Tech in 1995, General in July 2012.

[KC5SAS]

After much studying and stressing I finally sat for the exam to upgrade my Ham Radio license. I got my Technician license back in 1995 and have procrastinated upgrading it to General until now. Recently I got the study guide, started watching videos on the internet and taking practice exams on my smart phone whenever I had free time. Tonight I drove up to the library in north Baton Rouge and took the test. To add to the stress, after I turned in my answer sheet, the examiners discovered that they didn't have the answer key for my test booklet. So while I paced and nearly stroked out, three of the examiners gathered around my test and went over each question and answer on my sheet individually. In the end I passed with flying colors. Before I left I had one of the examiners take this photo of me with my Certificate of Successful Examination Completion (CSEC) to show off my hard work. Now I get to wait for the Federal Communications Commission to send me my new General class license. Yeah Me!

[W7KKK]

Congrats on the new ticket and privileges you earned with them.
It will open a whole new world to you in the way of HF.
Be prepared to open your check book though!

[K8MHZ]

Congrats!

I was a tech for 10 years and still never played with everything within my privileges.

[AD0DQ]

Wooo Hooo! Way to go! Hope you enjoy your new privileges!

[KC5SAS]

Wooo Hooo! Way to go! Hope you enjoy your new privileges!

I will if I ever get any HF gear. Right now funds are too tight to purchase a rig.

[K0RGR]

Well, you can try out your new privileges online at RemoteHams.com http://beta.remotehams.com/

[AF4LY]

Well, you can try out your new privileges online at RemoteHams.com http://beta.remotehams.com/

Wow...I will have to try that out in a little bit. I have seen a couple remote HF sites before, but this one looks as if it is much more put together.

As for the OP, welcome to the world of HF! My uncle was a no-code tech until last year he upgraded to General. Now he is about to get his worked all states.

[K3WFN]

A retread here.

I was first Licensed in 1961 and was pretty active up until about 198something, but with one thing and another I have been off ever since. With retirement approaching I'm starting to dust off the old equipment and find out what still works.

But I have a few questions:

One of the things that doesn't work so well are my ears.

1) With that in mind, I'm guessing that CW is probably the best mode to try first. Does any one have experience to confirm or dispute that opinion?
2) Assuming that CW is the best choice for me, I have to ask the question, "Do people still use CW?" Until I get something up and running I can't know.
3) What bands are the best choices these days for CW? I was never a real DXer and I'm not particularly interested in that now, just rag-chewing.
4) On an entirely different topic, I spent a lot of time on 6 meters back soon after the earth's crust started to form and really liked that band. Now that TV has switched to Digital and primarily cable instead of over-the-air, has that changed 6 meter operation. I'm guessing that TVI on channel 2 is much reduced over the old days. Is that band worth getting onto?

I would really appreciate any responses be made to my e-mail address: carvintom@gmail.com

Thanks and 73,

Tom, K3WFN, the "Weird Freakish Noise"