Originally Posted By: DAAOriginally Posted By: Bob_Atl
(got my Extra back when 20 wpm code was required)
I would not be considering it if 20 WPM were still required
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But to OP, get your license. It's easy. It's worth it. And then, depending where you are, but pretty decent chance you can utilize local repeaters to get what you want. You really want to get licensed before trying to utilize the repeaters. But once licensed, you'll find nothing but helpful folks on the air and if there's a way to utilize your local networks to accomplish your comms goals, those helpful folks will get you there.
You can't talk directly, valley to valley, with a mountain in between. But if there is a repeater on that mountain... Or on any other mountain within range for both sides...
An example of the possibilities... This spring, I was in about as remote a location as it it is literally possible to get in vehicle in the contiguous 48 states. Seriously. You can't drive a Jeep to further from anyone or anything than where I was at. Using a Baofeng HT with a really good antenna, I was able to key up a repeater almost 30 miles away line of sight (100 miles driving distance). That repeater was networked to other repeaters. Within minutes I was talking to a guy several hundred miles away. I was just seeing if I could make contact with that particular radio from that particular spot. I was able to.
But the real point is, that guy would have been MORE than happy to call my wife for me, call a friend to bring me parts if I needed them, call medical help, do whatever he could to help me simply because we are both amateur radio operators. As it was, I was simply doing a radio check and he thought it was just neater than crap that I had got to him using a cheap-AZZ chicom HT from the literal middle of nowhere.
And, not for nothing, but using the 50W mobile unit mounted in my Jeep, I could have sent my wife or any of my Ham buddies a text, or a picture, from my radio, from that spot, using that repeater station which was also an APRS gateway.
The guy I was talking to had the info I would have needed to connect to an actual phone line so I could have made my own calls from my radio directly and he would have been happy to provide that access info had I asked. Without doing anything, because I automatically send packet beacons every five minutes on the mobile, my wife can click a link on her phone and see where I'm at on a map, real time. Which makes her real happy when I'm out by myself in literally the most remote locations accessible in the contiguous 48. She'll know exactly where to send the authorities to find the body and the insurance check will be in the mail!
All free of charge. Just for taking a few hours to study and take a test. Ham is cool...
- DAA
so considering one might be in a pickel in the area of operations we hunt, maybe once in 5-10 years. is this baofeng and ham licence deal better than the spot messenger services that are out there. meaning if a guy may only be needing it rarely is the extra trouble worth it. OR is there extra trouble?
isn't part of the excitement worrying about something going wrong in these parts and having to figure out how to deal with it? I mean seriously no one may go down that road you are on for a year, LOL.
lastly does having this capability change your hunt experience? I am getting to the point where I want to make people turn off their phones when they get in my truck, is that an a hole request?!?! maybe I don't want to talk to anyone. I know you feel the same way. back to the point does having radios or spot messenger change the spirit of the outing?