I originally started this blog with the intent of writing a little about my adventures into the new hobbies of shaving with a straight razor and making soap. I am still doing those hobbies but the going is slow. I have yet to even remotely get the honing of an old blade down, I am finding it more of an art than simples steps, and I haven't made a lot of soap. Both hobbies can take a lot of time. So, recently I have looked back into an old hobby, amateur radio; frequently referred to as HAM radio.
It was almost 10 years ago that I got into HAM radio, and it was actually a friend who got me into it. I don't have permission from my friend to use his name, I just haven't asked, but I am sure he won't mind me using his callsign. KE7BFU, my friend who I will just call BFU, was drawn to HAM radio by W7SAR in his neighborhood and wanted to take the Technician test but didn't want to take it alone. He decided to talk to me and get me to study for it with him. So, we checked out some self study books from the county library and started reading. Shortly after getting our license, sometimes referred to as our "ticket", SAR gave us each a radio, ICOM IC-02AT's. I talked with BFU and even helped in some major parades in our area, but by the second year of helping in the parade my radio's tone for accessing repeaters didn't want to work. I had to borrow a radio for the parade and we were supposed to take a look at the radio. Unfortunately we never did get to look at the radio.Years went by and I never really did get to use the radio again, and basically I didn't participate as a HAM.
After 9 years of having my HAM radio license I tried to turn the radio on and just see if I could listen to some channels. By this time I had moved a few times after getting married, graduating college and becoming an officer in the military. Unfortunately now even the screen didn't work. About the only tool I have for diagnosing electronics is a digital multimeter. I had basically given into the fact that I couldn't use that radio and I had no idea how much a new one would cost but I knew it would be expensive, or so I thought. I got onto Amazon and looked for radios. To my great surprise I found an HT (Hand-held Transmitter) that was only about $40. At first I was very skeptical, but after doing some research I decided that I would like to give it a try. I didn't really have the money at first so I just checked out a book from the library and brushed up on some info that I had almost forgotten.
Shortly after getting the book for Technicians "Now You're Talking", which was from the 1990's, I decided to study for my General license and get a book that was more up to date. I again turned to Amazon and found a used book for $10 with shipping. Less than a month later I have the Baofeng UV-R5 radio and tested for my General license and passed. This was certainly a big leap back into HAM radio, but it's totally worth it!
I have started doing research into the digital modes, and I can say that it is totally confusing. In particular I have been looking into APRS and even the "beginners" guides, that say they don't assume you know anything, seem overly confusing. I am not exactly technically illiterate, I built musical christmas lights that respond to live music, but I still felt like HUGE chunks of information was missing from some of these guides. Thankfully there is a guy here in the local radio club, KC5SII, that does APRS and is willing to teach me a few things. I think that I could piece it together in the long run but why reinvent the wheel when you don't have to? Eventually I think that I will do some posts on HAM radio, but no promises. Hopefully this will be something that I will take the time to blog about.
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