HAM Radios and Licenses

[Arkorobotics]

Originally Posted by EHaskins

Congratulations! I didn't have any problem finder a VE when I was looking to take a test. Did you contact a local HAM club to find a VE, or did you find one another way? I can't believe it would be that hard to find one.

73,
KC9JVH

I got it through my friends dad. He found some guy in L.A. and it all worked out. I didn't want to go far, but the L.A. location was the closest to my town.
Till now I still don't understand why people don't tell their frequencies that mostly use along with their callsign. Giving the callsign and asking someone to find that person would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

[DonRotolo]

Well, I might tell a friend that I'm usually monitoring the 145.19 repeater, or that i hang out around 14.070 on PSK31. There are groups of friends that chat on the same frequency every, say, Sunday at 18.00 UTC. But, most hams aren't tied down to a frequency.

That's actually the greatest advantage of an Amateur Radio license. Unlike anyone else, we can switch frequencies at a whim.

Aside from monitoring a local repeater, or some 'usual' band and mode you like to operate, only when you are scheduling a specific contact would you bother to give out details - for example, If I want my friend DF9IC to meet me on 7.150 MHz at 23.00 UTC.

It's not like a cell phone, it's more like meeting someone in person. They might find you at home, at school, at the mall - so if someone was looking for you, unless you set up a schedule, they might never find you.

By the way: If you want it to be more like a cell phone, try the D-STAR system. Interconnected digital voice repeaters know where you can be found, and route calls to you automagically. Google it.

Oh yes - Congratulations.

73,
Don N2IRZ

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Ara,
I should have mentioned that if you would have a radio and would like to set up a time to practice your on air skills (an HF radio not VHF/UHF) we could do that. I know I had a hard time getting on the air the first time. The sunspot cycle is really low now so it's still pretty hard to set stuff up but we could give it a try. 20 meters is open some days and even 18 meters does a nice job since it isn't very crowded yet. When the sun cooperates, 10 and 15 both are great bands from my QTH to California.