How Many Of You Are Licenced Amateurs?

Post by **youngn** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 4:05 pm

Hi All,

Just wanting to get an idea of who here has an amateur licence, and who was interested in getting one.

Cheers
---
youngn

Post by **youngn** » Sat Jan 17, 2009 10:34 pm

Thankyou to everybody so far for that

May I ask who is the Foundation Licence holder?

Post by **AIRMAN** » Sun Jan 18, 2009 2:59 pm

Do you need a licence for 2 meters (144.000mHz to 148.000mHz) ?
Does it include tests/

No more CW?

Who or where would one apply?

Steve

Post by **youngn** » Sun Jan 18, 2009 6:49 pm

Hey AIRMAN,

You may have seen my other posts about the licence types ect...

Yeah u got to study for licences, and to see what licence covers what freq. look for my other posts in the Amateur section. But yeah 2 meters is in all the licences.

Usually u got to find a radio club thats near u... and yeah as of 2005 some time, u dont need to know CW anymore...

Im lookin at gettin a foundation licence... but $$$ is an issue for me for equipment, and im still reading up a bit before i even try to go to a radio club.

Cheerz

Post by **hotmetal1000** » Sun Jan 18, 2009 7:40 pm

The foundation licence holder would be me. VK4FJEF. I obtained my ticket in November last year. You get some good bands on the foundation the only band I wish I had is 20m. If your looking at getting your foundation licence I recomend getting the book "Your Entry Into Amateur Radio" from www.wia.org.au.
Yes $$$$ for equipment jeeze you can spend some money.

Post by **Stretch** » Sun Jan 18, 2009 9:21 pm

hotmetal1000 wrote:The foundation licence holder would be me. VK4FJEF. I obtained my ticket in November last year. You get some good bands on the foundation the only band I wish I had is 20m. If your looking at getting your foundation licence I recomend getting the book "Your Entry Into Amateur Radio" from http://www.wia.org.au.
Yes $$$$ for equipment jeeze you can spend some money.

How did you do it? How much have you spent???

And your callsign?? How often do people use that??

Post by **youngn** » Sun Jan 18, 2009 10:36 pm

hotmetal1000 wrote:The foundation licence holder would be me. VK4FJEF. I obtained my ticket in November last year. You get some good bands on the foundation the only band I wish I had is 20m. If your looking at getting your foundation licence I recomend getting the book "Your Entry Into Amateur Radio" from http://www.wia.org.au.
Yes $$$$ for equipment jeeze you can spend some money.

Oh sweet as...

Wanting to get a foundation licence. Yeah saw that book on their website, wanting to get that asap too... Hmm was the test hard? what did you have to do for the practical examination?

What bands may we find you on Hotmetal1000? What band(s) do you like to work on the most? Oh and finally, what equiptment do you use? n teh price dare i ask

Cheers

Post by **hotmetal1000** » Mon Jan 19, 2009 7:58 pm

Ok then the how, I was lucky in a sense that one of the examiners up here in the Toowoomba region lives just around the corner from me. So I visited him, he's in charge of a local radio group as well, and made the arrangments from there. Normally you would seek out a radio club near you and ask them about doing the tests and training.
Money spent, on amature radio gear by itself about $2000. I have started out with Icom 718 rig the cheapest hf rig Icom do. A good stable radio and does all I need it to do atm but if you live in an area of high radio noise it really suffers. I'm lucky in the fact that I rarely have any radio noise to deal with plus the antenna I use for the hf bands in it's design is a low noise antenna. You can really spend a lot more on radio gear if you wish though, one friend on the radio has spent $10,000 on his radio and amp alone.
Callsign, VK4FJEF.
Useage of callsign well you are meant to say your callsign every 10 mins but depending on the lenght of the overs it's easier to say it at the end of each over.
The test isn't hard, the fellow I did mine with will pretty much make sure you pass so long as you have done some work and know what your doing. He'll run though prac exam with you a week or so before the test date and make sure you have a chance of passing and tell you what to touch up on.
Prac exam just invloved answering some questions verbally, identifing some antennas and transmission lines. You'll be asked to setup a radio conecting the antenna ect. You'll be aked to show how to check with a multi meter that a lenght of coax has it's plugs installed and you'll be asked to operate a radio and make a contact and give signal reports. All pretty straight forward stuff if you have been around cb at all.
You'll mainly find me on 40m's on the amature bands and channel 20 or sandbagging 35 on 27mhz(11m) cb. Callsign on cb is 1 triple 0 (1000).

I'll be looking forward to hearing you guys on the air one day

.

