HAM Radio Basics- HAM 101

why do we need ham or amateur radio it's a question that I know many of you ponder and the answer is quite simple ham radio allows for local and planet-wide communications when all other forms of communications fail today's world is connected by complex forms of communications namely cellular communications and the Internet these forms of communication are very easy to use but rely on massive infrastructure between two individuals communicating if one cog Annette wheel breaks the whole thing can come crashing down conversely amateur radio relies only on the two parties involved the electronic epitome of individual responsibility just a few things are needed on either end power a radio and antenna and depending on the mode of communications maybe a few accessories in this series we will show you how ham radio and frankly the entire radio spectrum can be an indispensable tool in emergencies large and small the radio spectrum is huge you can think of it as millions of channels to which you can tune into to learn all about what is available to you is a lifelong endeavor but learning just a few basics is rather simple so that's where I'll start there are two basic types of communication in the ham universe communicating short range and worldwide communications in ham speak I'm referring to VHF and HF communications or very high frequency and high frequency being new to amateur radio you may have no idea what this means so let's talk about it with some examples starting with short range communications let's say that you need to keep in contact with friends family members or even local emergency responders you're going to need to use a certain portion of the radio spectrum that is conducive to local communications a portion of that spectrum that offers clarity and reliability and possibly extreme portability a proven solution to local communications has always been the very high frequency portion of the spectrum or VHF VHF is chosen by police fire air traffic dispatching FM radio TV and businesses and there's a nice section of the band that's carved out for you and I as well the term VHF refers to the frequency in the case of VHF that is 30 to 300 megahertz as the amateur radio operators our little slice of the pie is right in the middle from 144 to 148 megahertz but being new to ham radio that probably means nothing to you so let's show you how it works in the real world this is a Preppers favorite the bow fan you v5r this little $30 radio on a $15 test is all it takes for you to get started in ham radio but more on that later for now there's a link below to our article on how to get your ham license in seven days what can you do with this radio well in its most basic method of communication say one bow thing to another or simplex communication as its termed you basically have two low powered radios with small antenna how well this radio works is dependent on the laws of physics and is directly tied to the characteristics of VHF frequencies while VHF is mostly unaffected by atmospheric noise giving you clear and reliable communications it is restricted to line-of-sight communications simply put line-of-sight communications means things like mountains hills large buildings and most importantly the earth itself can disrupt the signal let's take an example of two people standing on relatively level ground because of the curvature of the earth there is a limited distance that these two can have line of sight before the earth itself gets in the way in the case of these two radios the antennas are say six feet above the ground the distance to where the earth starts blocking the signal due to the curvature is three miles this is called the radio horizon for the other individual the distance is also three miles added together two people with Bo fangs can theoretically talk to each other from six miles apart in reality if you have trees building small hills or other terrain you are probably going to be limited to just a mile or two while a mile or two is more than enough to talk to your own property and to your own neighborhood what do we do to extend this coverage yet still use these convenient handheld radios dotting the landscape around the world are repeaters what do they do exactly what their name implies they take the signal that you transmit receive it then repeat it generally speaking these repeaters are publicly available to licensed ham operators and are run mostly by preparedness minded individuals lots of these repeaters operate on backup power for use in emergencies and some are perpetually powered by the likes of solar and other renewable forms of backup these repeaters are most often located in ideal locations that is high up in the air the higher the antenna the further the radio horizon combined with the fact that the antennas themselves are really efficient they can help the range of your handheld radio go from a few miles to 50 miles or more there's a third option for the preparedness minded individual and that is to set up your own repeater mobile radios such as my Ken with tmv 71a have a feature called cross band repeat in normal operation these types of radios operate just the same as your handheld but you can permanently install a bigger antenna much higher up in the air the radios also have more power and you can choose to backup that power with a system that you control check out the links below on our Solar series for more on that one the function of cross band repeat allows them to receive on one band and simultaneously transmit on another effectively creating your own repeater in a future video we will show you exactly how to do this but for now there are some links below to radios that can do this now keep in mind the performance of this system is dependent on your antenna its height to train around your location and so on but it should greatly enhance the range of a communication system that you own and control lastly we'll talk about HF communications or high frequency this is the type of communication an outsider to amateur radio mic picture HF communications allows you to talk to the world HF consists of different frequencies compared to VHF between three and thirty megahertz and these frequencies have different characteristics for example some of your signal when you key up on the bow Fang actually radiates directly out into outer space HF is different the radio waves actually bounce off the ionosphere called skip propagation allowing for communications that are not limited to line-of-sight this skip can allow Interstate two intercontinental communications there's many reasons for this and it's way outside the scope of this video but communicating with the states around you can be relatively reliable and depending on the conditions of the Bands you can to the world with my modest setup it's more of like firing a signal out there bouncing off the ionosphere and wherever it lands it lands I'm right here in the Great Lakes and I've talked to both coasts Europe South America and listened to the world the most important fact you have to remember about all of this is there's nothing that exists between your radio and there's no infrastructure to rely on you control it and nobody can shut you up HF radio will be the de facto mode of communications in a regional national or worldwide disaster the downside to HF is the equipment can be quite expensive while I would expect each and every one of you to get licensed have a radio like the Baofeng and know how to use it HF radio takes a little more knowledge a general license and a bit more equipment if considering new the cost of entry to the HF world is going to be around a thousand dollars this is my icon ic 7200 in multicam of course it's not the absolute least expensive HF radio but for what it does it's one of the best deals with an HF rig in addition to the radio you'll need a power supply antenna and antenna tuner also the antenna might not be what you picture in your mind as an antenna the most popular type of HF antenna is the dipole basically two pieces of wire that are spread horizontally as opposed to vertically this requires you to have some real estate and a place to hang the antenna just like in our solar series I tend to pick a vendor to work on with complicated systems in the case of amateur radio I like to work with Giga parts they've got a very of a knowledgeable staff of licensed enthusiasts a huge inventory and the best prices in the industry my plan with the series is to give you specific examples of all the modes of communications that we just mentioned so you can follow along check out Giga parts in the links below Communications are one way the prepper can utilize the radio spectrum but stay tuned is our series on radio is about to blow your mind if you found this information insightful drop us a comment hit the like button below share this video with your friends and subscribe to the tin hat Ranch Channel thanks for watching

