I'm back!

After moving and starting a new job I've been working on getting back on the air. I've managed to check in a few times to the 9:00pm net on the PSRG repeater in Seattle.

I've also made several PSK-31 contacts using a random wire antenna and tuner borrowed from my brother. He used to be KB7QOP but recently passed his extra class and changed his call to AE7XI. He does a lot of CW and says the new call is much easier to send. 

Most of my HF activity seems to happen in California but I also hit a Reno station this afternoon - I lost him after a few minutes but while he was coming in he was very clear and readable. So far all of my successes have been on 20m before dark. We'll see how it goes as time goes on.

Ham radio - never know what you might learn

So far I've just been working 2 meters with my home-brew Jpole and IC-7000. I'm planning on working HF as soon as humanly possible but a new job opportunity and an upcoming move are keeping me really busy.

I've loved all the things you learn or get to experience by being part of the community. Earlier this week I was working away at the computer when someone keyed up the PSRG repeater and said that the International Space Station was flying overhead.

I hopped up and slid out on the deck to watch it fly by. It was right overhead and fairly low and I had a good 5 or 6 minute look before it flew out of sight.

Before Ham radio I would never have remembered to check something like that. By simply having my radio on or participating in the 9:00 nets, I've found out about wildfires back in my old town, traffic snarls to avoid, upcoming road construction and closed roads, space phenomenon like the ISS or Curiosity's Mars landing.

I have no regrets about getting my license and look forward to more of the same in the months ahead.

Now if I could just find a place to move into that would let me string up an HF antenna....

K7TXX - It's official!

My new callsign came through today as expected.

Goodbye KF7WUF - it was fun while it lasted.

Making Contact with the Niece

One of the things that inspired me to get my ham radio ticket was when my 11 year old niece received her technicians license. Here’s a picture of her on her own HT making contact with me this week.


There’s also some great video of her working field day this year. I didn’t have my license yet so was unable to participate. She did a great job.

The Niece working Field Day 2012

The Shack

If you look carefully you can see the antenna hanging outside the sliding glass door.

Well I have my Ham Shack up and running. There are still plenty of projects to work on but I have my computer and radio all working. As you can see, I appropriated a corner of the living room for myself. In the foreground is the back of a small couch that I lie on to read and listen to the net. In the corner is my desk with dual monitors, keyboard wireless mouse, and IC-7000 transceiver. My 2m J-Pole antenna is hanging just outside on my balcony. Not visible is my Astron power supply. It's on a shelf underneath the right-hand monitor.

I got my post-card for Log Book of the World and am downloading Ham Radio Deluxe as I type this. Lots more to do but it's nice to be able to look out the window, write a blog, and monitor the air waves all at the same time.

Some of my upcoming projects include re-attaching the HF antenna, creating a better HF solution, logging my contacts from my first day of PSK-31 action, downloading contesting software, reading the ARRL Operating Manual, learning CW, waterproofing my J-pole (I want to seal the area around the eyebolt at the top of the antenna), putting together a tool/parts box for antenna building and general use, and learning how to solder. 

Additionally, my roommate Josiah, has begun to show an interest in Amateur Radio and has started studying for his technican and general licenses. L.W. (K7LWA) and Carol (KF7TNO) put a good amount of pressure on him and even got him on the air as a third party. Josiah has some radio experience from the military so I'm guessing he will be a natural at Amateur Radio.

All in all I'm having a lot of fun with these new adventures and can't wait to start working some HF.

Radio Roadtrip!

Mike, KB7QOP, and I headed to Portland on Saturday so he could make good on his promise to buy me a radio and make good he did! I am very grateful to have such a generous brother.

On the way to the Ham Radio Outlet in Portland we stopped at a Ham swapmeet going on in Chehalis. To this point I had only read about Hamfests or swapmeets and I think this was a pretty typical experience. There were a few booths selling everything from T-shirts to CW keys, to electronic parts. I saw some software that was circa 1995 for sale. Many people had hats on with their names and callsigns. Mike picked up a few things including a Vibroplex bug and a USB keyer.

