Any Ham Radio Operators Here
 

hello folks

just wondered if there are any ham radio people here

g6120 kf2do

KD0DQZ here...recently licensed and in the process of getting my vintage AM/SSB station set up. Need the warmth of tubes for the long Minnesota winter!

had my license for some time now but dont get on the air very often mainly 2 meters for the most part .

learned the code but really have not used it , my wife finally got her license as well

congratulations good for you its a great hobby

g6120

Hi,

K4KT here! Extra Class licensed! I am also a FCC General License with Broadcast Endorsement and SBE certified as a CSBE, CBT, and CNT! I have RF in my veins! :tresbon:

I know WA2ISE's a regular poster here, (ever visit his page? LOTS of cool stuff!) along with Jeff WB8NHV. I'm sure there's more than just a handful who frequent this site...along with possibly some who may be curious about ham radio and would like to learn more. Might even warrant setting up a separate ham radio section here in the antique/vintage radio/TV area. Hmmmmm......

K0FSJ here, occasionally on 2m in the Jeep but also have 70cm and 6m. Tech+, I am. One day will upgrade...

Not a ham, but DO have a small, meager collection of Boatanchors-Collins 51J3, R-389, 2 R-390s, R-391, 2 R-390As, R-392, Hallicrafters SX-28, S-39, S-36, SX-73, National NC-183D, NC-125, HRO50T1, Hammarlund SP-600, Scott RBO-3, 800B, Racal RA-17, Rohde & Schwarz EK-07, 2 Nems Clarke 1302B, ICOM R-7000, JRC NRD-545, and, of course, a mighty, mighty National SW-54 that throws 'em ALL into the creek...

Meager collection, eh? Sandy my man, you need to hit QRZ.com and start taking sample tests. Tech first, then General...and if you feel brave take a whack at Extra. You're the kind of person who'd fit in just fine in the ham community.

Licence expired now but was G8IVL - 40w(valves) FM @144Mhz, all home built (but not designed) including a VFO, into an 8 over 8 slot fed Yagi at 30' (and ~30' asl).

During a 'lift' made it 5 by 9 into Germany (~400 miles) - so felt quite proud of that.


John

Licensed in Canada since 1982, holder of the (now defunct) Amateur, Advanced
Amateur and Digital certificates. In other words, the approximate equivalent
of the U.S. Extra. Not too active over the past 12 years or so, but hope to get
back on HF CW someday, it's really the only part of ham radio that has ever
brought me real pleasure. I don't want to take sides in the code/no-code
debate (it's over anyway, isn't it?), but I do like code!

73 de VE2GTP

73 de WA2ISE. Got it in 1976 as an old style tech (5wpm and general written) and in 2000 upgraded to Extra (took the old advanced and extra writtens, and saved the CSCEs to cash them in on "upgrade day" April 2000. When the FCC dropped the code from 20 to 5wpm for extras. Got a used Kenwood TS440SAT and had a blast on HF (it was at the top of the sunspot cycle then).

back in 1976 the FCC was recycling 2x3 callsigns, and it turns out someone in upstate NY had my call years before I did.

I just never have cared about getting "The Ticket"-Amateur radio is a whole different ballgame than SWLing/collecting. Plus, I'm too gawdam stupid to figger out all the theory & stuff you have to have for yr license. Really, I am...

sorta
 

Kd8bdl. I have a general that I have yet to use.:thmbsp: I have to many hobbies so I decided that this one would be comprised of mostly free or really cheap equipment. So far I have a nice $10 beam for 2 meter, and two free tribands. A very heavy and old Radio Industries/Halicrafters rotor, another freeby. I also have a Hygain tr2c rotor that was free. The guy who gave me the Tr2c said he used a three wire contoller with it, it is supposed to be 8. I have no idea how he did it tho. I might be getting some nice boat anchors from the guy I got one of tribands from, then I just might be on the air!:thmbsp:

Technician
 

N9ZQA - licensed in December 1994. Played around with 2M phone and packet for a while, but really haven't been active much lately. Stuck a magmount on the car and occasionally listen to the local 2M repeaters during my commute, but don't talk much, if at all.

