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Dori wrote:What do you guys think about this for $40? http://www.amazon.com/BaoFeng-UV-5R-136 ... 007H4VT7A/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You are basically buying a disposable radio that works pretty well for short-range direct simplex work, and does pretty well with repeaters that have good receivers and/aren't too far away. Around here (Fort Worth and NW of downtown) people are able to hit our club's repeater pretty well as long as they're getting a good strong signal from the repeater. They are disposable because if they break, there's really no one servicing them, unlike what you'd find from the "Big 3" (Yaseau, Kenwood and Icom).

Main Trading Co in Paris, Tx imports the Woxun radios, and has lots of accesories for them.

73 N5WD

By the way, if anyone is coming to the Fort Worth hamfest this weekend, give me a shout on 147.160 simplex, and we can meet for an eyeball QSO! I hope to be there Friday evening and on Saturday morning.

73 Wayne N5WD

Oops, I completely forgot that I posted in here

I don't know what I'm looking for. Just something to tinker with and learn on... I'm most likely staying a Technician for now.

MadMonkey wrote:Oops, I completely forgot that I posted in here

I don't know what I'm looking for. Just something to tinker with and learn on... I'm most likely staying a Technician for now.

Well, you could find a radio that would let you get on 10 meters (29.3-29.5MHz, IIRC) where you can do voice in the 29.4-29.5 region. On a good day, with a minimal antenna, you can talk around the world. Plus, if you have 6 meters (50-54 MHz), you can also do a bit of DX'ing (talking to stations far away) as well, though the times that 6 meters are open is less frequently than 10 meters.

Plus, if you decide to start working on CW, that'd let you get into the 80, 40 and 15m band where technicians have a CW allocation.

Like I said before, one of the "Big 3" radios can be had used for a couple of hundred dollars and up - more for newer radios with more features.

Plus, if you get one that has a general coverage receiver, you can hear some pretty cool things on shortwave frequencies.

Anyone else hear that the FCC is re-instituting the CW requirements for General (5wpm) and Advanced (13wpm)? Supposedly If you already have a General or Advanced license but got it during the none CW requirements days you will have one year to complete the requirement or have all operating privilege revoked. Was hoping to do at least General but not so sure now.

scottmeador wrote:Anyone else hear that the FCC is re-instituting the CW requirements for General (5wpm) and Advanced (13wpm)? Supposedly If you already have a General or Advanced license but got it during the none CW requirements days you will have one year to complete the requirement or have all operating privilege revoked. Was hoping to do at least General but not so sure now.

You better read the letter that stated that and the date it was issued (April 1). The source quoted from the FCC in the letter was a lady named Dotty Dasher.

http://www.kb6nu.com/fcc-to-reinstate-morse-code-test/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

27 years . Used to be real heavy into CW AND 6METER. Now mostly 2meter mobile

Kb5eko

Keith B wrote:

scottmeador wrote:Anyone else hear that the FCC is re-instituting the CW requirements for General (5wpm) and Advanced (13wpm)? Supposedly If you already have a General or Advanced license but got it during the none CW requirements days you will have one year to complete the requirement or have all operating privilege revoked. Was hoping to do at least General but not so sure now.

You better read the letter that stated that and the date it was issued (April 1). The source quoted from the FCC in the letter was a lady named Dotty Dasher.

http://www.kb6nu.com/fcc-to-reinstate-morse-code-test/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Just took/passed the Technician test this week. Didn't study for the General, but took a shot at it anyways (no extra cost) and scored 23. Unfortunately you need a 26 to pass . I'll probably study a bit over the next few weeks and retake the General next month, while the Tech material is still fresh.

Ordered an Alinco DJ-V57T HT today, should take delivery next week some time.

I've never been particularly interested in amateur radio before, but I just completed our local CERT course and it became clear during class that having HAM capability would be a big advantage to communicating with the team, so, I took the plunge.

If you are interested in self study, there are many ways to go about it. I got handed a free copy of the "Technician License Course" book authored by Stu Turner. It includes access to online study and test material at HamRadioSchool.com. The book is about 200 pages, written for a non-techie. I spent maybe 5-6 hours total reading the book and taking the online quizzes. I do have a background in science and some electronics experience as well, so, the underlying radio and circuits concepts part was pretty easy. I think a non-science/tech person could easily pass the test with only a little more time spent studying. You only need 26/35 to pass, so, even if you're not great with the tech stuff, it's only a portion of the test. If you are at all comfortable with science (basic physics) and basic circuits, there's no reason you have to take a more elaborate teacher-instructed course for the entry level Technician license, unless you just prefer to do it that way. IMO, YMMV.