At the end they were auctioning off some real junk, however the last item was a decent pair of new Harmon Kardon speakers in the box. Mike needed a pair of speakers for his new computer, offered the opening bid of $5, and won. Saved him a trip to find some speakers and you can't go wrong for five bucks.

While we were there we ran into a couple other Hams we know from our area including Jim KM7H and Daniel KL7WM.

By about 11:30 we were back on the road to Portland and arrived at HRO. We looked around and talked with Ron, one of the old salts working the counter. I mentioned my interest in PSK-31 and he told me I was better off sticking with voice and CW before I "went messing around with all that digital stuff". I mentioned I'd already made some PSK-31 contacts so I knew I liked it. He was not overly impressed. He definitely had opinions about what we should buy but overall I liked him. This is a guy who's been doing Ham radio for awhile.

It wasn't long before we walked out of the store with the [Cue Angels Singing] IC-7000, an Astron switching power supply, and an EZ Guide for PSK-31.

Before returning home to hook up the new toys we met up with my friend Eric who lives in the Portland area and had a nice lunch. It was good to catch up with Eric and enjoy the warm sun. The weather was remarkably warmer and clearer in Portland than it has been in Seattle. And if you're heading down to HRO for any reason there's a good Thai restaurant right in the same complex. It's diagonal across the parking lot from HRO and around a corner. We had a pretty tasty meal there.

Soon we were on our way home. We got back to my place in Kent around 6:30 and began to create the Ham Shack. I worked on moving a desk out of my room into a corner of the living room and disassembling my computer while Mike began stripping wires and connecting the posts so we could get power to the radio. It wasn't long before we were on the air with my 2m J-Pole hitting several local repeaters. The J-Pole was outside on my deck leaning up against the apartment building but we got reports that it sounded pretty good. We also played with a random wire HF antenna strung around my deck. The HF antenna was pretty far from ideal but we did make contact with someone from Canada via CW and some antenna is better than no antenna! Getting out on HF will be one of my upcoming projects.

After Mike left I talked to him all the way from Kent to Woodinville on his mobile Kenwood. We were using the Green Mountain repeater and could hear each other the entire trip. He got a little rough going down the 520 hill towards Avondale but still quite copy-able.

There was no 9:00pm net as the PSRG repeater was being used by the Torchlight parade folks so I had to wait until the morning to check in on the new gear. I had some trouble being understood on the PSRG repeater later Saturday night. I moved the antenna around and it seemed to get better. I've also had reports than my signal isn't as clear as it could be and there was speculation that I was over-driving the mic. I lowered the mic gain to about 25% and that seems to have helped. Treits all have loud voices so I think that might have been part of it.

I'm still working on setting up the ham shack. Next steps include setting up the computer and downloading Ham Radio Deluxe and other software apps.

9am Net

Made it into the 9am net for the first time this morning.

I had been listening to the Net on the Yaesu HT while driving from Kent to the Burien Community Center. I knew I wouldn't be able to hit the repeater from inside the car on the HT so I hadn't bothered trying to check in.

By the time I arrived at the center the first round of checkins was complete and new checkins were called for. I decided to try to hit the repeater from Burien.

I transmitted but doubled with someone. Then tried again and made it on the list. Net Control reported some white noise but said I held the repeater no problem. Not bad from Burien!

Comments!

I love getting comments and changed the comment section so you don't have to have a Google or Open ID account to comment. You can choose "name/url" and type your name (url not required) or go the anonymous route.

If I get inappropriate comments or spam I'll have to turn moderation on.

If you've wanted to comment but hate signing into things, it should be easier now.

HT in hand - loving my Yaesu VX-6R

My HT radio, a Yaesu VX-6R, came today - how exciting!

I took it out of the box and immediately attached the Diamond srh320a antenna I bought to go with it.

