Do you REALLY need that ham license?

[Jonas]

   

(12 April 2013, 12:49)Tartar Horde Wrote: You guys obviously know what you are talking about here, and to be honest you have lost me
For people like me who have never used any radio equipment, how easy would one be to operate if I came across a set up SHTF. I'm getting the impression that it is far from a matter of switching the set on a keying the mike. How do I proceed if I find one please.

TH, you just nailed it! Even if you just want to listen, you need SSB capability, plus a good antenna and antenna tuner if you want to get the maximum out of your receiver. The good news is that anyone who really wants to should be able to get their amateur license in three to six months, and there's a bunch of used gear out there for sale so your bank account won't look like you banked in Cyprus. First step: find your local ham club. If you (or anyone on the board) have questions or need help, PM or email me. I'm glad to help!

Highlander, That's a nice rig - a whole lot fancier than mine! I have a Kenwood TS480SAT     and run "barefoot" at 100 watts into a Gap Titan DX Vertical antenna using commercial power from an Astron 33M power supply and a Tigertronics Signalink interface to my computer.. What kind of an antenna are you using? Vertical? Beam? How about an antenna tuner? What bands and frequencies are you listening on? Which bands are phone USB and which are phone LSB? How about reading data transmissions like PSK31? How about CW? Do you have (or can you cobble together) a radio-to-computer interface? If you've already got the gear, then contact your local ham club, learn the material, and get the license. If I can do it, anyone can.

Skean Dhude, I don't know the laws in the UK, but here it's against the law for me to communicate with an unlicensed person on the amateur frequencies except in case of emergency with immediate threat to human life. I can't speak for all hams, but I can speak for the vast majority of hams that I know. Especially in an emergency or SHTF situation (listen to 14.300.00 USB for examples), about 99% of us WILL NOT talk with an unlicensed station or a station using a bogus call sign, and we have the ability to identify such a station very quickly and with very little effort on our parts.