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Hello All from a newbie
2015-01-27 23:16 |
Registered: 10 years ago Posts: 2 |
| Hello to all the Hams out there in the hamshphere. My location is south-central Indiana in the United States. This seems to be very different from the CB crowd from the 1970's. I know enough to identify myself by my call sign and first name. Also, optionally my location. I am anxious, but reserved, to make my first contact, but do not know how without breaking in. I prefer the group that Tina, an admin, is in. She does a fantastic job of corralling all of the hams out there. Can anyone help a newbie? | |
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Re: Hello All from a newbie
2015-02-02 18:59 |
Registered: 10 years ago Posts: 274 |
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Hi,
on Ham Radios it is a little different to CB with the call. There are 2 options to do that: 1. You can pick up a clear frequency and say "Is the frequency in use/clear, please?" (2 or 3 times) and if there is no answer start a CQ-call, e.g. "CQ, CQ, CQ (xy) meters, this is 2HS9730 (your callsign) from USA, calling CQ, CQ, this is 2HS9730 calling CQ and standing by". Repeat it until the first reply from any station. 2. Listen on a freq. with a QSO and if you have something to say to the topic, you can say your callsign into a break between two transmissons (don't say "QRX" or "break", that's only CB-Jargon and reserved for emergencies on HAM frequencies). Only your callsign, not more. You can do it without your Prefix (only 9730). Normally all stations should leave a little break (about 3 seconds) between the overs, but scarcely anybody do it! That's the problem. So be patient and try it again. Best of luck! 73 and good DX from Jörg :-) JO31ok Bochum / Germany |
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Re: Hello All from a newbie
2015-02-02 22:54 |
Registered: 10 years ago Posts: 2 |
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Thank you for your reply Jörg. That is some good advice. Fortunately, there is HamSphere, otherwise I'm out of luck as I live a half mile from an airport and you cannot even get cell phone reception where I live. Imagine if I tried to connect all of the equipment needed for actual Ham communications I would have the FCC, FBI, CIA, and the US Department of Homeland Security busting down my door! Is there a good Ham beginners book you would recommend? Don't get me wrong, I am learning a lot just listening in, but do not want to sound like a fool my first time out, as it were.
Anyways, thanks for your advice. 10-4 good buddy! |
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Re: Hello All from a newbie
2015-02-03 16:24 |
Registered: 10 years ago Posts: 274 |
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Hehe, I can imagine that. :-))) All this organisations are very "sensitive" since 9/11...
Yes, there is a high density of airports and -fields in some parts of the USA, I know it from some charts and my Flightsimulator as well. Also in my area in Germany, any few kilometers.... I only knew some books in German language from the 1970th (as I made my licences), sorry. But there are many stuff around HAM in the forum here, also many helpful videos on Youtube (not only HamSphere, also real!) Otherwise maybe the ARRL Operation Manual would be interesting. It's about 30,- US-$ For HS 4.0 it's also interesting to learn a bit about antennas and the propagation on shortwave. And of course: Listening is one of the best methods to learn how to operate. :-) But don't be shy and try your first call on the bands, that's not difficult and nobody has to be "perfect" on HamSphere. ;-) Maybe we catch down the bands, so I could give you a short instruction if you want. 73 and good DX from Jörg :-) JO31ok Bochum / Germany |
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Re: Hello All from a newbie
2015-03-02 00:41 |
Registered: 14 years ago Posts: 18 |
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Hi:
I just want to add that I live very close to the airport as well. Yes, cell phone is somewhat weak here as there are many hills and trees all over. Living in WA state, although very pretty, not the best for qrp operations so I gave up and went to a simulated way and I know it is not the same as the real thing but there are some hams out there who are eager to talk to you. I haven't been very active on Hamsphere but I am willing to try. In the past I was engrossed in ham radio, built lots of equipment and just had plain fun In those days you were able to buy nice receivers at a low cost and an abundance of parts were available. Then I was quite active and belonged to a ham radio club when I lived in Los Angeles, CA. Living in Huntington Beach was nice and stayed there for 35 years. When in Keflavik, Iceland, I manned a radio station which had very nice equipment in 1962, and relayed messages to military personnel and their families. I was the only one there and sometimes it got boring. The transmitter put out a 1,000 watts into a 3 element beam antenna on a high tower. If I remember my call sign was TF2WFU. Living in apartments back in Huntington Beach had it's drawbacks. You can't really erect an outside antenna as you can't really hide it. Even if you made it almost invisible, the thin wire would always break because of the winds. Also, when the trees were trimmed, down came the antenna. Not counting that there are so many TV's, RFI was a problem using 25 watts. Neighbors would complain to the manager and that was it. I decided to go QRP, around 4 watts and operated mainly at night. I used bedsprings and a dipole inside the house and it kind of worked. Not the best though. I then moved to Las Vegas, NV and it was hard to get a signal out due to being in a valley with all kinds of hills and mountains. Now living here in WA, the same thing prevailed. That is the reason why I went to Hamsphere so I can at least continue on as a ham. By the way as you can see my call sign, I have been around for 75 years. Ham radio in nowhere like it was 60 years ago when it was really fun. I guess times change and advancement into new technology prevails. 73's K6RVD |
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