8 May
2011
8 May
'11
8:25 p.m.
I had a ham license (coded Tech class, KA2UZK) from 1984 to 1994, and
was quite active on VHF FM and HF CW during that time. I've missed it
quite a bit over the years and have always intended to relicense, but
the piles of rules changes gave me pause, as rote memorization isn't
really my strong suit.
Well, the recent discussion of ham radio licensing motivated me to
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.
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.
Anyway, enough of my blather, I'm just proud to have accomplished
that and wanted to tell everyone. I'm hoping to catch some of you on
the air!
-Dave
73's DE AK4HZ
--
Dave McGuire
Port Charlotte, FL
8 May
8 May
8:37 p.m.
On Sun, May 08, 2011 at 08:25:33PM -0400, Dave McGuire wrote:
I had a ham license (coded Tech class, KA2UZK) from 1984 to 1994, and
was quite active on VHF FM and HF CW during that time. I've missed it
...
congrats! If you are on irc #classiccmp on freenode, you are invited to
#hamradio as well.
Anyway, enough of my blather, I'm just proud to
have accomplished
that and wanted to tell everyone. I'm hoping to catch some of you on
the air!
-Dave
73's DE AK4HZ
Yes that would be fun.
73 DE VA3DB Diane Bruce
--
- db at FreeBSD.org db at db.net http://www.db.net/~db
Why leave money to our children if we don't leave them the Earth?
1:15 a.m.
On 5/9/11 1:11 AM, Adrian Stoness wrote:
u have to have a licence to use a ham radio?
Ham radio (more properly, amateur radio) is an activity, not a thing.
While anyone can receive as much as they want, a license is required
to transmit on the frequency ranges ("bands") that are allocated to the
amateur radio service.
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire
Port Charlotte, FL
3:12 p.m.
u have to have a licence to use a ham radio?
Er, yes!. Or rather, you need a license to transmit on the amateur
bands. AFAIK you can receive without a license.
To get an amateur radio license (at least in the countries I've heard
about, and I aussme it's the same everywhree), you have to pass a
technical-ish exam which is supposed to show that you have enough
knowledge to transmit without causing interference to other radio
services. It makes sesne, radio amateurs are allowed (and IMHO should be
encouraged) to design, build, and modify their equipment, so it's
important they know how make a transmitter which doesn't hve spurious
emissions at other frequencies.
-tony
4:22 p.m.
On May 9, 2011, at 2:12 PM, Tony Duell wrote:
AFAIK you can receive without a license.
I used to be able to say "It is never illegal to possess or use a radio receiver in
the US."
Then cell-blocking happened, and now I have to say "It is very rarely illegal to
possess or use a radio receiver in the US. You cannot monitor cellphones."
Now there's a lot of anti-scanning and anti-monitoring laws all over the place,
because anyone who listens to the police/fire/EMS/etc are terrorists.
So now it's a minefield out there, best to make sure whatever receiver you have CANNOT
monitor outside the ham/shortwave bands, lest you meet some unhappy officers and do the
taser dance.
2:14 a.m.
On Sun, 8 May 2011, Dave McGuire wrote:
I had a ham license (coded Tech class, KA2UZK) from
1984 to 1994, and
was quite active on VHF FM and HF CW during that time. I've missed it
quite a bit over the years and have always intended to relicense, but
the piles of rules changes gave me pause, as rote memorization isn't
really my strong suit.
Well, the recent discussion of ham radio licensing motivated me to
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.
I sat for my first ham exam in April 2010... long overdue. I got
everything right on the Technician exam and missed taking General by one
point. Then I got laid off a couple weeks later, so I haven't yet gone on
the air.
--
David Griffith
dgriffi at cs.csubak.edu
A: Because it fouls the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?
11:50 a.m.
From: "Dave McGuire" <mcguire at neurotica.com>
Sent: Monday, May 09, 2011 2:25 AM
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
<cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Subject: OT: ham radio licenses
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.
Well Done! Her in The Netherlands we call the short wave band (10 - 80
meter)
the "gelijkstroombanden" (roughly translates to DC current bands).
With your call sign (4HZ) you would qualify I guess :-)
Anyway, enough of my blather, I'm just proud to
have accomplished that
and wanted to tell everyone. I'm hoping to catch some of you on the air!
