Official Colorado HAM and cheese thread

I'm to try and hammer out some of the general questions so I have a better chance at making both fly.

I'm at 80% mastered for technician and 10% for general. I pass the technician every time with a 90%. Usually come in around 50% general.

 

If anyone on here, I would bet on you to pass the general, Brian. When are you thinking of testing?

 

I'll start looking after next weekend, I need to get the lift in and done 1st. I need to get going on some side jobs so I can make truck money

 

that's where I was before I tested... think I missed 2, and there were at least 3 maybe 4 questions I had never seen before. I missed General by like 5 I think

 

So... once you chirp on the TW channel list, how do you, or are you able to still manually put in a frequency?

Mine wont let me, its not locked...

 

Make sure you're in frequency mode and not channel mode. Should be able to just type it in.

 

How long did it take everyones licenses to pop up in the FCC database? Its only been 9 days since I passed my test, but it feels like an eternity. I was just wondering how much longer I should be expecting to wait. When I looked at various forums online it looked like some people were getting theirs in less than a week and the only people who were having to wait awhile were ones who had issues with their paperwork.

 

exactly that, it varies... I took about a week I think for me... (could probably look back in this thread and find the exact time between posts) but it varies (how long it takes the testing office to submit your stuff, how long the person at the FCC to process, etc).

 

I think it depends on where you tested and their work flow too.
Some testers don't send paperwork in more than once a month. I think most are better than that though.

 

Looks like it took 5 days for mine May 5th to May 10...

 

I took test at same time and place as @ebbs15 and I think he got his "license" like 5 days before me.

 

Finally got my call sign, KE0MQO. Kind of a mouthful, so I may apply for a vanity sign at some point.

 

Ok, I finally updated the TWCOHAM channel list.

Link

The link in the OP is still valid as I just overwrote the files.

If you're using the previous copy of this list, I strongly recommend replacing it as I had to reconfigure the tones for the Colorado Connection Network and I also added 1 Colorado Connection repeater and 1 Colorado Repeater Assn repeater (145.145)

I inserted the two additional channels, so that throws off the channel list for all the channels higher than 23.

If you check out the xlsx file, I've highlighted my changes in yellow.

Remember, recommended procedure via CHIRP is to download your current configuration from your radio, import the .csv and then upload to the radio.

My .img file is in there in case you're lost on the additional baofeng settings and want a starting point. Just open it in chirp and compare it to what you have.

I keep a printed copy of the .pdf in my truck for quick reference.

You have information Bravo

 

Colorado 4x4 rescue and recovery group is looking for a ham to help with a recovery near Blackhawk asap if anyone is available.

 

One thing I did on my personal radio is add the local (Denver area) NOAA weather station to channel 000 on my baofeng. If you're curious the frequency is 162.550. Since it's not a repeater there aren't any fancy tones or anything to program in so one could just as easily commit the frequency to memory if they'd prefer. Since adding it to channel 0 doesn't affect the TWCOHAM file that's what I chose to do. It also allows for future expansion of the file without messing anything up.

 

At one time I had some noaa channels in my radios memory. I took them out since they messed up scanning.
I've since realized (or maybe the feature was added) that you can set channels to "skip" and scanning will skip them.

 

That's a good point. I will definitely want to set mine to skip that channel when scanning.

 

Any of you guys end up taking your test recently? I thought some people were shooting for a test in mid April if I remember correctly.

 

I got lazy. Need to do mine soon in preparation for summer trail runs.

 

I got tied up with family matters over the last couple months. Hoping to get back into studying and take the test by the end of May.