Dave Parker

hamstudy.org is honestly the one i tell everybody to use, just grind the practice tests on there until youre consistently hitting 85% or above and youll be fine on the real thing. the question pool is public so everythig on the actual test comes from those same questions word for word. some people also like the ARRL technician book if you want actual explanations behind the concepts but for just passing the test the practice questions alone will get you there for most people. the stuff that trips up beginners is usually the math questions involving things like ohms law and calculating frequency from wavelength, but theres really only a handful of them and they follow the same formulas every time so if you just memorize how to do those two or three types of calculations youre covered. electrical safety questions show up a fair bit too. give yourself maybe two or three weeks of casual studying and youll be ready, its not a brutal exam at all.

i just did my third activation last month at a wildlife refuge and yeah its basically the same vibe as POTA just different paperwork haha. the 44 contact thing stressed me out too but i hit it in like 45 minutes on 20m SSB with 100w and a wire. bring more antenna than you think you need is my only advice

so ive been wanting to get my technician license for like two years now and i finally decided to just do it. problem is i dont really know what the best way to study is. i downloaded the question pool from the arrl website but honestly just reading through 400 questions feels kind of overwhelming and i dont know if im actually learning anything or just memorizing answers without understanding whats going on. someone at the local club meeting told me to just use hamstudy.org and drill questions until i get like 90% consistently but another guy said i should actually read a study guide first so i understand the concepts. im not sure which approach is better. also some of the electrical theory stuff like ohms law and how to calculate antenna length is tripping me up a bit. is that stuff actually on the exam a lot or is it more the rules and regulations questions that show up more? anyway any tips would be appreciated, i want to take the exam at the next club session which is in about 3 weeks

so i was doing K-1234 today (nice little state park about an hour from home) and my battery just gave up after like 90 minutes. was using my usual 7ah sla but apparently didnt charge it fully last time. only got 23 contacts before it started cutting out on transmit anybody else had this happen? was so frustrating cause the band was really picking up when it died. ended up packing everything and driving home early

ok so ive been licensed for about 4 months now and still not totally sure when im supposed to use the NATO phonetic alphabet vs just saying letters normally. like if someone asks for my callsign do i always spell it out with Alpha Bravo Charlie etc or is that just for when conditions are bad? i feel like i hear some guys on the local repeater just say their call normally and others go full phonetic every single time. is there like a rule or is it just preference? i dont want to sound like im overdoing it but also dont want to miss something important

yeah the wall wart thing is real but also check whether your ground plane is actually continuous — ive had builds where i thought i had a solid ground but there were these little gaps in the copper clad that were basically acting like slots and picking up all kinds of garbage. also how long are your leads on the audio section? the LM386 is notoriously easy to get oscillating if the feedback path isnt kept short. i had one that sounded like a motorboat for like two days before i figured out the output cap lead was running back over the input. anyway congrats on actually getting audio out of it, getting to that point is half the battle with these things.

so i finally got activated for real last weekend, not just a drill. there was some severe weather moving through the county and the EC called everyone up to staff the EOC and a couple shelter locations. ive been in ARES for about eight months now and done maybe four or five nets and one SET but nothing where it actually mattered. honestly it was way less chaotic than i expected but also kind of humbling because there were moments where i wasnt sure what exactly i was supposed to be doing. like i know how to operate, thats not the problem, but the whole ICS thing and who reports to who and what goes on what form — that stuff got a little blurry when things were actually moving fast. the experienced guys were great about it though, one of them basically just stood near me for the first hour which helped a lot. anyway just wanted to share because ive seen a lot of posts here from people on the fence about joining ARES and i was one of those people for a long time. its different from just being on the air for fun but its worth it if you take the training seriously. the ICS-100 and 200 stuff really does matter, wish id paid more attention the first time through.

so i passed my technician exam last tuesday and just got my callsign in the ULS yesterday. spent like an hour this morning just listening on the local 2m repeater before i finally worked up the nerve to key up. some guy named Ron came back to me right away and we talked for maybe 10 minutes about nothing in particular, weather, where i live, that kind of thing. felt kinda silly how nervous i was but honestly it was one of the coolest things ive done in a while. using an old baofeng uv-5r i borrowed from a friend until i figure out if i want to stick with this hobby. anyway just wanted to share since i dont really know anyone else who does this stuff