Thread: HF radio.......i have nearly decided

Originally Posted by Chucaro

Thanks John there it is not way that I am going to do the wrong thing. I was under the impression that a ham radio can be modified to operate on the other networks.
Looks like that this is not the case.
Cheers

I did not think you intended to do anything wrong - but many readers could get the idea to get ham rigs and cause mayhem inadvertently.

AFAIK there are no technical reasons why a ham rig can't receive or transmit on the frequencies used on the other networks. Due to the flexibility of ham rigs, I doubt it would be practical to modify one to conform with the legal requirements for their use.

Where I walk my dog, I often chat with a retired electrical engineer, who worked in communications for the government regulatory authority, and is a radio ham. He has a ham rig in his 4wd and uses it legally on the ham network while on trips (as do many other hams that also 4wd). When I see him next I will get some more clarification (when I spoke to his wife a few days ago, they were preparing to go and visit their daughter for several weeks).

Originally Posted by Bush65

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Where I walk my dog, I often chat with a retired electrical engineer, who worked in communications for the government regulatory authority, and is a radio ham. He has a ham rig in his 4wd and uses it legally on the ham network while on trips (as do many other hams that also 4wd). When I see him next I will get some more clarification (when I spoke to his wife a few days ago, they were preparing to go and visit their daughter for several weeks).

I managed to speak to him today, though I didn't go into a lot of detail.

Amateur/ham rigs can not legally be operated outside the amateur bands.

They lack selcall ability, which Codan, Barrett and the other HF rigs we are interested in for use with networks like VKS-737. But some can be modified. Many won't operate at some of the frequencies used by VKS-737, but some can be modified.

On trips he uses an amateur radio network that performs a similar role to VKS-737.

He doesn't (I guess it would be difficult given the more complicated operator controls) use his amateur rig while driving.

Interestingly he uses a telescopic 'squid pole' with a wire (the antenna) attached at the tip. I assume the length of the wire is 'tuned' to suit the Tx frequency. When he wants to use the radio, the pole is extended and placed is a tube on the bullbar. This set-up performs much better than the whip that he used to use, because it is much taller (it packs into a relatively small tube).

I did some searching on amateur licence - see Wireless Institute of Australia. The foundation license is usually obtained by doing a course (about 12 hours) run by an amateur radio club. There is an exam with 25, multiple choice questions and a practical assessment.

So it seems to me that an amateur licence to access their network with a suitable rig would be a reasonable and much cheaper alternative.