How many armature radio hobbyists are here?

[Hebdomad]

It all started when I was sniffing out interference on my 2.4Ghz network and I started getting into SDR radio and it's all gone rapidly down hill from there. I'm now studying for my Advanced licence (In Australia) right out of the gate (Equivalent to highest world wide) and I'm here wondering if any in the tech loving space has gone down a similar road.

Currently my interests are getting into digital modes in the High Frequency bands and learning Morse Code.

[CatHerder]

HAM Radio stuff has always been one of my "maybe one day" type of interests. But in my country you need a license to broadcast, and the equipment is not exactly cheap, so the furthest i have gotten with this has been dialing with local online radios you can manually tune yourself, and listening.

 

Packet radio especially interests me, but it seems so extremely niche.

 

[10leej]

The farthest I went was getting this kit

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01GDN1T4S?linkId=d95d31bdacbb93b518ed8afe42d70801

 

which I monitor with this (available for Mac, Windows and Linux)

https://www.sdrpp.org/

 

I don't broadcast so no license needed, but I can listen in on whatever I want.

[CatHerder]

10 minutes ago, 10leej said:

but I can listen in on whatever I want.

This thread could also be a great place to ask for a receive-only radio that has exceptional range.

I remember having this old radio of my grandpa that would under ideal conditions pick up Russian St.Petersburg radio stations (I live in Finland, some 800km/500miles from there)

But the radio eventually died, and i would be interested of buying another one like that.

[10leej]

14 minutes ago, CatHerder said:

This thread could also be a great place to ask for a receive-only radio that has exceptional range.

I remember having this old radio of my grandpa that would under ideal conditions pick up Russian St.Petersburg radio stations (I live in Finland, some 800km/500miles from there)

But the radio eventually died, and i would be interested of buying another one like that.

Well thats you one stop for everything kind of device, I can pickup military frequencies as far as 180 US miles away since my antennae is attic mounted.

[ImorallySourcedElectrons]

On 3/9/2023 at 10:59 AM, Hebdomad said:

I'm here wondering if any in the tech loving space has gone down a similar road

Yes, run while you still can! Your wallet and your SO will thank you for it.

 

But in all seriousness, I got my license shortly after I got my EE degree, since I didn't really have to study anything new to pass the exam at that point and it seemed like a good thing to have for professional reasons. I'm more of a lurker though, I mostly listen because the fun in it for me is building custom equipment. That being said, I fear I might be a few steps further along in the equipment hoarding scheme, I'm currently running an R&S SMH with TCXO option as carrier source, and I'm using an Agilent/Keysight scope card as SDR input.

[Hebdomad]

On 3/9/2023 at 9:33 PM, CatHerder said:

This thread could also be a great place to ask for a receive-only radio that has exceptional range.

I remember having this old radio of my grandpa that would under ideal conditions pick up Russian St.Petersburg radio stations (I live in Finland, some 800km/500miles from there)

But the radio eventually died, and i would be interested of buying another one like that.

It would be awesome to get that thing back up and running again. As much as I love the new radio tech I also admire the old stuff that was essentially cobbled together by hand by the mad geniuses at the time.
I got something like this hooked up to an active loop antenna, picks up Air bands very well,
https://www.aussiestormshop.com.au/digitech-compact-world-band-radio-with-ssb-aircraf

 

2 hours ago, ImorallySourcedElectrons said:

Yes, run while you still can! Your wallet and your SO will thank you for it.

Given the price of high end PC gaming these days, I think getting into radio might actually SAVE me money.
You can get a top spec radio for the price of just a top spec graphics card. Yeah, I understand there's stuff that plugs into all that, But I plan on making my own antenna and other gear to lug up mountains.

 

On 3/9/2023 at 9:48 PM, 10leej said:

I can pickup military frequencies as far as 180 US miles away since my antennae is attic mounted.

Nice. what kind on antenna do you have mounted up in there? I was thinking of starting out hiding a giant HF loop antenna going around my roof.

 

Just a bit more info for those who stumble into this thread.

I fell down the scanning radio rabbit hole having seen this guy (Josh from Ham Radio Crash Course) appear on the 'Modern Rogue' youtube channel.
(Ham Radio Crash Course)
https://www.youtube.com/@HamRadioCrashCourse
(The Modern Rouge Episode in particular)

 

[Issac Zachary]

I've pickup HF signals on a ham stick that are over 1,600 miles (2,500 km) away. Currently I'm building a "mobile" full sized inverted V fan dipole that goes on a 40ft (12m) mast.

 

(US General license, working on Amateur Extra).