-Dave
73's DE AK4HZ
Would be nice to meet CCMP'ers on the waves. I am ashamed to say that
have my full license some 5 years, but yet have to make my first QSO on HF.
I have been a licensed HAM radio amateur since the seventies, but took the
opportunity to undergo the last official morse code exam here by the Dutch
Postal Service. Practiced listening for 4 months *every* day 15 minutes and
the last 4 weeks practices my "hand skills". That was enough to pass!
I guess it's time to listen out on 20 meters ...
73 de PA8PDP (Henk)
3:04 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
4:55 p.m.
On 5/9/11 3:04 PM, Tony Duell wrote:
Thank you! Yes, that's all there is to pass, "Amateur Extra" is the
highest class of license here.
That's the best thing about amateur radio: It has so many facets,
something for everyone. I like just plain "operating", as well as
building my own rigs, and (for the benefit of others here, as you
already know this) there are dozens of other facets.
I built several transmitters and receivers in my younger years,
almost exclusively 40m QRP CW single-board designs from the ARRL
handbooks. I put rubber feet on the PCBs and ran them like that. :)
That facet is great, but I've not done it in a long time. I look
forward to doing it again.
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire
Port Charlotte, FL
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 :-)
10 May
10 May
1:46 p.m.
That's the best thing about amateur radio: It
has so many facets,
That is true of several other hobbies too. It's true of classic
computing, certainly. not just as to what machines you are interested im,
but also 'facets' like restoring the real hardware, writing emulators,
making add-ons., archiving software/manauls, etc, etc, etc. And
photography, whcih can include not just taking pictures, but also
restoring classic cameras, making a camera from scratch, various unusual
chemical processe, making accesories, etc, etc, etc.
something for everyone. I like just plain
"operating", as well as
building my own rigs, and (for the benefit of others here, as you
already know this) there are dozens of other facets.
Indeed.
-tony
9 May
9 May
7:03 p.m.
New subject: ham radio licenses
Congratulations, Dave! I'm looking at the same thing myself, and you're a good
role model. :-)
Many years ago (13 years of age) I was a ham, but after high school I led too nomadic a
lifestyle to maintain the hobby and my license (my highest rating Advanced Class) expired.
A few years ago I got the idea of getting back into it and bought an HF rig off eBay, the
system I could never afford as a teenager: a Drake R4B/T4XB combination. Unfortunately,
the rig looked like it had lived in someone's carport for ten years - one of the few
times I've been screwed on eBay - and after some initial work troubleshooting it, I
got distracted by other things and it got stacked in a corner behind a DEC
something-or-other.
So the other day some random neural firing led me to a new bout of nostalgia, and I
wandered onto eBay to see if the old Motorola HT220 was still around. I used to work on
those back in the late 1970s and thought they were too cool for words. Of course, I could
never afford to acquire one and modify it for ham operation (I still had the Advanced
Class back then). My 'new' HT220 - already modified for and checked out on 2m -
should arrive at the end of the week. Then I need to pick up some crystals, a battery -
and a license!
Oh, and I started working on the Drake again. I learned that my 'good' scope (HP
1701A) is no longer good, having lost deflection left of center. I pulled out my
'old' scope and learned that my signal generator has a messed up front panel
interface - it does what I tell it to but doesn't display the result. So I guess I
have to fix some tools. <sigh>
________________________________________
From: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org [cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of
Dave McGuire [mcguire at neurotica.com]
Sent: Sunday, May 08, 2011 5:25 PM
To: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: OT: ham radio licenses
I had a ham license (coded Tech class, KA2UZK) from 1984 to 1994, and
was quite active on VHF FM and HF CW during that time. I've missed it
quite a bit over the years and have always intended to relicense, but
the piles of rules changes gave me pause, as rote memorization isn't
really my strong suit.
Well, the recent discussion of ham radio licensing motivated me to
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.
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.
Anyway, enough of my blather, I'm just proud to have accomplished
that and wanted to tell everyone. I'm hoping to catch some of you on
the air!
-Dave
73's DE AK4HZ
--
Dave McGuire
Port Charlotte, FL
4894
days inactive
4895
days old
11 comments
8 participants
participants (8)
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ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk -
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dgriffi＠cs.csubak.edu -
dseagrav＠lunar-tokyo.net -
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