Ham Radio

Rossymeister

Enlightened
Joined
May 4, 2008
Messages
872
Location
U.S.A.
Is anybody here into ham radio?

im interested in getting a license in a few months and was wondering if anybody knows of any good study guides?
 

archimedes

Flashaholic
Joined
Nov 12, 2010
Messages
15,780
Location
CONUS, top left
The KB6NU "No Nonsense" study guides teach directly to the test question pool.

They do presuppose a fair bit of background understanding of math, physics, and electronics, however.
 

Rossymeister

Enlightened
Joined
May 4, 2008
Messages
872
Location
U.S.A.
Ok awesome!

From what i understand, the fcc makes your address public. Is it worth getting/maintaining a P.O box for something like this?
 

scout24

Flashaholic
Joined
Dec 23, 2008
Messages
8,869
Location
Penn's Woods
I personally figure I'm easy enough to find that I don't worry about it. It seems it would be fairly costly to maintain a P.O. box if you didn't already have one. Worth checking into seeing if you could use a work address with the cooperation of your employer perhaps.
 

Rossymeister

Enlightened
Joined
May 4, 2008
Messages
872
Location
U.S.A.
Oh ok, i see your point. Im not gonna worry about it then.

scout24 , do you have any equipment picked out yet?
 

caelyx

Newly Enlightened
Joined
May 29, 2013
Messages
120
Is anybody here into ham radio?

im interested in getting a license in a few months and was wondering if anybody knows of any good study guides?


Yep, I am - I'm in Australia, though, so I'm not sure about FCC exams.

In addition to the written study guides, there are a couple of video guides available, which can be helpful in showing the concepts. David Casler has a Technician Licence series; the AmateurLogic team have a series called Ham College which is a bit more free-from, but fills in a lot of the detail around the questions/answers.

We have the same rule about licence details being public, so I used a PO box. I'm likely paranoid though; lots of hams just use their home address.
 

scout24

Flashaholic
Joined
Dec 23, 2008
Messages
8,869
Location
Penn's Woods
~Decide~ I have a handheld that has arrived, and a replacement (still small) antenna: a Yaesu FT-60R radio and a Diamond brand antenna. The radio is an older model but is well reviewed from a durability standpoint, and the antenna seemed like a good upgrade. I am planning on a magnet mount for my car to use the Yaesu while driving and a small outdoor antenna for the house, using same Yaesu as a "base station" for now. I am waiting to see what local club members use/recommend before buying much else. Antennas seem to be as if not more important than other hardware, so there's that...
 

PhotonWrangler

Flashaholic
Joined
Oct 19, 2003
Messages
14,432
Location
In a handbasket
Another HAM licensee here. Yes FCC callsigns are publcly searchable so I generally don't post mine in public forums. Speaking of...

Once I found a front license plate laying on the ground near a snowbank in a parking lot. Apparently it got pulled off by the snow when he pulled into the spot. It was a vanity plate with a HAM callsign. I was able to find the owner's name and address from this and returned his plate to him. I'm sure he had mixed feelings about this.
 

Rossymeister

Enlightened
Joined
May 4, 2008
Messages
872
Location
U.S.A.
Another HAM licensee here. Yes FCC callsigns are publcly searchable so I generally don't post mine in public forums. Speaking of...

Once I found a front license plate laying on the ground near a snowbank in a parking lot. Apparently it got pulled off by the snow when he pulled into the spot. It was a vanity plate with a HAM callsign. I was able to find the owner's name and address from this and returned his plate to him. I'm sure he had mixed feelings about this.

Funny story.

Yeah, looking around on different forums for the past month, i notice alot of people do that!

I finally took my tech test last weekend and passed!

From what i see online, im able to transmit on these bands right? I see that the document was last updated in 2012, so just wanted to make sure it was still relevant.

http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Tech Band Chart/US Amateur Radio Technician Privileges.pdf
 

Katherine Alicia

Enlightened
Joined
May 15, 2020
Messages
836
Location
Central UK.
Another HAM licensee here. Yes FCC callsigns are publcly searchable so I generally don't post mine in public forums. Speaking of...

Once I found a front license plate laying on the ground near a snowbank in a parking lot. Apparently it got pulled off by the snow when he pulled into the spot. It was a vanity plate with a HAM callsign. I was able to find the owner's name and address from this and returned his plate to him. I'm sure he had mixed feelings about this.


That`s why I stuck to Freebanding, it`s bad enough if you`re a guy, but it`s really not safe as a woman to give your address out like that, there`s some real creeps out there!
 

MikeWill07

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Jan 19, 2021
Messages
8
I was trained as a network technology specialist - we were trained in radio technology as well. But I ended up becoming a software developer. Now I specialize in Node.js ProCoders.
 
Last edited:
Top