Just Starting out

[Foggy]

I was so glad to see this forum open. I'm studying for my lincences(as long as I don't have to spell it),and going to start out with a 2meter set up. 
As for just listening I have a decent reciever and was wonder if anyone has some good frequencies (station) on short wavt to listen to

Thanks
Foggy

[ButlerFord45]

FREQ         Time       Station      Country    Days    Xmtr Loc        Power (kW)
3255.00 1600-2200 BBC Worldservice United Kingdom 1234567 Meyerton 100
3345.00 1900-2200 Channel Africa South Africa 1234567 Meyerton 100
3915.00 2100-2200 BBC Worldservice United Kingdom 1234567 Kranji (Merlin) 100
4965.00 1500-0600 Christian Voice Zambia 1234567 Lusaka 100
5920.00 0000-2359 Grace Missionary Baptist Church, Inc. United States 1234567 Newport 50
5960.00 2000-2200 Radio & TV of the Peoples Republic of China Albania 1234567 Cerrik 150
5965.00 2100-2359 BBC Worldservice United Kingdom 1234567 Nakhon Sawan 250
6005.00 2100-2200 BBC Worldservice United Kingdom 1234567 Mahe, Seychelles 250
6020.00 2000-2200 Radio & TV of the Peoples Republic of China China 1234567 Urumqi 500
6025.00 2100-2130 Radio Budapest Hungary 1234567 Jaszbereny 100
6045.00 2100-2200 Family Stations, Inc. United States 1234567 Meyerton 250
6055.00 2100-2200 Nippon Hoso Kyokai Japan 1234567 Skelton 300
6080.00 2000-2300 Radio & TV of the Peoples Republic of China China 1234567 Geermu 100
6180.00 2100-2200 Nippon Hoso Kyokai Japan 1234567 Skelton 300
6190.00 1600-2200 BBC Worldservice United Kingdom 1234567 Meyerton 100
6195.00 2100-2200 BBC Worldservice United Kingdom 1234567 Nakhon Sawan 250
6195.00 2100-1700 Radio Russia Russia 1234567 Irkutsk 50
7105.00 2100-2200 International Broadcasting Bureau United States 1234567 Tinian Islands 250
7170.00 2030-2130 Turkish Radio-TV Corp Turkey 1234567 Emirler 500
7190.00 2000-2200 Radio & TV of the Peoples Republic of China China 1234567 Kashi 500
7235.00 2000-2200 Radio & TV of the Peoples Republic of China Albania 1234567 Cerrik 150
7240.00 2000-0300 Radio & TV of the Peoples Republic of China China 1234567 Lhasa 100
7280.00 1900-2200 Radio Byelirussia Belarus 1234567 Minsk 75
7285.00 2000-2200 Radio & TV of the Peoples Republic of China Albania 1234567 Cerrik 150
7290.00 2100-2300 Radio & TV of the Peoples Republic of China China 1234567 Xian 500
7360.00 2100-2359 Radio & TV of the Peoples Republic of China China 1234567 Xian 100
7360.00 2000-2200 Family Stations, Inc. Moldava 1234567 Kichinev 500
7490.00 0900-2200 Word Broadcasting Network, Inc. United States 1234567 Millerstown, KY 50
7490.00 2100-2200 LeSea Broadcasting Corporation United States 1234567 Furman, SC 100
7555.00 2030-2359 International Broadcasting Bureau Kuwait 1234567 Kuwait 250
9525.00 2100-2130 Radio Budapest Hungary 1234567 Jaszbereny 250
9570.00 2000-2200 Radio Exterior de Espana Spain 17 Noblejas 250
9570.00 2100-0100 Radio & TV of the Peoples Republic of China China 1234567 Beijing 100
9600.00 2000-2200 Radio & TV of the Peoples Republic of China China 1234567 Kashi 500
9660.00 2100-2200 Radio Nederland Wereldomroep Netherlands 1234567 Flevo 500
9725.00 0000-2359 Caribbean Beacon Costa Rica 1234567 Cahuita, Costa Rica 50
9840.00 2100-2300 Radio Exterior de Espana Spain 1234567 Noblejas 250
9890.00 2000-2300 Radio & TV of the Peoples Republic of China China 1234567 Lingshi 100
9975.00 1900-2200 WNQM, Inc. United States 1234567 Nashville, TN 100
11640.00 2000-2130 Radio & TV of the Peoples Republic of China Mali 1234567 Bamako 100
11675.00 2100-2200 BBC Worldservice United Kingdom 1234567 Greenville, NC 250
11765.00 2100-2130 Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting Iran (Islamic Rep. of) 1234567 Sirjan 500
11815.00 1000-2300 Radio Exterior de Espana Spain 1234567 Cariari 100
11855.00 2100-2200 Nippon Hoso Kyokai Japan 1234567 Ascension 250
11865.00 2100-2200 Deutsche Welle Rwanda 1234567 Kigali 250
11870.00 1200-2359 Caribbean Beacon Costa Rica 1234567 Cahuita, Costa Rica 40
11875.00 2115-2315 Family Stations, Inc. United States 1234567 Ascension 250
11945.00 2100-0030 BBC Worldservice United Kingdom 1234567 Tokyo Yamata 300
11955.00 2100-2130 Adventist World Radio Austria 1234567 Moosbrunn 300
11965.00 2100-2200 Radio Romania International Romania 1234567 Galbeni 250
12080.00 2100-2130 International Broadcasting Bureau Botswana 23456 Moepeng Hill 100
12095.00 2100-2300 BBC Worldservice United Kingdom 1234567 Rampisham 500
13845.00 1200-0100 WNQM, Inc. United States 1234567 Nashville, TN 100
13845.00 1200-0200 WNQM, Inc. United States 1234567 Nashville, TN 100
15195.00 2000-2200 Family Stations, Inc. United States 1234567 Ascension 250
15205.00 2100-2157 Deutsche Welle Rwanda 1234567 Kigali 250
15220.00 2000-2200 Eternal Word Television Network, Inc. United States 1234567 Vandiver, AL 500
15400.00 1800-2200 Voice of Greece Greece 1234567 Greenville, NC 250
15400.00 1500-2300 BBC Worldservice United Kingdom 1234567 Ascension 250
15445.00 1900-2300 Radiodifusao Portuguesa, SA Portugal 23456 Lisbon-Sao Gabriel 300
15580.00 2100-2200 International Broadcasting Bureau Morocco 1234567 Morocco 250
17795.00 1700-2145 Family Stations, Inc. United States 1234567 Okeechobee, FL 100
17845.00 1900-2245 Family Stations, Inc. United States 1234567 Okeechobee, FL 100
17850.00 1500-2300 Radio Exterior de Espana Spain 1234567 Cariari 100
18980.00 1600-2145 Family Stations, Inc. United States 1234567 Okeechobee, FL 100

