Ham radio

[moustache]

This thread might be a stretch but i figue i will give it a go anyway.
Any ham radio operators in the Lounge?? Ham/amateur radio played a pivotal role in the early development and advancement of radio in general.
Especially in the early days of the 20th century.
I have been licensed since 1983 and still use the call sign of N7MYW.
Mainly active on vhf/uhf.Sold the HF radio until the propagation gets better.

Calling all hams!!!

JD in Vancouver,Wa

 

[Hamandbacon]

Ham it up, brother!!!

JD,

In case you haven't noticed me here before (being kinda new), I use the name, "hamandbacon" on the lounge, because it was the username I created at eham.net. It is catchy, easy to remember and speaks of ham radio. Some people must think I sell hams and bacon, I guess. Talk with you later. I have babysitting duty while the wife goes to town. Clear skies and 73

Jeff G. (KG4LAW)

 

[moustache]

Delighted!!

JD,

In case you haven't noticed me here before (being kinda new), I use the name, "hamandbacon" on the lounge, because it was the username I created at eham.net. It is catchy, easy to remember and speaks of ham radio. Some people must think I sell hams and bacon, I guess. Talk with you later. I have babysitting duty while the wife goes to town. Clear skies and 73

Jeff G. (KG4LAW)

Pleasure to meet you Jeff.I used to frequent eham.net but just have way too many hobbies!!
Rain and wind here!!

73's

Jim

 

[Quigley Brown]

Back in college I took a short night class to get an amateur license...learn the morse code and such...but I never used it. I still remember my license number: KA0 KEB...can't remember the Morse Code, though.

 

[moustache]

Not alone there

Back in college I took a short night class to get an amateur license...learn the morse code and such...but I never used it. I still remember my license number: KA0 KEB...can't remember the Morse Code, though.

Many don't use it much anymore.Now that Morse code has been dropped from most of the world's radio requirements,most have let it slip away.
I used to work CW at almost 35 wpm,but now a days i would be lucky to get to 25. Still,i will always keep practising now and then to keep it fresh.
Hams still are the first line of communications when the power goes out and satellites stop working.

JD

 

[Fred]

N7MYW from M1EKX .
Your 5,9 +++ here in south Birmingham England. QSL ?

Hello Chaps first post here so bear with me.

I let my Amateur licence lapse a few years ago as I had other radio interests that didn't require me to hold a licence. Like TV & FM Dxing.
I think the main stay of my radio interests these days is listening to the Pirate Broadcast stations on Short wave & Medium wave that pop up at all hours of the day & night.

Good to see that my Class B licence has now been upgraded to a full licence & if I could be bothered, go on HF without the dreaded M***e code.
I'll go back to Ham Radio at somepoint, but these days I just dont have the time or space for antenna's. Plus living in a bit of a dip means VHF is a bit tricky.

I've been reading the posts on this message board for a few weeks now. I found the forum by accident looking for Old Time Radio stuff. We dont have anything like OTR to download over here. All BBC recordings are & forever will be copyrighted. So if you wanna buy vintage BBC you have to pay through the nose for it:rage: Although I've bought quite a few BBC collections off Ebay.

Nice to meet you all at last

Fred

 

[DavidJones]

Is learning the Morse Code still part of the requirement on the Test one takes to become a Ham Operator? I remember a few years back looking into the details in applying and getting the license requires learning MC to pass the test. Just wondering if this is still so?

 

[Fred]

Hi David,

Most countries have now removed the morse requirement for a full licence so I think you should be safe.

A quick look on the ARRL or FCC web site should answer your question.

73's & good DX

Fred

 

[Scuffy]

Ha! I can tie the Hams in with radio... in a round about way. I'm a jock at the local country station and my brother, my mom and my dad all have their license. At any rate we just had the local club up the station and gave them a tour, showing them the transmitters and discussing the Emergency Alert System (EAS) as well as other things. Fun stuff. In fact we had one of the best turn outs for this club meeting in a long while. Had to actually split up into two groups just to get everyone in!

And going along with the EAS system, we just had a meeting with the local emergency management, FEMA and local officials to play out several scenarios involving everything from severe weather to a meltdown of a local nuclear plant. The Hams were all dispersed to the far corners of the county to help set up a grid of communication. Fun stuff!

Anybody take part in this year's field day??

Scuffy

PS And yes, I'm actually working on getting my license. I just need to hit ham-fest or by the time I get the chance it'll be time for the Dayton Hamvention again! lol :eusa_clap

 

[Matt Crunk]

KE4PFU here, although it's now about two years expired.

I'm an avid sailboater and got my HAM ticket mainly just to use two-meter for free land-line access, thus avoiding the collect charges for a marine operator when I needed to make a phone call from the boat. That of course was just before cell phones became affordable and commonplace, making my particular need obsolete.

