starting to get in to ham, sort of

[jefftk]

I'm sort of just getting in to ham radio - I got my license last summer. I'm actually Extra class (I already new all the electronics stuff so I only had to study the regulations and some antenna stuff) but I haven't really done any operating cause I had been pretty busy.

Right now I just have a 2-meter radio in my car, are there any good nets operating in the Metro-west area (I live in Acton), or popular repeaters/frequencies?

I'm kind of more interested in trying to build my own equipment than just plain buying a radio to find people to talk to, maybe some QRP operating.

Any suggestions?

 

[capewalk]

http://www.nerepeaters.com/

Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk

 

[cockpitbob]

Welcome to amateur radio! I'm and engineer and did the same as you about a year ago. I found it really awkward having an Extra class call sign and sounding like I don't know what I'm doing on the air.

I'm in the north shore area so I'm not much help, but...
Every Wednesday at 9:00 pm the Waltham 146.64 repeater has a swap net.
Every Sunday at 8:00 the Danvers repeater has a general net, but that may be too far east for you.

One thing you may find fun is working the satellites. I do it with my 2M/440 5watt HT and a hand held (Arrow brand) dual band yagi antenna. There's several FM satellites flying around that are easy to work. Start at amsat.org. It's fun working states as far away as CO and TX with 5W of VHF.

 

[Realtor MA]

Short of building from scratch you might want to buy an old non functioning radio and bring it back to life. I was listening casually to the swap net on Wednesday night and I think there were a couple of rigs like that that were priced less than a bag of peanuts cost at Fenway Park.

ETA try this site. There are always non working items here too. http://swap.qth.com

 

[C-pher]

If you're looking for a net to talk on, try looking here.

http://www.arrl.org/arrl-net-directory-search