Hi I am Randy Greig VE3YRG, I am a new ham and passed the Canadian exam in December 2019, I have a Basic Plus license in Canada which entitles me to most radio frequencies and up to 250Watts transmit power.
Tonight was my first time on air. I received a YAESU FT-60 handheld from my brother and was able to get on the London Amateur Radio Club's Elmer net where there we about 12 of us chatting tonight. The club decided with most being stuck at home and club meetings cancelled that we should still get together and chat.
73
Thats cool. How far can you transmit with that 250 Watts?
Well.... with the right rig and antenna, anywhere in the world. Distance also depends on frequency, time of day and sunspot activity.
Oh wow. What would you say you can normally do with your setup on a normal day when you usually use it?
Currently I only have a handheld unit with 5 watts of output power which can probably get 20-50 miles/kms depending on terrain and obstructions. I am able to get greater distances with various repeaters that are setup and if I was to get involved with another type of repeater setup I would connect to a local repeater which would then connect to a repeater over the internet and then broadcast wherever that repeater is located. Need more learning time and experience on the radio.
Thats pretty cool. What was the cost to get started?
Well I got lucky and my brother gave me an old handheld he was not using. I spent $100 for a membership in the local ham club which also go me a study guide and a 12 week course (Saturday mornings 3 hr). You could get a basic handheld BaoFeng UV-5R for under $50US and whatever study materials for US. I understand that US technician is not too hard to get. If you are interested contact a local ham radio club for help and connections on getting licensed. Check out this YT channel for alot of information about US ham radio:
https://www.youtube.com/user/hoshnasi
For real?!? Wow that is awesome I actually didn't realize that you could transmit around the world.
hey that is cool. If the world collapses into the greatest depression and communication infrastructure shits the brick you can still be chatting away with your club friends :)
just arrived on hive ... i thought there would be more crossposters or movers ... so far only a few i have on my lists 😺