Michael Torres

hamstudy is the go-to for most people these days. but one thing worth knowing — the question pool gets updated every few years so just make sure whatever resource you're using is current. i think the tech pool was refreshed not that long ago so some older printed guides might have questions that aren't on the exam anymore or are worded differently. also look up if there's a local club near you because a lot of them run licensing classes and can point you to a VE session close by when you're ready to test. in person sessions are usually pretty low key, i've helped administer a bunch of them and nobody's ever failed because they were nervous or whatever. and once you pass you get your callsign in the FCC database usually within a few days, sometimes faster. then you're on the air.

so ive been at this for a few months now and just cant seem to get the iambic mode to feel natural. im using a Bencher BY-1 into a Winkeyer USB and the dit/dah ratio feels off somehow. like when i squeeze for certain letters like C or K the keyer seems to spit out an extra dit at the end and words start looking like garbage on the other end. i tried slowing way down to like 12 wpm and it helps a little but even then i'll mess up a C and it comes out as something weird. somebody at the club said maybe i should just switch to mode A from mode B (or was it the other way around) but i honestly dont fully understand the difference. do i just need more practice or is there actually a setting i should be tweaking on the Winkeyer software. ive read the manual twice and im still fuzzy on it

Three weeks is plenty of time. I used the ARRL Technician manual back when I studied and it was decent but honestly kind of dry. The real trick is just doing practice exams over and over until youre consistently hitting 85 or better, the actual passing score is 74% so once youre well above that in practice you should be fine on test day. One thing I'd say is dont skip the section on repeater operation and frequencies even if it feels boring, there's usually a handful of questions from that area and they're easy points if you just read through it once. Good luck, the test really isn't that hard and most people pass first try.

same thing here been scratching my head for weeks. i did notice when the flux was up around 175 and K was low i had a really solid opening to japan on 15m which i did not expect at all from my location. lasted maybe 90 minutes then just kind of faded. so yeah i think its definitely the combination of both things not just one or the other

Great work! I've used similar coil loading techniques but found close-wound coils on smaller forms give better Q. Your bottles probably have more distributed capacitance than optimal. Try 4-inch PVC pipe with tight windings - you'll get better efficiency and bandwidth.

Finally got my ticket and planning my first Parks on the Air activation with a KX2 and EFHW antenna. I keep seeing folks mention LiFePO4 batteries but man, the prices are steep! Currently looking at a Bioenno 12V 9Ah for around $180. For QRP operation (5-10W), would this be overkill? I've read that a 6 Ah LiFePO4 is a good starting point and will keep you going most of the day but wondering if anyone has experience with smaller capacity options. Also considering just grabbing a cheap SLA from the auto parts store to start - terrible idea or acceptable for getting my feet wet?

honestly for me the extra portion of 40m phone alone made it worth it. during contests that lower segment is way less crowded, its almost noticeable how much easier it is to find a clear frequency. the theory stuff yeah some of it is stuff you'll never touch again after the exam, like i havent thought about the exact formula for a chebyshev filter since i passed but some of the other stuff like transmission line theory and antenna stuff actually did help me understand what im doing a bit better when im setting up. i used the hamstudy app and just ground through it over about 6 weeks, wasnt that bad. the extra cw sub-bands are kind of a non-issue if you dont do cw obviously but having the full phone priveleges on 75/80m is genuinely useful if you do any nets or ragchewing

i was in the same boat when i first got my tech ticket. the part 97 website thing is rough, what i did was just find one of those frequency privilege charts that hams put together, ARRL has one thats not too bad. just dont transmit outside what youre allowed and youll be fine, the FCC isnt sitting there waiting to catch new hams making honest mistakes but you still dont want to do it. get your general when you can, makes life a lot easier