Steve,
Welcome to ameature radio! I think my original post (response) and intent were missed by most and I feel a need to clarify. I assumed I had inserted enough caveats in my response but clearly that is not the case.
By virtue of your question I assumed you are new to HAM. I did not think you were looking for a scientific discussion about wave propagation, shielding, or especially a legal lecture about what fines and penalties would be if you transmit without a license. So, I kept it real simple.
Handhelds are fine for general use. I disagree that they are
"...great way to get into Amateur Radio." They are small, cumbersome, and confusing if you do not already understand how 2m works (I will focus on 2M and leave 70cm and all other bands out of the discussion). They have small screens and multi-function buttons that will drive you crazy if you are a new HAM. It is difficult enough to work a full-size mobile and/or base station, let alone the small interface of a handheld, especially if you are mobile (pun intended).
To your question about coax, bandi, etc., again, based on your question, I did not feel it appropriate to lecture you about the modest gains of external antenna, folding antennas, grounding, gain, effective radiation, etc. Again, this would be moot (because of the lack of context) for a new HAM and to try and explain it all here would require many pages of text, like a book... BTW, books are great, there are some fine ones mentioned here. Visiting your local HAM shop, attending a field day, meeting the local HAM club(s) are all great ways to get into the hobby.
As to my comment about handhelds, once again I tried to keep it simple. Handhelds at 5W do not reach the distances of 50W+ mobiles or base units with or without external antennas. If they did, manufacturer's would not offer the larger, more powerful units. Radio theory notwithstanding, 50 is greater than 5 (and 10).
Keeping it simple, I offered you may consider a mobile/base unit if you are getting into HAM full scale. Why spend the money twice? You need to visit a local HAM shop, play around with the buttons and knobs and see what feels right to you. If a handheld does it for you and you want to go to the trouble of an external antenna, great!
Most of the posts here about antenna performance, grounding, balancing, etc. are accurate, but again, without context and you being new (presumably) I tried to keep it simple. You will want to learn this stuff hands-on with some good help (books, friends, trial and error). It's just one man's opinion but I did not proffer that an external antenna would not perform better, just that the modest gains did warrant the effort (see original post).
There is a lot to learn and most HAMs are ready and willing to help. Most are passionate about the hobby and pride themselves on their technical knowledge of the hobby, others not so much. Sometimes you have to separate the wheat from the chaff. For example:
Quote:
FJ-Piper previously said:
...If you decide to transmit on it without being licensed, emergency or not, you will be subject to disciplinary action from the FCC including fines and being banned from being able to get licensed and that's something I'm sure nobody here would want.
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Since we are being precise here, this isn't accurate. The operation of an unlicensed broadcast station is a violation of Section 301 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended. You can find the language on the FCC's homepage and relevant excerpts on popular HAM sites.
Quote:
FJ-Piper previously said:
...Now I'm sure that there will be responses to this post suggesting otherwise but they should understand that most people here that talk of becoming a ham do just that, talk, talk, talk! Having that cool radio in your rig and listening to all the action on the local repeaters, nets, contests, etc...
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Not my experience on this forum.
Here's an idea, let's start a thread on how-to-become a licensed HAM,
recommendations for gear, references, web sites, and other resources! Now that would be helpful!
At the end of the day, buy a radio, get licensed, learn the theory, and put together a set-up that works for your applications, interests, and budget (you may do so in any order you wish). There are plenty of folks willing to help. Best of luck to you.
