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"Worry more about the NICS 4473 form"
bkt, isn't that for firearms?
 
Acquiring the license means you have passed an exam which implies you are reasonably familiar with several important safety issues which help keep you and others safe from RFI and other issues.

It is true that anyone may use amateur radio bands in an emergency where other forms of communication are unavailable. It is also true that the FCC is not going to send out the goon squad looking for people broadcasting without a license in a grid-down or other catastrophe. Heck, with many radios, it's possible to transmit well outside the amateur bands and accidentally interfere with emergency services.

However, good luck learning how to use your radio on the fly. Do you know your local repeaters' frequencies? Do you understand simplex versus duplex? Cross-band repeating? Programming your radio? Digital modes and effective long-range low-power communication? Antenna tuning and polarization? Hams legitimately enjoy helping newbies learn. They also have no tolerance for people on the air who don't have a call sign.

Amateur radio is not the only radio solution available to you. If you absolutely don't want to take an exam, use FRS, MURS or CB. GMRS requires a license - $75, but there's no test. I suspect that would rub you the wrong way the same as amateur radio.
 
"Worry more about the NICS 4473 form"
bkt, isn't that for firearms?
Yes. I suspect they're much more likely to come after firearms than radios. That was my point.
 
The biggest thing to me is it limits the trash. Look at CB for example.

CB is open to anyone and pretty anonymous unless you get a fox hunter (think is the name) who tracks you down. There are lots of trash on it though. People advertising happy ending massages (in Milwaukee) and others selling stolen trucker items from out of state truckers. (offered a good deal on a GPS....didn't do it, told him how bad that was) And you get people blasting thousands of watts stomping on the band especially during skip with little risk.

Ham radio you weed out the trash by making them take a test. The band is usually polite and professional. I like CB for just chit chat and getting "bear reports" but I use the 2m for emergency weather chatter and people wanting to talk for a longer time frame.

If people didn't need a license it would soon be filled with trash. Although I do see your point Uncle Sam has your Ebay, Amazon, or just your credit card record of ordering the supplies. Unless you used cash for ALL of it they know.
 
Why do I need a license?

Biggest reason for me is to avoid the fines, the license is 15 bucks and you're good for 10 years.. We have an Amateur Radio Club a couple counties over, and I have been told they like to turn people in for any non legal activity. Seems to me they could find better things to do but..............
 
Why do I need a license?
Because the people with a license get snotty and turn you in. If you sound right and don't make pest of yourself you are probably fine. Some of the licensed people are proud of their license and feel that makes them important.

They will come after the guns first but communications is second. Think about this, you always send troops into battle with guns and communications. The latter has killed more enemies. In WWII the Navaho Code Talkers would have been nothing without radios. Your license could well put a target on your back. By all means study the license material and learn it.
 
Why do I need a license?
Think of it like someone considering becoming a physician asking "Why do I need a license?" Just like a fake doctor can practice medicine without a license, so can a radio operator. And just like that unlicensed fake doctor, an unlicensed radio operator will stick out like a turd in a punch bowl and be spotted a mile away. And again, just like that unlicensed fake doctor, the unlicensed radio operator will be shunned by pretty much everybody on the planet. Nobody wants a pretender.

Getting a ham license is so simple, easy, and cheap that there's no reason not to. The question I would ask is, "Why don't you want to get a license?" That would be an interesting answer.
 
A ham license once meant something. It was a credential that you knew morse code and understood how radios operated and could draw schematics of circuits to prove it. Once upon a time hams gave their calls at the end and beginning of each transmission. Hams were courteous and supportive and a vital link in emergency communications.

That is all in the past. Now the test for even the extra class requires NO CODE and NO real technical knowledge, just memorization. There is no reason not to get a license if you want to transmit on hams frequencies. But then again why get one since it is almost meaningless and the FCC doesn't really give a fat rat's tail about it. The FCC washed its hands of it and started the VE so mass licensing would be possible.

My opinion is the reason for the deregulation, the demise of the morse code, and Cracker Jack prize licenses was because China was mass manufacturing ham gear. When amateur radios were no longer made in the USA or homebrewed, then in order to sell all this mass slave labor manufactured equipment, then more hams were needed. The only way to get new hams was to make getting a license easy. Millions of new hams meant billions of dollars for the Chinese manufacturers.

Addressing ham radio as it might benefit rural living or homesteaders, I think if you have cell service and internet, then ham radio for emergencies is useless. If you live remote without cell or internet, then HF ham radio might be a lifesaver.

My greatest accomplishment in ham radio was building my final receiver, an all-tube dual conversion with 2 RF and 3 fixed IF and one tunable IF with a crystal-controlled front end for AM and CW. It was so selective and stable that I could tune in SSB and listen for an hour without any noticeable drift.

