Leaderboard

Got my Tech the 19th so I know how you feel. KO4OCP

Well, today I passed my Technician and General exams for Ham license. When they told me I passed the General also, my mouth dropped open and all I could say was "WOW!" LoL I knew a few weeks ago I wanted to at least get my Technician license. And, I did order the book and got started studying for it. Along the way, I heard some folks on Facebook saying they wished they'd gone for the General too. Others said they hadn't studied for it, but were given the opportunity to take the test, and only missed by 2 or 3 questions. So, given the much increased communication privileges of the General, I decided to try to go for both of them. What a glutton for punishment! I was about 1/2 through my Technician book when I stumbled onto Ham Radio Prep and HamStudy.org. I signed up for the Technician/General package at Ham Radio Prep and started in. I found that liked working that way through the material better than the book. Also, I found the review tools at HamStudy were very good. Very helpful. It wasn't long before I was passing my Technician practice exams in the 80-90% ranges. At that point I moved on to the General studies via Ham Radio Prep. Gotta say, I was studying about as hard as I did back in my college days for a Final exam. I was even turning off the TV to really dig in!! LoL Even so, I sure didn't have the same confidence in the General material. Oh that math was messing me up. Never was that good in it, and this stuff, and their combining formulas, was making my head spin. On my first General practice exam I think I just got a 45%. Ugh! A few days later I tried again and happened to just squeeze out a 75%. "Okay, maybe this is doable." Mostly, the last couple days, I just finished the Ham Radio Prep material, and then I used the HamStudy tool to just keep reviewing, capturing my wrong answers to review the correct ones, and repeat. Actually, some of it was even making more sense to me! So, this morning when exam day came, I felt better, but I was still quite unsure of the General. Boy! I didn't figure on the stress of having 3 people watching me taking my exams! As I worked though the Technician exam I could hear myself thinking, "Take it easy. Don't mess this up. Relax. Go back and check." Ha! I passed the Technician, and it was on to the General. I knew it all depended on what group of questions I got from the pool. It could go either way. I was less sure on the General, that's certain. But, as I reviewed my answers, I thought perhaps I had a chance. I clicked that Submit button and held my breath. Shortly afterward I heard the moderator saying, "Well, you passed your General." I mean, my mouth literally dropped open, my eyes opened wide with amazement, and all I could say was "Wow! Wow! Wow!" So, looks like I'm a Ham now. My sister said, "A ham for a Ham!" LoL Oh, I just ordered a better HT too. ;-)

On the cable PCO-03 $14.99 for the Wouxun 1000G comes with a CD disk with the drivers. As a comparison the Kenwood 8180 K is a solid transceiver and the two work fine. Where the 1000 K shines is 50 watts, dual band scanning (say your group uses GMRS on the trail but the leader and the talk gunner want to be able to talk on GMRS 22 to make sure every one is making the correct turns you can set the first side to GMRS 22 and the second side to GMRS 17 and monitor both at the same time). The programing with a cable is better than the key pad but the key pad does many things on the fly. Great radio so far and the squelch actually works!

Congratulations! This from an old ham who had to pass CW (morse code) at 20 words per minute (took 3 tries). I know some of us old time hams denigrate newer hams who did't have to pass tha code. But I don't think they have looked at the new question pools. To me, they seem much harder than the old exams I took including Advanced (very heavy on the math), Extra, GROL with radar endorsement and GMDSS? So, once again congratulations. (and when a e you going for Extra?) 73, Tim

Congratulations. We must have passed and been registered on the same day. Our call signs are very close (KO4OHY)

The 5x Is a Bust. You cannot change from Narrowband to wide and Can't change DSC or CCTS codes. Theres an update for it but good lck finding it and getting it updated. I sent my 4 Back. Useless.

Going to keep this thread alive a little longer. I'm running a MXT275 and have just ordered the Midland Universal Hood and Trunk Lip Mount with NMO Connector, and 6M Cable and the MXTA26 antenna to go with it. Vehicle is a 2005 Tundra. My intention is to mount it on the passenger side hood lip across the hood from my CB antenna which is on the drivers side. I am new to GMRS so please tell me I didn't just waste money on the mount and antenna. I purchased the midland antenna because it is supposedly tuned to the MXT275 and I wouldn't need to buy an SWR meter. (A little naïve maybe) I may have the antenna mounted in the roof but frankly I'm still a little chicken to cut a hole in my roof. What should I be looking for when I mount the new Antenna?

I think 5 years from now, when GMRS has supplanted AM based CB radio, we'll look back at Midland and Jeep(Jamboree) as a catalyst for the change. It's marketing genius. Jeep enthusiasts come from varied backgrounds, and they'll end up using GMRS outside of Jeep related activities.

Laird Technologies B4505CS, been using this for a couple of yrs no complaints from HAM to T-band. was a replacement for the AS Mosaic that was stolen.

Since I don't use Zello, I was not aware that after the first 30 days one has to pay for the use of Zello. Fortunately I have no need for Zello being blessed with two wide-area repeaters in NW Indiana.

The problem I see with some of the Zello channels, be it "radio" related or not is owner/admins that spend way more time on air barking at people, asking who is xxx and who "trusted" them in. I can't even log in to Zello on my PC without 3 seconds later some admin yelling my handle wanting to know what I am doing on the channel. Well...you "trusted" me in....that's why I'm here. I really laugh at the ones that are setup as "anyone can listen" but they still get all bent when you appear online. I don't spend 10 hours a day on Zello, so no, you probably haven't talked to me. When I log on to see what's being discussed, stop acting like I'm an intruder. You let me in. In one case you emailed me a password. Today some dude went in a level 13 panic calling people trying to find out who I was and who let me on....I never had a chance to answer, so I just let him go on sounding like he thinks he is so important, if he wants to play radio cop...have fun spazing out! There is nothing that ruins human interaction, like.....human interaction!