I tuned around and found a couple of hams talking about their day at work. One was a farrier the other a truck driver. The first thing I noticed was how clear and loud the audio was. The squelch also seems to do it's job well.

Next, I loaded the PSRG repeater into memory. I can hear it loud and clear but cannot transmit to it with 5w and the attached antenna. With the clarity of the signal, however, I think my J-pole will be able to hit it. I just don't have the necessary connectors to try the HT with it. Not sure if I'll make it in with 5w but when I get my J-pole and base station rocking I'm almost sure I'll make it. And if not... I'll just have to drive around until I find a spot where I can reach it with my handheld. I can stand outside the car and do the 9pm Net that way. Good thing it's waterproof.

While I was waiting for the 9pm net to start I was tuning around and heard KC7AVA, my brother Randy, talking with someone who was testing their radio. I quickly looked up the tone for the repeater and called out:

"KC7..A...VA, K..F7..WUF"  I was so excited I had a hard time getting the calls out.

I heard back:

"KC7AVA/mobile, I didn't catch that call."

"KF7WUF, as in your sister Tammy" I replied.

Randy was thrilled to make contact using the Mike and Key repeater, 146.82, on Tiger Mountain. He said I had a great signal into the repeater and couldn't believe I was inside my apartment. He was mobile in Monroe and I was on my little HT in Kent. Pretty cool to get to talk that way.

Randy and I finished up just as the 9pm Net was starting back on the PSRG repeater. I quickly called my brother Mike, KB7QOP, via cell phone and asked him to relay a message to the Net that I was out there listening but wouldn't be able to get in tonight. I listened to all the reports and had a great time. After the net I hopped back to the Mike and Key repeater and talked with KB7QOP for a few minutes. He reported that I was transmitting some kind of environmental noise. We thought it was the ceiling fan but after turning it off he still heard it. By this time my battery was discharged so I was plugged into AC power and couldn't move around to test it out. But we'll get to that soon enough.

Over all I am VERY happy with the Yaesu and looking forward to getting on the air more.

73 - KF7WUF

Great Weekend Hamming it Up

I had a full weekend of Ham radio activity.

Mike (KB7QOP) and I hung out at his place Friday night. I made my first contact by signing in to the PSRG 9:00pm net. It seemed the appropriate way to start.

The next morning we headed over to Carol (KF7TNO) and EJ's (KF7TNP) house for an antenna party. I don't know if Carol invented the idea of an Antenna Party but she sure puts on a good one! We had tons of great food, beer, and wine potluck style. There were plenty of seats in Carol and EJs wonderful garden but the place to be was EJ's shop.

First we had a lecture on how to build a 2m ladder line J-Pole antenna. The name and call of the gentleman who explained it escapes me but he did a really good job. Even a novice like myself followed most of what he was saying.

After the lecture I went back to the buffet for some of David (KF7USI) and Linda's (KF7WUE) gumbo and was lounging in the sun when Mike called down from the shop "come help build your antenna!" An antenna for me? I jumped up and headed back to the shop.

We spent the afternoon working on my 2m J-pole. It's basically a length of ladder line that is threaded through a piece of PVC pipe to keep it straight. The PVC pipe has a cap at one end with an eyebolt and can be hung vertically from a hook or simply leaned against a tree. Carol and EJ had made one previously and had gotten into the PSRG repeater on Queen Anne Hill from Yelm. A pretty impressive feat.

Mike did most of the work on my antenna but I helped here and there. My biggest accomplishment was threading the coax for the choke through the PVC pipe. I used a trick I learned from watching Grey's Anatomy to help me solve the problem. I was pretty impressed with myself and I'd like to think Derek Shepherd would be proud.

Having helped Mike measure and trim things I soon found myself helping a fellow Ham named Bob (KF7SPA) start an antenna. I did the best I could to get him started, checking with David and Mike periodically to make sure I wasn't leading him astray.

