r/HamRadioBeginner

I got my ham radio license about 2 months ago and have been finding people to talk to on the local repeaters on 70 cm I've been looking for advice on a rig I can use to do parks on the air at 6m or 10m and maybe do activations. Looking for advice on equipment and a helpful tips to get started. I live in the Austin area and would like help learning what is best

Hi all, I’m a sorta-new ham and wanted to double check my thinking In regards to an antenna I’m setting up. It’s a 40m doublet antenna with a length of window line running from it. I believe it’s probably 450 ohm though I’m not sure of it. It’s not quite long enough to reach into my ham shack. I’d like to have it run into a stretch of 50 ohm coax leading into my antenna tuner. Am I correct in thinking that I’d need a 9:1 balun where the window line transitions into the coax? I wanna make sure that there’s not a huge amount of signal loss or reflected power that could damage my set up. Thanks for any advice!

The Belur RKM's TV and Radio repairing course as strict age limit. I have some basic knowledge of analog electronics (Did a 1 year diploma course from Moulali Yuva Kendra roughly about a decade ago though their training wasn't up to date and they never handed over the certificate). I still need the knowledge to build or apply oscillators, filters, equalizers, distortion pedals, looper pedals, touch and pressure sensors, logic gates, microcontrollers (Especially MIDI controllers), etc. especially focused to audio and music equipments. Most importantly they should teach the code names of the parts very well so that I can just by seeing the serial number I can tell the pinout or series of a transistor etc, or can confidently communicate the radio stores about what specific ICs/transistors/mics etc I need. Many thanks in advance.

Although I have been studying models and how ham radio works, and also how radio works in general. I'm still questioning where to start?

I recently passed my Extra exam and wanted to share my experience using Ham Radio Prep.

I became interested in ham radio again last fall after first learning about it several decades ago. The first thing I did was to buy the ARRL Tech study guide and I struggled with it for several months. Even though I write for a living, I found the text dense and hard to understand. That's 100% on me. During that time I also used Ham Study but again, I found it challenging to retain and understand the material.

At the start of this year I came across Ham Radio Prep and after checking out the website I decided to spend the money and get the all access pass. It wasn't too much money (for me) and I wanted a video based option.

I went through the Tech course and found the videos excellent. Not only did they provide the answers for all the questions Jim did a great job of giving context and explaining the concepts.

At the end of each section the quizzes helped to understand if I actually knew the answers. Once I finished all the videos I did the practice exams 15-20 times until I was above 85%. I also downloaded the app and took advantage of the worst questions quizzes which helped my confidence.

At that point, after studying for a few weeks, I decided to study for the General as well. I used the same approach, watching all the videos, doing all the quizzes and taking lots of practice tests. I only studied for the General for about five days before I took an in person exam for Tech and General, passing on my first try.

Soon after I went through the Extra course but honestly I found the material daunting so I took a break for a few months and had fun learning to get on the air.

When I came back to it a few weeks ago I did the same as before. Since there's more material I spent waaaay more time on the practice exams and must have taken at least thirty before I felt confident enough to take the test, which I passed with 90+%.

I did use Ham Study a bit during this part of the process, mostly to make sure I was seeing all the questions but only got through about 30% of the pool using that site.

So: Ham Radio Prep worked for me. I didn't think of myself as a visual learner but for this material their approach really helped.

To be clear, I don't think anyone needs to use this particular course. The free materials, including Ham Study, are excellent and if they work for you, please use them!

But I thought it was important for folks to hear from an actual user about their experience; your mileage may vary.

73!