Anyone into Radio / CB / Ham / Scanning?

Well only since 1965, first Police scanner and CB, 45 yrs of listening!
_ . _ . / _ _ . _

 

I have Scanner 911 app for my iPhone.
You can listen to Police, EMS, Fire, Sheriff, Highway Patrol and airport police all over the USA and the world. Just $1.99

 

Never owned a CB radio or scanner. I was active in Amateur radio from around 1976 or 1977, IIRC, until around 1995. I keep my license, just for the heck of it, but have not owned a ham radio or been on the air since then. I owned a TenTec 80 watt input HF transceiver, full QSB, an HW8 I built myself and modified for partial QSB, and I forget which model of 2-meter transceiver in the car. I think I had a 2-meter base station in the house as well. I was mostly active on CW, including the traffic nets, where I was a net control station for the Tenth Region and a liaison (but never net control) on CAN. Eventually I sort of drifted away from it, and never bothered to set up a station when I returned from six years out of the country.

 

Hi there, it is a Yaesu FT-8800. Of course I have an external antenna, if you want to "Get Out", you gotta be external. It's a Diamond 2m/440 black whip with a K-400 lip mount that attaches quite nicely to the hatch next to the brake light assy!

 

Deliberately kicking an old thread, wondering if there are any amateur radio operators still active on the forum.

I'm looking into getting a license, just because.

I was just noodling around with a simulated technician class test on hamtestonline.com.

Are there really only 35 questions on a real exam? I'm trying to figure out where I can go to do this, my local org seems to be deadbeat.

 

I got an FCC General Radiotelephone Operator License licence about 25 years ago to plus-up a resume.
I was going to get the Radar Endorsement as well....but I embarked on an exiting and rewarding career in telecommunications before I could take that test.

Back then I'm thinking that the first of these was a 25 question test, and because of FOIA the exact questions themselves had to be available in the PD.
The FCC's answer to this dilemma was simple.
Make a bank of hundreds of questions (250 IIRC) and randomly pick from these.
I made cassette tapes (kids, ask your parents) of me asking the questions by number, and in order and after a pause, citing the answer.
Since I had over an hour's commute (each way, each day) I commenced to listening to the tapes....in order....day after day for a month or so.
There are companies that proctor the tests for a modest fee ($25 at that time) and by the time I took the written test I was so familiar with the material that I knew the letter of the answer before I finished reading (or hearing) the question.
When I took the written test, the questions.....you guessed it!
IN ORDER...and they were even preceded by their original numbering from the FOIA docs, so instead of being 1,2,3,4..... it was more like 3,7,9,13....

I finished the test in well under 5 minutes.

When I handed it in the lady looked at it, and looked at me and said:
"What TOOK you so long?"
I dead-panned....."I wanted to make sure I marked them all correctly so I had to go back and re-check my answers."

I got a 100....and they were NOT amused, but they also could not find any evidence that I had cheated.

If I remember correctly I challenged them to a double or nothing if I aced the test again with all different questions.
They demurred and I got my cert.

I'm thinking that....because of FOIA, this system will still work today, but the FCC licenses are very basic.
They even have a code-free license so you don't have to do the dah-dit-dah-dah....dah-dah-dit,dah....thing.

Fun Fact:
Not every US Navy sailor or airdale knows Morse Code, but some still HAVE to, and as of the last time I checked (I fully retired in 2012) they still use it in some circles.


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Stern Shot:

I know....
The Commercial FCC license is very different from the Amateur Radio FCC license.

The ARRL is a useful source for transitioning from wanna-be to a certified Ham Operator.

Register an Amateur Radio License Exam Session
Question Pools

Examinations | Federal Communications Commission

 

Man, now your bringing me back!! Back in the 70's, if you were into customizing your car, pin stripe paint jobs and CB's was definitely on the list!! Had a handle and everything. On Friday evenings, we would cruise the local avenue and find people from a far city on the channel. Then we would me them at their local Denny's and check out each others cars and stuff. So much fun!!
Recently, I was actually interested in getting a CB radio. Man they have changed quite a bit. Back in the day, I had a Royal CB radio, then I got a Craig because it had more channels. Today, the only places that sell CB radios are the Electronics Stores (the type of stores where you go to buy things to BUILD your own stereo, TV, amplifier, etc.......LoL).

 

I actually have a FCC Class D license "on real card stock" paper. This was before the FCC gave up to the massive Class D rush in the 70's. I really enjoyed all aspects of it and got into building my own long wire antennas, both vertical and flat side. With the right conditions you could do a lot with just a few watts and later on even better with a well tuned linear. The sunspot cycle and increased noise levels slowly killed off the majority's interest on 27 MHz. I turned to shortwave listening using my own antennas and enjoyed it for many more years using various Drake and ICOM equipment. I considered, but never took the test. I still use my Radio Shack Pro-2006 scanner. (best scanner ever) It's been highly modified, thank you very much Bill Cheek! . Listening to the old style analog cell phones was very interesting.

 

@ETC(SS) Well, I did get an FCC restricted radiotelephone operator's permit about 30 years ago, but I don't think it entitles me to do squat on amateur bands. I found the next-town-over club, and they'll let me sit an exam next month for both technician & general class in one shot.

I wound up taking the simulated technician test on that website yesterday and passed it with zero prep, but I'll have to study more to pass the general.

I'm mostly interested in dipping my toes into the past. The local clubs & culture seem pretty well ossified, and I want to find out if there's anything worth learning from those guys before they're all gone. Apart from that it might come in handy the morning after the tornado etc.

 

I've often regretted not getting more involved in that community.

 

I ordered an el cheapo 2-meter radio, it showed up in the mail today. I figured out how to dump out the firmware and then load it up with the local repeater info via chirp software. Lots remaining to figure out.

 

Well, I used to be quite active. For a number of years I worked at the ARRL, the national organization of ham radio operators. But I've been inactive for about 10 years now.

You can find an exam session via the ARRL website. There is lots of other info there, too.

 

There's a club in our county seat that seems to be quite active.
I've always regretted not getting my ticket.

Hmmm.....
I think the next time I'm in McKays book store I'll snag one of those old-timey paper book thingies and brush up on my knowledge.