I was into the cb radio scene back in the early 90's but now looking to get into amateur radio but have a few questions before i approach local societies.

Does one license cover all bands? If not what band/license should i go for?
I would prefer a mobile set for the car or a handheld. What set up would be best for a starter?
What is talked about on air?


Anymore helpful advice would be appreciated.

There are 3 classes of licence in increasing order of exam difficulty (if you are into electronics and radio they are all a piece of cake, otherwise you'll need to swat up a bit). All classes of licence allow you to use all the normal bands, the only difference is the amount of power you are allowed to use. If you're thinking of going for a handheld then the power limit won't be an issue. Basically the VHF/UHF bands are mostly used like CB for local communications, whereas the HF bands are used for long distance working, so you'll need to have a think about what you're most interested in. Chinese VHF/UHF handhelds like Puxing and Wouxun are very cheap, a decent HF rig costs a lot more. There is a lot less activity on the amateur bands than there used to be when CB was popular, they have both suffered the same fate - mobile phones and the internet have taken away much of the appeal of radio.

Have a look at some of these in the radio section here.

http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/searc...rchid=80192605

If you're seriously wanting to get into the hobby and need to no more about licensing, operating procedures etc then contact the Radio Society of Great Britain.

http://www.rsgb.org/

Back in my day (G8MMV) there were only two licences, class A and class B.

A class B licence (like mine) only allowed you to use the 145MHz (2m) band and above (later 72MHz (4m) was added).

The exam for both was the same - but for a class A licence you had to take an extra morse test, and had to be able to send and receive at a specified minimum rate.

It's easier now!

For your purpose, 2m or 70cm would be ideal, I used to use 2m at home, in a car, walking around, and even on a motorbike.

Yes, I got a class B licence too. Never did get the hang of morse code, I can manage enough to read repeater idents, but actual two way communication at any practical speed is quite beyond me. The exams are much easier now, the 'hardest' of the three is equivalent to the exam we had to sit in our day and it was never considered difficult back then because most people going into amateur radio had already been short wave listeners and electronics hobbyists for years so the exam was just a formality really. Now, probably due to mobile phones and the internet, interest in ham radio has dwindled and they have to try and attract new people into the hobby from a wider range of backgrounds so they've made the exams much easier, and people still complain. It makes me wonder if they're really interested in radio at all sometimes.

Look up your local club. They can answer all your questions, help you get licensed and give you a good idea what they talk about on the air. Your license covers operation across all the amateur bands, be it HF for distance and international operations or VHF for local. As for kit: I personally started out with a cheap Chinese handy which I use with a car aerial for mobile. For HF operation I use the local club's rigs as I can afford neither space nor cash for a decent HF setup at home.

MM6LJQ

Certainly with the internet where it's possible to communicate with someone on the other side of the world very very cheaply.

CB gave Ham radio the kick up the arse it really needed and injected some life blood into it as previously it was a few 'oddball' old folk who lived like an enclosed order of monks! It was certainly very 'cliquey' and difficult to get in!

Once CB went legal it lost it's appeal but by then it had sparked the interest of many in radio communication who went on to gain their Class B, and some went even further still and did the Class A.

Main downside to Ham radio is the equipment cost.

But the upside is that it was very high quality equipment, most CB gear was absolutely cheaply made rubbish.

I've no idea what it's like now though?, I haven't been active for a good few years - I've still got a Kenwood 2m rig though, and a packet modem - the aerial is stored away with them, as it blew (partly) down during a massive gale a number of years back. I had a very 'exciting' time during a gale trying to get it down in a safe manner (involving ladders and a couple hundred of feet of old caving rope)

Well that's dead
Digital modes like PSK are popular on HF though

I won't stick it on Ebay then?

Wow! Long time since I've seen packet used. That was in the early 80s..... Ouch!

Thanks all for your replies. Shame it has died a bit of a death. Funny how people say the internet has kind of killed amateur radio as a hobby. Back when I was on the CB I could have quite easily have rang my friends up on the telephone but there was something satisfing about physically broadcasting and seeing just how far you could get on 5w,
If skype was around years ago I would still have prefered using CB.

Some basic AM rigs were cheap. £50 would get you 'on the air' and I once had a Cobra 19GTL and Marko 777 both with sideband. DX'ed throughout most of europe just using a 1/2 wave base antenna. By comparison the price of ham radio equipment was prohibitively expensive......and basically did the same job, hence the reason AM/CB radio took off big time whilst ham radio remained in the doldrums.

Often wished i'd kept those rigs now as I see they sometimes fetch silly money on ebay!

Now i'm content just to listen on HF and have a Trio-R1000 which despite it's age (over 30 years!), very little in the way of current day HF gear can beat it let alone match it. Also have a Sony 2001D which is possibly the best portable HF Sony made.

This is my exact set up of the R1000 complete with external speaker, the speaker proving very difficult to get hold of now especially in the UK.

http://www.qsl.net/g0tud/page1.htm

I am not into CB but I have a Bearcat radio that I intend to use for aviation frequencies. Because of much has now gone digital and other technologies, it is pretty much dying a death.

