Congratulations: 73's
From a ham for over 50 years

 

Congratulations from another General!

 

I have no idea what any of that means, but congratulations! 😁

 

It is a ham radio designation that determines the bands you may use,

The First (Technician) is mostly UHF/VHF , Then comes the General allows much(most ) of the HF bands also General allows up to 1500 watts transmit where Tech is only 200 watts.

 

Don't wait too long. I tested & got general last year but still haven't gotten my equipment. Not entirely true. I did buy a Baofeng UV 5R Pro. But I got busy with other projects and haven't done much. Don't wait around or you will forget everything.

 

I have an HT so I can talk on the FM bands all I want. HF rigs aren’t particularly cheap so I need to save my pop can money. One of my cats needs to go to the vet on Monday and I need to have a talk with my Uncle Sam. Maybe I’ll get enough back this year to buy a Yaesu 710 at least, or even a 991! It would be the second time in 22 years I got money back (usually I have to pay in because I’m self employed) but I have hopes.

ETA: Christmas is almost here: Gift cards to HRO are welcome!

 

Congrats, did mine this summer.

 

Congrats.

 

Way to go! My husband and I were Techs, he passed the tech plus. The Volunteer Examiners were always so nice with him being blind.

 

 

General here since 2005, with radar endorsement. Congrats on passing the test!!

 

Do you mean you have a GROL?

There is no RADAR endorsement in the Amateur Radio Service.

 

Congrats from an Extra! 👍 Passed that one by skin of my teeth...

 

The VEs had me take an Extra exam while I was there. Yup, that one’s a LOT harder! And the General exam was significantly harder than the Technician! The Extra was in Greek, I think, with a fair number of hieroglyphs.

 

Congratulations! That is awesome!

 

Great to see you here in the Generals club. KI5UYD

 

Good news fo ryou.
Hope to run across you sometime on HF....

 

Congrats! Look into HF NVIS and practice it for 'local area' 0-500mi off-grid comms stuff since those bands are open to you now.

And......this is my first post, been lurking for a little bit but decided to hop on here and try and give back a little.

 

I’m looking into a number of things! And welcome to the boards! Looking forward to learning together.

 

Congratulations! Now none of your money is safe.

 

Might I make a suggestion?
Get your Extra now, while the General knowledge is fresh in your head and you have momentum

From what I've heard from others it's easier that way.

Hubs and I slammed through Technian, General and Extra back to back. We both took Technician and General in the same sitting and Extra a couple of weeks later. We're both glad we did. It was an intense month of prep but we then had the exams behind us and we each have 'a license to learn.'

Setting up your first base station and antenna is a 'test' unto itself, lol.

We started the licensing process early Spring 2023. We are almost done with getting our 'Ham shack' set up, actually it's more like a 'Ham desk,' lol.

Are you a member of your local radio club? Having an Elmer or several is invaluable while compiling and constructing your first set up.

LARGE LARGE CONGRATS AND 73s FROM BOTH OF US! 😊😊

 

Field Day is your friend!!! Lots of learning opportunities and hands-on with fellow club members. Lots of times a great social time as well.

 

Congratulations! Now none of your money is safe.

No kidding! I could spend $2500 easy on a basic setup. If I really wanted something fancy, make that $15k! It's as bad as when I was shooting competition. Teach your kids about ham radio and/or shooting. They'll never have money for drugs!

<snip>

Are you a member of your local radio club? Having an Elmer or several is invaluable while compiling and constructing your first set up.

LARGE LARGE CONGRATS AND 73s FROM BOTH OF US! 😊😊

I am! They're the ones who proctored both of my tests. This one was in the VEC's living room with another guy sitting for his Extra.

It took me two months to study for my General and right now, I'm just not feeling up for it. Math and physics really aren't my thing so learning this stuff is an extra challenge. Having an Extra doesn't really open many more frequencies up but it does teach some nice in-depth electrical principles. Learning is a good thing! But my brain is still fried, and I also have lifetime access to the resources I've used. If it's meant to be, it'll come.

My first challenge is setting up my HF rig. I've got the power supply (30 amp) and I've pretty much narrowed it down to either of two radios (the Yaesu 770 or 991A.) Now just to figure out 1) the antenna and 2) how I'm going to pay for this.

Gift certificates to HRO welcome! LOL

 

Out here in NoVA...we're "blessed" with a HRO in Woodbridge, VA...we local hams call it the "candy store". 🤣

One of the guys in the club loves his 991A. I have an ICOM 7300, still in the box...no time to work with it as of yet.

 

I've heard the 991A called Shack in a Box. It both transmits and receives on all frequencies, including VHF/UHF. It has lovely digital signal processing, automatic antenna tuning, a full color waterfall display, and a 3 year warranty. The 710 does all of that except the VHF/UHF frequencies and the warranty, and it's $300 cheaper. I have an HT for those frequencies but it wouldn't hurt to have them on the HF rig.

The antenna is the biggest issue. Finding a multi-band HF rig is easy. Antennas seem a bit more limited that way. I really don't need a 200' tower in my back yard, for lots of reasons. Some have suggested stringing some wire across my attic with a small protrusion on the roof. Incognito is good. We'll see.

