just bought a icom-735 hf set.

bassy

hi there i,m new to hf radio,i just bought a nice clean icom-735 hf radio.
i don,t hold a license,but i intend on getting a license and sitting the test in a few months time,when i become more accustomed to the whole hf setup.

i,m looking for advice on which antenna i should buy,i was told to buy a imax 2000 vertical antenna as i could transmit on 10metres and 11metres and a couple of other bands.

where as i asked about the G5RV and was told 1. i would need a ATU to use with my icom-735 for this antenna. 2. the g5rv would,nt be much use to me at the moment as i don,t hold a license so there fore not much point.
3.the suggested the imax 2000 would be way better suited to me as i could transmit on 10 and 11 metres and could still listen to the licensed holders on the other bands.

would appreciate advice and views from other hf users on what you think i should go for?,also will be using RG213 coax from antenna to icom-735 as was told its good to use as it might not give tvi problems,and as i live in a housing estate i don,t want unhappy neighbours banging on my door.

PauloMN

First off, no matter where you transmit using that radio having no license, you'd be breaking the law. Even on 11m, it's not approved equipment and is illegal. "Tolerated" does not equate to "legal", it's up to you whether you want to take the risk or not.

It's also illegal to use a radio that's been "opened up", whether you have a license or not. It's even illegal for you to possess that radio without a license.

I'd advise you not to transmit on 10m or any other amateur bands at all until you get a license, you'll just land yourself in trouble.

I'd advise you get a G5RV (or similar) and do plenty of listening. The best way to hear good and bad operators is to listen about the bands. A G5RV will allow you to listen on all bands (full size needed if you intend transmitting on 80m when you get the license). Better still, make an antenna for it - there's plenty of designs on the web. You'll need a tuner for most antennas unless you cut one specifically for a band and stick to that band.

As regards TVI, for the most part I'd imagine that's a thing of the past what with digital TV and VHF band I not being used on cable anymore (at least not where I am). To avoid it, keep your antenna as high as possible and away from the house, any overhead cables, cable TV runs, other antennas etc. and use good quality (RG213 is fine for HF) coax with good connections at the radio and antenna. Ensure the antenna is well matched when transmitting. After all that, if you do suffer from TVI, you could try a good quality low pass filter (not any of those cheap CB ones) or check your neighbour's wiring if they are ok to deal with. Sometimes the problem can be at the receiver end.

watty

That radio can't be legally used on 11m at all, ever.

It can only be used to transmit on Amateur bands and only if you have a "wireless experimenter" licence.

You best lock the microphone away and use it as a receiver only till you get a licence.


However if you have a licence, an "opened up" radio is not illegal as long as you only transmit into an aerial on legal bands. I have a CB that I modified to run 26.5MHz to 29.5MHz all modes, no gaps. This is not legally usable any more as a CB. It may be legally used with a licence on 28.000 to 29.500 and driving a 430MHz to 440Mhz transverter it is legal no matter what frequency it is running at as long as the converted Transmit signal is in the 430MHz to 440MHz band. I also have a 144MHz to 146MHz transverter for it.

Another legal use for an "opened up" transmitter is as a lab signal generator. I have three real signal generators:
1.5MHz to 220MHz Dip Meter/generator
HP 100kHz to 999MHz with AM and FM modulation
HP 2GHz to 18GHz with AM and FM modulation.

The two HPs are easily QRP power and with a microphone/key and scanner could do DX contacts (not on SSB) on FM, AM or CW.

Obviously you need an electronics lab and projects to have convincing use for opened up radio as a signal generator

bassy

i know quite a few people who have hf radios and are using them to broadcast on the 10 and 11 meter bands,the also say there is quite a few other bands that can be used to transmit on without a license.

i even contacted gary the guy from south eastern communications and he has told me my icom-735 is fine to use on 10 and 11 meters,as long as i don,t transmit on any licensed bands.

bassy

just got confirmation,its illegal to transmit on 11 metres,but 10 metres 28.000 to 29.800 is legal to transmit on.so thats me happy.

fatboymsport

what part of the country are in you in bassy??

PauloMN

bassy wrote: »

just got confirmation,its illegal to transmit on 11 metres,but 10 metres 28.000 to 29.800 is legal to transmit on.so thats me happy.

Did you read any of the above? If you start talking - or rather trying to talk - to folk on 10m without a license, you'll just land yourself in bother.

Bear in mind that people selling you radios might be happy to overlook the rules and regulations a bit to get at your cash.

experimenter

bassy wrote: »

transmit on 10 and 11 metres and could still listen to the licensed holders on the other bands.

.

:mad: You cannot tranmit on 10Mtrs, who ever sold you this radio should have advised you on what you can and cannot do.

It is ilegal to use radio equipment that you don't have a licence for.

