9 May
2011
9 May
'11
12:04 p.m.
finally get off my butt and do it. I studied
off-and-on for a few days
to assimilate the new rules & regs, and registered for the VE test given
at the hamfest in Hagerstown, MD on April 31st. I sat for all three
exams...Element 2 (Technician class), Element 3 (General class) and
Element 4 (Extra class).
I am very proud to report that I passed them all the first time
through! And, I don't mind saying, the Extra exam made my head hurt.
The FCC processed my paperwork very quickly, and on May 5th I was
granted an Extra-class license and assigned call sign AK4HZ.
Congratulations!. Am I correct that that's all there is to pass (I am
not very knowledgable on the US regulations).
Of I'm still in West Virginia handling family business, while all of
my ham gear is in Florida, but my mother (who is house-sitting for me in
Florida) was able to ship two of my HTs up here so I'd have something at
least. When I have access to my HF gear (Yaesu FT-ONE and FT-920, Heath
HW-7, HW-8, and HW-9 QRP rigs, and Heath SB-101) I hope to try out some
of the neat new(ish) stuff like PSK31 that came up while I was away.
High-tech stuff aside, I'm sure to do some plain old SSB and CW on the
HF bands.
IMHO it's a lot more fun to take some glassfets anf design a transmitter
and receiver yourself. But then you know me by now :-)
-tony