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Posted: 5/7/2024 4:02:39 AM EDT
Passed Tech, General, and Extra last night in one session. Waiting for the FCC email so I can pay the man for the license. Pretty excited!
Now I shop for radios and stuff.  Attached File |
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Posted: 5/7/2024 5:30:30 AM EDT
[#1]
Nice! You got the key to the Extra wash room, but you are going to have to ask where it is.
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Posted: 5/7/2024 5:33:00 AM EDT
[#2]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By DarkLordVader: Nice! You got the key to the Extra wash room, but you are going to have to ask where it is.  I was told it was next to the ARFCOM pool, which bears a striking resemblance to a wastewater treatment plant. |
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Posted: 5/7/2024 6:45:25 AM EDT
[#3]
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Posted: 5/7/2024 6:59:12 AM EDT
[#4]
Congrats
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Posted: 5/7/2024 7:09:25 AM EDT
[#5]
Good job. Congratulations.
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OH, USA
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Posted: 5/7/2024 8:08:16 AM EDT
[#6]
Congratulations!
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Posted: 5/7/2024 8:12:27 AM EDT
[#7]
Pretty impressive.
One of these days I’ll go for the extra. |
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Posted: 5/7/2024 8:49:35 AM EDT
[#8]
awesome!
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Posted: 5/7/2024 8:50:09 AM EDT
[#9]
Originally Posted By Homesteader375: Passed Tech, General, and Extra last night in one session. Waiting for the FCC email so I can pay the man for the license. Pretty excited! Now I shop for radios and stuff.https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/539786/20240506_191845_jpg-3207735.JPG Congrats!  Did they make a big deal out of it when you did that? |
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Posted: 5/7/2024 4:02:23 PM EDT
[#10]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Emoto: Congrats! Did they make a big deal out of it when you did that? Thanks everyone! I don't think they made a big deal per se. They definitely remarked that they had only seen it done a couple of times. I was sort of surprised by the number of Tech failures there were.10 people tested. 3 failed Tech. 4 passed, 2 passed General, I was the only one to test Extra. I mean, I'm not saying it isn't hard material to the uninitiated. I just can't imagine not being prepared for it. The VEs offered retesting but I don't think anyone took them up on it. |
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Posted: 5/7/2024 4:05:51 PM EDT
[#11]
Outstanding!
Congrats on zero to Extra! |
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Posted: 5/7/2024 4:36:16 PM EDT
[Last Edit: Frank_B]
[#12]
Congratulations!
How much money do you have to spend and how much room do you have for antennas? |
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Posted: 5/7/2024 4:54:52 PM EDT
[#13]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Homesteader375: Thanks everyone! I don't think they made a big deal per se. They definitely remarked that they had only seen it done a couple of times. I was sort of surprised by the number of Tech failures there were.10 people tested. 3 failed Tech. 4 passed, 2 passed General, I was the only one to test Extra. I mean, I'm not saying it isn't hard material to the uninitiated. I just can't imagine not being prepared for it. The VEs offered retesting but I don't think anyone took them up on it. Wow, those failures surprise me, too. Don't people study for these things? |
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Posted: 5/7/2024 5:08:58 PM EDT
[#14]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Emoto: Wow, those failures surprise me, too. Don't people study for these things? Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Emoto: Originally Posted By Homesteader375: Thanks everyone! I don't think they made a big deal per se. They definitely remarked that they had only seen it done a couple of times. I was sort of surprised by the number of Tech failures there were.10 people tested. 3 failed Tech. 4 passed, 2 passed General, I was the only one to test Extra. I mean, I'm not saying it isn't hard material to the uninitiated. I just can't imagine not being prepared for it. The VEs offered retesting but I don't think anyone took them up on it. Wow, those failures surprise me, too. Don't people study for these things? Memorization is hard when most new hams are recently retired geezers. |
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Posted: 5/7/2024 5:12:22 PM EDT
[#15]
Congrats, that's awesome!
I'd like to upgrade to Extra one day, but I'm too busy to study right now. If I'm still alive and not senile when my kids are out of school, I'll try for the upgrade.
