Ham radio operators?

[Flip]

Hi

Is there anybody in KBland who is a Ham Radio operator?

I have been playing around with 26 and 540 Mhz and was thinking about getting into some thing a bit more powerfull but I'm a mec eng and know nothing about RF.

We started to use UHF in our hunting trips but found that it was very line of sight and even the 2W handhelds had limited range. I had a 5w UHF base set installed in the landy with a high gain aerial which worked a lot better. I then brought a AM CB base set with a 6 foot aerial that went into the landy and a 26,27 and 28 AM, USB and LSB base set and a 5m home base aerial for home that I can talk to guys in Aust and USA on if the atmospheric conditions are right. I have been recently buying up some old 2W AM handhelds and trying to get these going. I like the idea of getting into old military radios as my landy was a radio truck. What next, short wave?

I can currently talk on AM between home, my man cave which is mile away from home, work, my landrover and possibly my motorcycle if I get another radio set.

[Jantar]

I was many years ago. Used to have a lot of fun on the old ZC1 Mk2. I gave up in the early 1970s, and now I doubt if I could even manage 5 wpm on CW.

[Skiwi]

Yeap, Ham here.

I am about to go down this path so I can keep tabs on my young fella as he zooms along the trail ahead of me.
I think the UHF FM is the most practical for us as we won't be miles apart. Im picking getting it all tidily into the helmets and riding clothing with VOX will be the tricky part.

While 26mhz AM will generally have slightly more practical (not skip) distance it tends to pick all sorts of interference and generally needs larger aerials.

Cheers
Skiwi