As much as I tried, I just never managed to get into the hobby aspect of HAM. For me it was strictly utilitarian.

-MC

 

[52Styleline]

I've had my ham ticket since I was 11 years old. I have one of the original old 1x3 calls. Not very active currently, however.

 

[The Reno Kid]

Ha! Here's a vintage tie-in. There's a guy up in Virginia City who has turned his basement into a radio museum. He has a lot of great broadcast stuff, but he also has some really nice vintage ham sets. One of them is a completely restored pre-war setup with all the (strictly period) bells and whistles. If you're ever in this part of the world and you have any interest at all in radio, I highly recommend it. Henry is a goldmine of information. In the meantime, he has a pretty good web site: http://www.radioblvd.com/index.html.

 

[BonnieJean]

While I'm not a ham radio operator, my nearly 68 year old mother is studying for her license and hopes to take the test in February. Guess you're never too old to learn! She says its always been her dream to have a ham radio license.

 

[Mr_Misanthropy]

Just wanted to give this a little bump. I've been looking into Ham radio lately. I'm in need of a hobby... I've got my "Ham Radio for Dummies" book on the way from Amazon, and I've been perusing forums, but it doesn't seem very "newbie friendly". Anyone else do Ham radio here? Also if any Hams are willing to answer a few questions of mine via PM, I'd appreciate it!

 

[ScionPI2005]

My grandfather is a HAM (W5AQ: he managed to get the four call letters at some point). Back in high school, I got a book to prep for the HAM test, but never took it.

 

[Scuffy]

Many don't use it much anymore.Now that Morse code has been dropped from most of the world's radio requirements,most have let it slip away.
I used to work CW at almost 35 wpm,but now a days i would be lucky to get to 25. Still,i will always keep practising now and then to keep it fresh.
Hams still are the first line of communications when the power goes out and satellites stop working.

JD

Though I responded in this thread a while ago I figured I'd bump it a bit as well with an update!

My Dad (KC8KEB), Mom (KC8NAN) and brother (KC8LMA) all have their licenses and I should be working on mine But I keep getting distracted with other hobbies like welding, restoring Jeeps and working at my photo studio. BUT someday hopefully soon I'll have mine. Our local club has been authorized to start testing so that makes it a bit easier than treking all over the state for Ham fests. Though it's not close- Dayton is always fun to make a weekend of!!

And on a sad note- my dad's 150' tower with a TH5 just came down... got it up this Spring and two weeks ago a tree decided to defy all odds (being tied off AND wedged AND cut on the correct side) and come down across a guy wire. Not so fun. We've been working to free the TH5 from the top of a poplar tree. :rage:

And it's great because usually at least twice a year we work with the local officials and set up a practice command center in the basement of the courthouse and remote locations around the area. Usually playing up the scenario of a nuclear incident at the Perry nuclear power plant. Very interesting!

 

[MrFusion]

I just got licensed this year. I work in IT with the Public Safety folks and we work with the local hams for emergency communications. I figured if I was going to work with them, I should get licensed so I would have a better idea of what they were doing.

73,
Tom
K3TTL

 

[freebird]

Congrat's on your new license!

I've had mine, KD5AFE, since 97, and currently hold a general class license. I'm a member of Navy Marine Corp MARS (Military Affiliate Radio System for those who aren't hams who may happen to be reading this) . I'm not very active at the moment, too many other irons in the fire. I rarely drive he pickup that the mobile is in, so am looking into having it put into the car so that I can at least get back on 2 meters (or 70cm).

 

[MrFusion]

Congrat's on your new license!

I've had mine, KD5AFE, since 97, and currently hold a general class license. I'm a member of Navy Marine Corp MARS (Military Affiliate Radio System for those who aren't hams who may happen to be reading this) . I'm not very active at the moment, too many other irons in the fire. I rarely drive he pickup that the mobile is in, so am looking into having it put into the car so that I can at least get back on 2 meters (or 70cm).

Thanks!
One thing I have found is that hams seem to be a friendly group.
I will probably go for my General Class soon or early next year. My 10 year old son has shown some interest as well so maybe we'll both test.

 

[freebird]

Thanks!
One thing I have found is that hams seem to be a friendly group.
I will probably go for my General Class soon or early next year. My 10 year old son has shown some interest as well so maybe we'll both test.

Hams are generally a friendly group. I've had several offers of helping get an antenna in the air if I'd host a "antenna party",which I'm thinking of doing when the weather cools down a bit.

Hey, that's great news about your Son, one added bonus when he gets his ticket .Donate a mobile unit to him when he gets his first car, and more than likely when he breaks down, there'll be a ham nearby to help him out.