New Ham Radio in my XJ

Those are great radios. Be careful of the front panel buttons though, the plastic is all one piece inside and tends to break after awhile. I used to have one but traded up to a Yaesu FT-2600 that i've had ever since. My buddy still has his, he got it because he liked mine so much. He's been through two sets of buttons and a final output module. Another friend got one to dedicate to packet radio and is still in operation AFAIK. Be sure to get the option modules for tone and dtmf. The dtmf module lets you set your callsign when the radio powers up instead of the Icom name. It also gives you microphone remote control capability.

Enjoy the new license, and welcome to the ham community.

Shawn KB8UDE

Welcome to that club, as well. I don't have much experience with the Icoms but I here good things about them, and $80 sounds like a great deal. Most all of my rigs are Yaesus (FT5200, FT8900R, FT747). I recently picked up a mil spec FT1500M for the TJ, but haven't installed it yet. What call sign are you trying to get?

Here is a great site for general research (check out Product Reviews too).

Kev> I put an ICOM ic-2000 in my XJ today. It went on the right side of the hump.

That'll be handy on the trail, your spotter can call you from Uganda on a good night. We'll call you FU for short.... "Hey, FU!"

By the way Kevin, be careful about mentioning call signs on the web if you're concerned about personal information. Enjoy the new rig!!

-Brian

Name: Kevin C Hedstrom Address: 3222 (deleted) E(deleted)o, CA 92(deleted) P.O. Box: Active On: 02/02/2005 Operator Class: T Expires On: 02/02/2015 Radio Service Code: HA License Status: A License Id: L(deleted)4 FRN: 00(deleted)90 Region Code: 6

Just curious, Do you guys have to get a station license for mobile rigs? Or just have it listed in your license (Ham) that you are mobile.

Hmmm....I admit I've not been active in a number of years, but I was sure our forms asked for what type of station it was. However, I think we had to renew every year but they've since done away with that, so maybe the station designation (good rhyme) was vito'd as well!

Ah well,

Yea, no problem. I'm the type who hands out his cell phone number to strangers, I'm easy to find. Thanks though for the warning. KH

Ham radio? WOW! I am glad that people are still fueling this hobby. I honestly thought with the Internet, IMs, blackberries and VOIP that Ham radios have gone bye bye... cool to see it around... now if only i can dig up my call sign from 15 years ago...

There are currently (as of today) 669, 322 U.S. amateur radio licenses. Not dead yet.

Dick

We have different rules up here Steve, I remember back in the 70's when my dad got his CB license (should have kept those laws and kept the snot noses off the air but that's a different rant..lol) I remember he had to state whether his unit was mobile or base station, IIRCC it didn't really affect licensing. It was more for statistics.

Snow...

The room I took the test in was full. Many of the area six licenses are taken (vanity) and my blackberry doesnt work on the trail in my jeep in the boonies. If you dig up your 15 year old callsign you will find that it is expired. The license is for 10 years with a two year grace period in the USA. KH

Seriously not dead. Granted I only use mine when wheeling or traveling. We had enough interest just in our club (and several folks who are qualified to give the tests are members of our club) that we held an open test and 17 or 18 people got their licenses that day. Some even did the next test up from the tech test and got their rating. Its seriously good stuff out here in the PNW where there are repeaters on the mountains but you can only get cell coverage along the freeways. Not to mention its great in a caravan too, easy to make decisions on when and where to stop since everyone who has a radio can hear and chime in.

-jenn K7MUD

Congrats Kevin...I've been in the hobby for years and jus took up Jeeping fairly recently...my call at the present is VE1WWH (WWH=worlds worst ham) but have been contemplating on changing it to VE1MUD..lol