I’m studying for an Amateur Radio Technician license. I tried this on for size a year or two ago — went downtown, took the test, flunked miserably. Lesson learned: a little bit of study can’t hurt.
I’ve licked my wounds, bought a book and will return to the fray tomorrow as one of a couple dozen testees. Maybe I’ll buy a vanity plate for the pick-up with my call sign on it. Yeah. And a rifle rack wouldn’t hurt either. And a couple of those big spotlights. And some amber flashers for the roof. And I think a winch. And a pair of big whip antennas. Oh… and maybe a radio too.
:-)
No, really… I’ve committed to memory arcane formulae like E = i * r and P = i * e and the speed of light is equal to the frequency times the bandwidth… and my keyboard doesn’t have a lambda on it… and the US is in ITU region 2, which I wonder how that made them feel at the FCC, running around with their big stadium fingers up chanting “We’re number one! We’re number one!” And the Europeans saying, “Mais non… we’re number one. You’re number two!”
I hate tests, but I welcome informed puns about testees.
There’s a book to write about HAM radio culture. I wish someone else would write it.
Been there, done that. Long long ago in a land far away. Wish I had the time and other resources to get back into it…
PaulaO at Thought Patterns is into it bigtime and even has a separate blog site for her ham activities… http://kg4vpy.com/
Ham Radio Culture Book: an outline
Chapter 1: High Frequency culture. My prostate is troubling me. How is your sciatica? The weather here is great.
Chapter 2: 2 Meters culture. Is it legal to order pizza over your autopatch?
The End.
:-)
Ralph, it looks to me like you are at that awkward age between 10 meters and 2 meters. I was hoping for the Einstein’s cat question on the test. They obviously have no sense of humor. Ahh, well. I passed it anyway. I will have my own call sign in a week or two.
Congratulations!
I have at least a dozen friends with their Extra tickets, and I’m even married to a ham (inactive). Somehow, they’ve never managed to convert me from shortwave listening. My observations on ham culture serve mainly to needle them when they try to talk to me about getting a Real Radio.
so cool, frank.
do you get one of these?
Soon! For the pick-up truck! It will take a week or two for my call sign to be assigned by the FCC, then I can order the vanity plate. And the big whip antenna. I don’t even need a radio transmitter as long as I have that antenna!
HamCon?
Are you awake already? Hope you’re sitting in the early morning sunshine with a cup of coffee.
it ain’t light yet, but it’s getting there.