Channel: TinHatRanch

Views: 778,691

Keywords: ham radio basics, ham radio technician class license course, ham radio tutorial, ham radio repeater, ham radio license, ham radio license test

Id: Ow1hxClR5J8

Length: 8min 50sec (530 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 03 2016

Reddit Comments

[u/jenkstom]

Where is the obligatory post from ham_not_HAM? By the way, it's ham, not HAM.

[u/KN4AQ]

More proof that it is VERY difficult to produce a good "What is Ham Radio all about" video. Feels rushed (but maybe the kids won't think so). Gets a few things wrong right off the bat (few police use VHF any more, especially in the bigger cities). And doesn't take advantage of video's show-and-tell (this is mostly just the 'tell' part), at least so far. OTOH, good production techniques, as far as it goes. And this is just the intro, so we'll see.

It's aimed at 'preppers,' a group that understands the need for communications off the grid, but often lacks enough knowledge and experience to utilize the tools available. Just from the name 'Tin Hat Ranch,' I can tell the producers have a sense of humor about their passion. I think they'll help make some good hams.

I did my own "Intro to Amateur Radio" video back in 1999, for a class I was teaching with my friend Jeff AC4ZO. I had 'amateur' cameras, but 'pro' editing available to me. These two videos are very different. See which does the job for you: https://youtu.be/rCueLYt_vQY

[u/grendelt]

Nothing like a good lecture with minimal text and overly busy background. Good job with chroma cutting out the green screen. (Needs more key and fill lighting though.)

The best part (perhaps?) is nowhere in the video is "ham" written, so he just needs to fix the video title and text to correct the mistake.

[u/[deleted]]

Could do without the emcomm / prepper shtick.

[u/EsGeeBee]

A good beginners guide, thanks.

[u/uliarliarpantsonfire]

I really enjoyed it and it answered some of the basic questions I had. I'm not a prepper though or a person experienced in ham. I'm just interested and this cleared things up a bit for me. I'll check out the next video!