Hot off the (digital) press: 21 Things to Do After You Get Your Amateur Radio License

• Purchase helpful books at FAIR PRICES (example: http://www.amazon.com/Things-After-A...7801406&sr=1-3 )
  IT IS A REALLY NICE BOOK FOR NEW AND RETURNING HAMS ALIKE. No hype! It IS a good value!
  
  
• Join a club
  OK - but 95% of members use ONLY UHF/VHF and ONLY if REPEATERS are available. Simplex is just a word to most of 'em! .
  
  
• Join the ARRL
  For lunch? Dinner? A drink after elbow-rubbing at Dayton? GREAT SALARIES if ya get a "position"!
  
  
• Find an Elmer
  The BEST Elmers are here on good old QR&Z! Loads of excellent info abounds.!
  
  
• Buy a radio
  Buying is a good idea; theft can lead to jail and guys named "Bubba".
  
  
• Get on the air
  And learn why you should have included the price of a BIG AMP and BEAMS in your "rag chew budget"!
  
  
• Set up a shack
  When the tax deductions turn 21 --- OUT they go and the room is a 'shack in progress'!
  
  
• Buy some tools
  To allow you to work on ANYTHING other than your ham radios! Too complicated for 90% of today's "hams"!
  
  
• Buy a digital multimeter (DMM)
  You can impress the "girl next door" when her hair dryer poops out! Show her why she needs to visit "your shack"!
  
  
• Build an antenna
  Then show it off at that club you joined! Tell them about all the "junk" that is sold to hams nowadays! BLAME MFJ for your 'oops'!
  
  
• Build a kit
  As above ..... blame MFJ for your "oops" and gripe about the quality of "junk" hams should avoid! OR - "Build a Carson"!
  
  
• Go to a hamfest
  Hit on the lonely teenage daughters! Learn how to laugh at that "asking price" of "full retail" for used junk! If it shines ......... don't assume it is NEW! Hams LIE .... AND often!
  
  
• Learn the lingo
  When it is your turn to sell that high-priced JUNK ... at least you can "sound impressive"! "Baffle 'em with yer BS", as some say.
  
  
• Subscribe to mailing lists, blogs, and podcasts
  AND most frequently ........ search out info on QR&Z! It's a lot more valid! Stay clear of photographic webs sites like "NoDaddyNoDon'tTouchMeThereDot.Com
  
  
• Upgrade to General
  Get a cool car named "Lee"! Take the K6PXA Arny Gamson "Instant Upgrade Exam"! Only $100.00 and BINGO ..... yer an EXTRA!
  
  
• Go to Field Day
  Free food! It's usually hot ... so the ladies and boppers "dress down" to stay cool! Easy on the eyes when the GSA participates!
  
  
• Learn Morse Code
  CQ-CQ-DX is easier! When you can't bust a pile-up ... use the legal limit and send CW 5Kc off the hard to catch DX stations frequency!
  
  
• Get to know your (ham) neighbors
  When they go on vacation ........ bingo ........ equipment upgrade time ........ for FREE! Offer to "house sit" .... don't be a burglar!
  
  
• Buy QSL cards
  Carry them in your breast pocket when attending those hamfests! It looks like you really care!.
  
  
• Join SkyWarn, ARES, or RACES
  Your 'number' always comes up! A new one every week! And those "drills"! The honchos really get to show off!
  
  
• Participate in a contest
  Publishers Clearing House is a good one! The odds are better than a lottery!
  
  
• HAVE FUN!
  Go to a NASCAR RACE and drink yourself stupid! Carry a HT and "look official" by barking out orders from the mens room!
  
  
• AND I REPEAT! Purchase helpful books at FAIR PRICES! Example: http://www.amazon.com/Things-After-A...7801406&sr=1-3
  IT IS A REALLY NICE BOOK FOR NEW AND RETURNING HAMS ALIKE. No hype! It IS a good value!; TRUST ME!

REMEMBER: "OLD PEOPLE DO THE DARNDEST THINGS"! SEE ABOVE!

ADDENDUM: I really do like As-A-Mom-Dot.Com .... it gets these unusual books and the author the recognition deserved.

