Totally different experience than I had as a fourteen year old back in the sixties. I learned Morse code and theory on my own. Back then the novice license was only available through volunteer examiners. Now all licenses are taken with volunteer examiners. After passing I built my radio and launched my antenna which was a vertical. I was limited solely to code and low power but quickly had contact with hams around the world.
Then to upgrade my license I had to have my dad drive me down to the FCC office in Detroit where I had an appointment. I still remember the glass lined room where I took the code test had a bit of an echo which made copying the code a little difficult but I passed the first time. My Dad treated me to a corned beef sandwich at the legendary Lefkowski's at Eastern market. Then I upgraded both my radio and launched a tower and a yagi. Did it all before I had a drivers license.
Started a ham club at my high school which a half century later I am proud to report is still going strong.
Loved this bit of personal history! And great the the club is still going. But... surely a ham sandwich would have suited the occasion?
Edit: Just realized it may have been a Jewish deli which would clearly have precluded that option!
I think he means Lefkofsky’s, and if so, yeah, Jewish deli. They got bought out about 20 years ago.
Amazing! Thanks for sharing the your story.
In the early 2000's my dad drove me a few hours up to St. Louis for my technician test. I had been listening to the hams on some tube receivers that my dad had and was studying the ARRL books. When I realized that I had grokked the content. I thought why not go for the test. We drove to the city. I took the technician exam and passed. After the test, I promptly went home to make a j-pole that we put on top of our tv antenna tower and connected to a handheld 2m radio my dad had. I was able to hit local repeaters and chat with local hams, but sadly never committed to Morse code and never got advanced licenses. So my communications stayed local.
My grandpa was really delighted that I got my license -- he was thrilled about having 3 generations of hams in the family. Unfortunately, at the time, he was pretty old and had taken down his station so we didn't get to talk over the waves.
These days I bring my baofeng out and my 7yo daughter and I will listen in on some conversations. She'll ask about where they're from and how we can hear them. I really delight in the questions.
It's frustrating how a cheap VHF handheld is often recommended as a "first radio". What you can do with one is quite limited, and for most practical purposes you'll be tethered to a repeater.
I would always recommend a cheap, probably second hand, desktop HF radio to start with. You will be forced to learn how to make a simple antenna, how to cope with impedance matching, and in the process of using it you will learn about HF propagation, and the reward is that you get to communicate across the world, not just across your town. It's a much better, and much more educational place to start.
I'm not sure that is a bad first radio. When I got my Technician license, repeaters were more or less what were available to me anyway. I got a hand-held and non-hand-held but ended up using the hand-held more often as it was always with me.
People get into ham radio for different reasons — not always for technical reasons. And then people's interest in a hobby can change over time as well — perhaps they begin to get long-distance curious.
Think of the cheap Baofeng as the little hit that keeps you coming back for more.
At least, that's what it was for me. Then I got a used Yaesu FT-817 and used that as motivation to get my general.
I now have GMRS as well, which is one of those hidden gems I wish more people in the public at large knew about.
> I now have GMRS as well, which is one of those hidden gems I wish more people in the public at large knew about.
Given how many of the GMRS enthusiasts are just itching to turn it into the zoo that is CB, I kinda wish the public would continue not caring about it.
The problem with second hand HF rigs is the uncertainty of supply and not knowing what rig is good and what is not. And even a cheap used rig can be 10 - 30 times the cost of an entry level handheld radio.
And then you buy a power supply for the HF rig for another five baofengs worth.
And realize that the technicians license only allows voice on 10m.
Handheld VHFs are much easier to setup, and you can fidget with one even before the license, given that you don't actually transmit anything, just listen. Not everyone has the space or time to setup a desktop and antenna themselves.
In that case, the best experience in my opinion is to DIY one of the simplest radio receiver, that is, a super-regenerative or similar one that could be built off a single transistor/jfet and a high impedance headphone. Or, to make things cleaner, a couple transistors where 1st one acts as antenna preamplifier (and -very important- to prevent the other transistor oscillations to be radiated by the antenna). It's a very simple project that can be built on a breadboard in an afternoon, encourages experimenting and teaches a lot in the process.
Just 1 or 2 transistors you say? Link to a circuit diagram (or even an ASCII art reply) greatly appreciated - sounds like a fun way to spend an afternoon or an evening.
Then I question why they would get a license at all.
Becoming a part of ARES (Amateur Radio Emergency Service) might be a valid reason.
It might be but I strongly doubt it. Such a thing wouldn't be top of mind for anyone unless they had direct experience with it.
