I consider myself very fortunate. Here in central New England there are a multitude of 2M and 70cm repeaters, and about half are active and fairly busy! I have had no trouble getting to meet hams of varying longevity, experience, and expertise, but I did have to make the effort in initiating contact. That done, though, I find that most hams are eager to help/educate 'newbies' (even the rapidly aging variety, like me!). Of course, there is always a curmudgeon or two, but the overwhelming majority are great folks and there's a wealth of information to be culled from all those years of experience. Be polite and courteous, but be gently persistent. Thanks for all of the great videos, Dave!! 73 DE W1NLJ
Hi David please to meet you. I ask me if you can to explain me how make an effency scanner radio to 0.1 to 1300mhz for my icom ic-rc? is it possible she be small and portable ? thanks to answear me congratulations for yours videos bye bye (p.s excuse me for my bad English whrite juste here héhéhé ) 73/51
Sadly I have no expertise regarding scanners. Many of the current radios have scanners built in, even the HF rigs. But I rarely use them. I suggest you look on the Internet for scanners and perhaps talk with the folks at Ham Radio Outlet (www.hamradio.com) or one of the other big ham radio retailers for suggestions. Good luck!
Right, thanks to you my friend i will see on internet i dont find a really good set up for my project but it s nice tu you to answear very quicly i thank you again bye bye see you to next vidéo buddy bye bye from FRANCE ;) 14 division ;)
When you said "be the Ham you would like others to be" you really summed up this topic well. I really believe you get out of this hobby what you put into it, and waiting for others to do what you would like them to do is a lesson in frustration, great video Dave. 73, Tom
Dave, KG5JUP here. Hats off to you on your video work. I am a General class ham and this frustration is widespread around here. Thank you for all that you do.
KV5JMK, here. I feel this. Especially around Shreveport, there's only one club that's worth much, and they're nice guys but I don't want to join that club. It feels a bit forced sometimes, and some of them don't want to be there. Not too many repeaters here either, unless you wanna hop on some repeaters connecting to Dallas.
My father (PA1UL) and mother (PD0PVQ silent mike) have been on the background of my playtime, so I knew my Alpha Bravo Charley sooner than my Dutch spellingalphabet. At the moment I'm studying for a novice lisence.
I always try to be as helpful and informative as I can be, to all hams, whatever their age or experience level... Because I had some great Elmers who got me going in the hobby! I know a lot... but i find it enjoyable to pass on my knowledge to other hams that are interested :)
When I became a ham in the early 90s as a Novice brasspounder, everything -- EVERYTHING -- was FM this and FM that. Techs were everywhere, with no interest in HF and certainly not in CW. You went to a club meeting, a few of the OTs were HF ops, everybody else repeater jockeys. (I don't say that pejoratively; hams should do what they enjoy. But I was routinely told I was already a dinosaur, wasting my time with that beeping thing.) Ten years ago life takes other directions and I go QRT. Last year I come back. And... people are saying 2M is dying, nothing's on the repeater, c'mon get with the times you Techs, your hobby is dead. Learn CW for God's sake! Get on HF! Gonna get a vanity call that ends RVW. "Rip Van Winkle".
The comment at 2:15 is interesting "What you get out of a club is proportionate to what you put into it." After helping out a local club in the Chicago area for several years, raising funding, boosting membership interest in local events, I didn't even get a yearly award dedicated to a particular project I headed. I soon after QUIT and now the club is dumb founded as to what to do in the absence of myself who exceeded expectations of the ungrateful membership. To that "certain club in the Chicago area" I say stick your club where the sun don't shine.
There's been no quiet repeaters in eastern Tennessee! Most repeaters around here I've been listening to are quite active with net meetings on Monday, Tuesday and Thursdays. Sure wish the FCC would get off their collective butts and send me my call sign. Been waiting for over 2 weeks now. And now, I'm ready to take my General license test.
Whats even more frustrating is getting ANY help! I was turned off of HAM years ago by the grouchy old goats. As I have become an Old Goat I am getting intrested again and still have the same problem(no local elmers)You and the internet have been more informative then any local club I could find. Thank You for Your videos.
