/out/ coms
Images are sometimes not shown due to bandwidth/network limitations. Refreshing the page usually helps.
You are currently reading a thread in /out/ - Outdoors
You are currently reading a thread in /out/ - Outdoors
Hey guys, I was thinking about buying a uv-5r because they have good reviews etc. I don't know anything about radios but it's not rocket science so I guess I can learn. My question is, what's your experience with these type of devices while /out/, will they actually help you if things go south or they are just memes. Do you need to pack an extra anthena and extra batteries so they would work?
>>761510
Uv5rs are nice because they are cheap. But they are cheap because they are bare bones. You are going to need some knowledge to use it. And the programing cable to name channels. And a general license to talk on the 2 meter and 70 cm bands.
I don't recommend doing it but i have a friend;^) that set his up with the important marine freqs and the frs, gmrs and murs freqs. And all the noaa freqs.
So his little 35 dollar uv5r is essentially a marine radio a frs/murs/gmrs radio and a weather radio on top of being a 2/.7m ham mobile. But I can't recommend doing that as the uv5r is not type certified for those uses. I am merely telling you what my friend does.
>>761510
I wouldn't count on it for any kind of emergency, but for communicating with others who are /out/, I think it would be pretty cool
read this >>989158
>>761789
grr let's try that again
http://boards.4chan.org/diy/thread/989158/
There's an infograph floating around here explaining how to set up a Baofeng and use it without getting raped. Anybody have it?
>>761559
I used mine to listen to a local ham repeater.
Every day for a month a man would troll the hams. He played the Benny Hill theme, BALLS OF STEEL, pretended to be a new ham with a borrowed license, etc. They got really really angry and even tried to foxhunt him. He eventually left and they got mad about that because they knew they'd never find him.
Radios are generally only useful if you have someone to talk to. If you're roadtripping with multiple cars it's fun to use radios.
>>761510
>it's not rocket science
Radio is fucking *magic*.
>pack an extra anthena and extra batteries
wat?
>>761559
>Uv5rs are nice because they are cheap. But they are cheap because they are bare bones. You are going to need some knowledge to use it. And the programing cable to name channels. And a general license to talk on the 2 meter and 70 cm bands.
Basically this. Get a license, play around with it.
They're shitty radios, but for $30, you get a lot of radio for the money. They'll transmit on just about anything, so know what you're doing before you PTT. If you fuck up commercial or public safety frequencies, the FCC can and will ass-rape you. Just listening and "not hearing anyone on the channel" doesn't mean you're not parked on a repeater uplink.
If you want to throw $30 at the radio, go for it, but get your license. The best equipment in the world won't do anyone any good, but someone who knows what they're doing can get shit done with cheap shit.
>>761510
VHF/UHF has a bit of a limited range (less than 150km in best circumstances,) and their effectiveness depends a lot on where you are and who's listening. In some cases, they're quite useful if you can hop on a forrestry/park repeater and ask for help, or raise somebody through the local HAM or GMRS repeaters. In other cases there won't be anyone on frequency and you'll just be stuck until somebody calls it in after you don't get back in time and then you can use the radio to guide in search teams, IF you have their frequencies.
If you're looking for something to reach out for help when you're in remote areas then you should consider a SPOT or PLB. If you want to chat with your friends while out hiking in separate groups then get one of these and stick to MURS frequencies.
Get a cb good buddy
>>761831
is this what you're looking for senpai?
>>762157
Yes! Tyty
>>761510
If you buy one, get a better antenna, this will make a significant difference.
In the forest, with trees and such, it has about 2 kilometer range.
On top of mountain, with line of sight to target and optimal conditions, it has about 60 kilometer range.
Build quality is good. FM radio is nice.
When things go south, they might be usefull, depending on situation. It can handle frequency ranges used by air traffic, marine (boats) and almost anything which uses handheld radios, like security companies, forrest rangers, search and rescue teams etc. My countries police, firefighters and ambulances use encrypted systems now, but a lot of places still use unencrypted transmission, so you can use them too on baofeng.
And offcourse use as walkie talkie to communicate with friendlies is always good. Find out local free to use frequencies, otherwise you get in trouble. Allthough in life or death situation, you are allowed to break into illegal frequencies, at least in my country that is.
So if you can spare the money, you can have lots of fun with it and might even be usefull when SHTF.
I always bring mine when I go fishing near the sea port. Listen to the fm radio or the marine traffic.
