The Family Radio Service (FRS) and General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) are both radio services available to the public in the United States and other countries. FRS requires no license at all; just buy a FRS radio and use it. FRS radios are limited to 2.5 watts on most channels, and 0.5 watts on channels 8-14. GMRS, on the other hand, requires a $35 license. There is no test involved; the person simply applies to the FCC, pays the $35 fee, and receives a license that is valid for 10 years: fo...| www.complete.org
I was a bicyclist until about 2012, and was interested in using Amateur Radio on my bicycle. This page reflects the experience through then. My experience so far I participated in the MCC Flatlander bicycle ride in September 2010. For that ride, I had my VX-7R in the back pocket of my jersey, with its standard rubber duck antenna. I had the earpiece with PTT button hooked up to it.| www.complete.org
Here are some brief notes on ham radios. For some background information and what to do once you have your radio, see Getting Started With Amateur Radio. Your First Equipment It’s pretty easy to get your first equipment. The easiest device you could get is a handheld radio, also called a HT. It’s a self-contained unit, can often run off battery power, and has an integrated “rubber duckie” antenna. These can be found for under $300 on sites like gigaparts.| www.complete.org
Note: This page is a bit dated and doesn’t reflect some newer modes like FT8, but what’s here should generally be correct. Introduction People can use Amateur Radio not just for voice communication, but also for digital communication. This happens all over the bands, from HF through UHF. On VHF and UHF, digital might be D-Star or Packet Radio, which are not discussed here. This page mainly discusses the keyboard-to-keyboard HF modes.| www.complete.org
So, you may have read the material on the Why Get Involved With Amateur Radio? and are wondering how to get started. This has two main components: licensing and equipment. Getting Licensed Amateur Radio is unlike most other radio services in that you get to build your own radios, your own antennas, and operate over a wide range of frequencies. This is different than, say, a cellphone or low-power FRS walkie-talkie, where the government must approve every phone/device that is made, and these m...| www.complete.org
Amateur Radio really a very interesting hobby. It is the most versatile radio service available in many ways. Users of amateur radio get to choose their own radios and antennas, and can even design and build these things themselves if they like. They can operate with a surprising amount of power in many situations, and can work with all sorts of modes including CW (morse code), voice, and digital. Most other types of radio restrict people to only government-approved radios, certain specific c...| www.complete.org
I am a programmer, manager, hobbyist, advocate, volunteer, dad, and nature lover. I live out on an old farmstead in rural Kansas that once belonged to my grandparents. The nearest paved road is about 3 miles away, and the nearest town (population 600) is 7 miles away. I have three incredible children, which I might occasionally mention on my blog. I am the manager of www.complete.org and quux.org. Social & Contacts I write a lot on my blog.| www.complete.org
Amateur Radio in Kansas Repeaters The official list of coordinated repeaters in Kansas from the Kansas Repeater Council. K-LINK large repeater system: Repeater Frequency List Coverage maps: 2m and 440 MHz K0HAM/NEKSUN Repeater Builder’s Group: NE KS Linked repeater system along I-35 from Eldorado to KC and on I-70 from Manhattan to Aullville, MO totaling 38 repeaters throughout the midwest. It covers 5m through 70cm frequencies. Matfield Green, 147.045 PL88.5 is closest to Wichita, followed...| www.complete.org
The most widely-used form of Packet Radio, APRS lets stations transmit periodic position beacons, send messages, and other information and forms a self-organizing Mesh Network with the possibility of propagation by both radios and, less frequently, Internet. Links to this note Kansas Amateur Radio Amateur Radio in Kansas Using the Kenwood TH-D72A With PC APRS Software The TH-D72A is a very nice handheld Amateur Radio Transceiver. Among other things, it has an integrated GPS, built-in APRS fun...| www.complete.org
Here are some (potentially) interesting topics you can find here: Old and Small Technology and benefits to us today NNCP, which is an Asynchronous, Encrypted, onion-routed, offline-capable way to send data and execute remote commands. Yggdrasil, a network using IPv6 space where IPs are linked to public keys How this site is built (hint: it’s exported from Emacs!) Amateur Radio ZFS on Linux Long-Distance Train Travel in the USA The Grumpy Cricket - an interactive fiction game for children So...| www.complete.org
noun: A beautiful place of sunflowers, rolling hills, and amazing sunsets. A great place to go when you want to go to a place most other people don’t want to go to. Home of one of the country’s most boring highways (I-70) A place where people tend to be real. Links to this note Kansas Amateur Radio Amateur Radio in Kansas John Goerzen I am a programmer, manager, hobbyist, advocate, volunteer, dad, and nature lover.| www.complete.org
The world’s most popular Free Software operating system, the foundation of Debian, and foundation of much of today’s Internet. Links to this note Android A mobile phone operating system based on the Linux kernel. ZFS One of the more advanced modern filesystems with tons of features; originated on Solaris but now runs on Linux, FreeBSD, and others. ZFS on Linux This is about running ZFS on Linux and Debian. Software and Operating Systems Linux| www.complete.org
Here is a collection of tips for using Amateur Radio on Linux. Pages Here Linux Packet Radio Voice on the SignaLink USB with Linux Includes a section on automatic CQ calling for contests, which is for a SignaLink USB, but could be easily adapted for other devices Mailing Lists (Hams appear to call these “reflectors”) linux-hams, the primary general mailing list for Linux ham discussion. Readers are generally fairly knowledgeable about Linux technically.| www.complete.org