RADIO THREAD!
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You are currently reading a thread in /g/ - Technology
You are currently reading a thread in /g/ - Technology
Just picked up this little BaoFeng UV-5R. Hearing local businesses and construction mostly. Pretty fun!
Would like to know what cool things you /g/s have done with BaoFengs or any radios in general. Also looking for advice for my next purchase. I'd like a handheld that can do P25 Phase 1 to hear the cops. Suggestions?
Also, RADIO GENERAL.
shameless self bump. I think I'll dump some of the radio related stuff I have from my internet researchings...
Anyone?
>>51972850
I bought one of the 20$ SDR sticks last year.
It covers 25MHz to 2+GHz.
The lower bands are mostly covered by strong radio station signals and the sensitivity was pretty bad to pick up CBs/CW stations. I picked some airport stuff at the 100-150MHz, and some amateur repeaters at VHF.
I could recognize the TV signals, the some encrypted government radios, lots and lots of fucking radars and some bus drivers, but I have to say that unless you really know what you're looking for, I don't see how someone could bother figuring out how to demodulate and decode all this fuckload of digital transmissions.
I've been planning to make a good discone antenna and put in on my rooftop (mostly because the included antenna is shit). However I've been postponing it for quite a while and I doubt I ever will go through with it.
Also an upconverter would be nice.
Maybe in the future I'll get an amateur license to set up an APRS station and start transmitting.
Which sounds pretty fun but currently out of budget.
BaoFengs are cheap enough. I'll probably get a couple more.
you should get a ham radio license.
amateur extra here ask me anything
>>51973359
how 2 into long range packet radio?
>>51973390
you don't
packet radio is short range, and if you wanna go long distance use digipeated APRS
if you wanna do long distance anything you need a HF rig, and if you wanna do long distance digital, PSK31 is easy to get started with and ultra popular and normie tier
JT65 is ultra low powered and cool too
>>51973344
Do the SDR sticks pick up the P25 Phase 1 and Phase 2 stuff that all the Law Enforcement is using now? If so, that sounds like my kinda deal.
Any idea how hard the APRS license is to get compared to other licenses like HAM?
>>51973485
can't decode
APRS license doesn't exist, you need a ham radio license to transmit APRS
Did any one mess around with those cheap crappy radios as a kid?
>10 years old
>find some shitty plastic Walkie-Talkie somebody had broken and thrown away near a basketball court
>pull off little plastic cap on top of antennae and uncoil the copper wiring in it
>there's like 100 metres of the shit
>climb up to top of of Light tower and wrap the wiring around it
>friend comes back with battery and we turn it on
>start hearing Spanish person talking nonstop
>I live in Australia
>thought we picked up some radio station until we talked into it
>Spanish guy starts getting angry and tells us in broken English to get off the channel
No idea what the fuck kind of frequency/channel we picked up but was interesting.
Another time a friend hooked another cheap shitty radio up to a practically flat Motorcycle battery and we could talk to truck drivers on their CB radios (the highway was only like 2km away though)
How illegal is this shit?
>>51973485
I'm in the EU and we have TETRA instead of the P25.
It works circa 400MHz, and the SDR picks it up, but of course it's all encrypted.
I don't think APRS requires a special license, but you need to have some kind of radio license to transmit in the frequency range that's used in your area. The protocol itself uses call-signs.
>>51973532
That sounds super interesting. Damn, I don't know anything about the aussie unlicensed band.
The walkie talkie shit is definitely illegal but nobody can catch you unless you transmit for an extended period of time or if you transmit often.
CB radio is totally legal, but AFAIK you can't homebrew your own radio, nor can you bump up the power. in ham radio you can homebrew and use any amount of power under 1.5kW in the US
>>51973569
APRS uses ham radios, you need a minimum of a Technician license if you're in the US
It sounds like SDR is the best "bang for the buck" for getting lots of frequency range.
>>51973513
No you don't
>Implying it's easy to get caught by the FCC if you don't have a fixed location
SDR is good only if you have a decent antenna. You can't transmit with those 20 dollar cheapos too.
>>51973614
>>do you need a license
>no, nobody can catch you
nigger if you wanna do it illegally why even ask if you need a fucking license
to do it legally you need a minimum technician, to do it illegally no you don't need a fucking license
>>51972850
I bought a Yaeso FT-60 a while back after I got my tech license and I almost never use it. Funny enough I had it on tonight, since Sundays are when the local club all get on to talk. After like 15 mins of check ins one person asked another a question and then it was silent for about 40 minutes straight before anybody else got over their autism enough to talk.
I like mine.
>>51973642
*Yaesu
It seems like a pretty decent radio if anybody was wondering, like I said around here there just don't seem to be many people talking unfortunately.
>>51973615
Most software radios have the transmit range of a wifi router.
