Reality Check

What is Amateur Radio?

Amateur Radio, also known as Ham Radio and has been around for a very long time, since the early 1900s.  Throughout the years, Amateurs have contributed greatly to the science of radio helping even today with satellite systems, methods of digital transmission, as well as facsimile, teletype and even with the internet.  The modern internet is directly related to Amateur Radio in many, many ways.

To become a ham in the US (and most other countries) you need simply to understand some basic technical information, be able to receive Morse Code at five words per minute and demonstrate these abilities through taking some simple tests.

http://www.arrl.org/hamradio.html - Start here.

In the US there are currently three classes of licenses now. According to the material I pulled from the site URL I gave you above, it says that technician classes do not require a code test, but I seem to recall that all three license classes had a code 5 words-per-minute code requirement. Perhaps they eliminated it and I missed it.

Why do you need a license?

The radio frequency spectrum is a natural resource.  Even though you can’t really "use it up" like you can coal or oil, you can fill it up easily with signals, and if these signals are not regulated as to who can use what, and when, then the entire spectrum would be filled with a lot of noise that no one could decipher.  Thus the "Amateur radio service" was born.  There was another reason behind it, back in the day… the Federal Communications Commission also wanted to make sure there were some trained radio operators to backfill positions in case of a national emergency.

Amateurs have done this, and more throughout the years.  Many of us have spent time behind a microphone passing message traffic, or using morse code to get a health and welfare message across the country to someone’s family who might have been affected by a natural disaster.  Amateurs were active during every major hurricane of this century that has hit the US Mainland. They were active during the 9/11 attacks, wild fires throughout the country and during blizzards and floods in the recent past as well as the distant past. 

If the frequencies we use weren’t protected by the FCC and other countries’ equavalents then we as hams would have not been able to pass such message traffic, or direct authories to locations where they were needed.

Types of Licenses:

Technician:

Hams enter the hobby as Technicians by passing a 35-question multiple-choice examination. No Morse code test is required. The exam covers basic regulations, operating practices, and electronics theory, with a focus on VHF and UHF applications.

Technician Class operators are authorized to use all amateur VHF and UHF frequencies (all frequencies above 50 MHz). Technicians who pass a 5 WPM Morse code examination are entitled to limited power outputs on certain HF frequencies. "Technicians with HF" may operate on the 80, 40, and 15 meter bands using CW, and on the 10 meter band using CW, voice, and digital modes.

General:
The General Class is a giant step up in operating privileges. The high-power HF privileges granted to General licensees allow for cross-country and worldwide communication. Some people prefer to earn the General Class license as their first ticket, so they may operate on HF right away.

Technicians may upgrade to General Class by passing a 5 WPM Morse code test and a 35-question multiple-choice examination. The written exam covers intermediate regulations, operating practices, and electronics theory, with a focus on HF applications.

In addition to the Technician privileges, General Class operators are authorized to operate on any frequency in the 160, 30, 17, 12, and 10 meter bands. They may also use significant segments of the 80, 40, 20, and 15 meter bands.

Amateur Extra:
The HF bands can be awfully crowded, particularly at the top of the solar cycle. Once one earns HF privileges, one may quickly yearn for more room. The Extra Class license is the answer.

General licensees may upgrade to Extra Class by passing a 50-question multiple-choice examination. No further Morse code test is required. In addition to some of the more obscure regulations, the test covers specialized operating practices, advanced electronics theory, and radio equipment design. Frankly, the test is very difficult, but others have passed it, and you can too.

Extra Class licensees are authorized to operate on all frequencies allocated to the Amateur Service.

I’m going to give you some more links here.

Go to this one for books:
http://www.arrl.org/catalog/lm/

This is set up in "three steps" to take you through each license class, learn code, etc. These are the manuals from the ARRL, American Radio Relay League (I’m a member) and I can highly recommend the last one for Extra class if you plan to get that far (stick to getting your tech license first though, because once you get your feet wet and you’re licensed there are thouands of Hams most likely close by you that can assist you with upgrading your licenses).

Alright. That said…

Here’s a "practice test" you can try. Go to this site: http://www.qrz.com/p/testing.pl

Chose "Technician" and begin answering questions. If you can get through the test and answer them all, you’re going to be able to do this no problem. If you aren’t sure, or don’t pass the test, no biggy, get yourself a Q&A book from the links provided above and begin reading them.

If you run into any problems, ask the questions you have right here, and I’ll do my best to get you some data to assist you in learning the material.

In other words, I’m more than happy to answer questions RIGHT here to help you out. [Smile]

So, get started, and if necessary, I can set you up to be able to chat with me live on the internet (VOIP) to make it a bit easier.

Rick

PS ANYONE that is interested in getting their ham license, please use this thread to get started, and lets get going. We’ll get you licensed in no time.

Links for CW or Morse Code.

(CW stands for Continuous Wave, meaning, that morse code is an unmodulated carrier wave. There is no sound, and if you don’t have the proper type of receiveer, say an AM only receiver, all you will hear is a puff puff sound. If you have a receiver that has a SSB/CW setting you will be able to reinsert a carrier, which is then "beat" against the incoming signal. That slight offset by several hertz is what gives the distinctive morse code sounds).

These are things on learning, and some programs.

http://www.hello-radio.org/clublist.html
http://www.learnmorsecode.com/
http://www.arrl.org/FandES/ead/learncw/
http://www.cvil.wustl.edu/~gary/Ham/morse_learn.html
http://www.ac6v.com/morseprograms.htm
http://primera.tamu.edu/people/TAES/…aux/code1.html
http://www.mrx.com.au/
http://www.murrah.com/sm/
http://www.morsecodeonweb.homestead.com/MorseMail2.html
http://c2.com/~ward/morse/morse.html