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Baofeng PMR Radio Help!


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Question 2:

As Arthur says, an Amateur Radio Licence only applies to the Ham Radio Bands and does not cover anything else.

Supplementary Question - How do I know?  Well..... Ham Radio Licences are not just given out on the payment of a fee. You have to be able to demonstrate that you know what you are doing. This includes knowing which frequencies and modes are allowed. You are also expected to be able to determine if transmitters are operating in the correct bands. Hence Arthur's comments.

Arthur - Question for you:  Did you have a look at what spurious emissions these rigs are putting out?

Nigel (G4AXA) in Sunny Ludham

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I don't own any of these rigs, but I understand that you can turn off the ability to transmit on stored channels. However, some say you can override this by using the VFO.

Following Arthur's comments, I had a look to see if there are published tests for spurious emissions. There have been quite a lot of tests carried out in the US and the results varied between examples. Some tests showed outputs on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th harmonics outside the limits allowed in the US. Others were OK. Of course, you could use them with a bandpass filter but that would probably be about as big as the rig itself.

As little Ham Radio devices they have the big advantage of being cheap and they are widely used. I don't think I will be buying one.

Nigel in Ludham

Edited by woodwose
typo
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On 10/11/2017 at 19:39, Dilligaf said:

Can these things be programmed to not transmit at all, I'm intrigued but have no wish to transmit on it, just a nosey git really.

 

Mine was delivered the other day and yes they can however as Nigel says:

 

On 10/11/2017 at 20:02, woodwose said:

I don't own any of these rigs, but I understand that you can turn off the ability to transmit on stored channels. However, some say you can override this by using the VFO.

So it's channel mode only for me at the moment. 

I have got interested enough to be looking into getting a ham radio licence, something I'd thought about for a while but, for some reason, I thought it would be really expensive.

 

Although I must confess I do suffer from "Ooh tech, take my money" syndrome 

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Actually, Amateur Radio Licences are issued free of charge and there are no ongoing charges either.

However, to obtain any such licence you have to take an exam. This is fine but if you are tech averse it might prove a bit challenging.

There are 3 levels of licence, Novice, Intermediate and Full. Each requires you to take an exam which gets harder as you move up.

You can get more information from the Radio Society of Great Britain.

The best way to start is as a listener. (known as a Short Wave Listener or SWL). This helps you to understand what is going on and also prepares you for taking part in the next stage. I started as an SWL when I was a teenager. I obtained my licence for G4AXA in 1972. Back then, the levels of licence were different and you had to take a City and Guilds exam in Radio and Electronics. I studied for mine at evening classes and was the only one in my class to pass. Then you had to take a morse code exam like a ship's operator. I took mine at the Liver Building in Liverpool. Morse is no longer a requirement although it is still widely used by Radio Hams. I can still do it no problem.

If you want it then the exam is no problem, but you have got to want it.

Actually, I think that the internet has killed off Ham Radio a bit. It used to be a big challenge to speak to someone on the other side of the World. These days it is no big deal.

Nigel -  Ham Radio Station G4AXA. Ludham

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On 13/11/2017 at 22:49, woodwose said:

Actually, Amateur Radio Licences are issued free of charge and there are no ongoing charges either.

However, to obtain any such licence you have to take an exam. This is fine but if you are tech averse it might prove a bit challenging.

 

I tried the three mock exams on the RSGB site and scored an average of 19 so with training I shouldn't have a problem. That was without guessing any, if I didn't know the answer I marked it as fail. I did get three wrong that I thought I knew but that was more down to rushing and not reading the question properly.

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I know the exams are a lot easier in the past from when I used to help,

 G1FC, And G3RAF (FC meaning Flying Corps so you can guess how old that licence is)

Sadly on the  three occasions I organised going for the exams, the RAF posted or Detached me, so I never got round to taking the City and guilds licence (that would have been around 1977-1980).

 

I might just have a look at the RSGB site at their new exams..

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Over the last 4 hours waiting for the next resistor or shunt to warm up and at lunch time, I have taken the 3 mock exams, Foundation, Intermediate and Advanced.... That was a blast from the past... it's 40+ years since I did exams of that type or did any training of that type..

I rushed all these exams...

Foundation,  Time allowed 55 minutes, did it in 5 minutes and scored 21 out of 26. That actually would be a pass.

Intermediate,  Time allowed 1 hour 25 minutes,  20 minutes for this one, and got 8 wrong out of 45 Questions,  can't seem to find if that would be a pass or not.

Advanced,  Time allowed 2 hours, I took about 30 minutes, 12 wrong out of the  62 questions, again I don't know if that would be a pass or not.

All exams the failures were mostly to do with regulations.

I must admit many answers in Intermediate, and Advanced were dragged from the back of my memory or educated guesses, I couldn't say for sure I Knew them.. However a little bit of revision and a book on the regulations should see me OK...

 

My conclusion is that the foundation exam, if you have any intelligence, it should be, with a little training, an easy pass.

Intermediate and Advanced, if you don't have a background in electronics (Particularly analogue communcations or Radar like me ) then you have some learning to do, But not beyond the ability of many people.

 

 

That's another thing on the to do list then..

 

Currently waiting for a 1.9M Ohm resistor to settle so I can record it's value... ah 1.8998744M Ohms..

 

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5 hours ago, TheQ said:

I know the exams are a lot easier in the past from when I used to help,

 G1FC, And G3RAF (FC meaning Flying Corps so you can guess how old that licence is)

Sadly on the  three occasions I organised going for the exams, the RAF posted or Detached me, so I never got round to taking the City and guilds licence (that would have been around 1977-1980).

 

I might just have a look at the RSGB site at their new exams..

Ive just re read my first line, and it's wrong, it should read "I know the exams are a lot easier NOW, THAN in the past from when I used to help,"

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