We tried!

A couple of my friends (KD0FIZ and KD5TCS) and I went out to an observation tower at a nearby park this past Sunday to see what we could pick up on the 2m band during the ARRL June VHF QSO party. After a couple of hours trying, we unfortunately didn’t pick up much (there were a few people that popped in, but were unintelligible for the most part).

After a while, KD5TCS went home, so before the other two of us left, we decided to give it one more try. To our surprise, someone responded. It was KD5TCS from home, about 8 miles away on simplex! Success!

The Xtal Set Society

My son is in the Cub Scouts, and I thought it would be fun to build a crystal radio for credit toward one of his badges. (I think the whole Cub Scout badge thing has gotten way out of hand since I was in the scouts, but that’s a post for another day and another blog.)

At first I thought it would be easy to find plans on the internet for a crystal radio we could build from household materials and a couple of components from Radio Shack. As I was surfing around, however, I discovered a local group called The Xtal Set Society out of Lawrence, KS, that produces several crystal radio kits that are very reasonably priced.

While I’m sure I could have put something together myself, I decided to purchase the XS 500 Basic Crystal Radio set. I just received it today and am reviewing the instructions so my son and I can take a crack at it soon.

Electronics have always been an enigma for me, and I’m not sure why. I get the basics… Ohm’s law and all that. I completely understand how the various components function. But then there’s a point where actual circuits come into play, and there’s nothing “circuitous” about them. There are wires and grounds and pieces going every which way!

My hope is that by starting out with this nice little radio set, I can gain more familiarity, and my son can start to learn, too.

VHF Field Day!

The 2009 ARRL June VHF QSO Party is coming up, and it sounds interesting. I’ve never been involved with anything like this yet, but I may just go out with a couple of friends and see what it’s like. At the very least, I’ll be listening to the air waves. You can read more about the field day here:

Join the Fun in the ARRL VHF QSO Party This Weekend

Weather!

One of the fun things about amateur radio is listening to the weather nets that activate during severe weather. A net is basically a semi-official way of handling traffic for a specific event, such as a content, some kind of public service, or during a storm. We’re under a tornado watch tonight until 11:30 pm, and I’ve been having fun listening to all of the chatter on our local emergency communication service repeater (K0ECS at 145.470).

Night Owl

At the moment, I work a second shift (I won’t be much longer), so I’m often up pretty late. I was sitting around watching TV last night, and I had my little radio scanning the channels for the heck of it, even though I knew there probably wouldn’t be any activity. One of the repeaters chimes every hour, and when 1:00 am came around, I heard the familiar sound, with a little extra I didn’t expect:

“ding-dong, one-o’clock a.m., why are you up?”

Someone has a sense of humor.

Getting Licensed

If you’re like me, you may not have had much exposure to amateur radio before deciding to get licensed. I actually had known only one other person to hold a license, and he was simply an acquaintance in high school. This guy was, however, the inspiration to get licensed. I figured that if he could do it, I could too. It took me a while, but I finally got it done.

Before I was able to test, I had a few things I had to figure out. First, I wasn’t sure what to study or how to study it. Would I need to know how to work a radio? Would there be some kind of practical exam? Once I was ready, where would I take the test? I knew that this was an FCC thing, and I’d have enough dealings with government-related stuff via the military that I had envisioned some Men In Black-looking facility where people go to obtain their license.

I started by heading down to the book store. One could just as easily go to the library to scope out the resources that may be kept there. I decided to go with Gordon West’s study guide on the Technician class license.

I should probably explain a little bit about the various licenses at this point. After all, why did I decide to study for the Technician class license? For one, it’s currently the entry-level license, and at the time, it was the only license that did not require one to pass a Morse code test (this has since changed—a Morse code test is no longer required to test to any level). There are currently two other classes that can be obtained: General, and Amateur Extra. Each one builds on the previous, and each license grants more privileges.

Privileges for what? Without getting too in-depth, the FCC has granted the use of certain frequencies to amateur operators. These are often referred to as bands. For example, when you get in the car to drive to work, you may flip on over to 96.5 The Buzz, or Q104 at 104.3. These are FM radio stations that fall within the 87.5–108.0 band designated for commercial broadcast use. Amateurs have band assignments as well, and there are subsets granted to each license. By the time you reach Amateur Extra, you can use all bands available to amateurs.

Now that I’ve cleared that up, let’s get back to studying for the test.

I spent quite a bit of time reviewing the rules, regulations, and common sense guidelines laid out in the book, until I had a decent familiarity with the kinds of things I needed to know. The interesting thing about the tests is that you’re only given a few questions from each group, or pool, of available questions on each topic. For example, there might be 30 questions in the basic electronics pool, but only 5 or so will be asked in the actual exam.

Before I went to take the exam, I spent a few days going through practice exams. There are positives and negatives to this approach. On the positive side, one can learn the material for the test very easily via a trial and error method. On the negative side, it ends up being more about memorizing the correct answers than really learning the material. In my case, I just wanted to get the test done, since I knew I’d re-learn a lot of the material as I gained practical experience (e.g. I haven’t had to calculate the resitance of a circuit since I received my license over six months ago, even though basic Ohm’s law calculations are required to answer some of the questions correctly).

My favorite practice tests were at QRZ.com. This site is a nice resource, and is commonly used for looking up call signs and information on other licensed hams. You can find their practice tests on their Ham Radio Practice Tests page. Even if you’ve never looked at the material, I recommend anyone to go there and try the tests out. You’ll be surprised how many of the FCC rules are fairly common sense, and you’ll probably pick up a few things along the way in preparation for taking your own test.

Taking the actual test was much simpler than I realized. I looked up a local amateur radio club who offered tests at a local library, and then I showed up at designated time and date for the test. There was a $15 testing fee, and after about 15 minutes, my test was complete and I was official. If you’re having trouble locating a testing location in your area, contact the ARRL on their exam session search page. The ARRL is also a good resource for all kinds of information pertaining to amateur radio, so take some time to browse around if you visit their site.

Once you have completed the test, your name will be registered with the FCC, and you’ll receive your call sign within a few business days via the good ole US Postal Service. Just keep in mind that you can’t transmit until your name appears in the FCC ULS database.

That’s a brief overview of my experience when obtaining my license. I’d be glad to answer any questions that others may have!