New Ham

[Destro]

I just passed my HAM Technician test!!! Now I just wait for my call sign.

[marcspaz]

1 minute ago, Destro said:

I just passed my HAM Technician test!!! Now I just wait for my call sign.

Congratulations! Its always fun to expand the tool kit and have a good excuse to get new toys.

[Destro]

29 minutes ago, HamsterDancer said:

No one will ever love you. Just drink drano. 

Does Liquid Plumber work? That's all I have at home.

[Destro]

28 minutes ago, marcspaz said:

Congratulations! Its always fun to expand the tool kit and have a good excuse to get new toys.

I really don't need new toys, my mobile and HT's are all unlocked. I have been thinking about getting the Comet 2x4SRNMO antenna, but for now my MXT-A26 will work fine.

My main reason for wanting my HAM license is mainly for search and rescue. I am on the local SAR team, plus I go camping, hiking, fishing, off roading a lot in the mountains here in Southern Colorado. So I am very often out of cell range. I just wanted an extra tool in case of emergency. There are hardly any GMRS repeaters in my area, but several HAM repeaters.

[SteveShannon]

37 minutes ago, Destro said:

I just passed my HAM Technician test!!! Now I just wait for my call sign.

Congratulations!  

[Destro]

Just now, HamsterDancer said:

I hope you get raped! 

Damn, that escalated quickly.

[SteveShannon]

Just now, Destro said:

Damn, that escalated quickly.

I added him to my ignore list so I don’t see his posts anymore.  It’s worth it. 

[RoadApple]

51 minutes ago, Destro said:

I just passed my HAM Technician test!!! Now I just wait for my call sign.

Congratulations!

[RoadApple]

10 minutes ago, SteveShannon said:

I added him to my ignore list so I don’t see his posts anymore.  

Me Too!  

[WRUU653]

2 hours ago, Destro said:

I just passed my HAM Technician test!!! Now I just wait for my call sign.

Congratulations!

[WRXB215]

@Destro Congratulations! 

[WRYZ926]

3 hours ago, SteveShannon said:

I added him to my ignore list so I don’t see his posts anymore.  It’s worth it. 

Either his reply got deleted or maybe he was banned. I don't see his reply.

 

Destro, congratulations on getting your technician license. Now you know it won't be long before you start studying for the general which will open up the HF bands to you.

[Destro]

1 hour ago, WRYZ926 said:

Destro, congratulations on getting your technician license. Now you know it won't be long before you start studying for the general which will open up the HF bands to you.

I really don't have any desire to get the higher licenses. Like I said before, I will mostly use this as a tool to assist with SAR, and in emergency situations. I'm not really interested in talking to anonymous men across the country.

[WRYZ926]

There are other uses for HF than just talking to anonymous men across the country. You can use VHF and HF with Winlink to send emails. And Winlink is commonly used by emergency management agencies during natural disasters. We had a couple of club members here passing messages to people in North Carolina during Hurricane Helena recovery efforts.

[WRUU653]

4 hours ago, Destro said:

I have been thinking about getting the Comet 2x4SRNMO antenna, but for now my MXT-A26 will work fine.

If you’re thinking of using anything in the 2m band I would recommend the Comet antenna you are looking at, that’s a good antenna and the MXT-A26 while good for gmrs and some 70cm will have horrible SWR in the 2m bands.

[WRYZ926]

I have a couple of Comet 2x4SR antennas. They work well for 2m, MURS, 70cm, and GMRS. SWR is below 2.0 on the 1.25m/220 MHz band too. Though I have not tried using the 2x4SR on 1.25m yet.

It is also a popular antenna for EMS and public safety volunteers as it works well for them.

[Destro]

4 minutes ago, WRUU653 said:

If you’re thinking of using anything in the 2m band I would recommend the Comet antenna you are looking at, that’s a good antenna and the MXT-A26 while good for gmrs and some 70cm will have horrible SWR in the 2m bands.

Right now, I'm just using GMRS, and listening to MURS and 70cm mostly. But there are some 2m repeaters in my area. So I will probably will switch to the Comet.

[Destro]

7 minutes ago, WRYZ926 said:

There are other uses for HF than just talking to anonymous men across the country. You can use VHF and HF with Winlink to send emails. And Winlink is commonly used by emergency management agencies during natural disasters. We had a couple of club members here passing messages to people in North Carolina during Hurricane Helena recovery efforts.

I get that, but for my immediate needs, the Tech license is fine. And really, one of the main reasons I got my license, is there aren't really any GMRS repeaters in my area. But there are enough HAM ones to cover pretty much everywhere around here.

For the most part GMRS would work perfectly fine for me, if it weren't for lack of coverage in my area.

[WRYZ926]

There's nothing wrong with staying at technician either. I know some that never upgraded from the old Novice license as they never use HF at all. I threw out the options with General incase you are interested.

It never hurts to have more communication tools in the tool box.

[WRUE951]

congradulations. Don't stop..  

[marcspaz]

2 hours ago, Destro said:

I really don't have any desire to get the higher licenses. Like I said before, I will mostly use this as a tool to assist with SAR, and in emergency situations. I'm not really interested in talking to anonymous men across the country.

 

I held my Technician license for almost 18 years before I upgraded, for the exact same reasons. I was near exclusively conducting local EMCOMM VHF and UHF support. I upgraded to my General just before COVID hit, mostly out of boredom in my personal time and to encourage/support my son and a friend who we're interested in getting their licenses at the time. We put a study group together and all tested at the same time. 

 

I guess that was a long-winded way of saying "I get it." LoL

[Destro]

2 hours ago, WRYZ926 said:

There are other uses for HF than just talking to anonymous men across the country. You can use VHF and HF with Winlink to send emails. And Winlink is commonly used by emergency management agencies during natural disasters. We had a couple of club members here passing messages to people in North Carolina during Hurricane Helena recovery efforts.

Another reason is, I really don't want to have to use two different radios when I can just use one. I really don't want two radios mounted in my truck.

[SteveShannon]

56 minutes ago, Destro said:

Another reason is, I really don't want to have to use two different radios when I can just use one. I really don't want two radios mounted in my truck.

There are “shack in a box” radios that include every common band from 160 meters to 70 cm. 

[WRQI663]

Congrats on the tech.......EMCOMMs are ok....most of the CERT members I knew only used the radios for local nets. There is a lot more to this hobby as I'm sure you will find out. The other tests are not that hard either compared to the 'old' days.

[WRYZ926]

14 hours ago, SteveShannon said:

There are “shack in a box” radios that include every common band from 160 meters to 70 cm. 

And you can usually do the MARS Mod to these types of radios which will open up MURS, GMRS and CB bands.

Not that I would condone using a non Part 95 certified radio on GMRS or a radio that puts out way more than 4 watts on 11m/CB or more than 2 watts on MURS