The WB8NHV story in a nutshell
 

WB8NHV - licensed since June 1972. I had a CW (Novice) station on the air from '72-'74, upgraded to Technician in mid-'75, then moved back to my old neighborhood and operated FM from mid-1975 until 1982, with a brief stint on six meters from May '75 until July '76. (I got the surprise of my life the first day I was on six, crystal-controlled on 50.35 MHz, when I worked WA0SDK in South Dakota--well, sorta, kinda, as I don't think he heard me. :no:) Got back on CW in mid-'82 with my old Novice setup (Heathkit DX40/VF1 transmitter and VFO, Hallicrafters SX101A receiver, and a 25-foot trap vertical) and upgraded to General three years later. Worked 49 states and a handful of foreign countries on 80-15-meter CW with several different rigs, then lost my antenna in early 1999. :no: I moved to my present QTH (location) in late 1999, so was completely off the air at least a year--getting settled in a new apartment and getting my bearings in the new location (12 miles east of my former QTH) took up most of my time.

I am now back on the air, mostly on 2-meter FM (I'm a member of the Lake County Amateur Radio Association or LCARA; have been since 1987), although I do have my HF rig, an Icom IC-725 nine-band 100-watt rig, set up in my bedroom. The radio feeds a Barker and Williamson AP-10A apartment portable antenna and is used mostly on 28.450 MHz, where the LCARA ten-meter SSB net meets at 8:30 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday of each week. The club also has a 2-meter net on its repeater, N8BC, 147.81-21 in Painesville, Ohio (30 miles east of Cleveland). The net meets each Thursday of the month (except the first, which is LCARA's meeting night) at seven p.m. Eastern time on that repeater. You do not have to be a club member to check in. If you are in the Lake County or eastern Cuyahoga County area, have a hand-held or base 2-meter rig, and are able to access the repeater, you are more than welcome to join us on the 2-meter net; likewise, if you hear the ten-meter net and have at least a Technician class license, you are welcome to check in there as well.

BTW, I am also experimenting with voice-over-IP (VoIP) using K1RFD's EchoLink software on my computer, which also allows me access to the local EchoLink node (N8PB) on 147.57 MHz using my Icom IC-T22A handheld. The node is open to all amateurs in the Lake County, Ohio area within simplex range.

73 (best of regards),

Sandy G...don't sell yourself short...you probably already know a big chunk of the basic theory needed...just don't know that you know it! I'm fairly well-grounded in the theory, but the sample tests worked well to sharpen me up on a few things. Plus...you can keep trying answers till you get it right...and the sample tests get you up to speed on rules & regs. You're an old-time ragchewer who should be on the air!

KA3WRW here. I run 2 meters using an HTX-202 from Radio Shack, it does triple duty as a handheld, mobile and base rig. I once talked to Canada on it using a rubber duck antenna putting out 1 watt while standing at the edge of Lake Erie in PA.

most people over the years were a bit gun shy because of the code but thats a hurdle you can for the most point avoid and get your ticket .

there are classes you can take to learn basic theory and at the end they will give the people a test so its fairly easy .

i remember buying a scanner and sitting back and hearing the hams on my radio and finally decided it was time to do something about it .

g6120

K3ent

Have A Radio (two) But I Have Not Been On In Years. Just Renewed My Advanced Ticket From The Late 1970's

KE4JHJ here. I was first licensed (as Tech plus) in January 1994 and upgraded to Extra class in Jan. '95.

I mainly operate 80 meters on ARES and NTS nets split almost evenly SSB and CW.

A little 2 meters to fill out the rough edges, and there you go.

73,
Dave KE4JHJ

I took the online test just for fun. The questions on the FCC regs were wild guesses, of course, but I was in the 80-90% on theory.

Maybe I should think about this...

I've been around hammers and their gear, and always thought it was interesting, but never enough to consider the test and the price of the gear...

I do have a question though I've always wondered about and never asked...

How come ham operators always seem so "proud" of their call letters... I mean, they put them on everything or tell everyone what the their letters are... Even license plates.. Is this kind of like posting your phone number or something so you can listen for when that person out there broadcasting? or is it just being proud you have the license? I never did understand what the purpose of telling everyone your call letters?

Probably a couple of reasons: put your call on your hat and other hams can put a face to the call...many hams operate mobile and a call letter license plate can result in a mobile QSO...possibly the fact that your call isn't something that's just "handed out" but something you earned may have a little to do with it. That, and the relatively small number of hams vis-a-vis the general population may have something to do with it as well. Any other guesses out there?

I got my license in 1975 but it has expired.

Call sign license plates identify the vehicle during an emergency. They are not vanity plates, they have a special DMV classification. At least that's how it was in California when I was licensed.

Some of that, but it's also a unique identifier on the 'net. My regular name is a really common generic ethnic-less white American one, there's hundreds of my name in the USA. But only one WA2ISE in the world.

