Ham Radio

[bastonjock]

Ive got a foundation licence here in the uk , do you guys know if i can convert to a Philippines liscence or do i need to do the full ticket

I like to do mobile, i use a budipole with a ft transceiver 

[GeoffH]

There are 4 classes of licence in the Philippines and the lowest one is called Foundation... but only PARA would know for sure.

[RobH]

Don't think you can get a reciprocal foundation license. They asked for a full licence when I got mine. But worth an email to PARA to find out for sure. The Philippine version of the foundation licence is for 2M and they have just allowed  70 cms. Thats all you get.

[Mike J]

Fourty or so years ago I worked for the Oregon Military Department.  Occasionally the armory where I worked would rent out the drill floor for civilian use and I would earn extra money by keeping watch and locking up when they left.  In my office was the radio that was used as backup communication with other military units.  I would spend my time spinning the frequency dial and picking up conversations from all over the world.  One thing I found interesting was how men used ham radio versus how the ladies used it.  The men talked about radio equipment and the related equipment.  When they finished talking about the latest addition to their rig, they would hand the mike over to their wives. The ladies would talk about family, share recipes, gossip, how have you been, what was on sale, etc.   For the men it was all about the "tech", for the ladies it was a way to "chat".  

Is ham radio still "tech for men" and "chat for the ladies" or have things changed now that we have the internet with  voice over IP, facebook, twitter, etc?

 

 

[Tommy T.]

2 hours ago, Mike J said:

Is ham radio still "tech for men" and "chat for the ladies" or have things changed now that we have the internet with  voice over IP, facebook, twitter, etc?

 

Good question, Mike. And I will be interested to hear the reactions to my comments here from Geoff, Rob and Baston...

Up until a few years ago, I used ham HF radio for everything related to ocean sailing - weather, navigation, medical and sailing equipment questions, engine information and questions, chit chat, radio relays to telephone links to relatives or friends, country entrance formalities.

Yeah, I know your question was stated in present tense. The short answer is it is used for tech only with some guys, and some ladies, chit chat and general conversations for others, maybe not quite as rigid a divide as before? Short wave is still used for many of those things but to a much lesser extent with the advent of satellite telephones and internet related technologies. And most sailors and shipping, when using shortwave, rely mostly on Marine SSB (single sideband) which requires no testing, just a generic registration license and a vessel (ship) license and these are easy and inexpensive to get. But the rigs (radios) are pricey for the better ones - around $2,000 and up last time I checked a few years ago.

A side note is that short wave radio is still used commonly during disasters, such as hurricanes, earthquakes, etc. This is because the nastier disasters knock out satellite links, grid power supply and cable connections (building destruction). Short wave in its simplest form requires a car battery, a relatively small transceiver and a simple assembled antenna or even just a length of almost any kind of steel or copper wire. However, I cannot say how often that is done today.

A lot of the older guys who used short wave during wars or just for fun when young tend to do "contests" where they are looking to contact as many countries or other radio operators in a specific time limit. Some collect QSL cards (postcards with ham operators' license information, name and location) from others they contact. I collected a few during my travels. My most valued one came from Tom Christian (VP6RC/VR6TC) - the great, great (not sure how many greats) grandson of Fletcher Christian who led the mutiny on the British ship Bounty in 1789. We exchanged our QSL cards on Pitcairn Island where I had sailed and where the mutineers took, burned and sank the ship and settled with their Polynesian "wives".

There are a number of hams who, like me now, just enjoy playing with this old technology to see how far away we can connect with someone, often to chit chat - how's the weather, what do you do, what's your country/home/life like. But, as Rob mentioned before, it is a fairly expensive hobby, depending on how much used verses new equipment you buy and simply how many pieces of equipment you buy - there are fancy antennae, powerful pre-amps, linear amplifiers, a variety of receivers, transmitters and transceivers. It's fun to twiddle dials, tweak this knob, flip a few switches, push buttons, watch the meters dance, bring in a weak signal from halfway around the world - or further... Think of those among us who love to mess with computers and programs just for the fun of playing with them to see what they can do? Similar idea.

Sorry, Mike... as my usual, a very long answer for a short question. I just find it all interesting...

As if I didn't already write enough... I wanted to add that I got hooked on short wave radio when I was maybe 10 years old and listened to the short wave bands on my parents' "hi-fi" cabinet radio/record player. Then a neighbour invited me to his home one night to see his shack (radio room) in his house. I have never seen a more complete nor complex personal radio setup like he had. He was chatting with some guy 1000's of miles away and I just exchanged hello's with him. I was awestruck that this was possible and fascinated by the stacks of equipment. He had to be careful though, because sometimes he interfered with neighbours' TV as he blasted out his 1,000 watts of radio energy at times...

Edited September 6, 2019 by Tommy T.
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[Rayj]

My parents have a Grundig, ( well now I hav it ) and the tuner had bands marked as SWI SWII etc. . we had great fun tuning the dials across the bands labeled with countries names. My public library has a ham radio room which I should really learn to use. OK that’s my only comment. Thanks for reading

[Tommy T.]

6 minutes ago, Rayj said:

My parents have a Grundig, ( well now I hav it ) and the tuner had bands marked as SWI SWII etc. . we had great fun tuning the dials across the bands labeled with countries names.

Don't remember the manufacture of my parents' old radio. But it was marked the same way - no such thing as fine tuning!  If you want to listen to interesting things, try to find some of the propaganda stations from China and Russia and also news from USA (Voice of America).

Edited September 6, 2019 by Tommy T.