After I left BYU with a Novice license, I had no further elmering. I felt the lack! That's one reason I make these videos; I think many people are in the same boat.
@@davecasler - Thank you! Joined oathkeepers and am part of thier com. team. Kind of hard to be part of a com. team without a license-Lol. Probably will join the local club and will join the ARRL. Thanks again for your videos!
Complete and total amen. But I want to say this: I just contacted our local ham club for some help - something I last tried 20 years ago - and this time the contact tried hard to find someone with experience in what I was having trouble with, and when he couldn't, offered to help me himself to the best of his ability. (I've got a kit build that I need help troubleshooting.) We're getting together tomorrow. So I share the frustration, but in many ways, including this one, ham radio is really getting noticeably better. I haven't felt this hopeful about the hobby, well, ever, really. Long way to go yet, but... at long last, we seem to be under weigh. Oh, and my immediate answer to anyone who asks me for one-on-one help is... YES! WHEN?
Great video Dave! I'm a new HAM and this video contains some great ideas for us new guys. BTW- I visit Ridgway in the fall each year and can't wait to see if I can hit some repeaters. 73's KE0MRR
Had call sign for 5 weeks. Still have not had first contact. Can’t figure this out. Joined ARRL and that was worthless. Watching lots of videos. Too many baseline assumptions in the presentations. I’m not a DA, but this is far from obvious I guess
I passed my Tech test yesterday and am awaiting my call sign. What am I currently doing, and will be doing after being assigned my callsign? Well, studying for GENERAL.
I understand this frustration, as far as 2m and 70cm goes. I recently got re-licensed after a long time away. Listening to the local repeaters, there is hardly any traffic. I confess I'm a bit surprised as I live in a fairly populous area in SoCal.
Ask Dave how you doing mr. Dave my name is Jamal I am a security guard I work at a security company and we have got some Motorola has 82 50s Classics and we're trying to get them programmed I'm waiting on my programming cable in the program disk please could you tell me more about those radios I went on websites and I looked them up can't find no programming Ford but I found the cable and it programs different other stuff for that radio 2 so please give me a call back or give me a shout out thank you and I am want to come and him one day I don't know when but I'm studying
i could not reach anyone with my first 2 cheaper dual band antennas. Now I have a 17" collinear and have no problem hitting the local repeaters. Joining the club. Going for a compromised HF antenna for now to get on HF. I want to join the local nets.
Over here in ZL there's no classes of licence just pass the exam and you have access to certain bands for 3 months , and after logging 50 contacts over those 3 months you have full band privileges
I am not a member of the ARRL because they seem far more interested in "feeding their own faces," than helping their fellow hams... which was really brought home to me when they discontinued the Senior membership Discount. And I haven't joined any local clubs because they seem to be pushing ARRL membership quite heavily! However I do join in on local repeater nets, and i do go to more informal ham get togethers locally!
Clubs have to have at least half of their membership be members of the ARRL in order for the club to be ARRL affiliated. I've been a member of the ARRL for more than 43 years. I recommend them highly, if only for the magazine and the books. It's very expensive to maintain a membership organization. And the ARRL staff needs to get paid. Most of their field organization are volunteers. I realize that the ARRL is controversial but I still recommend joining.
Hi KE0OG I first want to just tell you your videos are great and very helpful keep up the good work! I got my tech in November and I love it but I'm 13 and it is difficult to make friends who are a lot older then me. I am also not very much interested in chatting with others and am more interested in experimenting and tinkering. I like to diy all my antennas and have recently found in interest in ARDF but don't have anyone to enjoy it with. Any suggestions? -KM6FRE Thanks!