Similost: Cost CAN be a factor in the ham hobby...there's transceivers on the market that'll run you about the same as a new Chevy Aveo...or entry level models from some of the same manufacturers that'll set you back a little over $500. Then there's the subject of used gear: fairly recent models from the big names like Icom, Yaesu, etc. that'll perform fine and cost 50-75% of new. (Seems some hams get afflicted with "upgradeitis" too!) The vintage route can run both ways...you can buy a good used car for the price of a mint set of Collins "S" line gear...or you can find lesser-known pieces for relatively small money. Here's my example:
The vintage SSB station I'll be setting up (National 200 transceiver & power supply) has set me back $175...I'll need to get a manual. so there's another $25 or so. Antenna? I'll be erecting a G5RV...a wideband dipole named after the British ham who helped popularize it. I could homebrew...but a factory-built antenna is only $45. Oh...I need an antenna tuner, too...to get an optimum match between transceiver and antenna. Since I won't be running a kilowatt (yet!), I'm trying to pick one up used for about $100. If I have to go new, then make it $150 or so. So...complete ham station for around $400.
The vintage AM station is a different story:
Knight-Kit T-60 transmitter. $49.95 in hard-earned, honest-to-gosh 1965 paper route dollars. The problem? To use it I'll need either a 1) VFO, to alllow operation on a variety of frequencies...and a Knight-Kit VFO to match the T-60 seems to be a rare bird. or 2) a bunch of crystals...particularly those on the frequencies set aside by convention for AM operation. Rare birds as well. The receiver? 1947 vintage RME-45. $25 garage sale find that'll perform well with a recap. so, the AM station will probably be a little tougher to set up than the vintage SSB rig. But, just like vintage audio...the hunt is a big part of the pleasure!

KC6UJS but not active for 5 years since I got a condo.

How? Most people outside ham radio don't know the difference between amateur radio and CB, let alone what they are looking at when they see "WB8XYZ" (for example) on an automobile license plate. They probably do think it's some kind of vanity plate, made up by someone on the spur of the moment. The fact that these plates have the words "amateur radio" at the top, above the call sign, doesn't matter either, if people don't know what amateur radio is. This is one very serious problem ham radio has faced for decades, especially in the '70s when CB was so popular. I've been an amateur radio operator well over 30 years, and still people think I'm actually a CB operator when I tell them I am a ham radio operator. I heard this from someone here in my town a couple of months ago; I had to tell the person that I am in fact an amateur radio operator.

It is too bad that the two services get mixed up. If only people realized how much more organized ham radio is compared to CB, and that amateur operators must be licensed by the FCC ("government" to most people outside radio), whereas the FCC ceased issuing CB licenses in the early 1980s, not to mention the services amateur radio operators provide in times of disaster such as the California wildfires, hurricanes and the like. Citizens Band radio, on the other hand, has become a ridiculous mishmash of nonsense, noise, conversations about nearly everything imaginable, and so forth. The irony of this is that the frequencies now occupied by the Citizens Band (and have been since 1958) were formerly the amateur radio 11-meter band. The FCC, IMHO, should return this band to amateur radio, the sooner the better.


73,

There is still a way you can get on the air, even from a condominium. Barker and Williamson markets an "apartment portable" antenna, model AP-10A, which can be clamped onto a desk, table, even a wooden window sill. This antenna covers 40-10 meters and will handle up to 200 watts. I live in an apartment building and use an AP-10A with my Icom IC-725 100-watt nine-band rig; it works well enough for local contacts (the radio club of which I am a member has a weekly SSB net on 28.450 MHz; I've checked into the net using this antenna, with good results). I still have to find out what this antenna is made of as far as DX is concerned, but cannot use the radio on CW as the 100-watt signal trips the GFCI (ground-fault circuit interrupter) in my kitchen when I key the rig. The irony is that I can use the transceiver on SSB without tripping the GFCI; I'm still trying to figure that one out.

I also operate on 144 MHz (2 meters), almost exclusively on the local repeater (N8BC, 147.81-21). I have an Icom IC-T22A handheld for this band; I often check into my radio club's 2-meter net on the repeater I just mentioned. I also have an old (1978) Midland 13-500 FM mobile rig that I used extensively at my previous residence, on packet radio as well as standard 2-meter FM. I was also very active in traffic nets, mostly CW and FM, from my previous location, but since moving to where I live now, and since my antenna won't tune to 80 meters (the radiating element is too short), I've had to give up that aspect of ham radio, at least for now. Was also a member of ARRL until the dues got too high. I am currently a member, however, of the Lake County (Ohio) Amateur Radio Association (LCARA) and have been since 1987.

