Family radio · Study guides
15 steps from first license to a family radio plan
GMRS keeps the family talking around town; ham radio reaches across the region and connects you to repeaters, weather spotters and emergency volunteers. These short guides walk from the Technician license to a working family plan, using the Yaesu FT-65R, the repeaters near Nashville and the ranch, and the radios you already own.
Each topic opens a page with four parts:
Each topic also comes as slides (PDF), a Word document for printing and a PowerPoint. Your best test score is saved on your own device and shows beside each topic.
Fifteen topics, about ten minutes each. Start anywhere, or open them all in one page.
Open all 15 topics in one pageThe Technician license is the front door to ham radio. What the 35-question test covers, how to study the public question pool, where to find a local exam session, what to bring, and what it costs.
Your call sign is your name on the air. When to say it, the handful of things ham radio never allows, why every family member needs their own license, and how a licensed operator can let an unlicensed person talk.
Ham radio is divided into bands named for their wavelength. Which bands a Technician can use, why 2 meters and 70 centimeters are the family workhorses, and what the General license opens up for long-distance talk.
A tour of the Yaesu FT-65R: what each control does, the difference between VFO and memory mode, how to change power, and the accessories worth buying with it.
Ham repeaters listen on one frequency and transmit on another. What an offset is, why repeaters need a tone, how to set them on the FT-65R, and the Nashville and Mount Nebo repeaters to program first.
Simplex means talking radio to radio on one frequency, with no tower in between. The national calling frequencies, how to pick family simplex channels, and how far two handhelds really reach.
CHIRP is free software that programs radios from a computer. How to download a radio's memory, add repeaters from RepeaterBook, name channels, and upload the same list to every family radio.
From the stock rubber duck to a roof antenna at the ranch: which antennas help most, why coax cable matters at higher frequencies, and what SWR means before you transmit.
A net is an organized on-air meeting run by a net control station. How to check in, what to say, how nets build skills for emergencies, and where to find nets around Nashville and the ranch.
Radio voices crackle and letters sound alike. The phonetic alphabet, how to say your call sign clearly, and the short radio words that keep conversations quick.
Ham radio's emergency volunteers: what ARES does, how Skywarn spotters help the National Weather Service, what to say in an emergency, and how your family can get involved.
Keeping radios running through a long outage: spare batteries, AA packs, 12-volt car power, and how your ranch solar system can run a base station for days.
When a handheld isn't enough: a 50-watt truck radio for the drive between Nashville and the ranch, a base station at home, and what each needs for power, antennas and mounting.
The General license opens the HF bands, where signals bounce off the ionosphere and reach across the country. What the General test covers, how HF works, and what a simple HF station needs.
A complete family radio plan using GMRS for everyone and ham radio for the licensed members: primary, alternate, contingency and emergency methods, check-in times, and a practice day to test it all.