Are Ham radios becoming like guns in CA?

[philip964]

https://wzogo.wordpress.com/2019/12/20/ ... alifornia/

Government starting to make things tough for Ham radio operators in CA.

[2farnorth]

They are quick to ban anythi ng that they do not understand.

[Liberty]

They are quick to ban anythi ng that they do not understand.

They understand it. They also understand that its a service that they don't control it. Hams are for the most part conservative. California hams tend to be gun owners and they are typically organized. Hams in general form complex communication (social?) nets Communications that take many forms, openly but also discretely. The master plan of the progressives is control. Control the serfs. Control the proletariate, and to be among the exclusive and create dependency. They need us to need them.

[crazy2medic]

From my years as a Firefighter I know that in times of an area wide disaster the ham radio operaters have proven invaluable communicating information when telephone lines are down and other forms of communication are out!
In the event of the need to once again fight for freedom, the ham radios would be able to carry out messaging across the country, the powers that be would very much not want that to happen!

[Excaliber]

From my years as a Firefighter I know that in times of an area wide disaster the ham radio operaters have proven invaluable communicating information when telephone lines are down and other forms of communication are out!
In the event of the need to once again fight for freedom, the ham radios would be able to carry out messaging across the country, the powers that be would very much not want that to happen!

This appears to be the only logical explanation for what they're doing.

I don't buy the FirstNet explanation, which would require one to believe that a barely functional federal program that only its staff has ever heard of would be behind a state effort to cripple ham radio communications. If communication was really the goal, having both nets up and running would make more sense for bandwidth and resilience.

[MP(Ret)95B]

Maybe the ability to communicate...passing along news without government approval....might feel threatening to those that control the airwaves.
Hmmmmmmmm......sounds maybe like, oh....I don't know....TWITTER. Where a person (politician or otherwise, can talk to the people directly.
Sorry, my tin foil hat may be on a little tight today.
We now return you to your normally scheduled program.
Nothing to see here, move along please (after showing your papers).
<MP Ret.> KC4QNW

[oohrah]

This sounds more like a money grab than a restriction of service. A lot of repeaters are on private property anyway, so would be unaffected by this rule (most in my area are). Some brain dead politician heard that somebody was using the roof (and probably electricity) for free and saw a way to extract a tax.

And has been established in many court cases, the FCC preempts any state or local control of the Amateur Radio Service.

[The Annoyed Man]

Here’s what I know. My preps include six Baofeng handhelds with a charger, spare battery, and longer antenna for each one of them. They’re still in the box, and I haven’t gotten my ham license yet. Maybe I’ll get serious about tackling the license this year....maybe not. But either way, if the pooty hits the fan, me and mine will have coms.

[Syntyr]

Here’s what I know. My preps include six Baofeng handhelds with a charger, spare battery, and longer antenna for each one of them. They’re still in the box, and I haven’t gotten my ham license yet. Maybe I’ll get serious about tackling the license this year....maybe not. But either way, if the pooty hits the fan, me and mine will have coms.

Pardon the quick thread drift...

TAM,

What models are those radios?

[Liberty]

This sounds more like a money grab than a restriction of service. A lot of repeaters are on private property anyway, so would be unaffected by this rule (most in my area are). Some brain dead politician heard that somebody was using the roof (and probably electricity) for free and saw a way to extract a tax.

And has been established in many court cases, the FCC preempts any state or local control of the Amateur Radio Service.

A lot of the repeaters in California are mounted on mountain peaks. Many of these peaks are in state or federally controlled properties. In Texas a lot of repeaters are on local government properties. Water towers, city communication and emergency services towers. A lot of hospitals (public and private) have repeaters. California has a lot more cental government properties, While Texas counties and municipalities are more predominant. Leftists prefer central power over local control.

[Liberty]

Here’s what I know. My preps include six Baofeng handhelds with a charger, spare battery, and longer antenna for each one of them. They’re still in the box, and I haven’t gotten my ham license yet. Maybe I’ll get serious about tackling the license this year....maybe not. But either way, if the pooty hits the fan, me and mine will have coms.

Go for it. It is a great learning experiance, and you might be surprised at how many like minded folk are out there.

[The Annoyed Man]

Here’s what I know. My preps include six Baofeng handhelds with a charger, spare battery, and longer antenna for each one of them. They’re still in the box, and I haven’t gotten my ham license yet. Maybe I’ll get serious about tackling the license this year....maybe not. But either way, if the pooty hits the fan, me and mine will have coms.

