It's ILLEGAL for my Dad to transmit! 

You know what button you can press *right now*, legally? The like button! Hit that, and be sure to give the Subscribe button a good press before you head back to the airwaves...

One small correction--you no longer need to have a copy of your license on you to transmit, at least here in the US; all that matters is that your license appears in the FCC database. In certain circumstances it may be useful to have a copy of your license (e.g., if you visit a special events or museum station and would like to operate it as a guest, especially if you won't have internet access), but from the FCC's perspective it is no longer necessary (all references in Part 97 about having a license now read "license grant appears on the ULS consolidated licensee database").

Reminds me of my Dad's situation - worked offshore on oil & gas, signed off on plans, work inspections for pressures of 3000 psi yet was barred from working on the domestic system of 1 psi

Thanks for spreading the word and also getting your dad involved

Welcome to the 'club' As one of my friends said to me a few years ago: "Being a HAM is like having friends all around the world - that you have never met". Congrats to both of you. Steve de VE7CBH (BC, Canada)

ive been using ham radio since 2005 with my father, we have 10m 2m band radios

It is also illegal to kerchunk or key up a repeater without giving your callsign. Congrats on your new licenses. I hope to hear you on the air. Bring your checkbook as it really can get expensive. Mike W4TRK

I keep telling everyone that RF is not as complicated as it may seem! At the end of the day it's just math and physics, and the ham radio community proves that it is actually possible for one person to understand how it works! Next step for you, Jeff, is to pass your general! It's a HUGE step to go from Tech to General and it took me 2 years of studying to pass, but it's more than worth it!! Welcome to the hobby, and I hope your time on the airwaves is fun and full of interesting contacts! 73s from Rochester, NY!

Congrats on Dad's accomplishment! Every one of my exams, sans Novice, was taken before an examiner at the Federal building downtown St. Louis. Those were the good old days. I've been WA9VXX since 1967. Did Dad ever engineer for KMOX? I had a good friend, W0QAC Murrel Perry who engineered for KMOX back in the day. I sure enjoyed his stories about the RF end of KMOX. 73 guys. Keep the RF content coming.

Congratulations to your licenses you two! After passing my German class A, I actually thinking about getting a US license (probably Extra), too. 73 de DL1MRV

I’ve been studying for a while now to get a sweep of all 3 levels - the Ham Study app has been really helpful.

Great to see that you are now a HAM! Can't wait to see what you come up with. 73 DE HZ1SF

My father (n2eye) introduced me (ka2tus) to Amateur radio over 50 years ago. Back then, the Morse code requirement made licensing a far different experience. Love the Father-Son chemistry here.

This reminds me of the many, many hours spent in our clubhouse during the JOTA (Jamboree On The Air), when scouts are allowed, under strict supervision by HAM operators, to make contact with eachother and other HAM operators. The farthest contact I ever made was New Zealand. Good times. I hope the two of you have lots of fun with it.

Very cool to see this featured nowadays, in my thirties now, I got licensed when I was 12. hopefully I can reach you on the radio some day to say thanks for teaching me ansible 😊

Dude your dad's experience with the exam is EXACTLY how it went on my first try- passed technician and general, missed extra by a single question. Retook and still didn't pass. The only difference was I was a sophomore in highschool at the time not an RF technician (yet) Regardless, congrats to the both of you on your license and welcome to the world of ham radio! Something I would recommend you try (if you haven't already) is join a ham radio club and participate on a net on the repeater. Most of my ham radio skills I've picked up I either learned from other hams or through hands on experience! 73 (kind regards) from KM4CFT

Congrats on the licences! Well done for accurately displaying the inability to find interesting stuff to talk about as soon as the transmit button is pressed :D 73 de G7TKI

Congrats to the both of you. I have worked all US states using technician privileges, and 35 countries other than the USA using just satellites. A lot of fun can be had just being a technician. I am an Extra but I find satellites very fun and that's what I focus my hamming time on.

Dad became a General, very nice, I failed the general my first time, after getting tech, 3 years later I passed, dad needs an HF rig now, that's where the fun is, contesting, digital, CW, all the other things, congratulations to you both de W8KDZ

Your relationship with your dad is so sweet. ❤

Oh wow. A lot of broadcast engineers I know are hams. Hell, they encouraged me to get mine! KC9JHY here btw.

Congrats on your licenses! And good on you for spreading amateur radio to a wider audience.