 

I know the article was for new hams, but I thought I'd show where a 36 year veteran is at WRT the list:


[*]Join a club
Belong to several local and distant ones as well as a couple online clubs .... you can never have too many ham friends

[*]Join the ARRL
LIFE MEMBER

[*]Find an Elmer
After 35 years as a ham, I am an Elmer to many of our newly licensed club members

[*]Buy a radio
Own too many now, or so my wife says

[*]Get on the air
Am on every possible minute either chasing DX, 6M grids, IOTA's, working CW, RTTY, JT65 and even SSB on occasion

[*]Set up a shack
Have setup several of my own over the years and help many start setting up theirs

[*]Buy some tools
Have just about every imaginable hand tool there is for electronics and a well equipped electronics workbench and large inventory of spare parts just in case

[*]Buy a digital multimeter (DMM)
Own several of various makes and models

[*]Build an antenna
Have built many of my own design afer modeling in EZNEC. Put together and modified numerous commericial models.

[*]Build a kit
I love to build kits and roll my own accessories. I worked for Heathkit (Dallas, TX store on Ross Ave) while going to college and I think I probably have built almost every ham kit they had in the catalog in the late 70's early 80's.

[*]Go to a hamfest
Been to many, many over the years from small local ones up to Dayton itself

[*]Learn the lingo
I think I got this part down although with the new digital modes popping up there is always more to learn.

[*]Subscribe to mailing lists, blogs, and podcasts
I subscribe to too many now as it is

[*]Upgrade to General
Did this in 1978 at a Little Rock, AR hamfest where the FCC gave field tests in a big tent. It was raining cats and dogs and the test papers were all damp and gooey. Pencils would hardly write on the damp paper.

[*]Go to Field Day
Almost every year even though locally the daytime heat is around 115 degrees F or higher her in the Mojave Desert.

[*]Learn Morse Code
Comfortable at 20-25wpm, but I can copy most contest info up to appx 40wpm

[*]Get to know your (ham) neighbors
Know lots of them worldwide

[*]Buy QSL cards
This reminds me ..... I need to order another 1000 from Gennady at www.ux5uoqsls.com - top notch work - great service

[*]Join SkyWarn, ARES, or RACES
Did the ARES/RACES thing but not my cup of tea .... but not a wannabe policeman / fireman type .... I'll leave that to the real deal!

[*]Participate in a contest
Almost every weekend, sometimes two at a time

[*]HAVE FUN!
I try to do this all the time in EVERYTHING I do .... even at work but that is getting harder to do each year!!!

 

Ok, this looks fun.

• Join a club
  Did it cuz I thought I should. Learned they just tolerate new members and have little interest in radio.
• Join the ARRL
  Never did, probably never will. Can't find enough benefit vs thier lobbying against modes.
• Find an Elmer
  Best Elmers I've ever found are 2 or 3 guys here, and one local.
• Buy a radio
• Get on the air
• Set up a shack
  Yes please..
• Buy some tools
  Like an antenna analyzer.
• Buy a digital multimeter (DMM)
  Where did the interest in electronics come from if you don't already have this?
• Build an antenna
  Very fun and many are easy.
• Build a kit
  A beer brewing kit. Makes you more tolerant of curmudgeons.
• Go to a hamfest
  My first was Saturday. I attended as a seller. Won't sell at one again, but the people watching was fun.
• Learn the lingo
  Uh.... In a day, then promptly drop the pointless parts. Proper phonetics please, de Noodle Zipper Niner Yogurt
• Subscribe to mailing lists, blogs, and podcasts
  Naw, just read websites.
• Upgrade to General
  Didn't have to.
• Go to Field Day
  Where exactly is that again?
• Learn Morse Code
  Heck, it can't hurt but at any speed new hams will always be "no-code" hams.
• Get to know your (ham) neighbors
  Most are pretty decent folks. About as odd as I am.
• Buy QSL cards
  It's a courtesy to others.
• Join SkyWarn, ARES, or RACES
  Hmmm.
• Participate in a contest
  It isn't fair to knock any part of the hobby if you don't make an attempt to see what others like about it.
• HAVE FUN!
  For me, that means trying everything and changing it up often.