HAM Technician.....Why do the nerds have to be in charge?

hp468 said:
People just mad you cant click a button and order a callsign.
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I
Am
Studying
For
And
Taking
The
Damn
Test

Why are you all offended by someone that’s following the process? I may not LIKE the process, but I am following it. I’m getting the license. What more do you want?
 
Tim said:
No. Not even a little bit. Don’t go putting words in my mouth. I’m not “worried” about passing anything. So far I’m averaging 94% on practice tests.

My point in the OP was a light hearted whining about having to jump through hoops and pay the king’s ransom to make use of a naturally occurring and publicly accessible resource.

Then the Elmers came along and got their panties twisted because somebody isn’t buying into the whole lifestyle. You are the old guy with blue steel and walnut .30-30 at the range looking sideways at the young guy with an AR. You’re the ass hat at the range who cornered my wife her “showed her how” she can make shots at 25yards with her j frame.
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But if we looked at it that way what fun would that be?
 
Tim said:
I
Am
Studying
For
And
Taking
The
Damn
Test

Why are you all offended by someone that’s following the process? I may not LIKE the process, but I am following it. I’m getting the license. What more do you want?
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Congrats!

The good news is once you pass, you'll get your call almost instantly (rather than a 8 week wait as in the bad old days).

I'll look forward to chatting with you on 2M!
 
Tim said:
I
Am
Studying
For
And
Taking
The
Damn
Test

Why are you all offended by someone that’s following the process? I may not LIKE the process, but I am following it. I’m getting the license. What more do you want?
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Did
I
Quote
You
When
I
Posted
That
?


I don't believe you've taken part in the banter over the last few pages, other than updating your progress. Your clearly studying and taking the test.
 
hp468 said:
I really had no idea there was so much contempt toward our little hobby.
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It's not contempt toward the hobby, it's the practitioners.


Things that were actually said in threads on here:
"When SHTF, I better not catch anybody using my personal repeater without a license."
 
GoWolfpack said:
It's not contempt toward the hobby, it's the practitioners.


Things that were actually said in threads on here:
"When SHTF, I better not catch anybody using my personal repeater without a license."
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Ah, because (like I said) the practitioners expect initiative and a little bit of effort? If that's the case, ok.

I must have missed that particular comment and circumstances would dictate my opinion on that matter. That said, if someone spends the time and money to put up a private repeater to be used by a certain segment of the population, why should the rest of the population feel entitled to use it?
 
I agree with the OP. I don't think the electronics theory questions add anything to the process either. I can't think of why you should need to know anything but what bands you're allowed to operate on and at what power levels in order to get the license. Of course you need electronics theory if you are going to build your own radio, but why would you need the test to teach it to you and does the test even teach you enough to do it correctly? Is there a soldering portion on the test? Same with Morse code; if I wanted to operate on a code only frequency, I would need to learn code first but that shouldn't be a barrier to operating on non-code bands.
 
GoWolfpack said:
I can't think of why you should need to know anything but what bands you're allowed to operate on and at what power levels in order to get the license. Of course you need electronics theory if you are going to build your own radio, but why would you need the test to teach it to you and does the test even teach you enough to do it correctly?
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Having some basic electronics understanding, such as ohms law, will help you to troubleshoot some of the basics if things aren't working correctly and ham equipment, such is the power supply connected and putting out correct voltage. Unlike GMRS, ham equipment, often times has things like removable antennas, and mobile (car) radios hook up to car batteries and base stations use power supplies. Does the test teach enough theory, probably not, but it does verify that you know the difference between a resistor and a reset and that you can do basics ohms law calculations.
 
I misunderstood the licensing thing years and years ago.

I thought you were supposed to get your tech license, never upgrade, but buy a buttload
of radios and and other gadgets, dedicate an area of the house for a ham shack, and put up a tower.

Never knew you could just stick with a handheld.
 
@Tim if MURS fits the range requirements (distance) then you wouldn't need licenses and more could participate. Practical range for the units mentioned on my heavily wooded lot is around 300yds. YMMV. I'm licensed, the kids are not (yet), so they work well for us.
Unless of course the club's haves like the exclusivity over the have nots.
 
noway2 said:
Having some basic electronics understanding, such as ohms law, will help you to troubleshoot some of the basics if things aren't working correctly and ham equipment, such is the power supply connected and putting out correct voltage. Unlike GMRS, ham equipment, often times has things like removable antennas, and mobile (car) radios hook up to car batteries and base stations use power supplies. Does the test teach enough theory, probably not, but it does verify that you know the difference between a resistor and a reset and that you can do basics ohms law calculations.
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I understand all those things. I'm an electrical engineer just like you. At least I think if my memory serves. But I don't believe you should be forced to learn any of that just for the operating license. You don't learn thermodynamics to get your driver's license, even though breaking the hydrogen carbon bond is what propels you down the road. You have to learn how your radio works if it breaks. You have to learn antennas if you want to change them around. But the way things are currently organized, you have to learn all of that just to key the microphone.


