Thinking about Ham?

[bigwakes]

There is a Ham Radio class being offered in Franklin by WCARES.ORG. Starts Febuary 5th 9am. The only fee is $25 for the book. Go to the site, click contacts and contact he top name to register and get more information. I don't know if I can make it yet, but been wanting a license for awhile now. Any operators on TGO?

[Punisher84]

Awwww....

[Defender]

Not an operator, but have always been interested. Got into shortwave and scanners, and some of my radios oick up the ham bands. I may sign up for that class myself.

[TGO David]

General Class operator here. Do it.

HamTestOnlineâ„¢ - Ham Radio Exam Courses <-- AWESOME resource and you'll pass the real test with flying colors if you use this.

[enfield]

There are a few of us here. TGO David is a new ham this year.

You really don't need the class, but it won't hurt. Another way is to find out when the local club does testing sessions and buy the Gordon West licensing guide for the Technician class license. Read the guide and take practice tests online and you should be ready to take the exam within a month. You don't have to take the class to take the test.

W5YI : Products Catalog

I'm gonna bake a ham for Christmas (the pig meat kind), so yes, I'm thinking of ham.

Edited December 9, 2010 by enfield

[bubbadavis]

I've been a Tech since the early 90s. I never upgrade mainly due to being too lazy to learn morse code. Since they eliminated the requirement, I've been too lazy to upgrade. Maybe I should read a book this winter and take the General test...

[Guest uofmeet]

Extra Class Ham here. And I also help administer the testing for my local club and whoever needs/ask in my area(Memphis).

The delta Club, Delta Amateur Radio Club Home Page which I am a member of does testing the second Tuesday of each month, except in December. They all also a variety of class throughout the year from the Technician License through the Extra Class License. So if you are in the Memphis area, you can go through a class and anyone interested and doesn't want to go through the class, I would be more than happy to help you. I have helped my wife get her tech and general. We are going to work on her extra one of these days.

[Ropin4gold]

Extra Class here. Used to run with the Maury Amateur Radio Club in Columbia but haven't been active the last couple of years.

A good bunch of guys, and they do testing also.

www.w4ggm.org

[Photoguy67]

I am a ham also. ke4pjr here. General operator.

[jcj]

KF4VYB here. I don't have a rig at the moment since my HT broke, but still part of the "club" since the late 90s.

Go for it. Fun hobby! You'll talk to some interesting and intelligent folks on the radio.

[Guest uofmeet]

KF4VYB here. I don't have a rig at the moment since my HT broke, but still part of the "club" since the late 90s.

Go for it. Fun hobby! You'll talk to some interesting and intelligent folks on the radio.

no excuse, you can get a good dual bander here Mid-South Amateur Radio Supply - Home for bout 130

[Guest uofmeet]

www.w4ggm.org

had to look at that twice, i know a w4gmm.......

[JPS]

I am interested in getting involved with this, but I couldn't decipher the 'geek speak' online or in a catalog to figure out what I'd need and how much a basic rig would cost me.. Can anyone recommend a good starter setup? Would a class teach that kind of info?

[bubbadavis]

I'd suggest finding a ham club near you. Most hams will be more than happy to give you some guidance on a rig, etc. They also can show you some hardware so you can get a better idea of what you want/need. Basically, whatever you plan on doing will drive what type of equipment you need. The geek speak comes in, in part, due to all the options you have with ham radio.

[Guest Letereat!]

- .... ./--.- ..- .. -.-. -.-/-... .-. --- .-- -./..-. --- -..-/.--- ..- -- .--. . -../--- ...- . .-/- .... ./.--. .- --.. -.--/-.. --- --.

Translation anyone?

[creeky]

A friend who has his license let me borrow his book. Been reading it off and on. Seems like

something always comes up lately and I'll have to start over reading it again. LOL!

I'm interested in it as well. If I can just make some more time to get back to reading and studying for it.

I've talke dto some guys at wecares.org at the last field day. Great group of guys.

[jcj]

no excuse, you can get a good dual bander here Mid-South Amateur Radio Supply - Home for bout 130

Not to hijack the thread, but are you referring to the "Wouxun" brand? I've seen those advertised on EBay before, but I wasn't sure if they were worth the (minimal) cost. If they're of decent quality that is certainly a deal.

