Ham Radio 101: Understanding the Cost of Getting Started

Any hobby done well is expensive. Fishing and Golf cost about a THOUSAND notes to get into - so does Astrophotography (for instance). But how much can we build our first station for? Let's have a look. 73, Callum, M0MCX.
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• Antennas Antennas
• Live Streams Live Streams
• Commander World My Stuff
• Foundation Training Ham Radio Training

[@nessymon]

I must apologise, I've just found you and just getting into all this as a hobby - thanks so much for explaining everything so clearly. Much appreciated.

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Welcome!

[@julianrobertson3303]

Well said as always , thank you for your sound advice .

[@DXCommanderHQ]

My pleasure!

[@jethrobrowne2942]

Makes a lot of sense. Wish I knew this when I started.

[@neilmasters9914]

Insightful video as always Cal. The only thing I would add around a handheld is that as you are limited to 10w at Foundation level I found that my Yaesu Ftd 70 enabled me to work digital Wires X through a repeater and work the world on Fusion broadening my experience and making contacts and working countries that I could not at the time have made on HF. I learnt a lot around operating in this way which helped as I developed my operating skills. 73 Neil

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Good point!

[@kevinkc3onohelijeepworld953]

Remember it’s best to divide the cost of a rig over 365 days of the year it brings you Joy, and great thing they last more then a year so maybe divide that cost by 5yrs and cost of a rig is well worth the $$$☺️it helps justify the cost of that 5yr old kenwood 890 and to be real honest if you bought one on the release day at 3300$ you could sell it for 4500 they re asking today so it’s gained value over most rigs that loose value surprisingly 😳and I’m not even a kenmore appliance guy I like my menus and Yaesu4LIFE fanboy ☺️

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Love menus too!

[@noimnotarobotcanubeleiveit7024]

i bought my ft817 when they first came out, and its still worth as much as when i bought it. they litterally go for more secondhand on ebay than i paid new. tell that to the wife next time you want a new radio, its an investment!

[@davekettle6220]

great Q&A dave

[@radiotests]

I will eagerly await this one. Being disabled it's taking months to get back into HF gear. Its so much more than a radio and antenna. The connecting and power gear is 2 to 3 times more than you expect. $250 for a tuner to use that cheap antenna. Ground rods and heavy strap $100. Connectors and Coax, switches, entry plate, cables between devices, power supply and meter and more and more are well over $800 Add the computer connection and Digital sound card another $2-400. The little things just keep adding up and it will be another year before my used Kenwood TS-590s will be on the air.

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Hmmm. Well, good work getting your ticket.. Of course, you don't NEED a tuner.. kzbin.info/www/bejne/qGOlo4Clgcx8r8U

[@noimnotarobotcanubeleiveit7024]

sounds like you are trying to build a world class contest station. an ft817 with a run of rg59 into a tuned inverted v can get you round the world and have a lot of fun

[@stephenbrown9400]

Is a computer and a sound card really needed?

[@problemwithauthority]

As I was told in my early 20s..."Any hobby worth doing will cost more than you expect it will".

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Haha Ed! Yes :)

[@noimnotarobotcanubeleiveit7024]

i was told that ham radio is something you do not something you buy

[@DXCommanderHQ]

@@noimnotarobotcanubeleiveit7024 Well. You so do fishing and golf.. But it costs green things..

[@noimnotarobotcanubeleiveit7024]

@@DXCommanderHQ how many of those is up to the individual. components are cheaper than ever so homebrew rigs are always a possibility. ham radio is getting away from the early 90;s snobbyness. even on a budget of zero it is possible to turn some old junk radio into a simple tranceiver as long as you have some solder and an iron. back in the 40's my old man built his first rig from the 'spare' valves from his fathers radiogram, then after the war he got hold of a mil surplus radar tube and built the first tv on his street. i think the recent homebrew upsurge in the younger generation is also caused by general poverty in the world. arduino type boards, chinese parts, and units like usdx and baofeng are bringing the young pioneer spirit back into radio just in time before enough old hams go sk and the powers that be get to sell our bands to google or some other corporate asshats

[@noimnotarobotcanubeleiveit7024]

