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McRib Sandwich posted:[...] Interesting! I used to be a DJ at our University-run FM radio station (V89 at Florida State University) and the FCC rule for us was that we had to ID our station every 30 minutes. We had some interesting rules since we were a non-profit. I was curious what rules that apply to FM stations also apply to HAM radio. Rules that applied to us: -Couldn't make calls to action: "Go on down and vote!", "Buy this product!", etc. -Couldn't make "quality" judgements: "Product A is the best", "Product B is crap". (In the case of our news broadcasts - that applied to political candidates, views, etc.) -No cursing until 10PM - 6AM (The FCC called this the "Safe Zone" - but we never cursed period as a station policy) -If advertising, we could not mention prices at all -I know our actual radio engineer had to deal with this and not us DJs, but we could not transmit more than X amount of watts of power. We weren't allowed to bleed into other stations. Hopefully knowing these rules would mean that many fewer questions to worry about. As an aside, I'm curious what is "amateurish" about amateur radio? What is it called amateur? And that begs the question: What is "professional" radio? Is that FM radio run by Clear Channel or something? Dolemite fucked around with this message at 02:17 on Apr 17, 2008 |
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Apr 17, 2008 02:14
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Thanks for answering my questions all.  Now I just gotta get off my butt and study for the technician exam during the Summer. Luckily, I was messing around with my Winradio receiver when one of the network engineers at work saw me doing that. He said to swing by his office because he wants to know more about that. He's into HAM radio, so maybe I can borrow a study book off of him! P.S. My database concepts professor is a HAM license holder - he has a greybeard! I wonder if I should ask what bands he hangs out on. 
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Apr 17, 2008 13:13
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On the subject of websites with good study guides, a guy I work with pointed me to http://www.hamelmer.com I've been on-and-off reading the technician study guide and it's pretty good. I've been using it to regularly pass several of the QRZ.com practice exams. After finals week (last one is tomorrow WOOOO!) is over, I plan to really sit down with the study guide and take the tech exam. I kinda have to, not only because I really want to get licensed and play around with radio, but because the same guy at work is basically pushing me to get licensed so he can basically use me to help test out his crazy radio setups!  Now I need to get back to studying. Between this thread and the technician study guide on hamelmer, I can't sit still and study this boring database system analysis garbage for my class's final! 
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Apr 25, 2008 02:06
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Paul MaudDib posted:Be careful with the QRZ exams. On my general I got to the point where I could pass with an 90-95% (I do not know why they expect you to memorize the frequency charts; just print them off) and on the real thing I saw a bunch of questions I hadn't seen on QRZ. I ended up passing at about 80% but it was scary for a bit. Could just be random luck, but make sure you're studying off the questions directly too, occasionally. YIKES! Thanks for the heads-up on the QRZ exams! I've been using the QRZ exams exclusively as a gauge for whether or not I'm ready for the technician exam. I'll definitely have to check out the other resources in this thread for practice exams.
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Apr 25, 2008 23:29
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Sennheiser posted:http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/ This is cool! Russian guy on 7074 KHz saying stuff that I don't understand. Awesome - this is gonna make the last 30 minutes of work go by a lot faster. EDIT: I don't know the theory behind it, but you can almost make music with this thing. Tune it to CW narrow mode, then run the yellow tuning thing back and forth over 3595 KHz. As you tune over 3595, the tone ramps up and carries off into different notes. I want one of these radios just so I can make ambient/experimental music.
Dolemite fucked around with this message at 03:25 on Apr 26, 2008 |
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Apr 26, 2008 03:21
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Argh! I wish gas wasn't so expensive now a days! I've gotten to the point where I can consistently score ~95% percent on exams. Only problem is I live in a podunk town. So my options are burn valuable gas driving to neighboring podunk towns and take the exam in a week or two, or waiting until June to take the technician exam in town. Heh, my buddy at work is really trying to get me to take the exam as soon as possible since he wants to test his online radio setups with me. nmfree posted:Just in case anyone hasn't seen this, Gigaparts runs a drawing for a new transceiver pretty much continually, this month it's for a Yaesu FT-950. Aww nuts, they require you already be licensed and have a verifiable call sign to enter.
