Got our ham radio licenses

[giza]

Thanks to some prodding from Ferian and Oryx of FurryMUCK, tailen and I studied for, and passed the Technician Class exam. As soon as our names (and callsigns) show up in the FCC database, we'll be able to start transmitting!

One thing I want to do soon is get a Vanity callsign. I've found a few available ones, such as K3NTP, K3PPP, K3TLA, K3TCP, and K3UDP.

I also need to get a radio. I'm thinking of getting a handheld radio that supports 2m and 70cm, as well as duplexing, so I can use some repeaters. I think I'll be making the purchase in a few days. Suggestions are welcome.

Comments

[nius.livejournal.com]

Yay!

And I have to admit, I like the idea of you being K3TCP and Tailen being K3UDP, or vice-versa..

[tailen.livejournal.com]

Are you saying we're incompatible and speak different languages?

[ex-tjcoyote516.livejournal.com]

Congrats, and welcome to the world of Amateur Radio!

A 2m/70cm handheld is where most folks start. Ham Radio Outlet (http://www.hamradio.com) is one of the biggest online merchants and sells plenty of them. I currently have a Kenwood TH-G71A, but if I were buying an HT today, I'd buy either a Kenwood TH-D7A(G) for the features, or a Kenwood TH-F6A for the small size. (As you can tell, I'm a bit partial to Kenwood; they tend to have the nicest-sounding audio and are fairly resistant to intermod interference.)

Some other Vanity callsigns to consider: K3GZA, KGI3ZA, W3CHE, Or, if you upgrade your license, KG1ZA and WG1ZA are possibilities.

Amateur Radio is a vast world, with many diverse activities. If one doesn't interest you, try another, there's lots out there.

Consider joining the ARRL, the Amateur Radio Relay League. It's the national amateur radio organization. For $40 a year, you get a monthly magazine, online access to some past articles, and their support if you have any questions or run into any issues.

These days, I'm a rather inactive ham for a number of reasons (time, furs have generally lost interest with amateur radio, I'm busy with other projects, etc.). But hey, if you get into it, there's a chance we can actually reach each other on the air with the help of a repeater. I'm near New York City, but some repeater systems are rather long-range, and may work. I know of one repeater I can reach from my apartment that goes all the way to Allentown, PA, on a handheld!

-- TJCoyote, W2TJC.

[taral.livejournal.com]

Welcome to the club.

73 de KD5ZVR

[electropaw.livejournal.com]

Congrats on earning your ham ticket!

When I first got into furry, what really suprised me is the amount of technical interest that people in the fandom have. It looks like furry has gained some more "radiofurs" hehe.

As for the equipment that I'm using on 2m and 70cm, I have an Alinco V5-th HT, and an Icom IC-T90A tribander HT, which I was using at AC. Both radios that I mentioned work very well, but if I had to do it over again, I would consider getting the Yaesu VX-7R HT. Full of nice features and overall a nice HT, from what other hams have said to me.

For me, I'm "trying" to upgrade my privileges to a higher level to get on the HF bands. My goal is to upgrade to amateur extra, and to get a neato 2x2 vanity call *giggles*

Nice vanity call choices, as I see that most somehow relates to computer networking. However the K3TLA call I can't see it as relating to computers, but more to Broadcast. Is the idea from the TV station KTLA in California?

73,

ElectroPaw
Proud Radio/geek fur
radiofurs mod

[giza.livejournal.com]

Nice vanity call choices, as I see that most somehow relates to computer networking. However the K3TLA call I can't see it as relating to computers, but more to Broadcast. Is the idea from the TV station KTLA in California?

TLA == Three Letter Acronym :-)

[electropaw.livejournal.com]

*giggles* I need to brush up on my computer stuff :-P

[drleo.livejournal.com]

Congratulations! I swear, I'm the only furry on the planet who didn't get a vanity callsign. I also seem to be one of the few who bothered to upgrade to Amateur Extra. :)

A handheld is the way most people start with radio. Any recent HT (that's handi-talkie, by the way) will definitely support duplex communications, and CTCSS tones, since so much activity takes place on FM repeaters.