@@DXCommanderHQ funny thing you mention fishing, but in the lowestoft beach competition a couple decades back there was this crazy old guy who would show up with a broomstick with a nail in the end and a long string with a large nut tied on. that was his setup. the rest of us were kitted out with zipplex and abugarcia mag elites, all sorts of fancy baits and gadgets. and that guy won hands down so many times it was unreal. i think he was known as bilbo or something. he just put the nut on the nail and hoic it over his sholder sending his damp string and nut into the drink with a hook and bit of stinky old squid he would collect the night before as messy fishermen gave up and threw their bait on the beach

[@Porco_Utah]

Handheld radio with 1/4 wave antenna even at 144MHz in Japan did pretty well. there was enough FM stations using simplex ( no repeater allowed in 144MHz band ) , but in USA I only used them communicating inside of Costco, mall, so on. AG6JU ex JG6IUB

[@stevegriffin9552]

Good morning Calum excellent video. I’m sure A new amateur operator is really overwhelmed with the choices from the radios to the antennas. And like you said don’t spend a whole lot because some of those radios as you know very well or very expensive and overwhelming to operate. Thank you for your time in explaining about the radios and the other accessories that is needed. Hope you have a great week and take care. WD5ENH Steve

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Hey Steve! We're out on the hills this weekend.. Watch the cluster for M0XXT/P :)

[@patdbean]

You can always connect a handheld to a external colinear antenna. My 5w handheld only gets me into my nearest repeater (2 Miles ) on it's stock antenna. But repeaters 15 to 30 miles away when plugged into my out door diamond x50 at 30ft above ground even at only 5w output.

[@gaptastic]

This is an interesting question. My first radio was a Baofeng HT, cause it was cheap. For me, it was good enough. I live in the Metrowest area of Boston (US) and there are a crap load of repeaters with multiple nets almost every night, so I think I hit the ham jackpot. There's also a lot of ham associations. Associations help out extraneous crap. Because of the high activity in my area, I said, I'm getting my general (month later), then I said "I only have one license left?" and got my Extra. From then on, I kept buying HT's and mobiles. BUT I'm a gadget junkie and was willing to spend money. I did this with IT security pentesting too. Location matters a lot. The thing I realized ... I always needed more coax, connectors and accessories. And you should NOT cheap out on coax, wire and connectors.

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Your last line.. Couldn't agree more.

[@MrGrunter]

I only earwig at the moment until I get my license but I picked up an ft990 for £300 that has power supply built in. Made a simple wire horizontal dipole out of some old earth wire I had laying around and I can listen in and learn just fine. I have just ordered a 779uv to give me 70cm and 2m coverage so all in its about £420 to give me upto 30mhz and 2m/70cms which helps keep the interest rather than waiting for the day when I can afford the super fancy gear.

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Perfect!

[@richardmillican7733]

I bought a kenwood TS450S to play around with (11 metres as not yet licenced) £350. Sold it a year later for £400! Bought a FT-920 for £500 with a warranty and fully serviced direct from Japan Second hand 30a psu came in for £40 2 × verticals for 11Metres (1 aluminium 5/8 and 1 Fiberglass 1/2 wave. Brand new, about £130 all in. 50 Metres of rg8x 10 PL259 20 metres of rg213 (assembled) Yes, all in less than £1000. And... when I get my novice licence, with the exception of a multiband antenna.. I'm good to go!

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Fabulous!

[@M7BXR]

As a foundation license holder I'd say don't discount the cheaper end of dual band mobile radios, nothing wrong with the Retevis RT 95, CRT micron et al. Great little radios for VHF/UHF. I bought mine as a stop gap cheap entry in but at the moment I can't see any reason to upgrade, £100 new. 🙂 M7BXR.

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Good tip Simon!

[@KarldorisLambley]

i take my foundation exam in a few days, All the stuff about ohms law etc was easy. learning the bands was not, and the stuff about ladders surprised me a great deal. the thing is i hate talking to people. strangers make me uneasy and i get tongue tied. i am worried ill have to talk to strangers. i have no interest in that. i love radio on account of radio being interesting. i want to bounce signals off the moon and time them, get into radio astronomy, listen to Jupiter's decametre transmission. radio is awesome. but talking to strangers, for me, is nightmare.this vid was fantastic, cheers.

[@DXCommanderHQ]

There's a few tricks... I have made some videos about "mic shy".. It's not so much being shy - but it's how you can manage it.

[@KarldorisLambley]

@@DXCommanderHQ thanks, i'll have a look. i am pleased to know i am not alone in loving radio but finding talking to strangers difficult.

