It has been on my geek “bucket list” for many years to get my license. This story and a recent job change are just the motivation I needed to finally do it.
It has been on my geek “bucket list” for many years to get my license. This story and a recent job change are just the motivation I needed to finally do it.
Now that the there's no Morse requirement, getting a tech license is trivial - any geek can do it with a couple hours glancing over a study guide. Most of the "technical" questions are common sense to anyone with a bit of electrical knowledge, so you just have to familiarize yourself with things that need to be memorized like license restrictions, power limits on various bands, etc.
On getting a ham license. I got a technician license after the Loma Prieta earthquake. About 15 years later I had about two weeks of relative unemployment. In about a week using only Internet study resources I upgraded to General. In another 5 study days, using an online practice Amateur Extra exam, Wikipedia and a helpful website on electronics math, I passed the Extra Exam.
On ham radio equipment. The market for equipment like a solid state transceiver made in the last 20 years is extremely high priced, based on checking the San Francisco Craigslist.
I have been disappointed to see Linux has been squeezed to the margins of ham radio. It appears that the software defined radios appearing are sold with a Windows software interface. The open source software radio from Ettus is a research instrument and I don't see much of an amateur radio community supporting it.
As a side editorial comment: I am having a dickens of a frustrating time getting a Linux laptop to record and process sound. I actually wind up rebooting the laptop when the sound devices hiccup after unplugging a microphone or signal cable.
As an institution and cultural object, American ham radio is one of the oldest Federally established non-monetary and non-commercial and non-broadcast communications institutions. Look at the swarm of cell phone businesses squeezing trillions of dollars out of billions of people worldwide reselling electricity at a markup of 50,000 to 1 or more. Amateur Radio has this really special relationship with the previously inaccessible and formerly free electromagnetic radio spectrum.
Considering the very high commercial cash flow generated by the Federally organized oligopoly of selling chunks of the electromagnetic spectrum exclusively to the highest bidder, resulting in no free cell phone service for anybody ever, Amateur radio is a relatively quiet place.
Motivational! (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
It has been on my geek “bucket list” for many years to get my license. This story and a recent job change are just the motivation I needed to finally do it.
Now that the there's no Morse requirement, getting a tech license is trivial - any geek can do it with a couple hours glancing over a study guide. Most of the "technical" questions are common sense to anyone with a bit of electrical knowledge, so you just have to familiarize yourself with things that need to be memorized like license restrictions, power limits on various bands, etc.
Re:Motivational! (Score:2)
On getting a ham license. I got a technician license after the Loma Prieta earthquake. About 15 years later I had about two weeks of relative unemployment. In about a week using only Internet study resources I upgraded to General. In another 5 study days, using an online practice Amateur Extra exam, Wikipedia and a helpful website on electronics math, I passed the Extra Exam.
On ham radio equipment. The market for equipment like a solid state transceiver made in the last 20 years is extremely high priced, based on checking the San Francisco Craigslist.
I have been disappointed to see Linux has been squeezed to the margins of ham radio. It appears that the software defined radios appearing are sold with a Windows software interface. The open source software radio from Ettus is a research instrument and I don't see much of an amateur radio community supporting it.
As a side editorial comment: I am having a dickens of a frustrating time getting a Linux laptop to record and process sound. I actually wind up rebooting the laptop when the sound devices hiccup after unplugging a microphone or signal cable.
As an institution and cultural object, American ham radio is one of the oldest Federally established non-monetary and non-commercial and non-broadcast communications institutions. Look at the swarm of cell phone businesses squeezing trillions of dollars out of billions of people worldwide reselling electricity at a markup of 50,000 to 1 or more. Amateur Radio has this really special relationship with the previously inaccessible and formerly free electromagnetic radio spectrum.
Considering the very high commercial cash flow generated by the Federally organized oligopoly of selling chunks of the electromagnetic spectrum exclusively to the highest bidder, resulting in no free cell phone service for anybody ever, Amateur radio is a relatively quiet place.