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Posted: 5/7/2024 5:21:18 PM EDT
[#16]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By K9-Bob: Memorization is hard when most new hams are recently retired geezers. Are they? I was 65. *shrug* |
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Posted: 5/7/2024 7:35:00 PM EDT
[#17]
Congratulations! Welcome to the party. Now the real learning begins  |
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Posted: 5/8/2024 4:17:23 AM EDT
[#18]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Gamma762: Congratulations! Welcome to the party. Now the real learning begins Indeed! I've already learned I'm an antenna junky. I've been sucking up information about full wave loops and how various bands resonate on a larger loop. I sort of regret not doing this in late fall. I could spend all winter modeling potential antennae in MMANA-GAL until I find exactly what I want to set up. It's all fascinating. As it stands, I have to get the garden in very soon so that's eating up a lot of head space and time outside of my job. That said, I'm probably going to go with an FT 891 and I'm toying with building my own DX Commander clone. I have a CNC router that can make the parts that can't be bought. At the same time, buying one would save some time and put me on the air faster. Eventually I also think I want a full wave 160m loop but I don't know that I can get the height to make it work how I would want it to. |
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Posted: 5/8/2024 4:52:50 AM EDT
[#19]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Homesteader375: Indeed! I've already learned I'm an antenna junky. I've been sucking up information about full wave loops and how various bands resonate on a larger loop. I sort of regret not doing this in late fall. I could spend all winter modeling potential antennae in MMANA-GAL until I find exactly what I want to set up. It's all fascinating. As it stands, I have to get the garden in very soon so that's eating up a lot of head space and time outside of my job. That said, I'm probably going to go with an FT 891 and I'm toying with building my own DX Commander clone. I have a CNC router that can make the parts that can't be bought. At the same time, buying one would save some time and put me on the air faster. Eventually I also think I want a full wave 160m loop but I don't know that I can get the height to make it work how I would want it to. Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Homesteader375: Originally Posted By Gamma762: Congratulations! Welcome to the party. Now the real learning begins Indeed! I've already learned I'm an antenna junky. I've been sucking up information about full wave loops and how various bands resonate on a larger loop. I sort of regret not doing this in late fall. I could spend all winter modeling potential antennae in MMANA-GAL until I find exactly what I want to set up. It's all fascinating. As it stands, I have to get the garden in very soon so that's eating up a lot of head space and time outside of my job. That said, I'm probably going to go with an FT 891 and I'm toying with building my own DX Commander clone. I have a CNC router that can make the parts that can't be bought. At the same time, buying one would save some time and put me on the air faster. Eventually I also think I want a full wave 160m loop but I don't know that I can get the height to make it work how I would want it to. I see you're picking up the language very rapidly  DX commander is an excellent idea, but don't get too bound up in "cloning" it. Multiple elements connected to a dipole feedpoint are often called a "fan dipole" - a DX commander is an iteration of a "fan vertical". There are numerous ways to physically construct the electrical contraption of having multiple vertical elements connected together at the base. I'm not a great fan of the loop, it's a lot of wire and space to get the same signal as a dipole, and as with any large antenna used on higher frequencies the pattern gets wonky. I am a fan of, well, fan dipoles, as they're both resonant and have reasonable signal patterns on multiple bands. This loop variation did however catch my eye, as it's a dual band loop having good high angle/short range signal patterns on both bands. Might be something interesting to give a try: https://practicalantennas.com/designs/loops/bowtie/ |
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Posted: 5/8/2024 6:22:26 AM EDT
[#20]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Gamma762: I see you're picking up the language very rapidly DX commander is an excellent idea, but don't get too bound up in "cloning" it. Multiple elements connected to a dipole feedpoint are often called a "fan dipole" - a DX commander is an iteration of a "fan vertical". There are numerous ways to physically construct the electrical contraption of having multiple vertical elements connected together at the base. I'm not a great fan of the loop, it's a lot of wire and space to get the same signal as a dipole, and as with any large antenna used on higher frequencies the pattern gets wonky. I am a fan of, well, fan dipoles, as they're both resonant and have reasonable signal patterns on multiple bands. This loop variation did however catch my eye, as it's a dual band loop having good high angle/short range signal patterns on both bands. Might be something interesting to give a try: https://practicalantennas.com/designs/loops/bowtie/ My main attraction to a full wave loop, horizontal BTW as I don't think I specifically mentioned that, was the NVIS aspect of it. I also ran across some information that suggested as much as 12dB gain over a horizontal fan, if done right, but in a multi azimuthal pattern at ~5-8 degrees of horizon. That was really intriguing. Given I have the space to do a 160m horizontal full wave and it should, again if done right, resonate all of the bands down to 10 fairly well with a proper BALUN, it is in my thoughts. It sort of gets me everywhere I might want to go under the right conditions, but height about ground is my barrier at about 10m unless I start erecting towers. Some of what I'm seeing suggests 10% of wavelength is the low cutoff before it's not worth it while other sources suggest 1/3 of wavelength. That's damned high at 160m. Of course, I'm often a theorist long before I actually execute something so what I think about and what I actually do in the end could be light years apart. |
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MD, USA
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Posted: 5/8/2024 7:53:06 AM EDT
[#21]
Congrats!
You’re correct in the thought of spending money on antennas. The antenna is where it’s at; the rest of it just makes the antenna useful. |
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Posted: 5/8/2024 8:19:27 AM EDT
[#22]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Homesteader375: Indeed! I've already learned I'm an antenna junky. I've been sucking up information about full wave loops and how various bands resonate on a larger loop. I sort of regret not doing this in late fall. I could spend all winter modeling potential antennae in MMANA-GAL until I find exactly what I want to set up. It's all fascinating. As it stands, I have to get the garden in very soon so that's eating up a lot of head space and time outside of my job. That said, I'm probably going to go with an FT 891 and I'm toying with building my own DX Commander clone. I have a CNC router that can make the parts that can't be bought. At the same time, buying one would save some time and put me on the air faster. Eventually I also think I want a full wave 160m loop but I don't know that I can get the height to make it work how I would want it to. Here's a suggestion: Momentarily set aside your antenna research/design/build process and grab a radio and a cheap antenna to get on the air and be able to enjoy ham radio as you model, design, and build whatever super duper antenna(s) you ultimately decide on. Running a wire from the height of your house over to a tree will do the trick. I started off with a <$100 MFJ OCFD up in the pine trees in the back yard, and with it and my 100w IC-7300 was able to work much of the planet on HF bands. Down the road maybe pick up a NanoVNA (this is the one I have) for analysis when you finally settle on a design, and build an antenna and need to measure and tune it. We'd love to have you check in to the Arfcom Tuesday night SSB net. |
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