>>51973675
yeah if you buy the 200 dollar sdr's
20 dollar cheapos are receive only
>>51973634
I wish I knew before I got my license the fucking fcc posts your callsign along with your full name and address online. It's the stupidest fucking thing I've ever heard of.
>>51973695
>not using a po box
i mean my name is out there, so what
you don't know my callsign
>>51973390
Get a 2 meter receiver that can handle packet radio. Get a license. Read some books on packet radio. There are 3 ways I know about to make packet radio long range. One is to use digirepeaters to make connection through multiple stations. Two is to use packet radio satellites. Three is connect to a station that is connected to the internet.
>>51973720
There's no reason for any of it to be out there.
>>51973513
>>51973588
>>51973569
Ham license is definitely a priority. Thanks for the additional info.
>>51973759
it sucks but whatever
my name being on the web is literally nothing as long as it's not tied to my home address
all the internet knows is that there exists a person with my name
>>51973786
see you on the air senpai
>>51973642
I've noticed that same kind of awkward hesitation in my area, too. haha.
>>51973695
>>51973759
This. I've noticed this too. It seems pretty fucking irresponsible for them to do.
>>51973855
What do people in your area talk about? After someone broke the ice all they talked about was their setups. It felt like I was in an audio-only battlestation thread.
>>51973645
This is interesting. Good reception?
>>51973695
I've had a license since 2002. The only thing that has happened because of it is I've received a couple catalogs for amateur radio equipment and a request to join the ARRL at the address I put on my license. .
The only thing that entry tells a random person looking through the database is that someone lives at that address. You can figure that out with google maps on satellite mode when you see my car parked in my driveway.
>>51973890
Yes, mostly about their equipment. But they (all 3 of them) seem to know each other pretty well. They also talk about putting new repeaters or towers up and other "club business".
I use a HS-8R on trips, the latest version is the UV-9R which my dad uses.
I don't really send on my radio unless I'm riding in a group though, it's mainly for listening for road and traffic conditions.
>>51972850
>>51973485
Cheapest option for P25 or trunking in general is going to be Motorola Astro Saber series (I, II, III) because the XTS stuff starts at ~$400 for bare equipment.
You'll need to look up your local law enforcement frequencies to see if they still use 800 MHz.
>Think about getting a baofeng
>Hear mixed stories about using them unlicensed will cause trouble, but listening would be fine. Or not at all
So until the opportunity rises to get a license, is it worth to get one to use for listening / using it together with other PMR walkie-talkies on holidays/exercises?
It also helps as an incentive to go for the license.
Decommissioned by govt... have like 20-30 such radios but this one was special
>>51978924
>>51978937
>>51972850
any advices for marine radios? going to norway every year fishing and it seems common cheap walkie talkies don't work at open sea even at calm weather and the boat is visible say 500m away, any tips?
>>51978947
>>51978965
There's not really any difference in performance. Marine handheld radios have pre programmed channels and most will float on water.
>>51978924
I don't understand. Its special because a drill bit was broke off in it?
>>51979142
Yeah, it's the one that finally broke drill bit.
>>51979157
Have you gotten one that was usable?
>>51979129
weird, could the metal (AL) boat interfere with the reception like faraday cage ?
>>51979183
Only one complete working radio out of whole lot.
>>51973786
I don't understand what's the point of this super seekrit club code.
Aren't police radios encrypted in the US?
>>51973569
You can listen to TETRA in some cases. rtl-sdr.com has an article on it.
>>51980944
you're right. I didn't know that.
>>51978924
If they were cheap enough, it could be worth it. How much was the lot?
>>51979367
In most of the major cities they are. Where I live (Western U.S.) the main dispatch line is open and then they have other encrypted channels that they can move to.
>>51973359
0 experience with this stuff, where should I start
Not a radio but have this scanner can never hear anything on ham and amateur though im sure the antenna is shit. i bought a decent 800mhz antenna for listening to the police though, what would be a good all around antenna preferebly portable
>>51973485
>P25
Yes, the NSA guys tip off the DEA guys. Those P25 communications are encrypted, but everything else is easy to listen to. Usually trunked systems, so you need 2 of those cheap receivers to follow the conversations. one for the control channel and one for the voice.... or more if you want to capture everything.
>tfw in the UK so can't listen in on police
found some security guards using them to talk about which models they'd fuck. not really much to pick up in my area
>>51983579
Nagoya 771 or the Diamond or Watson version of that antenna.
>>51972850
Thats what i do for a living. Work for Motorola selling radios and systems.
Allright cyberpunk faggots and mouth fedora enthusiast I'm only going to say this once jew cucks.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/EASY-DIGI-UV-5R-INTERFACE-for-laptops-and-desktops-/221597499367?hash=item33983d7fe7:g:93oAAOxywTZSTbW4
Figure it out.