Just waiting for my call sign and equipment now.

RoyGBiv wrote:Just took/passed the Technician test this week. Didn't study for the General, but took a shot at it anyways (no extra cost) and scored 23. Unfortunately you need a 26 to pass . I'll probably study a bit over the next few weeks and retake the General next month, while the Tech material is still fresh.

Ordered an Alinco DJ-V57T HT today, should take delivery next week some time.

I've never been particularly interested in amateur radio before, but I just completed our local CERT course and it became clear during class that having HAM capability would be a big advantage to communicating with the team, so, I took the plunge.

If you are interested in self study, there are many ways to go about it. I got handed a free copy of the "Technician License Course" book authored by Stu Turner. It includes access to online study and test material at HamRadioSchool.com. The book is about 200 pages, written for a non-techie. I spent maybe 5-6 hours total reading the book and taking the online quizzes. I do have a background in science and some electronics experience as well, so, the underlying radio and circuits concepts part was pretty easy. I think a non-science/tech person could easily pass the test with only a little more time spent studying. You only need 26/35 to pass, so, even if you're not great with the tech stuff, it's only a portion of the test. If you are at all comfortable with science (basic physics) and basic circuits, there's no reason you have to take a more elaborate teacher-instructed course for the entry level Technician license, unless you just prefer to do it that way. IMO, YMMV.

Just waiting for my call sign and equipment now.

Congratulations on the new ticket. What's your call sign? You're very close to the General so don't put that off.

Chas.

Charles L. Cotton wrote: Congratulations on the new ticket. What's your call sign? You're very close to the General so don't put that off.

Chas.

Thanks! Waiting on the FCC to issue a call sign and add me to the database. Just took the test on Tuesday, they told me to expect about 1.5 to 2 weeks.

I didn't know I could take the general immediately after passing Tech until ~3 days before the test. Unfortunately, I had a full schedule and only was able to squeeze in less than an hour of study. I should have some time over the next few weeks and will make an effort to study and retake the General, before I forget everything from Tech.


Forgot to mention for folks interested in getting their license...
The Technician test pool of questions will be updated in June, making the quiz part of the current study material somewhat outdated until the practice quizzes can be revised to reflect the new pool questions (the online quizzes are comprised of the ACTUAL pool of questions from FCC. There's a pool of about 350 or so questions for the Tech exam, from which the exam will pull only 35 questions ~evenly divided among topics.)

There are two very different schools of thought on studying for the exams. 1. Study the material and learn it and 2. Memorize the test questions and answers. If you plan to go with option 1 (my recommendation), then you can use the currently available study materials and you should be fine. If you plan to go with option 2, you might get in a bit of trouble studying the current pool questions if you wind up taking the test after the test questions are revised. The General License test doesn't rev until next year, but you have to pass the Technician test before you can take the General.

SRO1911 wrote:drudge up an old thread...

Sat a couple tests today - EXTRA ticket is on its way!

Extra makes general and tech seem like a kindergarten quiz - brain is still reeling.

<aybe one of these days I will put it to use, not likely wince 2m and 440 is all I ever mess with lol.

"11" (hope you don't mind the informality )

Congrats on passing the Amateur Extra exam - that's super! Yep, even with the code requirements being dropped, the Extra class license still takes a lot of work to achieve.

Different folks get the Extra for different reasons... I wound up being dis-satisfied with the limited frequencies I had while DX'ing on HF, plus I wanted the ability to get a 1x2 (like N5WD) callsign through the Vanity program when it was first re-introduced in the 80's. Getting the Extra (I still had to pass the 20 word per minute CW exam at that time) took a bit of work, but it solved both problems for me... got my never-before-issued N5WD call, and rook my DXCC country count up to 290 or so.

Who knows.. there's a bunch of different things going on with ham radio, and you may put that Extra class license to work sometime soon.

73 Wayne N5WD

50+ years; off air for many years.

Jim

41 Years as a ham, finally took and passed Amateur Extra in March 2010