old - Fazer Owners Club - old
General => General => Topic started by: Streetbudgie on 14 May 2020, 12:55:14 pm
-
Although I'm an NHS key worker and I'm at work every day I am finding that I have free time at weekends and in the evenings which would normally be filled by going to the pub, so I was thinking about hobbies.
I can't play golf and I used to go fishing and got fed up with it so I started wondering about Radio Amateur stuff which my Dad used to do.
I had CB back in the early 1980's and loved it, I got right into it and would teak my rigs and ended up with quite a set up with some boots (ahem) which enabled me to go over the top of most transmitters!
Does anyone on here know if CB radio is still a thing?
If not I was wondering how hard/expensive it would be to get into Amateur Radio which I believe is short wave - do people chat over this or is just DX stuff to see how far you can get?
Just looking for something to fill the hours until the pub is open again!
-
pleeze don't become another Tony Blackburn---AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.
-
pleeze don't become another Tony Blackburn---AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.
Amateur radio and pirate radio are two very different things..
Pirate Radio is all DAB these days, no more breaking into the roof space of tower blocks.
-
hi there
it used to be night school then a test they you a ham radio man , not sure if its still the same now but worth a call to your local night school
-
Before I got a scala I used to use a cb on the bike for bike to bike comms ( the old autocom stuff) along with its fm radio (hooked to a headset in the helmet). You certainly come across a fair amount of cb enthusiasts as you ride around. That was only about five years ago.
-
Oh yeah, I broke my kenwood cb unit so ended up getting a baofeng one for £20,it was actually better, still have it somewhere
-
CB isnt what it used to be. Most truckers now rely on traffic updates and sat-nav to tell them stuff or spend all their time talking on the phone/watching TV while they drive . I believe some specific areas of trucking use them. Not aware of anybody thats not a trucker using them these days though.
As for hamming, I am sure it is as popular as it was in the 80's with people chatting to each other over the other side of th eworld. Unlike CB licences which I believe you can still get at the post office, to be a ham you need to get a specific licence from OFCOM and (I believe) pass an exam including morse code still.
-
Have a play around on some of the SDR sites like http://hackgreensdr.org:8901/ (http://hackgreensdr.org:8901/)
Will let you listen in, see how much activity there is on the bands and whether its of interest.
-
Have a play around on some of the SDR sites like [url]http://hackgreensdr.org:8901/[/url] ([url]http://hackgreensdr.org:8901/[/url])
Will let you listen in, see how much activity there is on the bands and whether its of interest.
Cheers buddy I'll check it out
-
I've been doing a bit more research this evening and HAM radio seems the way to go, there are a couple of tests and certificates to get but I should have all that knowledge anyway, if not I'm sure it's doable
I wonder if I could apply for my Dad's old call sign, that would be nice.