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newbie of all newbie questions.starting point.

T

Theizzardking

Member
Apr 28, 2009
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hey i tried search for a thread that was kind of an all encompassing getting started thread but no such luck,

i know you guys will initially point me in the direction of a club, i've checked and it's a bit far away for me,for a hobbie. that said i'm looking for a online pdf or source to start studying for the test or at least a syllabus. also i'm looking at this unit. The Galaxy DX55V and wonder if it will be fine for a beginner.i'm only looking to chat with another beginner about 30-50 miles away with some elevation changes in between say +/- of about 500-800ft and as my skills grow i would like to be able to use this in my mountain/camping rig as a eccom system as i camp in some very remote places in bc and here in washington,also i might want to chat to some of you one day.


no worries either, i'm not one of these stupid kids that will be ruining things for you. from the reading i have found i won't be interfering with police and fire transmissions or the myriad of other horrible things that can happen from an inexperienced or just plain jerk operator.i'm just a rouge scholar and prefer to educate myself.


also i'm looking to get my unit before my license to help facilitate my learning process so when i'm learning how to do something i can practice on my unit with a dead key or just have it unplugged. a good reference to what and where things are on my unit. i understand this is not how most of you came into the fold, and sorry for being a bit different but this is how i best learn can you please just help me and not turn up you nose.And if you feel the need to do so keep it to yourself.

i look forward to be contributing member of the ham community and will do my best to preserve the old school thought and way of things when i enter your world ;-)

thanks again guys and look forward to a bit of banter.
 

The only online study that I know of other than the practice tests are from Dauntless Software - FCC Test and Ham Exam Preparation. They want something like $30 for the software course.

You can purchase the Gordon West books from Amazon.com, which are easy to read and will get you ready for the first test in no time. The first license class test you have to pass is the Technician class, so you should get that book first.

You can take practice tests at eham.net and qrz.com. These are the same questions as the real thing, so once you can consistently pass the practice test, you will pass the real test.

As as the Galaxy DX55V goes, that's not really an amateur radio even if some of the online stores call it one. It's really just a CB that can also use some of the 10 meter ham frequencies. It's not even going to be able to do the initial list of requirements you listed below, certainly not the remote hiking stuff.

The type of radio you should look for, IMO is either a mobile or handheld 2 meter & 440 radio. There are a lot out there that are available used or new. You and your buddy will be able to talk to each other using the repeaters in your area, no problem. The antenna requirements will also be a lot easier than something in the 11m/10m band. Whether or not you decide to go with a handheld or a mobile really depends on what you want to use it for, but you should definately start there. It's fine if you want to get one before you get your license, just remember that you're not allowed to transmit until you do.

Hope that helps...
 
Get yourself a 2 meter handheld, you can buy one new for less than that 55 thing. Do not transmit untill you have your callsign posted online. I don't know why some feel that they can "deed key' on ham frequencies. Good luck and have fun.
Rich
 
@ loose cannon-hey thanks so much for that! will print out and enjoy over a tall cold one asap!

moleculo- hey great info, good call on the galaxy unit, i was wondering if it was a glorified cb or not, can you guy recommend a good 440/2meter unit that's cheap ? and are you sure that the 2 meter can handle even if theirs a lack of repeaters? I'd really like to get into skipping and learn that eventually. Not to sound too far out there but i'm bit of a survivalist and don't really want to rely on other people systems or others in general, i already have a solar power battery bank that i plan to use to power this guy and my amps and myrid of other toys i plan on getting, the requirements above were the most basic that came to mind.

again thanks alot for your time and the objective information you provided to assist me.
 
n8fgb said:
Get yourself a 2 meter handheld, you can buy one new for less than that 55 thing. Do not transmit untill you have your callsign posted online. I don't know why some feel that they can "deed key' on ham frequencies. Good luck and have fun.
Rich
Click to expand...


yeah don't quote me on that, my terminology is infantile at best.what i mean is just not transmitting anything.
 
This is an opinion that's different from most. I've come by this opinion from experiencing part of it, and by watching several others go through the same thing. You ready?

A 'hand-held' radio is probably not the best idea in the world for a 'first' radio. Why? Because they tend to be very limiting in ability, and quite difficult to 'master' without always referring to the manual. That does NOT mean that they don't have their uses, because they certainly do! But be very realistic in what you want or expect from their use.
A 'hand-held' radio's primary draw back is it's antenna. If you expect to carry it in your shirt pocket, or on your belt, and don't want an awkward antenna poking you in inconvenient places, that antenna has to be small/short. A small or short antenna means you will not have much range, there's just no way around that. Sure, there will be occasions when it'll 'hit' any repeater that's local, but other times when it won't 'hit' anything but the floor when you get mad at it.
A small radio is nice in that it's more convenient to carry. They can also be made smaller to a ridiculous point, how the @#$$ do you hit just one button at a time? Some of us are more 'challenged' in that aspect than others. And because 'hand-held's are so small you are going to be 'blessed' with using a menu for the particular adjustments you may want. There's no standardization with menus, they are almost all different from radio to radio, and then you get to learn what each @#$ menu item does. (Can you tell I don't like menus?)
'Hand-held' radios are just the thing for short range, walk around communications. They will never do, or have the abilities of a fixed, or mobile radio with a decent sized antenna. If that satisfies your wants, then that's what you ought to get. Just don't expect to do things they were never meant to do. When you first get into this hobby I don't think a 'hand-held' radio will keep you interested too long, too limiting. Best advice is to do a lot of thinking about what you want, and or expect to be able to do. Get whatever will satisfy those expectations.
- 'Doc
 
yea, that's why i was originally looking at the ten meter radios instead of the ht/2 meter ones, as luck would have the guy who used to own the house before me was well into the ham scene as he had 2 antennas mounted about 50-60 feet up a tree in my back yard, their still there i have no idea of the brand or config of said antennas, my thinking is that's a good spot to mount them and i'll see what they are when i climb up to start mounting my system, either i'll keep them and return the news i buy or just swap them out with some new ones.

