Videokarma.org

Go Back   Videokarma.org TV - Video - Vintage Television & Radio Forums > The Amateur Radio Spot

We appreciate your help

in keeping this site going.
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 03-03-2015, 10:40 PM
TUD1's Avatar
TUD1 TUD1 is offline
TheUniversalDave1
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Birmingham, AL
Posts: 1,611
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!
__________________
"If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe." -Carl Sagan
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 03-04-2015, 09:41 AM
dewdude's Avatar
dewdude dewdude is offline
i <3 my Denon
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Manassas, VA
Posts: 113
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.
__________________
Audio: SMSL M8 -> Little Bear P5 -> Sansui SE8 -> Yaqin MS-12B -> Denon PMA-770 -> Ohm Model L | Ham: NQ4T - IC-7300
[/SIZE][/COLOR]
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 04-02-2015, 08:34 AM
electronjohn's Avatar
electronjohn electronjohn is offline
I like....big sparks!!
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: minnesota
Posts: 618
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
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 04-02-2015, 03:02 PM
JBL GUY JBL GUY is offline
VideoKarma Member
 
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 138
Good luck!
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 04-02-2015, 04:02 PM
Sandy G's Avatar
Sandy G Sandy G is offline
Spiteful Old Cuss
 
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Rogersville, Tennessee
Posts: 9,571
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
Reply With Quote
Audiokarma
  #6  
Old 04-06-2015, 07:10 PM
loopstick's Avatar
loopstick loopstick is offline
VideoKarma Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Shit 'n' Piss, Texas
Posts: 56
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.
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 04-06-2015, 11:10 PM
Jeffhs's Avatar
Jeffhs Jeffhs is offline
<----Zenith C845
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Fairport Harbor, Ohio (near Lake Erie)
Posts: 4,035
Quote:
Originally Posted by loopstick View Post
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.
I will never forget my first contact. It was the first week of November 1972, three months and seven days after getting my license, and I had just set up my Novice station (Heathkit DX-40 crystal controlled on 3.75 MHz, Hallicrafters SX-101A, and a 25-foot loaded vertical). I must have called CQ a half-dozen times; then, I got a response. It was a fellow in South Bend, Indiana. After I gave him my name, location and RST report, I couldn't think of a doggone thing to say afterward!

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,
__________________
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.
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 05-19-2015, 09:24 AM
phantam phantam is offline
VideoKarma Member
 
Join Date: May 2015
Posts: 1
equipment

Quote:
Originally Posted by loopstick View Post
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.
I am new to Video karma and this forum. Very nice rig. I also enjoy rebuilding old antique tube amplifiers.
73s
KE5LXE
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 05-30-2015, 08:42 PM
loopstick's Avatar
loopstick loopstick is offline
VideoKarma Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Shit 'n' Piss, Texas
Posts: 56
Quote:
Originally Posted by phantam View Post
I am new to Video karma and this forum. Very nice rig. I also enjoy rebuilding old antique tube amplifiers.
73s
KE5LXE
FB. Welcome to VK. You might get a kick out of some of these old magazines that are linked up at the Magazine Forum at AK:

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.

________________
Attached Images
File Type: jpg eico_ad.jpg (59.9 KB, 26 views)
Reply With Quote
Reply


Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 02:43 PM.



Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
©Copyright 2012 VideoKarma.org, All rights reserved.