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I strongly recommend joining a local club and getting involved with them. There should be plenty of people willing to help and even let you try out their gear to get a feel for it. Also it is kind of nice to have someone mentor you through your initial CW contacts. You should be able to find a club by checking the ARRL website. If there appears to be nothing there, use an internet search machine and type in the name of your nearest medium to large city with the words amateur radio. For example, when I moved into this area, I typed in Detroit area amateur radio and found a club in the nearest suburb to where I lived. I plan to start off with low-power CW and need to know what equipment I'll need to get started. I searched the archives, but did not get much solid info. Minimum: Radio, antenna, and straight key. The antenna will need to be matched to the frequency on which you will be operating. Optional Multiband antenna with an antenna tuner, electronic keyer and paddle. I plan on getting a basic "learning transceiver" off eBay to begin with, then after I know what options I need and learn more, I'll get a new one. Unless you are an experienced eBay user, I would recommend joining a local club and buying of a local club member or getting one of them to advise you and buying at a local hamfest. I've gotten good stuff off there BUT "It worked the last time I turned it on" can also mean "before I dropped it down the basement stairs". eBay is very much a buyer beware situation. What features will I need to be able to start to do low-power CW, and is there a preferred brand or model to look for? Low power CW transceivers are often only single band with almost no additional features. But they are simple and easy to use. I hear that MFJ makes some good ones. Actually, I recommend getting a used standard HF transceiver. You will have a decent selection of features to try out and it will be ready to go as you get more experience and when/if you decide to upgrade. It can be used for the 10 meter voice & data modes that you will be eligible for as well as the 15m, 40m, and 80m CW privileges that you will have. Kenwood, Icom, and Yeasu are all good brands. I would personally recommend something new enough that it doesn't use vacuum tube finals as they require that you tune up the radio itself before transmitting plus if you don't follow proper procedures, you can easily damage those tubes. On the other hand, many new people have started successfully with older tube type radios. I can recommend the Kenwood TS-130 series, TS-140 series, TS-430 series, TS-440 series among the older, out of production radios. Also a nice current production radio that you should be able to easily find used at a reasonable price is the Kenwood TS-50 mobile transceiver. These should all be available at reasonable prices. I'm not as familiar with Icom or Yeasu but they made similar radios. There was a Yeasu 757 series (I think) and a 767 series that were both well thought of. Again I recommend finding a club and getting the help of an experienced ham. Plus in a club there will be different people personally experienced with radios from different makers and you will have the opportunity to try some of them out. Most hams are friendly people and will gladly help you learn about equipment (and show off their own!). Dee D. Flint, N8UZE You suggestions make alot of sense. I'll look for a halfway decient rig to get started. MikeB |
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