Yeah I agree with you 100% about the eliminate some of the math and the electrical components because most of us are not going to repair or build a radio right off the bat more of a square and buy a radio and use it
Yes that is 100% correct. AND-- with modern radios even someone with a degree in Electrical Engineering would not attempt a repair on the tiny components in a modern radio. 73
I studied for 30 days & passed the tek & general. There was a bunch of questions that seemed outdated. I learned some stuff but a lot was crap I don't want to know like the baud rates of rtty at diff freq.. IDC. I would like to see tek dropped to novice. The test would be an interactive online test with David Casler teaching about everything. You would listen to a passage & then answer real world questions about rules & regs, how antennas work & such. After a few hours you get a novice ticket. You get a lil bandwidth to practice on for general. A lot of what you want to add should be learned but not by a test. Test should only be basic knowledge & to think about it should there really even be a test or just sign aform & apply for license.
I’ll give my experience with getting the technician license. As I crammed over the pool questions, I also read an element 2 study book. Here I am learning basic electronic schematics and equations, converting micro this, and pico that, and yet my study book says that when I buy my first radio I will need to get the sales person to program in at least 10 local repeaters for my area. I’m thinking are you joking?! I’m supposed to be knowledgeable enough to know my way around a multimeter, work on towers, and service radios, but I will struggle with scanning for active repeaters and won’t be able to program my own radio? This is the kind of stuff that had me laughing out loud as I got deeper into reading the material. I want to learn CW, and get more into electronics for sure, but apparently Jesus take the wheel when it comes to putting frequencies, offsets, and tones into my radio’s memory. Also spoiler alert: my area has zero ham radio stores after radio shack bit the dust many years ago (R.I.P). Good luck getting anyone to program my anything.
First most ham radio equipment is bought online not in a retail store. No one fixes their own radios anymore they send it back to factory for repair. Most of the operating things you will learn by DOING not from a book. That's why practicing operating HF and setting up an HF station is so important.
@@JoeLalumia I agree. I bought my radio new and have a warranty on it for some years, so I'm not going to be attempting my own repairs during that time regardless. Why throw the warranty away? While programming some radios can be much more difficult I hear, programing mine and changing settings is pretty easy. Now that I have my license I'm working on getting a dual band mobile radio installed, slowly. "Save your dimes and nickels" as you said in an earlier video and I think that is valuable advice because it gives you time to scout your vehicle and do your research. I can't really consider roof mounting because the car has limited space and a moon roof, but in my situation I think that a trunk mount will be fine. Any good suggestions on an NMO mount that allows for LMR cabling like you have also suggested in previous videos? I was looking at this option because based on my (rough) measurements 17' will make the run from the trunk mounting spot to the radio mounting spot with some slack: www.theantennafarm.com/catalog/larsen-nmokhf200noconn-8452 But the suggested hole saw to use is $70, which seems wasteful for a tool I will not use often, and I then have to go down the rabbit hole of putting the connector on it myself which means more tools.
@@nosilverharbinger Dont use LMR 400 in a car installation. It's a short run of cable and you will not loose much signal. I have a video showing my mobile install in my car -- go to my channel and look through the ham radio playlist. I am using a Diamond truck lid mount. The specs are in the video comments. 73
Joe Lalumia That setup was for LMR 200, but I watched your video, and went with another trunk mount that wouldn’t need to have a hole drilled for it. Thanks! If I don’t like it I’ll get another one sometime. My antenna just showed up today, and it is a larsen, so I’m going to try a larsen mount.
