Wow thanks for all the replies.
Oh forgot to give you my call, KC8YHN
LDB congrats on passing, send me your call so I can add it to my mental note book.
Loose_Cannon47 you should pick it up again, the more Hams out there the better life would be.
ATeam the tests aren’t difficult and passing the code test would be a snap if you are ex-military. My father in the late 50’s was attached to NATO as a troubleshooter for the message centers in Europe and had to learn high speed Morse. He won’t admit to it, but he still can copy code.
Amateur radio is combining all the new kinds of communications, internet linking between repeaters to ARPS (GPS and weather reporting). There are even a few servers on the internet that you log onto and communicate through the internet via Morse like ham radio. There is really a lot to list.
Rollingstock 2m and 440, not bad. 220 is going away, no doubt and that is a problem for all of us. I won’t get on my soup box about it here.
I hear there is a lot of action on 440 in my area (Detroit) but I only have 2m all mode and a 6m AM rig setup right now. I haven’t heard much in the 1.2Ghz band, but I did run across a few microwave (10Ghz and 23 Ghz) people a few weeks ago. That line of sight stuff looks like it would be fun. The 6m is only setup for nostalgia next to my Drakes, it looks at home there.
I am a tech right now, no time to practice code to move up to a general. I was a collector for a long time (still am for that matter), going on 35 years. I was the guy who would buy the tube type “junk” at the swaps for $10 or $20 or stop on the side of the road to pick up a radio (that’s how I got not one but two very rare Johnson desk KWs). The funny thing is that no one appreciated quality equipment at that time, everyone wanted small cheap radios. Here is one example; I was working next to Citiphone (they made amateur radios, CBs and garage door openers) when one of the managers decided to throw out their tube radios and I heard about it. I drove away with “new in the box” early CBs and ham equipment, in all almost 50 radios and a lot of parts. He had no problem throwing them out as I had no problem loading them up, LOL.
The ham friends I made while collecting were old school hams, many were licensed when FDR was in office. They tried to help me get my ticket, but I was having too much fun collecting and doing other things. I learned a lot from all of them and I had no problems passing the test because of them.
So since I was unemployed a while ago, I made up my mind to get my ticket to rekindle the radio bug. My wife still doesn’t understand the fascination, but she is entertained with the people on the repeater I listen to. I don’t talk much, antenna problems stop me from doing a lot right now, but I will get that fixed soon.
When I went to study for my test, I was upset at the libraries I went to I found no study materials or very out of date stuff, like from 1972. I ended up buying the books and donating them after I passed the test. I just visited that library last night and looked for the books, they weren’t there. I was told that it was sold at the book sale and got the library a whole dollar each. But before I went there, I was disgusted to see ten copies of Michael Moore’s book on the shelf but nothing about amateur radio. So I have decided to give back to amateur radio and get more involved, so I am starting a project that will put up to date books about amateur radio in libraries and schools.
I don’t know if I am allowed to post any info about that project here, so I won’t to play it safe.
Like to hear more from everyone
