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I'm building up a ham shack. I have used my Sangean radio to listen to hams chatting it up on 80m and 40m for a few years now. Time to up my game.

I'm building up a ham shack. I have used my Sangean radio to listen to hams chatting it up on 80m and 40m for a few years now. Time to up my game.

(post is archived)

[–] • 2 pts

Fantastic! IMO Extra is definitely worth it as it opens up areas of the bands far less cluttered. You also don't have to worry if you're outside of your class space.

[–] • 0 pt

When I get to Extra and get my antenna up, I'll ask you to respond to some CQs so I can do some testing

[–] • 5 pts

Just be careful, easy way to dox yourself once someone knows your callsign.

[–] • 2 pts

This.

OP, just feel out a few users you talk to on the regular here and send a few private messages if you want.

Not me, tho. Also, congrats on your tests!

[–] • 0 pt

Would love to. Perhaps post a frequency and time and I can be one of the anonymous many that take the CQ. I won't share my call here and suggest you do not either. It's a simple matter to use ULS to dox your address of record. I also hope you used a PO Box for your FRN. If not get one and change your address of record ASAP.

[–] • 0 pt

I was on the fence about a PO Box. It would cost me ~$200/year in my area. Not a huge expense, just more of a pain in the ass. But my concern is that I would never check it, and if FCC actually sent me something via snail mail I'd never get it. One of the VEs said just make an account at qrz.com and populate the address fields as you wish. Almost everyone looking up call signs hits qrz.com. Not exactly a foolproof and secure method to be sure, but it's something. I'm still on the fence and may pull the trigger on it anyway. Still not sure.

[–] • 2 pts

I bought a pair of uv5r radios a few years ago. Never did anything with them. I really should.

[–] • 0 pt

Well done! I am trying to find the time and motivation to study for General so I can use this hexbeam and the HF functions of my Icom IC-7100 I have.

[–] • 1 pt

Thank you! I have an IC-7300 in the box next to me as part of my new shack. I couldn't resist the waterfall. I think we can start a poal net on 3.625 and do it in USB just to be contrarian.

[–] • 1 pt

JS8Call with a POALNET or such tag wouldn't be hard. Not sure if useful or even smart, though. I strive to keep discussion topics OTA very bland and by the rules. Using the hobby mainly to build proficiency in tech and timing to make the what and to-where second nature JIC SHTF. After that all rules are null and void but until then it's too easy to put a spotlight on yourself when it should not be. A POAL net would sure look like a honeypot to me.

[–] • 0 pt

Nice. I thought about going for General but I just never really used it.

[–] • 1 pt

I'm going for extra for two reasons.

One, I want a shorter 1X2 or 2X2 call sign. Even after listening to other hams over time, I still have trouble following along with long call signs even when they spell it phonetically. I have trouble copying short ones too, just not as much. I have learned to appreciate shorter call signs as easier for me to understand. And the people with short calls are the ones on the Extra bands. And I'd rather own a 1X2 sign that I have some control over, than some random WN8LEBM string.

Two, I want to be able to go anywhere on the band chart without thinking about the interband separations between different ham classes. Fuck that shit.

I thought you were already an extra. You gotta get with the program so we can chat it up on 3.625 using USB just to defy accepted protocol.

[–] • 1 pt

Was going to ask a similar question, so thanks for the pre-answer.

I took general after tech because I scored well, even though I hadn't studied general. (Same test fee, so why not?) I passed but didn't do well enough on the General score to think I could squeak by on Extra, so I didn't bother.

FWIW, I'm going to have to renew in a couple of years, but I've never felt cramped by General. I've gotten used to 2x3, and it would be weird to learn a new call (and I suspect I would accidentally fall back to the one I've been saying for almost a decade anyway.) The longer calls a pain in the ass on CW, but for phone, you'll get used to copying and you'll stop noticing.

If I had to re-exam to renew, I would probably go for Extra, but I don't, so I won't. I'm thinking of starting an ARC at my church, though, and if we have a testing session at the end of class (I would probably end up teaching it, but I'm not a VC) I'll sit for Extra then.

[–] • 0 pt

Sounds like you're a seasoned expert!

[–] • 1 pt

I never really did much with the license, got it because the technician was easy to get and it helped at a RADAR place I worked one time.

[–] • 0 pt

What sorts of resources did you use to study? I ordered a book on ham awhile back, but the formatting was atrocious and I abandoned the endeavor.

[–] • 1 pt

They have some android apps that are good.

[–] • 1 pt

So there are 3 levels of certification (technician, general, extra). For each, I ordered the ARRL License Manual. The back of each manual has the pool of questions.

Then I searched the intertubes for videos of hams covering these levels of certification, and watched those videos. In the videos they focus on the material necessary to answer the questions on the exams, and go through the exam questions themselves. So I used a highlighter and highlighted the right answer while watching the videos.

Once done watching the videos covering the tech and general, I downloaded the ARRL exam prep apps for my iPhone. I started taking practice tests, saw what areas I didn't score well in, and revisited those areas in the license manual and online videos. I got to the point where I could take either the tech or general tests and pass 10 times out of 10 tries each, so I was ready to do it live.

The online videos are great, much better than trying to read the manual on your own and understand it all. The app was great to help me run through the question pool many times and develop a confidence that I was ready.

[–] • 1 pt

Online practice exams are available - much easier than pencil and paper. Just make sure they have the current pool. I would trust the ARRL to be accurate but I'm sure there are others.

https://arrlexamreview.appspot.com/

[–] • 1 pt

I used a paid Android app (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.hamstudy.mobile). The interface was non-distracting, it's up-to-date with the current question banks, and it has a few modes of operation I find useful, like homing in on areas I was weak in. Nicest to me was an "I don't know" answer button to avoid the accidental negative training of having to guess and program a wrong answer in your memory. There's also an "Explain" button that gives a pretty good summary of the correct answer theory, at least enough to research it further.

I can't objectively say it's all you need. I wanted to be a ham as a kid and read everything I could get my hands on. Amazingly a lot of that is still in my head. I went to test for Technician and passed the General thanks to it. But using this app was pretty much all I did to pass Extra.

[–] • 0 pt

Awesome, thanks for sharing. I've got a Uniden scanner that I listen to a local repeater on. Apart from a fun hobby, I'm very interested in communications without relying on existing infrastructure.

[–] • 1 pt

Ham operation is by definition communications without relying on anyone else's infrastructure. I focus on HF frequencies (3-30 MHz) since they are the ones that bounce off the ionosphere and propagate globally.