Copper Talk » Open Forum » Archived Messages » 2002 » Archived Messages 05/01/2002 to 06/30/2002 » WHY DO YOU NEED A LICENSE FOR HAM RADIO? « Previous Next »

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ROCKETT
Posted on Tuesday, April 16, 2002 - 3:14 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

WHY DO YOU NEED A LICENSE FOR HAM RADIO AND NOT FOR CB?
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bruce
Posted on Tuesday, April 16, 2002 - 7:45 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Because cb is a bussness radio service ( o yes it is ) even though the FCC has begain calling it a personal radio service while HAM radio is a hobbie and by ITU rules ALL hams world wide must be licensed and take a code exam / exam ( written ) this will not change till 2004 when most agree the code requirement will be relaxed or die
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Taz
Posted on Tuesday, April 16, 2002 - 8:02 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

So you are saying the code stuff is going to be no more? All gone?
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bruce
Posted on Tuesday, April 16, 2002 - 9:33 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Yes one day it will be gone i do not see it being here in 10 years
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phineas
Posted on Wednesday, April 17, 2002 - 8:03 am:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I personally think that is terrible. Taking away CW out of Amateur radio is like letting long haul truck drivers not have to prove they can back up a trailer to get their license. The only thing that use to seperate the License classes was how fast they could do CW(Morse Code). Well, Even though I am not up to the old speed(I can do about 8-10 wpm with 13wpm charactors) I guess I will be one of the Dinosaurs left to carry it on.

Phineas
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W4FOY
Posted on Wednesday, April 17, 2002 - 8:26 am:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I FEEL THE WAY THINGS ARE GOING IN A FEW YEARS A HAM LICENSE WILL BE NOTHING MORE THAN JUST A TECH TEST AND NO CODE. MANY FACTORS ARE DRIVING THIS WITH RADIO MANUFACTURERS AND LACK OF INTEREST IN THE HOBBY.
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Lou Cypher
Posted on Wednesday, April 17, 2002 - 12:04 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The reason you are licensed to be an Amateur Radio Operator is like the difference between riding a bicycle and driving a car.

To drive a car you must prove you have a basic understanding of the rules of the road and know how to handle your vehichle.

You earn the right to take on additional responsibility.

The same applies for Ham radio.

You must know the basics of electronics, radio propagation, FCC rules and regs, etc., before you are granted the privelige of using higher power and additonal frequencies.

And like a driver's license, if you violate the rules, you'll get a ticket and usually a very expensive one too.

Just check out the "Busted" section on the Copper homepage.

But if you abide by the rules, you'll find a hobby that's enjoyable with many different aspects: repeaters, Amateur Television, Earth-Moon-Earth signals, amateur satellites.

You can also help out during disaster relief operations. The primary obligation every ham is to help his community during a natural or manmade disaster, especially in light of Sept. 11.
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Bulldog
Posted on Wednesday, April 17, 2002 - 1:22 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I notice a lot of cb operators rag on the ham ops. But just watch and see if they drop the code requirment, those echo mics will be dropped like a hot potato. Then "poof" a copy of "Your Talking Now" gets purchased from Rat Shack, then all of a sudden being a ham is not THAT bad. Just my 2 cents, gotta go SO-41 is overhead and I just finished building my helix antenna.
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bruce
Posted on Wednesday, April 17, 2002 - 4:54 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

bulldog i ve a ham a long time back in the 60's it was well know that only a small % of hams contuined to use code after they had passed the test the code requirement is because of international law which most feel will be changed in 2003 droping the code is going to happen the mode is just now widely used anymore just lissen to the code bands they are dying as for so-41 good luck on working that mode one day ill get back into it too
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Mrhappy
Posted on Wednesday, April 17, 2002 - 6:56 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

phineas,they issue truck licence's every day to guys who can barely drive forward let alone back up.
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Phineas
Posted on Thursday, April 18, 2002 - 8:47 am:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Mr Happy

Good point...lol
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FREEBANDER
Posted on Friday, April 19, 2002 - 2:48 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

They banned me from QRZ.COM TALK AND OPINIONS because they said i was welcome anymore for my post about ham and cb'ers. They didn't like a different opinion. I guess it was because i'm just a cb operator and they hate cb ops. Well i have found a better forum here at COPPER. Great job fellas.If you can submit an opinion on QRZ why don't some of you ask the question why was FREEBANDER banned, maybe they didn't like my use of export cb radios. I didn't say anything out of the way just said i used export radios. O well i guess i woke up in china are somewhere else, what ever happen to freedom of speech?
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Louis Cypher
Posted on Sunday, April 21, 2002 - 2:20 am:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Freebander:

Be advised - free speech cuts both ways. If your feelings got hurt, well, that's just one of life's cruel little ironies that you'll have to get over.

