Topic: new ham

[knightrider]

just took and passed my test for technician, woohoo. 

[Lava]

Congrats! The wife and I are scheduled for a Dec. Course. Any advise or tips for the exam? How was it?

[knightrider]

i am an electrician by trade, and have experience with commercial radio systems so it was pretty easy for me, i just did a couple days of casual reading and did a couple practice tests online.  almost every saturday http://www.sandarc.net/ holds tests at different locations around san diego.
some places to do practice tests:
http://www.eham.net/exams/
http://aa9pw.com/radio/
http://www.hamradiolicenseexam.com/index.html

[RBduffer]

Congrats Knightrider  
Those are all good tips.  Lava you may want to take the practice exams and see how you guys do.  You might just study a little on line then go for it.  If you don't pass then you still have Dec.

Hey Knightrider, with your backround and just a little study you could get your General and do HF.

[Ghost65]

just took and passed my test for technician, woohoo. 

Congrats!   

What type of radio set up are you looking at?

If you don't get one before BB, I have a couple of HT's I'll be bringing along.  Feel free to borrow one for the trail.

[knightrider]

I picked up a vx-170 off of craigslist for $75 about a week ago, been listening to the nets and finding repeaters I can pickup.  Went to HRO in Kearny Mesa and picked up a car charger, magnet mount antenna and hand mic for it as well til I can read up more and decide what kind of rig I want in my rig

[SteeevO]

Congrats! It's always good to see new hams on the board!
Have you heard of OAUSA and the weekly nets they have on the radio?
It's a bunch of wheelers and outdoorsy people like us.
They get some good speakers in there and there is tons to learn! from outdoor radio stuff to dutch oven cooking on a camp fire, to moding 4x4's etc.

[knightrider]

Not til now steeevo, looks like they even have previous nets recorded so everyone can listen. Very good topics too.  http://oausa.net/netrecordings

[SteeevO]

yup! You'l hear my voice in there as well from time to time. I host the nets on occasion.

[knightrider]

Got my call sign today, KK6AGQ

[Ghost65]

Got my call sign today, KK6AGQ

Cool...they kicked over from KJ to KK.