#1
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New to amateur radio
I'm usually over in Antique radio, but today I'm here. This weekend is BirmingHAMfest 2015, and I have made up my mind that I am going to (try to) get my amateur radio license. I got the ARRL app, and I've been studying like crazy. Any advice or "words of wisdom" is greatly appreciated!
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"If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe." -Carl Sagan |
#2
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Hey,
Much like you; I'm planning on jumping in to ham radio. Tech license is not hard; I don't know how the ARRL app works but I've been using hamstudy.org - the entire question pools are up in practice exams, review, and flash card format. For someone like me who's done a lot of radio stuff; most of it is easy. Study for the general while you're at it! You can take both (or all three actually) tests at the same exam session; and it's basically one fee till you fail. General test doesn't look that hard; and worst case is you fail out at the test and just have a tech license. Plenty of clubs offer classes to move up to General or higher. If you've got the ability to listen it; that might be handy for maybe not only getting an idea of who in your area is out there; but listening to how they make the calls and converse will prove useful. Since you're going to a hamfest; you'll probably find a radio for a good deal.
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Audio: SMSL M8 -> Little Bear P5 -> Sansui SE8 -> Yaqin MS-12B -> Denon PMA-770 -> Ohm Model L | Ham: NQ4T - IC-7300 [/SIZE][/COLOR] |
#3
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qrz.com has plenty of practice tests for all classes of licenses...check under "resources" on their home page. You'll need to register but that's no biggie. Pay particular attention to rules & regs questions.
Good luck...and 73s!
__________________
Ham shack...AM side: Knight-Kit T-60, RME-45 Vintage SSB side: National 200 Modern SSB: Kenwood TS-180S MFJ tuner, 130' dipole |
#4
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Good luck!
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#5
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DON'T take too much Moolah to the Hamfest w/you... That can be DANGEROUS.. There likely WILL be an old R-390, SP-600, SX-28 or SX-62 that will want to come home w/you..
__________________
Benevolent Despot |
Audiokarma |
#6
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By now you've been to the hamfest and back. I always wanted to get into it then one day a guy a church needed money and sold me a trunk full of old gear for $10. Not wanting to waste money I learned the 5 WPM and got on 80 meters and drank coffee into the wee hours and went to work in the morning while the initial adrenaline rush lasted.
This was my rig, the EICO 720 (not my pic): Later on I got modern and fast with a Ten-Tec Omni V on the international 20 WPM DX bands but nothing beats that first rush you get when you first get on the air. Because you're into antique radios you might enjoy finding an old tube rig and using it. |
#7
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Quote:
Even after 43 years, the memory of that first QSO is still as fresh in my mind as if it were yesterday. I am still amazed that anyone answered my CQ, since I was transmitting right at the top end of what was then the 80-meter Novice band. A few months later, a member of my high school's ham radio club gave me three crystals, all of which were well within the circa-1970s 80- and 40-meter Novice bands; things really picked up for me after that, but since I was in high school at the time I didn't get much time on the air--in fact, I nearly had my gear impounded by my dad when my school grades dropped to an unacceptable level in 1973. The rest, as they say, is history. I upgraded to Technician in 1975, and to General ten years later, the latter being the class of license I hold today. I am a member of a local radio club and use their repeater occasionally (their on-air roundtable is at 7 p.m. on Thursdays, and sometimes I get involved in something else or just plain forget it). I used to go to their meetings more or less regularly, but transportation has become a problem since I don't drive, and the local bus line doesn't operate late at night so I'd have problems getting home from the meetings. I cannot use outdoor HF antennas in my apartment, so I am on 2m FM with my Icom IC-T22a HT...when I can remember the club roundtable, that is. The local repeater is about ten miles from my apartment, so my HT's 1.5-watt signal reaches it just fine if I use a 3/8-wave telescoping antenna; I wouldn't dream of using the stock rubber duck, knowing how much power gets lost in those things--the SWR must be horrible. I bet 60-70 percent of an HT's output power is lost in a rubber duckie, and the SWR is probably just short of eight or nine to one--or worse. For HF, I am on Echolink. I realize VoIP is no substitute for real over-the-air ham radio (even though Echolink uses traditional amateur stations and repeaters as links), but given the situation I'm in at this time (and will be in indefinitely since I have no intentions of moving), I don't have a choice in the matter. 73,
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Jeff, WB8NHV Collecting, restoring and enjoying vintage Zenith radios since 2002 Zenith. Gone, but not forgotten. Last edited by Jeffhs; 04-06-2015 at 11:15 PM. |
#8
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equipment
Quote:
73s KE5LXE |
#9
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Quote:
American Radio History - Popular Electronics back issues American Radio History - Monitoring Times back issues I found this ad in the May 1963 Popular Electronics: I remember being flabbergasted about how well I "got out" with 90 watts. I had light bulbs with more power. ________________ |
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