are you guys saying that i should focus more on the 2 meter bandwidth?
from what i;ve been reading that's where you get alot of the stupid kids/ass hats and such;-)

my "base camp" is a volkwagen bus which has a 3 battery bank system powered by solar (still need to finish panel but it's almost done)
i plan on having my gf stay in the bus while i solo some mountains in b.c. and hopefully Alaska. i don;t mind having the full radio set up in the bus and maybe a ht to communicate with that from various places on the mountain, line of sight comms are really no good in heavy woods and vastly changing topography.

i really don't want to be limited by repeaters and line of sight, i'd like to be able to make direct comms mostly.
 
Best suggestion I can think of is don't stop with the Technician license, at least get a General class license. That opens up all of the bands instead of just the VHF/UHF bands. Hugely less limiting!
If you are looking for good 'back-up' communications ability, ham radio isn't bad. It's also not something I would depend on without preparations. Get a 'sat-phone', they typically are usable 'right now'. You don't have to depend on ol'whatshisname who'z watching some ball game, you know? that's sort of off in left field, but something to think about.
- 'Doc
 
yeah thought about a sat. phone but again i really don't want to depends on some sprint or government entity to maintain and regulate my cooms along with the fact that they can get very expensive very quickly for the minutes used opposed to a ham system is a one time start up cost and only have to pay to keep up and upgrade licenses. i plan on learning for the rest of my life , a ticket taken from my grandad who has 3 phd's a few masters and does nothing but sit around the house and watch football, he's just been going to school his whole life after a navy stint and working for a number of years.If i can't continue to expand myself and become better than what i am now or maybe in the future i should just end it now hahaha, thanks alot guys for being so amicable with me and my quasi stupid banter. i understand what i'm ask here is a bit unusable as i searched for about a week across the net before i came here to ask.

It may be what i want doesn't exists or is very expensive/hard to pull off.
 
W5LZ said:
Best suggestion I can think of is don't stop with the Technician license, at least get a General class license. That opens up all of the bands instead of just the VHF/UHF bands. Hugely less limiting!
If you are looking for good 'back-up' communications ability, ham radio isn't bad. It's also not something I would depend on without preparations. Get a 'sat-phone', they typically are usable 'right now'. You don't have to depend on ol'whatshisname who'z watching some ball game, you know? that's sort of off in left field, but something to think about.
- 'Doc
Click to expand...

also what bands am i looking at? i don't mind studying and testing for a few months before i can transmit so getting my license to the right grade is no biggie to me, it's just having the right equipment that once i get the ok from the fcc i'll be in business that and being able to study more intensively on the subject i'll be using most.(even though a broad general knowledge is necessary and will be acquired.)
 
What bands? Starting at the bottom, just above the AM broadcast band there's 160 meters. Several more scattered through the HF bands to just above the CB band, 10 meters. Then you start into the VHF bands, 6 and 2 meters, the UHF bands, and then into the 1.2 Ghz areas. No idea what it is now, but at one time any thing above about 3 Ghz was sort of open range, if you could 'get there', you could do about whatever you wanted to. I'm sure that's changed by now, but wouldn't bet too much on it.
And just for grins. All the amateur licenses are for terrestrial radio stations except for the Extra class! With that license you can do extraterrestrial radio stations without getting an exemption (like the astronauts get). That's why I got one, I'm just waiting for them to call me for my ride on the shuttle. Then I can legally sign my call as 'space mobile'... "W5LZ/SP"!
- 'Doc
 
Izzardking....

I really like your attitude and approach to this whole thing, and it's actually quite refreshing. As 'Doc suggested, you need to get at least the General license to accomplish your initial goal. While you're at it, you might as well study a little longer and get the Extra license, too. These are what you need to be able to amateur radio to it's fullest extent...talking whenever and wherever you want (mother nature cooperating, of course).

You'll find that you can find some fairly compact HF/VHF/UHF all in one radios that will work awesome in that Bus. Take a look at the Yaesu FT-857D, for example. When you start looking at all mode/all band (really "most" band") radios, you'll notice that they're not cheap, but you get so much out of them. You can talk all over the world with a radio like this. You'll need a couple different antennas on your bus, but don't let that deter you. There is also the capability to send/receive email over the airwaves without even having an internet connection if you want to get that deep into it!

Anyway, start reading the test material, and if you can figure out how to get a rig like the 857D, start listening. You don't even need a proper antenna to listen...
 
hey, thanks for the complement, i don't think i'm doing anything special just showing a bit of respect is all ;-)

so i though i'd just share, took the practice test without doing any studying to get a basline of where i am at now, 73%, now to hit the books and shoot for the 100% mark i feel if i'm going to go for extra class and the rest i should be able to ace this test every time. it may not be the way it actually is but the way i think it should be for everyone.

and moleculo- now we're talking that more like the unit i had in mind a very baud band unit (pun intended),with plenty of room to grow, and really the price isn't too horrible some of those kenwood units are upwards of 1K, found that one for 700 from universal radio.

thanks alot guys and will be in touch from time to time till i get my license and actually know something to chat to you guys about, right now it's probably like talking to a brick wall!
 

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