18E HAMs

[TUS493]

Any HAMs out there?

Mainly 20m day and 40m night. I'm working on my home station, but also trying to keep it relevant to our current inventory.

I'm on 2m and 70cm as well, and I keep that MFin THANG on me.

[Sire24657]

NorCal Ham here; trying to get both my HF and a packet station up and running, but am pretty well-versed in 2m/70 cm. NOT an 18E or any SF; former Eastern European Linguist ('88-97).

73,

AF6SC

[glebo]

Well I used to be...N4SDK, sadly I let my license lapse/expire. To long of a time to resubmit.

It was great while in the military, back then we'd check in to Maritime Moblile and do phone patches...Hard to get the wife to say "over" at the end of her xnsmission...lol

Now days, no need for it I guess..I did mostly 20 and 40 meter CW DX, QRP...

I actually got a hit on the space shuttle I think about 1990 or so...

[JimP]

Guys - been thinking of doing this of late, just "because." Is this something a mere light weapons dude can pick up ?

I can do ten pullups, count to fifty-nine unassisted; do some minor "cyphering" without having to take my shoes and socks off, and I once held a duck under water until it farted.

I see I must first pass an exam to get my "license." Something I can study for over the holidays and take the test ?

[Peregrino]

Originally Posted by JimP

Guys - been thinking of doing this of late, just "because." Is this something a mere light weapons dude can pick up ?

I can do ten pullups, count to fifty-nine unassisted; do some minor "cyphering" without having to take my shoes and socks off, and I once held a duck under water until it farted.

I see I must first pass an exam to get my "license." Something I can study for over the holidays and take the test ?

It's easy. A little time spent studying and you can take the Technician and General tests sequentially on the same day and have sufficient privileges to XMIT worldwide. Study a bit more and you can get the AE certs and do the same on every available band. ARRL publishes some decent study guides and there are several websites where you can take practice exams using the same official question pool as you will see when you test for real. Then you can start haunting swap meets, ham fests, and Ebay to outfit your shack.

[Badger52]

Originally Posted by Peregrino

It's easy. A little time spent studying and you can take the Technician and General tests sequentially on the same day and have sufficient privileges to XMIT worldwide.

^ This. At least passing the General is going to give you a boatload of bandwidth with HF. As mentioned, same day, same fee, you keep passing tests you can keep taking them. Pass the Tech, take a break get some coffee, hit the head, sit back down & take the General at least. There is a container ship of stuff on the Tech that is regurgitated on the General. If you don't setup to pass the higher bar it's slacker time.

Free PDF versions of well known study guides here.

Online free practice exams here.

When you get there, Volunteer Exam Coordinator POC's are here. Better, find a nearby radio club if possible and they can give you the skinny on the usual who/where.

The real "learning" doesn't happen till you get your ticket anyway. Study the material, start banging away at the practice exams. Remember, General is the key.
There's no Morse requirement for quite some time, so no worries for the heathen.
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