Is free speech Ok, provided everybody agrees with your side of things?

You have every right to say what you want - so does everybody else. In case you haven't noticed, you'll never please everybody.

Like Rodney King says, "C-C-Can't we all just get along?"
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bruce
Posted on Sunday, April 21, 2002 - 9:30 am:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

export cb sets are not illegual only the use of them on cb see just like driving a car ill bet you don't like thoes red lights either.... how dare someone want you to stop ! Lets get real almost 100 years ago people proved that they could not just get on the radio and get along in stead the guy with the bigest spark gap won drowning out the others running ford spark coils. By 1915 something had to be done so in the next 20 years rules evolved untill you have the communications act of 1934... which is what we use today. See 100 years ago some guy called FREEBANDER SR. was out there ruleing the airwaves telling all others squash!!!! You seem dont to understand radio waves dont just go to the guy that you want to talk too many studies have been done of excessive use of power and how it efects others at least one of these was published in QST within the last 10 years. Sadly because of abuse there are people out there who want to lower the power allowed for hams to use.... and of course mr freebander you will comply right? Your right to act and do as you please comes from the fact that there is not a effective inforcement program to catch and punsh rouge radio users ... several have on this fourm rubbed this in the readers faces you realy somehow think this is cool ???
Like most hams i dont realy care what you do it's not my problem or my fine if you get caught its your disrespect for the right of others that bothers me. CH 41 belongs to someone else whether or not they are useing it in not the point but at this point very few are users and the FCC is unable to mount any kind of inforcement except for public saftey .... well off my soap box.

bruce
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FREEBANDER
Posted on Monday, April 22, 2002 - 9:41 am:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Listen,
I didn't say they had to agree with me or accept the fact that i operate at 27.555lsb or any thing else. All i'm saying is they didn't even give me a chance to tell my side!!I never said it was legal to operate there just the fact that i do and i'm a cb operator they decided to shut me down.I wonder if my handle had anything to do with it? And when floyd emailed me back to let me know i could no longer post on QRZ, he said he didn't care for freedom of speech or oposing cb operators views.

be cool
FREEEEEEEEEEEEEE-BANDEEEEEEEEEEEER
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bruce
Posted on Monday, April 22, 2002 - 9:07 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

well freebander im game the floor is yours and im ready to read.... go for it!
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KG4RYT
Posted on Tuesday, April 23, 2002 - 8:15 am:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

YOU WILL FIND QRZ.COM NOT VERY TOLERANT OF ANY CB ACTIVITY OR OPERATORS. YOU WILL NEVER WIN OVER FLOYD OR GLEN WITH ANYTHING REGARDING CB. MOST OF THE HAMS I KNOW THINK CB'ERS OR JUST A BUNCH OF SLOP BUCKET MOUTHS AND THEY DON'T REALIZE WE HAVE A MUCH WORSE PROBLEM ON 40 AND 80 METERS. I HAVE HEARD AND SEEN SOME OF THE BIGGEST SLOBS AND SNOBS ON THE HAMS BANDS.IF YOU DON'T HAVE AT LEAST A GENERAL THEY WILL NOT TALK TO YOU ALSO IF YOU ARE NOT PART OF THE "CLUB" THEY WILL FEEL LIKE THEY ARE ARE MUCH BETTER THAN YOU. SAD, WE HAVE BAD APPLES ON BOTH BANDS!!!!!!!
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bruce
Posted on Tuesday, April 23, 2002 - 9:16 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Humm seems ive menioned 80 40 20 as not so shining examples of ham radio
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BATTLESTAR
Posted on Wednesday, April 24, 2002 - 3:10 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

40 AND 80 METERS IS GETTING WORSE THAN CB IN MY OPINION.
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bruce
Posted on Wednesday, April 24, 2002 - 9:29 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

well it was but some inforcement had begun
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Metro
Posted on Thursday, April 25, 2002 - 12:52 am:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

What a bummer to hear all this crap about HAM! I bought the Tech book a week ago and have been studying up. Have gotten halfway through T3 and logged onto QRZ.com and took an online test and passed barely with a 74.3%. With the questions that I recognized through T3 I was at over 90%. I was developing all this respect for the ham community ans I was all jazzed up to step up the studying and now this! Why bother!?!? I originally wanted a SSB handheld for distance communication while backpacking but can't find one. Maybe I'll just go buy a triple band and go pirate!!

