That's right.
First proctored exam since 1979 (professional part of PS exam).
Got my Ham Radio license back today after it expired in 1970. I have felt bad being gone from it so long. The list of excuses was an arm long and I won't string it out here.
Just glad to be back at it. I'm 65 and all of the examiners were way older than me.
When I completed my exam and turned it in the old folks were passing it around for verification or something. Was I on the verge of passing or failing? No, I had a perfect score which was as astounding to me as them.
Anyway I am happy to be back to a hobby I enjoy. If you are 65 +/- and you do not have a hobby, you had better get one soon. It's cheaper than medical solutions.
I get coordinate geometry just fine, but can't figure electronics.
What's the secret?
73's OM de W2TO 🙂
Years ago I worked side by side with a fellow in his early 60's who had been a ham radio nut for many years. When he had some time to kill he would work on getting faster and faster with morse code. He explained that he was hoping to get a higher classifiction simply as a personal goal, not because he had to do it.
I don't remember much about it now, but it seems like he was already at five call letters instead of six.
While a freshman in college I worked for a farmer sometimes who was a ham radio fanatic as well. He was WA0USV. That's a zero of course, not an O. Why I can still remember that is a mystery to me.
Congrats!
I got my Technician license (KF6ZWW) in 1999 because the future Mrs. Bubble said it was a requirement if we were going to be dating. We both had lived thru the earthquake in 1989 and she had seen the value of being able to find your loved ones via ham radio. Some of her friends had a repeater up at the summit and you could talk from Salinas to downtown SF with a half watt handheld.
Up in the hills above Santa Cruz there was always a wildfire or a landslide danger, and only two roads in or out. We kept a scanner going most of the time, following Cal Fire and the local sheriff dispatch, until the tiny Bubbles got big enough we didn't want them to hear the ugly side of the world.
Upgraded to General in 2009, wanted to fool with HF and packet.
I mostly listen to the scanner (local sheriff precinct) and sometimes talk on the CB, channels 37 and 38 LSB. There is a pretty big community of SSB'ers in the area, and a check-in every Saturday night. It is really fun to know how far away you can hear, and how far away people can hear you, via simplex. The check-in gets operators from 7 counties ... I can hear/talk about 50 miles out with my current antenna (1970s era Shakespeare Big Stick half wave dipole about 18 feet up, top element is replaced with a radio shack 102" stainless whip, big improvement.)
Sometimes I turn on the CB just to hear if the skip is rolling. Local etiquette demands that when the skip is rolling, everyone goes quiet, and someone with a good antenna system tries to make that long trip. On a big skip day, you can visualize where the sun is by where the skip is coming from. Mornings are east coast, later is the gulf coast and Texas. Noon is SoCal and Alaska, afternoons & evenings are Hawaii, NZ and Australia. All that from Seattle anyway.
When I start hiring crew, I am going to require a no-code Tech license to get an interview. That ought to screen out the dummies.
SSB
I bought my first back in 2008.
Still haven't talked on it much as mine is a mobile setup and I don't talk on the radio like I did in the 70's and 80's, back when I was running straight CB.
I got mine for out in the boonies as Often you can get out by radio when the cell phones won't work.
B-)
When I was in the Navy many moons ago, once or twice on a six month cruise, the shipboard radio operators would hook up with some ham operators and they would call home collect and you could talk to your family. They had to throw a switch for sending and receiving so after talking, you had to say, "over" which took a little getting used to for my Mom back on the farm. The operators were nice folks to do that. I suppose nowadays there is instant email, texting, skype, etc from the middle of the ocean.