A few hours later my antenna was finished. We tested it with a few calls into the repeater from Carol and EJ's and it sounded great. Later that night we used it to hit the repeater from much further away in Woodinville. We simply leaned it against the house and plugged it in. We got good reports so I can't wait to try it out hanging on my balcony. Mike suggested I wrap Christmas lights around it to further camouflage it from the apartment police.

At the end of the night several new antenna's had been constructed by various people. Everyone was helping each other out. Many of us stayed and checked into the net from the party. It was a great time of food, fun, camaraderie, and antenna building.

On Sunday I was at Mike's house and made my first foray in HF. I spent the day on 20m making PSK-31 contacts. At first I was disappointed. I was unsuccessful answering several people and spent half an hour calling CQ with no answer. Eventually Mike and I figured out that when we had set me up with my own Identity in HRD that we had not set the software up correctly and the radio wasn't transmitting. A few minutes later I made my first HF contact. By the end of the day I'd made 18 contacts. Most were in the U.S. but I managed to work Cuba, Mexico, Venezuela, and Colombia as well.

So I got my ticket last Thursday and spent the ENTIRE weekend doing Ham stuff. Not sure this bodes well....

Next weekend - road trip to Portland to visit Ham Radio Outlet and pick out a radio and power supply.

8/7/2012 - New Callsign

Well according to the folks at AE7Q it looks like I will get my K7TXX call sign on August 7th.

I'll miss KF7WUF but I'm happy with my decision.

Vanity Application Sent

Well I applied for K7TXX today - lets see how long it takes the FCC to process my application. They were pretty quick with getting my license set up.

Got my call sign - KF7WUF

Got my call sign today - KF7WUF.

If it were WTF it would be epic. Sadly saying "w u" together is tough and as I have ADHD and sometimes talk like a machine gun I have a feeling it will be hard for others to copy.

So I shall proceed with pursuing a vanity call sign, with K7TXX currently being the front runner.

In the mean time I shall get on the air as KF7WUF as soon as possible - probably making my debut on Saturday's 9 o'clock net.

Bought My First Radio

Well I just had to have some major work done on my transmission (the car kind not the RF kind) and wasn't sure if I should try to buy an HT radio or not. But impatience won out. I decided if I got my call sign and had no radio it would be pretty frustrating.

I decided on a Yaesu VX-6R for its durability and entry level price. We get a lot of rain here in the Pacific Northwest, so I wanted a handheld that I could take with me year round without having to worry about the weather. I looked at a couple of Kenwoods including a model that had GPS built in. I would like to do more geocaching so getting a built in GPS was a nice idea but it was costly and didn't have the weather proofing I was looking for.

I also bought a Diamond SRH320a antenna to go with my VX-6R.

Both items had good reviews on eHam and my brother Randy, KC7AVA, has the same HT and likes it. In fact on the 4th of July he dropped it in salt water at our parents' house. A quick rinse with freshwater and after a bit of time to let it dry out it was working just fine.

Contesting + Hiking = Cool Idea

A lot of neat Homebrew stuff going on in this video.

Nailed it! ...or not

I decided to try some CW practice tonight. Using LCWO.net I reviewed lesson 1 which teaches K and M. I had learned this a few months ago and still remembered it pretty well. When I moved to lesson 2 I had a really tough time distinguishing K and U.

I decided to work on just K and U together using the custom feature on LCWO. I went through it once and got about 85% accuracy. The second time through I finished copying my code and felt like it was 100%. "Nailed it!" I thought to myself.

Well, as you can see below, I did get 100%...100% wrong!  I have somehow reversed K and U in my head and am now struggling to reverse it back!

CW is hard but someday I am going to master it. Probably not today though.

K and U Practice

Oh. Em. Gee. PSK31

So I was hanging out in KB7QOPs ham shack last night and convinced him to try PSK31 data transmissions, basically IMing over the air at about 31 baud.

I.

Love.

It!

Besides being able to check into the Nine O'Clock Net, this is the thing I cannot wait to do.

