- Joined
- Nov 29, 2017
- Messages
- 237
Why do I need a license?
Yes. I suspect they're much more likely to come after firearms than radios. That was my point."Worry more about the NICS 4473 form"
bkt, isn't that for firearms?
Why do I need a license?
So you can legally maintain and routinely confirm your transmitting comms work BEFORE TEOTWAWKI.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.Why do I need a license?
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.Why do I need a license?
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.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 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.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.
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.Wow, that looks impressive! I'm guessin' the signal would be pretty strong, lol...
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.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.
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.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
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.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
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