Tech and Stuff (Virus)

[R_Head]

Have anybody wonder, China is not producing a darn thing, stuff comes from China. Either assmebled equipment and/or parts. Have you guys considered the posibility of Communications breakdown? Cell Towers might quit working due to parts, cell phones might be scarced and/or pricey as heck. Electronics, hard to come by.

I am building a CB Home Base in case cell phones quit working and my daugher, has a CB Radio on her Jeep. We might see the return of CB and Ham Radios. No only that, CB Radios are far cheaper than Cell Phones and does not need to pay for a subscription to be used, just some electrical power and go...

Get them now when nobody are looking for them and prices are down.

What about puters....?

[dedanna1029]

It doesn't all come from China.

[R_Head]

Exactly.... either Chips, PC Boards or full Assemblies. Got me 3 Baofeng portable HAM Radios UV-5R. Great radio, excellent reviews, bad ass tiny radios. A pack of 2, 8W Mk 4 with Computer program cable and charger $99 in amazon prime. Got an older model, same capabilities, 4W, brand new, $25. I am stacking with some commo tech while nobody wants it.

This is the 4W $25 one.


Also, my Veggie Garden got lettuce already growing, ready for picking. Mellons, Strawberries, Cabages, Tomatoes, Potatoes, Peppers, Mint, Cillantro, Beets, Onions... all doing well. My wife is getting a Chicken Run and Coop, nice fresh eggs.

Aint waiting for the Gov Co, not eating their FEMA Chow.

I made more raised bed, so far 10, are going to be 16.



Check the lettuce out.

[dedanna1029]

WOW. You are getting on it! Wish I could - I live in a downstairs apartment.

[R_Head]

I got 10 so far, weather has been shitty, raining when I get time to it, sunny when I am doing some else (indoors)

There is a program called CHIRP, is supported on Linux. Downloaded from the MCC on Mageia 6, worked right out of the gate. Can program those radio frequencies in "Channels", upgrade the Firmware and backup their images on IMG and Settings CSV files.

Tested the newer ones, the MK4 (8 Watts) and with the stock antenna, it has like a 2 mile radious range, from my daughter's room and me inside the Jeep with a couple of hills in between.

Impressive little radios and so cheap !!!

We also got 5 chickens and 2 bunnies for my girl. The red potatoes are blooming like crazy, still waiting for the other spuds to wake up. The Beets graduated from the Red Cups to the ground. Just ate a salad with the lettuce, pretty darn good, also, we got our 1st strawberry. Garden is working out and for me as a 1st timer, I am blown with the results. The chickens and the bunnies love the lettuce, I know why

[dedanna1029]

Very good!

[Davidsherer321]

For many years I have wanted to get into ham radios but now I finally plan on doing it. I do not have too high of a budget but I want to be able to play around a bit. Ultimately my goal is to contact HF frequencies as well as use CW on a regular basis. However, I plan on only starting out with the Technicians License here in the USA, so maybe HF is not a necessary specification. Anything under $100 should do for me.

[gnuuser]

It's a lot easier to get the radio license in the US since they did away with the morse code requirement, and you can do the testing online.
Tech license offers some bandwidth in 40 meters and 80 meters (cw, morse code) But a lot more access to 2 meter and higher frequency.
Learning morse opens some of the hf frequency to use and cw/hf waves will travel much,much farther than vhf, uhf and cellular signals.
Some ham operators actually bounce a cw signal off of the moon (now that's a long distance to the moon and back)

[R_Head]

You can get any radio, as long you are not operating it no license is required. By the time you are going to use that radio, there will be no Gov to enforce the regulations. Same with the Gun Carry Lic in the USA.

[gnuuser]

volunteer monitors use tracking and triangulation methods to locate anyone illegally using them and report the locations to the fcc.
if it turns out to be a valid address and the radio is found its a 15,000 fine.
and its far easier than you might think to track them down.
we hold regular contests called fox hunts using hand held yagi antennas to locate the strongest signal direction and coordinate with other fox hunters to pinpoint the source.
the "fox" (contest transmitter) usually puts out less than a watt of power. so its not hard at all to track down anything 2 watts and above.
my little pixie 1/2 watt connected to a properly matched antenna was heard from a distance of 500 miles! (40 meter bandwidth)
but it the same case the larger the bandwidth the farther it can broadcast effectively

radios like the baofeng and other handhelds are in the 2 meter and 70 cm bands they are indeed powerful but transmitting distance is severely limited, hence the reasoning for repeater stations and voip/radio interface ( where the repeater is actually linking to the internet to link with other repeater stations.
There have been many youtube videos that have debunked the distance the handhelds transmitted that many have claimed
without a repeater you would be lucky to transmit 4 or 5 miles in the mountains. line of site however is many many times farther.

what makes hf transmission so much fun is you bounce a signal off the ionosphere, off of auroras, off of buildings, off of mountains, and even off of the moon.

[gnuuser]

Volunteer monitoring programs use Volunteer operators and often a network of repeaters and highly directional antenna array to track a signal.
And strict protocol guidelines.
We can also track signals outside of the frequencies we are using that means illegal cb's and cell phones.
Unlicensed operators are actually far easier to detect and track down than many people think.

Being a ham operator requires learning a fair amount of electronics ( not a super amount by any means but enough to understand communications equipment)
And it's an easy way to learn electronics by becoming a ham radio operator.

The good thing is we like to help others learn and get them into the hobby
There are many electronics kits you can build that will teach you , some are designed for soldering training, smd component levels, and actual low power(QRP)hf radio kits that are fun to build and operate (with license of course)
Plus learning morse code is very handy.

Even qrp hf radios can transmit many,many times farther than the 2 meter hand held.
The biggest benefit of the 2 meter is they use active repeaters, unless the repeaters are battery supplied they are subject to the power grid stability.