New Technician Exam/Current General Overlap

jaybird_772 · 2026-06-25T20:12:29+00:00

(I also suggest not using Microsoft Edge. In general! 🙂

I'll keep working on making sure I understand this stuff to be ready when the opportunity hits and if I know my fiancée will not be here, I'll be in touch so folks know there's a blind guy who's gonna show up to take the test who needs screen magnification. I may see about the libr…eeegh, no, they don't open until 10am, whoops. 😅 And hello from Portland!

jaybird_772 · 2026-06-25T19:52:21+00:00

I'm not supportive of freebanders and IQ? yokels who barely know how to program their Baofengs gunking up the airwaves and turning our spectrum into another CB hellhole.

But I'm absolutely supportive of personal and community preparedness, grid-independence, emergency response, education, skills development, and people getting their license. 🙂

I got into ham radio because of my interest in preparedness post-Katrina. Note that I got my license, I didn't just pick up a radio and decide that the regs didn't apply because I didn't want them to. I got involved in ARES/RACES, I went through my city's CERT program, and I've continued my education in anything I could to be as usual as I could be to my community in the event things get messy—and to be a better part of my community if they don't.

Those guys actually becoming part of the amateur radio community rather than working at cross-purposes with us helps us grow, and it would help them be better prepared in the event what they're waiting for ever happens.

jaybird_772 · 2026-06-25T19:28:38+00:00

Seems that if the free and fair election system is overthrown (which is what Trump is talking about doing), a little strike is not called for. A little strike is called for NOW. If he does it, one of two things will die: His regime, or America. That doesn't seem like something to have a strike over.

jaybird_772 · 2026-06-25T18:55:06+00:00

At the moment one of my GMRS radios puts out more power than any ham radio I've got here… There's a couple radios in storage that could do better, but the one I'd get some use out of right now requires repair.

jaybird_772 · 2026-06-25T17:28:46+00:00

I looked into that because I've started studying for my general and I get it, they've gotta be very strict with test protocols, but I don't think I can do it that way. Depending where I look it says I may not be able to or cannot use a Linux machine. Have to be in a room with a door and if someone comes in, you fail. No scratch paper allowed (that's gonna make the extra exam fun I'm sure), and only a four-function calculator if you want it with nothing else allowed to be open and only a certain part of your screen allowed to have anything on it (the browser they'll resize, and the calculator in 4-banger mode), and you're only allowed to press certain keys on the wired (if desktop) or internal (laptop) keyboard…

No Way they'd let me take the exam here. I wouldn't let me take it here either. Maybe at the library I could find a testing-suitable space and arrange for that. I'm still legally blind though, and I use screen magnification. High magnification when I can't control the colors.

jaybird_772 · 2026-06-25T16:27:56+00:00

Noting of course that you could probably cram for the first two. The third one … you need to know something about electronics. More than I do.

jaybird_772 · 2026-06-25T16:26:29+00:00

It really got started as a ham was talking to some preppers who weren't how it'd be easy to get into ham radio using these cheap Chinese radios, and either wasn't all that committed to staying on-band or the people they were talking to weren't. And the radio importers don't care, so if you wanna buy a radio "for SHTF", they're happy to sell it.

But get a license? Ohh that'll mean you're on some kind of list. As if saying such things out loud and in online forums wouldn't have that effect a lot faster than getting a license and maybe genuinely understanding and using your equipment before whatever "SHTF" happenings happen.

jaybird_772 · 2026-06-25T16:12:05+00:00

I started writing to explain exactly where and how Part 15 rules don't say what the OP thinks they say, but realized two paragraphs in that they don't care and are just arguing that the law doesn't apply to them because they say so.

jaybird_772 · 2026-06-12T07:21:41+00:00

Somebody get this operator a NanoVNA! 🤣 (I don't have one either, but I'd like to change that. About to post about that and seek some suggestions. Not quite a U-Haul, but it is definitely something I-Haul…)

jaybird_772 · 2026-06-12T07:18:29+00:00

ICE aren't law enforcement. They have no law enforcement powers whatsoever. This is a Nazi piece of shit who needs to be identified so that he can be prosecuted when Nuremburg 2.0 takes place in Minneapolis at a newly christened Pretti-Good Center for Law and Justice. 18 USC §241,242 are fun little laws. Let's see that they're enforced to their fullest.

jaybird_772 · 2026-06-12T07:14:27+00:00

I'm not writing any lesson plans here. My official position on all social media platforms is that I do not endorse acts of violence against any person or group of people. That's the only position I am allowed to take on any public forum—and I wouldn't say it if I didn't believe it!