The only SSB I listen to before selling it and giving up radio, was 75 meters long path. I had worked 75 long path into Russia several times using AM over the years. In later years it was impossible due to all the contesters and pileup of SSB with clowns running 5KW linears and 3 element beams.

My final days of operation were darkened with all the idiots that had got their easy peasy no code licenses that enjoyed jamming AM signals even in the early morning. When SSB came in the late 50s and grew through the 60s pushing out AM, there was a gentleman's agreement that the AM operators and homebrewers would use a few certain frequencies for transmitting. The mayhem started in the 80s and grew to wars in the 90s and finally, after 2000, I had had enough. No respect, no IDs, constant one-way transmissions meant only to jam others, no respect for the history of ham radio and why it played an important part, especially for advancement in military communications, and then if an emergency occurred and you could only get a receivable signal through using CW it might be a lifesaver. Now in such a case, you must realize not one out of 1000 could copy it. I saw no reason to operate anymore.

Then the advent of texting on cell phones added a new element to emergency communications, so it was another dagger in the heart of ham radio as an emergency service.
 
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Uh...ham operators are still, to this day, a primary resource in disasters, helping coordinate first responders and pass on communications. Overwhelmed and/or damaged mobile phone networks are a problem in many disasters, while ham frequencies are free and clear.

For me, amateur radio is just another aspect of prepping. I can pretty reliably communicate locally with friends with an NVIS antenna, and I don't require any infrastructure outside my control. That's the biggest win, IMO.

Plenty of people still use CW. If you didn't like operating phone due to all the losers, why didn't you just do CW exclusively? You'd have been in with the folks who bothered to learn it.

FWIW, the hams around me are really great - no idiots. All are helpful and knowledgeable. But I have heard my share of brain-donors on HF at times.

Also, the FCC dropped Morse code as a requirement back in 2006 which was quite a while before the inexpensive Chinese radios flooded the market.
 
The biggest thing to me is it limits the trash. Look at CB for example.

CB is open to anyone and pretty anonymous unless you get a fox hunter (think is the name) who tracks you down. There are lots of trash on it though. People advertising happy ending massages (in Milwaukee) and others selling stolen trucker items from out of state truckers. (offered a good deal on a GPS....didn't do it, told him how bad that was) And you get people blasting thousands of watts stomping on the band especially during skip with little risk.

Ham radio you weed out the trash by making them take a test. The band is usually polite and professional. I like CB for just chit chat and getting "bear reports" but I use the 2m for emergency weather chatter and people wanting to talk for a longer time frame.

If people didn't need a license it would soon be filled with trash. Although I do see your point Uncle Sam has your Ebay, Amazon, or just your credit card record of ordering the supplies. Unless you used cash for ALL of it they know.
I won't refer to people as trash over ham radio licensing. In the old days to get a General license 13 WPM of morse code was required. When the test was given by the FCC it was random characters and you had to copy so many in a row correctly or you failed. Then they softened and made up fake QSOs that were easier to copy. The test of old required the actual drawing of circuits. You might be asked to draw a schematic of a Hartley oscillator. Drawing a Colpitts would be counted as wrong. You had to know things like figuring modulation transformer ratios, biasing, ohms law, antenna formulas, and so on. Then the test was multiple choice and no more drawing of schematics and one had a 25% chance of guessing, but they still made it tricky. The idea was to make sure licensees really had the knowledge and code copying skills.

Interesting that back in the old days, one had to be a General for 5 years and have proof of operation, a clean record, and then pass the 20 WPM code and engineer level written test to get an extra class.

1984 the FCC decided to wash its hands of all it could so testing was turned over to volunteer examiners that submitted questions that were approved by the ARRL. Later W5YI became a national VEC administrator. I was certified by both. I saw a watering down of having actual radio knowledge and code tests that were made much too easy.

2007 morse code is dropped for all license classes and only three license classes remained. The multiple choice tests were made easier to pass.

While I have respect for anyone getting their license, I don't respect them the same as the old-time hams that earned their license the hard way. An extra class earned today doesn't mean much compared to the extra class of old that was revered as the Doctorate of amateur radio.

I saw a breakdown of courtesy and respect with the advent of the 2007 deregulations. Ham radio became a free for all with many old hams becoming police and jammed bands with contesting and it's hit and run. Groups became cliques and everyone thought they had ownership over frequencies they used at certain times. Many so-called emergency nets were formed just to claim frequencies.

Some QSOs would go on for hours before any call signs were given. It was unknown who had a license and who didn't. 10 meters was full of pirate radio many using fake call signs. Breaking in on a VOX group asking for call signs was usually ignored unless I was running high power.

Be that as it may, I won't label these poor operators (we used to call them LIDS) as trash just because their conduct is as bad as the pirate operators. I won't call the pirate operators trash either. They are violating the law but so are the ones that don't ID and intentionally start their group over an ongoing QSO. So many big signals are running illegal power. The FCC rarely acts even though there are numerous violations.