Greg, welcome to ham radio! I think it's a natural thing that we develop friends our own age. No problem there. You might join a club just for the education. But I would suggest grabbing a schoolmate or two to get Tech licenses so you can do your tinkering and experiments together. For many years I was one of the elmers at the Boulder Amateur Radio Club's Junior Division. My son got his Tech at age 12, and my daughter at age 9 (almost 10). Note that there are sponsored ARDF competitions from time to time and you might want to research that. Also, check out my Fantastic Fox Finder at dcasler.com/2011/05/09/foxfinder-schematic/ and a video about fixing it at dcasler.com/2016/10/15/fixing-the-fantastic-fox-finder-with-my-new-oscope/. Good luck in your ham radio career and schooling. If you want to ask questions directly, you can use www.ke0og.net/ask-dave. 73, Dave, KEØOG
I was in Jr. High when I got my license and befriended many older hams everywhere from in their 20's & 30's to retirees. They taught me so much about amateur radio and I am forever grateful. I still talk to some of them occasionally, most have left the area or past away now but the years when they were around from my Jr. high days through college were the best times of my life. Don't discount people because of their age. Find a club that's full of builders or fox hunters, join a maker space but go meet people, learn and have fun. - N2OA
I went straight for a General class(took tech and general tests the same day) just to have "more opportunity" in the amateur radio scene. I had planned to listen more than talk but as you pointed out many repeaters are silent most of the time. I am a shut in and do not really want to join clubs and go places to meet people and socialize,,,the socializing that I was looking for was on the radio not in person....still listening on scan. You do hear some interesting things when people are on... How do you like your soldering station?
I've been using the soldering station regularly. I find the hot air gun particularly useful when trying to unsolder something. Regarding being a shut-in, do you have the space for an HF dipole for 40 meters (66 feet long)? 40 is the most-used band and is often open both day and night. I love getting on HF and finding people to talk with, and the most enjoyable conversations are the ones that last a half hour or more. Even though it sounds like you're not the "club" type of person, it might be advantageous to join one anyway, so as to meet some people whom you can later meet on the air. You might also be able to find out when the local on-the-air nets meet, and try joining some. Frankly, though, I think you'll meet more people on HF if you can get an antenna up and an HF radio. I hope this helps. 73, Dave, KEØOG
Hi David. great comments. I am a newbie. I am not even on square one yet. no license listening only, no transmit. Bought a Realistic DX-160 a few weeks ago and having trouble bringing in stations as I have no antenna and antenna tech just overwhelms me. got ahold of the local club and no one seems to want to reply to my questions. I asked if I could attend a meeting and got no reply. One club member who did reply recommended an antenna and I bought it but having trouble hooking it up as my old receiver needs spade connections for antenna and my new antenna uses coax to bring the signal into the shack. I did run into a very helpful salesman at ShowMeCables who sold me adaptors to get it all connected. waiting for it to arrive. Anyway seems I can only get some education from YT. I will look for other clubs nearby but I am kinda rural so not much hope for that. Do you know of any discussion groups that are willing to include a total newbie? BTW most of the info I get about antennas is for broadcasting and not receiving so I'm still in the dark about how to rig up an antenna for ham listening. I like your tutorials and will watch more. thanks, Jack
I do not have an associated discussion group, but you are perfectly welcome to post your questions here or, better yet, to www.ke0og.net/ask-dave or to hamradioanswers@gmail.com.
NEW PROCEDURE TO SEARCH FOR ARRL AFFILIATED CLUBS. You no longer need to type in Club Finder, just select CLUBS under the category drop-down in the Website Search area. This will get you to what you are looking for. I realize this video is over 2 years old, but the information is still relevant. I've been watching your video's for several days now as I'm trying to learn as much as I can about Amateur Radio "do's and don't s". I have yet to receive my first radio nor have I taken my technician test. So far I've found your videos quite educational. A little about me: SSG US Army Retired - Early Warning Systems (EWS) Operator 14J (MOS) which translated to Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence Enhanced systems operator and maintainer. I worked with Mobile Radar systems and disseminated information over Tactical Digital Information Links (TADIL) over AM/FM/SATCOM WAN and LAN systems. Again, I love your videos. It will take me a lot of binge watching to catch up (and drive the wife mad) but hey it's all good info. 73, Rod.
