Introduction

[jamestraylor]

Hi everyone! It was great getting to meet some of you at the meeting.

I'm a new P-2 pilot with a couple of years of PPG in my past. I'm very excited about getting into thermaling and XC. Looking to fly almost any weekend and I'll keep checking the boards for trip posts.

I need to get a radio and vario (+GPS) preferably soon. If anyone has any recommendations, especially about the radio, please let me know.

See you up there!

[George]

It was nice meeting you!

I'm building three more Kobo/XC Soar devices which make nice GPS/Vario/Flight Computer/keep out of airspace devices. I only need one of them so let me know if you are interested in one in PM. The radio a lot of us use is this one: http://amzn.to/1h2gpAC

Hope to fly with you soon. Maybe tomorrow at Blue Mountain?

George

[markc]

Welcome to the area James! Hope you are enjoying the non-powered version of PG, and get some great flights soon.

You might want to check into Yaesu's line of handheld 2m radios as well. A bit pricier... But pretty rugged (or at least, that's true of earlier models which have been pretty popular over the years). Hopefully still true.

[jamestraylor]

Thanks for the advice guys. I ended up buying a pair of the BaoFeng radios. One for me and one for the wife. Now a bigger question: Ham license? I ordered the book and am eagerly awaiting digging into that most exalted and exclusive bastion of nerd culture. Any thoughts on requirement and difficulty? I'm not too worried (I dig that geek stuff) but I am concerned about the wife if it gets too tedious.

[mingram]

The ham exam is required by the FCC. Not every pilot is in compliance, but many are and others are trying to find the time to study and take the exam (me included). Tom put together a helpful document that explains the process.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/iipkjrwdvjzn5 ... 1.pdf?dl=0

[Matthew]

Also see practice tests at--

http://www.eham.net/exams/


Matthew

[CraginS]

RE: HAM stuff.
1. You don't need a license to listen, or to own a radio, only to transmit.
2. I'm very pleased with the Baofeng UV-82 I got on Amazon for less than $40. One piece of advice - if you want the special cable for programming it from a computer, be sure to buy the one from the official US distributor, not the less expensive look-alike.

[brianvh]

Since both you and your wife would have to be in HAM compliance to actually talk by radio, you can buy a set of FRS radios, or look up the frequencies and use those when talking. The FRS typically have limited range, I'm assuming you can use them (and the USHPA frequencies) on the radios you bought. But then you have to deal with chatter from the rest of the world.d