>>761510
They can help with if you go north, East or West as well.
>>762483
>If you buy one, get a better antenna, this will make a significant difference.
THIS
A friend of mine was complaining about bad reception until he changed the antenna, turns out that the stock antennas have a very high DOA rate.
OP here. Thank you all for your info. As I said before, I'm thinking about getting one for emergency purposes. I hike alone which is no issue (or major) when I just go for weekend camps or hikes in the woods. But I also do hike in the mountains, and my primary goal would be to use it as a means to get help in case of emergency. I know I would probably be breaking some rules using dedicated channels but as has being said, human life is a far superior good and if I have to, I'll do it. The same if I happen to have it around during an earthquake or something.
I'm not a retard so I'll be also looking to get a licence to operate the radio within the margins of law, but that is not my main purpose.
>>762483
>>762652
Can you recc a better antenna?
>tfw studying for Foundation and Intermediate license
Going to my local club's meet on Monday. Fucking loving this amateur radio stuff desu, it's proper interesting and fun even just listening.
Get the UV5R+, as recommended to me by an anon her on /out/ and it comes with a better aerial and a few bits and bobs, it's also cheap.
You can listen in without needing a license or anything, you can use PMR446 the walkie talkie frequencies though.
>>762023
>Radio is fucking *magic*.
Fucking this. I thought it'd be fucking simple but bloody hell, it's incredible.
>Just listening and "not hearing anyone on the channel" doesn't mean you're not parked on a repeater uplink.
What do you mean?
>>762665
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/2pcs-lot-Diamond-Dualband-Antenna-RH771-SMA-Female-for-UV-5R-UV-5RA-UV-B5-UV/1248544413.html#!
This is what I use. 40 cm flexible.
But make sure its a real one, there are lots of fakes out there. Google it.
>>762483
>FM radio is nice.
Wait seriously? I can flip from emergency distress channels to pop music?
I need one of these now
>>762834
You can also get various other things like listen to mobile radio the stuff motorcyclists use and also a listen to a small portion of aeronautical stuff. I can listen to London Control ATC for example and Luton Airport Tower.
>>762834
Yes, even monitor 2 frequencies, whilst listening to fm. It will automatically switch when it recieves something on those frequencies. Bretty nice.
Sound from the small speaker is not really impressive, but better than a smartphone.
Pic is mine with the 40cm diamond antenna.
>>762700
It actually isn't legal to broadcast on FRS/GMRS frequencies without a licence, or FCC authorization. If your place of work has an FCC channel lease, you can broadcast on that specific channel with permission from your workplace.
>>762023
What is that microwave looking thing anon?
>>762882
ah didn't see that PMR446 is only for the EU, burgerland doesn't have it, dw then.
Only useful if you have buddies to use it with, if you are on your own with a one of those just throw it out, its dead weight. I've tested these and they work around 3 km depending on the terrain. In thick woods around half of that.
>>763287
So they are a meme indeed?
>>762901
Comm test device I suppose.
>>763500
Great way to get into amateur radio.
For apocalyptic scenarios they're probably useless.
If I build a bigass antenna would I be able to hook it to one of the radios in the op and talk everywhere? pls no bully
>>763639
Would deffo increase the range but you're limited by the power and the frequency itself, high frequencies go further than VHF and UHF for example.
>>763641
Thank you
>>762882
I should mention the reason you aren't able to broadcast with one of these radios is simply because they aren't FCC certified. If your radio is certified for those frequencies you can use it on the FRS/GMRS channels without authorization. They also make horrible scanners because of their scan rate (it's dreadfully slow)
But they do serve as great radios for work/and those interested in HAM
>>763741
>fixed antenna
The FCC can kiss my ass. It's not a danger to anyone if I broadcast on "Walkie-channel 9" and nobody's going to know the difference based on the broadcast alone.
>>763807
Just be sure to change your power to low or medium.
>>763966
>low power
>walking the dogs at night
>get to the end of the block, some 500 -600 feet away
>call back home, "Red to Peach, can you hear me?"
>get >Yhe......Ei...'ear.....
Yeah, I'll stick to my high power, thanks. If the FCC wasn't a bag of dicks I could walkie back home from 3 blocks away legally, BUT NOOOOOOO, GOD FORBID SOMEONE WANTS TO BE SAFE /AND/ FREE.....................
>>763741
Scan rate is shit ngl
>>764068
Tried MURS frequencies?
