Alternate Comms

[Ruark]

All they need to shut down ham radio is some kind of precipitating event to use as an excuse. For example, somebody sets off a bomb, and investigators find out they planned it using ham radio. Pow, it'd be shut down in a heartbeat.

[Paladin]

The Feds can eliminate legal Amateur Radio any time they want too. All it would take is an edict from Biden/Harris. Just like Hitler did. There is no constitutional protection for us. But anyway, the constitution doesn't matter anymore to the usurpers. It's being stomped on every day.

N5PNZ

The U.S. did in fact suspended all Amature radio operation during WW 1 and WWII

That just re-enforces my opinion that Woodrow Wilson and FDR were the worst presidents the US ever had.

[Grayling813]

That just re-enforces my opinion that Woodrow Wilson and FDR were the worst presidents the US ever had.....

...so far. But 1/20/21 is coming....

[Charles L. Cotton]

All they need to shut down ham radio is some kind of precipitating event to use as an excuse. For example, somebody sets off a bomb, and investigators find out they planned it using ham radio. Pow, it'd be shut down in a heartbeat.

Shutting down ham radio would not be easy at all. Hundreds of thousands of transceivers exist and they don't have to operate at fixed locations. If we ever get to that stage, the entire country would be at war anyway.

Chas.

[Paladin]

All they need to shut down ham radio is some kind of precipitating event to use as an excuse. For example, somebody sets off a bomb, and investigators find out they planned it using ham radio. Pow, it'd be shut down in a heartbeat.

Shutting down ham radio would not be easy at all. Hundreds of thousands of transceivers exist and they don't have to operate at fixed locations. If we ever get to that stage, the entire country would be at war anyway.

Chas.

Agreed. And add to that the impossibility of locating and confiscating countless receivers... many of which only cost $25-40.

POW Canteen Radios were a real thing in WW2

[kayt00]

Fingers crossed, I've been studying my hind quarters off, took a practice exam last night and scored a 95%. I'd hate to think that time was spent on nothing.

[Paladin]

Fingers crossed, I've been studying my hind quarters off, took a practice exam last night and scored a 95%. I'd hate to think that time was spent on nothing.

I think you've got it!! I only scored a 77% on the practice tests before I took my exam (and passed it).

[ShepherdTX]

Not meaning to hijack the thread or anything but I have a ham radio related question.

Decades ago when I was a wee teenager I got my ham radio license. I ended up eventually expiring past the renewal and renewal grace period. Checking the registry it still shows my name on the original call sign though it's obviously flagged as expired. Recently I was thinking of studying up and getting back in to it again. Does anyone here know if there there is any way I could take the test again and get my original call sign back? I would love to have my original one back but I couldn't find out anything online if it was possible or if I would just be assigned whatever is available.

[Flightmare]

Not meaning to hijack the thread or anything but I have a ham radio related question.

Decades ago when I was a wee teenager I got my ham radio license. I ended up eventually expiring past the renewal and renewal grace period. Checking the registry it still shows my name on the original call sign though it's obviously flagged as expired. Recently I was thinking of studying up and getting back in to it again. Does anyone here know if there there is any way I could take the test again and get my original call sign back? I would love to have my original one back but I couldn't find out anything online if it was possible or if I would just be assigned whatever is available.

Assuming it's not taken already by someone else, there should be no reason you cannot take an exam and retrieve your old call sign.

[Grayling813]

Not meaning to hijack the thread or anything but I have a ham radio related question.

Decades ago when I was a wee teenager I got my ham radio license. I ended up eventually expiring past the renewal and renewal grace period. Checking the registry it still shows my name on the original call sign though it's obviously flagged as expired. Recently I was thinking of studying up and getting back in to it again. Does anyone here know if there there is any way I could take the test again and get my original call sign back? I would love to have my original one back but I couldn't find out anything online if it was possible or if I would just be assigned whatever is available.

You can search the call sign to see if it is still assigned to you or to someone else.
https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSea ... mateur.jsp

[Rafe]

All they need to shut down ham radio is some kind of precipitating event to use as an excuse. For example, somebody sets off a bomb, and investigators find out they planned it using ham radio. Pow, it'd be shut down in a heartbeat.

