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Thread: Passed my technician level amateur radio test

  1. #1
    Boolit Master 44Blam's Avatar
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    Passed my technician level amateur radio test

    Passed my Technician test today. Pretty excited.
    WWG1WGA

  2. #2
    Moderator


    Minerat's Avatar
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    Congratulations, welcome to amature radio and now the fun begins. I'm sure other ham members will chime in. Not as active as I once was since my Elmer passed and still have a Tech license. Been meaning to take the General now that code is not required. I just didn't have time to learn it and figured once I retired I'd take the time and get tested. Besides I still like my call sign (good excuse?)

    73's
    Steve,

    Life Member NRA
    Colorado Rifle Club member
    Rocky Mtn Gun Owners member
    NAGR member

  3. #3
    Boolit Master
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    Welcome to a new hobby! It can get expensive, but it's a lot of fun.
    KI7SYG
    When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
    They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
    But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
    And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "Stick to the Devil you know."

  4. #4
    Boolit Bub
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    Welcome to ham radio, I hope that you enjoy this new hobby as I have for the last 60+ years.
    I started ham radio as I entered high school and have stayed with it for all these years. Started
    ham radio in 1959, then reloading in 1964. Still doing both. If you need help with ham radio
    send me a private message, we can exchange phone #'s and I will assist you anyway I can.

    73 de Roy - K5WSC

  5. #5
    Boolit Master
    farmerjim's Avatar
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    Congratulations, I can still remember passing my novice test back in the early 70's. Then the first QSO with a 75 watt homemade CW transmitter.

    WB5SZT
    There is no difference between communism and socialism, except in the means of achieving the same ultimate end: communism proposes to enslave men by force, socialism—by vote. It is merely the difference between murder and suicide. Ayn Rand

  6. #6
    Boolit Master
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    N9YVD here.
    Great hobby although HF is mostly dead with no sunspots.
    “Coincidence is God’s way of remaining anonymous.”

  7. #7
    Boolit Master
    marlin39a's Avatar
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    KJ7GTZ here. Had my license for just over 2 yrs. I listen more than I talk. Join your local club. Lots of great people there that can help you out.

  8. #8
    Boolit Master
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    Congrats on passing the test. While everything is fresh in your memory keep going at least to general. If you wait to long it will be a learning curve again.
    2 meters kinda quiet here. Repeaters are not as busy as they use to be. Either way enjoy it and have fun.
    I’m retired now and just moved so when the dust settles before fall, I’ll get my antennas up and become active again.

    Mike WA2DLN

    You might mention what state your in, you might have a local ham chime in here.

  9. #9
    Boolit Master
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    When I went to take my 5WPM code test, my VE was a good friend of mine. N9BBV. He said, aw heck, you're going to try 13 first. I was decent at 5, but 13??? Low and behold after a practice run, 13 wasn't horrible. I managed to follow the conversation and got 8 of 10 questions right. I then took the general written and passed it. The rule at home was that everybody had to call be General for the day. I kept the N9YVD and had to add a /AG to it. A month later and before the general license arrived in the mail, I passed the advanced written test so I had to use /AA.
    I LOVE HF but haven't done it in years.
    “Coincidence is God’s way of remaining anonymous.”

  10. #10
    Boolit Buddy Ural Driver's Avatar
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    Congratulations, enjoy !
    NRA Benefactor

  11. #11
    Moderator Emeritus

    MaryB's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bakerjw View Post
    When I went to take my 5WPM code test, my VE was a good friend of mine. N9BBV. He said, aw heck, you're going to try 13 first. I was decent at 5, but 13??? Low and behold after a practice run, 13 wasn't horrible. I managed to follow the conversation and got 8 of 10 questions right. I then took the general written and passed it. The rule at home was that everybody had to call be General for the day. I kept the N9YVD and had to add a /AG to it. A month later and before the general license arrived in the mail, I passed the advanced written test so I had to use /AA.
    I LOVE HF but haven't done it in years.
    Lot of antenna options now for space/hoa challenged locations so get back on the air!

