<slight hijack>
Well, I’m sold. I did some looking around and there’s an exam offered in Mesa in mid-september. So I’ve got to really dive into this because as of now I know dickall about wavelengths and frequencies and the like.
Any hammies willing to point me toward a good starting point?
Here is a good starting point. I highly recommend Now You’re Talking as your study guide for the No-Code Technician Class license exam. You can see the actual question pools from a link there, and take a practice test online.
the books Q.E.D. mentioned are pretty good, they are specific for each step (Novice, Tech, General etc.) Get them at Radio Shack
A god practice exam site http://www.aa9pw.com/ gives you a chance to build confidence before you try an actual exam.
Questions:
What does ham mean or stand for?
Why does it require a license?
What’re all these meters and what-have-you you people keep mentioning?
How much does it cost?
How do I start?
Here are some theories on the origin of the term “ham”.
A license is required so that the amateur bands can be kept clear of the sort of things that happened to CB when the license requirement was dropped.
Meters are the unit used to express the wavelength or a given radio signal. The individual bands are named after the nearest wavelength to that band, by convention. For example, the two-meter band for amateurs is 144.000 MHz to 148.000 MHz. The frequency with exactly a two-meter wavelength is actually 150 MHz.
You can get used equipment on sites like eBay fairly cheaply, but I’d only buy from another ham. Many radio clubs also run hamfests–swap meets for amateur operators.
Start with the site I linked to earlier. That has links to other sites with more information.
I just took a test at www.qrz.com and this is really funny.
Over the course of 15 minutes and 20 seconds, I answered 15 out of 35 questions correctly, for a total percentage of 42.9 percent.
More questions:
What happened when the CB license requirements were dropped?
How can the FCC really check if you have a licence or not?
What are the penalties for transmitting without a licence?
After the licensing requirements for CB were dropped, the 11-meter band quickly became overrun with all sorts of ill-mannered folks. Today, it’s pretty quiet as CB has fallen out of favor with the general public, but it was really bad at one time.
The ham bands are largely self-patrolled. If a ham hears someone operating illegally (bootlegging), he will be quick to report it. We take these things seriously.
The penalty is stiff: Up to one year in prison and $10,000 in fines.
Muhahaha. 10 min, 58sec and I got a 68.6%. Says I need to keep studying.
Did you catch that line from QED’s link that says
CITE?!?! CITE PLEASE!!!
How the hell does a 5 yr old know which region of the ionosphere is mainly responsible for absorbing MF/HF radio signals during the daytime?
What are they feeding these kids?!
Malk, who suddenly can’t believe how little she knows about wavelengths and frequencies.
Here’s a girl that passed her Technician ticket at age 5 and UPGRADED to General Class at age 6!
And please note she said the Morse Code was “…kind of easy…”
Of course, both her parents are hams as well.
Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot.
I hadn’t even CONSIDERED trying to learn Morse code. Jeez.