I, personally, use the Yaesu VX-7R. It's an awful lot of radio. It supports 6m (50MHz), 2m (144MHz), 1.25m (222MHz), and 70cm (432MHz). It's only FM, though, but that's generally fine. I haven't found the 6m functionality to be very useful, especially since it only does FM; in fact, I replaced the default "rubber duck" with an antenna that only covers 2m, 1.25m, and 70cm. You should definitely think about getting a better antenna for whatever radio you do get. One of Yaesu's less expensive models will likely do you fine, as well, if you don't want quite so much radio.

Getting one that covers 2m and 70cm will do fine, for sure. Those are your most popular local-area ragchew bands. Not that many people use the 222MHz band, because not a lot of radios support it -- the USA is one of the few places where 222MHz is an amateur band. You'll find repeaters for it, though, if you do get a radio that supports it. All the antenna manufacturers make antennas that will cover both, and there are some that cover all three.

Honestly, any radio you get from your various popular manufacturers will have 2m/70cm, duplexing, and CTCSS tones. There might be some extras that'll be helpful, but I doubt you'll go wrong. If you get an older, used radio it may not have some things, but if you buy one new, no sweat.

[drleo.livejournal.com]

Oh, that doesn't mean at all you should turn up your nose at used/older gear.. far from it! Just that if you choose that route, you definitely should be sure it has the features you want.

[fc-greyfox.livejournal.com]

I didn't get a vanity, either. So far, I have a General class, but I plan on getting Amateur Extra as soon as I have the time to study. School takes first priority.

[ex-tjcoyote516.livejournal.com]

By the way, if you haven't already heard -- there are an inordinately large number of furries who are also hams. To name a few:

Rasvar
PandaGuy
Lobowolf
Techwolf
Loriana
AeroFox
Nius
Electropaw
Tet Solfire
Protius
BJ Buttons
Canus Lupus
Cheetah
Yappy Fox
Smash Greywolf
Delphinios
Roofus Roo
T'Chall
Teddy Ruxpin
Hartree Fox

[giza.livejournal.com]

My head spins. :-)

Are there any "furry ham radio" gatherings either at cons or separately? I know that some folks set up a repeater at AC this year....

[ex-tjcoyote516.livejournal.com]

There's been gatherings in the past... the best one was at AC a few years ago, it was a rather nice social room party. Haven't heard about much since.

I didn't hear about a repeater at AC this year. In previous years, folks occasionally used the W3PVI repeater, as it was right next door, run by the broadcast engineers of WPVI. The problem has always been gathering enough interest; with cellphones and FRS, amateur radio doesn't fill the same niche it used to.

[murakozi.livejournal.com]

You can add me to that list. Also thanks to the prodding of Ferian and Oryx, I've been N3IGH for a couple years now.

[andrew7782.livejournal.com]

Congrats!

I didn't get a vanity call sign either, but I don't care, I like mine. Easy to remember. Would be good if I started using it again... I take my 2m with me when I go on vacation though :)

- KC8UYW

[bikerwalla.livejournal.com]

K3-TLA
...
Ahhh hahahaha

[fc-greyfox.livejournal.com]

Congrats to Giza and Tailen! Glad to have you both on the air. Welcome to the world of ham radio.

Radios? Hmm.. I happen to love my Kenwood TH-F6A (2m, 1.25m, 70cm), but it is a little higher priced. You guys are techs, so if you can keep your familys' VCRs from flashing 12, you'd likely also enjoy the Yaesu VX-7R. It's a good machine, but a little difficult to get used to at first. Of course as was mentioned before, if you want to save money, the older ones can do well. Just make sure to consult some friends before shelling out $$ for a used radio you don't know. Unfortunately, there are those that still sell lemons.

[tchall.livejournal.com]

Congratulations to you and tailen and another welcome to ham radio. I hope you'll have a lot of fun, and hope to catch you on the air sometime.

WA2HOY