It reminds me of being a high school geek circa 1986 - I used to call my friend Eric Skog and we would connect our computers via 300 baud modems and then chat. It was so much less efficient than just talking on the phone but it was much more fun! PSK31 reminds me of my early days online, before anyone had heard of the Internet. I would find BBS numbers in the back of Computer Shopper and look for Commodore 64 games "cracked by Vader" among others.

Watching Mike work his first contact from Troy, AL was great. The signal faded after a few minutes, introducing some errors in the text, but they were able to have a short conversation.

Getting this working will be one of the first things I do upon setting up my base station.

PSRG Site Down

They mentioned at the picnic that the PSRG website is being updated and may be offline sporadically. It's currently down.

Couldn't Wait - Got my General

Well I couldn't wait to go for the Xtra.

The conditions were just too perfect. KB7QOP, Mike, had invited me to the annual Puget Sound Repeater Group picnic and of course I had agreed to go. I stayed around his house the night before the picnic and listened to the 9 O'Clock Net. At the end of the net folks were again encouraging me to start studying for my technicians license. I got several "Go Tammy! Go!" chants from both LW and Carol among others. Then I found out they were going to be testing before the picnic...I decided it was too perfect. I could get there before Mike, take the test, and then surprise him.

So I went to Magnolia Park in Seattle and arrived at 10:30am to check in for the exam. I took both the Technician and General and passed both.

When Mike arrived at the picnic, I simply handed him my slip showing that I had passed. He kept staring at it and finally said "What is this?" He said he was so sure I hadn't been studying yet that the slip in front of him made no sense. It was pretty great.

Everyone from the PSRG has been so supportive. I can't wait to get on the air!  I'll start hitting the refresh button on the FCC ULS website compulsively next week.

Can't wait to get my call - not sure if I'll switch to K7TXX or stay with whatever I get. We'll see. I'll update the blog accordingly.

Extra! Extra!

I'm 6% of the way through the Extra exam. The material is more difficult/esoteric and there are fewer explanations in the Ham Test Online course. I'm memorizing some answers without really understanding what they mean.

Here's one from this morning:

What is the equivalent lumped-constant network for a hairpin matching system on a 3-element Yagi?

• Pi network
• Parallel-resonant tank
• Pi-L network
• L network

As of now I don't have a clue what this question is talking about. Well ok I know it's related to antennas because a Yagi is a directional antenna. And it seems to be about matching the antenna. I don't know what a hairpin matching system or L network, or Pi network is. I have memorized that "L Network" is the right answer though. 

I do use the 2012 ARRL Handbook to fill in the gaps, so later tonight I'll have to investigate hairpin matching systems, L networks, Pi networks, and more to figure out what this is all about.

In any case I'm still being exposed to Amateur Radio concepts. Being able to pull facts from memory is not a bad thing. When I actually start setting up a station or get on the air this fact base that I'll start from can only help and I'll have all the licensing out of the way.

I have to say it's tempting to just run out this weekend and take the technician and general which I know I could pass with flying colors. However I'm still motivated to take a shot at zero to Extra in one day even if it's just for bragging rights.

K7TXX

Since I plan on going straight for my Extra class license I've been thinking of vanity call signs. My first thought was to use my old arcade letters "TXX."

When I was growing up I played a lot of pinball. One day I walked into the arcade and saw this weird machine in the corner. It was a "video game" called Pac Man. I've been a gaming geek ever since.

In all types of arcade games when you got a high score you got to put in your initials. I put in T for Tammy and then XX either because I thought it was mysterious or cool or both. Actually now that I think about it I think I worried that someone else would have my same initials and I would never know if the score was mine or not. With TXX I was always sure that was me. To this day if I get a high score on some kind of machine I enter TXX.

K7 represents my part of the country and fits with my brothers' call signs so I wanted K7 for sure. I considered a 4 symbol call but they are hard to come by. K7OW is coming available later this month but even if I went for it I'm not sure someone else wouldn't beat me to it.

