For local reception, receivers with RTL2832U chips are a cheap option. They are also called RTL-SDR. I have simply been using a long wire as a “random wire antenna”. Some of the older dongles also need an upconverter to be able to tune into low HF frequencies:
An upconverter for the RTL-SDR translates low HF frequencies ‘up’ into ones that are receivable by the RTL-SDR. This is a different method to the direct sampling mode used in the V3 dongles to achieve HF reception.
Quoted source: https://www.rtl-sdr.com/a-homebrew-one-transistor-upconverter-for-the-rtl-sdr/
Do you need a license to buy a receiver to listen in?
You do not need a license to listen to ham radio with a traditional transceiver. You only need a license to transmit.
There are no licensing requirements for equipment purchases.
I have a handheld ham. The baofeng ones with no license. Come to get me FCC
When I use them to communicate, I use FRS frequencies, which are still not legal technically, but no one will even know.
Nope that’s what the web interface is for.
But an rtlsdr is pretty cheap if you want to go that route. I do satellite tracking with satnogs and it’s fun.
I think I am technologically ignorant when it comes to radio so… I still have questions.
How does the web interface collect the transmissions? Are all the transmissions made digitally accessible with the interface? Why (other than cost) would I want to use a web interface rather than a traditional receiver?
The web interfaces use SDRs. They can listen to an entire band at one time rather than just a single station.
You will only be able to listen to transmissions that are within range of a web SDR. They work great for HF since that propagates a long ways when the band is open. For VHF and up, you will likely need a local receiver unless there happens to be a web SDR near you that covers the band you want to listen to.
The web SDRs may have better antennas than you do and they are probably in a place with much less RFI than you. You can use them to listen to far away places.
Thanks!
So, is Ham Radio like the spiritual ancestor of something like Discord Voice Chat? I’m trying to understand why people do it, besides the technical/tinkering aspects.
Why? Because you can. But in terms of useful reasons?
Cellphones, Internet they need infrastructure to work, and that can be disabled either during a natural disaster or war situation. Even by your own government in some cases.
But if I want to communicate, I just need a piece of wire, somewhere to hang it, and a 12v battery and I can communicate for thousands of miles.
Personally I just think that’s cool.
Ham radio can be used as voice chat with friends, but that would be a pretty limited view of it. Here’s some things that a Discord Voice Chat cannot do that radio can:
- Chat without internet (e.g. places without cell towers).
- Chat without voice. (digital communications of all kinds; email/text, keyboard-to-keyboard, pictures, etc).
- To build an internet (e.g. building WiFi meshes with extra power [AREDN], AX.25 packet, WinLink).
- Used as a tool during emergencies (see ARES/RACES/CERT).
- Chat completely randomly (it’s just one big discord channel, but you can only hear some people).
- Chasing the challenge of unusual radio propagation (earth-moon-earth, meteor bounce, tropospheric ducting, aurora).
- Chasing the challenge of collecting the most point-to-point contacts (contests).
- Chasing the challenge of difficult radio propagation (microwave links).
- Constructing and using radios that you cannot buy off the shelf parts with (usually with those funny microwave guys).
- Higher power versions of things unlicensed folks cannot do (RC toys, Meshtastic/LoraWAN, WiFi, etc).
- Historical preservation (restoring old radios, keeping ship-shore coastal stations running [e.g. Maritime Radio Historical Society]).
- Conducting scientific experiments (HamSCI, and I conducted one listening to the ionosphere during the recent total eclipse).
- Building and controlling satellites (AMSAT).
And there’s even more. The way to view ham radio is the government grants you a license to operate on many pieces of radio spectrum so long as you can show your technical ability to not cause harm (interference, safety, and things that will prevent you from blowing up your radio as well as find success in using it). What you do with that spectrum is up to you!
That’s pretty cool! Reminds me in some ways of usenet and how people extended what it was able to do. Now I gotta go ask my uncle, who just sold his setup and shack, what he did with it (he’s getting older, and it’s not as easy to get out there anymore). I always thought he was just tinkering with electronics and chatting with other hobbyists, but sounds like he was potentially doing lots of other things besides.
I wonder if he knows about these online options. Might be able to keep his hobby going in a lesser capacity.
I upgraded my license when my grandfather had to move in with my parents so I coul help him setup a smaller shack and assist in operating the radio with him. He deeply appreciated the family time, and I’m sure your Uncle wouldn’t mind spending time with you too.
For whatever it’s worth, these web interfaces are great at listening and cost nothing. Ask him to help you operate (finding signals and how to listen to them) using a KiwiSDR online. If you find out he’s also having fun, then perhaps look into remote radio station equipment. There’s a wide selection of transmitting capable SDRs, like FlexRadio, and DIY solutions (e.g. https://www.remotetx.net/). You can even rent remote operation time with incredibly nice hardware in amazing locations (e.g. https://www.remotehamradio.com/). Perhaps he’ll be come interested in another side of ham radio that he hasn’t done before either, like working satellite passes. That doesn’t take more than one nice, or two very cheap, handheld radios and a small handheld yagi.
GREAT answer. It’s funny how I got into ham radio because I thought it seemed a cool way to talk to people… and now I almost never use voice and mostly do what you listed above.
The guy I know who’s into it likes radios and radio waves, antennas, and whatnot. Builds his own stuff. The HAM community also has a tradition of sending these little “contact card” type things like called QSL cards, if you contact someone in Monrovia or something, they can mail you a paper card that certifies, yup, you talked to someone in Monrovia all the way from Kansas or wherever. Can even get one from the International Space Station if you make contact with it, which people do regularly on HAM.
I have an SLR just because I think it’s neat. I have a computer based peripheral one and a portable handheld one with a screen on it.
Can listen to shortwave, long wave, am, FM, and all sort of other bands, such as weather, marine, air traffic, trains, pretty much any unsecured walkie talkie and GMRS frequencies.
To answer you seriously, yeah kinda! It’s a way of communicating without any internet access. You can talk with people around the world if you want. And it opens up to a whole community of people that really like the hobby.
So people pick a topic and just start talking? It’s kinda a niche hobby, so there’s probably a lot of like-minded people, but what if somebody starts going off on a tirade?
Then you switch to someone else. Also its not just about talking. You can track a number of things: sensor readings, track satellites, airplanes, boats, etc…
What is the practical application of tracking stuff, like are you guys literally just telling each other where stuff is or what does an average tracking session look like?
Edit: I’m very interested in the idea of amateur radio operating, but I guess I’m trying to picture what it would be like practically and wondering if that’s something I’d be into, you know?
tracking is mostly done via software. the airplane, satellite, boat, etc will have some way of transmitting data (lat/long, speed, weather data…) and a receiving station (for instance, a computer a ham operator controls) will pick up that transmission and usually post it somewhere. An example would be something like APRS
Ham operators themselves can track in a way. When you are communicating with another ham, you will usually give your callsign, location, other pertinent info, and then you can log/record that you talked to someone from a certain area.
How old are you?
Does it matter? That’s the analogy I picked.
I’m asking for a reason. People of a certain age are aware of HAM radios and how they are used, but clearly there’s a generation or two that’s not and I’m interested in where that cutoff lies.
I’m born late 80s, and I’m fully aware of it, just never had the time to dive in. Nevermind that I rent and erecting a tower would be an interesting conversation, as I’m mainly curious on the hardware side.