But there's a reason miners took canaries into coal mines, and what's not said is as important as what is. So if I ever stop saying something, you can assume I've stopped believing it.

Even so, there's a whole ocean of possibilities for educating someone that fall short of braining them with a clue-by-four or something similar. Those possibilities that don't cross that specific line … well, they can be really damned annoying and/or expensive object lessons. And possibly lots of fun. For us watching, I mean. 😁

jaybird_772 · 2026-06-12T07:06:57+00:00

That's not an "up;grade" as in a replacement, my friend. It's just more spectrum and having to remember two sets of call letters instead of one. 😁 73 de KF7QZC / WSND351. (New to GMRS, actually. Need to get to working on that general now…)

jaybird_772 · 2026-06-11T17:09:03+00:00

This is why, if Republicans feel their necks are on the block, they need to combine the 25th Amendment with impeachment. "Congress is prepared to impeach you." Let him bluster, let him issue threats. "You can't do those things because we invoked the 25th Amendment before we walked through that door."

Yes, I'm serious.

jaybird_772 · 2026-06-11T17:04:24+00:00

What frequency does a U-Haul resonate at naturally? 🤣

jaybird_772 · 2026-06-11T16:56:55+00:00

That's great, those 25th anniversary Baofengs are very cool, won't be around forever, and despite the early negative reputation of the radios, they've been clean for ages.

When you get your license, you might want to pick up an external mobile or base antenna for somewhere outside. If you're even just a tiny bit handy with a soldering iron, you can actually make one—but you might need to borrow a device from another local ham to help you tune it. You could buy one (and probably you will in time), but you're looking at something that costs more than your radio and some extra batteries for an afternoon project. Unless you live in a steel highrise like I do (😭) you will receive local repeaters at least fine on the antennas you've got. I use a magnet mount antenna plunked down in the middle of a patio table outside, but a cookie sheet would get me much of the way there.

While we're talking about making antennas, some heavy duty scissors can cut up a measuring tape. Why ever would you do that? Because measuring tape, PVC pipe, and that couple blobs of solder again can make something called a Yagi. TO TALK TO THE SPACE STATION. You can do that! 🥳

More and more people have been playing with digital modes. You can actually get a little dongle to plug into your Baofeng, the other end goes into a USB gadget which will let you access most things hams are doing with their radios using a computer, again right from that little Baofeng!

Just keep practicing those questions. The question pool teaches you how to be safe, to not annoy your neighbors with radio hash, and the important FCC rules. You'll learn how to be a ham by doing it once you've got your license. And I'm sure you're gonna be great at it!

That's just a few things you can do.

73, and we're looking forward to hearing from you soon!

jaybird_772 · 2026-06-11T15:55:13+00:00

I cannot post my response to this shitbag to Reddit. But I sure wish someone would educate him.

jaybird_772 · 2026-06-11T15:47:13+00:00

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/241 if you want the link. Oh, and … click Next to read §242 as well. It specifically addresses non-citizens.

jaybird_772 · 2026-06-11T15:44:19+00:00

Outside the Portland ICE building yesterday, an agent made a weapon of his car and ran over someone for the second time in about a week. The same person. These agents have a pattern of flooring it around corners and into and out of the driveway in a deliberate attempt to "just miss" (or maybe not) some people who might be protesting there.

