radio ham training

[giraffehappy]

I want to study for my ham radio license this winter. Who do I contact to find about training etc.? Can't seem to find much on the internet. Any of you yachties out there with a web address or e-mail for a British ham organisation?

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[Benbow]

www.rsgb.org

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[Talbot]

Presume you are also looking at the Long range radio certificate for yourself (HF equivalent to the VHF certificate) which seems to only be available from a professional training organisation at a vast cost.

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[snowleopard]

i have an Icom 710. it can receive in the amateur bands but transmission is blocked. if i became a licensed ham, could i get the set modified to remove the restrictions and what would be involved? i imagine Icom would want to sell me a separate set

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[jerryat]

Hi Snowleopard!

You certainly don't have to buy another set!

The mods you suggest are very often perfectly capable of being done by an amateur. It usually consists of removing a single diode that forms the 'block' to which you refer. There was a thread just a few weeks ago concerning this (This site was for my Icom 706 Mk11 - http://www.mods.dk/view.php?ArticleId=1447, - but there were loads of info for the same mods to other radio types/makes) so you could use the info there to help.

Granted there is the requirement for a full 'ham' license but, as has been mentioned many times on this forum, the vast majority of cruising yachts do not have this and still operate in a responsible and courteous manner. I shall, now that the ludicrous morse requirement has been dropped, be starting with my local Amateur Radio Club shortly, to study for, and hopefully obtain, the correct license.

Incidentally, my 'mod' cost £25.00 to be done professionally, but that was before I learnt I could have done it in 5 minutes for nothing! Hope nobody in authority is viewing!!

Cheers

Jerry

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[snowleopard]

<the requirement for a full 'ham' license >

i read on the ham site suggested that there are 3 grades of licence, permitting transmissions at between 10 and 400 watts. given that my set is 150w and can be reduced to a minimum of around 50w, am i likely to get into strife with the basic licence? (speaking practically rather than legally!)

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[Benbow]

Speaking legally, only the 'full' UK licence is internationally ecceptable and legal on a boat.

Speaking practically, hams are very protective of the ether, so I would not recommend breaking the law.

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[Birdseye]

dont know this particular set, but the icom marine set I have used on a friends boat is channel-ised ie it does not have continually variable tuning like a ham set does. therefore it was a pain in the proverbial to scan the ham bands, and we ended up using a portable ham set instead.

unless your boat is a wet one (where laquered pcb's would be useful) I would get a ham set instead of a marine one and then get it all banded ie the programming that allows it to transmit only on the ham bands removed. this is easily done in most cases.

in practise, you will find that most of your use on the boat is the ham bands anyway. emergencies are better dealt with by epirb/sat phone imho

<hr width=100% size=1>this post is a personal opinion, and you should not base your actions on it.

 

[Roberto]

The M710 can easily be modified to transmit in all frequencies: there is no need to open the box and cut wires or diodes, a simple software can be found in the net and allows to modify most settings of the radio, among which transmit freq.
I think Stingo used it... PM if you need more details



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[snowleopard]

i have already shelled out over 2k for the set and installation so i'm in no rush to get any more kit, hence the query.

i have to date found the set very useful for weather & security nets, passage nets and weatherfax. are there many yachtsmen out there who work outside the marine bands? to date the only boating ham net i have come across is trudy in the caribbean, what other useful stuff am i missing out on?

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[John_Lana]

Email seems to be slowly killing the Ham nets, but there are still plenty of nets running for Yachties. Which nets to use depends on where you are operating, but a good standbye is the UK Maritime Mobile Net on 14303, at 0800Z and 1800Z. From there you can find other local nets wherever you are - eg Med or Caribbean.
None of the legitimate Ham nets will welcome unlicenced operators - a legitimate Ham can lose his or her licence for talking to a "pirate". Get the training, take the test and feel proud to be a Ham /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

John G4SGJ


<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.john-lana.com>http://www.john-lana.com</A> Mainly about boats, but also a bit about my other toy, my Caterham 7

 

[Anonymous]

>>Get the training, take the test and feel proud to be a Ham<<

I have looked into doing just that but when I have enquired about it at local amateur clubs I've been told that I must go along and join their club, go to meetings first, and that the 'training' will take months the way they do it. It seems that "being a Ham" is what it's about for many radio amateurs. I am looking for a route to getting the training without all the 'club' stuff. I want to operate a radio, not be a member of a club in Crawley, or wherever. Furthermore, I want to be able to enrol on a fixed-time course with an exam at the end of it.

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[Ric]

"None of the legitimate Ham nets will welcome unlicenced operators - a legitimate Ham can lose his or her licence for talking to a "pirate". Get the training, take the test and feel proud to be a Ham"

Like others here, I have been trying to find a place where I can do the training so that I can be "licensed" and thereby not upset the ham community who quite legitimately are proud of their hobby and don't want lots of idiots filling the airwaves with crap (as on VHF).

However, I too do not want to take on a lot of "club" paraphernalia. HF is not a hobby for me - it is simply a means of long-distant and emergency communication from my boat. Surely my needs are more relevant to the purpose of HF than those of many "hams" whose thrill is to bounce a wave from Crawley to Nghauriwahia at 4am? Why should I be cold-shouldered because I choose not to join a club and do it their way?

A further question - is it really the case that you have to be "licensed"? And who is the regulatory body? I hold an French airline pilots licence and part of my theoretical training included HF. I have never actually used HF on an aircraft but I believe that it is still used on some long-haul transatlantic aircraft (though of course being rapidly superceded by satellite comms). I've certainly never heard of any HF certificate being required to operate HF on aircraft, certainly in France anyway.




