Way back in the day, around 1990, when I got my ham licence, I too was but a green horn, with only about two or three years of experience running the airwaves.
Eleven meters. ... The grey band above the regular 40 channels Lower sideband is where I spent almost all my time. There were some good operators in there, and they policed it as best as they could givin' the circumstances...
But I wanted more. I wanted to move up the line where the good stuff was....the 'HF bands'. So I got the operatunity to study with a local operator, and he taught us (there were 5 of us) the basic rules and regulations...and the code @5 wpm to start.
After that I bought the books and tapes from the Radio Shack..and began studying on my own. I read the books in my easy chair, while listening to the chatter on the radio, and on the most important seat in the house as well.
I studied while at work, and I would quiz myself to make damn shure I had it right...
In the back of the book were the question pools. So I would go through and test myself, and learn the whole question pool itself, with the answers. If I didn't understand 'why' the answer was , I would go through the book, or any other means, till I found the answers and how to achieve them. For the electronics questions, and most of all, the bands I was allowed on, and the procedures I had to abide by, for my licence level I would have, and the other levels as well, I had them memorised....
What did I learn by memorising the question pool??..... I learned How to be a good operator, and what I could, and couldn't do, on the air.....and it was good!....
I may not have been able to tear apart a HF rig and put it back together, but how does that information make you a better operator? Shure it may help somebody else who is having radio trouble, but there are many others out there who can help also.
I also learned what algebra is about. Before studing I had absolutly no idea, but while studying and looking for the reason behind the answers, I had an epiphony. It was wonderful. 'Capacitive' ..and 'inductave reactance'...I had no idea what they were. Just a garble of letters and numbers in a formula. I was lost!. But I kept at it for a long time. Till it happened!! I finally understood what it meant! And the whole world opened up to me at that moment. It was cool. A natural high!....
After that I understood how to read sine waves, and how to figure things out using formulas.
Then I was ready for the test. I could answer just about any question that was on the test. So I signed up to take it.
I got one wrong on the general test. It was a stupid mistake. Like mixing up your left and right....and aced the advanced test. I didnt take the extra test...but then it came time for the code.......well thats where I blew it. I only hit the 10 wpm plateau and couldn't get my general licence...but I did get my 'Tech +' ticket!......
What good was that? Well, it gave me acess to all the high tech bands where you need the most education to operate the equipment. ie... 'sstc hstv...repeter operation...ritty. Which I thought wasn't right. And still no voice on the 'HF bands', where you didnt need to be so proficent with the equipment. Just run a basic rig...like eleven meters.
I made a few 10 meters contacts. That was the only place in the HF band I could do voice. It was a small portion at that! But eventually let it go because propagation wasn't that good there. Sunspots and all. So I went back to the sideband above channel 40. Where there were people to talk to. They were friendly, and you could carry on decent conversations....
Eventually I just stopped doing it at all. Living in the city made it worse. Transformers buzzing all around me. And always had 7-9 s-units of buzz, it was hard to get anything through.
My 10 meter rig sits out in my pole barn on a shelf collecting dust.....a Uniden TS-5010, fully dressed ..with a 200 watt amp..and an 'Antron 99' with a ground plane kit...antenna... last time I hooked it up it still worked, but that was two years ago.
formerly N8NBF.....for ID!