Ham Cram exam

[Big G]

Tonight I passed the Ham cram exam, woohoo! Now to start looking into which handheld to buy. I would appreciate suggestions and why you suggested it.

 

[Ubiety]

Congratulations @Big G !
Take a look at some of the threads in this comms section of these forums; lots of great info and people - this is a good recent thread that might answer some of your questions.
What do you want to do with the radio/license? Any particular niches of the HAM universe interest you more than others?
Figure out what radios/features interest you and get what you can afford - but remember you are getting what you pay for and there are valid reasons for the wide price ranges.
There will always be a shiny new radio to want and upgrading and having an "old spare" is not a bad thing. I used and "old spare" HT tonight for some of my weird and wacky experiments ;)
Tired :)

Have a great weekend!

 

[M Rose]

Tonight I passed the Ham cram exam, woohoo! Now to start looking into which handheld to buy. I would appreciate suggestions and why you suggested it.

CONGRATULATIONS!!! When and where is the party at brother? I know how been stressing it. I am guessing you’re now a Tech? CONGRATULATIONS!!!!
A hand held huh... may I ask why?

 

[M Rose]

CONGRATULATIONS!!! When and where is the party at brother? I know how been stressing it. I am guessing you’re now a Tech? CONGRATULATIONS!!!!
A hand held huh... may I ask why?

Also I might add, I see several Ham equipment listings on Craigslist in your neck of the woods... some of them are tempting me to drive all the way there.

 

[Big G]

CONGRATULATIONS!!! When and where is the party at brother? I know how been stressing it. I am guessing you’re now a Tech? CONGRATULATIONS!!!!
A hand held huh... may I ask why?

Thanks man, glad to have it behind me I didn't see this before I sent you a pm, sorry. My wife and I are celebrating right now with a hot fudge sundae from DQ. A whole 2 bucks each. I have been thinking that a hand held would be better for me at this time. I haven't researched anything yet but because my truck sits outside, I figured hand held would be more secure that leaving the mobile in the truck. I'll look at both and decide. What are your thoughts on one vs the other.

 

[M Rose]

Thanks man, glad to have it behind me I didn't see this before I sent you a pm, sorry. My wife and I are celebrating right now with a hot fudge sundae from DQ. A whole 2 bucks each. I have been thinking that a hand held would be better for me at this time. I haven't researched anything yet but because my truck sits outside, I figured hand held would be more secure that leaving the mobile in the truck. I'll look at both and decide. What are your thoughts on one vs the other.

Well, I wanted Ham for the POWER, so getting a 5-8 watt HT kind of defeats the purpose of ham for me... and then still having to buy adapters and such for the antenna and chargers, etc... I resides to go with a mobile unit. I want to play around with ARPS, SkyWarn, and some other stuff as well so I want a base station... I found the Yaesu FTM-400XDR fits my bill perfectly. And I can very easily adapt it to be removed from my rig to my home. I’ll DM you my build sheet. If you insist on a HT, the Yaesu FT-70DR comes highly recommend as well.

 

[Big G]

Congratulations @Big G !
Take a look at some of the threads in this comms section of these forums; lots of great info and people - this is a good recent thread that might answer some of your questions.
What do you want to do with the radio/license? Any particular niches of the HAM universe interest you more than others?
Figure out what radios/features interest you and get what you can afford - but remember you are getting what you pay for and there are valid reasons for the wide price ranges.
There will always be a shiny new radio to want and upgrading and having an "old spare" is not a bad thing. I used and "old spare" HT tonight for some of my weird and wacky experiments ;)
Tired :)

Have a great weekend!

Thanks for your suggestions, I appreciate it. I have looked a bit at comms forums but need to more time there. Haven't thought much past on trail comms, but I don't want to limit myself to just that when there's a big ham world out there.

 

[Big G]

Well, I wanted Ham for the POWER, so getting a 5-8 watt HT kind of defeats the purpose of ham for me... and then still having to buy adapters and such for the antenna and chargers, etc... I resides to go with a mobile unit. I want to play around with ARPS, SkyWarn, and some other stuff as well so I want a base station... I found the Yaesu FTM-400XDR fits my bill perfectly. And I can very easily adapt it to be removed from my rig to my home. I’ll DM you my build sheet. If you insist on a HT, the Yaesu FT-70DR comes highly recommend as well.

Thanks Mike. I have thought a base station some day but I need to get my feet wet first. Yes, send me the build sheet, i'd like to see it.

 

[Big G]

Also I might add, I see several Ham equipment listings on Craigslist in your neck of the woods... some of them are tempting me to drive all the way there.

Come on down.

 

[M Rose]

Thanks for your suggestions, I appreciate it. I have looked a bit at comms forums but need to more time there. Haven't thought much past on trail comms, but I don't want to limit myself to just that when there's a big ham world out there.

That’s why I would suggest making some kind of base station as well...that way you can play inside when you aren’t on the trail

 

[M Rose]

Thanks Mike. I have thought a base station some day but I need to get my feet wet first. Yes, send me the build sheet, i'd like to see it.

Sent it

 

[Big G]

That’s why I would suggest making some kind of base station as well...that way you can play inside when you aren’t on the trail

Makes sense.