Getting ready to take the Technician and General tests next month. Question on Bands

[N1EXA]

Like Saying it 7.62 !

What Cartridge ?

Nah Above the 40 meter band !

Pete N1EXA

 

[N6SPP]

Some people refer to 80 meters for the lower part of the "band" where digital modes are used and 75 meters for the upper part of the band normally used for voice modes.

The formula also works in reverse. 300/80=3.75 Mhz, BTW

Now as if you are not confused enough here are two examples that should add to the confusion. Cavmedic used the example “ I worked Joe on 2 meters last night”. Technically that is incorrect. It should be “ I worked Joe on the 2 meter band last night”. 2 meters is 150Mhz which is not a frequency allocated to Amateur radio. Middle of the band would be 2.0547 Meters. For the sake of simplicity it gets rounded off to 2 meters. 10 Meters is another. 10 meters is 30 Mhz which is, again, out side of the band but is simpler than saying ten and a half meters.

I said all that to say this. There is no apparent logic to band number assignments. And some of the confusion comes from the actual frequency assignments changing over the years while the customary band names remaining constant.

Hi JHooten- Side note- I was with the 1/41st FA BN-S3, Pershing 1A in Scwaebisch Gmuend, W.Germany as a Radio-Tele Op from 1980-1982. 73, Eric n6spp-cm98

 

[jhooten]

Hi JHooten- Side note- I was with the 1/41st FA BN-S3, Pershing 1A in Scwaebisch Gmuend, W.Germany as a Radio-Tele Op from 1980-1982. 73, Eric n6spp-cm98

HHB 3/84 TRC-80 Section 76-78 and 80-82.

 

[N6SPP]

HHB 3/84 TRC-80 Section 76-78 and 80-82.

Wow! I remember the "Track-80".. We had a detachment in Gmuend.. Small world. Good to meet you. 73,n6spp

 

[majoco]

Here's a couple of pages that I have laminated and have nearby when doing band searches......

The band edge frequencies may not be quite right for you as these are/were for NZ.

 

[Hawkman]

Just an update: After cramming on a paid site (HamStudy.org) on questions they promised were the new test questions I sat down to take the test and immediately saw questions I never saw before. On top of that there were about 8 guys standing around shooting the breeze just feet from where I was taking the test. It was not very conducive to to my though processing after the stress of seeing new questions. Things were similar enough however that I passed the Technician test but with very little to spare even though I made 80's and 90's on several practice tests. I then took the General test that I did much better on. I think I missed 4 questions. I probably had some lucky guesses. They kind of encouraged me to give the Amateur Extra test a try but I declined. I would have either failed it miserably or miraculously guessed my way to passing which would have been meaningless. I doubt I will every do the Extra because I don't think there is much advantage to me over the General level.

Thanks for the support!

 

[K7MEM]

Well congratulations on passing your Tech and General tests. The number of questions that you got right or wrong, makes no difference. What matters is that you passed. They only record pass/fail. And lucky guesses still count. And, even if you failed, you can go back and try again. Sometimes they will let you try again, at the same test session.

The only thing your losing, by not passing the Extra, is some band space. So if you are operating somewhere on the HF bands, be careful of your frequency. Lots of new guys wander into the Extra band space without realizing it. And, no, just because the Advanced ticket is no longer offered, you can not use the Advanced band allocations. However, when you finally pass the Extra test, you gain the Advanced and Extra band space. This ARRL Band Chart should help you keep on track.

I got my Novice license in 1965, when I was in high school, but I didn't bother upgraded to Extra until 1999. I took the Tech and General at one VE session and then I took the Advanced and Extra written tests about 2 months later. Again, at a single VE session. All I did was read through the entire question pool, so that I was familiar with everything, and then took a few practice tests. (QRZ.com has practice tests for free). I didn't memorize the questions. If I couldn't guess the correct answer, I just looked it up to find out why. Some of the questions were pretty tricky. Of course, I also had to take the 13 and 20 WPM Morse tests, but that is none of your concern any more.