73,

I hear what you are saying. Getting confused with a CB'er was common and as you know they are polar opposites. In my community Ham operators were pretty organized and worked drills with the American Red Cross and Local law enforcement. Back then I think, before they had vanity plates, a call sign plate was pretty obvious. Now I am not sure there is even a need.

I used to love getting on 10-meters and talking to my friend in Minneapolis, full quieting on 25 watts. Then the signal would fade. Fun times for a kid.

I read a post above about a vintage AM station, I could get into that.

No Morse Code test anymore for all ham licenses
 

The FCC stopped requiring people to take and pass a Morse Code test for even the Extra class ham license a few years ago. It's all written tests, electronics theory, and radio rules.

For the General and extra they may ask questions on which HF bands would allow (via the ionosphere) world wide communications. 80 and 40 meters are similar to the AM broadcast band (nighttime long distance skywave), 20 meters more or less round the clock long distance, and 10 meters, during sunspot peaks, daytime worldwide comms, but dead at night. When the sunspots are at minimum, 10 is dead all the time.

They used to merge rules knowledge and theory into the same question, like "You have a linear amplifier, power supply provides 800V to the output tube, what's the max current you can have?". Used to be hams were allowed a max of 1000 watts of transmitter power, that combined with power=volts x amps, would get you an answer of 1.25 amps. Oh, that's an over-simplification, but back in olden days the FCC specified how to measure your transmitter power like this. As hams had access to simple meters but not fancy RF power measurement equipment. A reason for a power limit was to keep rich hams from putting up 50,000 watt flamethrowers that would make life impossible for other hams on the bands, and the neighbors. Make a level playing field.

kd4jks
Have been since the 80's

Okay...
I'll come out of the closet.
N6YCE here.
I don't do much radio anymore. Most of the stations around here are silent.
I did work HF and some digital a few years ago. Now, I only use 2m, when I go hiking, to try and talk to my wife at home. (I need to have a straight shot at the valley to do this.)
This darn audio infection has pushed most of my ham gear into boxes in the closet!
Mike

Ham I am!
 

CQ CQ CQ de N9IKL in Indianapolis.

Still have a Kenwood HF station in operation and 2 meter gear in my truck plus an HT.

As you guys indicate, things are getting quieter on the bands and I don't have time to listen as much as I used to.

And it seems that cell phone use has taken over 2 meters. I used to take my 2 meter gear on trips and talk to my wife and other local hams but I must confess that I use my cell phone for that purpose now, it's more convenient.

:lurk:

Every once and while I'm reminded how much fun you guys are having (not to mention the important aspects of it). WB0BBC tried his best to interest me in ham radio back in the early '70's but the thought of learning Morse code for a test scared the daylights out of me- I had enough problems with SCHOOL.

When CB became popular in the mid seventies I knew the difference between CB and ham. No one seemed to worry about talking on a CB without a license. I knew how much more important ham radio was.

My uncle, Alan Furnish (never knew his sign), was very much into ham in the '80's but I never thought I could, or WANTED to verbally communicate (in real time, I mean, listen to me now :D) well enough to be of any 'use'. I got more of a kick out of looking at the equipment they had- the large antennas, the radios (and the EXTRA radios and parts sitting around not being used) and the logs that were kept indicating communication with far away places.

dciurej said that "things are getting quieter on the bands". Is this due to all the 'extras' we have going on today (more TV, games, entertainment, cell phones, the internet, etc.) or to other factors inherent in ham itself?

noticed there are are few hams here who let thier ticket expire and thats a shame but there is a grace period after experation where you still can renew your licence even once its expired .


today you can do that right on line and its very easy

g6120

I was into CB/Ham in the early 70's. Had a Palomar 300W linear with a 5 element beam for CB, talked kinda far with that. Bought an Allied AX-190 (still have it somewhere) but never got a transmitter/license.

My callsign is kf4tei. I have been licensed since July 1997. I do not get on as much as I used to. I also used to go to some of the hamfests around Georgia.

The problem I also have w/the ham community around here, anyway, is that they ALL seem to be 144MhZ guys who know little & care less about HF/AM...I tell 'em about my Boatanchors, & they just kinda look at me like I just got off the Turnip Boat. Their little Keneasucom radios look like glorified garage door openers, NOT proper radios like Arthur Collins intended...

HA. That is pretty good, Sandy.