Hat Trick!

neum69

neum69

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Went to take my amateur radio exam today and ended up pulling a hat trick. I mostly expected to pass the technician and general, but decided to take the extra test on a lark with no expectations. I got the lowest possible passing score on that bad boy, but a pass is still a pass! The examiners at MIT where I took the tests said they hadn't seen anyone pass all three in one sitting in a long time.

After reading the posts here, I ordered a BaoFeng radio for my first mobile rig. Cheap and functional. Can't wait to get started.
 
Thanks guys! Feels pretty good. Of course book smart isn't the same as practical smart so I'm looking forward to getting a radio and starting the REAL learning process. :)
 
neum69 said:
Went to take my amateur radio exam today and ended up pulling a hat trick. I mostly expected to pass the technician and general, but decided to take the extra test on a lark with no expectations. I got the lowest possible passing score on that bad boy, but a pass is still a pass! The examiners at MIT where I took the tests said they hadn't seen anyone pass all three in one sitting in a long time.
Click to expand...

I know one other person that did that, went from zero to Extra in one sitting.

I also know someone who finally passed the Tech on their 7th try, while his wife read the book in one evening and passed on her first try the very next day. [laugh]
 
Thanks. BTW, I ended up getting my Baofeng UV-B5's from China pretty fast. Ordered on May 22, and received on June 3. Amazon status was predicting July; glad it was wrong. they are svelte little units.

Seems like only one 2M repeater in my area between here and work is even somewhat active; may have to figure out a way to get an HF radio so I can start working some longer distances. I'd be interested to hear what you all do with your radios; active/not active/what kinds of things do you participate in.
 
neum69 said:
Seems like only one 2M repeater in my area between here and work is even somewhat active; may have to figure out a way to get an HF radio so I can start working some longer distances. I'd be interested to hear what you all do with your radios; active/not active/what kinds of things do you participate in.
Click to expand...
When I got my ticket I was surprised how quiet the repearters are 95% of the time. Quite often there's chat in the evening, and some repeaters have regularly scheduled events such as swap-meet nets, or just ragchew sessions.

As far as what I'm doing with my gear, not a lot. I'm a very part time dabbler. Recently much of what I laughlying call my spare time has gone into learning Morse code. I'll ocassionally hunt down a special event station just for fun and to get a cool QSL card. I'm an electrical engineer so I've entertained myself designing end-fed antenna couplers and some other stuff I've always wanted to try my hand at.

Remember, ham radio isn't a hobby, it's 100 hobbies. It will probably take you a year before you know which aspects of ham radio really attract you.
 
Congrats on passing your Extra the first time around. I took it today and that test is a g-d beast!

Good news is I made General, at least.
 
neum69 said:
Seems like only one 2M repeater in my area between here and work is even somewhat active; may have to figure out a way to get an HF radio so I can start working some longer distances. I'd be interested to hear what you all do with your radios; active/not active/what kinds of things do you participate in.
Click to expand...

Same in my area. All the 2m are pretty quiet. Someone ran a net the other evening. It was the most activity I've heard in the last month.

Congrats on the HAT TRICK! Hope your wallets deep.
 
Guys - just following up on the 2m comments. I was out on the west coast last week and brought my Baofeng radio with me for kicks. Man, the airwaves are poppin out there! They have a bunch of repeaters networked all up and down the west coast. I was in Anaheim talking to a guy in Oregon. (Comically, then I picked up the phone and called my wife in the Boston area to tell her about it [rolleyes]). Literally every time I turned on the radio, someone was talking. My main point is that there is more activity in some areas of the country, it seems.
 

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