Did I hear the word Radio Shsck? I haven't seen one in at least two years. It's the truck stop or Amazon or nothing for me in the Saratoga, ny area. Just found and spoke to the treasury officer for the Saratoga county club. Hope to pass noth tech and general test inn three more weeks. Lots of studying to do still. I'm a maker for sure and just got my first quad band mobile. Qb 25 pro quad. 136-174/220-270/350-390/400-480Mhz. Is there us dipole that will cover all, have a great row of trees just outside my widow. My two mobiles will be my bases at night. Till I can afford better equipment. The other radio is a stryker sr-94HPC, nice radio, no ssb but 40watts on fm . Also know I'm close to 3repeater stations. Ideas on dipole solution would be greatly appreciated. When you feel up to it. Thanks again. Your a great teacher and communicator. Is 10/11meter always so dead?
My first few weeks "listening" to repeaters, I was very impatient and didn't wait more than 60 seconds. I got my car VHF/UHF radio and just listened, then I realized that others were responding in as much as 3 minutes or more. Lesson learned. KI5MKU
Hello Dave, my local club has 2 repeaters - both are hardly used from what I can tell. It would be nice to stir up some 'action I have a "basic with honours" license in Canada. Limited to 500 watts. Do you know what the American equivalent is? Mine was a 2 day course and 100 questions exam. Thanks.
Dave, I’m 67 and was out of the hobby for about 15 years. I came back, and got my tech, general, and extra all in this month. Things have definitely changed as far as the “character” of younger operators. Many form cliques on VHF, and if your not up to date on everything, they sometimes treat you like an idiot. HF is much more forgiving and it seems like that is where the adults are. Perhaps, I need to give it more time and patience, but generally do not like what I hear so far. Just my 2 cents.
I got my HAM license to fly model aircraft FPV (First Person View). That uses a Fast Scan TV Camera on the plane or multirotor to send video signal back to my goggles. I use 2.4GHz so a Tech license is sufficient (though I managed to pass my General when I took the test). I'd be happy to help others get into FPV.
David Casler The two communities certainly have a lot to offer one another, and I believe such a relationship could very valuable not only to the people in those communities, but also to education. Students, even very young ones, absolutely love electronics, robotics, computers, etc., and will come in after school, on weekends, and during the summers to engage in such learning opportunities. Given the importance of wireless communication and the ever-growing emphasis on STEM (especially with IoT, embedded systems, and remote devices), understanding radio is more important all the time. I actually had a 3rd grade student, a 4th grade student, and a 6th grade student all pass the tech test last year after a STEM summer program. They had built quadcopters and wanted to fly them FPV, and they quickly realized that they needed to use other frequencies besides 2.4 GHz.
There's a guy that co-runs the local college club that is still holding a Novice license. Every field day he's out there on his incredibly small voice allocation on 10 meters making contacts. Not sure why he doesn't at least get his technician license, but it's pretty cool to that he is so in to it after all these years and still working that Novice.
That was actually a very well made video. There’s an ad on insta where the guy sounds like he’s deep in a restroom and for some reason he doesn’t lower the Sons of Anarchy theme song while he’s talking about a cheap helmet.
Hi Dave, I just received my Tech License KJ7HWV and I watch your videos. Tonight I programmed my dual band UV-5RV and keyed for the first time...I heard the repeater! This is so cool. Now I'm studying for my General as I gain some experience. Bill from Spokane Valley WA.
I bought a BAOFENG so I could find someone to talk to if we got into an emergent situation. I was happy to find that it does Weather Radio, and Broadcast FM. I'm mainly concerned with giving medical, and food aid.
