Passed my amateur radio exam!

[k0ua]

Sounds good! BTW, had to correct my last post - had transposed last letters & correct is KK4WMX

Nick

Do you have any plans yet for what kind of antennas you want and how big a station you want to build.. I would be happy to help with ideas if you want them.

 

[cmore]

Congratulations!

I to have thought about getting a ham lic. Was trained as a 05b20 in the army. So had the code part in the 60s. Electronics was my hobby at that time and had aguired a ham manual . Spent a lot of time studying it. So always thought i could have passed the test. But always seemed to have other things going on.
Had fun w/ CB. But went into computers.

Your post makes me think about doing so again. Building some brain cells to replace the ones I've lost

 

[Marveltone]

Awesome! Got my Tech about 12 years ago as a result of my dad and brother harassing me until I caved. It's been fun. I'll have to see about upgrading to General sometime.

73
Joe KC0IGS

 

[k0ua]

Awesome! Got my Tech about 12 years ago as a result of my dad and brother harassing me until I caved. It's been fun. I'll have to see about upgrading to General sometime.

73
Joe KC0IGS

Get your "generous" (General) Joe, when you get tired of talking to the local guys on VHF/UHF , with HF you can talk to the world. Yeah it is a little more trouble and the antenna's are a bit bigger, but it is worth it.:thumbsup:

 

[The kid]

If your interest is in the ten meter band. You can build a high gain antenna really cheap. Build yourself a two or three element quad beam. Years ago I built a two element quad out of cane poles and store bought electrical conduit and bare copper wire.. I used to talk to a friend of mine in New SouthWales Australia every evening after getting home from work off 12 watts SSB. You already know the theory and formulas for a full wavelength. Good luck and congratulations.

 

[KB9UDE]

I wanted to say hi and congratulations on earning your General ticket.

73 s


John
KB9UDE

 

[clemsonfor]

As a younger guy (31) Whats the point now a days with computers and forums, whats the point in all the effort and expense.

That said i have breifly had exposure to it. One of my moms boyfriends(longterm) when i was in highschool was a amateur radio guy and i listened in on a few of the weekly chat sessions or what ever that they have. BUt most of the time it was dead when we were in the car with it on. He used it at times for help if broken down i think....;. but like i said with today and smart phones and instant notifications you can have an almost realtime chat on these forums?? Granted you dont hear them talk but that may or may not be a good thing. One you can understand written stuff better than accents or braking up radio, and anther its here in type. So that if i am asking for advice it or how to its written down for future reference.

 

[k0ua]

As a younger guy (31) Whats the point now a days with computers and forums, whats the point in all the effort and expense.

That said i have breifly had exposure to it. One of my moms boyfriends(longterm) when i was in highschool was a amateur radio guy and i listened in on a few of the weekly chat sessions or what ever that they have. BUt most of the time it was dead when we were in the car with it on. He used it at times for help if broken down i think....;. but like i said with today and smart phones and instant notifications you can have an almost realtime chat on these forums?? Granted you dont hear them talk but that may or may not be a good thing. One you can understand written stuff better than accents or braking up radio, and anther its here in type. So that if i am asking for advice it or how to its written down for future reference.

I will grant you if you just wish to communicate from point A to point B, then there are many ways of doing that as you have pointed out. BUT that is not what Amateur radio is about. Amateur radio is many things to many different participants. For many it is about emergency communications in times of disaster, tornadoes , floods, etc. The ability to communicate from the affected site to a central information gathering/decimation point is critical . For others it is about radio-sport, or in other words competition with other like minded persons to hone their radio operating skills to a fine point to be the best operator with the longest endurance they can be. Much like an athletic competition. Trust me on this, it is not easy to win these contests. For others it is about making long distance friends in far away places that they know they will probably never see, but may talk to either occasionally or even daily. For others it is about the wealth of knowledge to be learned by experience in dealing with electronics directly and applying that knowledge in building, operating and repairing that station. For others it is learning about cutting edge techniques like satellite communications, moon-bounce communications, and building steerable tracking antennas and chasing the orbiting "birds" around the sky. Others like exploring the hundreds of digital communications modes that allow for very low power operation with very modest antenna's yet still allow for worldwide communication. Keep in mind all of these things I have spoke about do not require infrastructure. When you and I communicate here on this medium of the forum. there is millions of dollars and thousands of pieces of hardware in between you and I that make this communication possible. This network is extremely fragile. When you communicate from one Amateur radio operator to another, except for the orbital satellite modes, and FM repeaters, there is nothing between the amateurs at all. They are energizing their antenna on the transmitting end and on the other end the receiving station is literally picking the signals out of the air amid the millions of other signals, and receiving the information.

Now perhaps none of this appeals to you. And you would be in good company with the 99% of the rest of the world. Most people are not interested in these things. But some of us are lured by the siren song of twisting a radio dial, and hearing someone on the other side of the continent or the world, and know I can speak to him in dozens of different ways, with nothing more than my radio, maybe a computer interfaced to it, and either a piece of copper wire or a chunk of aluminum in the air. Its magic!

 

[speedbump]

Congratulations. For glancing, you did good acquiring the General Ticket.

I'm not very active these days either, but being new to it, you should have a ball. Maybe when I actually get retired for real, I'll get back into it.

 

[nikdfish]

Part of it is a gadget thing. I like hands on technology, stuff I build or configure or piece together. There is also the legal access to bands and power levels for comm & RC otherwise off limits. Plus there is the whole thing about direct communication without necessarily going through or on someone else's gate keeping layer. Smart phone coverage is not universal and events that knock out power can also take out DSL and cable...

My take on the subject is probably different from quite a few others, but is why I was interested in getting licensed.

Nick