Metro
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bruce
Posted on Thursday, April 25, 2002 - 10:49 am:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

metro a few bad apples on thoes bands are being weeded out in 40 years of ham radio i can tell you ive only meet a few study well get your license there are many good people on the bands and many bands to go on including 160, 80, 40, 30, 20, 17, 15, 12, 10 and 6 that problem has exsisted for 40 years and is now being address by the FCC unlike cb they do take a intrest in roges on the ham bands. for every one of these on HF i can show you 1000 on cb and again most cbers are good people you will never regret getting your license never
bruce
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Phineas
Posted on Thursday, April 25, 2002 - 2:30 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Metro and All

Sometimes we forget that people that have something in common with us like radio are people too. You want to see a snobby bunch, go on your local CB Frequency. You have snobby operators that wont talk to you just like any repeater crowd. Try to be in a 4 wheeler, and get a trucker to talk to you. That doesnt happen very much, but noone calls truckers snobs.

If you are going to get your license in Amateur radio, than get it for you and because you want to. Dont go into it expecting to be welcomed with open arms. Once you get your ticket, all you have to do is listen, and if you sound like everyone else, they wont know you from any other HAM.

Remember, when it comes to radio in he end, people aint sh**, it is the cool people on the other side of the radio that count. The ones that want to make contact with you.

Remember that ticket in your pocket is an agreement between you and the US FCC. You can sit in you shack and not join or be bothered with any local HAMS or HAM clubs.

There was a time where I was just going to say forget the whole HAM thing before I realized the people I was having problems with were not from the other side of the radio.

If anyone chooses to get their HAM ticket, remember one thing. DX CONTACTS WILL ALWAYS WORK YOU IF THEY CAN HEAR YOU. Dont get all hung up on the rest of it.

Phineas
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707
Posted on Thursday, April 25, 2002 - 8:13 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I don't understand why it should be expected that QRZ.com, an Amateur Radio oriented site, should post content irrelevant to the hobby it espouses? CB is not the same as Amateur Radio. You won't get your essay on "Why I Prefer Slim Jims to T-Bones" posted on a site dealing with Angus Cattlemen. Likewise, don't expect for the folks at QRZ to provide a forum for an unlicensed, illegal radio operator to lambast Licensed Hams.

It's not that all Hams hate CBers, in fact, I know many Hams who started on CB and continue to dabble in it and maintain relationships with their radio buddies who opt NOT to become hams. I know of several CBers who, after all their CB buddies became Hams, soon followed in suit. I am one of them.

One thing about VHF/UHF...you will likely NOT hear some gravelly voiced hillbilly chick flirting with an equally hairy sounding, overmodulated male counterpart about the latest diet pill headrush or how drunk and lost they were last Friday night. If you do, then mark that channel and return often.

The fact is, Amateur Radio NEEDS new blood, and therefore is making it "easier" to gain entry by dropping the code. There will undoubtedly be a somewhat higher level of technical proficiency required once the code is dropped, at least for operation in the HF regions. This will still serve to "keep out" those who have no desire to "pay their dues" in order to enjoy greater radio freedom. Freedom always has a cost, and those who whine around about having to do a little more studying to be eligible for HF priveleges are simply wanting something for nothing, and likely go through life with much the same philosophy.
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bruce
Posted on Friday, April 26, 2002 - 9:42 am:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

707 good thoughts i think you will find most hams dont have a problem with the average cb user infact most are more than willing to help them. As for code this is NOT A FCC CALL this is required by ITU rules but most of us beleve they will be changed in 2003. As for whiners these people would gripe if you hung them with a new rope.
bruce
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Apachee
Posted on Friday, May 03, 2002 - 8:31 am:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Code what a joke. If these ham radio people could get past the using of code then they might go have a life. Some of the ham oops think if you have a no-code license,then all you are is a extra class cber oop. Field day is where you come together and learn diff things about radio, --radio modes,antennas and so on. Some people do use code to play around with
but more than 80 percent can't send it. If people want to play around with code that is fine,but don't try to make some one else feel bad because of the code. Most code oops get there ticket for HF bands and then come down 2 meter or 440 or 6 meter and talk.They say your not a true ham if you don't know the code, which is BS. They want you to know how to build radios,amps, antennas. That is fine if you are in to it but, i am not. When you go to get your car licenses they don't ask you to take apart a car motor and put it back together. If they did and you could not then what. Driving is far more important than ham radio. I am a ham radio oop for the last 7 years. There are good people on ham also on cb, so i say long live the radio bands for ever.
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BIGFOOT
Posted on Friday, May 03, 2002 - 4:24 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

