How do you get started in ham radio?

Your best bet would be to find a local club. They frequently offer classes to help people get their license. It isn't too difficult to get a license, you take a written test. There is lots to learn. When you study for the test, you will learn what frequencies you are authorized to use with which class of license.

Another advantage to getting involved with a local club is there will be plenty of people to mentor you or be "Elmer's" as they ae referred to.

Check http://www.arrl.org/ to find a local club, or check your newspaper.

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To learn on your own, start by getting "The ARRL Ham Radio License Manual" I got mine from Amazon.com. This will teach you everything you need to know to get your technician class amateur radio (ham) license. There are three US Amateur Radio licenses; Technician, General and Amateur Extra. The Tech license gives you all amateur privileges 50 MHz and up as well as some Morse code privileges in some HF (high frequency) sub-bands. General gives you a lot more privileges in the HF bands. Amateur Extra gives you all amateur privileges.

The manual will give you a good orientation on ham radio. It will cover basic electronic and radio theory, operating procedures, regulations, antennas and safety. When you know your stuff, you're ready to take the 35 multiple choice exam given by volunteer examiners (also hams) in your area.

Everybody shares frequencies. No one is assigned one, but hams tend to "hang out" on a frequency or monitor a local repeater. Each band has a calling frequency hams can monitor too. Don't just listen in, you are encouraged to jump in!

The license manual isn't the only resource. The ARRL (Amateur Radio Relay League) publishes a number of books on ham radio. The Amateur Radio Handbook is a popular (and big) one. I learned my electronics through that way back when. You can join a ham club near you. Many will have training sessions to get you ready.

What can you do with ham radio? You can talk to other hams using hand-held, mobile or base radio on VHF or UHF frequencies. You can make your own radios and experiment, maybe experiment with SHF (microwave) radios. Some hams bounce signals off the moon in order to talk to other stations. Hams have satellites they use. Some astronauts in the International Space Station are hams. Ground-based hams will talk to them. Using HF, you can talk with hams around the world the same way it's been done since the beginning. Some hams has low-power (5 watts or so) HF gear they put in a backpack, go out in the middle of no-where and make world wide contact. Ham communicate by a variety of digital modes and even have TV stations.

Hams are a very social group. They have ham clubs you can join. Emergency services is a big thing in ham radio. Hams will have field days where they test their gear under emergency conditions over a weekend outing. Hams can provide invaluable communications to a community during a natural disaster.

If you are still in school - sometimes they have a club there - otherwise google "ham radio" to see if there are any local clubs in your area - then you have to take a test to get a license - simple test - the do's and dont's of what ou can do - anyone who has a receiver can listen in - depending on your equipment - you can contact local people or all over the world - good luck and have fun

ham radio is a fun hobby and a rewarding service.

To get started, I would suggest that you contact the ARRL.ORG, there are programs to help people to get into the hobby.

No, all frequencies are shared. There are a couple places to listen to hams. VHF repeaters, UHF repeaters and HF networks. A huge network that draws hams from around the world is on 14.300MHz, an HF 20 meter frequency. This is a net that commonly handles maritime emergencies - sinking boats. Also during hurricane season, listen to the hurricane net just up the band.

On VHF, there are repeater stations. These are receivers and transmitters that are on tall buildings, radio transmitting towers, water towers, that allow weak mobiles to communicate over a wide area.

Ham radio is one huge "party line".

I routinely communicate around the world from my car using less than 100 watts on HF (3 to 30 MHz) or around the state on VHF and UHF.

Ham radio is very diverse. Any mode of operation, any band, from just above the AM broadcast band (160 meters) to microwave frequencies, satellite communications, point to point, networks, digital, voice, Amateur TV, many technological advances have been traced back to ham radio.

Since ham radio is allowed such bandwidth, the ability to work on your own radios, make modifications as desired, communicate with people outside a confined group, the International Telecommunications Union, ITU, requires that the users demonstrate that they are capable of not causing interference to other services. The FCC is a member of the ITU. You take a test and are granted a license.

The FCC has three license classes, Technician, an entry level, VHF/UHF only. the General, a moderate level, VHF/UHF and limited HF - but on the most popular frequencies, and then the Amateur Extra class. The Extra class it the top license, all HF, VHF, UHF bands as well as a coveted callsign group, the 1x2 or 2x1 (letters, number, letters). My call is a 1 by 2 - I do not publish my call in this forum.

To get your feet wet, listen on your scanner to the 2 meter band, 145 to 147MHz are the repeater outputs.

Find a local club, attend a meeting. ALL CLUBS are friendly (well, except maybe in Southern California is the exception -- editorial comment!). Visit www.eham.net and ask questions. You will hear about www.qrz.com but the owner is a ego maniac, without a call you are not welcome.

We look forward to hearing you on the air.

73 BobB