So for now I assume that I'll be changing my call to K7TXX which is why I named the website K7TXX. If I change my mind I'll probably change the blog to match.

Shhh it's a Secret

KB7QOP just sent me the following email:

From: Mike Treit
Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2012 4:33 PM
To: Tammy Treit
Subject: PSRG picnic

Any desire to go to the annual Puget Sound Repeater Group picnic and get more peer pressure to get your ham license?

The picnic is this Saturday at Magnolia Park.

By the way, if you haven't already bought a ham radio study guide, let me know so I can hook you up!

-Mike

I responded that some work stuff was stressful (true) and that I would let him know if I needed a guide (also true) but my intent was to make him think I hadn't started studying yet. Since I don't want him to go out and buy me a bunch of study guides I'd better get this license in a hurry! The pressure is on now. 
 
I also said that I would go to the picnic. I'm going to have to remember that I'm not supposed to know anything and avoid getting sucked in to conversations that might reveal my true identity. I also want the folks from the 9 O'Clock Net to be pleasantly surprised when I randomly show up transmitting from KC7AVA's house in a few weeks.

Is 5w enough for emergency work?

Not long after publishing the post below about some of the components I want, I realized that the amplifier does not apply to the 2 meter band. It says it's for all HF bands and covers 160m-6m.

I had not noticed this at first and so I will be looking to see what other options are out there.

I'm not even sure if this is necessary - is 5w plenty? I really have no idea. This is where asking experienced operators is going to help once my secret is out. If I want to be able to help out in an emergency what kind of output should I be looking at?

Also am I wrong in assuming a lot of emergecy work happens on 2 meters? That's what it seems like but I guess I don't know that for sure either.

I really don't even know what "emergency work" looks like. I know ARES and RACES exist, but how to they become mobilized? I am interested in being helpful in an emergency as well as volunteering to help at events like races, parades, etc. How does that look in practice? What kind of gear is most useful?

Well that's just a few more things to look into and learn about. So much to learn - but that's part of what makes this hobby fun.Well I think it's fun and I'm not even on the air yet.

The Rig - Part 1

I'm still pretty set on creating a solid portable rig but as I look at the components I want I realized that I breeched the $1000 mark pretty quickly. I'm the kind of person who would rather save up and get the thing I really want than get something cheap that I don't like and then replace it later. Going the cheap route means more frustration and more money in the long run. Plus my brother, KB7QOP, promised me a radio of some sort on completion of my General exam so that should get me started.

I think the radio KB7QOP offered me is intended to be some kind of 2m hand held/mobile radio. If he decides to get fancier I won't complain; presuming his thought was the handheld I will have many enjoyable hours getting familiar with life in our area on 2 meters.

As I save some money I will be researching and designing my portable rig. Here is what I have so far:

HF/VHF/UHF 5w Transciever - The Yaseu FT-817ND

$675.00

40m - 2m Mini-Buddipole Antenna

$225

Tokyo Hy-Power HL-45B HF Amplifier

$450



Sorry American/Kenwood fans I seem to be leaning towards the Japanese options. The transceiver is solid and has a great track record. It can run off alkaline batteries or a rechargeable NiMH battery. The antenna is compact and has a nifty travel case. The Amp was designed for the FT-817 and supports automatic band switching for the 817 - which seems like a cool feature to me.

I'll definitely be discussing my thoughts with more experienced HAMs after I "go public" with all of this.

For those wondering why I would buy an amp for a QRP transciever remember my goal is to create one highly portable rig. While I actually think QRP (working with a low power transmitter) is pretty cool it's not my primary reason for buying this transciever. Portability and multiband support are the main draws for me. The 5w output is actually somewhat of a drawback for my purposes, but a small price to pay in my opinion. The amp will give me more options. If I go hiking the amp is staying home. If I'm at home or at field day the amp is probably coming along. Having the amp in an emergency situation is a good thing. Can't help folks if you can't be heard.