Here is the link to the NATIONAL volunteer examiners that prepare the test questions every few years. You can contact them and give them your ideas for changes to the tests: www.ncvec.org/
Be sure to watch this beginner Technician describe his issues with amateur radio. I have tried to assist him in learning the hobby but his video highlights the issues with the current testing and Technician class study materials. He is a really good fellow and deserves our assistence. See this link: goo.gl/iYHhJk
I just want to have fun, do cool stuff without being dictated what I can cannot do haha. Im still going to go with ur suggestions mobile radio, handi talkie forgot and aprs and had fun and get others in my area to use ham radio
Code doesn't need to come back, it never needs to come back. It's a good mode if you WANT to learn code, however, it shouldn't be required as barrier to enter Ham Radio in the 2k+ era. Digital modes have surpassed CW as far as usage goes and why should someone be required to learn code why it is an outdated mode in the current era. The term "no-code" hams is stupid because it serves no purpose to further Ham Radio, it is only used to belittle new hams by Old farts(who only use CW), as if they are "Elite Hams" because they know and practice code on a daily basis. Joe, you are incorrect in saying that there is no question for Private Line tones on a repeater, it IS in the test pool now and has been since the 2014 test pool came out. Maybe this Joe, should they just get rid of the Tech test and make everybody take the General class test as the first level of testing? I didn't find it very hard, to pass. "Range" depends on if you are using VHF/UHF/HF and what exact frequency you are using, which is taught on the general class test. I also knew how to run a mobile radio inside even before I got into Ham Radio because I was into the Citziens band before I was into Ham radio, you just need a power supply to run a mobile radio inside, it's really not that difficult. 73 K4GRN
I would be in favor of any changes that eliminate math and circuits from the Tech test and focus on practical use instead. (for the Tech license). Also I mentioned this in another video-- my first radio was a used Icom 7000 "shack in a box". Setting it up and listening before I got my Tech license! Doing this helped me pass the General test 2 months after passing the Technician test.
I agree-- actually if you listen to CW contests you will discover that the 70 words per minute signal you are hearing is computer generated and answered using CW computer keyboard software. :)
Another thing is, hams(Volunteer Examiners) are pushing too hard and assisting with bringing the survivalist/prepper movement into Ham Radio and using that as a way to boost licensure and the amount of licensed in the United States, just so they can show the ARRL(the VEC) that their numbers are up. Ham Radio never needed that in the first place, and it is creating a lot of bad operators because those survivalist/preppers get licensed, but they make no effort to "learn" how to be a good Ham operator, they only want to be licensed to have communications for their groups with cheap equipment(baofeng,hytera,alinco). Aka they aren't real ham operators, they might as well being using GMRS or MURS or anything else.
Timothy Parry Jr I totally disagree with your last comment. You sound like those old CW operators that believe that today's hams are not really hams because they don't know CW. We should welcome anyone into the hobby, regardless of why they want a license.
Help support this channel. Visit my product recommendation web site and use the links there to buy. This site has videos and articles you may not have seen along with my Amazon Associate and Ebay Partner links to products. If you buy using my links you help support this channel. www.joelalumia.wixsite.com/telescopeman
What about just shoving crap together 123 and just use chirp or something to preload frequencies easy. Then easy pancakes one license and lifetime license
Yes I use CHIRP sometimes to program radios-- but that does not answer your basic questions in your video about your frustrations with the ham radio hobby. I just posted a new video about CHANGING what we teach to Technicians. Take a look at it. I also posted your video link in the comment section asking other hams to assist you. 73
Joe Lalumia me I just want to have fun without being dictated what I can and cannot do when I try to get my license. That guy in that video says alot and ur videos make sense. I just wished it would be simplified better without a million questions and do what I want on the cheap lol
Well amateur radio is a LICENSED (by the FCC) service-- so there will always be rules to follow. BUT as I said in the video we are teaching and testing the wrong subject matter. Amateur radio is a hobby in which you are CONTINUALLY learning new things. So it is naturally a longer term endeavor... even after many years you don't know everything. That being said-- possibly this web site will give you some ideas as to your direction within the hobby. I encourage you to read through the web site listed below and select out of it--- your own particular interests. www.hamradioschool.com/i-got-my-license-now-what/ THEN-- follow those interests.
Joe Lalumia sota and aprs/packet radio sound very cool to me and tech is only needed I'm going to have to learn more about both then. I definitely think it would be cool to report for events during emergencies too but that's like apples and oranges. Again u keep giving cool suggestions I appreciate it I just hope the tech test doesn't get changed to much and not off the worst
Yeah I agree with you 100% about the eliminate some of the math and the electrical components because most of us are not going to repair or build a radio right off the bat more of a square and buy a radio and use it
Yes that is 100% correct. AND-- with modern radios even someone with a degree in Electrical Engineering would not attempt a repair on the tiny components in a modern radio. 73
Good points. Maybe this video will reach the right people.
David Byrd thanks I appreciate your comment.
When I first got my Technician license, back in the good ol' days, it was only available by passing the General exam.
Thanks for your comment and 73.