>>763966
nobody is checking
the FCC basically said they don't care what happens on CB, FRS, GMRS and MURS. If you fuck with people on business band or some expensive licensed freq then you'll get in trouble.
>>765448
There's a few other interference issues to worry about. If your radio puts out spurious signals or has crappy harmonic suppression then it could interfere with other users. Using high power increases the chance that these unwanted signals will propagate further and interfere with more people. Fortunately most modern commercial radios, like the UV5R, are relatively clean and this issue doesn't come up very often. Ironically a lot of purpose-built FRS radios spew signals all over the spectrum and are just noisy as hell. Fortunately they only put out 500 mW so it's somewhat contained.
>>765534
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Cmv58lTWgU
>>766544
Yes! Exactly like that!
>>765411
Yep - MURS Ch3 and Ch5, "Walkie" FRS Ch5 and Ch9.
where can i find out more general info?
is getting licensed difficult?
>>769286
ARRL for ham licensing, I like AA9PW's online exam.
FCC for everything else (GMRS, Commercial, etc).
>>769286
AARL
the tech license is not hard. You can download free apps with all the questions to practice.
General is harder and i hear that extra is esoteric shit. But to just talk on the 2m and 70cm all you need is the tech. Which is pretty easy.
>>769298
Shoul also add ... Amateur licensing is easy and cheap. Lets you do a ton of shit ... analog, digital... HF to microwave... tv, data, text...
GMRS ... Technically need it for non-type-approved equip., definitely need the callsign if you use or operate a repeater. About $60, no exam.
Commercial is a bitch... expensive and difficult.
This is all for the US.
>>769312
U wot m8?
Almost all of that is wrong except the last line.
>>769286
UK here but I've no doubt the licenses are the same.
The foundation is very basic, you'll have no problems, intermediate goes into electronics a lot, and I presume advanced goes even more into electronics and other things.
The annoying bit is trying to find somewhere to do your exam. My local club only offers it as part of a course and the next course is January 2017 so I'll have to do it somewhere else.
>>769843
I'm in the U.K and I've had my Beefing for a year or so now but never really got round to working out whats what with it. I bought it initially to use as a walkie for PMR Can someone tell me what frequency and band i should be using for that?
Also just for listening purposes what other frequencies are good? So far I've managed to get up on a hill and listen to a few coastguards, a harbour master and a one way conversation between two ham radio guys I think.
>>770146
Never mind I've managed to programme the 8 PMR channels into the radio. Going to get up on a the hill by the sea at the weekend and see what I can hear
>>770146
PMR is 446.0-446.1 however it's in channels.
If you want to learn the basics get pic related, it's cheap and will help, with the exam and just learning about radios in general.
btw listening to aviation and I think maritime is technically illegal but you'll be fine as long as you don't transmit or something.
https://ukrepeater.net/index.html
Use this website to find out about your local repeaters. A repeater is a way of boosting the range of your radio, it also acts as the local hangout or w/e for local radio people.
Tune to the output or transmitting/tx frequency and you will need to enter the CTCSS code (way of allowing people to talk on the same frequency). You can find the codes on that website along with the repeater.
So input something like
145.700mhz
CTCSS code is 77hz
To access the CTCSS menu, press menu, type 11 in for R-CTCSS, that's receive CTCSS, hit menu again, type 77, hit menu again and you're done.
Also check the band plans for 2m
https://www.thersgb.org/services/bandplans/#19
and 70cm
https://www.thersgb.org/services/bandplans/#21
Different parts of each band are for different things, have a read through, transmissions on digital sections will sound like bollocks to you because they're not for the UV-5R etc.
I wouldn't bother with PMR for listening in, walkie talkies are not hugely common and are short range, just have a listen through everything really.
>>771102
Thanks that's really helpful.
I've just added the nearest repeater to me (about 10-15 miles away) will see if I can hear anything on that.
Is the licence fairly straight forward? When I looked it up last it was suggesting I'd need to join a ham club to take it. Could I just read up on it and take a test or do I have to be a member of a ham club? I quite like the idea of ham radio, was a keen CB user when I was younger.
>>771341
Foundation is, although I haven't taken it yet lel I'm getting high scores on the test 90-100%.
You don't have to be a member of a club but you'll need to talk to them about an exam.
>>762023
>Just listening and "not hearing anyone on the channel" doesn't mean you're not parked on a repeater uplink.
could you please explain what exactly this means? I was under the impression that I could just listen to any frequency without doing any mischief, but that statement has me worried now!?
