FJ Cruisers of Northern California

HAM Class October 17, 2009

SO I want to get my HAM licens and RTF is offering a calss this month. Wanted to see if there was any other interest in this. SO far its just me going , The class should last all day with a test at the end to get the licens. I will get get costs for the class tonight but it will be pretty cheap and the price includes the book.

Just wondering if there is anyone that wanted to head up there and take the class??

Post up and let me know... More info to follow

UPDATE

Ok so I got my wires crossed and it turns out that the class is in Fremont on the 17th.
The class will be from 8-5, this includes time to take the test.. It looks like this wil;l be a cram session with the test after. They talk about have a 90% pass rate in the last class. There is alot infomation on site.

Here is the link to get signed up : http://www.baears.com/

Its pretty easy to get registered. The class wil cost $30.00. Go to the link and get signed up for the class on the oct 17th. There is much more info on the class at the site..

10/8/09
People signed up for the class

PBn'FJ
sonof40
DHeigher
Boss73

Attachments:

HAMclass.pdf, 122 KB

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Bz on October 17, 2009 at 9:18pm

Mo EFfin SWEET Good Job Guys!!!!!!! wish I could've been there but ya know...... tell us all about it at SnT!

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Permalink Reply by DWH on October 17, 2009 at 10:38pm

Thanks Boss for setting this up. Now we we just have to come up with $$$ for ~~radios~~ stations.

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Permalink Reply by Boss73 on October 17, 2009 at 10:45pm

Yeah I always have the problem of picking a $$$ hobbies !!!!

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Permalink Reply by David on October 17, 2009 at 9:43pm

Well done!

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Permalink Reply by DWH on October 17, 2009 at 11:32pm

Here is the FCC link to check for your call sign.

http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/searchLicense.jsp

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Permalink Reply by manoweb on October 18, 2009 at 3:03am

Guys I now hope our trips will heavily converge on HAM communication :)

My buddies back in Italy are all crazy for the D-star system. Basically it enables a GPS coordinate to be sent either each time you talk or at regular intervals. This way one can keep track of all the positions of everybody else, can send text messages, and if there is a D-star repeater available one can talk to any part of the world that is covered by another D-star link.

D-star radios are surely more expensive. The system is still young. D-star is not the only HAM technology that can do what I listed above (APRS, echolink etc but those are somewhat fading away).

I am puzzled if I should buy a D-star enabled radio or an all-mode with HF. If somebody else is interested we could choose a common route.

bye
as

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Permalink Reply by Boss73 on October 18, 2009 at 7:03am

Man do I have a bunch to learn.. I am still trying to figure out what kind of radio to look at and what features I want/need.. The more I look into HAM the more I learn that it can do, and it can do an a whole bunch..

Bottom line I have a lot of research to do ....

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Permalink Reply by pkelly72 on October 18, 2009 at 8:11am

That's something I was always interested in. I wanted to take the class but we plans (went to a pumpkin patch) with our family.

I use radios everyday for work and I always teach that that a firefighter (and my wife) use the following acronym in all situations: LCES

L - Look outs (always have someone looking out for you)
C - Communications
E - Escape routes
S - Safety zones

Good job to everyone who took the class. I'm interested in finding out what HAM can do.

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Permalink Reply by Boss73 on October 18, 2009 at 8:19am

If you want to take the class and test I would recommend this way. It does take up most of a Saturday but in the end you will have a FCC license.. Crap there are many choices out there for equipment...

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Permalink Reply by pkelly72 on October 18, 2009 at 8:20am

Do you think you would have passed if you just took the test?

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Permalink Reply by Boss73 on October 18, 2009 at 9:01am

NO.

At least I would not have passed. The intense studying was great for me. Of course the FCC does publish all the questions with the correct answers for the public to look at.. You could always just read them and take the test. But this class really worked for me...

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Permalink Reply by PBn'FJ on October 18, 2009 at 10:29am

Thanks for setting this up Boss. Not sure I would have got off my butt and completed this if you had not found this method.

I think the class did help me quite a bit, I even learned a bit while reading every single question in the test pool. The class we attended yesterday was around 110 people and from listening to the results at the end after everyone's tests were graded, I'd say there was better than 90% pass rate. If anyone wants a ham license I'd recommend this too.

Heck some guy went out during one of the cram sessions and took a nap and still got a perfect score.....