Amateur (Ham) Radio BS and Callsign Thread!

The 857D reminds me to ask...

... what are you folks doing for HF antennae? Something like a screwdriver or other adjustable... maybe a small collection of hamsticks or coils for a little 'selectable mono-banding', or d'ya just pick one band and run there? I've been swapping between a few monoband sticks myself, and it always seems that I have the 'wrong one' screwed on...

 

It ended up being voice alert. I had thought that feature worked differently than it does
Thank you for the tip.

 

Been studying answers only on my phone app, my question to the ham pros is.. where did you gain the experience? What got you into hams? I'm looking for a new form of comm other than the ol' CB. Thanks.. Lots of info the read up on before my exam.

 

I got re-interested in radios when I took my CERT class. The radio guy there announced there was no code requirement anymore for the radio licenses. I jumped in with all 4 paws. Went from Tech to Extra in 6 months, a new license ever 2 months. I got addicted to studying. That was 3 years ago. I am now a certified Ham Radio School Instructor and teach the Electronic portions of the Tech and General license classes. YES, memorize the questions and answers. Getting the license is your ticket to learn. You can always reference back on the books or internet for information afterwards.

 

I learned from: ARRL Study Manuals, ARRL Handbook, Elmer's, but mostly rolling up my sleeves and just doing stuff.

 

Where did I learn? Same as you, the app on the phone.

Where did I get experience? Learn by doing. Just get on the air and start talking. People like to hear about the gear that you are using and they often times like to talk about their gear. I see that you are in MA. Take a ride up to Salem, NH and poke around the HRO. Take anything that the sales people say with a grain of salt, they are trying to sell you stuff.

 

When I was studying for the tech license in the 90's I bought the Gordon West study guide. For the General, I read some material from a couple of sources watched the ke0g videos then did practice tests a few times a day for about 3 weeks. If you're already a tech then you know about 40% of what's on the General test. For the Extra class, I found it easier to just lean the test through adaptive studying at https://www.hamradiolicenseexam.com/ It was a little easier for me to learn it that way. Most of the knowledge you will gain will be from operating on ham radio. I learned more from doing than I did from reading.

 

I second this website! Great resources, and helped me pass up to Extra. Now, I'll be honest and fully admit that all I did was pass tests. I still really don't know much, but the way that I see it I am now free to play and learn without having any band restrictions. Anyway, great testing resource!!

K8JLW

 

https://hamstudy.org/
Helped me get my extra, after getting burnt out on the audio cds and Gordo West Books.

 

Got to know Gordon back in the late 80's, he was often on 15 & 20 meters, hanging out with yachtie sailors who had been through his classes in SoCal and were sailing the Pacific. Good guy. Wonder if he is still around.
I was meandering cross country camping & exploring mountain tracks with my girlfriend (now wife Helen KH6T) around '83 in our Datsun 4wd with camper, and a friend in Seattle took us down to Seacom and bought us a bunch of ham books and tapes and a straight key and code practice oscillator. We installed them between the seats, and for the next 3 weeks whenever we communicated in the truck it was in CW. By the time we got back to our home in the mountains above Woodstock, NY, we were ready for our novice tickets, then straight to Extra Class. Spent a lot of fun time stringing wire antennas up on catenaries in the trees and floppy masts, built rhombics and sets of delta loops and made lots of friends all over the world. Get on HF and make lots of QSO's. 73's Jonathan KH6X

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MANF3L6

 

where did you gain the experience - getting on the air and playing around with different bands, APRS, etc (after being cert'd). No substitute for it.

What got you into hams - most of the offroad people around here use ham, and not CB.

 

Thank you! Just bought it.

 

Glad I could help.

 

Gordon is still around. He lives in Socal. I spoke with him for a couple of minutes this past February at the Yuma Hamfest.

 

Glad. We used to have fun partying with him at Dayton Hamvention.

 

Right after I got licensed, I was recruited to op the late night shifts at multi-op CW contests. I could copy 30+ wpm before I even sat for CW tests (20wpm then). Now that I'm grown up, I have my own multi op station. We've got a few 1st place plaques along the way, and I've operated at a lot of great stations and places.

CW is.

 

There's a weekend class and test coming up in Nashua at the end of the month

 

We used to do a lot of contesting, Helen KH6T has a lot of plaques from those days and we'd help out with the Maui multi-op stations. It was always a fun challenge from here to run legal limit on renewable power for the duration. We still have our big monobander stack on a heavy 110 foot tower, but it's mostly gathering rust & dust, and the Alphas haven't been fired up in a few years.

 

Link me please, sounds like that's right up my alley. A class would be great.