[ButlerFord45]

2m is a great place to start.  Great for local, repeater or more exotic ie. earth-moon-earth or satellite communications.  You may as well start by building your own antenna.
This is for a 1/4 ground plane. It works well and cost about 3 bucks to build: http://www.hamuniverse.com/2metergp.html

This is for a copper J-pole, is more durable, works really well and should go about 10-12 bucks and you'll be hard pressed to beat it for any where near the cost:
http://www.hamuniverse.com/2metercopperslimjim.html

Build them both, see which you like best.

Where are you?  I'll help you find a Ham Club nearby, you'll be able to get a lot of help there, and they'll be tickeled to death to have you there.

[phalanx]

Butler is that list the newest one ?

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ScanOnt/message/25964

[ButlerFord45]

I really doubt it, it's just one I had bookmarked and posted for a place to start.  Google "Short Wave Listening" and you can find more. You have to sift through a lot of junk but it's not hard to find

[phalanx]

I wondered about that,the list i have is dated  9/15/08 and some of those are not on this one.
Mostly those in China ,unless they have changed their name.
The one from New Zealand and Australia isnt on that one eiather ,but that doesn't always mean anything.
Some of the list i get are Hemispherical , and they are difficult to pick up without a skip.

[ButlerFord45]

go here: http://hfradio.org/english/  and hit the refresh button on the page.  Open another window and go here: http://www.chilton.com/scripts/radio/R8-receiver   pick a frequency and give it a try you only get a few seconds worth but hey, it's cheap.  Remember that you don't have a knob to turn to adjust the station!

[mauser98us]

Foggy I think they still publish the World Radio and TV handbook. Look for a copy.Has all freqs and broadcast times

[FourBee]

Foggy:  I'm studying for my license

Have you got your license yet Foggy?   I'm kinda interested in getting mine.   They're going to be giving the test in Fort Smith in June.   Think I could be ready for it if I begin studying now.  

[Foggy]

Four Bee
Not yet  I kinda got side tracked but still working on it

[FourBee]

Foggy;   I can understand that.
            I went ahead and ordered the ARRL Study Manual today.

  Foggy  =  going to start out with a 2meter set up

Probably a stupid question here;  Hope you don't mind my asking, but briefly ~ What did you base your decision on to go with the 2 Meters ?

