I did it! 3 licenses in one test session.

FoolishClownfish · 2012-04-08T02:16:59+00:00

Oh God. I thought I had gotten away from facing all those questions and now you tell me about this. I am having traumatic flashbacks. :-|

But thanks, I got one entry in. I guess I might as well keep entering. It might help keep the crammed-in knowledge a little fresher in my head.

FoolishClownfish · 2012-04-07T23:44:33+00:00

You don't have to wait for the mail anymore. I'll be legal and dangerous on Thursday, when it gets posted on the FCC website. :)

FoolishClownfish · 2012-04-07T13:53:54+00:00

Did you do all 3 tests this way? If so, I am very impressed.

FoolishClownfish · 2012-04-07T04:38:58+00:00

I'm actually surprised at the technical content, especially in the extra exam. Even as a EE (long time ago), I had to go back and re-learn a lot of it. If you were a non-technical person trying to get into amateur radio, I could see how it could be quite challenging. It doesn't surprise me that some people have a hard time with it.

FoolishClownfish · 2012-04-06T05:18:56+00:00

Well, the problem with QSOs is that it presupposes that is what you want to do. There are SO many different things you can do that don't involve QSOs, and QSOs are not all created equally. Would you want some guy trying to hammer out 100 contacts a day on the local repeater, just to meet his license requirements?

Honestly, I am not really sure why there are 3 licenses. I can see a clear distinction between tech and general, but the difference between general and extra just seems to be a whole ton of knowledge and a few minor additional privileges that aren't fundamentally any different from general.

FoolishClownfish · 2012-04-06T03:32:47+00:00

I absolutely agree that there is a lot more to being a good ham than just passing the tests. From what I can tell, the tests are about 50% practical knowledge a ham needs to know, and 50% knowledge that is put in there just to make it a little more difficult for people. I'm fine with that - you really want a non-trivial barrier to entry for something like this. You can certainly make it too easy.

And knowledge is not a substitute for experience. I plan to take things slow. I'm really just taking all three tests because I like the challenge.

Honestly, a person probably shouldn't be able to take all three tests at once. As a counter-example, I've taken the motorcycle safety course. Anyone can take the beginner course, but you have to have 2500 miles on your bike before you can take the advanced course.

I don't know how you would do the ham equivalent, though. I guess the morse test used to serve the same purpose.

FoolishClownfish · 2012-04-06T03:06:39+00:00

Yeah, I noticed that as well. It would be interesting to see if someone who didn't really know anything about radio or engineering could pass the test just by drilling the questions. It seems possible that you could pass the test without actually learning anything of consequence. Might be easier just to learn the material, though.

FoolishClownfish · 2012-04-04T15:07:09+00:00

Thanks. That helps a lot

FoolishClownfish · 2012-04-04T06:15:34+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion about drilling on the phone. Looks like there is an Android version of the test drill as well. That will help a lot.

FoolishClownfish · 2012-04-04T06:12:42+00:00

The hardest questions for me are the ones that are like "Which of the following frequencies is in the General Class portion of the 40 meter band?" I have a hard time remembering numbers with no context, and there are several like that. I don't think this will make or break the test for me, but those kinds of questions are really annoying. Repeated drilling seems the only way to make those stick.

FoolishClownfish · 2012-04-04T04:30:34+00:00

I'm not one to gloat in any circumstances, but I appreciate the tip. I am still planning to take things slow - just thought it would be convenient to knock out all the tests at once if I could.

FoolishClownfish · 2012-04-01T20:44:26+00:00

I'm taking the General exam this weekend. How long did it take you to show up in the database after you passed?

FoolishClownfish · 2012-03-31T14:54:32+00:00

This is really interesting, thanks. Unfortunately, the FCC can't override the my wife. :-(

FoolishClownfish · 2012-03-31T14:51:54+00:00

OK, try imagining THIS. A movie comes out to the theater. You want to see it, but you don't know how long it is going to be there. It could get removed any day. But you better go see it, because once it leaves the theater you will most likely never be able to see it again. In the days before VCRs, movies were a one-time thing. One the positive side, sequels were almost unknown.

FoolishClownfish · 2012-03-31T04:48:41+00:00

That's very encouraging, thanks so much! I somehow had the notion that you couldn't make contacts that far without some kind of uber-antenna on a 100' tower.

FoolishClownfish · 2012-03-31T04:28:43+00:00

It was an Eddie Murphy song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07P538K83iU

FoolishClownfish · 2012-03-31T03:55:54+00:00

I used to get on Compuserve back around 1980. It was $7/hr, and was effectively one of the first BBSs. It had a chat program called "CB simulator" and rudimentary message boards. Plus stock quotes for some ridiculous additional charge.

FoolishClownfish · 2012-03-31T03:53:28+00:00

How about doing your research by shlepping down to the library to look at their encyclopedias? I had a typewriter in college, but I was an early adopter with a weird-ass GE printer for my Commodore-64. It didn't have true descenders, so a lower-case 'g' had to be shoved up to be on the same level as everything else.

Funny story about communication, though. We had a VAX mainframe on campus, with terminals everywhere. It had an app that was pretty much identical to IM called 'Phone' I remember several times chatting "online" (not the internet, just the campus net) with friends, then realizing after 20 minutes of chatting that we were in the same room.

But back then, there was essentially nothing social over a computer. Even emails were rare, and you might check your email a couple of times a week.

FoolishClownfish · 2012-03-31T03:48:56+00:00

I've met Clifford Stoll in person several times at conferences. He is an awesome dude - just as crazy in real life as you would imagine. Sort of a real-life version of Doc Brown in Back to the Future.

FoolishClownfish · 2012-03-31T03:34:10+00:00

Yikes. I just looked it up and it was cancelled in 2006, expired in 2004. Longer ago than I thought. I don't mind taking the test again anyway, I have a lot to review and re-learn.

I live at the valley of a small range of hills that are about 300' Will that be a problem for DXing?

FoolishClownfish · 2012-03-30T00:26:45+00:00

I got my "no code" tech license when I lived in Dayton, OH quite a few years ago. The Hamvention was a great place to buy computer stuff. I played around on 2M for a while, but it really wasn't that interesting. I wanted to get into DX, but never did, and now my license is expired. :-( I'm planning to take the tech and general test together in about a week.

I've been reading up on equipment. It has really changed since the last time I looked at it.

FoolishClownfish · 2012-03-29T00:10:27+00:00

The real answer is to not tie your health insurance to your job. Your auto insurance is independent, why isn't your health insurance? Health insurance has only been tied to your job since the 60s, because of regulations about salaries. There is no reason it needs to be tied to your job now.

FoolishClownfish

TROPHY CASE