Radio power?

I don't think that this has been proposed before on the Forum.

Many Brits have asked questions regarding
Radio TX /RX, antennae, etc, etc.

Well, why not legally empower yourself
to experiment with higher power
and antennae experiments?

Get a Foundation Licence.

It'll allow scope for further experimentation.
Then, perhaps, follow with an Intermediate Licence.

They aren't that difficult.
(How do I know?

http://www.rsgb.org/arls/

I'll leave further researching to you.
And for younger members, it won't harm your CV, will it?
e

Perhaps non-Brit Forum members could
supply further info on local requirements?

In the US you study a $25 book to take a 35 question test for $15 and you get a technician license.
Priveleges include 1500 watts on vhf and uhf.
part of the 28Mhz band
50-54Mhz
144-148Mhz
440-4??Mhz up to tens of Ghz
Only limited by a rule to only use what is necessary to complete the communication.
Well worth the effort and endless possibilities with a Picaxe!

Yes- certainly worth considering, especially since a ham ticket indicates you have "electrons in your blood" & a real passion for the field.This can be worth as much as a basic degree in landing a decent hands on electro-tech. job!

Ham's legal right to run higher power transmitters can be very worthwhile indeed-are you listening Robin?! A local FPV model plane fanatic has just gained his ham ticket for this very purpose,as a ham band slot around 1.3GHz allowed far better performance (& less interference) than 2.4GHz. The exams themselves are now really no more taxing than a driving test (& many countries have removed the classic need to master Morse Code),so motivated minds should be able to master the theory & regs. in a few weeks.

Ham's tend to be "rag chewers" however & their jargon rich culture- involving signal reports,contacts made & their equipment's technical specs.- is not for everyone. It's perhaps akin to this forum being focused on IP addresses/ethernet protocols & PC details! Most hams now use very sophisticated commercial"Ya-ken-com" (Yaesu/Kenwood/Icom) gear,although mods. & tweaks are common. Cheaper Chinese sourced gear,of very high quality,abounds too.

Hands on construction tends to be antenna focused, although extremely worthwhile developments have recently been made with micros, sound cards & weak signal data techniques.

In today's cell phone & time shifted internet age I now rarely fire up any ham gear, but would promptly do so if (say) at a very remote location, or on an ocean going yacht etc. Stan. (ZL2APS since 1967)
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Extra: Here's a tale from an earlier era- I knew this old timer quite well. In short form it goes-

* Born about 1920, raised on a NZ farm & developed lots of "hands on" skills.
* Became very keen on radio pre teens- BUT in the depths of the depression. No money...
* Left school early- little work available in any field...
* Studied in his own time & passed ham exams & Morse Code however by late teens
* Farm worker & little money, but painstakingly assembled ham station & gained confidence
* Called up as WW2 began 1939/40
* Immediately drafted into SIGNALS (while his mates instead were digging trenches) & promoted
* Spent much of WW2 in Nth Africa/Italy (in the comfort of a radio truck!) with up to date training
* Generous rehab. loan 1945-46 when demobbed - used to set up an inner city radio repair shop etc
* Did a roaring trade over the next 35 years, especially with TV.
* Cheaper disposable consumer electronics however caused business downturn ~1980s
* During the height of a local property boom sold his valuable inner city site for $,$$$,$$$
* Retired very comfortably in mid 60s (~1985)

He often used to say that ham radio had set him up for life...

I certainly recommend getting a ham license for those in the U.S. who are interested in a career in electronics. I'd say the 3 or 4 evening's study to obtain a tech license is probably as meaningful as a 2-year associates degree in electronics when it comes to impressing perspective employers. Additionally, if the boss or other employees are hams, and they may well be, so much the better.

I recommended that each of the tech school students I tutored do two additional things - get their ham licenses and subscribe to a couple of trade journals. They all did. They all got tech jobs after graduation.

However, as far as operating two-way data links under the "ham" rules in the U.S., that's easier said than done. There are requirements for both regular transmissions of one's call-sign via voice, CW, or certain common data formats, (I believe,) personal physical proximity (control operator) at most transmitter sites, (even low-power ones) except registered repeaters, operation within the appropriate segment of a regulated ham band, data rate limitations, avoidance of most encryption methods, etc. All is not peaches and cream in the U.S. ham world for wireless data operation.

In the US you study a $25 book to take a 35 question test for $15 and you get a technician license.

Click to expand...

Wow. In my day it was a three hour City and Guilds exam and a 12 WPM morse test.

Not up to date on the current licence limitation, but suspect a Ham ticket wouldn't open up a pandor's box for Picaxe comms.

It was quite a quest in my day too, especially since a lot of the theory was then valve/tube orientated & had little scope for local hand's on verifications. I took months to master Morse as well. Then there was the annual licence fee - now thankfully removed in NZ! Check these sample questions for insights into the current testing level. Although the regulations are often quite demanding,many forum posters could probably tackle such an assessment in just a few weeks.