r/PDXhamradio 1d ago

First ham

7 Upvotes

I just got a handheld transceiver. I’m the most beginner beginner.

Only thing I know is that a common local channel is 146.520.

I’ve tuned to it a few times over the past couple days and there is nothing coming through.

Any guidance is appreciated! Or any other channels I could listen in on?

Hope this is welcome here.


r/PDXhamradio Oct 27 '24

Is there any way for transmitting with Belfone BF-TD516 to 439mhz?

4 Upvotes

I found one for free from a friend and manual says it can be transmit in 446mhz which is PMR frequency, is this information wrong or if its true, is there any way to hack in to it?

(I FOUND THE ANSWER THANKS FOR ALL HELP)


r/PDXhamradio Sep 24 '24

fire radio

0 Upvotes

I volunteer at a small fire Dept by my house in Alabama we use active911 but the dispatchers notes are crap most of the time I want to be able to listen into the radio on my phone, the department doesn't have anything set up like Zello. I don't know the channel/frequency we use I have no idea anything about radios or radio apps am I able to tap into the dispatch channel or am I SOL


r/PDXhamradio Jun 29 '24

Problem with WA7BND repeater?

1 Upvotes

I've been listening in to the Kansas City Wide net via the WA7BND repeater but it stopped linking to KC-WIDE around the 24th. Any intel on this? No response from the published (QRZ) repeater owner.

Thanks,

Tom KJ7T


r/PDXhamradio May 20 '24

howdy, brand new ham questions

5 Upvotes

I just passed my ham technician exam on Friday night, I'm still waiting on my callsign. What are the most common frequencies to use here in Portland? I've been listening a bit and I'm just not finding a whole lot of traffic out there. What should I add to my memory? What channel will give me a contact once I can actually transmit?


r/PDXhamradio May 11 '24

W7SUB POTA activation tomorrow

9 Upvotes

A group of us are going to be on the USS Blueback at OMSI tomorrow, which ends up being a POTA 3fer with Willamette River Greenway and Water State Trail, on top of Ice Age Floods and the Oregon Trail. Given the rash of solar flares we're not likely to get a lot of contacts, but this is the time we set weeks in advance, so we're going to give it a go. If you're around and want to try to work us groundwave between 1400 and 1600 local we'd love the help!


r/PDXhamradio Apr 23 '24

SEA-PAC is soon

7 Upvotes

Going for the first time to check out the yard sale. I'll be looking for portable equipment and see what the scene is like.


r/PDXhamradio Apr 16 '24

Western Digital Net

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1 Upvotes

r/PDXhamradio Mar 10 '24

1.25 m repeaters?

3 Upvotes

Hey! Anyone active on the 1.25m repeaters around Portland? I’ve been listening for quite awhile to the ones listed in RepeaterBook while I study for my tech license and I haven’t heard anything


r/PDXhamradio Mar 03 '24

Active Repeater networks?

8 Upvotes

Hi there!

I’m newly licensed and have been trying a few of the different repeater networks on the 2M /70 CM bands, calling CQ and doing some off/on monitoring to see if they are active, and have so far been unsuccessful. Are there certain ones you’ve found to be more or less active? Thinking about monitoring for a net this next week to try but just generally curious. Understand these might not be the most popular bands which might itself be the answer.

Thanks!


r/PDXhamradio Jan 02 '24

Portland Amateur Radio P25

7 Upvotes

Looking to see if anyone knows of any P25 repeaters in the PDX area.

I saw some information that a bunch of the ARRG repeaters are Quantars, but don't know if they're set up for P25 or are analog only.

I'm also seeing conflicting information for the linked states of the ARRG repeaters - if anyone on the ground knows what repeater is linked to what, that'd be appreciated:


r/PDXhamradio Dec 20 '23

/r/PDXhamradio wiki refreshed

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4 Upvotes

r/PDXhamradio Dec 20 '23

Willamette Valley Mesh Network of Oregon

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1 Upvotes

r/PDXhamradio Aug 04 '23

new 2023 Oregon Regional Ham Template

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8 Upvotes

r/PDXhamradio Jul 23 '23

Request - CHIRP config for UV82HP for Portland and surrounding areas ?

3 Upvotes

Hey All,.. please forgive me if this is a "amateur" :P question..

I recently moved to the area (previously in Fort Collins, CO). I have a Baofeng UV82HP (can hold 128 station memory) and while in Northern Colorado I was lucky enough to find someone local who shared their CHIRP config and was able to import it to my Radio w/ basically 0 changes and it worked right off the bat.

Now that I've moved to Portland,.. I'd like to do the same (wipe the Radio clean and import or create a config for various local emergency frequencies I could listen to for Weather or other emergency response info)

I found a website here: https://multnomahares.org/resources/frequency-lists-and-radio-programming-templates/ ... tried importing the MCARES 2021 TEMPLATE .. it appears to have saved to the Radio correctly.. but all I get is silence and I don't understand why ?

I wiped the radio again and tried to go simpler,. only creating 7 x NOAA stations (1 through 7).. But NOAA7 is the only one that seems to work correctly (I can actually hear talking and weather info).. NOAA 1 through 6 are just silence (again,. no idea why).

