I got my HAM radio license. Now what?

I got my HAM radio license. Yes, HAM radio still exists. Yes, you still need a license for it. Why did I do that? 

Well, first-off you get a "call sign" from the US government. Unfortunately, as I came to find out, it's not a cool-sounding code name like Maverick or Iceman, it's just a numbered code that identifies both your "station" (where-ever you're talking or listening from) as well as the operator of the station. The process involves registering with the Federal Communications Commission, the FCC, and taking an exam. If you pass, you get you call sign, and license. The license is just a PDF file somewhere in the the FCC database. I printed and laminated my file because I was super stoked about it. My call sign is KD9ZDY, or "Kilo Delta Niner Zulu Delta Yankee"

Lloyd Bridges and Robert Stack in the film Airplane!

if you want to sound tacticool. 

Without getting into too much detail, "HAM" radio operators are amateur radio transmitters and listeners with enough knowledge to stay within certain frequency boundaries set and enforced by the United States government. Everything from mobile phones, Wifi, television, Bluetooth, radio stations, airline, military and nautical communications is radio. The HAM service gives knowledgeable people a very small scope of all of those radio frequencies and modes to connect for anything, even just to chat or experiment. The licensing process ensures we know what, and what not, we can do "on-the-air" as well as electronics education on how to build and maintain a working station.      

So... I passed my exam, and I was faced with one of those complex thoughts...

"I'm KD9ZDY. Now what?" 

We all have cell phones. I can easily use the internet to talk to a stranger on another continent. What is HAM radio really worth now? There's not an easy answer other than it's a great hobby, and, importantly, it's a mode of remote communication that can continue to operate even when cell, internet, land-line services and electricity are down. 

In fact, this very situation occurred in Hawai'i on the island of Maui this past year. Wild fires burned land-line wires, fiber-optics, high-tension wires as well as cell towers. Communication was completely lost in many areas. However, the Amateur Radio Emergency Service and Hawai'i ARES, a group of civilian HAM's were able to provide critical communications through hand-built, self-sufficient, stations that received and provided radio communications without the need for home electricity or a landline, cellphone or internet plan.     

Thankfully no such emergencies have occurred since I got my license, so I'm still wondering what I'm actually supposed to do with this important government privilege. 

I originally got interested in radio when I bought a Uniden receive-only scanner. I'm interested in aviation, and wanted to listen to airliners and air-traffic-control. A scanner is also great for picking up police communications, as well as listening-in during auto-racing events. Importantly, since it's only a receiver, it's legal for a non-licensed person to have. Using the Uniden, I was able to listen-in on a few HAM "nets", which are basically just radio meetings. 

In my hometown of Kent, Ohio with Netflix on in the background, I casually listened to a nice guy in a town, not far away, explain his antenna construction project to an internet-assisted listener in the United Kingdom who was interested in building his own antenna. This all sounded pretty fun. 

Once I got licensed, and set-up my station, KD9ZDY, I connected with a couple of nets in Chicago. My first contacts were with the Chicago FM Club on a Sunday night social call with a group simply chatting all-things pizza, football and Chicagoland-related. But, perhaps my most significant contact was on frequency 442.725 MHz, a "repeater" (a station that can put local callers in contact with other stations outside of their own station's transmission range, by receiving transmissions on one frequency and repeating them on another). The call sign for the repeater was NS9RC, and it was maintained by the North Shore Radio Club. 

The "net", or group-call, was having a discussion on inexpensive HAM equipment, and I was introduced to a simple Linux-based, single-board processor with different types of HAM software pre-programmed on it. It's called Inovato Quadra, and it costs only $40.00 USD. This Inovato should allow me to enhance my contact capabilities and see a lot of the data and information I'd get from a more expensive HF transceiver, including coordinates, local times as well as wavelength, amplitude and modulation images, or "waterfall" graphics. I'd simply need a cheap PC laptop to run it. Nothing special, basically any laptop, new or used, that can run Windows.

It doesn't end there. Since HAM radio is still a thing, someone invented EchoLink. It's basically radio on the internet. But what it allows you to do is use a computer to contact a station anywhere in the world using the World Wide Web. With Echolink, I can connect to other HAMs even if I'm in a hotel room far removed from my own HAM equipment. It's just another way amateur radio is becoming modernized and built upon by enterprising amateurs and good Samaritans. EchoLink is open-source and free to use for licensed HAM's; only a verification of your license is necessary to connect.

For now, I have a couple of Baofengs: a more powerful 8-watt BF-F8HP and a base-model 4-watt UV-5R, which is still a great device. The Baofeng (A big brand in radio) is only suitable for licensed HAMs due to its transmitting power. Baofengs are "transceivers," meaning they can transmit and broadcast on many frequencies and potentially interfere with restricted bands. So, while they can be used as simple walkie-talkies, they're not meant to be baby monitors or kids' toys. 

However, for licensed operators, the Baofeng would be a valuable piece of safety equipment for boaters, hikers and campers who venture out of good cell-phone service range. Even the $25.00 UV-5R should allow a hiker to correspond with a repeater, law enforcement office, park ranger station or a trusted HAM contact outfitted with a good radio. 

I'm no doomsday prepper, but a $25.00 Baofeng may be a good investment, if you're into hiking, camping or road-tripping. Or, you know, if the zombie apocalypse hits.     

Plus, they're affordable. The BF-FBHP was around $65.00 (USD), while the ever-popular UV-5R remains at or below $25.00. Additionally, I was able to download "Chirp" software for my MAC computer to program preferred frequencies and settings to each Baofeng. 

These can be difficult and tedious to work with on their built-in keyboards alone, so being able to use Chirp on my MAC is a real benefit to using the Baofengs.

In many ways I'm still flailing around and discovering just what these Baofengs can do. Which is good because, "HF" transceivers (or the big stationary ones that look impressive) can go for $1,500.00 USD or more, and likely need high-gain antennas (also expensive) as well as an AC power regulator to manage signal output. Saving a few hundred dollars on an HF receiver could mean spending even more on antenna tuners, filters, wiring and so much more. So, I'll go with my little mobile hand-held Baofengs for now.     

So, now what?, I suppose I'll continue to tinker and have fun with my newly earned HAM privileges, and contact others with the same passion for radio! 

My next goal will be to construct and install a home-built DIY dipole antenna to contact people, or even orbiting satellites, much farther away than who I can talk to now. 

Until next time, this is www.cubicalruins.com saying "73."