[GeoffH]

I was always fascinated by how things worked, I’d spend time in the shed out back pulling old stuff apart (and occasionally getting it working again), that led to searching for information in the local library about electrical circuits and eventually radio.  I was lucky enough to have an elderly retired TV repairman living near me and he had boxes and boxes of old stuff and he gave me some of it to work with in his latter years.  

Later on my best friend at high school’s father (who was a phone lineman and an electronics hobbyist) got his novice license and bought a rig.  Then my friend got his license, I was fascinated by the ability to talk across Australia with a radio powered by an old car battery ( it was a Yaesu FT-75B ).  Later that was replaced by an FT-7 and then an FT-7B.

But my friend had passed his license and so I went and studied and passed my novice test.  We had a lot of fun setting up experiments running QRPp vhf (not that the term was used then) and building antennas for both HF and VHF.  We didn’t talk a lot on air to other operators, we were much younger than most of the people on air and honestly didn’t have a lot in common but later on I was a regular on a couple of local HF nets after a few years.  That continued for years until I shifted to the city and into a small unit where I was restricted to mobile operation.  

Back then the nets only had a few ladies who would check in, mostly their husbands were also licensed.

Now I listen a lot more but I still check into the local club net each week when I’m in Australia and I like to do the portable contest once a year.  There are still less women than men (more than previously though)  but the local Aussie club I’m a member of have close links with the district scout groups ( a friend of mine David VK3FSDA is the district commissioner of scouting) and various scout groups run Foundation license courses for older scouts for this radio badge.  

They have also been running school holiday introduction to electronics courses for primary school students who have working parents and that has been very popular with roughly 150 students attending last school holidays.

Changes to the club structure have seen it morph more into a training organisation to encourage Science and Technology education rather than purely radio and this is reflected in the new club name Bendigo Amateur Radio and Electronics group.  So yes it has changed... but it was that or slide into irrelevance in my opinion.  The local radio club there is one of the things I miss and why I’m looking to get some radio gear here.

 

picture from a basic electronics training night at the local scout hall (courtesy BAREC).  The scout hall has their own Yaesu FT-897D radio, power supply and HF and VHF antennas in the room to the rear on permanent loan from the radio club.

 

Edited September 6, 2019 by GeoffH

[Tommy T.]

49 minutes ago, GeoffH said:

I was always fascinated by how things worked, I’d spend time in the shed out back pulling old stuff apart (and occasionally getting it working again),

I did the same thing, except I never put things back together. My Dad brought things home from his office that were being discarded in lieu of new equipment - a few intercom boxes with hundreds of wires each - looked like something form an old Dragnet program? - a huge tape cutting machine, some big, old electric motors. He always kidded me how I was so good at disassembling everything but could never put it together. It's lucky I didn't burn the house down!

One time I was messing with the HF on the yacht late one night when I couldn't sleep. I am not sure any more but I think I was listening on 30-160khz band which is ground wave and fairly short range usually - something like 300-500 km maybe? I was in Vanuatu - about 3,000 km from Australia. I distinctly heard some guys chatting so, when there was a short break, I put out my call sign - and they heard it! They asked me my location and were totally astounded that we had propagation from such a distance. They got all excited and so we all chatted for a few minutes before the link faded away. Those are the times I really enjoy.

I love hearing about your efforts to keep the interest alive! So, this is a longshot at this time and may not happen, but I would be interested to offer at least a connection IF and when I can set up a station here. I am looking at a minimum of a year away. Maybe your scouts and other kids would be interested to just communicate with someone far away (from Australia) or even just a bit away (from Davao)?

I have been thinking about what I want to do in my dotage, after the house is built, besides growing vegetables. It would be good to get back into radio. Thanks for the motivation, Geoff!

Here's a photo of my radio "shack" on the yacht. Marine VHF, HF, Pactor modem beneath radar...

 

 

 

Edited September 6, 2019 by Tommy T.
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[GeoffH]

15 minutes ago, Tommy T. said:

I love hearing about your efforts to keep the interest alive! So, this is a longshot at this time and may not happen, but I would be interested to offer at least a connection IF and when I can set up a station here. I am looking at a minimum of a year away. Maybe your scouts and other kids would be interested to just communicate with someone far away (from Australia) or even just a bit away (from Davao)?

I have been thinking about what I want to do in my dotage, after the house is built, besides growing vegetables. It would be good to get back into radio. Thanks for the motivation, Geoff!

The scouts would definitely be interested but the issue is HF propagation and limited antennas at the scout hall and radio club.  

Getting HF propagation during the time when the scouts have their Jambouree Of The Air is luck of the draw and even if it’s ok then wire antennas and 100 watts would struggle to get reliable communication for more than a few thousand kilometres. 

David has talked a few times about getting some Filipino scouts on air to to talk to some of the scouts there but I suspect it would have to be a digital link to be practical, something like DMR or DStar or Fusion perhaps.

I’ve helped with Jambouree of the Air a number of times but my daughter in Australia has now left scouts so I’m no longer directly involved.  I do know from talking to some of the family here that scouting in the Philippines is organised very differently to how it is in Australia.  Most of it is school based from what I can see.

But we have plenty of time to see what we can work out with the scouts and if you get on air in Davao and I get on air in Cagayan De Oro then that sounds about the right distance to see if we could catch up on 40 or 80 metres without elaborate stations and I could organise a schedule with the radio club to see if it’s practical to talk to southern Australia.

Thanks for the offer :)

Edited September 6, 2019 by GeoffH