Angry_Fisherman

It started for me in the early 90's when I bought a police scanner. I was listening to local police and fire activity. That graduated to listening to a couple 2 meter repeaters. Then I got a CB, then I bought the Gordon West book and got my ham ticket. fast forward 15 years later, in all my cars, I've installed a mobile radio. I've got a handful of friends who are licensed too. So when we go hiking, fishing, or snowboarding we have HT's with us to communicate because sometimes we get split up. Now that I'm into the Jeep thing, I've met a couple other jeepers that strictly use the ham bands on the trail.

ladiver

I got my ticket for emergency comms and CERT team.

Calltheball

I just got mine in October...strictly for truck to truck comms. About a dozen guys I frequently wheel with all decided we are sick of the limitations of cb's and were willing to lay out the cash and the time to get certified. VA7 FKU...yeah, that's right.

Just Jim

Just got my ticket. Buying a Jeep got me thinking about radios again, but I didn't want to be stuck listening to the "hash and trash" on CB.

Have had an amateur license on my mental "to do" list for years, and now just seemed to be the time.

The Yeasu 2900 goes into my JK in a week or so, and in the interim, am enjoying an FT-60 as a short term mobile rig.

Spoke with a gent in Pennsylvania tonight on my way home (I'm in California), what fun!

Perhaps I'll catch you on the air sometime!

Cheers... Jim KK6BBH

NQ3X

I got my ticket in 1992, while I was at Fort Bragg. I had always had a passing interest in technology. Then the CO of my signals company decided to send all of us to the on-base branch of Fayetteville Technical Community College to take a class called "RF Fundamentals". Turns out it was a prep class for the introductory class of license (at that time, Novice). It was fascinating and informative. And there was a station in one corner of the room we could use. I advanced to General class in weeks. Then I stopped. For years I just checked into the weekly 2m net, diddled around on HF with a barefoot rig and wire antennas. Then, about 10 years ago, I got more heavily involved in a local (at the time) amateur radio club, got bitten by the contesting and DXing bug, got my Extra, and I have never looked back.

Now that I am DX, things are a little different. I still go after DX if I hear it (just worked H44 the other day for an all-time new one). But usually I'm handing out USVI to interested hams. I just got into digital modes for the first time (my usual mode is CW), so I'm playing around with RTTY and PSK. In fact, I'm about to fire the radio up in a few minutes and see who's listening on 10MHz.

So you could say that amateur radio found me. Now it's my most involving hobby!

Some advice:

Do get involved with a local club. Finding a mentor (we call them "Elmers") is a time-honored way of learning what you need to pass the test. Many local clubs offer licensing classes. Investigate that! Might be a better method than slogging through a book yourself. A search at Search for ARRL Affiliated Clubs shows a passel of clubs in the greater Houston area.

Recognize that your license is a ticket to learn. You don't need to know everything to pass the test, and NO ham I know would pass every license exam with 100% scores. Hell, I hold the highest class of license and I struggle mightily with the technical side; wait until you get to mapping complex impedance!

Don't spend too much time with practice exams. They prepare you for the test; they don't actually teach you anything other than the answer to Question 12 is B. That's ... less than ideal. If you prefer practice exams, though, opt for Hamtestonline, because they're about the only ones who train you in the actual information as well.

Welcome to the hobby!

Cheers,

Bob WP2XX