AM/CB did more for ham radio than it could ever have imagined in it's wildest dreams and the rise in CB was phenomenal with clubs springing up in almost every town throughout the UK. My local club went from half a dozen of us who decided to form a club to a membership of over 4000.......in just three months. By comparison the local ARC would be lucky if they got a turn out of a dozen folk.

Like any hobby, equipment can be expensive and amateur radio is no different, but CB rigs came in very cheap and brought 'amateur radio' to the masses. The most any knob twiddler had previously done was tuning in a 'tranny' to Radio 1 or, in my case the Pirate Radio stations back in the 60's!

I have had a licence for 30 years but have not been active for the last 10. I put an aerial up recently to listen to the local 2m repeater (I live in Southampton). Talk about dead! 70cms is even worse. In two months I have only heard one QSO (conversation) on 70cms.

Sadly the internet has been the reason for amateur radio's decline.

I do RAYNET activities and on the main it's supporting the user services during charity events (fun runs, night races, we did a 55 mile cycle route support recently) and that's a lot of fun.

I don't like my local club, I went there for a while but it's full of cliques, dinosaurs and people who will even now look down their nose at a G7 when they were a G4 even though those demarcations went out the window years ago. In fact when I passed my foundation as an M3 I listened in on air first and hearing the way some of them locally speak I said to my trainer at the time I wouldn't go to the club until I held an M0 license.

I suppose it's like any hobby though, it has its fair share of morons as well as fantastic people. I've met lots of people over the years and we have ended up good friends, helping each other out generally, BBQ's and socials and the good certainly outweighs the bad.

As well as the RAYNET things I also do tutoring myself and if the OP has any questions I'd be more than happy to help.

When CB radio was introduced in the 1980's most CBers who became interested went on to become licenced radio amateurs. Those that weren't interested just gave up!

I'm a G8 but haven't been licenced now for something like 25 years. Even the opening up of the HF bands to former "B Licence" holders didn't tempt me back. Perhaps when I actually retire I might consider giving it another go.

I'm sad to hear the hobby is on the decline but I guess I'm not really surprised. I'd always been interested in radio and electronics when I was at school but never actually went as far as sitting the RAE. Then, later on, a friend at work got interested in radio and began studying so I did the same thing.

Happy days!

Ha Ha this takes me back too ... I had a B license, but only used it for a very short while as i seem to remember that my old CB equipment would get me much further and more interesting conversations. Everyone I spoke with on HAM was just interested in telling me how they had made their equipment out of bakki tins and bits of wire.

This is another thing that got me about the club. I don't work HF very often but when I do I end up usually having pretty good conversations - they'll tell me some bits about themselves, where they live, what they do - real life sort of stuff.

There was a special event station a couple of months ago and I was with a friend who still goes to the local club and I said I'd pop along to the station just to see how things were. They were set up in a field and we went over to the tent where someone was just going QRZ all the time before saying they're on xxx radio with a trap 40/80 dipole, then they'd pan this out a little bit with lots of 'erm' and 'err's before QRZ'ing to the next person and repeating it again. I never understood (and never will) the appeal of that sort of operating. Boring as anything.

The new novice license is very simple and there are limits on you but it gets you up and running and is ideal if your mainly interested in 2m. I did read of some clubs doing a training course on Saturday and the exam was held on the Sunday. To be honest I'm not an active ham now but talking to a guy who is involved in a local group it seems the introduction of the simple test has led to an increase in the number of people taking up the hobby which is good news.

You could try getting one of these cheap 2 metre sets and have a listen to the local repeaters to see if it floats your boat.

http://www.nevadaradio.co.uk/amateur...eivers/tyt-800

I passed the old City & Guilds exam in 1990 and recently got around to getting a callsign but mainly use it just for listening. It's pretty quiet around here apart from a few of the repeaters.

There's a full list with coverage here: http://www.ukrepeater.net/2m.htm

Compared to CB the conversations tend to be much more formal and often tech based which suits me just fine.

BTW: You may get more response in the radio forum.

If you just want to have a listen and try to make a few contacts you could do a lot worse than buy one of these:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/UV-3R-BAOF...item4aafbbae2d

I've bought one and know of several others who've done the same. They arrive safely from Hong Kong in about a week, no problems.

A lot of radio for very little outlay!

Seriously cheap!

It would be exceptional value for 2m, but it's 70cm as well!.

That is a remarkably cheap radio. I have sent a link to that auction around my RAYNET group as I'm certain people will be interested in it, plus I've found some reviews online and it's coming up better than the Wouxun sets that have been popular lately.

I think I'll try to get my hands on one of them myself as when we run the courses around here the first thing people want to do is get some basic kit to get on air. This would fit the bill ideally. As with everything handheld to get the most out of it you'd want to connect this to an external antenna, saying that earlier this year I supported an event that was a 12 mile route which had a good section that was five miles line of sight from our control station in an urban build-up - I was able to cover this on half a watt most of the way using a minimag.