As I have said several times before when this came up, what sticks in my craw is the way so many hams so gleefully accept licensing and regulation in this one aspect of their lives where they never would anywhere else. I know the arguments, but it's just so out of character for people who love freedom to suddenly abandon the principal when it comes to the electromagnetic spectrum. Change out technician license with face mask and 2 m with grocery store and see how that feels to you.
 
GoWolfpack said:
As I have said several times before when this came up, what sticks in my craw is the way so many hams so gleefully accept licensing and regulation in this one aspect of their lives where they never would anywhere else.
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If it was having to prove you can shoot to a certain proficiency, strip, maintain and be able to do the math to show you understand ballistics to use a firearm, folks would be livid.
 
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GoWolfpack said:
Proving the point.


If a new person showed some interest in getting involved, would that attitude be the thing that pulled them in to the hobby? After you gatekeep the hobby so tightly that nobody new ever joins and the rest of the old farts die from inhaling solder fumes, what's going to happen to amateur radio?
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I do see your position, really; I do.

However: there is a continuation, since your position presumes that:
If a new person showed some interest in getting involved
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they automatically would want some concession in the long-standing expectations of all hobby members, in order to join.

I counter that (a) this isn't true, and also, (b) if it IS true, is that new person likely to be a net contributor to the fraternity?

My counterpoint (b) is itself based on the premise that sheer numbers of new licensees is not going to arrest what is an inevitability due to demographics, and will in any case spoil the pool of operators that do exist and share the bands.

There are PLENTY of people I know (and so do you) who I do NOT think should own firearms, either, and for much the same reason.
Ditto for those who should not reproduce, drive. fly, work in a service industry, et cetera.

A race to the bottom leads one to the bottom. In my mind this oughtn't be a goal.
 
GoWolfpack said:
I know the arguments, but it's just so out of character for people who love freedom to suddenly abandon the principal when it comes to the electromagnetic spectrum.
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If there weren’t global entities allocating things, you know as well as I do, three things would happen: 1) entities like Verizon would gobble up as much as they possibly could (they do now, but are limited) to lease it back to you for $50 per month. 2) the ham bands would become unusable and overtaken with idiots trash talking much like FRS, but over long range. 3) Aircraft, marine, and emergency response traffic would be difficult because idiots would be causing interference.

I don’t see having a rule that says, “this is your sandbox, that is theirs” as abandoning one’s principle, especially when hams are allowed pretty much the freedom to do anything other than encrypt their traffic, avoid obscenity, and don’t intentionally interfere with others. Far more privilege than most EM spectrum users.
 
GoWolfpack said:
Same with Morse code; if I wanted to operate on a code only frequency, I would need to learn code first but that shouldn't be a barrier to operating on non-code bands.
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You probably know that there hasn't been any Morse code requirement for ham licenses in the US since February 2007.

An interesting convention is that Morse code is universally allowed on ALL frequencies.

Every so often, I teach Morse classes here. Classes are about an hour long, twice a week, for 2 months.
It's the kind of thing that people try to teach themselves, but that usually does not work out too well in my 47 years of experience.
 
" I know Morse,"

^^ I can attest to this.

My favorite mode.
 
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I got my technician license 7-8 years ago. Finally figured out how to transmit to a buddy on here. Did it once.

Felt like Alexander Graham Bell.

And that was the last time I used it. Oh well.
 
@Tim good job. be sure to post your callsign so that un unlicensed folks can harass you or something. You know, in case we get bored of doing it here.
 
I carry a uv5r in my pack when hiking, It's a $20 insurance policy and legal to use without a license in an emergency.

I told a coworker this once. He immediately got angry and informed me I was committing an felony. He said he could report me and I'd be charged with a crime, fined thousands of dollars, lose my job, and my security clearance. Just for possession of a radio sold for $20 on Amazon.

He then told me I had to get a license and listed off a whole bunch of technical info including morse code that I would have to learn to legally posses and use my radio.


Now imagine how that would be received by someone who didn't know anything and
had just bought some cheap radios on Amazon to use while outdoors.

And just as a note, I've never asked or demanded anything for free or complained about the cost or difficulty of obtaining a license. It's something I will do if I want to get involved in the hobby.
 
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Prudii said:
I carry a uv5r in my pack when hiking, It's a $20 insurance policy and legal to use without a license in an emergency.

I told a coworker this once. He immediately got angry and informed me I was committing an felony. He said he could report me and I'd be charged with a crime, fined thousands of dollars, lose my job, and my security clearance. Just for possession of a radio sold for $20 on Amazon.