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May 1, 2008 23:23
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So I thought that the thread title was an exaggeration and that surely not every HAM person is a greybeard. Well, I'm listening to a bunch of guys on a local 2 meter repeater talk about their favorite places they liked to get beer from while they were in college - in the mid 1950s!!
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May 2, 2008 21:56
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So new plan: Since I can't take the FCC exam until June when it's administered in my town, I'm going to study for, and take the general exam since I can already pass the technician practice exams with ease. Holy crap though! The general exam is hard! There's so much electronics knowledge involved! I'm only getting 60-70% scores on the practice tests right now.
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May 8, 2008 00:22
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Ahahaha, this is awesome! A friend from work lent me two of his HAM walkie talkies - a 2meter and 70 CM one. I'm using the 2 meter one plus MultiPSK to receive packet radio. I've always been curious about what packet radio contains and now I know: the GPS co-ordinates to rednecks' trailers! (No seriously, I used Google Maps to map a set of GPS co-ordinates. Goes straight to a trailer park. )
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May 12, 2008 23:27
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blugu64 posted:You've discovered APRS, and believe it or not, it's pretty cool. This genuinely is awesome. I've been letting it run for a while and it's pretty cool to see people from all over the state reporting their locations. My local emergency operations center uses the APRS also. Pretty cool. Now I want to try to grab other data types. I'm doing this on the 2 meter walkie talkie right now. Next stop - slow scan TV.
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May 13, 2008 00:56
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blugu64 posted:If you havn't already get AWGPE setup to decode the packets and get a virtual com port setup. Then use UI-View to map out the packets as they arrive, it's pretty neat. This sounds cool, so I've been trying to get it working for the last 20 minutes. Okay, so far I think I've been setting up my virtual TNC in AWGPE correctly. I have: - The COM port set to COM2, baud rate at 9600 - TNC type set to "soundcard" - TNC sub type set to the KISS Simple default - Underneath "TNC control commands", I have the "Single port" option selected. On the TNC Commands tab, I have everything set to the default settings. Now on the UI View side (edit: using the 16-bit version of UI View, ver. 2.39): I'm in the Comms Setup menu and I'm trying to get it to use my newly created TNC. - I'm selecting the same 9600 baud rate - I'm selecting the "KISS" host mode - COM port is set to COM 2 - Stop bits, parity, data bits I left untouched. AGWPE doesn't seem to let me set nor tell me their values. When I hit the OK button, I always get an "Error occurred opening COM2" message.
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May 13, 2008 03:26
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Goon in the Mist posted:Haha, my dad and I took the test a few weeks ago. My dad's an electrical engineer, and he got his extra-class on his first try, which surprised/pissed off the crusty old hams that were running the test. http://www.echolink.org/
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May 15, 2008 18:48
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So I've been taking the practice tests on the KB0MGA.net site for the General exam and it's getting to the point where I can consistently score ~75-85% depending on the pool of questions I get asked. Now I know that the FCC exams draw from a huge pool of questions, but are there questions that almost always appear on the exam or is the entire exam random? I noticed on the KB0MGA practice exams (and on the QRZ.com practice exams) that a certain bunch of questions appear frequently. I wonder how much of that is modeled on the test versus just a bad randomization algorithm on the practice pages themselves. Luckily I have another two weeks or so to really read over the material before testing...
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May 16, 2008 02:53
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Welp, I've studied as much as I can between classes and homework assignments. I'm off to the testing center to take my Technician and General exams. Wish me luck!! 
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Jun 3, 2008 23:00
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 I passed both the technician AND general exams! I took the extra for giggles and, well, it wasn't pretty. Two columns of 25 questions each, one whole column was red from wrong answers! Oh well. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to F5 the hell out of the FCC database page! 
