Citizens Band 2 way Radio in India

[drlizard]

Good afternoon Able! I talked to the Gen Secretary of the Association.. he's a great guy and had helped me a lot when I was starting out, introducing me to other HAMs and teaching me how to transmit correctly etc. He said they organise the licensing exam in Assam if there are 20 or more candidates. So Assam is a no go for you at the moment, as there aren't any other candidates right now. However, there's no such thing in Meghalaya.. you can book the exam and even if you're the only person, you can go to the centre and take the test. A HAM from Assam had taken the test alone at Meghalaya sometime in the recent past and got his license. I think that's the way to go. Besides, Meghalaya is super beautiful and in case you haven't been there, you'll be hitting two birds with one stone.

I think Mundaire can visit Meghalaya too, if he hasn't been there already. The licensing exam is just 1 hour long, then you can go sightseeing in the hills!!

[Able]

Good afternoon Able! I talked to the Gen Secretary of the Association.. he's a great guy and had helped me a lot when I was starting out, introducing me to other HAMs and teaching me how to transmit correctly etc. He said they organise the licensing exam in Assam if there are 20 or more candidates. So Assam is a no go for you at the moment, as there aren't any other candidates right now. However, there's no such thing in Meghalaya.. you can book the exam and even if you're the only person, you can go to the centre and take the test. A HAM from Assam had taken the test alone at Meghalaya sometime in the recent past and got his license. I think that's the way to go. Besides, Meghalaya is super beautiful and in case you haven't been there, you'll be hitting two birds with one stone.

I think Mundaire can visit Meghalaya too, if he hasn't been there already. The licensing exam is just 1 hour long, then you can go sightseeing in the hills!!

Good evening, Doc. You help a lot and your information sounds terrific, I had been to Shillong in the past, I don't mind spending time there again, beautiful city.

I need to dig internet how to apply for exams in Meghalaya, whom to contact and when will the exam take place.

If the stars are aligned, I might be Able ( ) to share my call sign here some day.

[drlizard]

No problem my friend. Glad to help!!
Check out the Saral Sanchar website. They simplified the process about 1 or 2 years ago. It involves less steps now and I think you don't need to go pay on a different govt website and go back and upload the e-reciept etc nowadays. I think it all happens on Saral Sanchar nowadays, but I'm not 100% sure. I think you'll be able to figure it out from the website itself.. All the best !! Get the license and en"Able" yourself to transmit.
You owe me beer and fried chicken, after you get your callsign.

[Able]

No problem my friend. Glad to help!!
Check out the Saral Sanchar website. They simplified the process about 1 or 2 years ago. It involves less steps now and I think you don't need to go pay on a different govt website and go back and upload the e-reciept etc nowadays. I think it all happens on Saral Sanchar nowadays, but I'm not 100% sure. I think you'll be able to figure it out from the website itself.. All the best !! Get the license and en"Able" yourself to transmit.
You owe me beer and fried chicken, after you get your callsign.

Yup, If things go smoothly I might catch you on the air someday. Thanks

[eljefe]

My days we had to wait 2 years after exam for VU2call sign...

Good to know CB is atleast allowed without all the tamasha. 10m has good band openings, though I havent been on HF a while now.I guess Mundaire will have a decent start with a 5W rig and a well tuned Inverted V, will be a good start up for some serious Ham work in the future
We have an 80ch UHF CB allocation here in VK.Simply buy a rig and use. Mostly for Mobile work.The diehard types have antenna farms for the 27Meg CB.

[spin_drift]

Instead setup a LoRa network. if you like texting.

You mean something like Meshtastic?

Yes, Meshtastic

[mundaire]

Yes, Meshtastic

Ah yes! I have been reading about it, but am still a bit leery as its p2p and I'm not sure there are anywhere close to enough users to make it feasible here. If you know more, please do share, would love to learn more.

BTW, I spent half the afternoon trying to tune the mag mount cb antenna on my car today. The constant mosquito attacks did not help at all anyhow, finally got it down to below 1.5 swr across channels, with the highest frequencies giving much lower readings.

Totally new to this, but I did realise that these relatively short car mount antennas don't seem to have much leeway to play with. Any tips?

Cheers!
Abhijeet

P.S. at the end of all this, my son came up with a snide comment - "Dad, your batmobile, ready for action yet?"

[Anand]

Hi Abhijeet,
I am guessing you have a SWR Meter to get readings to tune your set up. If you obtained an antenna set up that was sold to you along with the radio, all you may have to do is relocate the antenna on different parts of the vehicle and obtain readings.

I am adding things that I remember off the top of my head, its been a long time since I tinkered with my gear. Also you may already know most of this stuff, but I am posting for the benefit of others who may be new to all this.

Next, the height off the ground, and its adjacence to interference such as vehicle ignition, other electronic equipment has some bearing on the range. I would suggest the top of your vehicle if it has a metal roof, if its not convenient, then on the boot. In case its a Jeep/Thar with a plastic hard top then a rear corner may be a better bet.
The best location will vary vehicle to vehicle, and experimentation is necessary. But that is also the fun part.