apachee... i agree with YOU... there are scum on BOTH the cb and amateur bands...always have been, always will be ( just like your neighbors and co workers and relatives... some are great and some are lousy ) LONG LIVE the cb bands and the amateur bands...so different and so much alike !
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bruce
Posted on Friday, May 03, 2002 - 7:17 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Apachee i know people who want to ban AM and others who want to ban FM see your sounding like THEM! Your making a good starting point been there seen that. Now dont get me started on code you say your a ham them you should know why code is stil around ITU not FCC. These people who tout code in the 60's clames that the tech class with 5 words per min would runin ham radio THEN CAM NO CODE O NO! they had a poop fit..... sell your radios hey guess what 15 years later no codes have no higher a rate of problems than generals. As for licenses ive been down this road many times you will not see it go away even if the code does ... which it will ... ARRL or not ... i can pick on them i'm a life member. See there will be some sort of exam for ham radio the ITU will see to that but even THEY see code is dieing so fast that the ARRL wants to desolve the novice bands ...good idea since the license dosnt exsist any more DOH!. Dont let them bug you most could colder a conector if they tried ill bet you can!
bruce
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Ncrebel
Posted on Saturday, May 04, 2002 - 1:06 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I've been into CB now for about 3 years and for a little while now I've been gaining interest in
ham radio.I talk on radios and I listen to scanners.Whenver I listen to the scanner I'll sometimes tune in a 2 meter ham band.I've so far been very impressed with the 2 meter band.Everybody( atleast around here)seems to be very nice and show signs of intelligence.I've never talked on ham so I'm just going by what I have heard over the scanner.As for the code,that to me is something you could give or take.Sure it would most likely make more people show interest in getting the general class, I'm sure taking the code test keeps a lot of scum bags off the ham bands.I for one would love to eventually get my tech ticket then work my way up to a General class.Now as far as actually knowing the guts of radios and the amps etc I'm learning about all that stuff,such as how to make small amplifiers,how radios work and transmit etc etc.
I've even started studying booleon tech studying the IC chips and all that,but I have a interest in that.I think if you get into ham radio you should know how some of the stuff works.You don't need a degree in electronics but I think it would be good to know how the stuff works.If I didn't have a interrest in electronics the chances are great I wouldn't even talk on the radio.Does a NASCAR driver race and not know anything about his race car?Heck no!Okay,I'm gonna shut up now.Just my .02 cents.
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B1kshad0w
Posted on Saturday, May 04, 2002 - 7:14 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Think about it Ncrebel. Your on am and you get alot of people that use four letter words, key on you, and such. You go to ssb and you find alot nicer people usually. You go to the freebands and most of the time it's a little better still. You go the ham bands, it better than that there. Think of it as filters. As far as getting your technician, your silly if you don't. A 2 meter rig can be had for around 100. You can pick up handhelds on ebay for 80 all the time. As far as taking the test, go to www.qrz.com and take their practice test. You won't be dissapointed.
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Ncrebel
Posted on Monday, May 06, 2002 - 10:24 am:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Yea,I'm plannin on studying for it and start getting my ducks in a row to do that.
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B1kshad0w
Posted on Monday, May 06, 2002 - 2:53 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Yeah if you need any help or anything, send me an email.
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Ncrebel
Posted on Monday, May 06, 2002 - 11:17 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Okay thanks,I took a practice test on qrz.com and made like a 65.7 or somethin like that on it.I flunked...but hey that was without even studying before hand out of a ham book.lol
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409
Posted on Tuesday, May 07, 2002 - 5:00 am:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I made 87.....
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Ncrebel
Posted on Tuesday, May 07, 2002 - 6:38 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

With or without studying?
Also what do you need to pass?
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409
Posted on Wednesday, May 08, 2002 - 4:05 am:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Without studying anything.....just took it !!
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Ncrebel
Posted on Wednesday, May 08, 2002 - 10:03 am:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

dang,can't beat that.