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Jun 4, 2008 01:48
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I've finally been issued a call sign! General KJ4EPP checking in. I bet my friend at work is gonna ambush me as soon as I come in. He has a ton of experiments he's wanted to try when I got my call. I swear he's been checking the database more often that I have. I'll have to take a pic of my "shack" when I get the chance. This thread has been a massive help! The links to the study materials helped a ton.
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Jun 9, 2008 17:27
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Epicenter posted:I had a strange idea I would like to throw out there for when I am ready to experiment with VHF. How about if we (amateur radio goons in general) were to put together the radio equivalent of GBS-TV? My idea is that it would be operated from one original video stream (with user contributed content), and use as low a frequency as possible to maximize range. Internet-based repeating, as I see it, could theoretically allow extremely widespread ability to view the broadcast. Google for "Amateur Television". Technically, you could get on a ATV repeater and transmit video that way. There's a repeater in central Florida that outputs on 427.25MHz but the input frequency is at 1280 MHz FM. So basically, you need a way to transmit on 1280 and receive on 427.25. I think transmitting could be a problem only because gigahertz transceivers can be pricey according to what I've heard. Legally, I would imagine you would be limited to like 30 seconds or something. As mentioned by previous posters, you can't broadcast. Broadcast is basically when no one else can transmit because you're tying up that frequency. It's really frowned upon in the HAM community. I know that because supposedly there's a newbie in our community that never shuts up. My "elmer" is about to tell him to STFU because he talks so much that he practically broadcasts (ties up) on the repeater.
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Jun 9, 2008 17:40
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I wonder if there's a mode that requires less bandwidth than NTSC, (but a lot more than SSTV) to strike a good balance between range and quality.
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blugu64 posted:As far as legalities go the same rules apply for ATV as for any other mode of transmission, to the best of my knowledge. Also people who both yack all the time, and quick key the repeaters suck. So does that mean that when making an ATV transmission on a repeater, you're just as limited to a few seconds of transmission out of politeness? When I win the lottery and can buy all the gear to play with ATV, I don't want to be a dick. One idea I've been toying with is buying an RC plane and placing a micro camera and micro transmitter to the plane. Then tuning in to the TV channel the transmitter transmits on and flying the plane that way. I figure if I can find a way to place an overlay on the broadcasted image that has my call sign, I'm in the clear (and of course I'd make up a little plate or something with my call to stick on the controller too). I of course would be doing this on an empty frequency and not on an ATV repeater. Also, I'm excited! I can hear my elmer when he's on simplex using a ghetto j-pole antenna! So we plan to try a bunch of SSTV, PSK, etc. on 2-meter simplex.
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Jun 10, 2008 16:01
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Man, I would set up my own repeater just to hire a professional beat-boxer do a hip hop version my repeater's call sign!
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Jun 12, 2008 01:24
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ARGH! As of right now, I think Echolink sucks! But, I'm saying this because I can't get validated! I don't have a land line, only a cell phone. I tried to validate anyways using the phone method and I can't! The validation page says that my phone number is not valid. But it IS valid! I checked my CORES page on the FCC website and there it is - my phone number! Rawwrrrr! I can't use the scan-and-upload method because I haven't gotten my paper license yet, just two letters from the FCC telling me that I'm registered in CORES. I wanna Echolink with people!