Pardon the quick thread drift...

TAM,

What models are those radios?

I have two BF-F9V2+, and five UV-5R radios. I forgot that I had two, not just one of the BF-F9V2+’s. Also, I believe that my son has one or two more of that model also. I have since learned that the BF-F9V2+ radios are probably fake knockoffs of real Baofeng models, using older firmware. They may be that, but they also work....at least as receivers. I haven’t tried transmitting with them. That would be illegal. But if there’s no more gov’t to enforce laws anymore.....

UV-5R Models sold after March-April 2015 are probably knockoffs, although Baofeng made a ton of these, and units purchased after that may be be real left over stock. I bought mine this past October. I bought the UV-5Rs on Amazon (which is no guarantee of authenticity) where they’ve had them for $125 for a pack of 5.

BaoFeng UV-5R UHF VHF Dual Band Two Way Radio Walkie Talkie with 5 Earpieces + 1 Programming Cable, 5 Pack

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E4FO2TW/re ... dEbAE91M6E

I don’t remember where I bought the two BF-F9V2+ radios from, except that it wasn't from Amazon, and I bought them at least a couple of years before buying the others. Even so, I remember them being pretty cheap too....like maybe $30-$40 each or so.

People who know more than I do about this stuff, say that Baofeng is junk....and maybe it is when compared to an honest piece of kit that would be used by a real ham hobbyist. I’m not that.....yet. Maybe some day I might be; but for now, what I’m mainly concerned with is having some rudimentary coms with a greater range and more available frequencies than a cheap FSRS walkie-talkie.

Theres a website I found here: http://www.km4fmk.com/blog/realvfake.html that has some good information about fakes. It doesn’t boost my confidence in Amazon's integrity.

If I decide to pursue my ham license this year....which I probably will finally do....I’ll step up and buy a serious handheld unit and a base station. These cheap Baofeng (knockoffs?) I have are strictly for having some kind of rudimentary coms to share with a team, or use as trade goods, for if the Boog actually happens.

[Chemist45]

MP(Ret)95B wrote

Maybe the ability to communicate...passing along news without government approval....might feel threatening to those that control the airwaves.
Hmmmmmmmm......sounds maybe like, oh....I don't know....TWITTER. Where a person (politician or otherwise, can talk to the people directly.

And there is the rub. The liberal politicians can count on their liberal techies to shadowban or otherwise censure ideas they don't like. But they can't do that with HAM. No-one controls it.

[Liberty]

If I decide to pursue my ham license this year....which I probably will finally do....I’ll step up and buy a serious handheld unit and a base station. These cheap Baofeng (knockoffs?) I have are strictly for having some kind of rudimentary coms to share with a team, or use as trade goods, for if the Boog actually happens.

The Baofengs, work and aren't all that bad of a radio. They might not hold up as well as most brand name radios
but they get the job done in most cases. Hams are not unlike a lot of gun people, we can be a bit snobbish about the equipment we spend our hard earned money. Personally I like my Baofengs better than my Yeasu VR2. Even though I consider them disposable Some suggestions though:

Get the free software CHIRP to program the radio.
Speak up when talking into them. They tend to put out a low audio. Some people have drilled the mic hole out a little bigger to improve the sound

Get a couple of extra batteries.
The little 4" antenna that came with a lot of them is an underperformer. Get some better/longer antennas.

Get your license so you can key them up. using them is the only practical way to learn the limitations and strengths of your equipment is to get out and use it.

There are some situations that aren't exactly TEOTWAWKI where emergency communications come in quite handy. Wide spread evacuations, Tornados, Hurricanes and floods are some of the situations where cell, Broadcast radio and internet can get overwhelmed.

I wouldn't be too concerned about them being fakes. The Chinese cloning chinese stuff I find ironic.

[NotRPB]

good analogy (Are Ham radios becoming like guns in Commiefornia)
gun control is about control ...
control the communication channels >>> press+airwaves control the mindset of the people
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
RFE/RL journalists report the news in 22 countries where a free press is banned by the government

Its just about control

https://wzogo.wordpress.com/2019/12/20/ ... alifornia/
But one of California’s biggest goals, politically speaking, is to be the most progressive of all progressive states.