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New to Ham

T

timedriver

W6DLB
May 10, 2009
7
0
11
Just got into the database as KJ6AKA about a week ago.Joined a local club,experienced a little time with field day,exchanged a lot of info on my Kenwood tribander.I just joined ARRL this morning as well as joining E.ham forum.Someone suggested joining Qrzed but its in a construction phase at this moment.Whats the general concensus out there regarding forums or organizations that is a must to join? There's so much out there right now and was wondering if its just a preference sort of thing.
Thanx in advance
David:)
 

There is no such thing as a "must join" anything in ham radio. You can participate in the areas, clubs, forums, & activities that interest you and avoid the ones that don't. There's only so much time in the day, anyway. Also, you'll find that your interests change over time. One piece of advice: Be wary of judging what ham radio is about and what the people are like by online personalities :)
 
Hi David, Welcome aboard.....Mmmmm....fresh ham!
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Don't know what QRZed is. Must have that wrong. The self-described "ham radio supersite" is simply qrz.com

http://www.qrz.com

Next....ham radio is....on the radio. Internet ham activities are sometimes a big sideshow...but lots of good information to be had anyway. Try and use it judiciously.

So you're a Technician....see...I found that out about you at qrz.com

Consider getting on 10 meters. That is in the HF spectrum and is subject to excellent DX (long distance talking) This is primarily controlled by the 11 & 1/2 year sunspot cycle and we're approaching the next cycle peak NOW. This means the band is frequently open and you can talk around the country and beyond. You have sideband privileges from 28.300~28.500 You also have full privileges on the 6 meter band from 50~54mhz.

A good, inexpensive stand alone all-mode 6 meter rig is much harder to come by, but all mode 10 meter rigs are all over the place and you can get a decent 10 meter mobile with plenty of features for under $250 new and much less used.

Lots available for you to do....enjoy!!

interview.gif
 
I agree with WW
QRZ is good for some things but mostly it's just a lot of bitching about politics and older hams ragging on younger hams to make themselves feel good.

If you go there pick and choose your sub forums. There's good info you just have to dig for it. If you use the "New Posts" button, it will be all political crap and "rag chew". Ok if you like that stuff, but not very productive or instructive.

Use google if you have specific questions and see where it takes you.
 
I agree with all of the above comments made by everybody.

I'd also like to add - that it is better to take QRZ with a grain of salt. They have an odd fascination for slamming ANYTHING CB. Which -of course- is ridiculous. They have good info - otherwise.

But I think you will find that Hams and CBers get along just fine - right here on the WWRF. I spend more time on this site and learn more - for that reason alone!
 
I -almost- agree with what everybody has said. The part I don't particularly agree with is NOT upgrading. You better do that, there's a bunch you'll miss if you don't. Having said that, congratulations!
- 'Doc
 
Whatever you do, stay away from http://www.worldwidedx.com/ buncha whackos on that site.

http://eham.net/ has a decent product reviews index...take with plenty of salt. They also have an elmers forum and many others...again plenty of salt needed.

Yahoo! Groups - Join or create groups, clubs, forums & communities use the 'find a group' to search for any particular radios and you will find the owners' groups there, email listings, searchable archives and files sections for the radios in their per-group sections. Signal to noise ratio varies depending on the group.

http://www.qrz.com/ Such a high noise to signal ratio, that I only use that site for call sign lookups now.

Ham Radio Home Page - QTH.COM by KA9FOX! Classified swap ads for amateur radio, ham radio and more Very good free ham classifieds, I browse to buy and use to sell...better source than ebay for the most part.
 
SR385 said:
http://www.qrz.com/ Such a high noise to signal ratio, that I only use that site for call sign lookups now.
Click to expand...

Not to be too picky but I think you meant low SNR which is quite true.

Plenty of noise on that site. Biggest problem are the "experts" who have not learned anything new in 30 years and forgotten half of what they did know.
 
HiDef said:
Not to be too picky but I think you meant low SNR which is quite true.

Plenty of noise on that site. Biggest problem are the "experts" who have not learned anything new in 30 years and forgotten half of what they did know.
Click to expand...

No I meant high...which is why I said noise to signal and not signal to noise ;-)
 
OK...not being the politically correct type, I call a spade a spade......
QRZ is only good for taking practice exams for when you want to upgrade your ticket, and call sign look ups, beyond that I would steer clear of their forums, the biggest bunch of overly opinionated, know it all assclowns I ever encountered.....
WW is on the money with 10 meters, another area you may want to explore right out of the gate is UHF/VHF. 2 meters and the 440 Mhz band are usually very active, and your tech license covers it all. I'm just getting my feet wet with the D-Star digital mode, and it's really quite interesting, and it's been a fun challenge to learn it, but even with just analog FM you'll be hard pressed to run out of fun activities on those two bands. Lot's of rag chew nets, emergency nets, like RACES, ARES, and Skywarn, swap shop nets where you might find your next piece of radio equipment all within your local area.

It's a big world out there in amateur radio, many different avenues to explore, some you'll latch onto, others you might not enjoy so much.
Dive into what your license will allow, soon you'll want to upgrade and explore even farther.....welcome to the zoo, enjoy the ride.....
 
QRZ Rules..

I was able to pass my test in studying for 45 mins
(in the process enabled my friend who failed 3 or 4 times to let me show him what he needed to know)

We both passed ( was yrs ago of course..)
Of course QRZ also rules for call sign look ups..

everything else though they basically suck..

Ham radio is Great..
But so too are the many other forms of 2 way communications .
( something they fail and or refuse to understand)

Ahh...

Most Important though..

Condos on passing indeed and welcome to ham
(just do not forget about the other forms of 2way communications )
 
congrats david.....welcome to ham radio. you will enjoy it. you have GREAT callsign too KJ6AKA aka also known as... definately upgrade to general if interested in DX at all. general gets you at least 85% of the frequency that extra class does. you can do some real long propogation there too. general is not really that much harder than tech either. qrz practice tests will get you tuned in to test. (one thing qrz is good for) again congrats and hope to hear you on the air sometime.
troy
AJ4QG
 
KJ6AKA this is KJ6AER! Congrats!!! Definitely go for General while you're in the learning mode. I am actually taking the exam on 7/10. I read a little of the ARRL book and listened to the podcasts at Home of the Ham Radio Podclass - Get your first ham and then started reading the questions and correct answers. I've been passing practice exams, so I hope to pass. This is in less than a month. I just got Technician on 6/16! Go for it! HF is cool!
 

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