On Thu, 20 Nov 2003 10:36:09 UTC, "Ed Price" wrote:


"Biz WD?HCO" wrote in message
...
Don't buy a Radio Amateurs Handbook.

How can anyone advocate ignorance? Buy the book, read it, get something,
anything, out of it. You will go back to various parts time & time again.
Each time, you will gain a bit of knowledge. Once you get to the point where
you can start to challenge some of its points, you will really be starting
to learn electronics.

Concur here. I wish I had bought *one* handbook every ten
years. I also wish the fellow who ran off with my "West Coast
Handbook" would return it.

If you work on audio electronics you already know the basics. The RF part
is
actually pretty simple.

This comment deserves to be archived on the all-time stupid declarations
list.

There is some odd stuff in this thread, like comparing Antenna
Theory with the chronic witchcraft of the audio world, speakers or
maybe de-oxygenated Monster Cable.

There are too many Loch Ness Monsters and Crop Circles in the audio
world. The tube mania, cables, analog vice digital, did I
mention cables.

The closest thing to that in Ham Radio is the converse concept, the
idea that modern computerized radios "hear" and "punch though"
better than the old stuff.

I "think" most hams realize that band conditions count most. Next
it's QTH (height, topology, ground conductivity), then there's the
antenna itself, you can't argue with measured gain and you can never
exceed the theoretical gain of the antenna. RG-213 is plenty good
for 100+ foot runs at HF, the cheapest CB-grade RG-58 will work but
will need replacing sooner and won't take the pounding of an SB-220.

Forget about the amp. You can get that going later
when you have experience in how the Tempo One operates. Get that working
now. As for a dummy - been using a 100w light bulb for years. Works good
enough for tube radios - not so good for the new solid state stuff. The
dummy you have is good enough.

Yeah, those 100 W light bulbs are the industry standard for a 50 or 72 ohm
resistive load. And those big, bulky forward / return power meters are so
expensive, and hard to use.

Well, there's getting it working and there's getting it working
exactly to spec.

What you need NOW is a ham ticket!

Almost all radioamateurs begin their ham career as a "Tech." The
privileges
of a Technician Class operator license include operating stations while
transmitting on channels in any of 17 frequency bands above 50 MHz with up
to 1,500 watts power. It also allows access to the two most popular ham
bands, 2 meters and 70 cm ...otherwise known as "450" (MHz.).

Gee, good buddy, I never knew the amateur frequency bands above 50 MHz were
channelized.


Most of my peers started with Novice and went from Novice to
General. In the 1960's, the Tech was a dead-end, without the 40 and
15 meter novice bands, you couldn't get enough CW practice to pass
13 WPM in front of the steely eyed FCC examiner.

The best advice I got was, take the Novice and get on the air on 40
as soon as possible and operate as much as possible. The fellow
told me to get my station set up so that the minute my license
arrived, I could fire it up.

I was surprised to find that most QSOs were with Generals and Extras
(and a few Class-A's) who would line up to work Novices at 5-10 WPM.

Then I got a 15 meter crystal and worked a dozen countries on 15
meter CW. This was straight-key operation at about 10-15 WPM.

Again, the stations were lined up to "give the Novice a little
practice". I was in high school and spent many Saturday mornings
on 40 CW. Was that fun! The QSL cards poured in.

I never operated on 80 but 40 and 15 were great bands. This was in
1963.

SNIP

" In all liklihood, within a year the code requirement for the General
will
also be dropped."

They have been saying that for 100 years since Marconi attached a
telegraph
key to a spark transmitter. You could wait....for a year or
forever...but...

Well, hasn't the code for HF operation already been dropped at the
international level? And haven't a number of other countries already dropped
the code requirement? The USA has never been closer to dropping the code
requirement. Still, I agree with WD0HC0 here; don't let the current modest
code requirement delay you.

I don't operate much except on CB, ah, I mean 2 meters. I do listen
to HF, about half the time, I'll copy CW just for the practice. I
was surprised to discover that I can't send CW with the keyer in my
Signal/One. The timing, spacing, or something is different from my
TTL keyer. They're both IAMBIC but something is very different.

I think the TTL keyer queues the inputs. Q = dahdahdidah. I think
on the TTL keyer, I can tap the di-side anytime during the second
dah and the keyer caches it. The Signal/One demands that I tap the
di after the second dah completes.

It's something like that.


When you ready and serious - email me and I will teach you the code in
five
minutes good enough so you can past the test. Relax, it's free.

5 minutes!!!! Could you teach my dog too? She's got an attention span of at
least 5 minutes, and in dog-years, that's 35 minutes! Should be easy.


Ed
WB6WSN

Yeah, the five minute thing doesn't sound right. I'd argue that a
person could pass the 5 WPM after a week 1 hour a night.