He then told me I had to get a license and listed off a whole bunch of technical info including morse code that I would have to learn to legally posses and use my radio.
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I’m flying a little out of my airspace here, but considering the trajectory of this nation, and this entire third rock from the sun/son...

I’d call him a Fudd.

Maybe not to his face, but we wouldn’t be drinkin’ buddies anymore, if we ever were.
 
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Prudii said:
And just as a note, I've never asked or demanded anything for free or complained about the cost or difficulty of obtaining a license. It's something I will do if I want to get involved in the hobby.
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Well that's not very frugal of you.
here, watch how it's done...
"Hey HAM guys, i'm kind of interested in this hobby. Anybody got some gear they don't need or can let go for a good price?"
After that, you rely on the kindness of strangers.

I know my wife gets very happy when I can ship out some of my gear I'm not using - bonus if I bring in a few bucks to put in the petty cash fund.
For instance, one of the low level employees at work said her husband finally built the 5.56 AR he's been wanting, his first one, but he didn't have a magazine. I said... uh... can't shoot without at least one of those. And suddenly a pmag from my parts closet appeared for them. Next day she excitedly showed up and shared pictures of the rifle, with a mag in it!
Or our security guard said he would have put gun stuff on his amazon baby wish list, but he didn't even know how well that would go. So 2 mags showed up for him on account of "defend your family". I only had gen2 to give him, and he said he had been looking at gen3 windowed, so I said "This is all I got, but you can beat these these up as your 'dump in the dirt during reload' drills". and he was thrilled.

Then again, i'm the anti-fudd and I bring gun stuff to all the good little girls and boys.
 
Me. said:
Unless you like at least some anonymity.
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well i figure i had to sign up to this forum using a name, which is linked to the accounts i used to pay for membership. And any one of us here posts enough that we could be tracked without too much difficulty by a dedicated person. Oh, and those feds that are watching everything we do anyway.
Also, this screen name is very much tied to my real name without too much searching on the internet... one of the joys of being active in certain hobbies means you wind up going on public record at times, or on the board of a non-profit that is tied to your screenname...
Privacy is a thing of the past.
 
Tim said:
Well, I passed.

I forgot what freq fast scan TV is on, or I would've got 100%.
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Congratulations, there is really more to the hobby than just using a handheld and a repeater. Listen around on some of the hf bands (not some parts of 75m though) and you may like it.

From a guy that proudly failed his 20wpm code test.
 
Kspainhour said:
Congratulations, there is really more to the hobby than just using a handheld and a repeater.
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I remember driving down I85 talking to a guy driving down the highway in ..
Tanzania.

Another time I was at home waiting for a repair man and heard a guy calling CQ clear as a bell and answered. He just put a radio in his car and was driving around Dallas, Tx. He asked if I was in Dallas and said, “No, im in central NC” he said, “What? North Carolina?!!!!!”

Edit to add. If you stop and think about how this is happening with a wire in a tree in the back yard and less power than a lightbulb, it’s pretty freaking amazing.
 
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Tim said:
I'm going through a prep course (hamradioprep.com) for my Tech license test on Thursday. These test requirements were definitely made well before the popularity of cheap hand held radios. All I care about...hell, I don't actually care, is what the proper etiquette and procedures are for behaving on a 'net.

I don't give a rat's behind about Ohm's Law, resistors vs. transistors or the Ionosphere. I have zero plans to bounce waves off the space station. All I wanna do is use my $35 Baofeng to relay messages while hunting, or at a Run n Gun.
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Just get a CB and be happy.

Terry
 
specops56 said:
Just get a CB and be happy.

Terry
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Honestly, with FM now allowed on the CB bands, it really should be a viable solution for those not wanting licensure. Company’s are making AM/FM CB handhelds now as well, though bit more expensive than baofengs right now. I’m sure those prices will come down in the near future.

Congrats @Tim, welcome to the club.
 
Tim said:
We need ATF to pop on over to the FCC and figure out how they process stuff so quick...

KQ4LAA is monitoring...
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Congratulations. If I am not mistaken you're in the W-S area? If so, some repeaters you might find of interest are W4GSO and the one in Madison (I forget the call sign). Another thing you might want to check out is a phone program called Echolink that will let you connect to repeaters when you don't have a radio but do have your phone.

A side note for anyone considering getting their license. You might want to do it now because if we have a govt. shut down they will stop processing licenses. It's stupid because it's automated and doesn't require a person to intervene but they shut it down anyway.

Edit to add, @Tim make sure your call sign shows up in the FCC database before you transmit. It looks like the last call sign issued on 9-1-2023 was KQ4KZX, which is only a couple before yours.
 
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Wow that was fast!

EchoLink would be good for you to play with.

Carolina 440 network has linked repeaters all over NC so you can talk to most of the state.

Edit: you can go check out radioqth.net/vanity/available if you want to pick a call sign more to your liking.

N4MOD is available 😂
 
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