Anyone here dabble in Ham Radios?I have been thinking about getting a license,for a few years now,and looked at the ARRL website I got a book about a year ago and was wondering how outdated it would be for a beginer already?
The book should be fairly current. You can also go to www.qrz.com, www.eham.net, etc to download and/or take online tests. You can download the questions in their entirety and study just those if that's what you desire. I've just got a Technician class license, which IMO is particularly easy to aquire. If they ever drop the morse code requirement for General class, I'll upgrade. As of now I have no desire to learn morse, and therefore I can't seem to find time or motivation to study for it. Tim / callsign KD8ABJ
I got my tech license about 2 years ago. I agree with Tim, if they ever drop the morse part I'll go get my general. until then I don't have a big need for HF so I'm fine where I'm at. I have a vhf/uhf radio in my truck. Find a local club, they'll help you with the test and probably offer testing too. They also might be able to get you some used equipment if you're interested and will also give you somebody to talk to as you get started. Mike / KG6TXQ
what are those towers worth? I've gotta remove one from a property in the next few days... trying to decide if it's worth being careful, or just knock it down and be done with it... bout a 40' tower with a bunch of crap on it I know nothing about?
They're worth a grand or so new, depending on the style, but finding a buyer that wants to have it shipped could be the hard part. I've got a friend with a 30ft tower in 3 sections torn down is his back yard and a bunch of HAM friends and still can't find a home for it. (it's in Sac, ca if anybody is interested)
do you mean races http://www.races.net/ the emergency radio service? They use all bands, some of which techs are not licensed to use. Or do you mean like nascar etc races? They don't use ham bands, although their bands are close enough that you can recieve only on a ham radio. Or final option, I work with bike races and we use hams to report information at different locations, they could all be techs.
What I figured. The most common Ham radio for tech license holders is a dual band vhf/uhf. Most likely this will recieve all of the racing radios, but it will be out of the ham band so you won't be able to transmit. I have the radio in my truck setup to scan EMS radios, you just need to know what frequency your favorite teams are on.
Plus in at least some states including Michigan you either need to get a permit from the police to have a scanner or receiving equipment capable of listening to police, fire, etc in your vehicle, or have a HAM radio license. Technician license works well for that, and it's good for 10 years. Although keep in mind in these states with stupid laws like that, if the HAM licensee is not in the vehicle while others are operating it, it would be a violation of the law and the radio equipment could be confiscated, if they want to be jerks about it.
