Connunications update following Polls:

[PrepperJohn]

I passed my foundation licence a year or so ago and it is pretty straigtforward to be honest.

Plus as stated above you can get a dual band handheld for £40

The course and licence cst less that £50 I think so for less than £100 you could be licenced and on he air.

About the same a a CB set up once you include the rig, antenna, swr meter etc

With these handhelds you wil not get any further than CB when talking radio to radio but you will be able to access the extenve system of repeaters accross the country which will increase your range. This will work towards building a nation wide network if everyone on te forum got their licence and bought a handheld. A lot of repeaters are also linked to the internet and so you can the get worldwide comms with one of these little handhelds. This system should remain opperable in most situations but will be no good in a grid down situation.

But the thing to remeber with these little rigs is they are a gateway into the world of true amateur radio and worldwide communications.

It is a very cheap way into the hobbie

pj