Radio’s
You don’t need much to make a reasonable
contact, a cheap handheld like I used (Baofeng
UV5R) got me over a hundred miles, although
propagation helped.
A good secondhand HF radio (until you are more
into the hobby, secondhand radio’s are readily
available from good suppliers
EG, Waters and Stanton, Martin Lynch & Sons
Antenna’s
It’s okay to have a great radio but if you just attach
a piece of string you’re not going to get very far.
When I go out portable I use various vertical
antenna’s at home I use an end fed half wave
antenna, this is a very important part of being an
Amateur Radio operator so choose wisely.
With 25 Watts of power you actually have the
potential to talk across the world
Yeah I’m not joking about that, I did say potential to
talk across the world didn’t I? First of all you can
use the digital modes, DMR, C4FM, DSTAR among
others and with these modes you can use a 5 Watt
handheld radio. With that 5 Watt radio you can chat
with the US, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, the
choice is limitless.
With HF how far you get with 25 Watts relies
greatly on Propagation (See Propagation page)
Use HF Radio and Digital Modes.
Build and Use your own radio.
Talk to the International Space Station and
Orbiting Satellites.
Amateur Radio Direction Finding
Get involved using Raspberry Pi projects.
Get involved with Youth on the Air (YOTA)
SOTA (summits on the Air), POTA (Parks on the
Air)
Get involved with the Amateur Radio
Community (Via RSGB).
The above are just some of the projects and
adventures you could have with Amateur Radio, as
a Foundation Licence holder you will be able to use
upto 25 Watts and be able to use most of the HF
bands and surprisingly that is enough to get you
quite a way around the world.
Remember as a Foundation Licence holder you
have 25 Watts to use, which to be honest is plenty
for these listed and a world more.
Talk via Satellites
Talk to the International Space Station
Use digital service to talk, not just in the UK,
but all around the world
Amateur Radio Direction Finding
Your chance to build (and use) your very own
radio equipment
HamTrain
Ham Train is run by Essex Ham and let
me tell you this, Essex Ham are the
leaders in foundation training and hold
regular courses.
RSGB Training
Okay Essex Ham are top for a purpose,
because they’re the best, however take a
look at the RSGB Foundation page, there
is still some usefull information there.
Contacts
ipklondon@yahoo.com
You can get onto the Essex Ham training course
by Clicking here the courses run for three weeks
and are really suited for everyone, New to the
hobby are well catered for.
I’m not one to promote things I do not believe in so
it shows how much I trust Essex Ham.
So give Pete a shout and get yourself checked in
on one of his courses, they’re free and well run
and to be honest you cannot ask for more than
that can you.