I studied for 30 days & passed the tek & general. There was a bunch of questions that seemed outdated. I learned some stuff but a lot was crap I don't want to know like the baud rates of rtty at diff freq.. IDC. I would like to see tek dropped to novice. The test would be an interactive online test with David Casler teaching about everything. You would listen to a passage & then answer real world questions about rules & regs, how antennas work & such. After a few hours you get a novice ticket. You get a lil bandwidth to practice on for general. A lot of what you want to add should be learned but not by a test. Test should only be basic knowledge & to think about it should there really even be a test or just sign aform & apply for license.
Apparently it wasn't just me who found the tech license exam and tech license current practice to have very little correlation.
I’ll give my experience with getting the technician license. As I crammed over the pool questions, I also read an element 2 study book.
Here I am learning basic electronic schematics and equations, converting micro this, and pico that, and yet my study book says that when I buy my first radio I will need to get the sales person to program in at least 10 local repeaters for my area.
I’m thinking are you joking?! I’m supposed to be knowledgeable enough to know my way around a multimeter, work on towers, and service radios, but I will struggle with scanning for active repeaters and won’t be able to program my own radio?
This is the kind of stuff that had me laughing out loud as I got deeper into reading the material. I want to learn CW, and get more into electronics for sure, but apparently Jesus take the wheel when it comes to putting frequencies, offsets, and tones into my radio’s memory.
Also spoiler alert: my area has zero ham radio stores after radio shack bit the dust many years ago (R.I.P). Good luck getting anyone to program my anything.
First most ham radio equipment is bought online not in a retail store. No one fixes their own radios anymore they send it back to factory for repair. Most of the operating things you will learn by DOING not from a book. That's why practicing operating HF and setting up an HF station is so important.
@@JoeLalumia I agree. I bought my radio new and have a warranty on it for some years, so I'm not going to be attempting my own repairs during that time regardless. Why throw the warranty away? While programming some radios can be much more difficult I hear, programing mine and changing settings is pretty easy.
Now that I have my license I'm working on getting a dual band mobile radio installed, slowly. "Save your dimes and nickels" as you said in an earlier video and I think that is valuable advice because it gives you time to scout your vehicle and do your research. I can't really consider roof mounting because the car has limited space and a moon roof, but in my situation I think that a trunk mount will be fine.
Any good suggestions on an NMO mount that allows for LMR cabling like you have also suggested in previous videos? I was looking at this option because based on my (rough) measurements 17' will make the run from the trunk mounting spot to the radio mounting spot with some slack:
www.theantennafarm.com/catalog/larsen-nmokhf200noconn-8452
But the suggested hole saw to use is $70, which seems wasteful for a tool I will not use often, and I then have to go down the rabbit hole of putting the connector on it myself which means more tools.
@@nosilverharbinger Dont use LMR 400 in a car installation. It's a short run of cable and you will not loose much signal. I have a video showing my mobile install in my car -- go to my channel and look through the ham radio playlist. I am using a Diamond truck lid mount. The specs are in the video comments. 73
Joe Lalumia That setup was for LMR 200, but I watched your video, and went with another trunk mount that wouldn’t need to have a hole drilled for it. Thanks!
If I don’t like it I’ll get another one sometime. My antenna just showed up today, and it is a larsen, so I’m going to try a larsen mount.
Here is the link to the NATIONAL volunteer examiners that prepare the test questions every few years. You can contact them and give them your ideas for changes to the tests:
www.ncvec.org/
Be sure to watch this beginner Technician describe his issues with amateur radio. I have tried to assist him in learning the hobby but his video highlights the issues with the current testing and Technician class study materials. He is a really good fellow and deserves our assistence. See this link:
goo.gl/iYHhJk
I just want to have fun, do cool stuff without being dictated what I can cannot do haha. Im still going to go with ur suggestions mobile radio, handi talkie forgot and aprs and had fun and get others in my area to use ham radio
I just like talking and interfacing a Linux based smartphone "android" to send email, text messages without a engineer thing of a class
Why do tech's still speak in CB terms???
It would be cool if it ended up being a five question test, life time license and use whatever you want without that fancy crap lol
maybe just "Do you understand the rules & regulations of ham radio?" yes ok sign here. done
Warsrogue that would be way easier
So what I been studying is garbage what the f**k, will it make it easier or have fun to keep or get people more involved
No you got your license --but it is my belief that the Tech test should be totally revised at the first opportunity.