Welcome to Ham Radio journey, I know you'll enjoy the hobby. I Look forward to working you and your dad on the airwaves, 73's KB2FZG

It is really amazing to see that one of my favourite homelab youtubers is getting into amateur radio. I myself dont have a licence yet, mainly because it is not as easy here in europe as it is for you guys to get at least the technicians licence. However this fall I will by joining a local ham radio club and hopefully early next year I will be able to take the Novice test and talk on RF. Hope to hear you on HF at some point in the future Jeff!

I'm taking the Technician and General exams this Labor Day. I've taken both ARRL practice exams twice and gotten either 34 or 35 of the 35 questions right.

Congrats to your new ham radio tickets! I hope you two will pass the Element (3 and) 4 tests soon!

Good article at Ars Technica several years ago about how the Titanic disaster led to the formation of the FCC and licensing.

Great video! I have always wondered what this was about. I built an app that helps alert on solar storms and I was surprised at how many HAM radio operators used my app! I guess solar storms can interfere with radio waves!

You sent your dad into the heat of the sun?? Brutal! Damn!

I am a licensed ham myself but haven't used it so much until now. I'm not that interested in local repeater communication, it's more fun for me to build stuff myself, more interesting would be shortwave long distance but for that you need some gear like big antennas which I don't really have the space for. By the way here in Germany (or Europe in general) using the Baofeng UV-5R is illegal because the harmonics it transmits is way too high. You need at least 60dB attenuation and the unit I've got has 43dB attenuation best case...

Congratulations to both of you! I will be taking the test on October this year. Hope to meet you on the air!! Greetings from Italy

Congrats on both of you obtaining your license! Watching the video reminded me of my excitement preparing for and taking the exams a couple of years ago now. Now the real learning and experimentation begins :)

Finally, well done! I took my license 1999 as a 13 year old kid here in Sweden. And over here our licenses never expires, it's a life sentence so to say. Welcome to the ham community, with every perks it has to offer :)

Oh and I used to do Skywarn a lot. But...well...working in news, if there's a bad weather day, I'm usually sitting in the control room.

🍻 Congratulations, guys! So fun to see this and look forward to more! (I remember when half our class failed the FCC Third Class "Radiotelephone Operator's Permit" Element 9! At the time, I couldn't afford to fail! 😄)

This video makes me so happy for some reason. It's so funny to see several of my funny niche little hobbies (homelabbing, ham radio, etc.) line up in one video. Congratulations, hope to catch both of you on the air at some point!

Congrats to you both. I'm sure you will enjoy the hobby. I've been a ham for 65 years. I actually got my Dad (sk) into the hobby which is not normally the case. My wife is also a ham and has her general since we used to cruise in our sailboat and had both VHF and HF gear on board. I received my extra back when the exam was not open sourced and they required 20 WPM Morse code proficiency. My first contact was sending cq on our Kaiser Vagabond's horn in a parking lot in Rapid City. To my amazement another ham showed up. He didn't actually reply with his horn, but walked up and introduced himself. Unfortunately his name and call are lost to time.

We have a lot of issues with people buying the $25 Baofengs and just selecting random or default frequency, which invariably is one of our repeater TX frequencies. Cheap radios are good. Cheap radios sold to anyone without any clear warning that they can't use them without a valid license causes issues.

Hey Jeff, welcome to the hobby. Been watching your videos for a while and it's great to see you exploring this path. Great to see you and your Dad doing it together. 73 and hope to catch you guys on the air one day, once you get your HF station up and running. Shame you guys can't hit QO-100, that thing is incredible.

I remember the first time I saw your Dad on the channel, I wondered if he had his ham license. Happy to see that both of you got your license! 73 from NQ0M, Southeast Kansas

Huh! It was interesting to see some of your testing and certification process, particularly the license classes and associated restrictions. I'm in Canada and while we have licencing reciprocity with the US, there are some notable differences in requirements, bands, and TX power. It looks like the US Technician class allows for considerably more TX power than our Basic qualification, but Basic gives privileges on all of the amateur bands, while Technician excludes LF, MF, and most of the HF bands.

VK2LOZ here , In Australia we have the government agency called the ACMA , here we have reciprocating Licensing where if you have similar qualifications as in a engineer you can apply for a HAM Licence with no testing ,,,, Great video Rob NSW AU

welcome to the ham family! hamily? can't wait to see if you get in to rack mounting radios with roof mount antennas. thats next on my radio project list

Congrats on getting on the air. I have been advance class lic. for over 30 years but have not been to active the past few years. Now watching a Father and Son team get their lic. may inspire me to get back on the air. For me it is "Been there Done" that including EME. Good luck 73 VE3BNW Ontario FN03

I remember getting my Technician class back in 1977. CW was part of the test then and at that time you could only go to a Federal Building to take a scheduled test. I still enjoy the hobby to this day as a General Class. Welcome to the HAM community !

