Minimum Equipment

To operate during emergencies, you need, of course, an amateur radio license. In addition, you need a receiver to hear others over your radio, you need a transmitter to send your voice to others, and you need an antenna to send your radio signal into space. This page gives more details about the minimum equipment you need.

Amateur Radio (ham) License

To operate amateur radio equipment, you need a station and operators license. Other websites and books discuss these licenses and give the requirements for the licenses.

Radio Receiver/Transmitter

As explained in other pages of this primer, this primer discusses procedures and equipment for the 2-meter radio band. Because of the relatively high frequency of the 2-meter band, the radio communications are intended for local emergencies. Lower frequencies are used in emergencies that require radio contacts over longer distances.

Radio communications on the 2-meter band use frequency modulation (FM), and the radio equipment usually has both the ability to transmit and receive FM signals. There are two types of equipment used: small receivers/transmitters that can easily be carried but provide relatively low power when transmitting. These radios usually have a maximum of 5 watts of power but can be used with less power when the lower power is sufficient for reliable communications. These radios usually have small batteries that are useful for shorter times, such as an hour or two. Radios that are mounted in vehicles usually have higher power than the hand-held radios, and those radios usually have better antennas. This combination of higher power and better antennas mean the mobile radios can have reliable communications over longer distances.  Mobile radios usually use the vehicle for power sources and thus can be used for longer times such as a day or two.

Minimum Equipment

1. Hand-held radios or mobile radios.

2. Short antennas that usually come with the hand-held radios. These antennas are called "rubber ducks".

3. Longer antennas that are used with mobile equipment. These antennas may be permanently attached to the vehicle, or they may have a magnetic connection to the vehicle such that the antennas can be removed if so desired by the person using the mobile equipment.

4. Batteries to provide DC power to the equipment. Only one battery is needed to power the radio equipment for an hour or two, but extra batteries are useful to provide additional use of the radios. In the United States, federal government regulations specify that the amateur radio equipment shall use the minimum power needed for reliable communications.

Improvements to the Equipment

Hand-held equipment is normally used for communications with nearby people who are in the building being used by the ham operator or are in close proximity to that building. My experience with hand-held equipment is that reliable communications can usually be obtained over distances of a mile or two. Radio stations that are used to contact hams further away from the building may need higher power and/or better antennas, and mobile equipment is often used for such contacts. My experience with hand-held equipment is that a better antenna provides reliable communications over distances of 5 or more miles.

Hand-held radios can be connected to larger batteries to allow them to be used for longer periods of time. Mobile equipment might be removed from vehicles and used as stationary stations to provide the power and antennas needed for longer contacts. Vehicle batteries make useful power sources for several days of operation. Marine batteries are preferred, because those batteries are designed to give reliable power when the batteries are used until the batteries are close to being depleted. If "normal" vehicle batteries are used, they should be recharged more often.

Longer antennas can be used with both hand-held and mobile equipment to provide greater efficiency in the transmission of signals into space, and the reception of such signals by receiving stations.

Adapters for BNC to UHF connectors may be needed to allow the same antenna to be used with either hand-held or mobile rigs. Hand-held radios often use BNC connections for antennas, and mobile rigs often use UHF connectors for antennas. If BNC to UHF adapters are available, the antennas can be supplied by others.

Other pages in this book discuss the use of Anderson connectors to connect equipment to power sources. If all equipment use Anderson connectors, the radios can be used with batteries supplied by others.