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Thread: Ham Radio Questions

  1. Top Of Page | #1
    Daily Grinding! RamIt's Avatar

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    Ham Radio Questions

    So I'll preface that I do not currently have my Ham license and my radio knowledge is limited to military radio systems on a basic level. I know there's a few people on here that know radios pretty well, so I'm hoping you can help me out.

    What I'm looking for is a vehicle mounted solution that will yield reasonable range without retrans (we have very few public stations here, and the private ones are full for the most part). I'm not sure if single band or dual band is the right fit; this would be primarily for SHTF situations. I'd like to have a system that can do an internal retransmission to a handheld radio (think police/military setup).

    I have a friend that is about 140 miles north of me that I'd like to be able to reach, but I don't think that's possible without hitting a retrans station. However, I have intentions of moving up his way which would put me inside of 50 miles.



    I appreciate any information on equipment that y'all can provide!!

    2021 3500 Mega HO DRW

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    Old & Grumpy! Polaraco's Avatar

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    Re: Ham Radio Questions

    All I know about military radios is they don't work with an AK round through them.


    2003- 3500 RWD Automatic.
    S & B intake, BD Intercooler, Pusher Air Horn, MM3 Double R Tuning, Turbo Timer, electric Flex-a-lite fans, FASS 95,
    50 HP tips, upgrade to 351 turbo, 3.42 gears, Twin air compressors, air bags, Remote dual oil filters, Hellwig sway bar, Front Winch. Home made Fuel Heater, BD Exhaust brake with Torque Lock. Tons of TLC

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  4. Top Of Page | #3
    Daily Grinding! RamIt's Avatar

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    Re: Ham Radio Questions

    Quote Originally Posted by Polaraco View Post
    All I know about military radios is they don't work with an AK round through them.
    You are absolutely correct about this. The other fact is that even if you have SATCOM...it won't have a crypto key and the commo guy is on R&R


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    Old & Grumpy! Polaraco's Avatar

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    Re: Ham Radio Questions

    Quote Originally Posted by RamIt View Post
    You are absolutely correct about this. The other fact is that even if you have SATCOM...it won't have a crypto key and the commo guy is on R&R
    LOL We didn't carry crypto's as truck drivers. (I wanted to be an engineer and that was the Army's response) We carried an M1 with a bandilier, long range portables, and 2 grenades to blow up our loads if we were disabled. We'd be in trouble if we didn't get the password phrase


    2003- 3500 RWD Automatic.
    S & B intake, BD Intercooler, Pusher Air Horn, MM3 Double R Tuning, Turbo Timer, electric Flex-a-lite fans, FASS 95,
    50 HP tips, upgrade to 351 turbo, 3.42 gears, Twin air compressors, air bags, Remote dual oil filters, Hellwig sway bar, Front Winch. Home made Fuel Heater, BD Exhaust brake with Torque Lock. Tons of TLC

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  8. Top Of Page | #5
    Daily Grinding! RamIt's Avatar

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    Re: Ham Radio Questions

    Quote Originally Posted by Polaraco View Post
    LOL We didn't carry crypto's as truck drivers. (I wanted to be an engineer and that was the Army's response) We carried an M1 with a bandilier, long range portables, and 2 grenades to blow up our loads if we were disabled. We'd be in trouble if we didn't get the password phrase
    Our go to was Frequency Hop Cypher Text......which doesn't work in mountains. But it's ok, let's do this op to the mountains with no FM comms or anyway of calling for support LOL.


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  10. Top Of Page | #6
    Daily Grinding! RamIt's Avatar

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    Re: Ham Radio Questions

    So I found a reasonably priced HF mobile radio yesterday. https://www.amazon.com/Kenwood-TS-48...fsclp_pl_dp_10

    HF would definitely give the range I'm after; but I'd probably have to put some HMMWV sized whips on the truck, no?


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  12. Top Of Page | #7
    Hotram9212's Avatar

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    Re: Ham Radio Questions

    We use a Yaesu FT-857D, it's a HF rig that does single sideband upper and lower, uhf, vhf, it can scan, it can do it all. Also look at portable power systems out of TN. We use these. Just not a cheap setup......


    https://www.portableuniversalpower.com/commander-857/

    Sent from my LM-V450 using Tapatalk


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  14. Top Of Page | #8
    Daily Grinding! RamIt's Avatar

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    Re: Ham Radio Questions

    Quote Originally Posted by Hotram9212 View Post
    We use a Yaesu FT-857D, it's a HF rig that does single sideband upper and lower, uhf, vhf, it can scan, it can do it all. Also look at portable power systems out of TN. We use these. Just not a cheap setup......


    https://www.portableuniversalpower.com/commander-857/

    Sent from my LM-V450 using Tapatalk
    Thank you for the suggestions! I’ll check those out

    2021 3500 Mega HO DRW

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