  12. #12
    Moderator Emeritus

    MaryB's Avatar
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    Congrats on passing the test! Don't limit yourself to a handheld radio and just the local repeater. Get a mobile rig to use in the house, or a Yaesu all band all mode rig so you are setup for HF thru 70 cm(Minus 222, not a band with a lot of use in most places). Put a decent antenna on the roof with low loss feed line and you will have a LOT more 2 meter range. I use one of the generic Tram 17' tall 2m/70cm verticals https://www.hamradio.com/detail.cfm?pid=H0-013232 if you use one make sure you waterproof the joints, they are the weak spot of this antenna. A 4 inch piece of adhesive lined heat shrink over each joint is all it needed.

  13. #13
    Boolit Master
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    Congrats to the OP!

    I wish I had taken ham radio up. I know it’s not too late, I am just 64 but I just am always running between farming and ranching and serving on four boards Ag related.

    I live in a very good vantage point so that is not an excuse.

    I notice that the air waves are pretty open according to posts here. Too much internet and too little radio. That should make a buyers market for good quality used equipment though!

    Three44s
    Quote Originally Posted by Bret4207

    “There is more to this than dumping lead in a hole.”

  14. #14
    Boolit Buddy
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    Congratulations!

  15. #15
    Boolit Master 44Blam's Avatar
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    Thanks! I helped a buddy put up a tower...
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    WWG1WGA

  16. #16
    Boolit Bub Daveco's Avatar
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    Congrats 44Blam!

    I need to dust my gear off and get it fired back up.
    73's de KV4VE

  17. #17
    Boolit Master



    Echo's Avatar
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    E-W5HZM here - Hollyhocks, Zinnias, and Marigolds! Plus Whisky Five! Built my own boots for my Hammarlund HX-50, pair of 811's in parallel, grounded-grid, 2,000 volts on plates from TV power xfmr in voltage-doubler setup, needed bias, so put a 2D21 wired up as a diode in center-tap of filament xfmr, worked like 4.5 volt regulator, just right. That, and a Drake 2-B Rx, and I was set. But gave it all up when I retired & moved to Az. No time for hamming then, going to school, teaching CommColl part-time, &cetera. Was an FCC Second-Class radio/Phone Engineer.
    Started off with an ART-13 transmitter and a BC342 Rx going into a vertical antenna tuned by a coil on the bottom...
    So Good On Ya, guy! Hamming is fun!
    Echo
    USAF Ret
    DPS, 2600
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    One of the most endearing sights in the world is the vision of a naked good-looking woman leaving the bedroom to make breakfast. Bolivar Shagnasty (I believe that Lazarus Long also said it, but I can't find any record of it.)

  18. #18
    Boolit Buddy
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    In 1968 I went to work as an apprentice in Electronics under a Hire a Vet program the Air Force was running at McCellen AFB. We worked in the electronic shops in the mornings and took classes at the community college in the pms. My Radio teacher said if we passed the Second Class FCC test we would get a "B" in the class, we got him to give us an "A" for a FIrst Class license. He laughed but agreed.

    I took my slide rule (Pre-calculator days) to San Francisco and pass the First Class and Radar endorsement and the teacher fell out of his chair!

    I spent 30 years in Microwave Electronics in the Silicon Valley and worked my way off the bench to Director of Development for a QAM digital radio and spent years consulting on Microwave propagation all over the world. 16 countries and over 250,000 air miles traveled.

    Now I'm old and can't remember the basic formulas, but Hey it was a good life!

  19. #19
    Boolit Grand Master

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    armature I have built a couple of radios and where does this part go?

  20. #20
    Boolit Master



    WebMonkey's Avatar
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    hangs off the side and holds something else.

    WebMonkey
    Retired 19D
    Psalm 91:9
    Honda 919

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