NOW THAT I HAVE MY LICENSE What Now

NOW THAT I HAVE MY LICENSE What Now?

WHAT ARE YOUR INTERESTS? THE HOBBY SIDE OF HAM RADIO? PUBLIC SERVICE? TECHNICAL ASPECTS? PERSONAL/FAMILY COMMUNCATIONS?

What will your station consist of? • Will you purchase a multi mode (HF/VHF/UHF) transceiver? • Will you purchase separate transceivers for HF and U/VHF? home; mobile; HT? • Will you buy your antenna(s)? Build them? • DO YOU KNOW IF YOU HAVE DEED RESTRICTIONS?

DX’g Are you interested in working Hams from locations around the nation; around the world; outer space, or just rare locations? Are you interested in sending QSL cards to other hams and receiving their QSL cards in return? Are you interested in learning how to use electronic logs?

EXCHANGING QSL CARDS THE OLD WAY! To many hams, receiving a “hard Copy” QSL card can be both exciting and substantiate the sometimes hard work to make that rare contact. It can be a wall decoration in the shack too! Cards can be sent though the “BURO” or direct depending on the ham/location. There is both an “outgoing buro” and an “incoming buro”. ARRL membership is required to use their services.

OUTGOING QSL BURO Members--including foreign members, QSL Managers or managers for Dxpeditions and ARRL members clubs--should enclose payment as follows. For those who prefer to send an envelope with small numbers of cards: • $2 for 10 or fewer cards in one envelope, • $3 for 11 -20 cards in one envelope, or For packages with larger numbers of cards: • 80 cents per ounce, for packages with 21 or more cards. For example, a package containing 1. 5 pounds of cards -- 24 ounces, or about 225 cards -will cost $19. 20. Please see table below for additional pricing details. The minimum charge is

INCOMING QSL BURO Most countries have "outgoing" QSL bureaus that operate in much the same manner as the ARRL Outgoing QSL Service The members sends his cards to his outgoing bureau where they are packaged and shipped to the appropriate countries. A majority of the DX QSLs are shipped directly to the individual incoming bureaus where volunteers sort the incoming QSLs by the first letter of the call sign-suffix. One individual may be assigned the responsibility of handling from one or more letters of the alphabet. All incoming QSL Bureaus have email addresses. Some Bureaus have active web pages. Information for all of the US incoming QSL bureaus is listed below.

THE ARRL “LOGBOOK OF THE WORLD (ELECTRONIC LOGGING) Logbook of the World (Lo. TW) is an online service that enables you to electronically submit contacts (QSOs) for confirmation. View your submitted QSOs and resulting confirmations online. View your DXCC, VUCC, WAS, and WPX award progress online. Electronically submit confirmations for credit toward DXCC, VUCC, WAS, and WPX awards. +This means you need to use a compatible logging program to submit confirmations to the Lo. TW.

A SAMPLE OF LOGGING SOFTWARE FROM FOUND ON THE INTERNET Logging - Software: Logging - The DXZone. com 143 useful links about Log program for ham radio log books software collected in Software/Logging by The DXZone. http: //www. dxzone. com/catalog/Software/Logging/ - 74 k - Cached - Similar Pages XMLog - Amateur Radio Logbook System for Windows. http: //www. xmlog. com/ - 13 k - Cached - Similar Pages N 3 FJP's Amateur Radio Software Windows based general logging, contest-specific, and ham exam software. http: //www. n 3 fjp. com/ - 12 k - Cached - Similar Pages Ham Radio Logging Software - AC 6 V Aug 15, 2007. . . Aether - Ham radio logging for the Mac OS X. . Shortwave Log software -Shortwave Log is an electronic logbook , storing and managing logs, . . . http: //ac 6 v. com/logging. htm - 55 k - Cached - Similar Pages Logbook of the World - ARRL Logbook of The World (Lo. TW) is a tool to confirm ham radio contacts and use the. . . and radio amateurs will be able to help mark the occasion with the ARRL. . . http: //www. arrl. org/logbook-of-the-world - 33 k - Cached - Similar Pages Keeping a Log - ARRL The reasons for logging your amateur activity fall into three categories: legal, . . . Personally, a log is like a personal radio history reminding you of the people and

PUBLIC SERVICE Are you interested in helping your community in times of enjoyment or disaster?

ARE YOU INTERESTED IN COMMUNICATING WITH FAMILY OR FRIENDS TO/FROM REMOTE LOCATIONS?

BEING A HAM GEEK! Would you like to build equipment for your station? All the components you need can be found on the internet. Would a QRP kit interest you? How about a Software Defined Radio from a Dongle. (It looks like an AMAZON FIRE TV stick®) Would you like to work satellites, or the ISS?

WHERE TO PURCHASE PARTS/COMPONENTS/TOOLS • Mouser. com • Digi. Key. com • Walker Electronics ( local) • Electronic Parts (local) • Luke’s Ham Shack (local)

EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS • Could you set up an emergency station to communicate hundreds of miles without the use of a repeater; on HF?

ARRL WEBSITE Emergency Communications Online Course Catalog Review the course descriptions for information about course content and for instructions on how to enroll. • Click on the Course Title for a Full Description • You''ll find information about pre-requisites, course fee, course length, course requirements, equipment or resources you'll need, as well as a course syllabus and examples of course activities. • Introduction to Emergency Communication (EC-001)+ • Public Service and Emergency Communications Management • for Radio Amateurs (EC-016)+ • PR-101: ARRL Public Relations

Near vertical incidence skywave , or NVIS, is a skywave radio-wave propagation path that provides usable signals in the range between groundwave and conventional skywave distances—usually 30– 400 miles (50– 650 km). This system used on high frequency

IF YOU ARE UNCERTAIN WHAT YOU WANT TO DO, OR WHAT YOU NEED, ASK OTHER HAMS. GET AN ELMER, OR TWO

MOST IMPORTANT: LEARN HOW TO OPERATE ON THE AIR ON ALL BANDS. OPERATING ON UHF/VHF IS NOT THE SAME AS OPERATING ON HF LEARN AND ENJOY