Code doesn't need to come back, it never needs to come back. It's a good mode if you WANT to learn code, however, it shouldn't be required as barrier to enter Ham Radio in the 2k+ era. Digital modes have surpassed CW as far as usage goes and why should someone be required to learn code why it is an outdated mode in the current era. The term "no-code" hams is stupid because it serves no purpose to further Ham Radio, it is only used to belittle new hams by Old farts(who only use CW), as if they are "Elite Hams" because they know and practice code on a daily basis. Joe, you are incorrect in saying that there is no question for Private Line tones on a repeater, it IS in the test pool now and has been since the 2014 test pool came out. Maybe this Joe, should they just get rid of the Tech test and make everybody take the General class test as the first level of testing? I didn't find it very hard, to pass. "Range" depends on if you are using VHF/UHF/HF and what exact frequency you are using, which is taught on the general class test. I also knew how to run a mobile radio inside even before I got into Ham Radio because I was into the Citziens band before I was into Ham radio, you just need a power supply to run a mobile radio inside, it's really not that difficult. 73 K4GRN
I would be in favor of any changes that eliminate math and circuits from the Tech test and focus on practical use instead. (for the Tech license). Also I mentioned this in another video-- my first radio was a used Icom 7000 "shack in a box". Setting it up and listening before I got my Tech license! Doing this helped me pass the General test 2 months after passing the Technician test.
I agree-- actually if you listen to CW contests you will discover that the 70 words per minute signal you are hearing is computer generated and answered using CW computer keyboard software. :)
Yes I agree with you on CW 100%. Thanks for your comment and 73.
Another thing is, hams(Volunteer Examiners) are pushing too hard and assisting with bringing the survivalist/prepper movement into Ham Radio and using that as a way to boost licensure and the amount of licensed in the United States, just so they can show the ARRL(the VEC) that their numbers are up. Ham Radio never needed that in the first place, and it is creating a lot of bad operators because those survivalist/preppers get licensed, but they make no effort to "learn" how to be a good Ham operator, they only want to be licensed to have communications for their groups with cheap equipment(baofeng,hytera,alinco). Aka they aren't real ham operators, they might as well being using GMRS or MURS or anything else.
Timothy Parry Jr I totally disagree with your last comment. You sound like those old CW operators that believe that today's hams are not really hams because they don't know CW. We should welcome anyone into the hobby, regardless of why they want a license.
I just don't want to answer a million questions or dumb assinine shit in the test
Help support this channel. Visit my product recommendation web site and use the links there to buy. This site has videos and articles you may not have seen along with my Amazon Associate and Ebay Partner links to products. If you buy using my links you help support this channel.
www.joelalumia.wixsite.com/telescopeman
I most certainly will kind Sir.
What about just shoving crap together 123 and just use chirp or something to preload frequencies easy. Then easy pancakes one license and lifetime license
Yes I use CHIRP sometimes to program radios-- but that does not answer your basic questions in your video about your frustrations with the ham radio hobby. I just posted a new video about CHANGING what we teach to Technicians. Take a look at it. I also posted your video link in the comment section asking other hams to assist you. 73
Joe Lalumia me I just want to have fun without being dictated what I can and cannot do when I try to get my license. That guy in that video says alot and ur videos make sense. I just wished it would be simplified better without a million questions and do what I want on the cheap lol
Well amateur radio is a LICENSED (by the FCC) service-- so there will always be rules to follow. BUT as I said in the video we are teaching and testing the wrong subject matter. Amateur radio is a hobby in which you are CONTINUALLY learning new things. So it is naturally a longer term endeavor... even after many years you don't know everything.
That being said-- possibly this web site will give you some ideas as to your direction within the hobby. I encourage you to read through the web site listed below and select out of it--- your own particular interests. www.hamradioschool.com/i-got-my-license-now-what/
THEN-- follow those interests.
Joe Lalumia thank you and I will check it out
Joe Lalumia sota and aprs/packet radio sound very cool to me and tech is only needed I'm going to have to learn more about both then. I definitely think it would be cool to report for events during emergencies too but that's like apples and oranges. Again u keep giving cool suggestions I appreciate it I just hope the tech test doesn't get changed to much and not off the worst