 

I've heard the 991A called Shack in a Box. It both transmits and receives on all frequencies, including VHF/UHF. It has lovely digital signal processing, automatic antenna tuning, a full color waterfall display, and a 3 year warranty. The 710 does all of that except the VHF/UHF frequencies and the warranty, and it's $300 cheaper. I have an HT for those frequencies but it wouldn't hurt to have them on the HF rig.

The antenna is the biggest issue. Finding a multi-band HF rig is easy. Antennas seem a bit more limited that way. I really don't need a 200' tower in my back yard, for lots of reasons. Some have suggested stringing some wire across my attic with a small protrusion on the roof. Incognito is good. We'll see.

Get as much radio as you can afford. Buy your second radio first. It will save you money in the long run.

We have an Icom 7300 with an Alinco DM-330MVT power supply.

That radio is attached to an end fed half wave 80-10M 800W wire antenna. The radio end of the antenna is attached to a balun, which is mounted to an antenna mast on the roof peak of our single story house. The mast is attached to the house via a gable mast mount. The 130' wire antenna is attached to paracord via an insulator and the paracord is wrapped around a tree branch, close to the tree trunk. The tree is about 150' away from the antenna mast. Hubs got the terminal end of the antenna/paracord over the tree branch with a fishing pole and a fishing weight. GREAT CAST, LOL.

The antenna is a solid 20' to 30' high. The paracord is black and transits into the tree. The antenna wire is black, thin and equally high. Both are barely visible while standing in our yard. I doubt it most of our neighbors have even noticed them. The mast on our roof peak is simple and unobtrusive. It's been there forever; we used to have an OTA TV antenna on it which we've since removed.

We've also acquired a portable Yeasu FTM-3100R 2M radio for local communications and Nets. If a storm/ tornado takes out our cell service and we need to call for help, we need to call locally. The Yeasu has an identical Alinco DM-330MVT power supply. The last piece of our current desk set up, pending, is installing its Comet GP-6 antenna on the roof peak mast.

We have two Baofeng uv-5R 8W HTs with rubber duck antennas, plus we acquired Abbree 18" antennas for them. The HTs do not have great range as is, and we are in a bit of a hole out here. I have extended their range by replacing the Abbree whip antennas with a magnetic mount car antenna and plopping the car antenna on a metal surface. A piece of sheet metal on our wrought iron deck table worked OK; plopping the car antenna on top of our metal carport, which is anchored into the earth, works excellently. It is pretty amazing.

Our Baofeng UV-5Rs were marketed as VHF/UHF. The technical specifications say they can, the limitations of the radio determine if they will. The standard rubber duck antennas have the reception range of an average big box store walkie talkie or family channel radio. The Abbree antennas help a little. A magnetic mount car antenna on a grounded metal carport helps immensely. The entire carport becomes an antenna. We can reliably pick up a local repeater 20 miles away. This allows us to communicate locally and to participate in the local net.

After that, the major factor in pushing your signal outbound is the power of your radio. A standard 5W Baofeng HT isn't going to push your signal very far. An 8W Baofeng HT will push your signal a little further. By comparison, we expect/hope that our 65W Yeasu with a grounded antenna will receive from longer distances and push our signal out further.

HTs biggest advantage is easy, compact portability.

Different radios for different needs, different purposes. Determine what you need and buy the most radio you can afford for that purpose.

ETA: ALL THE THINGS NEED TO BE GROUNDED, radios, antennas etc.

 

Maybe I’ll get enough back this year to buy a Yaesu 710 at least, or even a 991!

Get the Icom IC7300. You won't be sorry. All my other radios are Yaesu, but the 7300 is my favorite due to ease of use. $1,100 on HRO. They did have a Christmas sale but it's now over. The FT-991A is $1,300 and has a much inferior spectrum scope and waterfall display. It's advantage is it's all band, all mode up to UHF plus C4FM digital. If you already have VHF/UHF radios there's no need to duplicate function.

Congratulations! Now none of your money is safe.

So true.

Setting up your first base station and antenna is a 'test' unto itself, lol.

Radio, coax, commercial (or home made) EFHW, tree.

No kidding! I could spend $2500 easy on a basic setup.

I spent $1000 for the radio, $100 for the power supply and about $150 for the EFHW.

We have an Icom 7300 with an Alinco DM-330MVT power supply.
That radio is attached to an end fed half wave 80-10M 800W wire antenna.

That's what I started with and then I began building my own UNUN and BALUNs. Horizontal loop covering 80m to 10m using only the radio's antenna tuner. EFHW concentrating on 75m. From upstairs bedroom/ham shack to various trees on the property.

 

I'm waiting for a replacement for both the 818 and 991a. Next year?

 

Congratulations on General! You will never have any "extra" money again!

Depending on where you live you can get by with a decent wire antenna. I had/still have one but I had a hex beam for almost two years before an ice storm destroyed it. Now I have just a 50' tower with wires strung off it. I'm not climbing anymore.

I've been quite content with my General privileges and have never wished I had Extra. But it's a goal worth striving for-- I'm not knocking Extras.

Your local ham club is a good source of a decent used HF radio until you find what you want. Even if it's only a loaner from a club member.

73 from Montana. KF7YED. Seeya on the air.