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Mobile HAM radio on motorcycle

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You can get a cheap Hand Held like one of those Baofeng 2 Meter radios for $35.00 and be up and running. For your test https://hamstudy.org/ that link will have all the questions and answers. all the test questions are in there it's free study very easy
 
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Thanks Dutch I have been using that and Gordon West book, now I need to find time :)
 
I hope so, I went over to Ham Radio Outlet in Plano Wed and was talking with them and the one guy said that when you take the Technician test go ahead and try the General and if up to it try the Extra, it does not cost any extra and I may be able to at lest pass the General one???

I did get the CD from Gordon West and I can listen to it a lot during the day at work as I can bluetooth it to my hearing aids and nobody can tell what I am listening to
 
The web link I posted has every question and answer on the tests. The TEC test I'm pretty sure is only 35 questions of which all you to get to pass is 25 right. If I remember the General portion is 50 questions. I stopped at general, Extra doesn't get you that much more on Bandwidth.
 
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It's time to get legal on my handhelds. An exam is scheduled for the 26th of January less than 2 miles from me.

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Good to see the "fever" spreading. Dutch those Baofengs are Dual Band and you can find the UV-5R for about 28 dollars now. The UV-82 (most find it to be more ergonomic than the 5R) can be had for about the same.

If you're going to be running it motorcycle mobile and want a bit more power you can pick up an 8 watt "high power" UV-82HP or BF-F8HP. They run about 60ish dollars. The Regular UV-82s and 5Rs run about 4 or 5 watts on high depending on where you are in the band.

Tech is 35 questions. I did the online study practice tests for about a week before going to the local club and taking my test. About 10 or 15 minutes later I was finished and in less than a week I had my callsign loaded in the FCC database.

It opens up a whole world of communications possibilities the trick is trying to get all your buddies to invest in the equipment and going to take the test.


Thanks for this thread but you guys are killing me, who in the heck is going to adopt me and pay for this???
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I think the trick is finding out what you want your communications to do and trying to stick with what you need to make that happen. Trust me it's a rabbit hole that you can fall down in pretty short order haha.

I ride motorcycles, shoot for fun and competitively,am into Jeeps and airsoft. needless to say I have too many hobbies and not enough income haha. HAM radios have made their way into the mix as well which doesn't help haha.
 
I have a ub-b5 and 4 or 5 bf-888s, as well as a few sets of the cheap helmet mount headsets. The cheap headsets worked about as well as a cheap headset could be expected to work, but they did the job. I didn't bother with a remote ptt, in fact I cut it off the harness. I just strapped the radio to my camelbak and triggered the ptt on the unit.

I used the 888s in Big Bend a couple years ago sweeping the desert challenge and on a 826 mile day of mostly dirt roads with will wildernessrider and bwdmax. They worked very well in the desert.

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I've got 3 of those 888s. I really like them for what they are. Simple little radios that can take a beating. I keep them around for folks that may not be radio literate so to speak if I needed to hand them out ofr some reason.

I keep one stashed in my go bag as a backup radio as well. The primary repeater my buddy and Iuse here is a UHF unit and I can hit it evne witht he little low powered 888 from pretty much anywhere between my house and work.

Me and the wife carry them on hikes since they are small light and simple as well.

I thought about getting a B5 but by the time Ithought about it I had a small fleet of UV-5Rs with spare batteries to go with them and didn't want to break from the status quo of my radio bin. At least till I got one of the UV-82HPs. The 82 really is a more ergonomic radio and the A/B PTT works well in my use.

The feature I really want off those B5s is the channel knob on top of the radio.
 
Downs said:
Good to see the "fever" spreading. Dutch those Baofengs are Dual Band and you can find the UV-5R for about 28 dollars now. The UV-82 (most find it to be more ergonomic than the 5R) can be had for about the same.
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Been into Hams for a while now. I do a lot of QRP work have several Yaesu Radios the 817ND is my go to radio for that, I usually pack the bike up with that and a Buddie Pole and work distant stations. Was actually able to talk to someone in New Zealand on 2 1/2 Watts on 10 meters
 
Dutch said:
Been into Hams for a while now. I do a lot of QRP work have several Yaesu Radios the 817ND is my go to radio for that, I usually pack the bike up with that and a Buddie Pole and work distant stations. Was actually able to talk to someone in New Zealand on 2 1/2 Watts on 10 meters
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Nice radio. That's some pretty awesome range for 10 meters. I've watched a few videos of ADVRIDERs riding into remote places and stringing up Antennas in trees to do some radio ops.
 
Tx White Knight said:
does anyone use one through a AutoCom on the bike?
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I don't, about the only thing I use while riding is my Bluetooth Helmet for Music and Phone Calls.


Downs said:
Nice radio. That's some pretty awesome range for 10 meters. I've watched a few videos of ADVRIDERs riding into remote places and stringing up Antennas in trees to do some radio ops.
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Thanks, propagation hasn't been all that good these last couple of Months. Hoping the Solar Storm that's predicted improves things somewhat. 17, 20 and 40 Meters are really active.
 
I spent about 6 hours on the hamstudy.org site over the last couple of days. I am very confident that the test will be no issue.

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The TEC Test is very easy, What are you getting the license for just for motorcycling or Base Station also. There are several Radio NETs (2, 10 Meter and I heard one on 20 meters) held within Texas every Week depending on what County your in. I facilitate the Net on 2 Meter and 440, 2 times a month here in the Killeen, Copperas Cove, Kempner area.
 
Most likely I'll only use the radio while riding in groups, but you never know. I'll keep one in my car as well. I'm in Lake Charles, Louisiana now.

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I've been noodling on getting a couple of the Beofangs for riding and our bug out bags. Joel, let me know how the test goes.
 
I keep a Yaesu for my bugout bag with rechargeable AA Batteries and a small solar fold-able solar pannel from goal zero to charge them. I have friends that swear by those Wouxun Handhelds they are fairly inexpensive dual band. We use Split Freqs when hiking or out and about.
 
Do you do that for COMSEC or some other reason? Same band or cross band?
 
COMSEC as best we can, Split freqs are prolly the simplest way for us civilian folk and ensure anyone listing only hear one side of the conversation.
 
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RollingJ said:
I have a ub-b5 and 4 or 5 bf-888s, as well as a few sets of the cheap helmet mount headsets. The cheap headsets worked about as well as a cheap headset could be expected to work, but they did the job. I didn't bother with a remote ptt, in fact I cut it off the harness. I just strapped the radio to my camelbak and triggered the ptt on the unit.

I used the 888s in Big Bend a couple years ago sweeping the desert challenge and on a 826 mile day of mostly dirt roads with will wildernessrider and bwdmax. They worked very well in the desert.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-T337A using Tapatalk
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Hey I was looking at radios the other day and trying to remember which ones you had. I am looking at picking up a couple for riding. I am going to talk to the local club and get legal also.
 
I've purchased Baofeng UV5R radio and the battery eliminator. I'll like to mount this with some type of Ram Mount bracket. What have you folks been using?
 
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