Feed: Used Ham Radio Equipment - AggScore: 14.0

Your standard amateur radio is really a transmitter and a receiver, usually bought as one piece of gear, called a transceiver. Most new gear is quite advanced, and takes some time obtaining used to. Some hams, particularly outdated timers, prefer the old analog transceivers that have knobs and needle meters instead of digital readouts. Amateur radio enthusiasts use different kinds of equipment for communication. Some use base stations, some use handheld radios. Some use systems installed in vehicles. Depending on your interests in ham radio, you might want to try all different sorts of stations.

The ham radio can fit inside your pocket, or take up all of the space in your garage, or sit in your car- it's all as much as you, and it's essential to work out what interests you have. Several new operators begin off with tiny handhelds, and work their way up to large shortwave installations on the countryside. Several are on a extremely restricted budget, and may join a ham society to get access to equipment. Ham radio clubs have a lot to offer, including meetings, equipment such as transceivers, antennas and books. These clubs exist nearly all over the world, and are usually well known in the local community.

If you want professional transceivers for business use, with or without license, you will find lots of hand held sets at a good sale price for great high quality. You'll find products of all the well-liked brands, such as Icom, Kenwood, Motorola, some electronics tuned out-of-band for ham club activities, some all the way between 137-174 mHz and around the 70cms band. There are new outlet listings each and every day of new and used HF rigs, marine radio, air band & VHF UHF scanners and software. There's even a CB section for the rest!

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Can Ham Radio be used for purely personal use?

I don't know much about Ham Radio and shortwave and wanted to know from people who do. Why do you have to have a license and do you have to be connected to the internet to use packet radio or is data purely sent over the radio for free? I ask because I see this packet radio as potentially developing into a free alternative to the internet. Does it seem to be moving in that direction for those of you familiar with the technology? Thank you.

Answer
By law, ham radio can't be used for any commercial purpose. I can talk with friends, compete with others for distance, and provide public service. But I can't order a pizza. The Internet does not have that restriction. The Internet is nearly free already. You usually have to pay to get access delivered to your home. Even if I invented a way to generate electricity for free, I would still need to pay for the infrastructure to transport and distribute it. If you use WiFi to wirelessly connect a laptop to the Internet, you are using a form of packet radio, which hams helped develop. Even beyond the commercial usage restriction, hams have no reason to try to duplicate the Internet. The technology is much less cost effective and harder to reliably deploy. It is becoming common for businesses like coffee shops, restaurants, and hotels to provide free (or low cost) WiFi. Some communities are doing it as well. Google partnered with Mountain View CA to do so.