I just got licensed a few months ago, it's so cool!

Hope to hear you on the air soon. There is a lot you can do even as a Technician. I got my tech back in 2007 and just upgraded to General. I took a two day class and tested at the end for the upgrade. - KB1OTI

Just FYI, saying that it's illegal for a non-licensed person to transmit with a ham radio isn't ENTIRELY accurate. An unlicensed person may talk on but technically not operate a ham station as long as the licensee is present and actively supervising as a "control operator". Nobody's going to know whose hands are on the controls, so as long as you're there that's all that matters. If you've ever been to a field day (One weekend at the end of June), it gives non-licensed operators a chance to see what it's all about and make contacts. Speaking of assisting with communications, I did two tours in lower Manhattan after 9/11 assisting the Red Cross with communications. We were using the repeater on top of the Chrysler Building, and kept it so active you could probably fry an egg on it.

I learned a *LOT* about radio by learning to decode APT and LRPT satellite signals (which are the easiest to receive since they don’t require a motorized antenna mount).

I am so totally jealous!! What a cool dad!!! As a fellow ham, this made my whole day😊 Absolutely fantastic ❤ 73 hamFam

Always funny when I see a title like that. I know immediately what the video is about! 😂

Love your videos and had to laugh, that you still remember that we want to know what the shirt says. 😂

i was so inspired by this vid, i have decided to get a foundation license, i have read the book and arranged the exam. i would never have dreamt of doing so were it not for your vid. and, on your old man's recommendation i just ordered a Yaesu FT-65. thanks

Congrats to you and your dad for earning your ham licenses! I just upgraded to Extra earlier this year. I am surprised how many Broadcast Engineers don't hold any sort of ham privileges, considering the two kind of go hand-in-hand. RF is RF, electrons is electrons. A part of my theory is they're too busy playing with big radios on "3 meters" :P

Good job guys! I had worked in electronics since 1965 but didn't attempt more than one test at a time, eventually getting my amateur extra. Practically speaking, I've been using my license(s) for ECOM use almost exclusively.

Congrats on getting your tickets! Don't forget, as Technician you have access to all of 6m (an interesting area at times during this part of the solar cycle), and a small part of 10m. 73's, Gary K5KGT.

Congratulations and welcome to the hobby! I've been watching your content for a while and I can definitely say that Ham radio perfectly complements your skill set. It is amazing what you can do with "just" a technicians license. That little Beofeng is just the beginning of the rabbit hole. I would encourage you to find a local net (ham radio chat group on the air), join a club and get involved. Hams are generally very knowlegable and passionate about sharing information and helping new hams. I would suggest getting a 50w VHF/UHF base station radio and antenna for your home so it is easier to reach your repeater, it is a bit frustrating trying to have a conversation with a weak signal. Also it will give you more reach to other repeaters in your area. Don't worry about getting your general license yet, just learn and talk to other hams, stay active, and develop your skills. You will know when you are ready to upgrade. Talking to people on the other side of the planet without relying on anything but your radio is an amazing feeling. Have fun and 73. - K4MBD

This is heartwarming, I am a UK full license (extra equiv) already but I look forward to someday having contacts with my kids if they have an interest in joining me in the hobby. ❤

This is a hobby that I've started a few weeks ago. It's nice to see that you're doing this.

Congratulations. Got my Tech and General at the same time a few years back but did nothing with it till this year. I think Extra is gonna be a while for me since its so much heavier into the technical side of things. So many rabbit holes you can go down into. So far I think my favorite things are portable operation, low power, weak signal work, and morse code (still learning but way closer than I ever thought I might be)

Looking forward to seeing your AllStar Link node build.

I always loved the word Squelch. *8') Growing up, a friend of the family had a big Ham radio setup. His longest longwave antenna stretched from the front garden, over the house roof to the end of the back garden, and his 'Ham shed' was huge, after being extended several times over the years. These days would definitely count as a Man Cave. It's copious reclaimed wood shelving was filled with equipment from the modern to the earliest days of radio, including a big World War II radio collection, all that grey painted steel and Bakelite, many of which were restored and working. Sadly I can't remember his callsign, and he is almost certainly no longer with us (he would be over a hundred now).

