Ham radio
Mobile communication devices and RVs are made for each other, and the CB radio and cell phone are the equipment of choice for most RVers. There are times when these devices wont work, though, and thats when a ham radio can usually come through with loud and clear communications, coast to coast.
There are lots of good reasons for an RVer to use a ham radio. The equipment is less expensive than ever before, its less complicated to operate and it has many uses beyond basic rig to-shore chatting.
First of all, its now twice as easy to obtain your Federal Communications Commission (FCC) amateur radio license. No Morse code test is required for the entry-level voice license, and the following changes have allowed thousands of RV enthusiasts to easily earn their ham radio licenses:
Entry-level license exam is cut in half.
The Worldwide General license only requires five words-per-minute (wpm) code test.
Licenses are electronically issued in days.
Volunteer hams administer all tests.
Following the April 15, 2000, FCC restructuring of the amateur radio service, RVers now have an uncomplicated and relatively easy way to study for and take the entry-level amateur radio Element 2 Technician Class Exam, and earn privileges on technician class airwaves that would make their RV traveling more safe and enjoyable.
The amateur radio technician class operator, the easiest license to acquire, will use the "2-meter band" located on frequencies close to those used by a 24hour VHF weather station. There are thousands of 2-meter automatic relay stations, called repeaters, throughout the country to extend your hand-held or mobile 2-meter radio range.
"Fellow ham radio operators have placed their automatic radio repeater systems high atop mountains, buildings and other elevated locations in order to assist everyone with the entry-level tech license to communicate up to 100 miles all around," comments William Alber, WA6CAX, a ham radio operator, repeater control operator and reserve search-andrescue officer.
"These repeaters allow an RVer to drive from coast to coast and always have several active repeater systems available and tuned to a little hand-held or mobile radio with an outside antenna," adds Alber. If a breakdown should occur, a call on the 2-meter open repeater will quickly bring assistance. Ham operators take care of their own, and dont be surprised to find a ham operator coming to your assistance and a group of hams helping you with your repair.
Looking for an out-of-way dry camping layover location? Need to find a replacement generator fuel filter or vent fan motor? Just dial in the local 2-meter repeater, give your amateur call sign, and chances are a fellow ham will come on the airwaves to assist you. Hams are a fraternity of operators who enjoy helping others.
The entry-level technician class license without a code test also gives you full digital automatic position reporting system (APRS) access. You tie your mobile or portable 2-meter ham set into the GPS on your dashboard, and your latitude and longitude plus direction of travel is electronically posted on a radio bulletin board. If you address your automatic position report to a gateway station, your location is automatically retransmitted throughout the country, and may even be seen on an APRS Web site so that anyone may follow your travels.
"We were traveling in some very remote areas of the Pacific Northwest, and our position was constantly updated for my wife to keep track of us," comments Byron Grams, KC6YNG. He points out that his cellular phone coverage was non-existent in many of the remote areas, yet amateur radio repeaters were coming through loud and clear.
Hams with a beginner technician class license are not just limited to the 2-meter band-there are six other VHF/UHF blocks of amateur frequencies for more repeaters, capabilities to tie into the telephone system (autopatch), channels to hear and work amateur radio satellites, and frequencies specifically for staying in touch RV-to-RV without having to operate through a distant relay station.
WORLDWIDE GENERAL LICENSE
When you spot an RV with a big antenna with something that looks like a cross between a mattress spring and a film reel halfway up the stainless-steel shaft, chances are youre looking at a ham radio installation that can communicate with other hams anywhere in the world. This capability takes a second exam, the general class test, consisting of a simple multiple-choice test and a relatively easy five words-per-minute (wpm) Morse code recognition exam. If you once learned the code as a Boy Scout or pilot, chances are you could easily pass the simple code test with just a little brush-up.
The general class license allows amateur radio operation on nine big chunks of amateur radio-allocated frequencies in the worldwide radio spectrum. These are the frequencies that you might use to tune in the shortwave-radio Voice of America or BBC. General class amateur operators will choose a band that will give them the best skip distance during the day, twilight or at night. Their signals take off at about a 45-degree angle, refract off the ionosphere and come back down, loud and clear, thousands of miles away.
Last September I traveled from Anchorage to Fairbanks, Alaska, and was always in touch with my wife at our home station in California.
"Except for one day during a big display of Alaskan aurora borealis, the signals were loud and clear," comments Suzy West, N6GLE "Several times we had hams from all over the United States and a couple in different countries joining in on the conversation, too," adds West. And all of this long-range communication from a rather modest fiberglass antenna I had temporarily mounted on the rental RV.
Worldwide frequencies also support APRS location updates, and because the ionosphere acts as the natural repeater, no gateway station is necessary for anyone around the world to tune in and see who is RVing, and where.
It also gave me a "heads up" that there were a lot of ham RVers just a few miles away in the Alaskan outback.
Reciprocal operating agreements allow us to travel with amateur radio equipment in Canada without any additional paperwork, as well as in Mexico with the required Mexican exchange license. No further testing is required for these reciprocal permits. And if you plan to RV in Europe, the new European Conference of Postal bt Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) agreement allows you to go on the air without any additional paperwork beyond your U.S. ham license and a copy of the CEPT agreement.
EXTRA CLASS IS THE TOP
The highest grade of amateur radio license is extra class. After the April 15th restructuring, no further code test is required beyond that original five-wpm test passing score. You pass just one more multiple-choice exam, and the extra class license gives you a little bit more elbow room on the worldwide bands, plus the capability of testing other hams.
No longer are amateur examinations administered directly by the FCC. Extra class operators, accredited by a volunteer exam coordinator (VEC), will form a three-person testing team that might administer any level of ham testing at RV rallies or conventions. They can also go to a remote area, get on the local repeater and offer ham exams for anyone wishing to try the entry-level test, or to upgrade their present license.
Good news for brand-new hams-amateur radio call letters are normally issued within seven days after successfully completing the test.
Amateur licenses are issued for 10 years and are renewable without any further testing. There is no FCC amateur radio licensing fee, and only a $6.65 test fee for the actual exam session. You might also pick your own call sign that may, for example, be your initials, or a call sign that your mom or dad once held.
And more good news for those of you who may have once held an amateur radio call sign long ago, and have let it expire-the new rules permit certain credits for an expired license, including credit for the Morse code. If you once held a ham ticket, ham organizations may help you research proof of prior licensing.
The biggest amateur national organization of them all is the non-profit American Radio Relay League (ARRL). At the ARRL Web page, you will find the latest ham radio bulletins, a hamfest calendar that might coincide with an upcoming road trip, exam schedules and more great news on how to easily join our fraternity of trained radio operators. You can call for a free ham package at (800) 326-3942.