4 ms·
Do it! Get your amateur radio licence, and get into the hobby! You don't even need particularly expensive kit, either. My "laptop bag" 2m rig for a long time w
by Gordonjcp 3y ago
Do it! Get your amateur radio licence, and get into the hobby!
You don't even need particularly expensive kit, either. My "laptop bag" 2m rig for a long time was a very old Icom IC2E that I paid two quid for in a junk sale, a 9V adaptor from a broken ADSL modem, and a homebrew "twinlead J-pole" antenna that I clipped to the window frame with a clothes peg.
It worked. Wasn't great, but for a total outlay of £2.50 on a radio and a couple metres of "twinlead" FM radio aerial ribbon, and a couple of junkbox parts (PSU and BNC cable) it was quite effective.
The guy you're talking to might have the latest SDR-based DSP wunderkind and a massive SteppIR antenna on a 50 metre tower, but if he can hear you and you can hear him then whatever radio you've got is working pretty okay.