[@kd8opi]

Bang on about handhelds. Buy one, but get an inexpensive model from a major brand. Good summary, realistic. I’d recommend a good hf starter rig, and a cheap dual band handheld. Play hf all day, use the handheld to hit repeaters and do satellites (crazy fun).

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Excellent advice.

[@ciaranmcmanus3840]

Coming from CB and still using CB freeband the older I get the more interested in Ham radio but I find Equipment bloody Expensive I am considering starting to look at study Notes in 2024

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Jonathan M0JSX did a video (or he was filming it last time we spoke) how you can get on the air for under £500, fully kitted out.

[@jackK5FIT]

It's so easy to overdo with ham radio. I've only been in the hobby a couple of years and according to my financial planner (my wife) I have several thousand dollars invested (and she's right but she doesn't know the real figure... so far). I actually did sell an hf radio, manual tuner and external sound card and immediately ordered my DX Commander Classic and some bits and pieces to help with the install. Almost have it up and running. Too hot here to do much work outside except in the morning. Jack K5FIT

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Heat.. Yeah - that stops me too!

[@samuelkearney880]

The wee wouxan handhelds are brilliant. I have one that does two to three times better than a beofang when the wouxan is on the rubber duck antenna and the beofang is on a 5 element beam.

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Oh yes, I have a couple of those!

[@VK2GPU]

I like to think I got into the hobby "on the cheap"... but I've found it's all the little things add up over time. The coax, the connectors, wire for antenna, ferrites.. heaven forbid you don't have a decent soldering iron and misc. tools already! I'm lucky to have a partner with different but also as expensive hobbies - no need to keep it secret :P "Hey I need a new HF radio...." "Sure my love, need some money from savings for it?" :)

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Rae! Excellent comment. And you are right. The little things add up!

[@ChoppingtonOtter]

I think in total, including course book, licence, an Anytone 778U and moonraker antenna I got on the air for well under £200. I may eventually have a set up in the house but for now its just in the car to make my commute more interesting. I bought a handheld a couple.of years ago with intent to listen and learn and so far its picked up..... zero. No repeaters near my home in a very rural area.

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Good tip!

[@radiostationad0im307]

How much does HAM radio cost? What do you want to do? The answer to the second question will help answer the first. I'm not much of a VHF/UHF operator, so I haven't invested a lot of money there. 100W on HF, in the US, will cost you $1K+ for the rig, $150-200 for a power supply, with a 20m dipole and coax costing you a few more bucks. All of this assumes buying new and the rig having an internal tuner. That was my first station and it lasted for six months before I started adding antennas. I stuck to dipoles so I didn't need an external tuner. I've since added a few components and associated gadgets, but that initial outlay of around $1300 kept me going until I knew what I was doing.

[@3dPrint_and_chill]

I have one word. Satellites. A Yagi made from coat hanger and your in business.

[@MIKROWAVE1]

This sounds normal! Ive spent more, that's for sure, but I've been a ham since I was a kid and never bought an appliance rig. I'm just too addicted to vintage junk!

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Haha.. I NEARLY and accidentally went down that route once.. Managed to sell it all to good homes! :)

[@clivewi9103]

A DMR handheld and a hotspot will get you around the world.

[@dronenuts1156]

I wish I watched this video before getting into the hobby, got myself a quansheng handheld for £8 and a roll of rg58 coax for £15, length of plastic conduit for £5 and built an antenna for it, got a nice little 2m and 70cm rig. thought this was a cheap hobby. Got my license and decided i want to get into hf, omg its so expensive, there is no budget kit for beginners is there, the foundation license doesn’t allow me to build a transmitter but i can build an authorised kit that meets certain requirements. Well ive looked high and low and cant find a kit suitable, i cant justify spending 1-2k on radio gear. Plan now is to keep learning and pass the intermediate exam and build a transmitter for hf, that is the cheapest option I can think

[@DXCommanderHQ]

The main cost is the radio.. Drop a line to your local club and ask if someone has a 20 year old HF set they no longer use. You might be surprised.

[@dronenuts1156]

Thanks @@DXCommanderHQ yes thats a good idea, ill be visiting the local club on Thursday so might get lucky. Got a load of drones on gumtree for sale or trade for hf radio so might get one sooner than expected. Thanks

[@rico1319]

All you need to know is you need to study and pass your license FIRST!! Then go to the local ham fest spend two to $300 on an old used HF radio. On your way home get some wire and make your own dipole or inverted V antenna and Wala you’re on the AIR! then you can learn everything from just listening or talking to other licensed hams👍👍👍😎🇨🇱

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Good advice!