I think the time is coming when ham tests will be a thing of the past. Licenses will be issued for a fee and that is that. Testing is accomplishing nothing. Anyone that has computer skills and understands all the smart cell phone features, could buy a transceiver and an antenna and with a bit of study and instruction following, could be on the air. I would have to laugh at all that would raise hell over this and all I can say is now you know what the hams that wanted to keep morse code and more electronics knowledge in licensing, including knowing and respecting ham history, felt when their hard-earned licenses were pissed on and disrespected for the sake of selling Japanese and Chinese made mass produced radios.

I know I sound like sour grapes here, but I am one who that believes if you want to understand the present, then you must learn history. Just like this forum is for modern-day homesteading, it is based on the past and what can we take from the past that will work with modern technology and we can at least achieve self-sufficiency to a better level than those that want to erase history and build a new world based on false narratives and hair-brained ideologies.
 
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Plenty of people still use CW. If you didn't like operating phone due to all the losers, why didn't you just do CW exclusively? You'd have been in with the folks who bothered to learn it.
I did and most of my many years were operating CW and generally with emergency traffic nets. However, why should I have to give up what I enjoyed so all the new hams can flood the bands and take over to contest and start pointless groups? Very few hams licensed since 2007 know or care about emergency communications.

I am not saying any licensed after 2007 are losers, just don't have the respect for what once was a great hobby that served many purposes. I hear them criticize and run down us older long-time licensed hams. I worked hard to earn my extra so I could use all the bands and all the modes allowed. I was also a First Class licensed broadcast engineer.

I still keep my license up and have a friend that has offered to give me my old 2 MTR Icom and HF 730 back anytime I want them. I still have my old nickel-iron batteries and bike-driven alternator charger that would power them for days.
 
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Thank you for the educational posts... I'm not a ham radio operator, but the oausa.net site used to be devoted to ham radio testing and operation. The site was geared toward ham radio use in overland rigs. The guy who set up that site went on to create the 'American Adventurist' website, can't recall if there's any ham-related forum there. I'm just throwin' this out there in case anybody interested in ham radio operation wants to check the sites. :rolleyes:
 
My commercial USA-made station of the past.
Comm ham.jpg
 
Wow, that looks impressive! I'm guessin' the signal would be pretty strong, lol... ;)
It is several transmitters and receivers. The highest power was 120 watts out. I could only use one transmitter and one receiver at a time. All were restored and worked but generally, my Collins set (in the corner top and bottom shelf) were the ones I used. The National 303 and Johnson Ranger also saw lots of use as did a Heathkit DX 100 that is not shown.

Once my all-home brew station was finished it was all I used until I sold it all off. It was a plate-modulated 300-watts output transmitter and a dual conversion receiver with extra RF and IF stages. It was as good or better than the National 303 or the Collins 75A2.
 
It is several transmitters and receivers. The highest power was 120 watts out. I could only use one transmitter and one receiver at a time. All were restored and worked but generally, my Collins set (in the corner top and bottom shelf) were the ones I used. The National 303 and Johnson Ranger also saw lots of use as did a Heathkit DX 100 that is not shown.

Once my all-home brew station was finished it was all I used until I sold it all off. It was a plate-modulated 300-watts output transmitter and a dual conversion receiver with extra RF and IF stages. It was as good or better than the National 303 or the Collins 75A2.
I built a Heathkit AM FM receiver and amp while in the navy. When I got out they shipped me all if my stuff except the stereo. Bummer.

I was trained on tube based radar but only worked solid state stuff once I made it to the fleet. I was told my training would allow me to get a first class license but was advised against it because it would limit my job opportunities.

Thought I would be fixing microwave transmission towers when I got out in 1979. But there were these new things called computers that needed fixed.

Ben
 
I built a Heathkit AM FM receiver and amp while in the navy. When I got out they shipped me all if my stuff except the stereo. Bummer.

I was trained on tube based radar but only worked solid state stuff once I made it to the fleet. I was told my training would allow me to get a first class license but was advised against it because it would limit my job opportunities.

Thought I would be fixing microwave transmission towers when I got out in 1979. But there were these new things called computers that needed fixed.

Ben
While my broadcast and audio engineering degree were up to date technology-wise in 1971, it was obsolete by 1975. Automation, FM, and solid-state equipment took over commercial radio, and none of that interested me. Solid state and circuit boards made to toss and replace, weren't to my liking.
 