EDIT - point of clarification here,. so far I've only tried with CHIRP-NEXT on macOS. (maybe it's somehow mishandling the CSV import or something?).. I do have a Windows Laptop as well as an Arch Linux box.. so if trying it on another OS might help the troubleshooting,. I can certainly attempt that.

Would someone be willing to treat my like a 3yr old and hit me upside the head and guide me along a more successful path to getting this working ?

Ideally I'd like to have:

  • multiple NOAA stations to bounce around and listen to

  • Possibly 2 to 3 Portland University (if that many exist)

  • frequencies for public transit ?

  • any other useful frequencies you'd recommend ?

I'm new to the area and never lived anywhere w/ Earthquake or Volcano possiblities.. so I've moved Preparedness and "go-bag" and other stuff nearer to the top of my list as it seems logical to do. :P Having a good working emergency radio is critical to that goal.

Thanks to anyone willing to assist or give guidance !.. I want to be a prepared citizen in my new home city.


r/PDXhamradio Apr 27 '23

CERT Setup

5 Upvotes

Forewarned, I only briefly dipped my toes into the radio world last century. So please pretend I'm an idiot and have forgotten literally everything I knew about Ham Radio at one point.

But, I do have a unique opportunity to build a CERT communication setup for my company.

I control a server room that is on an oversized generator, with 20+ U of free rack space, three four story buildings in SE Portland/Milwaukie to put an antenna on, and a mandate to be able to spin up communications to the outside world (described as "outside of our region") at a moments notice for when the "big one" hits. I already have a repeater antenna of some sort on one building, but not sure if that can be made a primary antenna and/or if it will cause conflict with another antenna.

Budget is not unlimited, but I can plan multi-years out. For instance I can easily scope out a dedicated radio room in 2025/26. So a "do this in year one, add these items in year two, etc."

Ideally we'd be able to communicate and coordinate directly with onsite staff if cell coverage is down and local EMT Services all in the same space. We'd want backup radios just in case one died. This is not meant to be a hobby setup, but likely will be used as one on a regular basis to confirm all is working. We have a number of employees who are interested in getting licenses for this very purpose. On top of that, for redundancy, I'd like a setup that a minimally trained person could use in an emergency.

Essentially I'm looking for someone to scope this out, and help build and test it once we've purchased hardware and ran cables. (yes, paid) I've reached out to Ham Radio Outlet, but haven't heard back from anyone there. And I'm not sure who the other local companies might be that could do this.


r/PDXhamradio Apr 14 '23

Where to find ladder wire locally

6 Upvotes

So I'm a new Ham and wanting to build an Ed Fong Roll up J pole for camping/hiking/SOTA and am wondering where to find ladder wire locally to the PDX area. I know HRO is in Tigard but is there anywhere else?


r/PDXhamradio Mar 18 '23

How a man stranded in freezing, snow-bound Oregon woods used a drone to call Uganda for help

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10 Upvotes

r/PDXhamradio Feb 13 '23

Radios and Spare Parts

6 Upvotes

I have a ton of used radios and parts. When I bought my house, the previous owner was huge into radios. But I guess his kids weren't. And when I bought the house from them they left a ton of radio gear there. Been trying to find a good home for all of it. Lemme know if you wanna come look.


r/PDXhamradio Dec 21 '22

MontanaPBS :: HAM

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5 Upvotes

r/PDXhamradio Dec 14 '22

:: EmComm Training Organization :: Winlink and More for EmComm Operators ::

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3 Upvotes

r/PDXhamradio Dec 09 '22

Radio Information Division listening station location?

8 Upvotes

I was reading this, https://www.qsl.net/w3df/sterling/ridhist.pdf, about FCC listening stations during WWII.

And came across the very course description that the Portland, Oregon listening station was "set up in a farm house about two miles from the recording station", and was called POBRU.

But they never really tell us where either the recording station or the listening station actually were.

Does anyone know?


r/PDXhamradio Nov 30 '22

Where to buy used gear locally

9 Upvotes

I'm in the market for an older HF radio. Something like a Yaesu FT-850AT or an Icom IC-760. I've been looking at the classifieds on eHam and QRZ.com but it's tough to find anything semi-local.

Are there any good mailing lists or websites to look for used gear available locally?


r/PDXhamradio Oct 17 '22

Help Setting Up Home Shack

7 Upvotes

Hello,

I have had my technician license since early 2020 have been using a Baofeng but want to upgrade to more permanent home shack but everything I find online for what to do costs way more then me on my PPS salary can afford.

So any ideas of what I really need and ways to get it without braking the bank.


r/PDXhamradio Oct 09 '22

ID'ing Signal noise

1 Upvotes

Hey folks, I've noticed while scanning around 2m and 70cm that occasionally I'll land on a repeator(s) where I'm receiving a strong signal. I think it sounds like an idleing tractor or a diesel engine. I'm assuming this is some sort of digital mode but I really curious to know what it is exactly. Does anyone happen. To know what it is? Thanks.