85% of General

I'm 85% of the way through the General test and have passed all the practice tests I've taken for both Technician and General. Once I've seen all the General questions at least once I'm going to move on to the Extra.

If I push hard and squeeze in some studying at work I'm wondering if I can take the tests by the end of July instead of early August. We'll see!

Gear Dreams

The options are overwhelming when I start to think about gear. To be honest I always figured you just bought a radio, plugged in an antenna, and could go on any frequency - The. End.

Already I've learned that it's not so simple. First of all I think when I say radio I mean transceiver. Second what I plan on doing with my "ticket" may impact the kind of gear I buy. Third I live in an apartment so I probably have to get all stealthy with the antenna.

I think I'm leaning towards coming up with a highly portable setup and working whatever I can - figuring out how to get the most out of that setup for my interests.

Things that interest me include emergency response, PSK31 'chatting', communicating with the local repeater group folks, contesting, DXing, eventually CW.... hmm what isn't interesting.

Anyhow I've lived a pretty mobile life and I think I'd like to be able to move quickly and easily. Plus I can always go work KB7QOP or KC7AVA's stations. I think the portable setup will be best for emergency response, work well with my lifestyle, and there's no reason I shouldn't be able to work a lot of ground with it.

It's all just dreaming until I get that license. I'm at about 68% of the General test now and trying to hit 70% before hitting the rack. Church tomorrow so I can't stay up too late, better get back to it!

Zero to Extra

When I met some of KB7QOPs HAM buddies at a recent house warming/antenna stringing event they were all pretty cool folks. I enjoyed talking with them and have heard them on the PSRG 9 O'clock Net several times. They were all encouraging me to get my technicians license. I kept saying I didn't really have time or money to invest in HAM radio at the moment. They did not accept any excuses.

After they all went home I was hanging out in KB7QOPs HAM Shack and during the 9 O'clock Net several said "and we met Tammy and she should get her license!" So I decided to go for it.

I was looking around on the web and found HamTestOnline. This isn't an advertisement for them, but I personally have found it to be a pretty great tool. It looked like something that would work for me. I liked the adaptive learning aspect and how it included information and theory not just practice tests. Adaptive learning means that it keeps track of the questions you get wrong and repeats them more frequently until you consistently get them right.

The site claims it's seen over 100 users go from no license to their extra class license. So that's the goal I set for myself. I started using the software on July 3. It's now July 7th. Within 6 hours of study I could easily pass the technicians exam. And today I am half way through the General test. I have 15 hours invested so far.

Click on the image below to see my progress.

I let our brother Randy, KC7AVA, in on my little plan at our family's 4th of July celebration. We decided that I should get my Extra class license and then go over to KC7AVA's house and contact KB7QOP. 

KB7QOP told me if I got my General license he'd buy me a radio. I wonder what he'll do when I show up with the Extra...

Private Blog

My brother is a HAM. His twin is a HAM. My 11 year old niece is a HAM. I guess it's about time I joined them.

My brother Mike, KB7QOP, has been encouraging me to get into HAM radio for years. I've been moving around a lot since High School. I have two masters degrees, and have worked for Microsoft, the public school system, a church, and currently a non-profit. I have ADHD. My life is always a juggling act with various elements crashing to the ground. I recently learned to play poker semi-effectively (also with KB7QOP) and for some reason now feels like the right time to get on the air.

The purpose of this blog is to let you, dear reader, follow the ups and downs of a middle aged woman tackling amateur radio. One of the things that draws me to the hobby is how few women seem to have taken an interest in it - plus I'm a born geek. If you look at pictures of HamFests or attend a local club meeting, you will see few women. And the women you do see often came to the hobby along with their husbands. Nothing wrong with that, but I'd like to help HAM radio expand to more women. Women who maybe don't have nerdy husbands but who are nerds themselves.

This blog is currently private because I'm working on my license as a surprise for KB7QOP. More on that in another post.