If anything you should have bought a receiver, until you passed your Experimenters exam, then you could look at a transceiver.

I cannot advise you on antennas, but I am sure google can.

experimenter

bassy wrote: »

i know quite a few people who have hf radios and are using them to broadcast on the 10 and 11 meter bands,the also say there is quite a few other bands that can be used to transmit on without a license.

i even contacted gary the guy from south eastern communications and he has told me my icom-735 is fine to use on 10 and 11 meters,as long as i don,t transmit on any licensed bands.

You might be good enough tell your radio friends that they are NOT allowed to transmit on 10M, as this is only for Licenced Experimenters.

A sales guy will say anything to make a sale, what I would have done in your case before spending your money, was post on this site what your plans were and we could advised you the correct and legal way to operate.

bassy

ok so guys looks like i,ll have to lock away my microphone till i get me license.
by the way whats the point in buying a receiver?,when you can use your hf radio as a receiver and not have to go spending more money when you pass your exams for license,all i need now is my license,where as if i bought a receiver i would be wasting money,as i would then have to buy a hf radio.

bassy

also can you guys give me some help or advice on going about getting my license,test details,who to contact,is it hard,where can the test be done?.

experimenter

Check out http://www.irts.ie for more info on how to obtain a licence. Where are you based? There maybe courses starting soon.

pixbyjohn

Bassy, I am a radio experimenter with a license to transmit on all the amateur/experimenter/ham bands with my license. Just to get things straight: it is illegal to transmit on HF ( high frequency ) without a license but over the years thousands of people have done this and many who are now licensed operators started out in the radio hobby by transmitting illegally. I am not advocating that you break the law but what harm can you really do by transmitting on 11 meters which is also known as the CB 26.000MHz to 28.000MHz (citizens band ). 10meters ( 28.000MHz to 29.7 MHz is an amateur/experimenter band where you would need a license to transmit.
As another experimenter mentioned, look on www.irts.ie for info regarding obtaining an experimenters license. In the meantime I wish you good listening with your radio and you hopefully will get as much enjoyment out of it as I have over the past 25 years. I look forward to talking with you if you do go on to pass your experimenters exam.

bassy

hello pixbyjohn a big thank you to you for your kinder response than the previous posters.

I am not advocating that you break the law but what harm can you really do by transmitting on 11 meters which is also known as the CB 26.000MHz to 28.000MHz

as stated by you above thats all i was asking,but was just getting slated by others.

pixbyjohn wrote: »

Bassy, I am a radio experimenter with a license to transmit on all the amateur/experimenter/ham bands with my license. Just to get things straight: it is illegal to transmit on HF ( high frequency ) without a license but over the years thousands of people have done this and many who are now licensed operators started out in the radio hobby by transmitting illegally. I am not advocating that you break the law but what harm can you really do by transmitting on 11 meters which is also known as the CB 26.000MHz to 28.000MHz (citizens band ). 10meters ( 28.000MHz to 29.7 MHz is an amateur/experimenter band where you would need a license to transmit.
As another experimenter mentioned, look on www.irts.ie for info regarding obtaining an experimenters license. In the meantime I wish you good listening with your radio and you hopefully will get as much enjoyment out of it as I have over the past 25 years. I look forward to talking with you if you do go on to pass your experimenters exam.

watty

It's just as illegal to transmit on 11m with an unapproved apparatus and as much harm as to transmit on 10m with out a licence.

For 11m stick to a real CE marked CB or don't bother.

experimenter

I suggest you contact Comreg and find out the correct allocation for CB radio. Maybe you can get the info on www.comreg.ie

CB radio does not have an allocation from 26-28Mhz, that info is incorrect, as there also used for Church Broadcasts, pagers etc.. which are allocated somewhere with this block of frequencies.

I am more than happy to share information about how to obtain an Experimenters Licence, but I think there was some confusion with your original post which needed clarification.

I am surprised that the other licenced Experimenter is not aware of the correct allocation for CB radio.

pixbyjohn

experimenter wrote: »

I suggest you contact Comreg and find out the correct allocation for CB radio. Maybe you can get the info on www.comreg.ie

CB radio does not have an allocation from 26-28Mhz, that info is incorrect, as there also used for Church Broadcasts, pagers etc.. which are allocated somewhere with this block of frequencies.

I am more than happy to share information about how to obtain an Experimenters Licence, but I think there was some confusion with your original post which needed clarification.

I am surprised that the other licenced Experimenter is not aware of the correct allocation for CB radio.

I am familiar with the allocated frequencies for CB radio in Ireland but please tell me have you ever transmitted on frequencies that were not allocated for legal use ? Single sideband frequencies are regularly used between 26 and 28 Megahertz for citizen band operators (CBers) I am full of surprises, I never said that 26 to 28 MHz was allocated for anything. I did say that portion of the HF spectrum was used by CB operators.