Hi Dave, I very much appreciate this video. I'm a new ham (KE0JQA) that got a ticket 7 months ago. I was relatively lucky in that I hit a friendly Denver area repeater early and came across a helpful mentor (I hesitate to say Elmer as he didn't really volunteer for that job) that gave me all sorts of excellent advice and helped me avoid a lot of problems. I've watched a lot of your videos and they have proven to be the most useful ones around. I suscribed and for the firs time ever, I visited a tip jar. Please keep up the good work! KE0JQA
Hi Dave, I'm a newer ham, I've had my general license a few years and now have the money to buy my first HF radio, on gigaparts they have "ready to transmit" kits ie yaesu 450d starter kit, in your opinion are they worth starting out on? What's your opinion on them? Thanks John kc3cef
The Yaesu 450 seems to be a fine radio. I've talked with several hams who use it. As far as the ready-to-transmit kits, you'll have to see if it covers what you'll need.
I've had my Extra for 20+ years now. I still mostly operate on 2m and 70cm. More interested in digital radio too. Belonged to a couple clubs but honestly I'm in it most for the on-air part though I haven't been out to a field day in some time.
Field days are fun! My first field days were in Southern California and were sponsored by Northrop Corporation and were big deals. The company paid for all the food!
I'm studying for my Extra class 2 years after I got my Tech and General. Loved radio and RF since I was a kid. You convinced me with your series on Amateur Extra to become a VE and do more. Some wonderful HAM's around me but me and younger HAM's often have trouble with older HAM's on certain issues like schedules. I figure if I want to see change I should be the change so I'm hoping to work with some of the Elmer's that are neutral and helped me (most of which are Advanced or General! Even one guy that was a Tech until recently!) and make the community more welcoming! I love VHF/UHF and a lot of magic can happen on VHF for example! Not just on 6m's either! I had a nice simplex QSO 70miles apart on 2-meter simplex from Syracuse NY to Rochester NY! I was running 20watts and a 3 element Yagi and the other HAM was a newer guy (I had just passed my General and he was studying I believe) and he built a J-Pole or some type of antenna with a good amount of gain and threw 75watts through it! That said some of the old timers got up early. I used to talk to three older gentlemen and learn mountains of info starting 4:45AM each morning (drive my younger sister mad!). One would say his 73's and get off and go to work and the others would stay on until noon and I'd head off at 6AM or so. They were intimidating at first but eventually, Ken and Jeff shared a lot of insight and we had a lot in common! I even used my knowledge of WLAN networking I had used as a kid to help two Advanced Class guys bridge internet to their HAM shack. They didn't want to run ethernet but the 2.4GHz signal was obstructed so I calculated the Fresnel zone of it compared to 5GHz and suggested they piggyback off of that so that this guy and his wife could use the internet when using the shack. Another local who always sounds grouchy just required patience! I never got grouchy back and never do. - K2NJO
There's a guy that runs the local college club that is still holding a Novice license. Every field day he's out there on his incredibly small voice allocation on 10 meters making contacts. Not sure why he doesn't at least get his technician license, but it's pretty cool to that he is so in to it after all these years and still working that Novice.
But then he wouldn't get to say that he has a Novice license--can't get those anymore, you know...they're vintage. :) Extra points if he has a WN call.
Excellent video. I am not yet a ham. I heard years ago there was hate from the old hams when new hams come in not having to know CW. Its been so many years since they dropped it I imagine that has to have about gone by now
I think it pretty much is, as the generations move on and become used to the new way of doing things. I'm an Amateur Extra who had to pass 20 wpm code. I rarely use CW now, though I keep telling myself I'm going to get my code speed back up someday! 73, Dave
I am really grateful for meeting N8IQT. He has been a great elmer since it is difficult for me to participate in clubs because I am usually working during club meetings.
Check out the General Class and Extra Class playlists. They have some videos on antennas. The coil on a dual-band 2m/70cm antennas form a "trap" that keeps the 70cm RF from using the top half of the antenna, but lets 2m through. Hope that helps. 73
If I may, I'd like to offer a couple of observations on the dual band comment starting around 4:20. True, most activity is in the 2M/70cm bands. However, the tri-band (2M/7cm + 220) or quad-band radios (10M/6M/2M/7cm) aren't priced too much higher than the dual banders. Yes some of the other bands are indeed quiet, and I''d like to express a concern that if 2M/70cm is emphasized as 'the place to be' these bands will remain quiet and under utilized. This might entice the FCC to auction some of the precious spectrum away. Does anyone reading this recall the slice-n-dice of the 220 band a decade or 2 ago? Just my thoughts and trying to help. **Regarding techs and quad band radios, please remember you cannot utilize the 10M FM transmit privileges until you upgrade to General (US hams). On a final note to the techs....Welcome aboard & have fun!
