Not sure if this belongs here or the electronic toys section but I wanted to ask the locals first.
My buddy and I are taking the technician test on saturday before a local ham clubs meeting. Im pretty confident about the test, as I have been passing the online tests with 95% accuracny.
I picked up a Yaesu VX-7 yesterday from HRO IN Burbank so that I can only listen in on coversations to get a feel for how everything works and to hear back and forth transmissions. No transmitting until I get my call sign.
What are good frequencies/bands to listen in on ?
What freqencies do you guys use for the trail and the city.
National simplex 146.520 for when im on the highway. Basically, anyone can call me because my callsign is on my license plate. On the trail we usually use 146.460. If you want to just hear people, than just use the scan feature on your radio with your squelch turned up. You can find a ton of traffic out there.
Good luck on your test, it's easy if you've prepared.
Look up the Catalina repeater. I listened in on that and everyone was pretty cool. Made my first contact on that repeater with a guy in Santa Barbara and then a guy on a cruise ship heading to Mexico. Pretty cool.
Hopefully this isn't too off-topic. Do most of you guys have a ham? Me and my friend are thinking about getting one but it seems like on the trail most guys just have a CB.
Hopefully this isn't too off-topic. Do most of you guys have a ham? Me and my friend are thinking about getting one but it seems like on the trail most guys just have a CB.
My friend and I were on the same boat, but we opted for ham. Longer range, more frequencies, and less radio abuse due to license requirement. I think slowly most people are switching to ham anyways.
The practice tests seem toooo easy, so I think you should pass without any problems.
Dave's given you the most used simplex frequencies. Go to the TASMA site for a complete list of repeaters in SoCal. They are the SoCal repeater coordination group.
You're starting like most of us - listening to get the hang of things. You'll eventually find a local repeater or local ham group/club. Local one I'm looking in to seem nice and those I've spoken with as a 'newbie' have been very helpful.
CB's are still widely found on trails as they are cheap and don't require a license. That being said, Ham has some great advantages - mostly the range. CB's you are lucky to get a couple of miles. Ham even using simplex radio to radio can be 20-30 miles or more. Repeater usage can stretch that much further and if the repeater has Echolink and you're signed up for that, you can talk around the world with your simple Technician's license!
If you're canning the online practice tests at 95% regularly you'll pass w/o any problem at all. Good luck!!
Hopefully this isn't too off-topic. Do most of you guys have a ham? Me and my friend are thinking about getting one but it seems like on the trail most guys just have a CB.
I'll get to it and start looking into things. 