I mounted my dual antennae on either side of the 'A 'pillars on my old Thar, with jugad mounts, but I was mostly listening and not transmitting so location of antenna was not critical.
Routing and the length of your wiring also has a bearing on the results but to a lesser degree if you already have a setup sold with the Radio. I mention this as other HAMs could better explain, a lot of them build antennae, and that requires a lot of tuning and more care in setting up.

CB is in the 11M Band which is HF and is quite forgiving, just make sure you never transmit without an antenna or at least a dummy load or you will end up frying your radio.
Regards,
Anand

[eljefe]

Yes, Meshtastic

Ah yes! I have been reading about it, but am still a bit leery as its p2p and I'm not sure there are anywhere close to enough users to make it feasible here. If you know more, please do share, would love to learn more.

BTW, I spent half the afternoon trying to tune the mag mount cb antenna on my car today. The constant mosquito attacks did not help at all anyhow, finally got it down to below 1.5 swr across channels, with the highest frequencies giving much lower readings.

Totally new to this, but I did realise that these relatively short car mount antennas don't seem to have much leeway to play with. Any tips?

Cheers!
Abhijeet

P.S. at the end of all this, my son came up with a snide comment - "Dad, your batmobile, ready for action yet?"

They’re a compromise. If it’s less than 1:1.5 at the top end then antenna is basically cut for that frequency and the others are a bit of a jugaad. Wont fry your finals, you should be ok. The much vaunted 1:1 swr is a bit of a myth. You can cut a dedicated frequency antenna. But there will be swings. Depends on many things
The thickness of conductor, the ‘ground available to the antenna’ ,height above ground, how close the human body or other conductors are to the radiator etc.
also, most of these will have a centre or base loaded ‘coil’ which again is a compromise to reduce the length of the whip element.

Running comms for the K-1000 rally in the 90’s we had a coil and whip cut for the one frequency which was allotted for the rally, for HF use. Most times , we got away with vhf , but HF was needed for non coverage,non repeater areas. Most times 4 -3 on the RS but copyable.
Never mind the signal strength, What is the readability on the < 1:1.5 frequency ?

[eljefe]

PS. I’ve taken apart a few HF/VHF base loaded antennas. Usually they were base loaded, sort of have a bit better stability.but some were pre Temu and had a hair thin conductor running up the fancy bells and whistles rigid vertical. Replaced with a thickish 16 or 18 ga wire, worked wonders to the bandwidth. But all that was in the dark ages when I rode a dinosaur to work.
Since we are now in the Temu/Aliexpress universe, the old faithful ‘diamond’ a Japanese stalwart of its time May be a fake one, unless licenced to be built by ye Temu gang.

A 1/4 lambda vertical would be about 2.7m long for 27 megs, not exactly mobile friendly, unless a base loading coil was used. I keep harping about base loading coils because in my biased opinion, they are stable and structurally sound for car use. Also because I only run a 5/8 whip for VHF/UHF for mobile. Of what I’ve seen here for HF work in remote communities, the lifeblood, since satphones are so pricey; they prefer a Codan rig and the vehicular antenna resembles something you could fix a harpoon head on for Moby Dick.

[eljefe]

Good to hear our own Abhijeet is interested in becoming a HAM. I was one for while in the USA(2000-2010), initially got the application and materials to take the exam a couple of times here in India, but never followed it up.
I was Technician Class Call sign KC8PAT (not active).
Regards,
Anand

Cant you get a reciprocal licence on the basis of your US licence?

[Anand]

Hi,
AFAIK, reciprocity between licenses issued abroad and Indian ones is for the short term, as in visiting for short periods usually 90 days and below (I am not sure exactly about the actual duration, it varies from country to country). But when some one is resident at a place, as in working abroad they are expected to obtain a license issued in that country after passing their exams. Some requirements may be waived by some countries but this varies.
Although I had a license for 10 years abroad, when I returned for good, I was told to obtain a local license.
Also AFAIK, Indian licenses allow you to transmit only from your registered station, in your home or office or club etc. You are not allowed to transmit while mobile. There are limited exceptions to the above.
You will have to get prior permission for transmitting at say HAM Fests etc. So not transmitting from vehicles.
Current HAMs please chip in and correct my posts as necessary as my data is quite old.
Regards,
Anand

[drlizard]

Here's an update.. HAM Fest is coming up.
And one can take the ASOC test there.
Here's what I saw in the WhatsApp group, copied and pasted directly here:



We’re pleased to share that officials from WMS Goa will be attending HamFest India 2025 in person.

Additionally, WMS Goa has agreed to conduct a mass *ASOC examination* at the event venue on *11th October 2025* (Day 1).

The exam will be for *Restricted Grade* only, as WMS will not be able to arrange Morse code testing for a large number of candidates.

Further details and the application process will be shared shortly.

73,
Sandesh Bhat (VU22DX)
General Convenor – HamFest India 2025
info@hfi2025.in | +91 99747 11222

[Able]

Great Information there, doc.

Goa is a bit too far from my place. Could be a great vacation if there's time and money.

[eljefe]

A bit OT.
Because there are a couple of hams on here, and hopefully more planning to become one, this is an impressive piece of kit. Made in India. A friend here is currently putting it through its paces. Besides CW,SSB, has the whole 9 yards of digital modes; FT8, Free DV without PC etc.

https://www.hfsignals.com/index.php/zbitx/