this post was submitted on 05 Oct 2025
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[โ€“] rayquetzalcoatl@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

That's fascinating. I was worried it was going to be closer to ยฃ300! Thank you for sharing!!

The FlightRadar and hilltopping sound great, and I'd love to see if I could catch some pirate radio around ๐Ÿ‘€

[โ€“] PhobosAnomaly@feddit.uk 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Honestly, I didn't have a scooby about amateur radio until I watched a few videos by Ringway Manchester - he's a really knowledgeable amateur. He's a bit of a wanker to people in his comments who dare to offer dissenting opinions, but his videos are generally presented with a classic no-bullshit British vibe.

The point of this is that he pushed me in the direction of the Baofeng UV-5RH, which is a handheld that operates on the VHF bands but is very versatile. The company gets grief for producing hamstrung cheap shit, but honestly being a so-called Baofeng Warrior has provided me with the inexpensive entry point into the world of Ham Radio - and it even has a function for listening to FM radio for the... lesser-legitimate audio broadcaster needs ๐Ÿ˜Š

My advice would be to get a UV-5RH (around ยฃ25), get a quarter-wave magmount antenna for the car (around (ยฃ15 for a cheap one), and check out Essex Ham's videos on Foundation-level radio guidance (free with a recommended donation).

If you like it, brilliant - get your chequebook out and go wild. If you don't, then you've invested forty-odd quid and you can get half of that back on various internet auction sites.

Have fun!

edit: but yeah if you want beyond line-of-sight communication then ยฃ300 would be well under a lowball estimate ๐Ÿ˜ข

I don't have a clue about amateur radio, so thank you for the tips!! Might have to see if Santa brings me a UV-5RH this year... See you on the airwaves soon ๐Ÿ‘€๐Ÿ˜‚