The Dark Secret of Amateur Radio

The dark secret of amateur radio is that it’s just like any other hobby: more expensive than it looks. And when I say that, I don’t mean it has to be *expensive*. After all, expensive, like rich, is a moving target. The more money you have the more money rich means. But, like any engaging hobby, it will take all of you disposable income, maybe more if you aren’t disciplined…

My reentry into the hobby came via a $35 Bao-Feng HT. A pretty minimal investment to be sure, but a gateway drug just the same. The repeater I wanted to listen to wasn’t reachable at my home or on my commute with the crappy rubber duck antenna that comes with the radio. Also, of course, the truck is a Faraday cage and any antenna inside is doomed no matter what the quality. So the next item was a $19.95 unity gain mag mount with the appropriate male SMA connector (the Chinese radio makers felt it necessary to be backwards from the Japanese radios).

That was much better, I could at least listen to my net of choice, but it was noisy and a bit of a chore to connect the radio each day. Next was a $9.95 programming cable. Calling the Bao-Feng hard to program via the keyboard is a laughable understatement.

I’d walk you through an example, but my therapist warns against it. The software was at least free though it was no charmer to install either. The USB drivers for the cable were a bit picky (and they have to be installed separately for each port you plug it into).

The HT came with an ear-piece/PTT mike setup that is usable, so that’s good. I decided I needed a better walking around antenna and so added a $12.95 rubber duckie that’s a little over 2dB gain for 2m and closer to 3dB on 440MHz. The final (so far) piece to the HT is a “battery eliminator”. For somewhere around $5 there is a plastic block that simulates the battery and has a 12V accessory plug wired to it for use in the car.

I think that is the limit to the commercially available accessories for this radio. However, I am already amassing parts for a screw on Yagi antenna for reading the satellite downlink signals. This project it probably in the $5 range and is held up more by time than anything else.

So, let’s recap:

Approximately a 40% efficiency (cost of the radio divided by the total cost). As we’ll see later, this is a great number and the HT stands up as a great value even totally pimped out.