Ham radio hobby

Sure, there is lots of hams on the site, including myself.

I'm a Ham. If you want to get into the hobby. The gateway is a FCC Technician License. There are classes an study guides available. Find a local radio club in your area. They'll be able to aid you in becoming a Ham.
Good Luck,

You'll first have to get your Technician license. Not too difficult. Technician will allow you voice on VHF, UHF, and limited access on HF frequencies.
Next is the General license which usually requires more studying. General allows you voice on a lot more HF frequencies plus all the Technician class freqs.
If you really want to study more then there's Extra class which gives you access to more freqs.
You start by passing the test for Technician. Once you pass Technician then you can test for General. Once pass General then you can test for Extra. A lot of hams will take the Technician and General tests at the same sitting. A few will take all 3 at the same sitting.
If you do a search on Youtube there are several videos of the 3 classes being taught. I believe 1 of the Youtube videos for the Extra class is broken down into something like 27 different videos. There are several different books available too. Which ever you want to do make sure you get the right books or videos for the current tests. The tests change every few years.
You can also find all the questions for all 3 tests on line and phone apps. There are a pool of the actual questions for each class, something like 450 quesions for each class. Of that pool there are 35 questions each for Technician and General and 50 for Extra. There are a lot of guys who just memorize the questions and are able to pass the tests. It's one way to get licensed but they don't really learn that much about ham radio compared to watching the videos and reading the books.
If you want to get in to it then you can also study morse code. It's no longer a requirement tho to get licensed. I find CW fun but doing too much of it at one time causes me to hear dits and dahs in my sleep.
If you're interested in the hobby don't let the studying and tests scare you off. There are kids 13 yrs old and younger who are general class hams.

Lots of RVers like to talk to folks. even if those folks are half way around the globe :). Ham Radio good for that.

TO tell you all about Ham Radio would take me.. A long time and I type fast so I will give you this www.arrl.org That is your starting point From there you can find area ham clubs and classes and testing sessions and resources....

Ham radio covers all manner of electronic communications
Simple voice.. I do that, AM FM and Single Side band
Digital voice.. I can do that too Assorted formats
VoIP (Using a radio or connecting to a radio via the internet) Yup
Digital modes (Type not talk) Fantastic
Video modes, both slow and fast scan as well as static photos.
And more.. YOu can be the Kid in the Candy store over an over.

A lot of us hang out at http://www.openroadsradio.net

But I caution you MUST ask a question to get help.

The fun part of Rving and ham radio is figuring out how and where to put up HF antennas and finding out what what works and what doesn’t and sometimes just finding out that conditions are so bad that even 1500w will not get to the next county. Solar panels, batteries, inverters, vertical StepperIR, DC to DC converters. Going places that it is so quiet that QRP 160m operations are possible. Crossband repeat with my VX-3 and a TS-2000 is always a conversation starter around a campfire. 73’s KD7KBK

I hope you enjoy the new Hobby... N8BSJ,,, 73's

Welcome to the hobby. As said a lot of info out there. arrl is a good start. When I started into it I read a lot of articles and watched several videos before I took my first test. Also a good show to watch is Ham Nation it is weekly on Wednesdays at 9PM EST on www.twit.tv really good info there and after the show they have nets that you can check into and talk with the hosts and what not. Good luck, BTW it is addicting. I run HF voice, VHF, UHF, digital voice, SSTV, psk, and other digital modes. Always a good time. 73

Time for an update I guess. I have met the local club members and one lives about 1/2 mile from me, so that will be very helpful indeed. His wife and mine got along very well also.

I have received my test study guide a few days ago and am reading it now. I did do a practice test before I got the guide just to get an idea of what it is all about and see what areas I need to work on. Basic electronics I know a bit about and did well there. I scored 57% a few of which were sheer guessing and so the score does not reflect my knowledge of the subject. Now that I have the study guide I can spot the questions I missed and will home in on them.

A medical surprise has created a lot of idle time I did not expect. Our planned two month trip is cancelled because I got a pacemaker implanted two weeks ago and will not be doing much for the next month or two. The good news is that no blockages were found with the catherization so the pacemaker was implanted the same day. Since then my energy level has risen and color improved according to DW and MIL.

So, starting the study book it appears to me that in a month or so I should be ready to test. DW and MIL really want me to get on with it (maybe to get me out of their kitchen), so I plan to go ahead at a good but not frantic, pace.

Hopefully I will be talking to you good folks next year.
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Good luck on test N5tfx

georgelesley wrote:

Our planned two month trip is cancelled because I got a pacemaker implanted two weeks ago and will not be doing much for the next month or two.

With a pacemaker you should talk to your doctor about being around ham radio. There generally isn't a lot of concern but it could be a problem. Best to ask the questions and get your doctor's advice before getting around any RF. Here's a link to the ARRL on pacemakers. Ham radio and pacemaker

Hopefully I will be talking to you good folks next year.

Work for at least the General class license. If you get only a Technician class license and you're not working CW (morse code) then the frequencies available to you for voice is fairly short range. General class will open up the world to you with voice communication.
Also, once you get licensed and start working high frequency (HF) don't be too disappointed and discouraged if your range is fairly limited. We're in the worse of the cycle for another year or 2 until the propagation picks up. Cycles run about every 11 years. When in the peak communications are usually great. When at the bottom not so much. We're at/near the bottom now.
Depending on a lot of factors (antenna set up, radio, terrain, etc) even in this low period you could work all states over a period of time when the bands open and cooperate. That won't be an everyday, all the time experience tho. World wide communication is possible now, just have to be on the bands at the right time when they open and usually it's a short window of time, maybe minutes. You may be able to hit one small piece of the world at a given time but it won't be anywhere and everywhere at anytime. May be days and weeks between some places and some places not at all. For example, in the last 2 months I've worked Mongolia, the South Pole, and a Canadian station about 700 miles from the North Pole. They took a lot of luck, the right conditions, and good timing to be there when those locations were on the air. I was using 100 watt radio and a wire antenna. A buddy 15 miles from me runs about 1200 watts and a directional antenna (beam) was never able to reach any of them. Luck, right conditions, different terrain, and timing. That's what makes HF fun.
Now is not a bad time to get into ham radio even tho the propagation is bad. You can play with the radio, work stations you can hear, and get familiar with how things work. By the time the cycle starts improving you'll be familiar with your radio and how to work it to its best advantage.
Good luck.