Amateur Radio Classes and Exams

#1
For those of you in the Columbia area that are thinking about jumping into the world of Amateur (ham) radio, the Midlands VE Test Team will be conducting classes with exams for licensing in the ETV Building near downtown Columbia SC.

http://w4cae.com/get-licensed/

The classes run from 6:00-10:00 PM Wednesday through Friday with the exam being held on Saturday. Cost is $10.00 (The VE Team in Augusta charged me $15.00 and I didn't even get any classes :(

Testing dates:
June 17
September 16
December 16

License classes will be hosted at the ETV Building near downtown Columbia on the following dates:
June 14, 15, 16
September 13, 14, 15
December 13, 14, 15

What are the benefits of Amateur Radio for the off-road enthusiast you may ask?
1. FM on the 2m (VHF) and 70cm (UHF) bands means less static and interference.
2. More Power. FCC limits CBs to only 4 watts whereas some VHF mobile radios have 75. Most dual band mobile radios have 50.
3. Free access to the 240+ repeaters in the state of South Carolina. Some repeaters have a large footprints and some are networked together.
4. Resale value. Whether you decide to upgrade your radio or just decide you don't want to do it anymore, there is a market for used radio equipment on eBay and local swap-meets.
5. Used market. As mentioned above, there is a used market for radios. I acquired my Kenwood used and saved just over $200.00
6. Smaller antennas. 1/4 wave antennas are way shorter than those for CB. I have a center loaded Larson phased for 1/4 wave VHF and 3/4 wave UHF that is 19" tall. This also makes ground-plane issues less pronounced.
7. Another hobby to dump money into that will make those that just don't understand shake their heads.
 
#2
Ham radio is really the way to go for on-trail communications. Even a cheapo handheld (aka, Baofeng UV-5r) with its stock antenna is good for many miles. Currently I'm running a fancy hand held with a magnet mount 1/4 antenna. That setup is very nice. I can easily talk to a repeater within 15 miles, no problem in the mountains. I can pick up the local repeaters with the stock antenna from inside my house, which has not been signal friendly.

And yes. Used...ftw. Got my fancy hand held for half the price used. Its fine.

It can be a bit complicated getting going and setup, but then you get setup and its all good. Once your radio is programmed, its good to go.
 
#3
I started with a cheap Baofeng and found a Kenwood TM-V71A on eBay. I love the two VFOs and Cross-Band Repeat. It also automatically IDs itself every ten minutes, eliminating the legal gray-area associated with cross-band repeating. The Beofeng has practically no selectivity compared to the Kenwood. I started with the Baofeng thinking that if I didn't want to get into this, I wouldn't be out much money. In hindsight, I would recommend to start with an inexpensive 2m mobile radio or used 2m/70cm mobile.
 
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