[@clivewiddus3953]

A bit dated; You Compact radio Icom IC 706MKII & G will do HF and VHF/UHF, Yeasu FT 817 will also do it, the days of mobile radios only doing 2/70 are long gone.

[@AdamosDad]

I've been in this 3 years, 5 HT's iCOM IC-208H, XIEGU G90, Yaesu FT-991A, Stryker 955, 600watt ATU, 300watt AT, homemade 2meter antenna, 10-meter antenna, off center fed 80-10meter antenna, Ameritron 500m amplifier, 100amp power supply. 30 amp power supply, are you starting to see where this is going?

[@DXCommanderHQ]

HAHA! Yes!

[@MattHill303]

I dread to think how many people get hand held radios and give up thinking there's no activity in their area on VHF, from inside at my home you'd think 2m was almost dead on a handy using it's rubber duck, using proper external antenna and I can see 5 QSOs going off as I type this on the radio's waterfall display.

[@DXCommanderHQ]

I know...!

[@jimjungle1397]

Ham radios aren't in every household, which means there's a limited market on things that require a great deal of engineering. I can remember growing up before the CB radio boom, my father had electronic catalogs and magazines and CB radio equipment was very expensive and just as expensive as ham radio. When the CB radio boom started, they couldn't make enough equipment for the market and everything sold quickly. The prices really came down on CB radio in those days. Not only did everybody want them, but everybody could afford them then too. Also in America, CB radios had to be, "type accepted" by the FCC, which was an expensive process. For many years, ham radios didn't have to be type accepted, like commercial transmitters had to be, but I think ham radios are today, but the fees for doing so are waived. Marine radios used to be much more expensive than ham radios, due to the type acceptance fees that they required. With the Internet, ore people are exposed to ham radio,. but more people might choose to spend their money on computers and Internet speed than ham radio for a pastime these day, shrinking the ham radio market, so prices go up to cover engineering costs with low volume sales. Back when more people had rooftop TV antennas, grounding rods and wires were more affordable, because everybody was buying them.

[@DXCommanderHQ]

You make some good comments there.. It's all about supply demand.. Fewer manufactures too due to less and less hobbiests. Saying that, SDRs and other niche equipment is doing well. We forget there are a lot of unlicensed folks who also muck about with RF in their own way, so it will probably never die out.

[@Patrickjdee66]

I like that , don’t tell your partner how much you are spending , if it cost £1000 say it cost £225 lol, at least I’m not alone , cheers Calum 🍷

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Good one!

[@TimCarterPhotos]

Being a new ham and new owner of a TS-2000, I'd love to learn of it's 'foibles under contest conditions'.

[@problemwithauthority]

I have 2 TS-2000 radios and my only regrets are. 1. I should have gotten one with the 1.2ghz module. 2. I should have purchased them 10 years earlier. The work well contesting, I do it often.

[@Frankh77]

My 2000 stopped automatically tuning and has now limited power to 3 to 5 watts or so. I swapped the inductor relays with new, worked for 3 weeks and something failed again. Replaced the drivers, still no go. Going to test finals next, but I suspect some little capacitor gave up on life after 20 years..

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Tim... Try it last full weekend in September during CQWW on 40m (or 80m). Find a frequency and hold it. It's OK for "Search and Pounce" but not for holding a freq because it's too wide.

[@TimCarterPhotos]

@@DXCommanderHQ Thanks for the reply! Do you mean the CQWW RTTY contest in Sept., or the SSB event last wkend in Oct? In either case I take your comment to mean it is too wide on RX rather than TX. I'll def. have a go!

[@GordonHudson]

I sold an Alinco DX70 for £200 recently, PSU for £30. Put up a dipole and you could be on HF for £250.

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Good point Gordon!

[@bill-2018]

You can pay as much or as little as you want. Or build stuff. I've built various things over the years as well as owning some commercial gear which I sold circa 1980 and went QRP. How about a Pixie if you want cheap? I put mine on 60m with 350 mW out worked 180 miles and a SWL report from 220 miles. Or get old stuff working? I bought an old Wireless 19 Set, much work needed and low h.t., c.w. only. Okay if you don't mind tatty gear. Pye Bantam I converted for 4m. One exception, I bought an FT817ND so I can get away from the terrible QRM here, it's small so ideal for my motorbike, my homebrew h.f. rig is too large. Nothing over 5 Watts here. G4GHB

[@DXCommanderHQ]

All good ideas there Bill.

