Hand Held Ham Radio

[Mark Ducati]

Growing up, my dad had a Ham Radio with a huge antennae on top of the house (mom hated it)... he even had a 3 meter antennae on the back of his car.

With modern technology, do they make smaller hand held units that can transmit and receive? Basically just a big old walkie talkie that can reach around the world?

I'm sure you'd still need a big antennae on your house or car...

I'd like a hand held unit that is battery operated that I can use in my home or car... I'm not too concerned about contacting the world, just want an emergency radio for when the satellites get knocked in 12-21-2012... all I want to do is be able to talk to folks with in my state and neighboring states.

Yes, I do know that you have to have an FCC license to transmit...

So what's out there for keeping it simple for stupid Ham Operators?

[Mark Ducati]

Oh... and the reason I want hand held, battery operated is for the portability of use... and I also think that smaller that I could shield and harden it from EMP? I "heard" on the internet that simply sticking and storing it in an ammo can on rubber stoppers would shield it.. yeah, the internet is full of crap, but none the less no matter how shielding/hardening with a faraday cage is accomplished, the smaller the better... right?

[Uncle Scary]

I'd like a hand held unit that is battery operated that I can use in my home or car... I'm not too concerned about contacting the world, just want an emergency radio for when the satellites get knocked in 12-21-2012... all I want to do is be able to talk to folks with in my state and neighboring states.

Does it have to be handheld (like a walkie talkie?). There are HF units that can transmit all over the U.S. (and to other countries) that are about the size of a large CB radio. They run off of 12 volts. Most of the handheld units are VHF and UHF units that can transmit a few miles without a repeater. In the event of an emergency, the repeaters will probably get knocked out. If you want to talk to others outside of your immediate area without using a repeater, you should look into HF (High Frequency) transceivers. They operate on wavelengths that get effectively bounced back to earth by the atmosphere (skip). Increased solar activity charges the ionosphere and makes it a better shortwave mirror. Making communications that rely on skip more dependable.


Yes, I do know that you have to have an FCC license to transmit...

So what's out there for keeping it simple for stupid Ham Operators?

I have the most stupid (simple) set up you can get. An entry level transceiver, a tuner, and a dipole (wire) antenna on the roof. From the West Coast, I've communicated all over the Pacific Rim, Canada, South America, and the East Coast.

[HDR]

http://www.kenwoodusa.com/Communications/Amateur_Radio/Portables/TH-F6A''

http://www.yaesu.com/indexVS.cfm?cmd=DisplayProducts&ProdCatID=111&ProdID=870&DivisionID

http://www.icomamerica.com/en/products/amateur/dstar/ic80ad/default.aspx

They are UHF or VHF so range is limited.

http://www.aussurvivalist.com/nuclear/empprotection.htm

http://www.pbjpi.com/FaradayCage.html

The problem is how do you know the home brew or commercial Faraday Cage actually works?

[hawk1911]

Now this is a definate survival topic. A way to be able to at least hear whats going on, if anything really happens then you won't have to worry about the FCC anymore anyway.

[Uncle Scary]

http://www.kenwoodusa.com/Communications/Amateur_Radio/Portables/TH-F6A''

http://www.yaesu.com/indexVS.cfm?cmd=DisplayProducts&ProdCatID=111&ProdID=870&DivisionID

http://www.icomamerica.com/en/products/amateur/dstar/ic80ad/default.aspx

They are UHF or VHF so range is limited.

Agree. UHF and VHF are pretty much line of sight unless you have a repeater. The 5 watts of output from a UHF/VHF handheld unit won't get you to the next county. A HF mobile or base unit will not only let you work the world, it will also double as a shortwave radio receiver so that you can pick up Voice of America, BBC, and other international world band radio broadcasts. Which would be super useful in the event of a world wide emergency.


The problem is how do you know the home brew or commercial Faraday Cage actually works?

If you're close enough to a nuclear blast that your faraday cage is destroyed, the condition of your electronics would be the the least of your worries.

[HDR]

Agree. UHF and VHF are pretty much line of sight unless you have a repeater. The 5 watts of output from a UHF/VHF handheld unit won't get you to the next county. A HF mobile or base unit will not only let you work the world, it will also double as a shortwave radio receiver so that you can pick up Voice of America, BBC, and other international world band radio broadcasts. Which would be super useful in the event of a world wide emergency.

