Comment by 👻 darkghost
Like anything, there's a lot of gatekeeping. It is why I don't participate on air much. I'm well below the average age of 70 and generally have my head screwed on properly. (There are some wild on air conversations around here.) These are both excluding traits.
The licensing standard is more rigorous than the required-in-my-state firearm safety class. I participated in one of those and a gentleman in the back slept through the class and took 6 times to pass the multiple choice exam. The exam was, to me, the application of common sense around any potentially dangerous object.
The restrictions on this service are the same for any unlicensed service like CB, FRS, or ISM and the end goal is to keep communications local. Keep power low and capabilities low to avoid screwing up on a large area. HF can propagate globally, meaning one can be an intercontinental jerk ruining it for everybody. CB is limited to 4 watts AM/FM, MURS is limited to 2 watts, FRS is 5 watts/0.5 watts with a fixed antenna, and ISM is dependent on application (technically a microwave oven operates here at 1.5 kW but doesn't broadcast.) You would be hard pressed to get more than 10 miles on any of these unless you're on a mountain.
Unless you advertise you're a HAM, in SHTF nobody will be able to query the FCC database and check. I don't advertise because of the whole doxing yourself, I only state it when I'm on air. I also view radio as essential in this scenario and there is no legal way to practice without a license. In situations of danger to life you can transmit without a license. But you won't know what you're doing because listening and transmitting are separate skills. Learning in an emergency is a bad time to be learning.
Jan 22 · 3 months ago
3 Later Comments ↓
I wonder if there is an easy way to retrofit a microwave oven to a 1.5kW pirate station!
I always crack at youtube's NonRubicon guy teasing HAMs and talking about how, if you really want to have conversations with strange men, go ahead and get your license... Not that there is anything wrong with that.
👻 darkghost · Jan 23 at 01:35:
Sad HAMs!
I don't know why, but the guy cracks me up!
It took me a while to notice that he edits all the eye blinks out of his videos for that extra-reptilian presense.
I appreciate the amusing kind of a prick.
Original Post
Inauguralposting — One very interesting exception to the HAM permitting requirement: MURS, a retired leased license space for commercial & industrial handhelds that reverted to public control. Five VHF bands between 151-154kHz. Anywhere it's legal to use a CB, it's legal to use MURS, which is surprisingly flexible for not needing a license. Buying a cheap toy walkie-talkie from Amazon and modifying it to send digital signals is in almost all cases illegal by the letter of the law. There's just...