Ham anyone?

I'm an Extra class operator, Volunteer Examiner, and instructor among other things.

 

I got my tech license and then maybe 6 months later I took general and extra and passed both. But all that means is I'm good at taking tests, not that I know what an Extra should know.

I have been dumpster diving for equipment and wire and such, but I haven't assembled any of it into anything yet. I have a grand total of one (unconfirmed) HF contact, and that was several years ago. I really need to get on the ball. I try to volunteer for a couple of the bigger events around here every year, and we have a big hamfest (the only one in the Memphis area) called "FreeFest" coming in April. The mother of all hamfests is Dayton OH.

If you haven't been to a hamfest you need to go. It's like a gun show, but for electronics. Aside from new and used radio equipment, of course, there are lots of guys just selling 'stuff'. I've bought a bunch of vintage books, an '80s Cubic transceiver, a modern Icom transceiver, the full set of Ten-Tec 2m and 6m transverters, a tripod, cables and wires, vintage and modern shortwave receivers, SWR meters, Morse code keys and paddles, an antenna analyzer... lot of stuff, and cheap.

Of course you don't have to be a ham to buy things, but really I recommend it just for the learning experience. If you like, most hamfests have testing for your license, and it may be a little cheaper than the regular meeting rate. Either way it's cheap, under $20 to take the test, and you can take all of them for just the one price if you want to try for more than one. BTW that money compensates the volunteer hams for their trouble; the FCC doesn't charge anything for your license, and it's good for 10 years, and renewal is free for the asking, no retest.

You do have some HF privileges even with a tech license.
There is no morse code requirement any longer, for ANY class.
Most modern HF ham transceivers are also good SWL general coverage receivers. You only need a license if you want to transmit, but you can still buy the transceiver and work on your license later; just use it to receive and you're legal.

 

I have the Military RTO liscense both AF and CAP ratings

 

I'm definitely interested and would like to learn more.
What kind of costs would a person be looking at to get a decent older (tube) setup?

 

I wouldn't even try to start with that. Get something more modern, and start learning. The impression I've gathered is that old tube stuff is not 'buy it, store it for a rainy day' stuff, it's a hobby. If you wanted to work your way toward using that old stuff regularly and wean off the transistors, that sounds like fun, but you can't buy that knowledge, you have to earn it. I too would like to get there, but I am barely progressing getting an operable station with more modern stuff.
There are threads on ham forums talking about good starter radios, I found a good deal on an Icom 706MkIIg for example but there are many Yaesu and Kenwood and Ten-Tec and Icom rigs a decade or two old that make good starters. You don't have to have everything in your first rig. In the 80s there was a "WARC" conference that gave us access to several new bands, but radios older than that don't work on those bands. THAT'S OKAY, for a starter rig, just use what you do have and move up later. The hard part isn't the radio, those are pretty easy to find relatively cheap. The hard part is choosing and setting up antenna systems. You could start with a resonant dipole for a single band (whatever you have room for- 20m will fit anywhere that you can access the outside of the building) for example. So, now, you can use 20m, who cares if your old radio can't get 17m?

 

shortwave and high frequency both mean the same thing, and it covers 200m to 10m thereabout, and it allows worldwide propogation on some band or other depending on conditions. AM broadcast radio uses medium wave, and can be long distance at night. VHF/UHF are line of sight/repeater/satellite, with some special ability to DX using moonbounce, meteor scatter, etc.

I don't know about longwave, but I read about some of their antenna setups- the word "miles" was used...

 

There is a lot of HF activity out there (not to be confused with VHF/UHF which is LOS). I talk all around the world on a simple piece of wire running in the backyard on about 25W.

I do agree that relying on repeaters for shtf is foolhardy.

 

20 year ham Extra class.

PSK 31 is to use an over used word amazing.

The Official PSK31 WWW Homepage


PSK31 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

I have been thinking about getting into this for a couple of weeks now.

I have a friend locally that I used to Shoot with every week and he has had Ham radios for years.

I think it is time to pick his brain on the subject.

 

there certainly is a lot of brain-picking to learn from, but I just want you to know that you can get your license with very little knowledge or effort, just to get a callsign. Then the learning starts for real.