This is a great video. I've been thinking about, studying, and then never following through on getting my license for years. Maybe I should do it! I think it's cool that you and your dad not only did it together, but your call signs are adjacent to each other. My only real regret is I won't have the "4" in my call sign like I would have if I had got my license in Virginia!

Congrats guys! So happy for both of you.. Dad picked out a great handheld !

Congratulations on to you both on your amateur radio licenses. Have a lot of fun on the airwaves. 73.

I am in a situation similar to your Dad. Although I got a novice license when I was in Jr High, I quickly got sidetracked by the FM station at my HS. While I was in HS, I got a 3rd, 2nd, and 1st Radiotelephone license and went on to work at several radio stations. A few years ago I decided to get back into ham radio and got a Technician, General, and Extra.

Welcome to the hoppy/service you two! Hope to meet up someday! 73 I've been at this since a 486DX2/66 was cool. 30 years

Congratulations! Amateur radio has been such a rewarding hobby for me, there's always something new to learn and explore. Lately, as a recently-graduated software engineer and math nerd, it has been really fun to experiment with DSP and be able to apply it to real communications. I hope you can get the same enjoyment from it and pass it along, as my dad did for me. I live about 100 miles from STL, so it's very possible that one day we'll cross paths in frequency-space-time. I look forward to it! 73 de K9API 😄

Spread the word!!!😁 We need more radio amateurs!! 73's PF1R

I've been licensed since December 1995 and over the years I've seen many elderly hams become SK but just as many new people entering the hobby. The best part about amateur radio is that there's something for everyone to enjoy. I'm more of a digital operator, but I'll still get on the local repeater or simplex frequency and chat...

Damn I'm so jealous for having a dad let a lone a super smart and cool one.

Congrats! I got my Tech license when I wanted to use an APRS tracker. Then got my General license so I could experiment with WSPR (California to Australia with 0.5W!). I’m not interested in “rag chewing” but someday I’ll try DX voice contacts. Have fun with it!

Get into the world of digital radio. Setup a couple of hotspots and anytone 878 dmr radios for my dad and myself. Uses a raspberry pi computer with a rf hat and there is a program written by a British ham operator and it connects to the internet and allows you to talk on thousands of talk groups around the world. I am able to talk to my dad in southern Florida and I live in Central ky. I remember back in the early 2000’s when I first got into it my dad did too. He ended up getting his tech license first and I failed it. Took it a year later and passed then went off to college and forgot about it for ten years. Got the bug again in 2014 and studied for my general and have had that since. Love the hobby and what you could do with it such a blast, hope to get my son’s into it someday. Sorry for the long post but brought back many good memories.

Welcome to the amateur radio service! Nice that you and your dad can share the fun! Soon I expect to see some SDR projects from you ;)

There is in fact one, and _only_ one, thing an unlicenced person would be allowed to do on ham radio frequencies, and that is to summon help in an emergency.

Congratz to you both! Looking forward to future videos on the subject. Thinking of getting a HAM license as well since I already have a GMRS license with the FCC. Gotta love those cheap BaoFeng UV-5R! Since I'm not licensed to transmit on HAM frequencies I've programmed my BaoFeng to prevent transmission on those channels. There is one thing that you are allowed to use HAM channels without a license is during an emergency, i.e. hurricanes or natural disaster where you don't have a way to reach out to anybody except on a radio.

Congrats on the licences for the both of you. 73'(=best wishes), PE1PQX (Dutch Hamradio operator, full licence)

5:03 that dad joke is when your mind has grinded through years of being a dad, and the jokes just come to you. Experience shows.

Got my general license: KF7QDO. Doing my Technician license maybe this year. I’ve helped out with emergency drills and as safety comm. It can be fun but some clubs seem not that friendly to outsiders. Have fun!

You are two intelligent guys, and I never doubted you’d pass. Congratulations to you both and welcome aboard! We am always use more smart and capable hams.

Hey congratulations to you and your dad for getting your licenses! I'm sure you'll pass the general soon. Maybe we'll see you guys at a hamfest like Dayton Hamvention or something. 73

Congrats on getting your ham license. Did you and your dad get the General too? That's where the fun begins. As a past DJ in the 1970s...I always enjoyed the rare times I could to to the transmitter site with the chief engineer. So much to know and I sucked it down like a sponge. Being an instructor at Broadcast Center for 28 years I got to know many of the jocks. It was nice to see the tour of the super stick and KMOX...we had WEW at the school and that history went back a long ways too. Thanks for the memories...KF0OMX...73.