[@____.__._.._]

I'm having a hard time thinking about my first radio. I understand that below the price of IC-7300, FTdx10 we cannot like handpick the radios. At least I wanted to know if there are some models that are considered faulty or bad quality. So I went off to Sherwood rx comparison, sorted it by wide band dynamic range, imediately crossed out the loved ft-450d. All the old boatanchors that I was plannig to buy landed on the end and middle :( Btw, what's your opinion about such tests? Several old units should be measured at once, since it conditions deteriorates over time.

[@DXCommanderHQ]

OK, so Mr SHerwood openly tells us that the noise floor of almost all radios are better than we regular folks can comprehend. Lots of people DID buy the FT450 and to good effect. I don't know of a "bad" radio. ALmost ANY radio I have ever used worked just fine. Not until you start trying to get really close to a VERY strong station, will something like TS990s start to show off. Rob does great tests but they are really esoteric. All my opinion!

[@____.__._.._]

@@DXCommanderHQ Okay.. Well, despite all these tests he also says somwhere: "Does few or less dB matters? No!", but the radios should have atl 80 dnr for ssb.

[@77appyi]

if you are looking for a radio looking at second hand the best rig for 1000 or less is the 7300. have seen them for 850. also one of the few rigs that get you 4m...less than 500 quid than a 450D..i pay 380 for my 450 mint boxed wide banned (by the shop and never used as aCB) and known by my local club since new i can't think of a better rig for that kind of money...for an impoverished student on a shoestring a FT 757GX running of an old car battery and charger

[@samuelkearney880]

£70 second hand psu for 30 amp or £125 for 40 amp linear psu new.

[@Frankh77]

US 2 meter band is about 144 to 148

[@noimnotarobotcanubeleiveit7024]

most people dont live in usa

[@Frankh77]

@@noimnotarobotcanubeleiveit7024 I believe he referenced the US 2m spectrum in his video, just throwing this up there. Or I'm wrong and misunderstood him. Anyways, Japan has the most operators, followed by USA, then everyone else.

[@daveengstrom9250]

Just priced out a 72 ft tower...... $37,500. just the tower. Momo band beam antenna is another $2k. Too much for me.

[@DXCommanderHQ]

$200 for a DX Commander?

[@andycarless9069]

Every Body's Budget Will Differ 👍👍💷💷💷💷💷💷

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Oh yes..!

[@3asyrider75]

Foundation in UK?

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Yep.

[@richardsaunders3082]

Q1: How much money do you have? Q2: Divide by 2, multiply by 2, take the result and send it to HAM vendors

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Brilliant!

[@kenkaminskyj3170]

Why did you buy several handhelds ?????,

[@DXCommanderHQ]

I've never bought a handy.. Actually I bought two. To use on the boat. The rest were given to me by companies trying to sell them. Never use them.

[@M0NMCAmateurRadioStation]

It can be pretty cheap to get started. then the bug gets you lol

[@DXCommanderHQ]

YES! :)

[@scousepie2]

You can get on the air for as Little as £150.. I bought a CRT AT - 779UV Uk Spec pre programmed with all the UK Reapers pre setup on Simplex for £97 . at Mookraker.. great site. The Areal and mount cost £49.00, great Foundation starter kit. enjoy whatever you do ppl.

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Good tip!

[@1shARyn3]

Handhelds: Base station for Fox Hunting

[@1shARyn3]

Base is probably wrong term --- the radio attached to the direction finding antenna used in the field

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Gwen! Nice to see you again :)

[@Volcano-Man]

How much? You can build a lot cheaper than buying and learn too

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Yes, some folks have that capability. Go and inspire them, build something - and put it on KZbin.

[@kenluning909]

Right. I use my Handheld for our local repeater. Mostly if I am outside in the shop or just relaxing in the yard. Other than that they sit until the electricity goes out. de W5KAL

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Ah OK!

[@chrisbeerad8835]

radios are way over priced .

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Yeah, like golf and fishing.

[@chrisbeerad8835]

@@DXCommanderHQgolf sucks dx doesnt

[@eddier9455]

Like most hobbies its inexpensive or expensive as you want to make it. G1OHN