Post by **bodyguard** » Mon Jan 19, 2009 9:56 pm

next time I am out Toowoomba way, I must call in and get a fix

btw my call is ZL2TAW but I now reside in Brisbane, been a ham for 19 years in March

Post by **youngn** » Mon Jan 19, 2009 10:00 pm

Wow... sweet info....

Yes... ICOM... i was looking at their entry range radios... seem to be nice bits of equipment... and 40meters is probably the band i would look at working the most too

... Need a standard licence for 20 meters though ahh

i need to learn more about antennas before i try to visit a club i think wanna take a bit of knowledge with me...

Thankyou Hotmetal1000 for that...

Cheerz

Post by **Phantom** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 2:29 pm

Yep - Licenced F call atthis stage

I have a 706MkIIG at the moment - going to play with that for the time being - all in one radio HF/VHF/UHF

Have not had much to do as yet - been working to hard - but hope to mount in the car soon so i can play with it on my ways to work

Post by **Phantom** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 8:42 pm

Hotmetal - you been playing around with IRLP or Echolink at all up this way ?

RET (Bunya) is an Echolink rep but i also heard the rep out near ravensbourne is IRLP - i cant hit is from home - will try when mobile.

Just incase you wanted to expand - i normally sitting on either RDD, RAI or RET (repeaters of course)

Ill keep an ear out for you

Post by **hotmetal1000** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 7:14 am

Yeah unforantly at the moment I don't have a 2m radio.

Post by **Phantom** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 10:51 am

Thats a bugger - the 2m/70cm side of things is fairly active - and again - like all bands - opens up a new perspective in things - IRLP/Echolink as well as repeaters everywhere around the country - many of which are linked as well - so you will always be able to have a chat with someone.

Regarding getting a licence - for those that are interested

Have a look at the WIA website - then look under clubs - and then you will be able to find a local club - get in contact with them - and they will be able to get ya started

Getting a F call is stright forward - not much knowledge and study required - most of the time - you can get a F call over a weekend - or self study (like i did) and just go and sit the exams and prac component.

I would recommend getting the Entry into Amateur Radio book - all the information required is in there. Good hobby - and will give you a better understanding of radios, especially when you are talking radios that can pump out x20 the output than the standard UHF. The other good thing - they are like minded people and there is no CRAP that is heard on the standard UHF nowadays....
tune into Ch40 - and Ch7 - you will know what i mean ....

If anyone else has any questions - PM me and ill try and help

Post by **bodyguard** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 5:03 pm

orangepeel wrote:Thats a bugger - the 2m/70cm side of things is fairly active - and again - like all bands - opens up a new perspective in things - IRLP/Echolink as well as repeaters everywhere around the country - many of which are linked as well - so you will always be able to have a chat with someone.

Regarding getting a licence - for those that are interested

Have a look at the WIA website - then look under clubs - and then you will be able to find a local club - get in contact with them - and they will be able to get ya started

Getting a F call is stright forward - not much knowledge and study required - most of the time - you can get a F call over a weekend - or self study (like i did) and just go and sit the exams and prac component.

I would recommend getting the Entry into Amateur Radio book - all the information required is in there. Good hobby - and will give you a better understanding of radios, especially when you are talking radios that can pump out x20 the output than the standard UHF. The other good thing - they are like minded people and there is no CRAP that is heard on the standard UHF nowadays....
tune into Ch40 - and Ch7 - you will know what i mean ....

If anyone else has any questions - PM me and ill try and help

what echolink repeaters are you usually on ?

Post by **Phantom** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 6:46 pm

typically VK4RET - out at the Bunya Mountains ... but link up to many different nodes - depending on the time of day

However when i am out and abaout driving - i normally hook up thru one of the SE QLD repeaters for IRLP

Post by **scrawn80** » Sat Mar 14, 2009 4:11 pm

i got half my ticket done the rules
that was awhile ago
do you have to do the courses
or can you just do the tests

Post by **hotmetal1000** » Sat Mar 14, 2009 7:15 pm

You can just do the tests but most clubs inspectors like to make sure you are going to pass before actually doing the tests.

Post by **hotmetal1000** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 8:21 pm

Hi Orangepeel, I believe your call sign is very very close to mine, was on the Toowoomba 2m repeater last night talking to a couple of locals some of which I know from 11m anyway.
I have just received me new radio too a Yaesu FT-897D. Pretty much the same as the 706 but you can put internal batteries in the 897. I'm hoping to get organised and take it on the Endeavour rally with me.

Post by **alinco21** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 9:23 pm

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