Would you be interested in a Ham Radio HF net for Explorer Owners? If so, please indicate which band you feel would work best. Obviously there are lots of considerations, such as location(s) of the participants, but we can get some idea of how to proceed.

hey ray, i put no not interested not because i am really not interested but have no idea about ham. i only have a cb and it seems to do ok for me. personally it sounds like a good idea i am just ham illiterate

Jimabena,

OK, and thanks for responding anyway. Your response, and a pvt msg. from Leebo made me realize that not everyone (even some hams) may be completely aware of what we're talking about here.

A "net" in HR, is very similar to a moderated Internet Chat, except you use "phone" (voice) radio transmissions instead of i-net/ keyboard. Like the Expl Chat, there is a scheduled day/time/radio freguency where people "tune in", and check in. Nets are often pretty informal, but usually somebody serves as a moderator or"Net Control" announcing or "opening" the net at the designated time, keeping track of who's on board, and making sure that everyone gets to participate. Net Control often rotates among the regulars, each taking a different session, or it may remain one person for a while, whatever the group or "net" members decide.

The "M"s on the poll refer to "Meters" or wavelengths of the different High Frequency (HF) Ham Bands. For a reference, CB is in the 11M (27mHz) band, 20M Ham band is 14mHz, etc.

We use HF bands for these nets, instead of vhf (2M) or uhf(70CM) because they have much greater range, often nation or worldwide.

Hope this rambling helps a few more understand a little more about HR and "Nets".

Hello Ray,

Sorry to stomp in here but I thought I might have some good info for those who may be interested in Ham Radio and this seemed like a good place to put it.

There is a great book available that goes into detail about Ham Radio but is written in a way that will not put you to sleep. Rick told me about it some time back.

All About Ham Radio by Harry Helms
ISBN 1-878707-04-3

19.95 USD. I got mine at Barnes and Noble.

After the useless performance of CB's (I'll put a post question up about this) when JonM "FMExplorer" and I were on our way up to "The Bubba Mud Ranch". I am considering Ham again. However the transmission repairs from the journey are going to put radio's on hold for a while.

(Never mind on my performance question. I need to address a bad ground. (mag to the roof basket sitting on top of the luggange rack. No continuity at the battery ground. And Jon and I probably need to tune. Problem we were having was that we only had line of site communication. Jon when over an overpass 1000yds ahead of me and I lost him until he came back into view.)

Best regards.
hg