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[jerryat]

Hi Lemain,

I entirely agree with you and Ric. In my earlier post, I said I would be attending my local radio club to work towards a licence.

Last Thursday I did. And it was exactly what you and ric have pointed out. Lovely, friendly people who are justifiably proud of their qualifiactions and expertise, but do NOT do any formal training! For that, it appears, I must travel a further 20 odd miles to another club who do carry out training, BUT are booked until at least Jan/Feb next year!! So, I am faced with either joining my local club and enjoying good company but getting no training whatsoever, or joining another, further away and maybe starting training in a few months time!

I was particularly struck by the, shall we say, 'senior' age of most of the members of the club I attended, and there is no doubt that the 'Ham' fraternity needs as many participants and members as it can get, otherwise I suspect many clubs will not be here in a few years time. To achieve this, and to allow us to properly qualify, there does need to be a review of the present training opportunities.

Like you, I have used my HF transceiver for many years on ocean and shorter passages for weather routing and faxes, inter-yacht communication and the various Nets. Like you and others, I have used it in a sensible and professional way to the extent that I have never had my 'bona fides' questioned, even by seasoned, licensed Hams.

I have ordered from the RSGB(Radio Society of Great Britain), their books for the Foundation and Intermediate courses, as well as a book called Amateur Radio Explained, all in the hope that I can start teaching myself the formal aspects of Ham. It's NOT the way I wanted to go, but as I hope to be off cruising again next year, I haven't got the time (or inclination!) to wait for training.

John-Lana, I respect your views but, as you can see from mine and other's comments, I'm afraid much of the problem lies with the RSGB and their current 'training' limitations. If you can advise a different approach I, for one, would be delighted.

(micro rant over!)

Cheers

Jerry

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[MainlySteam]

Most amateurs that I know have trained themselves but perhaps that is not allowed in the UK.

There are excellent training materials from the American Radio Relay League at reasonable prices and can be mail ordered - their site is http://www.rsgb.org/, as others have referred to, has also but I am not familiar with their materials. They also provide links and contact details of clubs providing training. Most countries study requirements are very similar but if using ARRL materials check what you need to know against the UK syllabus.

Many amateur clubs in most countries run courses (usually only a nominal charge to cover direct costs or free apart from study materials) or provide assistance but generally require you to be a member of the club first - which certainly seems reasonable enough to me if not to some others. In the UK I understand that some colleges run courses (but perhaps that is only for their own students already studying other subjects). At least one on-line course seems to exist at <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.amradioinfo.co.uk/>http://www.amradioinfo.co.uk/</A>.

Amateur radio is a hobby of constructing, experimenting and communicating with a contribution to civil emergencies and search and rescue. It is only through those things that it maintains its access to the large chunks of the radio spectrum that it has rights to. The training path and methods are not intended to provide route for people just wanting to use HF to chat to others without having any real common interest in radio itself. Such people will find the route disappointing just as it seems some posters have said as being their experience. For those people and for yourself should you be the same, my recommendation is to stick to commercial services such as maritime radio, telephone, etc.

John

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[Roberto]

FWIW, a few years ago I followed a correspondence course with Peter Pennington G4EGQ: well done, Peter is always available for comment, +the possibility to study at one's own speed and rythm, no "ham club" syndrom with him, I got the RAE with no particular problems; a few months later the 12wpm morse test (now much easier).

Should you want to contact Peter,

From rsgb site:
Contact Pete for further details: 6 Highland Close, Folkestone CT20 3SA, tel: 01303 220010 (between 11.00am and 8.00pm), e-mail: pjpennington@ntlworld.com


hope this helps
roberto, MØITA



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[Nick_Pam]

I taught myself from the syllabus and numerous books from the library and Waterstones.
Only time I attended the local college was to sit the exam and then subsequently to take my morse test (now abolished, so not needed).

Some people get licenced for the pleasure of constructing gear, some for the pleasure of communicating and unfortunately some for the pleasure of being bombastic (thankfully few and far between)

I'd be happy to help in any way I can.........
Ohhhh - and an Icom IC-706 and aerial tuner against a decent backstay aerial has netted me over 150 countries on HF during 2004, so there is life out there in the ether!!!

Nick

<hr width=100% size=1>Byeee...Gone Sailing!!!!

 

[John_Lana]

I have never belonged to a radio club. I taught myself from books and went along and did the test! To pass the exam for the GMDSS marine licence I did go to "school" for a week. However, with the knowledge I had gained from the ham radio, I found it very easy. I still think you will find it difficult to get accepted on a legitimate ham network without a licence - you will be spotted pretty quickly I think, and asked politely to leave/forums/images/icons/smile.gif.

John

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.john-lana.com>http://www.john-lana.com</A> Mainly about boats, but also a bit about my other toy, my Caterham 7

 

[giraffehappy]

Hi Mainly Steam!
Am now enrolled on foundation course at local college which I found thru website given at top of thread, thanx. It is run by hams, is a reasonable cost (£42) for the whole course. I do not have to join a club, but if I wish to I can join at half price and get the montly national radio mag. The three men running the course were really friendly, helpful, and encouraging, and I am looking forward to continuing. Apparently I will have to go up to advanced if I am to become 'marine mobile'.

I can become licensed in this country by taking the American qualification at their embassy (50 questions out of a pool of 1000). I haven't pursued this as I want to learn to solder/trouble shoot etc. properly.
3 cheers for enthusiasts!

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[Gunfleet]

<I can become licensed in this country by taking the American qualification at their embassy (50 questons out of a pool of 1000). I haven't pursued this as I want to learn to solder/trouble shoot etc. properly.> how is this? Are you in England?

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