Any Hams?

[71 LONG BED]

Just got my Amateur Radio license last month and having a blast!! Can't wait till the thaw so I can get an antenna up and try some HF.

[robroy]

Good afternoon John!

Kasie's a HAM; she's KG6TCW.

I've been studying off and on to become a HAM for over ten years. I have the "Now You're Talking" study book that I crack open from time to time!

I always wind up deciding to focus on something else before I get far enough in to it to take the test, and I'm one of those types that cannot take the test before I'm certain I'd get 95 to 100%. And that's not necessarily a good thing, since I still don't have my license!

Did you take the Morse code exam?

Congratulations on your license John!

Robroy

[flyboy71]

W3JKO here (ex KD3HJ, ex KA3QAH). Been licensed for about 24 years. Advanced class now but I really need to upgrade to Extra. Im not as active as I used to be. Its a fun hobby so enjoy every aspect of it you can

[marxtoys]

One of the very first things I did when I moved was to send that form to FCC and get a new call.

8 years later and still haven't so much as strung up a wire for a SW receiver.

VHF is quiet around here and my brain appears impermeable to Morse code.

Haven't managed a sound card that likes Echolink... or maybe a bandwidth issue?

At least the new call isn't a complete tongue-twister like the old one....

forget 3 times fast, just try saying KD6VXC once slowly. then repeat phonetically a couple times because someone heard it wrong.

Cheers, Mark

Kilo Delta Seven Uncle Charley's Alfa

[flyboy71]

You need to get yourself a nice vanity callsign I got tired of my old one really fast and the 2x3 novice one was even worse.

Another cool thing is you might get to talk to someone famous. Ive talked to a few myself over the years. http://users.tellurian.com/gjurrens/famous_hams.html

[eggman918]

my father was a ham K6IGW,I have his gear I plan to get mine also.I would like to keep his call sign...but I bet that will not be possible

[91Bear]

KD5PEH

[flyboy71]

my father was a ham K6IGW,I have his gear I plan to get mine also.I would like to keep his call sign...but I bet that will not be possible

You might be able to obtain his callsign. I forget what the length of time after expiration is to obtain, I think 2 yrs, it but you would need to get your ticket then apply for a vanity call as K6IGW and see if it gets approved. When they started allowing vanity callsigns a few yrs back a lot of people applied to obtain a past relatives callsign or one that was thiers from years ago.

Heres a link. At the top you can do a call sign search and check the expiration dates. Its also the organization for Ham Radio (ARRL) http://www.arrl.org/

[dbarker]

I'm not a practicing ham. I tend to drag out my HT and bounce around during storm season. I do live in Tornado Country afterall.

One day I'll get out all my gear and setup a proper shack.

I am a "nocode" tech and yes I know I ruin the whole experience by not knowing code. I just can't hear it to save my life. I've tried and tried. Something usually comes up to keep me from getting any good at it.

[72Highboy]

No Ham Radio at my house but I do got a Home Base Cb that lets me talk to trucks on the other side of town. It a 50' + pole, its kinda like my back up when my cell phone battery dies, I just talk to my parents on my Cb in my truck. Its like a baby Ham radio. Plus it helps out on the highway cops, accidents, dumb drivers.

[71 LONG BED]

Good afternoon John!



Did you take the Morse code exam?



Robroy

You don't need to know code at all anymore! There are three levels now, Technition, General, and Amateur Extra. You don't need code for any. I studied 14 years ago to get my Novice no-code, but never got it. I had no monet for a VHF rig, and that's pretty much all I would have been aloud to use, that and UHF. Now I'm syudieiing for my General so I can start HFing!!

[indytexan929]

KD5TVC - Tech No Code. I married into a family of hams. And I just started my new career in a 2-way radio shop. Guess I'll be dusting off the license.