We built a Heathkit Sixer and Twoer as a Patrol Project in the Boy Scouts in the mid-60s. Since we had to learn Morse Code anyway, our Ham Scoutmaster decided we'd all get Technician licences. Weekly nets on both bands, working DX when 6 meters opened up and even operating mobile when we hit 16. My parents had me build a second Sixer that they listened on so I could let them know if I was going to be late coming in and couldn't find a 'working pay phone'. Over the years I advanced to extra class and got a vanity call - KC4RP. Ham Radio offers a lot that the others don't. 1KW in power for starters. Several bands you can use and several modes to use. RadioTeletype and other digital text bands, CW (Morse code - can be sent/received on an attached computer), SSTV (Slow Scan TV) allows sending of pictures, Voice (usually SSB or FM), networks(informal or formal), emergency practice drills like field day, and more. Usually contests every weekend. You can also learn what's happening in places from the guys experiencing it and not CNN or Facebook. Often major disaters like Haitian earthquakes and Tsunamis rely on Hams to provide news and updates to response crews and planners. The tests at Technician class are fairly easy and mostly just rules and regs. Bands are VHF/UHF and mostly local. General and above get the HF(long distance) band and it gets into a little radio theory but still pretty easy. Extra class is a little challenging but if I managed to pass .... NO MORSE CODE is required anymore. Plenty of free and paid study guides on the web. Radios run from under $100 for HTs (most are multiband and for local repeaters or simplex around the farm or homestead to 100 watt base and mobile units (couple of hundred and up). Antennas can be a length of wire to eleborate, tower mounted beams. I've even used the metal rain gutters on my house and made hundereds of north and south American, European, Asian, African, Aussie and Pacific Island contacts with them. Good mobile antennas out there too. I've operated mobile from a John Deere tractor and my Gator too. As far as CB, I keep one squelched on a usually idle channel to alert me if 10 meter skip is fixing to open up. Been active for 56 years at this and seen a lot of changes. Feel free to ask questions. Currently adding a new office/shack to my barn - wiring and all. Feel free to ask questions if you have them. 73 de KC4RP
 
Welcome @AlabamaHam! Take a moment to post in the New Member Info section and say hi to everyone.
 
We built a Heathkit Sixer and Twoer as a Patrol Project in the Boy Scouts in the mid-60s. Since we had to learn Morse Code anyway, our Ham Scoutmaster decided we'd all get Technician licences. Weekly nets on both bands, working DX when 6 meters opened up and even operating mobile when we hit 16. My parents had me build a second Sixer that they listened on so I could let them know if I was going to be late coming in and couldn't find a 'working pay phone'. Over the years I advanced to extra class and got a vanity call - KC4RP. Ham Radio offers a lot that the others don't. 1KW in power for starters. Several bands you can use and several modes to use. RadioTeletype and other digital text bands, CW (Morse code - can be sent/received on an attached computer), SSTV (Slow Scan TV) allows sending of pictures, Voice (usually SSB or FM), networks(informal or formal), emergency practice drills like field day, and more. Usually contests every weekend. You can also learn what's happening in places from the guys experiencing it and not CNN or Facebook. Often major disaters like Haitian earthquakes and Tsunamis rely on Hams to provide news and updates to response crews and planners. The tests at Technician class are fairly easy and mostly just rules and regs. Bands are VHF/UHF and mostly local. General and above get the HF(long distance) band and it gets into a little radio theory but still pretty easy. Extra class is a little challenging but if I managed to pass .... NO MORSE CODE is required anymore. Plenty of free and paid study guides on the web. Radios run from under $100 for HTs (most are multiband and for local repeaters or simplex around the farm or homestead to 100 watt base and mobile units (couple of hundred and up). Antennas can be a length of wire to eleborate, tower mounted beams. I've even used the metal rain gutters on my house and made hundereds of north and south American, European, Asian, African, Aussie and Pacific Island contacts with them. Good mobile antennas out there too. I've operated mobile from a John Deere tractor and my Gator too. As far as CB, I keep one squelched on a usually idle channel to alert me if 10 meter skip is fixing to open up. Been active for 56 years at this and seen a lot of changes. Feel free to ask questions. Currently adding a new office/shack to my barn - wiring and all. Feel free to ask questions if you have them. 73 de KC4RP
Welcome and great to see another long-time ham here. It is a great hobby although it has changed. It does offer another means of communication for rural dwellers. Before cell phones and in the days of spotty repeater service and I was doing a lot of traveling to work on remote highways, I reported several accidents while transmitting on 40 meters. It was amazing how fast the report could get back to the police with jurisdiction.

I remember 1983 and the hams that reported the Granada invasion.
 
I've been a ham since 94. Ran a EmComm group for our county for 11 years. Folks of various ages and skill levels. Almost to a person they were primarily interested in helping out our community. We almost always had several severe weather nets through out the year. Several times responded to tornado touch downs and help with comm's in surrounding counties. Did a lot of public service events to help sharpen our skills.
I'm not active near as much any more, but sure don't regret the time spent at it.
 

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