My secondary idea was a flop
(Which afterall is good)
A hand held ham radio (with one of the dirtiest outputs) 5w out put, and tested at various points in the frequency output… yes the ham band isn’t 13.56 but the radio is known to leak out at several harmonics, and frequently interferes with non ham stuff in close proximity
I only used 5 watts to see if the led on the diagnostic card would even shimmer… nope
If it had I might be motivated to bust out the 50watt radio, but all that gear is going to be significantly cleaner so 
If that radio doesn’t do anything I doubt much other ham gear will, short of dialing up the exact frequency on some very niche gear
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I think I know the radio you’re talking about. Off topic but, my friend brought one of those to work back when we were in the Datacenter. I started messing around with it and keyed down the transmit button. Aaaannnnd crashed the big screen projectors in the NOC. I had to go grab a ladder from across the building and power cycle the projectors manually.
In any case, I was thinking of testing out the same scenario but doubted the 2m/70cm gear I have would be able to do anything to an xFD. Even at 50W. I think I would end up risking the output side of the radio.
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The-radio-that-must-not-be-named
I figured any ham would immediately know what wretched thing I pulled out
… controversial opinion, I honestly kind of like them ( I have a few) they break just the right amount of rules to make my inner anti-authoritarian happy, and the right ones that it adds to the usefulness
But not enough that it’s a danger
It is horribly low quality though, but it’s price reflects that… and it’s borderline replaceable, it’s even become so popular it’s borderline open source because it’s been cloned so hard
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(don’t want to derail the thread)
Ham talk
Out of curiosity, I recently tried transmitting with my UV-5R and my FH8P while watching the waterfall of my HackRF, with the center frequency tuned to the same as the two Baofengs’ transmitting frequency. The amount of interference was absolutely absurd lmao, at a minimum it was visible across the entire bandwidth of the HackRF (20MHz). 10MHz on each side. I didn’t try tuning more to either side, but I’d imagine it continued on for quite a ways.
They are fun, though, and the price makes them accessible (sometimes a little too accessible, in the case of unlicensed folks mucking up the spectrum, especially emergency frequencies or aviation).
Are you sure you weren’t overpowering the HackRF? I know desensing can happen if you’re transmitting on too much power and too close proximity.
Fairly certain, tested it on low power mode as well, and I had a friend take my UV5R a decent distance away for another test. Same result.
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Hmm, 20m is pretty close…
Time to break out the 100w rig and see if I can get my XSIID to light
Also, I like my uv-5rtp, and use it as my edc even over my yaesu, partially because of the massive price differential, but largely because it’s simply more pleasant and simple to use. Shame about the harmonics that a lot of them produce though
I got into ham with the name-that-must-not-be-spoken radio. $50 at the time for the radio, and $15 for the test, couldn’t beat it!
I was inspired by the HF bounty to try something out with my CB. It’s not much power, but there’s something wrong with my 8 pill amp. Sounds like it may be off frequency. Haven’t gotten it checked out in a few years after I quit trucking, but I’m thinking about hooking it up and seeing if it’d light up my xSIID.
I use them for tower climbing as I’d much rather drop that than my FT1D. I’ve dropped one from 40ft or so, and the locking tab on the battery broke off. I crazyglued it back on and it works fine. The biggest issue with them is their terrible front end sometimes makes it difficult to use in high RF environments (like on a mountaintop tower) as the front end will get overpowered.
Remember antennas matter. Just because you are transmitting 13.56 mhz, doesn’t mean the card or implant will couple with the radio antenna meant for long distance.
I’ve wanted to get into amateur radio for soooo long.
I was a radio operator in the military, HF, sat com, short wave. Ran retrans operations.
Was my 1sg bitch or XO when they went out. Good time.
Find one of your local clubs. They’re always willing to give/sell you the books and equipment you need. The test to get the license is only 14$ last I checked.
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If you did any actually radio operation your good to go,
Just memorize the test and get it done
Yea it’s one of those tests where there’s a fixed pool of 400 questions, all multiple choice, and the multiple choice answers are always the same
There are a dozen test prep programs out there
Just make sure it’s the current set of questions, the refresh every decade or so
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Totes just failed a practice test. I forgot most of radio-frequency theory class, or whatever it is actually called. I can set up antennas for specific frequency, but I can’t tell you why it works. Or rather the 4 radios I used and thier configuration
I’m more of a listening guy anyways.
Just get somebody to do the test for you 
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Depending on your area, it might be free too. My local AARL chapter covered all fees, even though I was not (and am not) a member.
Also:
A lot of the Technician test (the first one) is just regulatory law stuff anyways. Prior experience doesn’t help much, sadly. Not much you can do, other than memorize.
If you have an android phone, this app is great:
There’s a version for each license level. I just memorized for about 2 days, on and off, and I passed my exam only missing one out of the 35 questions.
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There’s not much to really learn from the tech level, besides ham etiquette and station broadcasting and your allowed bands
https://hamstudy.org/ is my testing resource of choice
if you find a testing session held by Laurel VEC, they cover all fees exam fees. They may do the online testing thing now too, but I’m not certain
I initially got my Novice in high school (1990). I was president of the ham radio club in HS because I was the only one that showed up. lol. I never did anything with that license. I got some old tube equipment from someone but a Novice had almost no voice privileges and CW wasn’t interesting to me. And this new thing called the internet was just starting so BBS’s and DDials were more interesting. It expired in 2000.
In 2010 I got my Tech just by taking practice tests on QRZ.com over and over until I reliably got >90%. I did the same for my general. After I passed the General test, they allowed you to take the next test for free. I didn’t think I’d pass as I hadn’t studied for it, but I did so I got my Extra.
So I also recommend just taking practice tests over and over until you memorize the answers.
I don’t do any HF, talking to strangers that want to tell me about their latest colonoscopy results is not my cup of tea. I stick to the UHF/VHF bands talking with friends. I have a backyard repeater coordinated and I’ve been (well not lately) developing an IP based embedded repeater controller. Also climb towers for the local repeater club as well as station engineer for one of their 13 sites. Fun stuff.
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