Kilo Bravo 3 Lima Lima Echo - KB3LLE

To the next KB3LLE...

2010-09-08T17:02:00.002-04:00

So this call sign is now available on the FCC database. To the new KB3LLE ham radio operator. If you'd like this blog site along with the associated GMail email address, contact me, and I'll be happy to do a transfer of ownership.

73 de KJ4YFU

We're Moving...

2010-09-08T17:00:00.000-04:00

So I decided to update my call sign now that I'm in Georgia. The blog has now moved to http://kj4yfu.blogspot.com/. Please anticipate new articles with this new blog site. 73 de KJ4YFU

Resources to Pass the Exam

2010-08-25T01:53:00.000-04:00

So how did I pass the Ham Radio Exams? I don't have an engineering or electronics background. Heck, I'm a history major, so trust me, if I can pass this exam, anyone can pass this exam. Here's some free resources to help.

Free Ham Radio Resources:

http://kb0mga.net/exams/ - KB0MGA probably has one of the best online exams. It even tracks your progress, since you can setup a free account.
http://www.ac6v.com/jargon.htm - AC6V has a great compilation of Ham Radio jargon. Don't know how beneficial in helping you pass the exam(s), but it at least gives you a flavor of the culture that you are about to immerse yourself.
http://kb6nu.com/tech-manual/ - KB6NU's no nonsense guides are great. Honestly, I found his writings more useful than the ARRL study exams. Blasphemy, I know, but his writing just made sense for my brain's wiring. I'm not dissin' the ARRL study exams. There are numerous reviewers on Amazon that provided glowing reviews. Like I said, it just didn't jive with my brain's wiring or unwiring.
http://www.hamradioinstructor.com/powerpoint.html - K3DIO has some great powerpoint presentations. He's essentially turned the exam question sets into powerpoint decks. I found scrolling through the document much easier for reviewing practice exam questions and concepts.

Strategies for Studying...

More the Better - My recommendation is to utilize as many different resources as possible. Some resources do a better job at explaining things than others. Also, consider utilizing Google or Wikipedia to look things up. Many of these resources provide the bare minimum for you to pass the exam. This does not imply that you will have a complete understanding of the concepts. I'm the type of person who likes to understand the underlying theories that make up the concept. Once I grasp the foundational or background tenets of what I'm trying to learn, I can comprehend the concept presented more accurately and retain this knowledge better.

For instance, as I was studying the General, I had a difficult time understand resistance and reactance, and how they played a role in the total impedance of something. All the resources at hand provided some basic tenets of resistance and reactance that I could have easily memorized for test taking purposes, but I needed more. I googled and found a great website (http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/imped.htm) that explained impedance, resistance, and reactance along with capacitance and inductance, which makes up reactance. This site really enhanced my understanding and allowed me to see the various inter-plays of these measurements. I suspect this will be important for me as I start experimenting with antennas.

Go Deep - At least for me Ham Radio is not only about getting on the air but learning the various fundamental concepts, so taking a detour from my exam studies to enhance my learning is not time wasted. On the contrary, I think it will pay dividends later down the road. Whether it's golf, photography, videography, or ham radio, I've noticed that having a deeper understanding of the fundamentals allows you to perform better or have a much richer experience. My two cents...

Practice Exams - Try to take practice exams periodically. You need to become accustomed to how the questions are typically structured as well as tricks they put into the exams to trip you up. Unlike other standardized tests, here's the good news about the ham radio exams. The questions for the exam are from a question pool that is available to anyone. In addition, the wording of the questions and answer are verbatim to what's freely available for you to review. Therefore, the more tests you take, the more likely you'll memorize the questions.

I wouldn't recommend you just take tests and try to memorize the questions, though. I think it will lead to greater frustration and honestly you won't be learning much. Remember that the each of the license exams are designed to confirm you have a core set of knowledge to operate effectively and safely in the band privileges provided. As a Tech, if you don't know proper RFI levels or how to measure them, you'll probably end up a dead tech let alone an ignorant one (especially on the higher frequencies where the microwaves can be harmful). Remember, Ham Radio requires you to have greater knowledge than a layman. That's why you need a license to operation, so you don't do something stupid.

