Hey, I’ve been using uhf/vhf to listen to SSTV signals coming from the International Space Station for awhile now, but been thinking about possibly getting my license and get into HF. Anyone got any suggestions where to get some good knowledge and find equipment like transceivers and such for a good price. Thanks!
HF used to be much more interesting especially the military before satcoms. the single biggest problem with HF today is the interference generated by all the import crap electronics from china which does not have any filtering. you do have to get a decent radio that has alot of filtering abilities. I have all Ten-Tec equipment as well as Collins and SGC. The antenna is the next thing,HF antennas are bigger, ground moun, liked verticles and wire antenna. I use B&W wire antennas and a 6BTV verticle. dont get on air as much now but monitor the HF utility stations mostly military , like I said it was much better back in the 80s and 90s
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Yea I can see that. There is a bit of a trend from people my age bracket (I’m 24) to try get away communicating on ISP property such as cell towers etc and a lot of people are looking at HF and another big one being open source cell networks Meshtastic, Reticulum and so on. Regarding equipment I hear Icom-7300 is a good one with good filters and I got tall trees around my house for a dipole or wire.
General class ham here - albeit a bit rusty.
First things first, you can listen to HF without a license. Just need a wideband receiver. You can start listening with a software defined radio like a RTL-SDR. It’s a USB dongle that connects to an antenna and allows you to dial in any frequency and decodes on your computer. It’s a cheap entry into an expensive hobby.
If that hasn’t scared you away yet, look at getting your Technician License by studying on hamstudy.org (easy - mostly regulatory and a bit of theory) - but that’ll only get you VHF/UHF privileges and a tiny sliver of the 10m band. Then get your General class license the same way… it’s a bit more complex with more theory, but it’ll unlock most of the HF bands.
As far as gear goes, the IC-7300 is excellent. However, it’s a bit more fragile than some older radios - and I wouldn’t consider using it in the field, but comes with a bit of quality of life upgrades. Personally, I’m running some 2000’s tech as far as radios go due to their ruggedness.
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Gotcha thanks! Been listening to some KiwiSDRs around the world and the more I listen the more interested I get.
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