On Wednesday, February 22nd I showed up to the Palouse Hills Amateur Radio club meeting early. I was there to take the extra class exam for a 3rd time. Man is that test a bitch. I finish the test in about a half hours time then anxiously awaited the grading process. After a few minutes one of the VE’s grading my exam gave me a thumb’s up. I immediately yelled “WoHoo!” That got everyone’s attention. I passed. I FINALLY passed the damn exam! I am proud to say I am a newly minted Extra Class amateur radio operator. The next step is applying for my vanity call sign followed by a new license plate for my Earthf*cker Lite. The husband can “Now Shut The Fuck Up”.
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Congrats from KE5ZDI! 73s
Congrats!
Not sure what I would do with a Ham licence.
Oh, congratulations! NOT a minor thing to achieve.
A Ham license can get you a front row seat to this and this. The Worlds are held in our neck of the woods and we can communicate when no one else can.
I think I need an honest guide to radio equipment. When I search I find a lot of equipment for $$$$ with the characteristic that the rigs have a price in relation to the number of small buttons.
Emergency use would be something I would take the test for. But I don’t want to drop a lot of coin on something I use infrequently.
You don’t have to use it infrequently. I used the 2m rig a lot until the wind knocked down my antenna. I just haven’t gotten around to building antenna stand version 2.0. On HF I can easily DX from my area and talk to people just about anywhere.
The key is to avoid buying new unless you have the money. I currently don’t have an HF rig and the VHF rig I’ve got is borrowed. We only own two HTs and they work quite well and were only about 300 bucks each. They’re top end HTs as well.
It’s not a cheap hobby to start, but I will say overall its cheaper than buying ammo every month in the long run. Also gives me an excuse to work on extra backup systems for the house.
If you want to volunteer for emergencies, my suggestion is to get active with your local ARES group. Often there’s monthly exercises as well as state wide exercises a couple times a year. Even then you don’t actually have to own the equipment, being licensed means you can get on the air and operate someone else’s stuff too.
The best bet for finding good equipment is to be active in your local ham club, they’ll often hear about stuff and let you know. I’ll drop a post next week with more on that.
Thank you! 🙂
Hi, Janelle.
You blacked out your call sign, so I’ll offer this here:
#302 R HXG K7SHE ARL14 ISSAQUAH, WA MAR 1
JANELLE BARNETT
http://WWW.THE-MINUTEMAN.ORG
ARL FIFTY SIX EXTRA UPGRADE
LOOKING FORWARD TO MEETING YOU
AT BOOMERSHOOT WOHOO 73
SHERRI
Congrats from WB8YHL! 73s