Good luck on your studies. If it gives you some fire in your belly, I once heard that a 9 year old girl got her general class license. Dang, it took me several tries studying across 6 years on and off to get my general. It can be done. Hang in there.

-73 de KB3LLE

Purchasing Used Ham Equipment

2010-08-25T01:08:00.001-04:00

With all of my hobbies, rarely have I had to purchase items new. Don't know what it is. Maybe I'm frugal, or I appreciate things that are slightly worn...naw...that's romanticism...I'm just cheap, so buying ham radio equipment used is no different than my other hobbies. But buying stuff used in the ham radio community is slightly different....
Typically with hobbies, the first place I go to for purchasing my toys is eBay. Yes, eBay, FleaBay, etc. Love it or hate it, as a consumer, it's the best place to find stuff--particularly obscure stuff. I'm not saying that my hobbies were really strange or off the wall, but how many mall stores do you know that carry an MFJ-941e antenna tuner; Leicavit rapid winder; or a Z-Frame grip for an AGD Automag?

So my first inclination as I was searching for ham radio goods was eBay. However, the more I start understanding this hobby, the more I realize that there's a community of hams that sell to each other--swap meets, forums, ham fests. It can be a bit more risky (i.e. no PayPal buyer protection; poor seller descriptions; some of the worst photos or none at all, etc), but the deals are much better.

Here's a recent example. I recently purchased an FT-857d as my first rig and just sold it (explain in another post). Originally, I had posted it on QRZ for $625 shipped and it included the LDG FT-Meter. I had no bites on the forum for a week, so I posted it on eBay. I ended up selling the LDG for $660 shipped and the FT-Meter for $45 shipped. From the buyer's perspective, it cost them $705 on eBay, but they could have purchased it from me for $625 (saving $75) through the forums.

Was the eBay buyer protection worth the $75 premium? I don't know....You can purchase a new 857d online for $775, FT-Meter $50, and get free shipping for a total of $825. I don't mind paying a $120 premium to know that I get a 1 year manufacturers warranty and have complete peace of mind that if there was an issue, Yaesu fixes it. Granted, I'm a fairly upstanding guy, so I completely tested the unit and was very forward that it was unmodified and the only warts this radio had were some small aesthetic scratches on the side. Nonetheless, I can't say that it's that great of a deal.

How did I fair? About the same. Had I sold it via QRZ, my shipped cost was around $25, so my net would have been $600. Typically with eBay, expect to get back 84% of the final value plus shipping (it's not the eBay sellers once knew). Basically, you are factoring that 16% of your final value will be eBay fees, PayPal fees and shipping fees (unless you charge exorbitant shipping fees). In the end, my take home from all of this was $601. I bought this radio used for $625, so I lost $24. I consider that loss a rental fee for trying out the radio. I've spent a lot more on more stupid things (darn those stupid As Seen on TV gadgets).

The deals on forums and Craigslist are pretty amazing. Just saw an IC-765 with SM-8 mic for $500 on my local Craigslist. You don't need a power supply or antenna tuner, since it's built in. And I've read that the IC-765 has one of the best receivers and comes stock with a lot of good filters. These rigs have been sold for around $700 and the mic alone goes for about $50 to $70 used. $500 sounds like a steal for a first rig...and a very nice first rig at that.

Ham Radio can be a pretty expensive hobby. I've got a laundry list of things I want for my ideal shack, and I could easily see myself spending several grand on a few rigs, coax (sheesh friggin' wires co$t so much), tuners, power supplies and antenna$. I feel as along as you do your homework on these non-eBay sites or Hamfests, you can do well. Just use some prudence and remember that if it's too good to be true, it probably is. And if the seller has very poor (or good English); has a domain listed from Nigeria; and also wants to setup an offshore account for their late dead uncle's inheritance with you as the benefactor AND the radio, just don't reply.

Next on my list of Ham Radio experiences is a Ham Fest. I hear it's like an electronic flea market. Should be fun.

-73 de KB3LLE

Why Ham Radio?

