WRZF693 Posted November 6, 2023 Report Share Posted November 6, 2023 HI Folks.. Now that I have GRMS and see the strengths and weaknesses of the same I kind of want to explore ham. Especially the ability to talk on the HF frequencies which are the longer range frequencies I understand. That said, I don't want to spend thousands of dollars.. Is it possible to take the test and get the technician license and use two handhelds on HF bands which is I think called the 10 meter and or 6 meter band? Is iit possible to talk say a hundred miles with those frequencies via handhelds of say 10 watts and do they make handhelds for the HF frequencies? Or, do you have to spend your life savings and pay off the national debt to buy a base station to use those frequencies may I ask and do you have to have a tower in your back yard 500 feet tall with a 100 foot antenna.. Thanks in advance.. Hope my questions aren't annoying.. I'm just really curious. Best regards and thanks in advance. From the heartland. South Central Indiana. USA Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sshannon Posted November 6, 2023 Report Share Posted November 6, 2023 12 minutes ago, WRZF693 said: HI Folks.. Now that I have GRMS and see the strengths and weaknesses of the same I kind of want to explore ham. Especially the ability to talk on the HF frequencies which are the longer range frequencies I understand. That said, I don't want to spend thousands of dollars.. Is it possible to take the test and get the technician license and use two handhelds on HF bands which is I think called the 10 meter and or 6 meter band? Is iit possible to talk say a hundred miles with those frequencies via handhelds of say 10 watts and do they make handhelds for the HF frequencies? Or, do you have to spend your life savings and pay off the national debt to buy a base station to use those frequencies may I ask and do you have to have a tower in your back yard 500 feet tall with a 100 foot antenna.. Thanks in advance.. Hope my questions aren't annoying.. I'm just really curious. Best regards and thanks in advance. From the heartland. South Central Indiana. USA Tim Hi Tim, To get right to the point, no, you can’t talk hundreds of miles using a five watt 6 meter or 10 meter handheld radio, except in the most unusual circumstances. Finding a handheld radio for 6 meters would be difficult. Handhelds for 10 meters might be available but they’re few and far between. But you also do not need to pay off the national debt to get into the HF bands. I have a Yaesu FT891, which is about $670 and a wire antenna I built from a kit for $70. I hold the center up with a fiberglass pole about 30 feet in the air. On a daily basis I can usually talk several hundred miles away but not always and not always in the same direction. California seems easy but I can’t reach my friend in Seattle. Mostly that’s on 40 or 20 meters. I hear almost nothing on 10 meters. There are other radios like the Xiegu G90 that is less expensive but has a lot of support. I don’t have one but they’re about $450. I also have a Yaesu FTDX10 that costs about $1300. It’s my favorite for lots of reasons, mostly the ease of use. It’s not nearly as portable as the FT891. wayoverthere and WRUU653 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WRQC527 Posted November 6, 2023 Report Share Posted November 6, 2023 27 minutes ago, WRZF693 said: Is it possible to take the test and get the technician license and use two handhelds on HF bands which is I think called the 10 meter and or 6 meter band? You can get into 10 meters for around $200-$300 using something like an Anytone AT-6666. It's a mobile 10-meter radio that can be used as a base station with a power supply. There are pantloads of videos on this radio and others like it. 10 meters is getting very active now. I've made a lot of 10 meter contacts in recent months. In fact, my longest contacts with Australia, Europe and Japan have been on 10 meters. A technician level license gives you access to a portion of 10 meters. I have a Yaesu FT-891, and I normally don't run it at more than about 40 watts, with a very basic antenna. There is also a large selection of multi-band low-power radios that are sometimes hit-and-miss in the quality department, such as the (tr)uSDX and its Chinese knock-offs that are sub-$200. There are some handhelds like my Yaesu VX-7R that support 6 meters but it's normally FM and isn't going to transmit far. There used to be handheld 10 meter radios like the Magnum 10/12, but you can only find them used at this point. Some people were able to reach a few hundred miles on them, but only if the conditions were right. Have fun, get the Technician license. WRUU653 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PA141 Posted November 6, 2023 Report Share Posted November 6, 2023 Do a bit of shopping in the used market and there are some 80's/90's HF radios that you can get for around the same price. It is best to have someone experienced shopping with you. There are a couple of monthly (?) ham swaps in Socal. Radios such as Kenwood TS-120/130 or Icom 730/735/740/745 would be something in that range. I picked up a Alinco HF mobile for a friend for $125 at a swap. Just have to be patient. Will these have the latest features like soundcards, etc..., no, but still solid radios if not abused. Having a "real" ham radio will typically outperform newer 10M / import CB radios and you aren't limited to just 10M propagation. If you can open up your budget a bit to $4-500, the Icom 706mkII or IIg will give you HF plus 6,2M and 440 with the G model. They Yaesu FT-100/857 might be found in this price class. Get on one of the west coast web SDRs and listen to the swap net on 7240 kHz on Sat/Sunday around 1PM PDT. Also the online swaps on qrz.com or qth.com. Use those for reference on radios/prices. Best to stay with local sales unless you are experienced. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoCoBrian Posted November 7, 2023 Report Share Posted November 7, 2023 What's your budget? (what's max you can spend) Do you have HOA restrictions on Antennas? What's your living situation? (home, apartment, camper?) You can study for your Technician and General Class license at hamstudy.org - my grandkids studied for two weeks and passed Tech on the first try. They were 12. 73 de KB9BVN WRWI253 Sshannon, WRUU653 and Lscott 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonolvey Posted November 13, 2023 Report Share Posted November 13, 2023 Hi You will enjoy the 10 M BAND it is now opening and IMAX 2000 or Antron 99 stick antenna 20' 30' up will work just fine and a lot of your 10 m c B's although frowned upon is a minimal investment to see if you like it or not Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonolvey Posted November 13, 2023 Report Share Posted November 13, 2023 With a little research you could find some local ham clubs most are happy to meet new people and would be more than happy with technical advice and test question preparation Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonolvey Posted November 16, 2023 Report Share Posted November 16, 2023 The 6m band has an FM part . You can can get ht's for FM 6m .but you whill need to up grade the ant. Ebay has ladder line ant's cut for 6 M FM an 18 ft CB coax jumper and a couple of adapters throw your ladder line up in a tree and start waiting for FM openings on 6 M it's fun . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonolvey Posted November 17, 2023 Report Share Posted November 17, 2023 Oh ! on you hf question you could always go with a CB mobile one of the 10 meter brand CB'S a magent mount good CB antenna can easily be shortened to more than cover the 10 M BAND Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lscott Posted November 17, 2023 Report Share Posted November 17, 2023 On 11/6/2023 at 4:15 PM, PA141 said: If you can open up your budget a bit to $4-500, the Icom 706mkII or IIg will give you HF plus 6,2M and 440 with the G model. I would recommend ONLY the 706MKIIG model. There were some issues with the previous ones. I ran the IIG mobile for a number of years in a van when I had only my Tech Class license. It was a riot! I made some long range DX contacts on 6M SSB and a few on 2M SSB. At that time you needed the Tech Plus license to use anything below the 6M band. If you buy one used see if you can get the remote kit for it. The front face plate can be detached allowing the body to be located out of the way. IC-706MKIIg.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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