True, VHF and UHF penetrate the ionosphere and HF bounces. I should had added VHF/UHF use repeaters but was too lazy to look up repeater. LOL


An amateur radio repeater is an electronic device that receives a weak or low-level amateur radio signal and retransmits it at a higher level or higher power, so that the signal can cover longer distances without degradation. Many repeaters are located on hilltops or on tall buildings as the higher location increases their coverage area, sometimes referred to as the radio horizon, or "footprint". Amateur radio repeaters are similar in concept to those in use by public safety (police, fire, etc.), business, government, military, and more. Amateur radio repeaters may even use commercially-packaged repeater systems tuned into an amateur radio frequency allocation, but more usually amateur repeaters are assembled from various sources for receivers, transmitters, controllers, power supplies, antennas, and other components.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur_radio_repeater

If you're close enough to a nuclear blast that your faraday cage is destroyed, the condition of your electronics would be the the least of your worries.

No shit?

I was answering Mark's question about EMP protection. There are plenty of plans but sure as hell no way to test it. lol Some of non-moon bat articles I've read state a lot of plans and commercial devices are an unknown quantity.


Oh... and the reason I want hand held, battery operated is for the portability of use... and I also think that smaller that I could shield and harden it from EMP? I "heard" on the internet that simply sticking and storing it in an ammo can on rubber stoppers would shield it.. yeah, the internet is full of crap, but none the less no matter how shielding/hardening with a faraday cage is accomplished, the smaller the better... right?

[Uncle Scary]

A good way to test a mylar bag as a faraday cage would be to power up a walkie talkie, put it inside the bag, and transmit with another walkie talkie from the same room. If you can hear your voice from the walkie talkie inside the bag, then your faraday cage is a fail.

[HDR]

A good way to test a mylar bag as a faraday cage would be to power up a walkie talkie, put it inside the bag, and transmit with another walkie talkie from the same room. If you can hear your voice from the walkie talkie inside the bag, then your faraday cage is a fail.


My guess would be the output of the transmitter must be equal to the output of the EMP. If you barricade a door to withstand 700 pounds of force and the barricade will work unless the force is greater than 700 pounds; although I don't know I am pretty sure the same would apply to an electromagnetic pulse.

[Uncle Scary]

If my understanding of how a Faraday cage works is correct, the EMP creates it's own opposing charge on the interior skin of the conducting material. The stronger the EMP, the stronger the cancelling charge. So a faraday cage doesn't have to be built stout, it just has to provide continuous coverage over the item to be shielded.

[JTHunter]

This site has a good description of various types of cages that MAY work - http://www.aussurvivalist.com/nuclear/empprotection.htm
According to what they say, if you take two cardboard boxes so that one will fit inside the other, line the outside of BOTH with foil, put your gear in the smaller box making sure that it is isolated from any possible contact with the foil outside (staples, etc.), it should work.
Anybody ever have an MRI? Have you looked closely at the walls of the room where the machine is? That is a Faraday cage too as the hospital has to protect the computers that RUN the MRI from the EFFECTS of the MRI. That's also why you can't have anything magnetic (watches, rings, keys, etc.) in the room. Even people with metal implants have to be careful. Some of the older implants are not made with "nonmagnetic" metals and the MRI would cause them to move, possibly with fatal consequences.

[HDR]

If my understanding of how a Faraday cage works is correct, the EMP creates it's own opposing charge on the interior skin of the conducting material. The stronger the EMP, the stronger the cancelling charge. So a faraday cage doesn't have to be built stout, it just has to provide continuous coverage over the item to be shielded.

Well if your understanding of a Faraday cage is incorrect then I am wrong also. :D However, quite a few sites planted seeds of doubt in untested designs. Prototypes are expensive to build yet all companies build them to fix what was missed while fine tuning the design.

When lightning hits a lightning rod the current either goes to ground or jumps again if the path to ground can't handle it. So where does the energy go?

The screen on the window in your microwave keeps the bad stuff inside because the diameter of the openings are less than the RF's wave length. A mistake in the math would let the RF out.

[az_paul]

At a minimum for SHTF, everyone should have a battery-powered shortwave receiver, along with an inventory of batteries!!

[HDR]

At a minimum for SHTF, everyone should have a battery-powered shortwave receiver, along with an inventory of batteries!!

True, sooner or later someone will get on the air and they will use commercial or Ham equipment.

As I have worn out rechargeable batteries and the battery magneto radios; so having a long term source of power might be more of a challenge than we might believe.


Solar power?