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Jun 13, 2008 21:17
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So I've finally started getting on the air and I just now checked into my first ever net! Radio rules! I tried to experiment with sending SSTV over 2 meters with a friend. He wasn't receiving my transmissions and I was wracking my brain wondering why the hell not. Turns out I kinda forgot to plug in a male-to-male cable from the sound card to the Signalink. Whoops! I need to link up with my friend again so we can try SSTV once again. Also, as promised, a pic of my "shack". In the lower right powered up is a borrowed Kenwood TM-261. To the left of that is another borrowed 2-meter radio. This one is a Radio Shack HTX-252. Oh, and in the upper right corner is my monkey lamp. This lamp is important. You need a fully working monkey lamp if you're gonna work greybeards on 2-meters. This is important!  (click for big) Dolemite fucked around with this message at 01:36 on Jun 16, 2008 |
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Jun 16, 2008 01:34
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So I for the first time, I attempted to work some DX stations thanks to my friend letting me use his HF gear! I tried to answer a Venezuelan station's CQ, but I guess he couldn't hear me. I couldn't find anything else that was in the General class bands. The bands were total poo poo today, I couldn't really pick up anything at all! When I get some cash, I totally want to get a Kenwood TS-2000 like my buddy has. That radio was sweet!
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Jun 22, 2008 06:49
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Ah, so the Field Day exercises are usually done on the extra class frequencies? Or is it that Field Day tends to attract extra class licensees? The more I think about it, the more bummed I get. I really wanted that Venezuelan station to be my first contact. I was born there, so making that contact is kind of special for me. I'll have to take over my friend's shack again some time...
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Jun 22, 2008 15:39
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So me and my friend are stumped! The local Field Day weekend is holding something called "EMCOMM" testing and mentions in their e-mail that they are holding levels 1, 2, and 3 of the EMCOMM testing. Well, what exactly is EMCOMM? I've been Googling like mad, but nothing really turns up in the search. So, my two questions: 1.) What the hell is EMCOMM? 2.) I assume level one is the easiest exam. If I've never seen or heard of EMCOMM, is enough of the material similar enough to the material I've seen on the Tech and General radio exams to pass the level 1 EMCOMM exam?
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Jun 27, 2008 02:37
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mwdan posted:Emergency Communications. And thats sweet if they are doing it there. I wish there was something like that going on here, as I'm sort of in line to be the Emergency Co-ordinator for my county, and having that training is something they either require, or are going to require in the near future, for the position. Yep, they'll be holding all three levels of exams. I didn't see anything in the e-mail about actual courses, but it was a pretty brief e-mail. I don't know if they're charging, but if they're charging, then I don't think it would be worth it for me to take the exams. $45 is a lot for me to swing right now Plus, I don't know how much I could help out in an emergency. I've forgotten my First Aid training, I can't swim, and I've only been on the air for a good two weeks or so. Not to mention I technically don't have a radio. I'm borrowing my friend's 2-meter mobile radio and J-pole antenna. But I think that down the line, I might want to get involved in this. blugu64 posted:This is EMCOMM Ah, so EMCOMM is mainly setting up a giant make-shift amateur radio station manned by trained radio operators / rescuers I take it.
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Jun 27, 2008 04:07
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I was out of town for the weekend but I don't have a handheld. I told my friend and he was like "well poo poo, why didn't you ring me up? you could've borrowed one of mine!" The whole five hour trip down and back I was wishing I had a handheld to pass the time. Florida highways are so boring! This weekend I'm actually gonna break the fear of transmitting and I'm going to just go on the repeater and announce to the world (err, the north Florida area anyways. 2-meter rig here) that I'm listening. Maybe even join in on a conversation. The only time I've been really transmitting has been to participate in nets (read: check in and stay quiet) and to participate in a practice radiogram session.
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Jul 7, 2008 23:26
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It sure is great to have your elmer be someone with a ton of disposable income and cool radio equipment! We managed to set up a system where using his equipment where I connect to his computer over Skype. Then using my Rock Band usb mic, I can key up his awesome Kenwood rig over at his house. Right now, I'm on 10-meters calling CQ over Skype. Now if only there was someone out there...
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Jul 13, 2008 23:23
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PirateDentist posted:Another goon ham checking in with a General class license. I ordered a Yaesu FTM-10R last week. I gotta second Blugu's request. I have a Miata, so I could easily drop the top and let sunlight hit solar panels mounted on the rear of the interior (it's a nearly flay surface. Perfect for solar).