[NM5K]

Been into it since Junior High. But I didn't actually get a ticket until I was 20 on March 7, 1977.
So I clicked over 33 years yesterday.. :/
I started working CW on 40m, and works lots of CW through the years. As far as WPM, I guess
I peaked out around the late 80's, early 90's at about 55-60 wpm. I sent to a puter one time
and it said I was sending at 58 WPM.. It was actually sending that was my block vs receive.
I couldn't cleanly send much faster than 60 wpm using a keyer and paddle. The only way to go
faster was to switch to a keyboard, and I hated the idea of that.. So 55-60 wpm was my limit.
I've been gradually slowing back down every year as I work much less now.
My favorite operating these days is mobile and portable, and not so much at the house anymore.
I always run a radio when I'm up in Oklahoma sitting in the sticks. Usually 40m in the day, and
75m at night. Mostly at night though as I'm too busy messing with other stuff in the day..
My call is obvious.. It's my user name here.. Amateur Extra class of course...
And yes, my call is a vanity call. It's my initials.. My old call was WD5CJL until I think 96, or
whenever it was I changed.. Maybe it was 94.. I fergot...
I started out as a SWL when I was 7 and got my first AM radio for my birthday. I was hard
core into that SWL stuff until I got into ham radio in about 8th grade.
This is the first 40m CW transmitter I built when I was in 8th grade.. "1971"
Note the crappy portable receiver with the AM radio behind it as a BFO..
The transmitter was built on an old WW2 navy chassis and used a single 6V6..

[71 LONG BED]

Do you still have that radio NM5K? Being busy with family is going to make it hard to stay in practice with code. I really want to learn but relize I need to devote time daily and I can't really do that now. I have a 14yr old starting high school baseball, a 2 1/2 yr old that runs circles around me, and one more on the way, due in August. So, I stay busy. I have a 10m rig I am looking forward to getting on air. I made a dipole that needs to be lifted into the trees now the snow is almost gone. It would be great if we made a QSO some day. I am KC2WLO, by the way.

[NM5K]

Naw, long gone I'm afraid. The transmitter was lost during a bunch of moving around
in the late 70's. I think I ended up forgetting it, and leaving it at a place I once lived at.
Along with some other stuff..
These days I probably use my IC-706mk2g more than anything. But I still have some older
stuff. Still have a gold label TS-830 and VFO-230.. Also have some old Drake stuff.
Some is 4 line, but I've also got a 2C and 2CQ. Have an R4 that is serial #0058. One of
the first R4's built in 1965. But also have a R4C, which was one of the last 4 line receivers
built.. Also a T4XB transmitter..
But I've mostly retired the Drakes.. And even the 830 I haven't been using much. It is a real
good radio though.. I use the IC-706mk2g a lot because it works all bands HF/VHF/UHF in one
small package. I've got a FT-5100 dual bander I use here at the house to listen to the local
2m chatter, and doubles for police band listening, etc.. I opened up the receiver on it so it
receives the Public service bands. Our PD is still on 460mhz here..
The dipole will do the job on 10m. I use converted CB verticals on that band quite a bit.
I like being vertical on 10m as the local coverage is better. On skywave it won't matter too much,
but a horizontal antenna is not too good for local space wave coverage.
I use dipoles for most of the lower bands both here at the house, and I've got dipoles strung
up in the trees at my Oklahoma property. When I go up there I just set the radio up and
grab the coax that I keep coiled up on a tree branch and plug it in.
I've got a tower and tribander but I don't use em much.. The tower is in the garage and the
beam is stored away up in the attic. I've used at a few field days. I can haul the tower and
beam on a motorcycle trailer I have. I have full HF coverage with the truck mobile antenna also.
You can see the mobile antenna fairly well in the first pix.. It's homebrew.. works all bands 80-10..








Using the 706 on 75 meters up in Oklahoma..
Note the bench made from three flat rocks.. :/
I'm running off the car battery, and the dipoles that are in
the trees. Sorry about the camp mess... I cleaned it up before I left..
http://home.comcast.net/~nm5k/706.wmv