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Comm Gear

S

SurvivalisT69

Joined
Jul 29, 2009
Messages
44
I hope this is not off topic for the forum, but I had a few people ask about my comm gear I take to the woods. Here are a few shots of the gear I take most of the time. The first is my Yaesu VX-7R . This is a rock solid handheld that I would recommend to anyone. It covers UHF and VHF amateur bands along with FM radio. It is also waterproof. It really is a lot of radio in a very small package.

The second radio I carry is the Yaesu FT-817. I have it rigged as a back pack radio. This radio covers UHF,VHF and HF in all modes. With a long wire antenna and a lot of luck, you can reach the world with this radio.

I look at both of these pieces of gear as tools. The same as my pack or my knives. It is a bit of a different skill set, but I think comms are a vital part of survival.

Thanks to Mountainman38 for schooling me on how to post images!

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That is some real good looking kit. :thumbup:

Excuse my ignorance but who do you talk to on the radios, is their a lot of chatter on them like CB?

If you do get into trouble are their people that monitor emergency bands that could get you some help? Thanks, Chris
 
Thank you!

I am mostly on repeaters. That is to say that my signal goes to a central tower and is broadcast over a wider range. I am able to hit repeaters that are over 20 miles away and they boost my signal out to say a 30 mile diameter. The repeaters are really more for general chat, but there are people on them at most hours.

If I am out overnight or longer, I have friends that have their amateur radio license and we set up check in times where I will call to them over a specific frequency and they can relay any messages I might have. This is very helpful as I go into some areas where cell phone service does not work and my radios still work.
 
I have thought about dabbling in HAM, I have been involved with CB for years, however unless you can find a good crowd there is just mostly trash on CB. I recently bought a small sony world band that I have been playing with a bit. It is something I have been interested in and I might just take the plunge.

I am leaving for Korea in about a month and I have heard that you can buy electronics at a good price, might check it out and see what I can come up with. Chris
 
I only carry one or the other of these two radios. the small hand held is usually the one that gets out of the stable the most.

Chris, Amateur radio is kind of the same. It is good to have some friends involved as there are lots of ass hats on the air waves. Good luck on your trip to Korea! I have heard the same about really good deals on electronics. Just make sure that any communications gear you get is certified for the bands in the US.

It took me less than 3 weeks of study to pass the Tech exam for my amateur license and I am by no means a book worm, so give it a try. It is a fun hobby and has the added benefit of being a survival tool.
 
Thanks for the advice, BTW where are you, I see lots of palmettos.

I am not at all worried about the test, lots of training courtesy of Uncle Sugar. Chris
 
Hello from KB5UZQ. I have an old Kenwood TH-78A dual bander but never have taken it to the woods. I used it for Hurricane IKE tho.
 
Until now, I haven't considered owning a radio. I am seriously considering owning one for a multitude of reasons. What is the benefit of having an amateur license rather than just using one without a licence? Thank for the inspiration.
 
You don't see many comm gear in peoples outdoor kits, looks cool:thumbup:

What is the weight like carrying that thing? Is there an external battery?
 
Very nice, Survivalist. I had an ulterior motive -- I really like to see pictures of gear, and you take really nice pictures. Cool gear, too!

What is the cost like on those radios, specifically the smaller one? How about the study course? I've known HAM's a time or two and wondered if it would be worth getting into, but it seems like a fairly limited group of people who are into it.

Right now I carry Midland FRS radios with a 30 mile range (yeah right!), which are actually pretty handy. It would be nice to extend that range, that's for sure.
 
You will need a legit call sign. Otherwise very few legitimate HAMs would talk to you.

If TSHTF, I would imagine anything goes.

I am going CB, but HAM is very cool.
 
I think if your company has said license you are covered. Individuals are a different story.
I bought 2 px 777 4W UHF with the intent to get the license but mainly use it as an alternative to crappy frs/gmrs radios.
 
de NC0S. I generally carry a Icom ic-w32a when hiking, but if I'm in the woods for an extended period of time, I generally carry a QRP rig on 20m or 30m. Great stuff when sitting by the camp fire.
 
Antenna configuration of fourth shot looks really neat and cool.

In a remote island, HF is the only way to reach sivilization, besides
satellites and submarine cables.
 
The ft-817 is choice kit.

I've never had the same reception sound quality with a yaesu as with an Icomm or Kenwood. Theere's no SSB receive on the wideband (!?!) That and the SMA connector kill the VX7R for me. It's a good radio, but I still most often carry an Icomm T2H with spare AA batteries (6 watts on AAs!!!)

I do carry a full SSB capable shortwave pocketbook sized radio if I'm going out 'heavy'- but I admit I'm looking for a Kenwood TH-F6A.
 
PrimitiveMan said:
You will need a legit call sign. Otherwise very few legitimate HAMs would talk to you....
Click to expand...

Gotcha -- sort of a self-policing kind of thing, then. The radios we used were just Motorola business radios, so I'm not sure why they had the warning about needing a license.
 
I often carry my FT-50 when hiking and sometimes my Kenwood TH-F6A. I use to carry my FT-817 a lot when camping, especially solo. Just a small battery and piece of wire and small tuner and I would talk to people in NY and RI and back to friends in CT from the White Mountains in NH. Making contact back to CT could be done with low power on HF fairly reliably. I use to enjoy the challenge of making contacts back to CT from the back country in NH with low power. Most of the areas I would be in I wouldn't be able to hit a repeater for local contacts. I have often hoped to do a camping trip in very remote areas like maybe Alaska or Canada and I can definitely see these types of radios being used to get information back home. Not 100% reliable 100% of the time but it can be pretty close. Don't forget that ham radio is used in areas devastated by flood, hurricane, ice storm, etc. all the time. It it excels at that task. Like most equipment it takes some knowledge to use. That is were the testing comes in. The tests for the different levels of operator are not made to keep people out of the sport. It is to insure they have a level of knowledge to allow them to use the equipment with effect. And Morse code is no longer a requirement for any license though there are many skilled operators still using it and you can hear it on the bands and it can get through when nothing else does. CW (Morse code) is often referred to as the first digital mode.

KR
 
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