[Foggy]

Four Bee
A GBO friend is into meters basicly so we could talk we e-mailed traded back and forth but never talked. and having a ham lincence .
Foggy

[FourBee]

Gotcha Foggy.  Sounds like a winner to me.
     I've been doing some searching on that today, and found that the first license is that of  " Technician ".,  which, as far as I can tell, is limited to transmitting above 50 MHz.   Meaning we can only use the 6 meter and 2 meter bands.   I'm not sure about the higher UHF Ham bands.

p.s.  Man those tabletop transmitters are high$$$.

[Foggy]

Four Bee I fixin to join the local HAM club hrere and that should open up alot of access to used equip. I going to use m a moblie with a power supply and of course a mobile in the van  and matbe a handheld later on. but search for your local Ham Club

Foggy

[phalanx]

A lot of the table top transceivers are showing up on Ebay fairly cheap guys.
I like the 2 and the 6 meter bands ,its where most the hams are at now days if you just want to chew the fat.

[FourBee]

Hey Phalanx;  I'll look on ebay, but I've gotta tell ya I'm a little leery about buying thru it.   Guess I've watched to many episodes of 'Judge Judy'  
What I have in mind, is getting a new 2 meter mobile unit and set it up as a base.  Will that work?

Foggy; you mentioned Ham Club ~ well I did a little search, and sure enough, Ft. Smith has one and their meeting was at 7:p.m. tonight .   Made my way over there for a visit.  

They had about 50 turn out for the meeting.    I was surprised to see 5 or 6 women among them, other than my wife.   The speaker was one of 3 men who had won 2nd place in world Ham competition this past February.   Didn't know much of what he was saying, but the slide show presentation of Suriname, SouthAmerica where they broadcast from was interesting.    

Anyway some of them are eager for me to get my license and start calling.    They've already got an opening in my area for their 'Weather Net', and hope I can fill it for them.    

Oh; yeah; I meant to ask you.....   Do you know about the FCC Registration Number  we have to obtain when ((or before)) we can get our License?    I read that today on the Ham Club bulletin.  So I clicked onto the url... and registered with the FCC.  

4B

[ozarkhillbilly49]

 hi fourbee, i was just at the fort smith hanging judge hamfest a couple of weeks ago. they all seem to be a great bunch of folks. i'm sure you can get all the help(elemering) you will need to get started. the tech license gives all bands 50 mcs. and above, full qro power. there are several ham equipment stores online. let me know if want some web addys for them. i will pm them to you.i am using a yeasu ft- 2800m with a 5 dollar yardsale power supply that i put new filters in.(had'em in the junkbox and parts is parts!). for a first 2 meter rig the 2800m is a real peach.they go for 125-135 dollars new.if i can help you out let me know. travis. 73's aa5ez.

[FourBee]

they all seem to be a great bunch of folks.

Hey ozarkhillbilly49 ;  Yeah, that's for sure.  I was pretty much overwhelmed with their friendliness and voluntary willingness to help me get setup.  

I'm about halfway thru a Technicians Class Study Course I downloaded, been studying it all day.   Haven't had time to look at the Pics of several 2 meter Units I've downloaded.   The Yaesu is one of them too.  

Think I'm going to have to sit back and take a breath.  Too much going on too fast.   I was up till 1:30 a. m. making up a folder of what's and how to's.  
4B

[ozarkhillbilly49]

have some supper and keep reading 4b!!!

[ozarkhillbilly49]

forgot to mention it to 4b but thier is a local hamfest this weekend up here in benton county. it is saturday the 25th. it is the state arrl convention this year,it is being put on by bcro(benton county radio operateors). you can test up here if you are up to it.don't forget to take a few pratice exams online. several sites have practice exams. they are a good way to check progress. 73's

[FourBee]

you can test up here if you are up to it.

Thanks for the invite ozark,  but it'd be a little too risky right now.      I checked on the status of my ARRL Manual this afternoon, and it was still sittin in Kentucky.       It is  claimed that after studying that book one can pass the exam with a 100% score.   Did someone here say 74% is all that's required?

[Foggy]

Well I finally got the study books i needed. a GBO member and Friend sent them to me. His name is Bob Mcmahon (Bub524) K9RCM are his call letters. Any one with a set give him a shout  is on 2 & 6 meters. He's gravly ill now with serious Heart trouble. we been GBO and e-mail friends since I signed up here. He knew I was having some issuses on getting the books i needed and he up and sent them to me,, What a guy, with all that was going on in his world he thought of me.. please see if you can contact him  it won't be long now till I can

Foggy

[FourBee]

Hey Foggy:
                Glad to hear from you again.  ozarkhillbilly49 was asking about you on another post.   Sad to hear about (Bub524).  I had to stop and say a prayer for him even though I don't know him.  Sounds like a great guy.  

                After you're through studying and want to get your brain smokin', go to QRZ.com.  They have 100 sample exams of 35 questions per exam.