Shutting down ham radio would not be easy at all. Hundreds of thousands of transceivers exist and they don't have to operate at fixed locations. If we ever get to that stage, the entire country would be at war anyway.

Chas.

Now you're gonna give me nightmares. I'm having images of William Forstchen's book One Second After, about the results of an EMP attack...and thinking what the scenario would be if it was your own government that launched it; e.g., put all the gubmint's critical electronics underground or behind Faraday cages, then let 'er rip to zap the public infrastructure and fry all the circuitry of plebeians fomenting rebellion.

I shoulda been a fiction writer...

[comsec]

FCC rules permit the EIC (engineer in charge) in various areas to restrict Part 97 operations in limited to unlimited restrictions as conditions warrant. Such conditions might be to limit specific bands/modes to a single operator to the entire band plan going dark.

There must be sufficient justification for a "black-out" of amateur radio Part 97 operations and the rules written for that were formulated when the primary means of telecommunications other than telephone or telegraphy was over HF radio.

Under newer rules the FCC also mandated services that could operate under vetted stricture under special rules, WERS (War Emergency Radio Service - VHF AM during WW2), RACES under Part 97 subpart E, which was designed to permit communications during the Cold War through Civil Defense authority.

I do not foresee and shutdown of Part 97 as long as licensed operators operate in accordance with CFR 47 Part 97 of the FCC rules and do not start using the amateur service for prohibited communications listed in subpart A and other areas of the rules.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/zello-confir ... a-channels

Expect more reflexive actions by telecommunications service providers as they dog pile on the current bandwagon of power grabs.

Get Signal as a personal communications option: https://signal.org/en/

GMRS and Part 90 licenses are also additional avenues for alternate communications capabilities.

Keep inflammatory and extremist statements off of public telecommunications systems! I am not an extremist, but I am a zealous protector of personal liberty and the US/Texas Constitutions.

This uproar will cool down and get back to a more normal pace in a month or two. Stay engaged with your local, state, and national representatives to let them know that you are not a friend of tyrannical leaders who are abrogating our Constitution Rights by their action,s and be committed to voting them out of office.

Be adult and measured with your interactions to set the example as a reasonable person who believes in the US Constitution and the Texas Constitution and as one who will work within the system NOW, to effect peaceful change.

comsec

[KC5AV]

Not meaning to hijack the thread or anything but I have a ham radio related question.

Decades ago when I was a wee teenager I got my ham radio license. I ended up eventually expiring past the renewal and renewal grace period. Checking the registry it still shows my name on the original call sign though it's obviously flagged as expired. Recently I was thinking of studying up and getting back in to it again. Does anyone here know if there there is any way I could take the test again and get my original call sign back? I would love to have my original one back but I couldn't find out anything online if it was possible or if I would just be assigned whatever is available.

To answer your question a little more specifically, if your original call hasn’t been re-issued (you indicated that it hasn’t been), once you test and get a new systematically issues call sign, you can use the vanity call system to request your original.
More information is available from the ARRL - http://www.arrl.org/applying-for-a-vanity-call

[srothstein]

I have a different question. A long time ago I was studying to get a technician class license. At the time it required 5wpm in code while a general required both more knowledge and 13wpm in code. I never got good enough to reliably get 5wpm, let alone 13.

I understand that all code requirements are now gone (except maybe the extra class - I am not sure on that). If this is true, is there any reason to not study and take the general class test instead of the technician? Or am I so far out of date on this that my question is now irrelevant?

[Flightmare]

I have a different question. A long time ago I was studying to get a technician class license. At the time it required 5wpm in code while a general required both more knowledge and 13wpm in code. I never got good enough to reliably get 5wpm, let alone 13.

I understand that all code requirements are now gone (except maybe the extra class - I am not sure on that). If this is true, is there any reason to not study and take the general class test instead of the technician? Or am I so far out of date on this that my question is now irrelevant?

There are no code requirements for any of the license classes. In order to take the general test, one must either have a technician class license or have passed element 2 (technician class exam). I've seen people pass all 3 in a single sitting before....though, these are usually EEs who kinda already know this stuff from work.