Firekite
Member
- Joined
- Apr 2, 2019
- Messages
- 471
I’ve always been a little fascinated by radio communication in general and always luster after more fortunate kids with walkie talkies when I was young, and loved stuff like Smokey and the Bandit talking to each other. Building and wheeling rock crawlers got me into CB and the mysterious voodoo of RF grounds and filters and random authoritatively stared advice that seemed more often to be wives tales than real understanding—and whatever the heck SSB meant that I never used. Getting into radar detectors and then emitters for testing and then later into scanners really ended up rekindling that latent interest. Another guy I know got his Tech license not too long ago, and when I asked him about it he was encouraging and suggested I give it a shot even though I was intimidated by the idea and puzzled about it. I’ve had a GMRS license for a couple years and a Midland micro mobile for it and a CCR, and there didn’t seem to be much point beyond caravanning or something, as it’s entirely dead on both simplex and a local(-ish) repeater or two, except on very rare occasion, and that’s when people are accomplishing a task of some sort and are really only looking for communication with each other in order to complete that task.
Well, having studied for and felt confident in my ability to handle the Tech test, I went ahead and began diving into General as well. Today I went down to a local club near me (near is relative in rural Texas), and I passed both tests! I tried my hand at the Extra test, but I already knew I had barely dipped a toe in those waters, relatively speaking, and I only got half of the questions right on that one.
The friendly and knowledgeable retiree VECs still do the old fashioned snail mail submissions, so it looks like I’ll have to wait for the week of the 19th or so before I get a callsign. And since I have zero sentimental attachment to a callsign I don’t even have yet, I already have a vanity sign I’m hoping will still be available for me to get once I’m finally in the system.
I don’t have much hands-on experience with any of this stuff, so while maybe a little goofy, I’ve found Dave Casler’s videos on YouTube (KE0OG) very helpful in putting into much more memorable and virtually tactile context all the otherwise dry and often rote stuff in the ARRL manuals. I don’t know how much I’ll ever get into DXing and so on, but I’m going to start getting more seriously into trying to get my upgrade to Extra. At least then I’ll hopefully be able to join in with the “locals” without restrictions and have a little more clue what’s going on and try to learn the actual daily practical and real-world stuff the book can’t teach. Just because I could pass the test doesn’t mean I’m confident and comfortable in the practice of it.
I’m hoping I might get a little more into the emergency management side of things, too, as there seems to be no end to tornados and hurricanes and such in Texas and surrounding states, and I never actually feel like I can do much to help anyone. If nothing else maybe one of these days I’ll be in a position to help out with search and rescue even when cell towers are down without just getting in the way.
Anyway, I’m excited and kinda proud of having made General on my first go-around and just thought I’d share. I’ll try not to be too much of an annoying and over-eager newbie. And say stuff like 73’s that I’ve never even heard once on the scanner on local VHF and UHF repeaters.
Well, actually never mind. 73!
Well, having studied for and felt confident in my ability to handle the Tech test, I went ahead and began diving into General as well. Today I went down to a local club near me (near is relative in rural Texas), and I passed both tests! I tried my hand at the Extra test, but I already knew I had barely dipped a toe in those waters, relatively speaking, and I only got half of the questions right on that one.
The friendly and knowledgeable retiree VECs still do the old fashioned snail mail submissions, so it looks like I’ll have to wait for the week of the 19th or so before I get a callsign. And since I have zero sentimental attachment to a callsign I don’t even have yet, I already have a vanity sign I’m hoping will still be available for me to get once I’m finally in the system.
I don’t have much hands-on experience with any of this stuff, so while maybe a little goofy, I’ve found Dave Casler’s videos on YouTube (KE0OG) very helpful in putting into much more memorable and virtually tactile context all the otherwise dry and often rote stuff in the ARRL manuals. I don’t know how much I’ll ever get into DXing and so on, but I’m going to start getting more seriously into trying to get my upgrade to Extra. At least then I’ll hopefully be able to join in with the “locals” without restrictions and have a little more clue what’s going on and try to learn the actual daily practical and real-world stuff the book can’t teach. Just because I could pass the test doesn’t mean I’m confident and comfortable in the practice of it.
I’m hoping I might get a little more into the emergency management side of things, too, as there seems to be no end to tornados and hurricanes and such in Texas and surrounding states, and I never actually feel like I can do much to help anyone. If nothing else maybe one of these days I’ll be in a position to help out with search and rescue even when cell towers are down without just getting in the way.
Anyway, I’m excited and kinda proud of having made General on my first go-around and just thought I’d share. I’ll try not to be too much of an annoying and over-eager newbie. And say stuff like 73’s that I’ve never even heard once on the scanner on local VHF and UHF repeaters.
Well, actually never mind. 73!
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