ARRL.org of course is our premier national organization and their site is very helpful. They sell books if you really want to understand. But to just take the test, I used the practice tests and printed the question pools online.

There is no morse code requirement anymore.

 

If you are serious about it, the ARRL website or qrz.com is also good. I got my ticket after studying the practice test online at the qrz site. I also bought the ARRL books for getting the license to learn the reasons behind the right answers. I was not new to electronics, but there is very little you have to know about electronics to get the license.

My first test was actually free, there are some clubs that are allowed to give the test free and some charge around $15. The license is good for 10 years, so the deal is hard to beat. Good luck.

 

The question pools are public. There's a couple of places to get them in different formats. The ARRL (or maybe it's the FCC, I'm not sure who the actual source is) creates the questions and answers, and makes them available in the official listing, but other people arrange them into (perhaps) more useful formats... one, for example, shows the question with only the correct answer, in sentence format... that may be helpful to you, maybe not. Another is not particularly 'rearranged'; simply formatted to print in booklet format. That exact book can be bought already printed for maybe $12.
Question Pools
http://www.kb6nu.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/2010_Tech_Study_Guide.pdf
Study Guides this one offers a more complex 'system' with flash cards and such.

All of that stuff is available free on the internet just for the googling. Use what makes you most comfortable. The result, though, leads you here-- and the way I did it, I bypassed all the guides and stuff above and prepared mostly by just taking practice exams until I was passing them regularly. I do not plan to be an ignorant ham, I just got the order a little out of the normal- getting the license first, then learning what I'm supposed to know.

Practice exams
AA9PW FCC Exam Practice » Amateur Radio Exam Practice
QRZ.COM QRZ Ham Radio Practice Tests
eHam.net Ham Radio Practice Exams
all of these sites give practice exams. Just answer the questions. I realize you don't know the answers. The point is, after you've taken the practice exams a few times you WILL suddenly start recognizing which answer is correct. You don't have to understand why, you just have to remember which answer is right.
Beware that on the practice exams at a particular site, you will get used to... for example... Answer "B" will be the right answer on a particular question, every time. But when you take the real exam, the answer will be identical, but it won't necessarily be "B".

The FCC issues the license, for free. It's good for 10 years. When it approaches expiration, you simply apply to renew it, for free, no new exam or anything.

The $15 or so payment you make to take the test is not a gov't fee, you're paying to help defray the cost to the local hams who give you the exams. If you move up to their level you may be able to help give the exams yourself.

You are allowed to take as many tests for the one fee as you can pass. So if you take Technician and pass it, you are allowed right there in the same session to try the General exam. Go ahead and take it, it costs nothing extra and you get to see the test. Don't pressure yourself that you need to pass it, just take it because it's free. You might get lucky. If you pass that one, you can try Extra. Same deal.

When you pass the Technician exam and get your first callsign, it will be two letters-single digit-three letters. Like, KJ4ABU for example. Some of the parts do have meaning, for example the part before the number will be in a list of prefixes for the US. The 4 means southeast region. All callsigns in this country fit this pattern, with one or two letters as a prefix, then the single digit for the region of the country, then one to three letters after the digit.

You can apply for a vanity callsign, if it's not in use by somebody else, but there are rules depending on your class. The shorter callsigns, such as a single letter before or after the number, you need to be the appropriate class that's authorized to use that type of callsign. You can't get J4US for example as a technician, even if it's not in use and it was your dad's callsign. You'll have to make Extra before they'll let you get that as a vanity callsign. There is a fee, and it's recently changed, but it's not outrageous... gone up from $12 to maybe $50 neighborhood I guess.

 

I've been thinking about getting my license for years, and I think maybe it's time I get serious about it and do it.

So, what sort of equipment does everyone recommend for a new ham? I've seen Survivalblog talk about it once or twice, but the top of the line recommendations are probably a bit more than I want to spend at the beginning.

 

I wouldn't go put money into stuff you're not sure what it does or what you want to do with it. Go to some club meetings, see presentations, talk to people, see what they have. Hams love to show off their radios.