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Urgent News Update: It has come to my attention that many of you may not have time to get a Ham / Amateur radio license. The rules read something like this, "in the event of loss of life or property a license is not needed for communication". You may not have time now, Feb. 4, 2026 but try anyway. Here is the really important part, IF YOU LEARN Morse Code, and you should, you will be able to communicate with others hundreds and even thousands of miles away with poorer antennas, and lower power equipment. A morse code signal is readable in situations that would require at least 4 times the power and even a hundred times the power of a voice signal. If you learn morse code, refered to as CW, you will have a huge advantage in times of emergencies. CW is copiable under noisy weak signal conditions that a voice signal cannot get thru. And it gives you an advantage that many ham radio operators no longer have in the ability to communicate. Trust me, when the lights go out, grid down, computers dead, and all you have is a battery to run the radio, cw can be a life saver. It can use less power than voice when needed, and provide communications that would be impossible using voice like ssb or am tranmissions.
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In an emergency, history has shown us that cell phones and the
internet are unreliable. This is due to several issues. One
is the system overloads with everyone trying to use their phones and the
internet at the same time. In EVERY Single Major Event the United
States undergone, both of these important systems failed. During Sept.
11 or 9/11, during Katrina, during the California earthquake, Hurricanes
Helene and many others that occurred locally have all proven that these
systems, as convenient and nice as they are, they're not reliable in a
true emergency. You need to provide your own communications if you can.... I would suggest you study and get your Amateur Radio License also called Ham Radio.... The reason is, this license allows you to buy and operate radios that can talk from a few miles, to all the way on the other side of the world.. Solving all of your communication needs... Often refered to as "HF" rigs, they operation on shortwave frequencies. VHF / UHF radios are line of sight short range radios. NOTE: In an emergency you don't need a license if life or property are involved. |
This subject covers enough information you might want to get a notebook
and pencil out to take notes. Ham Licensing tests are available to study online and some of them are free. Ham Radio Prep here: And the Arrl program: |
These 2 radios below can provide communications to local and world wide people, they "do it all". Icom 7100 all mode HF/VHF/UHF radio  Yaesu FT-991 All mode HF/VHF/UHF radio  These two radios are "do everything" from the standpoint of bands and modes of operation. |
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Ask yourself a few simple questions as this
will lead you to the right info. These questions are about who you want
to talk to and when, and how far away are they. 1. How far away are those I want to talk to ? Over 30 miles click here: Under 30 miles click here: See the basics below |
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| Getting your Ham License is fairly easy. You take a test and get your license. The test's are divided up into 3 sections. The 3 licenses are Technician, General, and Extra class. Each test covers one class of license. Technician is the simplest and allows you to talk on the VHF/UHF bands and morse code on a few of the HF bands. Many people start here because the test is fairly easy to pass. The downside is the privileges you get are limited to mostly short range radio equipment except for the morse code bands. The Next Class is the General license which gives you voice privileges on the HF bands allowing you to talk all over the world. The Last one is the Extra class which gives you more sections of the HF bands to operate in, thus allowing some freedom from crowded bands in use by the lower class license users. |
Basics If you just want to get a radio without all the detail, you can look at the 2 pages above for recommendations. I might also suggest you look at GMRS radio's as they are quite popular. Gmrs is on the same frequencies as the FRS band. Family Radio Service. GMRS radios require a license without a test, just a fee. And it's because gmrs radio's can run a lot more transmitter power increasing range. And gmrs radios can also operate thru repeaters which greatly add to their range over the frs radios. FRS radio's are almost all walkie-talkie's limited to 2 watts or less. Ham radios can run on a lot more bands/frequencies than gmrs thus giving you more options to communicate. |
What are "bands"? Just like your TV set, radio's use "channels" to but they are divided up into different bands. TV has the VHF and UHF bands. Channel 2-13 are vhf and all the others are uhf. There's this thing called "frequency" and it's a number. This number refers to different bands. Different radio's are made for different bands as below. VLF Very Low Frequency LF=Low Frequency MF=Medium Frequency HF=High Frequency VHF=Very High Frequency UHF=Ultra High Frequency SHF=Super High Frequency The primary bands used on Ham radio are the HF and Vhf bands and also the Uhf band. Bands are all divided into FREQUENCIES.. That's how you find and know which band you are operating on. By the frequencie your radio is set to. They are measured in Megahertze on most bands |
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