(slightly OT) Free Ham Radio Course

With the crossbreeding of amateur (ham) radio operators and electronics professionals being something on the order of 25%, this is only slightly OT.

There is a free online ham radio course being offered and sponsored by RST Engineering at

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. It is intended to take anybody with an interest in getting a ham radio license from zero knowledge through at least enough knowledge to pass the written exam. There is no practical exam for a ham license; pass the written and you am one. The site is intended to take somebody with no prior knowledge of the subject to be ready to pass at least one class of license within 30 days.

There are no time limits. Study at your own pace; my college class is taking the exam(s) on the 26th of February, but the rest of the world can take whatever time they see fit. I will suggest that total immersion is the best way to study this subject. If you don't want to buy the study guide books from the sources that I recommend, most college and municipal libraries either have them or can get them temporarily for a small fee.

While I wrote this site specifically for my college electronics class students, with it being on the web, anybody in the USA and possessions can use the site to study for the license. There is virtually nowhere in the USA that there are not volunteer examiners within a short distance of your home. (See

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f or the location closest to you.) There is a nominal fee between zero and $15 charged by the organization that prints, mails, examines, and files the paperwork to cover their costs of doing business.

There are three classes of license:

Technician has no code and an elementary theory and regulations exam. It permits limited operation below 30 MHz., but grants all privileges from 30 MHz. on up.

General has a 5wpm code exam and a moderate theory and regulations exam. It permits almost all operation on any amateur radio band, with little tiny slices here and there reserved for the ...

Extra has a 5wpm code exam and a rather extensive theory and regulations exam. It permits all operations on any amateur radio band.

This site is brought to you by RST Engineering, written by Jim (WX6RST), and the website maintained by Gailla (KB9MII) who is also using the site to upgrade from Technician to either General or Extra. Enjoy.

Jim

Reply to
RST Engineering (jw)
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I read in alt.binaries.schematics.electronic that RST Engineering (jw) wrote (in ) about '(slightly OT) Free Ham Radio Course', on Mon, 17 Jan 2005:

You still have a 'coarse mode' requirement? In this digital age?

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Regards, John Woodgate, OOO - Own Opinions Only. 
The good news is that nothing is compulsory.
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Reply to
John Woodgate

Yup. Kind of like requiring that you show how to properly hitch up the horse to the buggy when going for your driver's license exam.

Jim

Reply to
RST Engineering (jw)

Thanks for posting this. Also, you might want to post it to sci.electronics.basics.

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Regards,
   Robert Monsen
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Reply to
Robert Monsen

That's not one of the groups that I subscribe to. If you subscribe, would you mind forwarding it for me?

Thanks,

Jim

Reply to
RST Engineering (jw)

I took care of this for you...

Tom

Reply to
Tom MacIntyre

Many thanks...

Jim

Reply to
RST Engineering (jw)

Is the site going to stay up for a while, or is the end of feb. the limit?

Reply to
Greysky

More like sitting through four years of PhDs spouting political advocacy so you can get a certificate and make the big bucks.

If you can sit there and train your brain to receive Morse Code, you're worthy of the epithet, "Radio Amateur".

Cheers! Rich

Reply to
Rich Grise

For a lifetime. Mine, not yours.

Jim

Reply to
RST Engineering (jw)

Hand-keyed CW will get through conditions that defeat anything else. It's so slow that you can use a very narrow filter, and once the receiving operator learns the idiosyncrasies of the sender's "fist", the cocktail-party effect kicks in. In a pinch, you can send with anything that generates RF; I don't know whether anyone has actually sent an SOS with an arc welder, but it would work.

Reply to
Steve Rush

I read in alt.binaries.schematics.electronic that Steve Rush wrote (in ) about '(slightly OT) Free Ham Radio Course', on Tue, 18 Jan 2005:

I agree about the robustness of CW; it just seems odd now that most hams use commercial equipment to insist on them learning a communication protocol that they will never use.

Many years ago, I suggested that since humans can easily produce what sounds like MCW Morse with no prosthetic at all, it should be used for direct communication with computers. That would mean everyone leaning Morse, and many would get quite fast!

Happens a lot in thriller novels. (;-) My experience is that most arc welder users want to send 'War and Peace' unabridged. (:-(

--
Regards, John Woodgate, OOO - Own Opinions Only. 
The good news is that nothing is compulsory.
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Reply to
John Woodgate

Has anybody said that the 'no code' technician license has been available for close to 15 years now? I you opt to take the code portion, all you must do is listen to a QSO. Questions are then asked to prove that you copied the communication.

The hardest thing I found on the test was reading the superscripts on the poor quality copies the VE's handed out. I had enough time to check every answer three times.

Reply to
Lord Garth

Wouldn't be me though...nope...not at all....certainly not once I build and install the HF start unit...yup...

That should be splatterific, no? ;-)

Tim

-- "I've got more trophies than Wayne Gretsky and the Pope combined!" - Homer Simpson Website @

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Reply to
Tim Williams

There have been a couple of times that I may have worked one on 40....

de W8CCW

I don't know whether anyone has actually sent an SOS

Reply to
John Ferrell

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