 

[Hawkman]

Well congratulations on passing your Tech and General tests. The number of questions that you got right or wrong, makes no difference. What matters is that you passed. They only record pass/fail.

Thanks! Everyone there told me the same. They said "its like binary, either on or off. Nothing else matters". I was glad to be done after those two tests. When my very first questions was one I had never seen before and I was distracted by everyone milling around me talking I was stressed that I was going to blow that test. I could have lived with getting only my Technician license but if I had walked out of there without either, I would NOT have been happy. I settled down after I passed the first one and felt pretty confident on the General. Even though there were some new questions, enough of them were just reworded or had different wrong answers and the concepts remained the same. Also the material from the General test was fresher in my old brain since I finished up the Technician material a month ago.
My next decision is on what segment of ham I want to start exploring and equipment I want to start with. Mostly I have GMRS HT's and a nice 50 watt mobile station I have not even set up yet. I do have a couple very cheap UV-5Rs that are definitely worth the few dollars I paid for them but they are mostly knock-arounds or emergency units. I have watched a couple videos on digital data that seem interesting.

 

[ladn]

My next decision is on what segment of ham I want to start exploring and equipment I want to start with.

Congratulations on passing both tests! You might want to speak to the VE's or their VEC about the nearby jabberers being a distraction during the test session.

Since you have some experience with GMRS and the UV-5Rs, you might as well start with VHF/UHF. As you probably know, the Baofengs aren't all that great, but they're certainly good enough to help you gain some familiarity with basic ham repeater operation and maybe some simplex work as well.

HF can be a lot of fun, but antennas can take up a lot of space. You might find DMR or the other digital modes interesting through either a "hot spot" or traditional repeater. The digital talk groups offer the possibility of world-wide contacts without the need for and HF antenna and rig.

 

[k6cpo]

Congratulations on passing both tests! You might want to speak to the VE's or their VEC about the nearby jabberers being a distraction during the test session.

I used to be a VE team leader and no matter how many times I told them to shut up, I couldn't keep the VEs quiet during a session. The only one I didn't have an issue with was the one that always fell asleep during a session.

 

[mmckenna]

On top of that there were about 8 guys standing around shooting the breeze just feet from where I was taking the test. It was not very conducive to to my though processing after the stress of seeing new questions.

I was at the VE session many years ago when my wife took her test. She had the same thing. The lead V.E. was a real A.H. and was really pissing people off. He treated the other people on the exam team like crap. It was hard to watch. He verbally went after one guy that only passed by one point, right in front of the whole session.

But, good for you on passing, even with the VE's acting like that. They really should know better.

 

[WQ2H]

....... Things were similar enough however that I passed the Technician test but with very little to spare even though I made 80's and 90's on several practice tests. I then took the General test that I did much better on. I think I missed 4 questions. I probably had some lucky guesses. They kind of encouraged me to give the Amateur Extra test a try but I declined.

Thanks for the support!

Congrats on the double-shot. Trust me - you'll take the extra. I'd put money on it.

I still refer to this all the time. Good luck !

73
Jim, WQ2H

 

[kd4bas]

First of all Congrats and welcome to the ham ranks. I was licensed as a Technician Plus in 1991 and when the FCC made their changes within the classes they dropped the Tech Plus to Tech. I've been taking a general class since the last part of August or so on Zoom and tested locally about 3 weeks ago and passed my general and was offered the extra. I haven't even looked at the extra except tp print off the test to read over the answers and questions, I got 20 out of 50 and didn't pass. But when this general class is over we go straight into the extra. I'm staying inj the general classes due to the fact that I read a whole lot that I didn't understand, bud I hope to.

Talk to ya on the bands.

 

[John_S]

The best advice I can offer to anyone wanting to get licensed is to get the appropriate study book...not just the Q&A books...and learn the "knowledge". I often hear licensed people asking questions that they should know the answers to...or be able to find the answers. As you spend more time on the bands and use radios more, all the band/frequency stuff will become clearer and not so much an issue. Keep one of these charts handy...