Saturday, May 17, 2008

I am a radio ham! (Why?)

Today I passed my technician class license exam! I had been studying for about 2 months I think and I barely squeaked through passing by the bare minimum if I remember rightly. I had planned to study properly, learn it all inside out and then take the test. But my vacation was coming up and I'd be seeing my Uncle Chris (G4HON) and figured it'd be neat if I had passed by then. I started on plan B and studied the question pool and took the test.

Why I became a ham:

I live close to the highway, right where all the cars crash. Recently there was a motorcycle accident and the hillside caught fire and the CDF helicopter came to dump some water. It was reported in the newspaper the next day. What they didn't say in the newspaper, but someone did in the comments below, was that they also found a marijuana growing operation right there and there was lots of chatter about it on the police frequencies. This made me start thinking I'd like a police scanner. I posted at working asking for recommendations. Someone replied and told me that for a similar price to a police scanner I could just get a Ham Radio Handheld Transceiver (HT) and then I could transmit too. That appealed to me a lot since I love the idea of self sufficiency and helping out (I'm first aid/CPR certified, I volunteer with my employer's Emergency Response Team and my wife is a certified EMT). That's how it all started.

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