PauloMN

bassy wrote: »

hello pixbyjohn a big thank you to you for your kinder response than the previous posters.

as stated by you above thats all i was asking,but was just getting slated by others.

You were not getting slated by others. You asked for advice on your new radio and you got it. You also talked about transmitting on 10m and 11m after admitting you were new to radio, and you were advised on that to correct what you've been told by others who were clearly more interested in selling you a radio than giving you factual information.

Whether anyone here used illegal equipment/frequencies in the past is besides the point. As I said, it's entirely up to you whether you take the risk of transmitting on 11m or not - nobody here can give you the "ok" or the "all clear" on that. My advise was - whatever you do - just stay clear of transmitting on amateur bands as you will just get into bother.

experimenter

"11 meters which is also known as the CB 26.000MHz to 28.000MHz (citizens band )."

watty

Ireland uses the "regular" CE/EU allocation. UK uses 2 different schemes depending on age of radio CB27/81 is the older one I think in UK.
Both lists are here:
http://www.g4nsj.co.uk/cb.shtml

The Church licence radios should use 1st set and "ordinary" licence free CBs (1W AM, 4W SSB/FM I think, must have CE mark) the second set.

See http://www.comreg.ie/radio_spectrum/exemptions.541.488.rslicensing.html
Operational modes are AM (1W erp), FM (4W erp) and SSB (4W pep). CB is from 29.96-27.41MHz where 40 10kHz channels are available.

Detail http://www.odtr.ie/_fileupload/publications/SI436of1998.pdf

Any non-CB equipment or non CE/EU channel is illegal.

experimenter

watty wrote: »

Ireland uses the "regular" CE/EU allocation. UK uses 2 different schemes depending on age of radio CB27/81 is the older one I think in UK.


See http://www.comreg.ie/radio_spectrum/exemptions.541.488.rslicensing.html
Operational modes are AM (1W erp), FM (4W erp) and SSB (4W pep). CB is from 29.96-27.41MHz where 40 10kHz channels are available.

Is that not in correct on the ComReg website!!

watty

I only copied and pasted.
They also listed CB as using 100kHz channels!

jake_773

wow some ppl take things to Seirus half the ppl talking about it i bet thay did it without a License @ one time ooo i forgot thay was born with them

jake_773

who is going to do NE thing fcc came to my house and tryd to take my stuff i told them try so thay called the state po po and wen thay showed up and ask what was going on thay laughed there ass off and went on there way so if you want to go for i do it no one bothers me fcc is a joke ne more thay have no kind of authority but on ham

sensormatic

jake_773 wrote: »

who is going to do NE thing fcc came to my house and tryd to take my stuff i told them try so thay called the state po po and wen thay showed up and ask what was going on thay laughed there ass off and went on there way so if you want to go for i do it no one bothers me fcc is a joke ne more thay have no kind of authority but on ham

too much of the old moonshine i say he ha brother:D

humaxf1

PauloMN wrote: »

Did you read any of the above? If you start talking - or rather trying to talk - to folk on 10m without a license, you'll just land yourself in bother.

Bear in mind that people selling you radios might be happy to overlook the rules and regulations a bit to get at your cash.

Does a car salesperson ask if you have a driver's licence before selling you a car? Lets face it, an unlicensed and inexperienced "driver" can do alot more damage in a car than an unlicensed radio operator. I have heard some dire operators on the air who I wouldn't trust to wire a mains plug never mind key a mic and talk.


I reckon people post here for the laugh just to get a reaction and everyone on their moral high-horse.

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If you're DIY inclined, try building one of these http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Jnp4BDST8U

pixbyjohn

experimenter wrote: »

"11 meters which is also known as the CB 26.000MHz to 28.000MHz (citizens band )."

And it is commonly known as the CB band.

brownmini

humaxf1 wrote: »

Does a car salesperson ask if you have a driver's licence before selling you a car? Lets face it, an unlicensed and inexperienced

I think you'll find that some legislation has been in place since around 1986/1988 that requires the seller to make sure the buyer has a suitable licence.

pixbyjohn

brownmini wrote: »

I think you'll find that some legislation has been in place since around 1986/1988 that requires the seller to make sure the buyer has a suitable licence.

No such law

brownmini

pixbyjohn wrote: »

No such law

You can believe what you like but I hope others will at least be careful.

pixbyjohn

brownmini wrote: »

You can believe what you like but I hope others will at least be careful.

Go to any supplier in Ireland/ Northern Ireland and they will sell you whatever transceiver you can buy and they do't ask you for your licence. And they are not prosecuted. Some of these dealers are selling their wares at IRTS rallies under the noses of committee members of the IRTS. Actually even committee members of IRTS have sold transceivers at these rallies to non licensed operators. How many non licensed operators have been put off the air by Comreg ?