I'll repeat one or two things that others have said, but I hope this answers
all your questions.

In general, I'd advise you to find a good club and join. If you find one as
good as the one I joined when I was starting out they'll be delighted to
take you in hand, help you learn your material and pass your tests, help you
find good used equipment, etc. If you have the time and they exist start
visiting two or three local clubs -- there should be at least one in your
area, unless you _really_ live out in the boonies.

To _find_ a local club you should see if there's a local ham radio store and
ask. If that doesn't work, find your local ARRL (or your contry's group if
you're not in the US) section leader and ask for some local references.
Amatuer radio operatior are always happy to recruit fresh meat - er
introduce new members - to the hobby, so you should have a pretty easy time
if it.

Tim Wescott, KG7LI

wrote in message
...
Hello,

-- snip --

no one uses them anymore. What os involved in getting into ham. Do I
need a license for everything, or are these some public channels
(freqs)? I realize getting a license is complicated, and would be
happy with the public channels if they exist (at least for starters).

You do need a license to be an amatuer radio operator, but they're fairly
easy to get. In my opinion it's pretty easy to actually learn all the
material, but if you don't have that kind of mind the tests are all multiple
choice and the questions are drawn from "pools" -- I know people who just
memorize the answers to all the questions and pass that way.

As another poster explained, there are no-code and code licences. The
Technician class (no-code) licence will only allow you to work on 50MHz and
higher, which will limit you to local contacts, but it's a very good place
to start, and unless you're really out on the fringe of civilization you'll
have plenty of people to talk to.

There are no unlicensed amatuer radio frequencies (and they're not really
channelized except by agreement within the ham community). There is an
unlicensed LF band around 160kHz, but that's all morse code experamental,
and probably not what you'd be interested in.

What channels would I start with? What is the bare minimum cost that
I can get a USED basic two way radio? Besides the radio, what else do
I need? I assume some sort of antenna setup. What would be the bare
minimum cost for that, again, used is fine. What else do I need to
know, buy, or do?

If you started with a no-code licence you'd want to get a 2 meter (144MHz)
rig. Handheld rigs are cheaper new, but mobile rigs last longer and are
cheaper used. You can start out with a radio, a 12V power supply and basic
antenna and (if you join a club) a borrowed SWR meter to get it working. If
you install it in your car you don't even need the power supply.

If you bite the bullet and learn the code you'll be able to work the HF
bands from 1600kHz to 30MHz. These will get your voice around the world on
a fairly inexpensive radio. This is where being comfortable with Morse
would be a good thing -- my first radio was untrustworthy on voice, but got
me world contacts on morse code, and after a while it's as easy as chatting
with voice.

Like I said, I dont want this to get complicated, and my finances do
not allow any big prices. I guess there are two things would make or
break this plan, the costs, and the the license. Funds are low, and I
can barely pay the bills now. As for the license, I have a good
knowledge of electronics from way back when, mostly the old tube
equipment, but am not real up on the newer stuff, and my math skills
never were any good. So, I dont know if I would be able to pass the
tests or not, and I know learning the morse code would be tough. I
tried to learn it way back when I was in my teens, (thats ages ago),
and I tended to always get confused. My mind was much sharper back
then too.

Equipment will cost you some. It sounds like you're retired, which will
allow you to spend the time to really look for deals. If you can make
friends with someone who's familiar with the equipment and go to the
hamfests with them -- they can help you pick up something that is a known
good brand and model, and perhaps even point out the potential problems.

One of the very nice things about being an amatuer radio operator is that
you are expected to have the knowledge to not only work on your equipment,
but to build it from scratch if you wish. If you really have the
electronics knowledge you'll be able to buy older equipment and refurbish it
and align it yourself. There's still old tube equipment out there to buy,
but it's starting on the upward "antique" price curve. At this point the
best buys are probably the 1st generation hybrid tube/transistor rigs such
as the Kenwood TS-520, but I wouldn't pass up a Heath SB-101 or it's like.

One last thing, is there some sort of ham radio that goes across the
internet???? I thought I heard about something like that, or maybe I
was just having an alzheimers moment. If this is true, how does it
work?

Yes, there's amatuer radio that goes across the internet. There's a mode
called packet radio, and you can put TCP/IP (internet) packets onto it to
send email and such -- our local emergency group does just this for sending
text messages hither and yon. I've heard about individuals who've put their
ham stations up on the internet, but I have no first-hand experience with
that.

By the way, has anyone ever figured out why they call it "HAM"? Is it
because the old tube radios were hot enough to cook a ham on top of
them?

Thanks

George