HF Net Anyone??

[Lightspeed]

(6 August 2013, 16:04)Grumpy Grandpa Wrote: ....... Better than your expectations?

Hi GG.

Sorry the thread was aimed at Hams so language was a little techy.

The test was to see if the simple radio gear in my preps would work for country-wide communications, and to test them in a fairly realistic way.

Basically I used a car radio-sized transmitter that runs on 12v, a solar charged 12v power pack, and a random length of thin wire (as opposed to something cut to a specific length) The whole lot fits in a shoe box in my store.

Was it better than my expectations? Absolutely yes. Antennas are everything in radio and I was not expecting miracles. This little system completely met my objective for covert, low powered easily deployed country-wide coverage. OK some of the contacts were hard work, but they were succesful and that's the point of the exercise.

---

(6 August 2013, 16:39)Skean Dhude Wrote: Sounds good. We just need the same for non hams. Whisles innocently.

The same equipment is already available to non-hams, only its not currently legal to experiment transmitting with it without a license.

The hope is that a number of licensed Hams on here can establish reliable country wide communications, then we will be able to advise SUK in detail what equipment is needed and how to operate it.

By the way, two of the stations I contacted this morning were Foundation license holders...This is the very simplest amateur radio certification and is pretty much passable by anyone.(often just a weekend course) The point is that these were inexperienced operators, using equally low powered radios to my own, and we were able to communicate over hundreds of miles.