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Topic: HAM Radio  (Read 30603 times)

Offline volksnick

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Re: HAM Radio

« Reply #15 on: July 01, 2013, 09:05:49 PM »
Yeah, just google those frequencies and setting the CTCS (menu option 11-receive and 13 transmit- you only need to set the transmit) will let you set the privacy codes or "tones". It basically scrambles the signal and you have to descramble it to receive it. Without setting the receive tone, you will hear everything that is transmitted on that frequency, but when you have both transmit and receive, you filter out anyone else on that channel.

Offline Russ

Re: HAM Radio

« Reply #16 on: July 01, 2013, 09:31:43 PM »
Good to know, that's one potential good use then for caravans and stuff. Don't have to carry 2 radios if I can just program this one.

Offline Russ

Re: HAM Radio

« Reply #17 on: July 02, 2013, 08:23:39 AM »
Well from what I've read, the UV-5R is not certified under FCC part 95 which covers FRS/GMRS radios. So while it may be technically possible to program it to transmit/receive on those frequencies, it would not be legal.

I got an app on my phone now that lets me take practice tests. It also lets you review all the questions in the question pool and you can look up the relevant FCC rule to review. I've learned a lot with this thing but I haven't been able to pass the practice test yet.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/amateur-radio-exam-prep-technician/id297951496?mt=8
« Last Edit: July 02, 2013, 08:43:19 AM by Russ »

Offline volksnick

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Re: HAM Radio

« Reply #18 on: July 02, 2013, 09:10:10 AM »
I believe the reason it doesn't comply with 95 is because of the possible power output. These little guys are able to put out a much higher wattage than what the FRS/GMRS are allowed to put out. I think the low setting is similar to the low power settings allowed by FRS/GMRS.

Anyone interested should check into this before buying one!!!

Just another reason to get licensed!!!!

Offline Russ

Re: HAM Radio

« Reply #19 on: July 02, 2013, 01:46:15 PM »
I look forward on Friday to learning more about this thing and I also ordered a sync cable. It should be here Friday too. I've been studying and practicing the test a lot and I can actually pass it now! Just barely but I'm getting better.

Offline volksnick

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Re: HAM Radio

« Reply #20 on: July 02, 2013, 02:01:18 PM »
Awesome!!! That's great to hear!

These radios are a little difficult to figure out, but it's relatively easy once you get the hang of it. Matthew claims you can save a channel to a preset, but I can't figure it out. I was able to do everything in Frequency mode though.

Press the orange button on the side and tune to 106.900mhz- this lets you monitor Hippie Radio and if someone keys up on the other frequencies you are dual monitoring, the radio fades out and let's you listen to whoever is talking. Kinda cool!

Offline Russ

Re: HAM Radio

« Reply #21 on: July 02, 2013, 02:32:58 PM »
I watched a video that explained how to save a channel to memory and it didn't really work for me either.

Offline Russ

Re: HAM Radio

« Reply #22 on: July 03, 2013, 01:18:24 PM »
I'm getting good!

Offline volksnick

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Re: HAM Radio

« Reply #23 on: July 03, 2013, 05:04:22 PM »
I'm getting good!

If you want to go ahead and take the test, I'm sure someone would be more than willing to administer it!

Offline Russ

Re: HAM Radio

« Reply #24 on: July 06, 2013, 12:09:30 AM »
Well I must say I've been reading/studying/playing with this radio for the past few days and it's fun, if not addicting! I've picked up a ton of knowledge about amateur radio and I feel pretty good about taking the test to get my technician license.

Got my sync cable today and the CHIRP software makes the radio a ton more useful. Of course you can program it through the keypad on the radio itself but having all the presets loaded in (plus the ones I got from Nick and Matthew) make it so much easier.

Tonight I shared with Matthew how to get the software to work on the Mac, and we talked about going to the next meeting on August 6th to take the test.

Offline Russ

Re: HAM Radio

« Reply #25 on: July 06, 2013, 01:01:02 AM »
Is it possible to program them to use the same frequency as FRS radios?

I was able to figure out the answer! It's yes. Using CHIRP, you can obtain them from the Radio menu, choose 'Import from stock config' and you can pull in the frequencies and settings for FRS and GMRS.

Oddly enough though, this works in Linux but on the Mac I don't have that option. So I'm attaching the config here in a CSV file. Open that with CHIRP and you can load it on your radio.

It works, I pulled out my FRS radio and I was able to transmit and receive to the Baufang.

And these are definitely not Part 95 certified because of the transmit power. FRS is supposed to transmit at no more than half a watt, these little radios can transmit at 5W!

Offline volksnick

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Re: HAM Radio

« Reply #26 on: July 06, 2013, 03:04:46 AM »
And these are definitely not Part 95 certified because of the transmit power. FRS is supposed to transmit at no more than half a watt, these little radios can transmit at 5W!

You can hit the bottom right button (# maybe) and it will cut it down to 1W. I think it's like menu option 2 or 3 aka TXP

Offline PapaKoch

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Re: HAM Radio

« Reply #27 on: July 06, 2013, 12:48:32 PM »
Russ, thanks for letting me borrow your Ubuntu flash drive. My net-book is alive again and ready for radio shenanigans! Ubuntu is awesome. The Chromium browser on Linux is much better than Chrome on my tablet. Its cool that the Prolific USB driver for the radio data cable is built right into Ubuntu 13.4. However, I am not defaulted to have permission on that port. Am I going to have to give myself read and write permission (666) over that port every time? Thanks for your help.

Error message:
could not open port /dev/ttyUSB0: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/dev/ttyUSB0'

This is the fix I have found from the terminal:
command dmesg
then
sudo chmod 666 /dev/ttyUSB0


I found some procedures at: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/slackware-14/dev-ttyusb0-permissions-489878/  .

Offline Russ

Re: HAM Radio

« Reply #28 on: July 06, 2013, 01:08:10 PM »
Yes, the permissions are going to be reset every time you plug it in, because /dev/ttyUSB0 isn't a traditional file. It's created dynamically by the device manager (udev) when it detects new hardware being plugged in.

The simplest way around that is to just run CHIRP with root privs, i.e. sudo chirpw.

Alternatively if you didn't want to do that, you could write a udev rule that will set the permissions automatically for you. To do that, you'll have to copy /lib/udev/rules.d/50-udev-default.rules to /etc/udev/rules.d/50-udev-default.rules and then edit the new file. Look for the comment that says serial, that's where the rules for serial devices are. Below that, you could add a rule that sets the permissions of /dev/ttyUSB0 to 666. Mine now looks like this:

Code: [Select]
# serial
KERNEL=="tty[A-Z]*[0-9]|pppox[0-9]*|ircomm[0-9]*|noz[0-9]*|rfcomm[0-9]*", GROUP="dialout"

# modify permissions just for ttyUSB0
KERNEL=="ttyUSB0",              MODE="0666"

Now when you plug in the cable, it will automatically set the permissions for you and you won't have to run the software as root.

Offline PapaKoch

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Re: HAM Radio

« Reply #29 on: July 06, 2013, 01:27:31 PM »
Thanks. That's a great fix. This version of Ubuntu is so much more user friendly than the distros I've used in the past. The Ubuntu Software Center is much more intuitive than the old Software Updater. I was playing around in there last night and I found a good practice test app called hamexam. I've got to get started on those General Class practice tests!

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