This page is intended as a guide for absolute beginners to amateur radio to help them get acquainted with using VHF/UHF radios as a cheap entry point into the hobby. It isn't an exhaustive guide, it simply explains some of the basics of how to get started yourself and what some of the terminology you might hear means.
If you're here and worried that you can't participate because you aren't licensed yet, don't worry! You'll need to be licensed to transmit but not to recieve (listen), and there's also the option of being supervised under someone else's license and direct supervision. (You should really consider getting your foundation license, though. It's not that difficult, you can do it, I believe in you! 1) If you would like help and support in getting your license, the OARC discord would be a good place to start…)
Like many things in life, particularly technical fields like amateur radio, VHF/UHF are somewhat confusingly named. The 'F' stands for frequency, which measures how many times the radio wave oscillates (think of it as how many times the wave moves up and down) per second, which is measured in Hertz (Hz). We 2) have decided on a convention on what is classed as 'low frequency', and 'high frequency', except they're all rather high when you consider how many thousands hertz the 'low' frequencies are. It's all about perspective, I guess.
Here are the VHF and UHF amateur allocations in the UK. We call them 'bands' and often use their wavelength in metres to talk about them instead of their frequency:
Very High Frequency (VHF) Bands:
Ultra-High Frequency (UHF) Bands:
So one is 'very' high, and one is 'ultra' high. They're somewhat arbitrary adjectives that mean a similar thing, so you've just got to learn which way round they are. 3)
You'll generally find that most commercially available transeivers for this sort of frequency will be 'Dual band' and work on both 2m and 70cm, but if you've already got a radio you'll have to double check.
2m and 70cm are subtly different. You'll find that radio frequency bands have their own quirks and oddities which has a certain sort of charm to it, I think. Some bands are very specialist and don't have lots of users, whilst others are your 'workhorse' bands where most of the activity happens. A lot of repeaters for having a chat with people are on either VHF or UHF, specifically the 2m and 70cm bands. I've listed some differences below:
| 2m | 70cm |
|---|---|
| 'Absorbed' by houses more readily | Fares better in urban environments |
| Fares better against folliage | 'Absorbed' by folliage more readily |
| Slightly longer range | Somewhat shorter range |
| Narrower band, less space for simplex and repeaters | Wider band, more space for simplex and repeaters |
| May be better with a longer antenna than used with 70cm | Can have shorter antennas (May affect dual-band operation) |
| Somewhat more popular for having a 'natter' | Can be somewhat quieter |
To get started on VHF/UHF, you're going to need a radio. Actually, you might not even need that, as you can have a listen on web based receivers called SDRs (I wrote a beginners guide explaining it in detail, check it out here.)
There's a couple of options. You can get 'handheld' or 'mobile' radios which look like what you think of if someone said 'walkie talkie', or there's 'basestation' ones which look like how car radios looked before they went all touchscreen and fancy. The cheaper option is the handheld route, for the price of a cheap/average basestation you can get a fairly nice handheld, and you don't then have to spend money on cabling/power supply/antennas as the handheld does that all for you.
If you are an absolute beginner, there is something to be said for the humble 'Baofeng'. They can be somewhat divisive in the community because, if we're honest, they are a little bit naff. But for about £20 (Or free if someone at your local club has a spare they can lend or gift to you), what were you expecting?