>>771352
I don't see how you could interfere whatsoever by just receiving the repeater output desu, I don't know what he means.
>>771379
Yeah I see the book is recommended as the one to get. Will grab that and check out the other info too.
Going to see what I can pick up from the hill.
Thanks again for the info
>>771362
Not about listening on the output, thats fine.
Repeaters listen on one frequency, and retransmit that signal on another frequency. That difference is called a "split". Amateur, that split is usually 600kHz for VHF, 5MHz for UHF. Commercial can be wider or narrower based on band plans and allocations, but since combiners/duplexers are typically set up for 600k/5meg, the splits are usually around there.
Important thing here is that the repeater doesn't transmit on the same frequency it listens on.
Repeaters are set up in locations for good coverage. Put a good antenna on it and they've got real good ears.
Your handheld isn't set up for good coverage, nor is the antenna real great.
So you're parked on one frequency that happens to be the input to a local sheriffs analog repeater. You listen, but since all the officers are on their handhelds, you can't hear them directly, but the repeater can.
Your radio isn't set for PL/DPL tones (sort of an "access key" for the repeater input), so the repeater's not going to repeat your signal. But there's a phenomenon known as the "capture effect", where the receiver (on the repeater) can't lock into an allowed signal (officer's radio) with another source of interference (your radio) on the same frequency. The receiver either drowns out one signal entirely, or "picket-fences" between the two (more common with mobiles).
That interference, deliberate or not, is what the FCC frowns upon. Commercial enforcement does happen. Amateurs call it "foxhunting". Fines are often levied against offenders.
Don't just "pick a channel that's quiet" and use it. Know the band plans and use a frequency you're licensed for and allowed to use.
>Select all images with trees
>>771403
That's interesting but not quite what we were talking about. We're talking about amateur repeaters.
Why would you be parked on the input and not the output? Even baofengs can be programmed to transmit on the input frequency when you press PTT.
I thought foxhunting was the sport or w/e of tracking down a signal like a hunt.
But yes definitely know the bandplan.
>>771405
Because if you're a dumbass you might not realize it's a repeater input and try broadcasting simplex without tones. Like he said.
Not him but i got it. He's just saying don't be a dumbass.
Stick to the frs/murs/gmrs freqs untill you get a liscence
>>762157
I made that about a year ago just in time for all the crazies who held up the bird sanctuary to all get on the bandwagon. Of course, if you're drawing law enforcement attention, they're going to monitor your completely open comms and hear you winning about being hungry.
If you're using your baofeng to hunt, camp, fish, or other innocuous outdoors stuff this guide will get you by fine.
>>771685
Shit Baofengs are everywhere. The Chicago PD for example likes them because apparently their issue radios have some kind of function to where Dispatch can track who is saying what, so they use them at their black site prison and wherever they don't want to get caught abusing people.
>>774548
The motorola systems can do stuff like identify who's transmitting and lock out specific radios. Boston likely crosslinked their new moto system with their old analog system which is how baofengs are working. But it also opens them up to jamming and interference, and there's no privacy like he motos with encryption.
>>774573
Yeah it sounds like the Chicago PD has done similar, because apparently they've had to call in the FCC because somebody keeps dropping n-bombs on the net and they can't figure out who.
>>774548
Why would you tell someone over the radio that you are abusing someone?
>>764068
>muh I must act on my desire to broadcast my empty life
people like you are destroying this country
>>774690
>muh I must act on my desire to broadcast my empty life
Nice projection, faggot. I already explained my need so you can fuck right off.
For any HT (BAOFENG or otherwise) I'd recommend the N9TAX or Nelson Antennas rollup (google n9tax, ebay or youtube Nelson Antennas for more). Incredible range, but make sure you get the right antenna for what you need. For most people you just need the 2m/70cm one.
>>763287
The stock antenna is pretty deaf, that's a significant limiting factor. With the stock antenna on a BF-F8+, which is 5 watts despite what the marketing says, I was able to get a repeater 37 miles away. With my VX-8DR and a 19 inch whip, I managed to get 289km from a hilltop using APRS.
Range depends on many conditions, and can never be simplified to a base number.
>>761510
I've had mine out this morning listening to the marine channels, I was able to pick Belfast Coast Guard up on CH16 a fair bit, that's 170km form me so they can get a good range.
>>761510
I run a UV5R as a security guard as does half the guards I work with I definitely suggest it