I recall the 220 MHz fiasco when UPS wanted the frequencies. Unfortunately, even though there was still 3 MHz of spectrum left, everyone acted as though the band had disappeared. All activity fled. It was a classic case of overreaction, and sadly 222-225 MHz sort of disappeared from view. And the manufacturers supported this by no longer offering much 220 gear. Sad, really, as 220 was a great band with great repeaters. IMHO, I think all dual-band gear (2m/70cm) should be triband and include 220. (Note that 219-220 was given back to the ham radio community but limited to digital forwarding only.) I know that some large-area repeater nets use 220 as a backhaul, but that still leaves most of the band unused. 73, Dave
did you ever wonder why they don't make a quad bander 6M/2M/70cm +220 (instead of 10M FM)? that would be a fantastic tech rig (or any license for that matter) for mobile FM (I'm secretly hoping the manufacturers are reading) I think I was still a tech plus (remember those) when the UPS thing went down... didn't get a 220 rig until last year when Baofeng released the 5x3, so I guess I was one of those who fled. 73, Rob
Very nicely done, Dave. I wrote a blogpost on wyowanderer.com about this very thing a couple weeks ago. You've done a great job with this video, and covered many points I hadn't thought of. Frank, WY0WDR.
Even being an Extra class I've got a few of these issues since my apartment renders HF totally useless (S9 RFI all bands below 6M) so I operate mostly VHF (UHF seems dead). Have you run into any issues with trying a new repeater where people yell about how "you shouldn't use it if you aren't supporting it" or anything, especially when traveling? If so, how do you deal with that? There's a club local to where I live that people are extremely friendly on the air chatting - I joined because I wanted to support their repeater (since it's active and people are nice and I use it regularly driving to work) but beyond that it seems to be very dull, long boring business meetings and the club really just supports the same marathons all the time and does the same thing for Field Day every year. There are other clubs farther away that do more interesting things like fox-hunts and such but they are too far away to get to when they are meeting because of work and traffic. I've got a small taste of that with a group of hams who do fox-hunts at comicons and I have become a VE with the ARRL VEC to help them with exams when I'm able but I can't get up to do stuff very often that direction. I also tried to get a bit more involved with helping in my local club but they said I'd have to get the paperwork for W5YI for them to sign off before I can help at our club's license exams; so far I've been unsuccessful getting either the W5YI papers or any response to messages about becoming a VE for them. It's one of the few things I'd be happy to help my club with and they do testing close to where I live but after many months of trying to reach W5YI I've basically given up getting zero acknowledgment that I even exist.
Now twice I typed a reply and then lost it! Guess I'm getting old and keep hitting the wrong keys. Try an artificial ground or counterpoise with your HF rig. And yes, you have my complete sympathy regarding the overly long business meetings--ours are the same. Regarding W5YI, I thought they will accept your ARRL credentials. I just looked in their VE manual, and it looks like you can help at a session as long as there are 3 W5YI VEs present. The actual person W5YI passed away fairly recently, so that may account for some disorganization on their end. 73, Dave, KEØOG
Ah, ok - that's good to know about W5YI, maybe I'll try again some time in the future after they have a chance to sort things out more. I've tried a few things with my HF radio (someone suggested a bucket of saltwater) so far I haven't found anything that helps lower the noise. Even with my handheld VX6 that has "shortwave" AM mode when I'm elsewhere I can pick up WWV easily along with a half dozen or so shortwave stations even on the rubber duck but in my apartment it's solid static. I'm speculating it's people's crappy China electronics (I found and replaced/filtered a few things of mine) Thanks for the reply - 73, KK4NDE
