Does anyone here have a ham radio license issued by the Federal Communication Commision? I am studying for my test to get one right now. Does anyone have any tips for me? Im not going to go for the Morse Code Test yet though. I will try for that later.
Just wondering what yall thought.
Kelly.
good luck, my dad had one i think like 25 years ago, that would be so cool if you got one though!
Yeah I mainly got into it cause i watched my dad do it alot. I think it would be cool to talk to people from all over the world.
Thats what the internet is for…or phones;)
but this is vintage, sorta, its like cool, cause its only certain people that do it.
Jeez thanks Spence.
Yeah I think its pretty cool cause not many peeps do it. I guess kinda like unicycling. HA.
Ha, I think its cool. My sister’s friend’s dad has one of those and he has a huge intenna on (behind?) his house so you can see it from all the way down the street.
I have the first level license (without morse code)… but I’ve never used it. 
A coworker taught a weekly class during company time, and I thought it was better than doing actual work. Also, it was in a different office than mine, so I got to ride my bike the ~8 miles each way to attend the class. And, I knew most of the stuff already since I had already taken some electrical engineering courses, so, mostly, the course was an excuse to be away from the office for 2-2.5 hours once a week. 
I got my General class license when I was about 13 yrs. old. Learning morse code was the most difficult part of getting the license (20 WPM requirement at the time) but I found it the most rewarding.
I’d highly recommend learning the code… it’ll allow you to contact people farther away than with voice (I’ve had contacts in Japan, Russia, New Zealand and several small islands whose names I forgot, all using morse code), it’ll allow you to communicate using various media (from flashing a lamp to blowing a whistle or pounding rocks together), and it’s like learning a whole new language (that a lot of people don’t know)
And what are you going to do when the power goes out, or the phone lines get cut from some great catastrophe? I’ll tell you what… you’ll be hoping there’s a Ham Radio operator in your neighborhood who will be kind enough to relay messages from you to your family, or to contact a relief agency to send emergency supplies to your area. Ham Radio operators practice emergency preparedness drills once a year. No wires, no power, no problem!
So do you have a working radio? If so…sometime when i get my license we will have to chat. KH.
There’s an awesome HF setup at my work but I dunno if I’m authorized to use it… I’ll find out. The only radio I own right now is a 220 MHz hand-held unit, but it’s only good for ~10 miles.
I used to have an old tube-driven rig when I was in middle school… it took 20 minutes to warm up, and when it got warm, it would heat up my room. I had a 1/2 wave dipole strung up in the trees in my backyard and worked about 40 US states in the year that I had the rig. Lots of fun!
To tell ya the truth, I don’t really know what my dad’s setup is. Thats what I will be using though. I know he can get across the seas. Hopefully they will let ya use that setup at your work. We will have to talk sometime.
I guess thats all for now. KH.
I have my no-code tech. . . I have a cool device which uses a sophisticated network of repeaters and autopatches the world over. . . called a cell phone 
Ham Radio is a fun skill, but is sadly becoming about as useful as unicycling 
in smaller cities and rural areas, the ham operators still play a crucial role in disaster response, which is the fun stuff 
there is a scholarship for operating a ham radio, google it to find out more.
Ham operators serve as the link betweek Ski Patrol and the Forest Service in remote areas. They also helped to get ice and water into isolated parts of LA during Hurricane Katrina. After the last major quake in the Bay Area, ham operators were there to report damages and loss to city officials and the Red Cross, as well as send messages out to the family and friends of those affected.
You can’t do any of that on a unicycle.
there’s a pretty active ham radio group here in Sierra Vista, lotsa older guys wh worked army communications at Ft Hucachuca are hams, most are retired now though.
every now and then i fire up my BC-348Q and listen to the airwaves…but I never had the gumption to learn morse code or work on getting a lic
my dad LOVES ham radio, right behind me there is a huge set up with wire hanging in my back yard with a huge attena on my roof, its nuts, i never learned it cuz it seems boring to me.
