassed by the first gen iphone then the hobby is bound to die off

there has been more interest in the past few years in ham than there was in the previous 10. baofeng has played a huge part in that by making radios affordable to people who want to experiment with the hobby

>My Vertex/Yaesu gear was decent. FT60 got dropped from towers a couple times, frozen in the snow, baked in the sun, and it lasted about 8 years. Kenwood makes good gear too. I'm really spoiled with my Motorola gear now

motorola has been putting out absolute garbage for a few years (sans the xts series) now and you're talking shit on baofeng?

brah...

2017 is looking pretty good if you're into digital on VHF/UHF. The D4Vmobile looks amazing, and having the ability to use most digital voice protocols with a single radio is so much better than either having to clutter your vehicle with a bunch of different radios to cover Dstar, DMR, System fusion, and others, or just going with one. Baofeng is allegedly going to update the DM-5R to be compatible with DMR type 2, and Anytone has a dual band DMR handheld coming out for around 200 dollars. Thank god for the Chinese.

>>882268

That's great news if it happens. The lack of an open industry standard for digital ham radio (IP and voice) has been a major stumbling block. This gets us a step closer because once the major name manufacturers see what the rest of the industry is doing, they'll fall all over themselves to create an open standard that's better in all ways.

Up to now, each big vendor thinks he can enforce his own pet standard on the market and get a big advantage. But if someone gets close to winning, then the others will fall all over themselves to rally around an open standard, on the principle that if the market doesn't embrace yours then it's better to have a standard owned by nobody than by a competitor.

And I agree about Baofeng. They've been nothing but good news for the hobby.

Long-term, the even better news is open, hackable SDR (software-defined radio). Once you have that, expect more user-friendly ham radio hardware and software, new companies doing new things in the field, and a major upheaval among the big players.

>>881953
I would literally sick a duck for a harris 152. that was the standard team radio for my old company, everyone else had 148s.

I knew the radio fag at hq thogh. I could make that 152 sing.

craziest expereince I ever had in the stan. we were stuck out in the boonies and freq shift came and went. so we couldn't talk so anyone. so we pull.into this little hilltop base. me and my lt go to the command center to get a fill. they keep me outside for 5 minutes checking my clearances. I go inside.

this plywood building is like motherfucking nasa control. that is as explicit as I will get.

but yea, as the ex radio.guy of every platoon I was ever in, I would love a harris.

>>882240
no one buys motorola, dork. the gobernment buys motorolas and they get lost.

motorola pretty much only sells their top of the line. and they really are. I don't know how to program motorola that is the only reason I haven't "aquired" one.

the last time I tried I ruined 3 radios and the tech had to come out.

>>883256
>program motos

you have to buy a subscription to their proprietary software.

File: i-7T4s93d-L.jpg (109KB, 800x451px) Image search: [Google]

109KB, 800x451px

>>883251
I'd like a Unity radio in my pile. Something multi-band (VHF and 800meg specifically) P25 capable.
They're a little cheaper than the Moto APX's, and from what I've heard the UI's easier to deal with for FPP.
Both Unity and APX8k have wifi, bluetooth, GPS.
Harris' programming software is free with the radio, but I already have a Motorola subscription anyways.

If either one added DMR capability in addition to P25, i'd be all over that. One radio for commercial, public safety, and amateur systems? Yes please.

>>883815
I recently became poor again, I have a repeater and 2 sun blades sitting in a storage closet.

/hangs head in shame

I am almost done with my new book though. so, fingers crossed, I can put my repeater on in the highest building around.

if I was going to buy the top of the line I would probably go with unity. I just like them better.

>>883251
Triumph instruments makes a prc-152 replica, I've heard its like the real thing but without encryption.

File: Amateurfunkstation.jpg (314KB, 1024x768px) Image search: [Google]

314KB, 1024x768px

What happens if a non-male voice gets on the radio? Will people give you grief or try to look up your call sign to find your name and address? How easy is it to communicate internationally?

File: Yaesu_FT_2900-20120409150142.jpg (340KB, 1708x1246px) Image search: [Google]

340KB, 1708x1246px

Newb here.

Would pic related be ok to use in the car for both ham and FM listening, or would it be a huge pain?

>>885266
Can't find anything saying this radio is capable of FM listening.

File: IMGP9930 - Version 4.jpg (1MB, 3471x1285px) Image search: [Google]

1MB, 3471x1285px

Anybody into cool vintage radio mics? I need cash so I sadly gotta sell ;_;

>>885266
FM as "frequency modulation", yes, thats what that radio does.
FM as in broadcast FM radio, no.

>>884589
>What happens if a non-male voice gets on the radio?
you mean a female voice? nothing extraordinary happens. women aren't exactly rare, you know

>Will people give you grief or try to look up your call sign to find your name and address?
maybe? if you're the kind of person that gets grief or doxxed then sure. I heard you can use a PO box for your license if you're concerned about privacy

age

File: 20161029_123015.jpg (1MB, 2048x1536px) Image search: [Google]

1MB, 2048x1536px

Got this on Friday, and I have been listening to emergency services over the weekend.

It's depressing as fuck. Didn't realise so many traffic accidents occured in my area, and holy shit so many old people hitting their heads falling down. It should be mandatory that anyone over the age of 75 wear a helmet at all times.