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Jul 14, 2008 03:18
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I'll be mounting it on my motorcycle for all the PSEs I do. A little XT225 dual-sport. A handheld just won't cut it for output for some of these distant events anymore. I'm even going to be putting a small solar panel on the back of the bike to help keep the radio battery charged.
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TetsuoTW posted:Well, after a couple of weeks' wait, KC9NYK checking in Awesome man! I know how much you've been wanting to get on the air! I only had to wait a week and a half for the FCC to get my callsign to me. I couldn't imagine waiting several weeks!
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Jul 15, 2008 16:06
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So my friend tells me there some contests going this weekend. Anyone plan to work some stations while everyone is coming out of the woodwork? I'm only borrowing my friend's 2-meter rig, but he tells me there's a 2-meter contest going on this weekend. I'm pretty excited for that! Maybe I can hear some people other than the locals. I can't wait until I graduate from college and I can afford my own gear. After hopping on my friend's gear and having a taste of DXing on bands that can reach the world, I seriously gotta get some all-band gear!
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Jul 19, 2008 03:34
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I'm temporarily off the air. The way I had everything set up before, I used one of the two bedrooms in my apartment as the shack. The "shack" room had this sliding glass door leading out to the patio, so I just put my antennas on the patio and ran the cabling through the sliding door. Well, I needed monies so I took on a room mate who took that room. This means I gotta relocate my antennas from the patio to the attic. Luckily, I can get to the attic from my closet in my room. Problem is that I don't have a ladder tall enough to get up there and I won't have time to meet with a friend who does have such a ladder for at least another two weeks. It kinda sucks, but I'm sort of not in the biggest of hurries to get back on the air. I only say this because it really seems like the old rednecks on 2m around here aren't much fun. I'd like to play on other bands, but I'm borrowing my friend's 2m rig, so that's a no-go. Maybe us Goons can organize a 2-meter net via Echolink? That would be a fun thing to do after I get my gear set up again.
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Sep 9, 2008 02:19
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Still need to get up with my friend so we can get my antennas set up in my apartment's roof crawlspace area. Hopefully he's free this weekend...
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Sep 24, 2008 04:01
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Radnor posted:Do antennas work fairly well in attics? I'm looking into getting a Diamond D-130J Discone soon since I can't reach any 2m repeaters in my house, and I don't feel like mounting anything out on the roof and attracting the ire of the HoA. I'm not quite sure how well antennas work in attics to be honest. I've heard of shortwave listeners having success with running a long wire around their attics and getting good reception. I'm lucky in that my attic is actually sort of open air. If I look inside, I can actually see outside sky and everything. So I plan to just place the antennas as close to the exposed air as I can. I'm going to be doing this with both a 2-meter J-pole and a (what I think is) a 20-meter dipole.
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Sep 24, 2008 21:44
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Non-Potable posted:Radnor, thanks for the suggestions. You're right, I've been phrasing all my calls along the standard, "XXXXXX listening." I'll try the question thing and see how it goes. If all else fails I might start calling "Good Evening" in a female robot voice. That seems to always get everybody's attention around here. Heh, I had to chuckle a tad because our local repeater uses a female automated or robotic sounding voice to announce the time or say "good morning/afternoon/evening". Wouldn't grab attention here if you did that. One thing I'd like to try is doing PSK or something over 2-meters. I've tried it with a friend but his Signalink doesn't work properly, so we couldn't do PSK. The stereotype is true in this area: 60-year olds talking about their equipment and antennas.
