I'd flunk. But I don't care. I have zero interest in building anything. Never did. I prefer to drive the race-car, not make one or work on it!
I'm glad I just passed my Extra in November. It took me 4 years and at least six tries to muster up enough correct answers.....I never got the S parameters down. Maybe I spent too much time trying to figure out why S parameters mattered. I GOT IT DONE JUST IN TIME!!!!
Why would you need to win the lottery to get into digital?? You probably already have a radio and a desktop or laptop computer.. Thats everything you need. Software that you need is free.
I find it odd that the FCC puts the qeustion pool out there, learning by rote? When I took the Advanced exam in the UK, I did over 5000 mock questions online, and started to feel fairly confident. When I went to my exam, I opened the paper and thought "I want to go home now" The questions were a lot more differently worded than the mocks I was convinced I had failed, but wow here I am. There is a lot I am still learnig (it doesn't stop with getting your licence), I build basics (power supplies, soundcard interfaces etc), but would still need to reference anything where I needed to know transistor biasing. I don't come from a technical background, but can work through things logically. I know I will take some flak, but building and callibrating your own tranceivers these days, yet it is part of the hobby ( if you want to go down that route) and is probably great fun and satisfying, but it is also a money pit. I have (to my wife's chagrain) built many gadgets for photography, radio, hi-fi that now sit in my garage. Yes, I had fun building them, but in these technology rapidly advancing years, they were outdated by the time I had finished the projects. I am still using a modified Chinese studio mike, into a home brew mike interface, and my homemade equivalent of the MFJ 1708 and my homebrew "Signalink" I think the true spirit is not just getting your licence, but keep learning whatever you are intersted in, and most of all HAVE FUN
Actually, they should if they took the provisions in the Radio Regulations seriously. Professional operators are not expected or allowed to build or modify their equipment without re-certifying it, which is a privilege that only radio amateurs have. By the way, the US practice of licensing radio repair crew is almost unheard of in the rest of the world. In Europe, this is specifically pointed out in the exemptions from type-acceptance that amateur radio enjoys, and this has been derived directly from the historic perception by the regulators that radio amateurs in general are technically proficient. I shudder in anticipation of the day when the Authorities find out the real state-of-affairs... 73/ Karl-Arne SM0AOM
I am for anything that keeps the hobby moving forward! Personally I am not ready to play with the digital modes, my line of work is IT and for me it is like the postman going for a walk. I may feel different when I retire later this year. I picked up a 7300 with digital modes in mind. I was lucky CW came easy for me, it doesn't for enough people. 73's
At one time the ham tests "were" much more technical, you needed them to be. When my dad took the test back in 1943 he had to draw schematics and the test was not so much about rules and regs but electronic theory. I am pretty sure I could build my own transmitter like my dad did out of the 1953 ARRL Handbook, but I am not sure if that would make me a better ham. I have known man hams over the years that were true appliance operators but some of the best hams you could want on the air.
Exactly my issue, I have tried but but no joy. I still do CW with my computer and FLDIGI through my SIGNALINK box. I am only a mere General Class Operator and came in as a NO CODE, I am happy to be on the air. I believe there are others out there that have this very same problem with their hearing and if they can pass the other elements of the test and pass then I say welcome to the hobby. de N7SBU.
It is a nice to have skill, but as I have said in prior posts, it does not come easy to a lot of people for what ever reason. There is so much more to the hobby. I love CW, it was easy for me because I started learning it when I was very young.
In the USA, you don't have to have a ham license to build or modify any piece of radio gear, anyone can do this. But you must have a ham license to operate that equipment on the air. In other words, you can have Aunt Hilda build you a kit radio, or from spare parts or scraps, doesn't matter. She would not be authorized to operate said radio, lacking a ham license. But any licensed ham could take that radio and operate it on the air, taking responsibility for its proper operation.
What you say is very true minus the cables needed.....winning the lottery was just a statement saying I have a bunch of other things Id rather do at this moment in time than tackle digital.
There are no requirements for any licence to build or modify transmitting equipment here either. Anyone may do it, but only properly licensed radio amateurs may use the equipment and only on the amateur bands. My point is however that no commercial operator, regardless of competence, is formally permitted to modify the type-accepted equipment entrusted to him on a ground station, vessel or aircraft, and then transmit on the alloted frequencies. In the old days, the R/O onboard a ship was supposed to be able to make repairs while at sea, but a quite hard line was drawn between repairs and modifications. Rented radio stations were strictly "off-limits" for any modifications. Before my time, there were scattered cases reported when amateurs that were R/O:s had made unauthorised changes to ship transmitters to allow transmitting on the amateur bands. This caused the equipment rental company to demand reparations for damages from the ship-owner. So, modifications of commercial gear without re-certification for operation on the amateur bands are the sole privilege of radio amateurs. 73/ Karl-Arne SM0AOM
There seems to be a discrepancy in these two statements "Modification" is the act of changing something. Here (and apparently there as well), anyone can do it. If you want to operate the equipment, you have to have an amateur radio license. I think we agree on that. The amateur license doesn't give you any more authority to modify equipment than anyone else, it just gives you the privilege of operating that equipment on the air.
If it is your own equipment, you certainly have the authority to modify it then and operate on the amateur bands. Otherwise you need the permission of the owner, which in the case of commercial gear, he is unlikely to give. 73/ Karl-Arne SM0AOM
There is no advanced class license anymore. If you got one and don't let it expire you are good however they no longer offer an advanced class license
