Aspiring Ham - Hamfest Coming Up

[KC0REY]

HAW!!! I get to be the first to say:

Congratulations!!!!!

Welcome to the hobby!!!!!

[AI4OF]

Originally Posted by DJSTAR39

Well folks, I passed the Tech and General exams at hamfest and am now waiting for my call sign. I'm guessing that this hobby is like most other areas of life... the academic stuff lays a foundation but the real learning now starts and comes from just plain old experience.

I hit the floor in search of equipment and settled on the FT-857D and also picked up a MFJ-993B. Will be using it as a base for now until I get familiar with it. Will be hanging up an OCF dipole and will still need to figure out something for UHF / VHF.

Congrats! We salute you, new General!

May I suggest that you reconsider the OCF dipole unless you are building a Carolina Windom, which takes advantage of the common mode problems that pretty much everyone experiences from the classic OCF design.

Look at the ladder line fed Doublet as well as the Fan Dipole. You'll likely have less problems with either one than you will with a standard OCF. Your choice of first equipment is nearly identical with mine and I also started with an FT-857D, MFJ-989C and an OCF dipole. Within a year I was fed up with all the RF in the shack and replaced it with a doublet which I still run 5 years later. Yes, the OCF loads well on a lot of frequencies but they also introduce quite a bit of RF in the shack. Balanced antennas do that much less than unbalanced antennas do.

For VHF/UHF, a vertical 1/4 wave you build will work every bit as good as the expensive ones that do pretty much the same.

Here's some links that I have found useful.

[WA7KKP]

Hamfests are good for USED gear . . . new dealers may have some deals, but most will charge sales tax. If you buy online out of state, they won't charge sales tax. That's a 6-9% savings right there, but that may be offset by shipping charges, Do your homework.

To get on the air, you'll need these basics:

Rig
Coax
SWR bridge
Antenna

Add an antenna tuner, LP filter as your needs expand, and goodies like an electronic keyer/paddles for CW, audio filters etc. will come along with experience.

The antenna you can build yourself, but at VHF the commercial built antennas are probably the easier way to go.

And bring along an Elmer, who can help you make those decisions.

One last thing -- avoid E-bay unless there is no alternative. Prices there tend to be high to stratospheric/ridiculous.

Gary WA7KKP