If you want to start with HF I suggest to buy a USDX/(tr)USDX. It's cheap (around 150€), portable, cover many bands and easy to operate. Some versions had also the integrated SWR meter and integrated battery. And with a simple cable you can interface with a PC for digital mode.
Much different than the self study route I chose back in the early '80s. 41 years ago next month I worked up enough courage to call one of the local radio amateurs and scheduling the Novice license exam with him which he was glad to do. Of course, I had some trepidation as I didn't want to inconvenience him but I quickly got over that as most hams are more than willing to assist the newcomer.
The way new hams enter and interact with the rest of the amateur radio world has changed dramatically over that time span. It saddens me a bit each time I read that someone received the "get off my lawn" impression from their first contacts in the hobby. Hopefully such instances are rare and the result of miscommunication/misunderstanding rather than ill intent from either party.
I helped a friend do the novice exam, which is really quite easy these days and even permits the use of some HF bands (which I've personally never even have used with my full license from the 90s - I live in a city apartment and simply don't have the space for the required antennas)
I can really recommend doing it. If you have some knowledge about electronics and some affinity for it, it's pretty easy. You'll need to study some of the regulations and stuff but it's very doable.
When I did mine in the 90s the exams were still pretty hard but even then I studied for a day and passed. Of course having all my existing knowledge of electronics and 5 years of CB experience did help a lot. But overall i just coasted through it. People worry about it too much I think.
> I live in a city apartment and simply don't have the space for the required antennas
I used to load the gutters around my apartment as an antenna, I once even loaded up the box spring in the bedroom, then I got a MFJ isoloop also back in my apartment days. There are ways to get on HF. They might not be ideal, but when you do make that contact it sure is sweet.
Please don't do this. Do not send power into a device not designed for it, especially one where you cannot always control who might come into contact with it. 50 Watts is all your need to cause a burn.
The novice exam (in the USA) should be passable or nearly passable to anyone who has basic knowledge of electronics and some radio theory.
Studying for a weekend from one of the books was all I needed to get ... a step or two up even, since morse code wasn't needed.
Is a magnetic loop antenna not practical for HF operation? I’ve never tried it myself, but as someone who is also a little space constrained, that’s what I had my hopes pinned on for HF receiving with limited space.
It's possible but the problem is I'm on the 1st floor of a 5 story building in a dense European city center, and all the buildings around me are of similar height. Meaning that the signal will basically be absorbed by the buildings around me (best case) and/or the neighbours' electronic equipment (worst case :) ). There's just no way to get a decent signal out from here. The distance to the next buildings is also way shorter than 1 wavelength on HF, the street out front is only 1 lane wide with a tiny footpath (European city...). So the gap isn't even wide enough. It just won't get out and will probably cause a hell of a lot of interference problems.
Since I don't have any HF equipment I didn't deem it wise investing in some for this reason. I do have a receiver but the inbound signal is also really meh.
With 2m/70cm I have better luck because the repeater is nearby on a tall mountain and the wavelength is short enough to be able to bounce around and get out.
I did it in the UK mostly for the hardware / legal transmit permissions on some experimental bands for my SDR.
There are repeaters most places, though chatting on them didn't really interest me much. Check out echolink (available as a smartphone app) after getting your license if that does though - there is no special hardware needed and you can speak with people on repeaters all over the world if you want to.
cheers for the echolink, I had no idea about it.
In Italy, if you have a degree in Telecommunication or electronical engineer you just need to pass a reduced version of the exam covering only transmitting rules and not electronic/RF topics. I did that online few years ago, it was very easy.
I joined this hobby recently and found that most of the activity has moved to digital radios that use a hotspot.
OpenSpot[0] is a high-end version but there are cheaper ones, too. These products create a tiny digital network in your house and act as a router/repeater for global ham networks. The digital radio + hotspot solution gets around the short range of handheld radios and lets you talk or listen with a global audience.
Wait, so, what's the point?
If you're reducing the whole HAM part to nothing more than a fancy Bluetooth handset, why not just jump into a regular Discord / Teamspeak / Ventrilo / Mumble voice server? Why bother going through all the trouble of getting a license and learning about radio when you're not actually going to do any of the radio stuff?
I thought the hobby was all about building experimental radios and trying to communicate with people as far away as possible - with a bunch of emergency comms LARPing on the side.
That's definitely an argument within the community. Radio underlies a lot of modern tech like satellites, Bluetooth, and cellphones which are all just implementations of the same stuff you learn getting your ham license.
The primary goal of folks learning radio tech (via ham) today cannot be just talking to folks far away because, as you said, that's a solved problem. When you do get on these digital channels you find most of the conversation is about how you did it -- or ensuring that it worked. In other words, folks are using these technologies for exactly what you said -- learning about the radio side of it.
