How many Hams are here?

[txswabby]

W0DRO
Kinney County RACES
ARES EC

[JLaw]

JLaw will be soon, have made the commitment. Just started reading up & studying a little. Sounds very interesting, and overwhelming in some aspects!

73, (whatever THAT means!)

JLaw

[Keith B]

JLaw will be soon, have made the commitment. Just started reading up & studying a little. Sounds very interesting, and overwhelming in some aspects!

73, (whatever THAT means!)

JLaw

Did you find someone local to help you with your study and testing??

[JLaw]

JLaw will be soon, have made the commitment. Just started reading up & studying a little. Sounds very interesting, and overwhelming in some aspects!

73, (whatever THAT means!)

JLaw

Did you find someone local to help you with your study and testing??

Kind of. I'm reading/studying the ARRL HAM Radio Licsense Manual at the moment, bought at Houston Amature Radio shop. I'll soon join NARS out of the Spring area (Northwest Amature Radio Society) and find someone willing to help and tutor a little.

JLaw

[Keith B]

JLaw will be soon, have made the commitment. Just started reading up & studying a little. Sounds very interesting, and overwhelming in some aspects!

73, (whatever THAT means!)

JLaw

Did you find someone local to help you with your study and testing??

Kind of. I'm reading/studying the ARRL HAM Radio Licsense Manual at the moment, bought at Houston Amature Radio shop. I'll soon join NARS out of the Spring area (Northwest Amature Radio Society) and find someone willing to help and tutor a little.

JLaw

Awesome JLaw. Will be nice to have another ham on the forum! Don't hesitate to ask questions if you have them.

Let us know when you are going for the test and when you get your call sign!

73 (Means best wishes in 'ham speak')

[jimlongley]

73 (Means best wishes in 'ham speak')

Someplace around here I have an "official" copy of the "92 Code" that lists 73 as "Best Regards."

Back in the earliest days of electrical telegraph the operators used codes to shorten the messages. This was nothing new, previous telegraphers had also used codes to transfer messages while saving time and space.

One thing most people don't know is that there was telegraph before there was Morse, a Frenchman by the name of Claude Chappe developed a system of sending messages via signal flag, which was based on previous flag message systems, but Chappe added a twist, he actually established a network of towers that passed signals from one to another across parts of France, and comparatively rapidly.

Samuel F. B. Morse was a portrait artist doing a commision in europe when his young wife died. She had been buried for three weeks before he even knew she was dead. His observation of the French network (actually most of europe and England was networked by then) planted a seed that was nurtured later when he was introduced to Joseph Henry while on a trans-Atlantic cruise, and Henry told him some about how electricity worked.

Morse didn't really invent much of anything, he came up with the idea, and hired people to implement it. His biggest contribution was the concept, a crooked picture frame, and how to record the message. Heck, he didn't even develop the code, his idea was to send number groups and have the operators decode them according to a thick book. A fellow by the name of Alfred Vail did that after realizing that Morse's system was extremely cumbersome.

Eek! Did I say all that?

[/instructor]

Seriously some of my favorite subject matter.

Next time: Why do we depend on a technology that is more than 150 years old for so much - the shame of FAX.

And in the future: How Alexander Graham Bell accidentally invented the telephone while trying to do something else, and couldn't handle a little acid spill by himself.

--... ...-- -.. . -.- ..... -. .-. .-

[Keith B]

73 (Means best wishes in 'ham speak')

Someplace around here I have an "official" copy of the "92 Code" that lists 73 as "Best Regards."

You're right Jim, it is really 'Best Regards'. I messed it up!
However, it used to have more flowery meanings http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/history.html#73

Tx es 73,
de KE0FV

[jimlongley]

73 (Means best wishes in 'ham speak')

Someplace around here I have an "official" copy of the "92 Code" that lists 73 as "Best Regards."

You're right Jim, it is really 'Best Regards'. I messed it up!
However, it used to have more flowery meanings http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/history.html#73

Tx es 73,
de KE0FV

Since I had ham radio shoved down my throat as a kid, I sometimes wonder if learning Phillips' Code caused my dyslexia.

[Owens]

N5QNS. Have one of the now defunct Advanced class licenses. Not very active though. Mainly do the 2M and 70cm thing with an occasional foray in to HF.

[charlie]

KA5UWU here.

[ttorion]

de N5NA

[RiverRat]

QRZ...QRZ,
Lots of hams on the forum.
WA5MUM here, since 1964,
Extra class, ex-EC Travis Co. ARES, ex-RACES, volunteer examiner, skywarn, etc...
Not too active at present....QRX...trying to get two boys OUT of college.....then maybe more time to play.
Need to get some Rohn 45 in the air one of these days ............

[Reloader]

For those interested, I teach both Tech and General classes in Onalaska. I am finishing up the General class. I may not have summer classes if there is not any interest. I will definitely resume in the fall. My fee is only the cost of the manuals. All other handouts are free. I have an average of 90% on my students passing the tests. Of course, they have to study when not in class. Email me for details.

[Ninjaneer]

KD5MMJ here. General class, taken when there was still a 5 wpm code requirement. I should go ahead and get an Extra, since I have a radio related job.

[KevinK]

N9FHL here, ex WB5SZU before I moved to Illinois and then came back to Texas. When I took my general class it was 13WPM and my instructor had me receiving at 21 wpm before I tested. HOA doesn't allow antennas, but I may get back into 2 mtr someday.