Hams?

Last winter-break I navigated the morass of FCC licensing and ended up with my station license, operator's license (RRTO) and MMSI registration.

This year - and I'm not entirely sure why - I'm studying for an amateur radio (ham) license. Actually two of them (Technician and General).

No plans to put an SSB on the boat or build a tower in the back yard and start bouncing HF transmissions off the F-layer, but... I have a bunch of friends who are hams, it seemed interesting, and I like learning stuff. Plus it might be a handy thing to have....uh... handy, in case of emergency on land or sea.

It got me thinking, I bet there are some hams in the EYO community as well. I tried searching for "ham" but apparently it won't do a search if the search term is only three letters.

Once I get the license, I'll know pretty much nothing except how to pass the exams. Would love to get a better understanding about what really works and what I can actually do with it. Much to learn, but... I'm fairly intrigued.

Bruce

N7nzc

There is a lot to do with it. Emergency communications are a huge part of Ham radio, as is just learning tons of stuff.

We will have a schedule when we leave here, and be up most days on the radio. Since this thread now exists, I will post the schedule here.
Guy
N7NZC
Melissa
KC7RKA

Ke7mpm

My wife and I are hams since 2007. Got our Extra class a few years ago. We take an amateur HF/VHF/UHF transceiver aboard when we "cruise" Puget Sound and the Canadian Gulf Islands. With our insulated backstay we can work up to 80 meters and we have a dual band vertical on the radar tower for the VHF/UHF bands.

Every morning at 8 am Pacific Time there is a Great Northwest Boaters Net on 80m (3870 KHz) that meets to exchange news and cruising plans with Pacific NW, British Columbia and SE Alaska boaters. There is an Alaska version at 7:30 to 8 am on the same frequency. We occasionally participate from home as a relay station.

We joined a local club and are interested in emergency communications also.

Good luck on your exams.

I studied from books and almost flunked the test.

Better to take a course, one-day course maybe, and get it over with.

I had a novice license as a teen (WN6SSI) but didn't go beyond that. Is there still a 13 wpm Morse code requirement for the general license?

Paul
E29 "Bear"

paul culver said:

I had a novice license as a teen (WN6SSI) but didn't go beyond that. Is there still a 13 wpm Morse code requirement for the general license?

Paul
E29 "Bear"

Click to expand...

Paul,
There have not been any Morse code requirements since the early 2000s for any level of ham license. Today there is Technician, General and Extra class and that's it.

Cq cq cq

I never owned a short wave transceiver, but this conversation invoked some old mis-filed memories of SWL when I was a kid in the 50's.
My dad hung up a long wire in the basement rafters with a tap in the center.
Great fun tuning in stations from all around the globe.

Thanks to wikipedia, I even found a reference to the "license" that I had , issued by Popular Electronics magazine.
I have long forgotten the brand of the main receiver, but recall that I did build a KnightKit regenerative receiver.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/WPEcertificate.JPG

Time Flies, they say.
I did practice morse code, with a thought of getting a real license someday, but was terrible at it!

Nowadays I have friends that let me follow their ocean trips with a SPOT system.

What next: holograms of my friends talking to me in real time in our cockpit while we are sailing on the ocean?
:clap:

Loren

WPE7ALC

Nz1mt

I'm actually debating with myself whether to install a Pioneer X2750UI am/fm/SW cd radio at $170 or just a plain vanilla am/fm radio at $60. Installing an HF transceiver on the boat is lower on the list. The HF shortwave broadcast bands are going dead with Radio Australia ending transmission in January 2017.

Just a quick update... passed both the "technician" and "general" exams last night up in Anacortes. I'm told my new license and call-sign should be up on the FCC site sometime next week.

If anyone is interested in getting their amateur radio license, I *highly* recommend "Ham Test Online" http://www.hamradiolicenseexam.com/index.html

It's a website that presents the material for each topic in a sequence that makes sense, then runs you through the exam questions that relate to that topic. you can take practice exams, and it keeps track of which areas you know and which ones you are weak in so that you can keep improving.

a two-year (!) subscription costs about the same as one of the study-guide books and, IMO, is a *much* easier way to prepare for the test than slogging through a book.


$.02
Bruce

Now you tell me.

Congrats Gary, funn stuff.
Randall Shelman (K7RSJ)

we use it often

K2FLT here... Very glad I got my general before heading offshore. We use it for Winlink email and especially for the Pacific Searfarers net http://www.pacseanet.com/

I agree with the post about the Ham Test Online website (something like that). Was exceptionally useful for me when studying for the exam. The most important thing to remember is that it's all voodoo magic. It's not supposed to make sense while you're learning. It becomes much easier once you start playing around with an actual radio. Good luck and have fun!