                 When I got about half way thru all those tests, I realized there are a few questions that are similar and can trick you up.   So I went back to the study manual (ARRL) and worked out all my kinks.   I'm ready now, but I'll keep looking over the manual and re-testing until the EXAM DAY.

                 I'm putting together my little base 2 meter verticle antenna now.    Got about 25' of old TV poles spliced together.  So think I have plenty of height.   The fun part of matching it all together will be next. Probably best to wait until I get my license for that part.

[Foggy]

Four Bee
I been playing with that web site for 8 months or so I finally pased one of ther  tests  but now that i got the books It's for keeps ..

Thanks for the Prayers for Bob
Foggy

[Lead pot]

It's good to join your local Amateur Radio Club.
They might have classes to get you on the air. It always works best that way and you will learn the theory and code faster.
I used to teach the code in those classes and I used to get many people thanking me saying I tried to learn the code for quite some time and just could not get to 5 wpm.
But I guess code is not a requirement any more. That is really a shame I think a lot was lost not doing that.
I worked with my Wife and Daughter and they past on the first try and got there Tech + my Daughter just turned 9 that made me proud as a peacock to see her get that ticket.
Hang in there even if you dont get it the first time you will get the idea what to study for on your next test.

[FourBee]

Posted by: Lead pot   ~  I used to teach the code in those classes and I used to get many people thanking me saying I tried to learn the code for quite some time and just could not get to 5 wpm.

I like Morse Code:
Back in the early 70's before Computers and the Internet, I didn't know any radio Clubs existed around here.   Tried self learning the Code.  I built a couple of Straight Key Ocellators and could send real well, but I couldn't learn to receive at all.   To make a long story short I gave up on trying for a Ham license.   Thru the Internet lately I've found some Code Study Courses, and also found a Radio Club about a 30 minute drive from here.   If the home study doesn't help, I'll ask if they have such classes.  

[Lead pot]

4 B

In the 50's I got my first ham ticket as a novice and the testing was a lot stiffer for the tech and Gen class you had to draw out a diagram for the receiver and transmitter and a lot of math figuring resistance and capacitance's and induction.
Well Chicago was the only place to upgrade and that is too close about 130 miles from me.
I had no way to get there so after two years the novice licence expired so it was till the CB bands got popular and all that 10-4 good buddy and garbage got going it was time to work on the Han ticket again.
I found a local Ham K9HYE well my code was still good for 5 wpm so I went to see him and he gave me the novice exam.
So it was time to get my 13 wpm for the Gen ticket, I didn't want to get the Tech ticket figuring that I would just camp on that and never upgrade.
I put on the head phones and tuned in to W1AW and started working on the code. Well I got up to about 10 wpm and just could not break that threshold of 13 wpm for the Gen ticket.
I finally took the xcvr up in the bead room and put the cans on my ears and started on W1AW and at times in the middle of the night my Wife would wake me up poke me in the ribs and say don't you think that it's time to turn that racket off
I said ok but continued to listen a little more and all of a sudden it said end of 18 wpm text.

I got on the radio and worked a friend over in Iowa on 15 mtrs for code practice Jack K9KUP and Clark W0BCJ would work with me both were very good cw operators and it wasn't long that I was solid at 13 wpm and I drove to Chicago with a couple other guys and I passed the gen class.
99% of my work on the bands is CW.
I have been off the Air now for more then ten years and my code speed was over 50 wpm copy but I cant type so a key board is out so my transmit speed is about 30 wpm, it gets to be another language in time.
So keep at it and it will come.

LP

[Lead pot]

By the way guys.
I got out the old 101-E a couple days ago and threw a wire up in the tree and turned that old rig on but it would not transmit.
It got a little lazy I guess so I got a dollar bill out and cleaned the relays and it fired up like it always did again.
Lot of strange calls on the air now.

[Rustyinfla]

  When I got my ticket here in Fla I was Issued KE4VBB I knew guys that had KD4 calls and I watched as KF4's came out. Just the other day I saw a guy going down the road with a tag on his car that was a KI4. Man they must still be issuing those tickets at a pretty good rate. It's a good thing, if we're not using the bandwidth I'm sure congress would sell it off.

[ozarkhillbilly49]

hi all. check you r messages leadpot. foggy it was good to hear from you. sorry to hear about bob!! i wish him all the best and a speedy recovery. keep studying guys!! if you need any study books drop me a line and i will see what i can come up with. everyone needs to get to a hamfest or 2 and pick up a arrl handbook or 2. the older ones go cheap but rf behaves the same in 2009 as it did in 1965!! an antenna handbook id also darn nice to have!! the basic principles are still the same. lots of good info those publications. 73's to all. aa5ez