Good times. Many years ago, a friend of the family had an autopatch connected to a phone line at the top of a tall suburban building. 18yo me making car phone calls in 1986! No swearing, no business deals, etc. By the letter of the law, you couldn't order a pizza, and it was fuzzy if your family could ask you to pick one up!

I don't know the rules in the US, but in the UK, as a licensed ham, you CAN allow him to transmit as long as you are supervising him. I love the idea of a QSL card from the house to the garden GW6ISF

My friend recently got his own license for this as well. He runs some kind of Ham radio repeater or something like that himself, something like that. It's a foreign concept to me. I would love to get my friend to go visit a big station like that. He'd geek out so hard lol.

Very cool, perhaps I can catch you on HF when you get your general. St. Louis is easy to get from here in Houston. WA5SON

Love this video. I watched a YT series (ham radio crash course for technicians) and passed the technician and general, but failed the extra (50%, kind of like calculus 2 in college 😅). I love the interaction with your dad. My dad is the reason for my love of all things electrical. Congratulations on your licenses. I can't find a FCC licensing requirement for servicing broadcast transmitters! Maybe being a memebr of CBRE? Go Cards/Blues/City!

Got my tech last year. Gonna take my general later this year. Aprs and DMR are super fun

Congratulations guys…welcome to the hobby…I’ve been a HAM for a few years now, I recently received my Extra Class License…I am interested in radio engineering and theory and now reading about radio astronomy and want to experiment with using my HAM radio equipment for radio astronomy…

Congrats you guys. I missed when this was initially posted. I remember having a conversation at Winterfest last January with a couple of other engineers that know Joe. It's great to have you guys in the ham radio community and definitely here in the local ham radio community, Hoping to see you guys at Halloween Hamfest in Kirkwood at the end of the month maybe? 73 and CU on the bands de K0AZV

I need to get back on the radio again. Over in Scotland here have the equivalent of the technician, which is called the foundation licence. Got it a bunch of years ago and had started to play around with satellitte use and getting long range comms going with a friiend using digital modes. It's actually a lot of fun and gets me outside, haha.

In some countries (e.g. Switzerland and lately Germany) it's also not allowed to press the TX button on this Baofeng, because this radio is on a black list, due to spurious emission. 73 Stephan

3:29 The ubiquity of the Internet just means we've swapped one radio wave frequency to another. We're still using radio.

I use PMR radio quite a lot if we (the family) are going hiking, or driving somewhere in convoy. It's pretty neat, it's an unlicensed band in the UK, and there's a few dozen subchannels you can use, but I do one day hope to get an amateur radio license.

Hey Jeff, that's great news! I'm looking forward to hearing from you on the bands soon! 73 de Pavol OM0WT!

The first part of the test is tricky because of all the jargon. The math is a breeze! Loved ELF! There are online practice tests. They are very helpful, and not as crazy as that thick book you showed. You can ask for a call-sign in your area, (if it's not already taken). Example: since I live in California, ( which is K6 or W6) I went with the initials of my business, or the initials of your name. You will need to be hip to repeaters as well.

Congratulations to both you and your dad on getting licensed! Great to see more getting into the hobby. Wait till you dive into all the things you can do with a Raspberry Pi! 73 de Mark, VA3HES

Here in the Netherlands, when someone has a valid amateur radio license, they can let others use their station under their supervision. So, when a family member wants to try it, they can do so before having taken the test. This is similar to operation during e.g. the Jota or Kids day, but it is allowed all year round.

Great NEWS!!! Good luck on the test!! This with be a good add to your channel N9WGI I am working on my Extra class.

I went straight to general. I studied for Tech and felt comfortable in that one. I decided I'd go ahead and try General so I took a few hours at work and passed that as well. It was a few weeks from when I got my license to when I made my first contact. Also my dad, but not coordinated other than getting a list of repeaters that he and I could both reach. I heard him sign in to the repeater right as I was coming back from lunch. We're about 30 miles apart as the crow flies and the repeater is about 30 miles northeast of him and west of me. So, my dad was the first entry in my logbook. Since then I've spoken with many stations across the country and as far away as Japan. I've also been playing with WSPR and was heard at a German research station in Antarctica on a 5W transmission at 40m. Good stuff.