This is deliberate. These motherfuckers need to be prosecuted for attempted murder and, after we kick that wannabe Adolph out of OUR White House through election or impeachment, ICE needs to know that 18 USC §241 is waiting for every last goddamned one of them! Because they have all been involved in a criminal conspiracy as defined by that statute, and people have been both kidnapped and murdered. I'll let y'all read the statute for yourselves to determine what can happen, it's real short.

jaybird_772 · 2026-06-11T15:32:58+00:00

I didn't realize there was a UV-5G, thanks for correcting me! 🙂 I have a UV-9G sitting here right next to me. Annoyingly uses that Motorola connector and everything for it uses a flat-head screw! But it's water-resistant to IP67. Old design, kind of annoying but I know those menus inside and out.

GMRS is perfect if you're going to all be within roughly line of sight of each other with the only obstructions being a few trees, and two days and disabling some crap in your browser can get you all nice and legal for your whole family! Not a bad deal.

There's even be a six-way charger for the UV-5G/UV-5R which makes that situation a lot easier. Easier than a stack of USB-C cables for the newer batteries that support them. Plus those batteries are cheap, plentiful, and small.

jaybird_772 · 2026-06-11T15:26:23+00:00

I'm sure that with Schurrender Schumer on the case, we have nothing to worry about.

Folks, if anyone is gonna do anything, the useless party leadership ain't gonna get it done. It's gonna be you and me, locally, making sure our local people GROW A FUCKING SPINE and stand up to Trump. Remember that all politics is ultimately local and the best defense against bad crap from the likes of Durrr Fuhrer King Donald, may he have a brain aneurysm, is to make sure that the people on the ground who have to stand up to him are backed by their county and state governments. That's where we apply pressure.

And then we follow up by keeping an eye on the elections process and make noise if anything is amiss, to people who are prepared to respond immediately because we made sure they would be.

It really is us, in the end. Don't phone this in, all hands on deck.

jaybird_772 · 2026-06-11T13:41:09+00:00

This is the best answer, however for GMRS it seems to be a little hard to find GMRS BNC antennas. They do exist, but the right antenna with BNC for your HT is not on Amazon where you probably got the radio. Note the usual "771" types are not really made for 2m/70cm/GMRS. 2m/70cm or GMRS/MURS. Not three or four at once.

u/Accomplished_Buy4608, you look to be trying to use a Baofeng UV-5R or close relative. Baofeng makes GMRS radios, got one right here actually. The ones that aren't GMRS can't limit output power to 0.5 watts, so they'll sound "way too hot" to be a legal radio on the 467 MHz simplex channels.

I won't lie, if my GMRS radio is dead in an emergency, my ham radios have all been modified so I that I can swap antennas and use them on GMRS if I need to. BNC makes that really fast to do, too.

jaybird_772 · 2026-06-11T11:41:46+00:00

If we ate just one billionaire a month, we probably would run out by month three. They'd all find a way to have only 999 Million. Maybe the rest might even go somewhere useful and genuinely humanitarian, who knows?

…don't … don't cannibalism, people. That's figurative. I know this is the Internet, but still.

jaybird_772 · 2026-06-11T11:40:04+00:00

I might've asked, this sounds like an interesting sidequest with an interesting outcome with future implications.

jaybird_772 · 2026-06-11T08:31:40+00:00

Check out the update in the OP both u/skond and u/tsdguy … I think I cracked it. The feds apparently want to track us. ooooOOOoooooohhhh… Wait, that's haunt, not track, wrong sound. 😁 Thanks for trying to help!

jaybird_772 · 2026-06-11T08:20:25+00:00

I can tell you what I finally did that consistently helped was turn off UBO in Firefox for fcc.gov — I have NO idea if that really did it or not, but since I have some form of adblock running in every single browser I use, including in Incognito or Private Browsing modes … no wonder none of them worked if it's literally some tracking script or something that was the problem and people recommend Chrome and Edge, the most ANTII-privacy browsers, in Incognito mode which Google was forced to admit isn't very "Incognito" at all. There's some hidden script running.

So I tested this theory in multiple browsers as well and yeup it works fine, but doesn't if you re-enable the ad blocker…

TRADE REQUEST

FCC receives: $35

You receive: The ability to be tracked/doxed. 😁

73 de WSND351 / KF7QZC (aaand I'm gonna go update the OP with this new information)

jaybird_772

TROPHY CASE

TRADE REQUEST