[Guest CJK]

KI4RHR here. Rig is currently boxed up from a recent move to Chattanooga, but hopefully will be back on the air soon.

[Guest Letereat!]

The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.

[bigwakes]

I was a singars operator in the TN Guard. I have always wanted to get a Ham lisence, but too lazy to study. I just checked my calender and i would miss 3 weeks of class. I'll have to wait for another one.

[Guest DefensiveGuy]

Ham Op since 1978. Extra since 1987. Done all sorts of modes and power levels but primary interest now is small to very small low power hf radio (survival radio) and yes its allot of fun and a large group around the world that does this. Most refer to it as QRP and much of it is CW (morse code).

[monkeylizard]

Translation anyone?

All your base are belong to us!

Like JPS, it's something I've been interetsed in, but have no idea what kind of costs there are to get started. I understand it depends on "what you want to do", but surely there's a beginner range of costs. Are we talking $200? $1500? The price of a small house?

Edited December 17, 2010 by monkeylizard

[Guest uofmeet]

Not to hijack the thread, but are you referring to the "Wouxun" brand? I've seen those advertised on EBay before, but I wasn't sure if they were worth the (minimal) cost. If they're of decent quality that is certainly a deal.

Yup, that is the one. I purchased one a couple weeks ago and so far i am very please with it. I got the 2m/220 one cause there actually is some on that band around here. I got it cause i misplaced my Yeasu. And although i don't like it as much, it is a great little radio for a good price. Receive and tranmist with good audio. Just buy the programming cable if you get it.

[Guest uofmeet]

Like JPS, it's something I've been interetsed in, but have no idea what kind of costs there are to get started. I understand it depends on "what you want to do", but surely there's a beginner range of costs. Are we talking $200? $1500? The price of a small house?

Ok. Here we go.....first...

Tech is the first license you can get. With that you get 6m and up. So the far right column. Now just to get started, Almost everyone needs a 2 meter(144-148MHz) radio since i beleive it is probably one of the most active bands for Techs, and all ham. Which you can pay as little as 130 and up plus antenna depending on mobile, hand held, etc.

Now in the 2 meter band, you can also do a couple different mods. FM, SSB(single side band) and various digital modes. And you can pretty much do most digital modes and FM with any basic 2 meter mobile radio. Now, you can also get a 2 meter/440 radio (440, or 73cm band would be from about 430-450MHz) and there is not to much more action going on above that unless you really want to get into it. I would suggest not worry about anything above 440 until you get into the hobby and decide if you like that.

Now lets move on to general.

Which almost includes everything on the above picture with the exceptions stated within. Now, with a general is where you can do the HF and talk around the world privileges which also gets more expensive, but fun and interesting, Which also means more money......

If you wanted to do 10 meters and below, the type of radio mentioned above will not do the trick. Different bands can mean different radio. The good thing about HF though is that the whole spectrum is between 1.8MHz and 30MHz which means they put pretty much put every HF band in one radio. And then some sometimes. Which they can start out from around 600 and up new. But with general, you may also need an antenna tuner, but not always....You can get an antenna that will work on certain bands without a tuner. I would suggest you could get a decent radio/and tuner for somewhere between 700-1000(minimal) and always make your own antenna for HF.

Extra Class

All of the above with no restrictions.

now, but once you get into the hobby, there are so many areas you can get into. some poeople hardly do any VHF/UHF and do all HF, there are some people that don't do HF and do only VHF/UHF.

Me for example, I do a little bit of everything as far as analog stuff goes.

I had a HF setup and VHF/UHF setup. Which doesn't always mean more radios. These days they have all band all mode radios which is basically HF/VHF/UHF all in one radio starting around 700-800 price range an up.

Hope this helps a little. And if anyone wants to go into more detail with me, Just shoot me a PM and we can exchange number and have a detail phone call of if you are in the memphis area we can meet up and even show you my poor excuse of a ham radio room.

Edited December 17, 2010 by uofmeet

[monkeylizard]

Thanks. That's very helpful.