>>886710
I did hear about a child getting his head stuck in a deck, that was pretty funny.

File: i-zJ2Tkv8-L.jpg (60KB, 338x600px) Image search: [Google]

60KB, 338x600px

>>886710
protip: the best stuff's on car-to-car

Law dispatch is a lot of warrant checks and license plates.
Fire dispatch is, like you found, old people falling and MVA's.

Tac (tactical) channels are where the details of an incident occur... dispatch will tone out a couple of units to a bigger incident, assign a tac channel that incident, and most all traffic except for arrivals/scene-clear will be on tac.
Usually a couple tac channels on the radio network, most are talkarounds though... unless you're local to the incident you won't be able to receive them.

Unfortunately, most of the "good stuff" is digital P25, so you won't be able to receive it on a baofeng radio.

>I need to sell this test set and just buy a sitemaster

>>886727
Can't do this.

Police communications are encrypted in my country.

>>886727
What is that silver box?

>>887184
looks like a stingray device

>>881764
I've used Chirp, the free software to program this radio(and others.) You will need to buy an extra cord on amazon for 8 bucks though but it makes syncing freqs to this phone a breeze.

I only used Chirp in Ubuntu though. Not sure how it is in Windows or Mac

>>887192
>Amazon
Use aliexpress. It is cheaper (only $2 with free shipping )and it only took 1 week for mine to come to nz.

Chirp is also on Windows and I works just fine.

>>886727
>Tac (tactical) channels are where the details of an incident occur... dispatch will tone out a couple of units to a bigger incident, assign a tac channel that incident, and most all traffic except for arrivals/scene-clear will be on tac.

"tac" does not mean"tactical"

it means "Talk About Channel" and the reason you cant hear it is because its a low power transmission meant for being used by units on a scene as to not clutter up a city or zonewide channel, not because of any "tones" assigned by dispatch, dispatch doesnt assign shit to shit

and half the fucking time they cant even get the goddamn calls right

>>887442
THe word you're looking for is "talkaround", and thats a feature on the subscriber radio to "talk around" a repeater, allowing local comms to not use the network but still pass traffic from the network to the radio.

"Talkabout" is Motorola's cheap frs radios.

Dispatch does manage incidents and assigns resources to those incidents ... fire/med/law personnel, communication resources, and coordinates with outside jurisdictions if necessary.

lrn2radio.

>>882108
Is there any way to improve the reception on this kind of radio? Like with a diy anthena or something?

What makes baofeng worth avoiding if you're a beginner? I'm looking for an answer that has to do with capabilities and/or features, not brand favoritism.

>>887628
Nothing. It's great for beginners.

File: 1460468907491.jpg (232KB, 802x802px) Image search: [Google]

232KB, 802x802px

>>887632

Alright cool, thank you.

>>887628
For $30 it's hard to beat.
If you're looking to get into the hobby.

For weekend-warrior, "i just want to talk to my hunting buddies", there's much better options out there. More complicated doesn't mean better.

But for $30, you get a decent dual-band radio. It's still a $30 chinese radio, but that level of equipment cost about 10x that much only a few years ago.

Basically
>Do get it if you're interested in amateur radio
>Don't bother if you want a simple hunting/camping/etc radio.

I need a new antenna for my CB. Looking for something with a suction cup base to mount on my car. Recommendations?

Also looking for a handheld Am/Fm/Cb/Wx radio. Recommendations on that as well.

>>887628
The only thing that endlessly pisses me off about my BF-F8+ is that you cannot save repeater offsets without using a computer. Besides that, it's pretty much perfect for beginners who are only interested in analog voice. The battery life is good, the speaker is good, it can use the same antennas my pile of HT1000s does, it's dual band, and it's cheaper than a microphone for my VX-8DR.

>>888907
Oh also, I managed to get a very very minor RF burn the first day I had it. I have no idea what I touched, but it was like briefly touching a somewhat hot pan. I've used it hundreds of times since, and never had another burn, so I wouldn't worry about it.
There's also a new series out that's supposed to fix many of the problems, the BF-F9, and a more rugged version called the UV-82. It's great for learning the basics of radio and getting an idea of traffic in your area, but I prefer all the bells and whistles of my VX-8 and MD-380.

UV-5Rfag here.

I got a pair for walking the dogs at night, taking the kayak /out/, and as emergency radios. Great little devices!

How do I make my own wire antenna? I have a BaoGeng meme radio and want to improve it's range. I know I need a length of copper wire and an sma adapter, but how would I connect the wire to the sma adapter? Just solder it together?

This is the adapter I'm looking at. Thanks I'm advance!
http://fieldcomponents.com/FC10M-FC21F-2.html?gclid=CLXuzvGolNACFYFZhgodC9QCUg

>>888604
>Looking for something with a suction cup base to mount on my car. Recommendations?

Don't get a suction cup. Get one with a magnet. And remember to take it off when you get your car washed.

>>889959
Yea, and... Timbuktu is a town.

>>887793
What are some better options at the same price point for "weekend warriors"?

>>889990
Baofeng 888s.

Currently a pack of 4 on sale on Ali express for $60

Just got mine in the mail and programmed repeaters in the area onto it. Now what?