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G.A. Heath wrote: ↑Sat Jul 21, 2018 1:03 pm I went and tested with the intention of leaving with the knowledge that once my license shows up in the database that I would be a technician, things did not go as planned because my CSCE shows I passed Technician and General. Thanks to everyone here, especially Charles L. Cotton, for the input, advice, and encouragement. Now I have to order another Gordon West book and start studying for Extra...

Congratulations! And since you passed General, now you need a rig that can do HF.

Grundy1133 wrote: ↑Tue Jun 19, 2018 3:45 pm

Charles L. Cotton wrote: ↑Sun Jun 17, 2018 2:23 pm When bad weather does hit, I get more information from my ham radios than from TV or radio weather forecasts or reports.

Chas, do HAMs pick up NOAA frequencies or would I have to purchase a "police scanner" like this

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00V91IN62/?c ... _lig_dp_it?

I'd like a scanner that can pick up NOAA, local police/fire/rescue frequencies, as well as HAM frequencies... also BTW when I was little my dad had a CB radio is that the same as a HAM radio?

I can pick up NOAA frequencies on my HT, as well as my mobile and base stations

http://weatherradios.com/stations-and-frequencies

Weather radio broadcasts in the United States (NOAA NWR) and Canada (Weatherradio Canada) occur on seven dedicated frequencies: 162.400, 162.425, 162.450, 162.475, 162.500, 162.525, and 162.550 MHz.

The Annoyed Man wrote: ↑Sun Jun 17, 2018 9:48 pm

Flightmare wrote: ↑Sun Jun 17, 2018 9:03 pm

The Annoyed Man wrote: ↑Sun Jun 17, 2018 8:51 pm A. When do all these nets become self-aware?

B. I know the sky is the limit, but how hard is this on a wallet, for someone on a fixed income who doesn’t want to blow thousands on it. I’m talking a basic setup.... enough to get started.

You can buy a HT (handy talkie) for $30 quite easily.

Is a $30 unit worth a cup of warm spit? I ask because I actually bought one a couple of years ago .....I think on Amazon......I’m just not licensed to use it yet, so I having.

I can reach all the Collin county repeaters with mine, as well as many of the Dallas repeater. A good antenna helps ALOT...but you can make those for cheaper than the radio if you want

The Annoyed Man wrote: ↑Sun Jun 17, 2018 8:51 pm A. When do all these nets become self-aware?

B. I know the sky is the limit, but how hard is this on a wallet, for someone on a fixed income who doesn’t want to blow thousands on it. I’m talking a basic setup.... enough to get started.

You can buy a HT (handy talkie) for $30 quite easily.

NotRPB wrote: ↑Sun Jun 17, 2018 5:38 pm It sure makes my new "free" car license plate easy to remember, I can remember my name after two Whiskeys
( I don't drink, but it's funny)

Apparently, you can get multiple license plates with your call sign too if you have more than one car, and get them for trailers too, I have a flatbed and a boat trailer, ...

That is true! As long as I do not move out of Texas, I never have to memorize another license plate ever again.

G.A. Heath wrote: ↑Sun Jun 17, 2018 4:05 pm My interest in HAM comes from a number of factors. First is the weather, I'm about an hour south of Lubbock so Tornadoes are less than common, but not rare either. Hail, high winds, and more are more common weather threats. The second reason is Offroading in my Jeep, While most events has everyone use CB radios to communicate, many people also use Ham radio for better (read more reliable) coverage. The third reason is redundancy, for those who don't know me I tend to have a backup, for the backup, of the backup, to the primary spare... The main reason I am interested in my technician license though is that it gives me something else to learn (and I may attempt to go for the general license at the same time).

How do renewals work on ham licenses, and how frequent? We all know the LTC is a 5 year online renewal while my Part 107 Remote Pilot Certificate is 2 years and requires that I visit a testing center.

I will say this, I am sure glad I didn't ask you folks to push me off a bridge! Thanks for all the input and I am very interested in hearing more advice or tips. Charles I will probably go with your suggestion of the Gordon West material along with NotRPB's suggestions regarding the free materials too (My habit for redundancy).

Renewals are done every 10 years. The license itself is free, you only have to pay the fee for a testing session, typically $14-15. I have seen people pass Tech, General AND Extra in the same session. Therefore they only had to pay for the single test session. If you pass a test, most VEs will offer you the opportunity to take the next one. There is no risk to taking it, no extra cost, and you might walk away with a higher license class than you intended. Once you have your license, there is no continuing education required to maintain it. Just renew for free on the FCC website.

I went thru skywarn earlier this year. While this storm season has been mild compared to others in the past, it' has been fun to show my friends who don't have their ham ticket (yet) what amateur radio operators contribute during severe weather.

I remember being out front of SkullCop's house when we had some storms roll thru Collin County back in April. As I heard the spotter reports coming in about 1.5" hail at Legacy & Alma and then 5-10 minutes later the report was hail at Bethany and Allen Heights. I was able to figure out that the storm seemed to be tracking due east.

SkullCop's wife comes out the front door with Skullcop in tow; "we need to get the vehicles under cover, they're reporting egg size hail at Legacy and Alma".
I told her that was more than 10 minutes ago.
She argued that she's watching the news live, and they JUST reported it.
I held up my HT and said "no, you're listening to a delay, I'M listening to it live!"

A week later, another storm front moved in and I took my HT in their house so she could hear the Collin County ARES group host the net. She was intrigued by the fact that the National Weather Service in Fort Worth would have operators chime in every so often asking for spotters to verify some of the reports they were getting, or things that the meteorologists were seeing on radar. I managed to get her to go HamCom in Plano a week ago and take the basic Skywarn class herself. She's even looking at getting her radio license so that she can participate in spotting (not necessarily chasing, although she is pondering that).

I used www.hamstudy.org at someone's suggestion last year. Took my tech after studying for 2 days and I think I may have missed 2 questions. A week later (field day 2017) I passed general after studying for 3 days. Another week later, I took extra and passed. Very handy site!