1 reply to this topic

[chickade]

I passed my test almost two years ago, but haven't been on the air yet. It was one of the one day study-test venues. I have a Yaesu VX-6R and frankly it is way too complicated for me. I don't even know where to start. I did manage to turn it on. The problem is that all the clubs in the area have meetings in the evening and I work in the evening.

I now have two people that I would like to contact- they are in other states. Any suggestions as to how to first steps would be helpful. I have an antenna that goes in my car, so I assume I would have to use the radio in the car at first.

Thanks for any suggestions.

[Shortwave]

Hiya chikade!

First of all, welcome to the forum

I think the best thing to do to start with is to try and get a little more radio theory under your belt. You need to take a look at your license and see what frequency bands, power levels and modes that you are allowed to use, and then compare that against propagation information.

Some bands can be pretty much line-of-sight (mainly VHF-UHF bands), whereas others can allow you World Wide coverage depending upon the time of day, season etc.

When we look at the HF (short wave) Ham Bands we find that some can allow coverage varying from a few hundred miles to many thousands of miles.

So again, you need to take a look at just how far away are the guys you are trying to communicate with, and compare that to known radio propagation distances, and see if any falls within the scope of your Ham Radio license.

As many on here will tell you, in radio there are never any guarantees when it comes to radio communication over long distances, even in the 21st century it can still be a hit and miss process, but with the right information you can very definitely reduce your chances of failure.

The short course that you took just does not allow time for the information to sink in, neither could anyone reasonably expect to learn 'all' there is about radio in just one day. I've been tinkering about with radio for around 40yrs or so and I'm still learning all the time!

I would recommend that you invest a little money in a communications handbook from the ARRL, and keep in mind that it does not need to be a new edition. Many of the older editions (maybe 10~20 years old) can be found cheaply on eBay, and they will serve you just as well as a new copy. All of the information on radio propagation, antennas required, various benefits of different modes and so on can all be found in those books.

Although new radios come out almost on a daily basis, the actual physics of radio and radio propagation hasn't changed in over a hundred years (if not longer!), so again, even a twenty or thirty year old book will still be of use to you.

If you don't want to buy a book then take a look online as there are lots of web sites that will also provide the info you need.

I would have liked to have given you a more targeted answer, but as it stands without addition information the above 'ramble' was the best I could do.

You'll get there in the end, it just needs a little book learnin' to guide you.

Best 73, Mark.