Just FYI, the hotspots use digital radio to communicate with your digital radio and Wi-Fi to communicate with internet servers, so they are radio devices, too.
I get this argument from some ppl and here's my response: ham people are those who have the patience and taken the time to learn and follow a set of rules and physics. They are generally more responsible then internet randos. To an extent, ham radio is like early internet which required will and effort to piece together. It had a value and a meaning so you didn't squandor it.
If you're feeling particularly ambitious you can write all three exams (Technician, General, Extra) in one sitting, an additional benefit being that you only have to pay one application/exam fee. It's not a particularly arduous undertaking, especially if you've taken some previous courses in electronics.
I did this back in 2005 or so: code was still required, and I just barely passed it- by one punctuation mark they said. Then I took all the written tests. The technical parts are easy if you're an EE. It felt weird having an extra class with no operating experience.
General is only a little additional material on top of technician so getting both is an easy newcomer goal. Extra is quite a lot more though, at least if you're truly new to it. Yeah if you have an electronics background it's probably fine but even on HN most people don't.
I got my license from US, the questions are randomly selected from a pool of public questions, so with enough time and Anki, you can easily pass the test. It might feel like cheating for some, but I found out I can remember a lot of information from learning this way, but I am an EE so your mileage may vary.
The trick is to only learn the question and correct answer, do not look at the wrong options when memorizing.
The article mention you can use a calculator, you can but the math does not really require it most of the time. I don’t remember using it.
I have fallen in love with ham radio the past few years. I got my technician license about 15 years ago and didn't really do much. I went to a local ham meetup and honestly, they were all kind of abrasive and lame. Most were old and came off as gatekeeping. I putzed around local repeaters and took my 2m/70cm handheld around with me when I went on vacation and hit local repeaters on my trips. Met some nicer people, but it was all very different to me. I grew up with online chatrooms and AIM and so the idea of speaking with strangers, like with my voice, made me feel kind of uncomfortable (and still does!).
Anyway, fast forward to the pandemic and I found myself thinking about radios again. I decided to study for my General because I started learning about over-horizon radio and how you could use HF to bounce off the ionosphere. I had some extra time so I studied the pool with an app and in a few weeks took the test. Once I passed, I took to the internet and read about HF and what I needed to get started. Purchased an Icom IC-7300, an Alinco 330MVT power supply, and an hfkits EFHW build-your-own 80/40/20/(15)/10 wire antenna with 49:1 unun. I also eventually purchased an LDG Z-100A-DXE antenna tuner, a RigExpert AA-230-ZOOM, and a Moonraker AV-600 inline meter. Building my own unun and antenna made me feel like a Jedi building their own light-saber as part of the experience! lol
This is when I got hooked. Tuning into 40m at night and hearing from Boston all across the eastern seaboard, into Europe, the Caribbean, and Latin/South America was wild. Then I tuned into 20m and made SSB contacts in Europe. What an electric feeling to call out to someone and having them respond from thousands of miles away! Then I re-purposed a raspberry pi 4 and imaged DragonOS to a card and, omg, digital modes through my radio is where I spend 90% of my ham time now.
FT-8 is so much fun. I've made contacts all over. I've hit Japan, Nepal, Asiatic Russia, Brazil, Suriname, Ghana, basically every European country, basically every US state, Canada, the list goes on. I've started building new antennas basically monthly. Copper pipe J-pole was the most fun for 2m. Testing the new antennas with WSPR is a really easy way to see how it performs. There are listening stations in Antarctica and Australia and New Zealand that I can regularly hit at 1 Watt (wtf!?). So cool.
DragonOS also does ADS-B tracking and monitoring, which I'm just getting into having purchased a Tram 1410 and stuck it in my attic.
Anyway, the world of radio is just incredible. I highly recommend it for any technologist as the fun and crazy shit you can build now for cheap is remarkable. We are truly in the golden age of wireless tinkering!
73
I just wish my QTH was quieter. I have so much interference here it's not worth doing anything other than FT8 / JS8Call here.
On the other hand, the Icom7300 is totally fine used semi-portably out at a campsite. It runs on battery, and putting up a wire antenna is easy enough with a fiberglass pole. I even have a raspberry pi that hosts digital stuff (and an ipad running vnc to control it)
You should think about also getting a GMRS license (no test- except navigating the FCC website). This allows you to use 22 UHF FM talk channels, up to 50W. The license extends to all of your family members, so it's good for things like hiking in the wilderness. You can buy a self-contained repeater for it.