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Oct 21, 2008 13:18
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Jonny 290 posted:Study a bit and take the Extra if you pass Tech and General (note that you'll have to wait till they grade your Tech test to take the General, and grade the General before you take Extra). You don't pay any more money, and you will be the hit of the test session if you go zero to Extra in one sitting. Seconding this - At least study with the intent to get the General. It looks overwhelming at first, but you can learn everything to pass the General. I passed it by printing the test question pool and keeping the printout by the porcelain thrown. Any time I had to use the restroom, I'd pull out the printout and read a few pages. Getting the General license is pretty handy. Whenever I do radio experiments with my Extra-class license holder buddy, I don't need to worry that much about what bands I can be on. Extra gets you a few extra slivers of extra frequencies permissions here and there, but with General you don't need to worry too much. In conclusion, try for at least the General, don't get nervous on testing day (trust me, the examiners really want you to pass), and good luck!
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Nov 13, 2008 18:51
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Welp, I'm down here in central Florida (Sarasota) now (moved from Tallahassee/North Florida) but my dreams of having a shack are dashed. We've tried to buy a house in Sarasota for a good six months now, but with our budget we just can't compete against snowbirds from Canada, Northern states, and even the British and Germans! These people just snatch things up the minute they hit the market AND are willing to pay 10K over list price on anything! So, we're moving out of this current apartment and renting a bigger apartment instead. This sucks. So much for a shack.I haven't used my license in forever. I guess there's Echolink. I'm not sure how we could set up a Goon net with Echolink. Or if that's possible.
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Jul 2, 2009 17:16
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I can't believe I haven't checked in to this thread in so long! I thought I had put it in my favorites but I hadn't. I spent the past 1.5 years doing jack poo poo thanks to spending all of that time living in an apartment. Half of that time I couldn't even put up an antenna if I wanted to. I dislocated my shoulder and I couldn't use it too well for several months. Anyways, I've long since recovered from surgery and rehab. Our lease is expiring. And we're moving into a HOUSE! The wife has already cleared me to put up antennas. I stopped after she said yes. I don't think she fully knows how big and massive antennas can get. So I'll stop while I'm ahead. Now even better, we're moving not too far from Tampa. Which means I'm not too far from a huge air force base (MacDill). Hopefully I'll be able to catch some really cool military stuff. Failing that, Tampa International Airport ought to have some fun stuff to listen to. Maybe I can pick up some ACARS or something. I won't have a radio to transmit with since I'm still on an entry level salary and we have a baby on the way. But I'll at least have my Winradio to listen with.
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Sep 9, 2010 18:41
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Nthing the go for the General license sentiment here. If you're at the point where you can regularly ace the QRZ technician practice tests, it isn't that big a leap to get to where you can pass the General exam. Heck, I literally studied for the General by printing out the K3DIO study material (http://www.hamelmer.com) and only reading it every time I needed to take a crap. Between toilet readings and QRZ practice tests, I was able to pass the General exam. Heh, and I also have no equipment. I just listen with my Winradio card.
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Sep 21, 2010 17:53
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So I recently moved into a house and now I want to set up an antenna (or even a few eventually) so I can listen. I want to listen to shortwave and the local repeaters here. I figured I'd ask here versus the shortwave thread because you all might know more about antenna building and connecting. My problem is that I need to run wire from inside the house to the outside where my antennas will sit. I can see where other cables like our phone lines, cable tv, etc. run in to the house. But, when I look around the house, I don't see the entry point at all! I've been trying to find it all afternoon. I can't really modify the house since we're renting it. So, I think I have to get creative. One idea I had is to use the house's land line phone jack as the connection between the radio on the inside and the antenna on the outside. When I looked at the various connections, I noticed that the phone line to the outside was already cut. So I assume we don't have land line service. It looks like the circuit is set up so we have the outside phone line (that's cut) running to some box GTE left behind. Then, a cable appears to leave the GTE box and run inside the house. So, could I potentially wire the antenna to the outside phone line? Then on the inside, make a cable that has a radio connector on one end and an RJ11 connector on the other and run that between the radio and phone jack? Basically using the land line connection to link the antenna and radio?
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Feb 19, 2011 22:28
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