Looking at becoming a licensed Radio Ham

A place to discuss the amateur radio licence, training and examination.
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andymuza
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Re: Looking at becoming a licensed Radio Ham

Post by andymuza »

First radio club I went to I just telephoned the contact number. Was the easiest way and nothing got lost in translation.
Turned and was totally disappointed at the lack of radio kit to drool over. They had none in the club house.
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Re: Looking at becoming a licensed Radio Ham

Post by Darkstar1 »

Mattylad wrote:Result!!

Perhaps Darkstar can also comment on the RSGB listing the ELRC as being in Padiham? is that really old data?
As far as I know ELRC were never at Padiham, I will contact James and get him to check the listing out, thanks for pointing it out.
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Re: Looking at becoming a licensed Radio Ham

Post by Mattylad »

Cheers Darkstar.

So whats the club upto these days? Anything going on?

I take it that this thursday is not a club night lol.
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Re: Looking at becoming a licensed Radio Ham

Post by Darkstar1 »

Mattylad, why not pop in and see, next meeting is 8/1/15, you would be made welcome. :D
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SierraTangoUniform
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Re: Looking at becoming a licensed Radio Ham

Post by SierraTangoUniform »

andymuza wrote:First radio club I went to I just telephoned the contact number. Was the easiest way and nothing got lost in translation.
Turned and was totally disappointed at the lack of radio kit to drool over. They had none in the club house.
Not everything is as it seems is it?

I was lucky. When I joined MKARS, we had our own shack and clubroom at Bletchley Park, entirely dedicated to us.
An FT950 in the corner as well as some very old antiquities and collectables (no, that's not the members).

Unfortunately, we lost the clubroom and are still looking for something a little more permanent so if you come to a meeting (still at BP), you might be disappointed with a lack of bling. On the flipside, there's still the enthusiasm, discussion and help that all radio clubs have :thumbup:
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Re: Looking at becoming a licensed Radio Ham

Post by Mattylad »

Cheers Den.


Brunlea, apart from scanners & cb, have you any ham gear or intention (and dosh) to get some?
Can you put up long wire aerials (have you a garden?) or are you flat bound?

Do you fancy HF & DX contacts or VHF & waffling with locals?

Have you tried the Hack Green webSDR site to see whats on the bands?
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Re: Looking at becoming a licensed Radio Ham

Post by Brunlea »

Mattylad wrote:Cheers Den.


Brunlea, apart from scanners & cb, have you any ham gear or intention (and dosh) to get some?
Can you put up long wire aerials (have you a garden?) or are you flat bound?

Do you fancy HF & DX contacts or VHF & waffling with locals?

Have you tried the Hack Green webSDR site to see whats on the bands?
I've tried this webSDR: http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/

For shortwave listening I do have a Sony ICF-SW55 (Lost the damn power lead, and the extending aerial broke off so I fitted a long wire to the internals) and a RadioShack (Cheap and nasty thing). Both are quite old (20 years or so) and don't get much use due to having no real aerial fitted at home. I have a shortwave antenna (Long wire thing) still in the wrapping from Thunderpole which cost me £30 many years ago; i've just not met anyone who can install it properly and professionally.

I do have a Yaesu FT-60R and a Yaesu VX-3R but apart from using them as scanners with my main scanners, they generally sit gathering dust and have done for about 4 years. Both are like brand new and need to be used properly! I just had delivered two new batteries for them as I want to get into licensed radio.

I can have wires/aerials anywhere on my home, but the problem is the height and keeping things tidy. My house is three floors high with a front garden and a rear yard. I have a dedicated computer/radio room on the 2nd floor which I'm hoping to turn into my mancave! All aerials have to lead into that room via the rear wall.

I managed to find a local company to install my Diamond D-777 airband antenna but trying to get them to come back to replace the cable with the better stuff I now have, or fit my discone on the roof seems to be a challenge. Trying to get an company to deal with amateur radio antennas in Burnley seems difficult i've noticed over the years.
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Re: Looking at becoming a licensed Radio Ham

Post by Barnbilly »

getting a company to put up amateur antenna willbe difficult must tv aerial companies know nothing apart from the tat they stick up for extortionate prices
However once you are a member of a reasonable sized active club Im sure you will find people willing to help with putting up anything you want, our club does, I have no idea of your age or physical abilities so I wont suggest you put them up yourself, but witha bit of thought and ingenuity you will get something up,
one more thing having a shack for radios on the ground floor is preferable to upt stairs for earthing (antenna not mains)
Dont worry what class of licence he holds, worry what class of bias he applies to the amplifier !
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Re: Looking at becoming a licensed Radio Ham

Post by Paul-H »

SierraTangoUniform wrote: Not everything is as it seems is it?

