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October 2015

The Amateur Amateur: 220

By Gary Ross Hoffman, KB0H

BridgeCom BCR-220 1.25m (220 MHz) Repeater

My friend Chuck, N0EIS, tells jokes that are either so corny that I can't believe he has the nerve to say them aloud, or so profound that I'm overwhelmed by his wit and wisdom. He oscillates between lunatic and genius, and much of the time I have no idea what he's talking about. Therefore, whenever he brings up a subject that I actually understand, I pay close attention.

That's how I became interested in the 1.25 meter band (220 MHz). Chuck is always lauding its attributes. He tells me that it works well in the lumps and bumps that constitute the terrain of St. Louis County. Of course, Chuck can get anything to work, whereas I can get just about nothing to work, but I thought I'd give the band a try anyway.

This was several years ago, so as you might imagine, I didn't find much in the way of 1.25m equipment on the market. Ideally, I wanted something like I already had, except with the extra band.

By Gayle Page – Staff Writer for The Standard Banner Jim Snyder, VP of Knoxville’s chapter of American Radio Relay League (ARRL), was the guest speaker at Tuesday’s Local Emergency Planning Committee meeting. Snyder’s presentation stressed the importance of Amateur...

"Hey boss, I tried to call Jimmy on the radio but he didn't respond. I called him on his cell phone and he said he didn't get the radio call. Can you fix our radios to help us talk when we need to?"

How can the boss help out Jimmy, Frank and the rest of the radio users communicate when necessary? The solution is as simple as RoIP (Radio over IP). "Frank, I'll see what I can do to help you and Jimmy communicate. Do you know anything about this RoIP communication deal?"

What is RoIP? In our past blog, Radio over IP - What is it?, we defined Radio over Internet Protocol (RoIP) as a two-way communication method which involves trans-reception of radio communication signals over internet protocol (IP).

The world of Pinterest has come to BridgeCom Systems. We will be adding product photos, videos, install photos and much more to our Pinterest page.  "Now you can easily pin BridgeCom photos and other content to our Pinterest page. We...

How does the BridgeCom Systems MV-1 RoIP site linking solution work? Watch the video and see RoIP used to link two "sites." What's in the video: One channel of audio at each site. Each site contains a UHF mobilie radio...

BridgeCom Systems founder and chief engineer, Ron Kochanowicz, was asked questions for the Rain Report at 2015 Dayton Hamvention.  Here is the audio from the Rain Report interview, inside the Rain Booth with Hap Holly, KC9RP.  You can also visit, www.therainreport.com, for...

HAM-RADIO "TALKING POINTS":

1) Because it's shorter, we usually say "HAM" instead of "amateur radio". No one actually knows where the word "HAM" came from, but some of us think it might stand for "Hardly Any Money"!-)

2) Speaking of MONEY, it costs CONSIDERABLY LESS to be a HAM than it does to have a cellphone:

* HAM-license study materials are available on the Internet

* It costs about $15 to take the test

* It costs less than $30 for a dual-band VHF/UHF "handi-talkie" radio from Amazon.com or eBay.com

* On the other hand, if you have gobs of money, you can spend it in HAM radio ... just as you can spend gobs of money on other hobbies (fancy cars/boats/airplanes, golf clubs, horses, home-entertainment systems, giant-screen TV's, ....) [FWIW, while I have owned and still own more-expensive radios, I paid $200 in 1975 (about $800 in today's inflated greenies) for my favorite HAM rig, a Ten-Tec Triton IV (aka Model 540) which is still going strong!]