Hi,im new, I HAVE A QUICK ?

[nate2go]

What should i look at buying to start stuff like for a beginner age 13 kinda on the cheap side

[KB1LQD]

well, you should look into buying the ARRL Technician "Get your license" book and start studying for your license. Look into buying and Hand Held 2 meter (Frequency Band, you'll learn about that) radio. Get in contact with local amateur operators or store, such as Ham Radio Outlet..... BTW where are you general Located? There are a bunch of youth and teenager amateur Ops right here in MA, Its really great if you could find another younger amateur operator in your area. anyways, post back with more info, such as reletive location and money restraints and we can point you in a better direction. BTW the FCC just dropped Morse code as a requirement for the general or extra license so consider studying past your tech lisence and get on the worldwide HF frequencies.

BTW, I'm 17 here and run a radio club at my high school, there is a bunch of us kids in the north eastern part of MA, so if your up around this area we could give you alittle more help on the best and easiest ways to get equitment and antennas....

well, best of luck and please update us!

[2I0JVI]

Its always great to hear new people starting out. It's even better if you have someone in your family who is a Ham, cos you can go to their shack and use their rigs etc. Over here in N Ireland, all we have to do to stay within the law is to add the suffix "/A" to your callsign e.g. Mi3JVI/A (for alternative temporary residence)

Good luck and please keep us informed

[ki4hwc]

the Yeasu VX 150 is a good starter radio it runsabout $120.

73's good luck de ki4hwc

you could also start off with the VX5R . i have that as my first rig. it has 50 MHz 146MHz and 440MHz.the rubber ducky is bad .so you could build a antenna.

[VA3SAX]

personally I started with a used HTX 202 they're a good radio...a bit clunky but it definitely works

[KE5LZO]

I recommend the VX-7R...great radio....easy to use...lots of features...and its a good one to keep even after you're an experienced ham. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[M0MJH]

Hi,

I would strongly suggest that you try to go for a base station radio as your first radio and an external aerial. You'll be able to speak to people a lot further away than you will with a handheld!

I take it you are in the USA, so I can't comment on books and clubs etc.

73
Mark M0MJH
(in sunny ol' England)

[pe2ysb]

I agree with Mark,

you could start with al small base station, i don't know what band's your allowed on but you could start with an old kenwood ts-120v or a yaesu ft-817, maybe even a ft-857. Even if you aren't allowed to transmitt on all the bands you could learn a lot by listening on them. And you will have a nice rig as soon as you get you're license upgrade.

[W8LBO]

If you want to go really inexpensive I'd probably say an HT with a homemade dipole for VHF/UHF. Or maybe an inexpensive mobile 2-meter transceiver used for a base. But if you are going straight to HF I'd recommend an IC-718. It's an awesome rig and easy to use. Plus covers 160-10 meters.