2010-08-01T01:05:00.001-04:00

I got my Technician class back in August 2004. My uncle had his tech class and told me I should get it. He wasn't much of an elmer, and I really didn't understand what the hobby was. Nonetheless, I took his advice blindly and bought a study guide at my local Rat Shack (Radio Shack) and tried that summer. Yeah, I didn't get very far.
Fast-forward 13 years later, and I was sitting on the bench at my consulting firm. "Sitting on the bench" means you're between projects and waiting for your next assignment. Given that this was during the 2001 recession, there were a lot of folks on the bench, and whereas typically one's on the bench for a week or two, one or two months was not uncommon at this time (Three months and you're probably one or two days away from getting let go.).

I still didn't know what Ham Radio was but given the free-time, I started reading up on it and found a free study guide to pass my Technician class. I spent about 4 weeks and took the exam. I was pretty stoked. I woke up early in the morning to make the 2.5 hour drive to Wilkes Barre, PA. I took the exam and passed. To celebrate, I drove from Wilkes Barre to Newcastle, DE to the nearest HRO dealer. Not only was it the nearest, it was the cheapest, since Delaware doesn't charge sales tax. As a treat for passing, I purchased a Yaesu VX-5R, and I was on the air with the local repeaters.

No Contacts To This Date...
So to this date, I've never made a single contact. Back when I purchased the Yaesu HT, I was scanning a lot of the frequencies and listening in on the repeaters. I quickly became aware that I wasn't really interested in talking on the repeaters. Local Rag Chewing just didn't appeal to me. That's when I realized I needed to get my General ticket to try HF. Six years later, and I finally got my General.

Why Still Interested?
I'm a tinkerer by nature. I love to fix, build and dabble with things. From my teen years building and customizing paintball guns to building golf clubs during my freetime, I like to do things myself. Ham Radio is a tinkerer's playground. From antennas, transceivers, and radio accessories to stinkin' coax cables, you can building virtually anything.

I'm also burnt out from my other hobby, photography. I've been doing photography, since college when I was a staff photographer for my campus. Lately, I've not had the drive to pick-up a camera or even check any of the photography forums. Sad, too, since I just acquired a new camera. For instance, I came back from an overseas wedding a few weeks back, and I took less than 10 pictures. I just didn't care.

So, I guess I'll try Ham Radio for a bit. I figure by having a blog, maybe I'm putting more skin into this hobby.

Now that I've got my General, my first goal is to get equipment. I haven't had any radio equipment since 2006. I've just acquired a Yaesu FT-857d, an MFJ-941e, and a power supply. Now I'll need to build an antenna; hopefully be on the air and make my very first contact. 73 de KB3LLE

Finally a General Amateur Radio Operator

2010-08-01T00:44:00.000-04:00

So on 6/27/2010, I finally took my general licensing exam and passed at Georgia Tech. It only took 6 years to get it. I had a small two week lull in life and decided to give this test another shot. About every other year, I'd give it another shot at trying to pass this exam. I guess this time I got lucky.

How I Passed
Actually, I took it more seriously along with more resources. I had already purchased the ARRL General Class book and had already gone through it a couple of times. For some reason, it just wasn't stickin'. N8KBR had a great nutshell version in PDF format, along with some other resources on the internet. This was a lifesaver. The way it was worded, it just started to make sense. Lessons Learned? Use as many resources as possible. I took the reviews I saw on Amazon as gospel that the ARRL book was the way for me to learn and pass. In the end, use every resource possible to pass.

When I didn't understand terms in the book or the PDFs, I started Googling or Wiki'ing. For instance, if I didn't understand ARRL's explanation of inductance, I found a college website or Wikipedia for their explanation. Like I said, I took it more seriously to study, so I put more effort into it.

Finally, I just started going through practice exams to get used to types of questions.

Why This Time?
Funny how I decided to get back into Ham Radio. I sold my only transceiver, a Yaesu VX-2r, back in 2006, so I haven't done much since. Sadly, to this date, I've never made a contact...that's for another story. Well, recently my wife and I were looking into discontinuing our cable service. We were watching less and less TV and wanted to look into getting the local channels through the air waves. Based on our location, www.antennaweb.org mentioned that we should get most of the local channels in HD through a Yagi antenna. That's when I got the ham radio bug. Why? I wanted to see if I could build my own HD antenna instead of purchasing one. The thought of building an antenna started getting me thinking about Ham Radio, and here I am now with a General Ticket. More to come...