Been a few months but we are back

Been a few months off but we are back and will be increasing our posts by the end of February at the latest.  Once we retired we set up several short trips around the south east and set up all our medical appointments so we will be set for some full timing.  Found a few issues on the medical front and had to take care of them.   Now that those are behind us we are preparing to head south for a while.  

While in this down time I went ahead and obtained my HAM Radio Operator Technician Licenses so I can now use radios to talk on the 2 meter (UHF/VHF) and part of the 10 meter (HF) HAM Radio Bands.  We also have some old CB walkies-talkies for local contact if out of cell coverage.  CB's do not require a license so anyone can talk on them.  HAM radios require a license along with some training and testing to receive a license to operate.  

With a HAM Licenses I can use repeaters to increase my UHF and VHF range to over 100 miles.  On HF and with the right conditions I can talk or send data, and CW thousands of miles and around the world. I can also use some satellites and even talk to the International Space Station (ISS), many on board have HAM Licenses as well.

For me I am just starting out and still need to learn CW and some Data systems so I will be voice only in 2019 (may try to learn email over radio in 2019).  Note the ISS only is open when the Astronauts have time to schedule it in to their work time and when they are over the US.  Don't get me wrong with the ISS these contacts do not happen every week/month.

Since we will be traveling I picked up some simple radios to allow me to gain operator experience on the areas I am now allowed to operate in.  This first one shows my two small mobiles one UHF/VHF on top of my 10 Meter HF with a small UHF/VHF walkie - talkie below them.  I also show my lap top.

With any radio I need an antenna here is my UHF/VHF which I can set on my car or the metal parts of our RV.  I have my mobiles mounted on pieces of wood and store them in ammo cans when not in use.  The ammo can for the UHF/VHF is metal so I can take out the radio and set the antenna on it while at a camp or picnic site, if I want.  I have a small battery in the can with this one so I can work off battery for a few hours away from the car or RV.

This final photo shows my 10 meter HF vertical antenna on a 12 foot painters pole at our daughters home as I test the set-up out.  I added a PVC pipe to the side of our RV ladder so I can set the pole in this which raises the antenna by 4 feet plus the antenna height itself, so it is now over 16/19 feet when we are parked and set up.

In closing I also made a wire HF 10 meter antenna not shown. I also considered getting a GMRS license (has some repeaters to increase range up to around 100 miles).  This requires a license but no special training so my wife could use it as well as I. She is not licensed for HAM and does not want to be so cell phones are still number one:)  Also GMRS and CBs as well are limited to a couple dozen channels (these are pre - set frequencies).  With HAM I have hundreds of frequencies to use, not limited to channels.  So it depends an you individual wants and needs.