Foundations of Amateur Radio - Episode 87

I used to mod my radios when I was young for the heck of it, now I don't unless I can lock out Transmit on those bands! Why? Because I have heard too many stolen radios over the years on the Ham bands. Everybody thinks theirs will never get stolen, yet they do get stolen. Now it's bad enough when a criminal steals a rig and listens too and transmits on a Ham band. Now you got a criminal who can listen to the Police and/or try to jam any frequencies outside the Ham bands you may have programed in. That's why I don't do mine anymore, except when I can lock out Transmit...

 

this is a dying hobby, why so much attention on mars mod? the hobby have lots of other issues to worry about. we have idiots all over the place with ham tickets.
we have NETS all over the place that serve no useful purpose. we have guys setting up their audio to be as wide as possible taking up much spectrum. we have guys with huge amount of illegal power. the list of BS goes on. mars cap is not illegal. other legal ham are messing up ham bands. point the finger to that or get a life.

 

My radios were modified (opened up) because I was a Navy/MC MARS operator. Of coarse the Navy Mars program is no longer. I still have the same HF/VHF capabilities as I want to keep my gear so it is up to me to be a responsible and law abiding amateur radio operator.
Would I use all of the radios capabilities in a disaster/survival situation? You bet I would.
73...............................

 

Very well said. It sounds to me that you can also control YOUR radio without any help. Good on you.
Dave AE7XG

 

That's the way I understood it to be. But, it seemed as though everyone has differing ideas on the subject, so I thought I ought to ask, for some clarification.

 

this goes back to the days where we used to modify ft 101,tempo 1's and other ham rigs for 11 meters!

 

I'm late to the party, but the QRZ forums never fail to entertain - misinformation and kneejerk reactions abound here. I was sitting here actually laughing out loud at some of the incorrect, half-baked responses. I did read one that made a modicum of sense, but needs to be put in perspective. There was a respondent early on who was concerned about all of the cheap Chinese radios flooding the market. I believe the comment was in relation to what would happen when the number of cheap radios capable of transmitting on ham bands (or wherever) reached "critical mass" - then anarchy and chaos would presumably reign on the ham bands.

I submit that 'critical mass' has already been reached as far as how many of those things have been sold. I have no way of even guessing how many Wouxun or Baofeng handhelds have been sold, but surely it has to be in the hundreds of thousands in the U.S. alone. I realize it's an exaggeration, but it seems as if every Technician that I know licensed since 2005 or so has one for every room of their house. Why, the 2 meter band should be absolutely kicking with activity ... and the illegal and unlicensed users causing corresponding QRM all over the ham bands, public service and everywhere else! The 'problem' (as far as ham activity goes) is ... it hasn't happened. Locally, 2 meters is an absolute desolate wasteland where I live. (metropolitan area of just over a million persons) One hardly hears a kerchunk on a repeater any longer. Ditto with unlicensed and illegal use of 2 meter frequencies. Heck, maybe it would be a good thing if we had some unlicensed activity. It would give us local hams a task, something to DO - DF and track down the offenders and then try and convince them to get their Technician ticket so they could get on ham frequencies and talk to ... well, nobody. Sorry, but soccer moms have their little ones already equipped with cell phones when they are still in single digit years. They aren't flocking to buy Baofeng UV-5R transceivers and learning how to program them (and lockout the keypad so Junior can't inadvertently change frequencies). No, Junior has already eclipsed the need for something like that by using his own personal voice communication and digital texting device, bestowed upon him sometime immediately subsequent to him being weaned off the bottle.

For US hams: NO, it's not illegal nor, I would submit, immoral for you to clip a diode and enable your radio to transmit out of band as long as you don't actually do it. I love, love, love the comments as to how a radio somehow has cooties or is devalued by having the mod done, too. (but apparently only if someone isn't qualified or certified to clip said diode) I've purchased quite a few used HF transceivers off of eBay the last decade or so. Only one of them was NOT already modified for out of band transmit. I'm pleased to report that, strangely, their operation on ham bands has not been affected and I have also not awakened in an Ambien induced stupor and gone on a wild binge in the wee hours of the morning, QRMing long range Air Force SSB comms or hobknobbing with the truckers on a nearby interstate, either!