>>1279724>Looks like you're one of these fags.No, my main annoyance with people who don't want to get a license is when they act like amateur radio equipment is something that "just werks"/is significantly less complicated than it really is. Also, the technician exam is an idiot test that elementary schoolers can and do pass. Those Motorola radios for example are made on quite a few band splits with some of them not covering any frequencies you can legally use even with a license.
>My dad bought some $20 Walmart Walkie Talkies It's less then 6 miles from my house to the lake I fish at 3 miles is the closest it will work before you start being unable to communicate.Yeah, and unless you're putting up a tower at your house or you live on a tall hill, you aren't going to make that with additional power and a larger antenna alone due to the problem of the radio horizon. With an amateur radio license you'd be able to use public repeaters in your area to extend your signal rather than have a base station with a tower at your house, and yes amateur radio operators will go after you if you're using a repeater without a license.
>My dad was telling me back in the 70's about a guy who used the river to extend the signal all the way to Russia, from Southwest Florida. I don't know about fresh water, but salt water makes a really good ground plain for an antenna and does give you quite a bit of gain. Also, as
>>1279953 said the solar cycle back in the 70s was ridiculous with the ionosphere reflecting radio frequencies much higher than it does today. Back then the amateur 10 meter band (which is usable with a relatively short 8.25 foot long vertical antenna) was regularly open. Today on the other hand the solar cycle is the worst it's been since the 1800s and may get worse, and people regularly joke around about throwing away their dedicated 10 meter band radios because they can't use them.