I was lucky. When I joined MKARS, we had our own shack and clubroom at Bletchley Park, entirely dedicated to us.
An FT950 in the corner as well as some very old antiquities and collectables (no, that's not the members).

Unfortunately, we lost the clubroom and are still looking for something a little more permanent so if you come to a meeting (still at BP), you might be disappointed with a lack of bling. On the flipside, there's still the enthusiasm, discussion and help that all radio clubs have :thumbup:

I've tried emailing MKARS through the training email address on the website and received no response in 2 weeks.
I want to get on their January Foundation course as Northampton RC are not doing theirs until February.
Obviously the sooner I can do it the better!
If you're in touch with whoever deals with the training, could you ask them to check their emails please?

Thanks
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Re: Looking at becoming a licensed Radio Ham

Post by Road_Hog »

Paul-H wrote:
I've tried emailing MKARS through the training email address on the website and received no response in 2 weeks.
You know, I'm absolutely shocked, that a club could be emailed about training courses and not bother to respond or don't have anyone reading the emails that come in. Shocked, I tell you...
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Paul-H
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Re: Looking at becoming a licensed Radio Ham

Post by Paul-H »

From the MKARS own forum:

"Registering for a training course with MKARS
Postby ***** on Wed Dec 19, 2012 12:04 pm

If you are interested in booking a place on one of our training courses you MUST send your request in to [email protected], which is the same as the e-mail link from our Training page on the Main Menu. Please make sure that you leave additional contact information such as a telephone number so we can contact you.

If you ask someone at the club, or leave a message on the open forum this may get lost and you may be left out of the next course, as we have to limit courses to 16 people."

I emailed them on the 13th December
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Mattylad
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Re: Looking at becoming a licensed Radio Ham

Post by Mattylad »

Unfortunately amateur radio and clubs & being a bod on the committee or the person to see about training etc & hence someone to contact is generally an old mans hobby, and they don't do this here interwebbing very well.

(Yes I know that there are plenty of us younger fellas into it but if you look at some of the clubs - look at the main members who are there every week - retired old fellas with hardly any teeth left, leaving the younger ones to do the field work).


Brunlea, have you tried Handley aerials on barden lane? ISTR that they were supposed to be the best in the area, however as said - once your in the club you may be able to get help from there.

If you have a garden and a 3 story house then your in ideal wire dipole territory for HF so get your beginners ticket then go for the full one.

That can be your 2015 goal - a full ticket. :)
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Re: Looking at becoming a licensed Radio Ham

Post by Brunlea »

Handley Aerials installed my aerials at my old house but let me down when I wanted them to move them from that house to the new one; gave me an estimate and were supposed to come to the house and give me a better price, no one turned up and heard nothing since. I'm not one for chasing companies when I have cash for them. Shame as they did such a good job on the original install.

I tried another company and he admitted not knowing about the aerials I wanted putting up. I had to source my own cables and plugs, which ended up with the cable being incorrect for 20 metres, but he said he would replace the cable with my new stuff and install my discone when the weather is better. The weather has been good a few times since he said that (Obviously now it isn't) and he hasn't been in touch.

I'd rather use someone or a company that knows what it is doing and can do the job right. My D-777 could be higher I feel on a longer pole. I have a fear of heights unless in an aircraft (Weird) so I can't go up there. :)
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Re: Looking at becoming a licensed Radio Ham

Post by Brunlea »

Barnbilly wrote:getting a company to put up amateur antenna willbe difficult must tv aerial companies know nothing apart from the tat they stick up for extortionate prices
However once you are a member of a reasonable sized active club Im sure you will find people willing to help with putting up anything you want, our club does, I have no idea of your age or physical abilities so I wont suggest you put them up yourself, but witha bit of thought and ingenuity you will get something up,
one more thing having a shack for radios on the ground floor is preferable to upt stairs for earthing (antenna not mains)
Well if things go to plan i'm hoping to join Burnley Radio Club. I'll have a look on Thursday hopefully and see if someone can do it. Obviously i'd pay for a job done right :)

I can't really have my equipment downstairs unless in the cellar. At this time the cellar is a cold horrible place until we can get it boarded out and finished off properly. I like my current room as it's out of the way and private for me only, and I suppose the cables aren't too long to go into it ;)
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Mattylad
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Re: Looking at becoming a licensed Radio Ham

Post by Mattylad »

Running cables up & outside, the room in the middle is ideal - it's what I used to have.

Until KIDS came along grrrrr...
Horrible little things that kick you out of your shack into smaller spaces like under the stairs or in the loft etc :)

The snip - best thing ever for radio hams lol
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