[GCARC] Club membership

[Christopher Wawak]

Hey Brian! Amateur Radio is a great hobby at all levels of physical
abilities, so as your injury changes and heals, different areas of the
hobby will open up!

In addition to all the great things GCARC offers, I'd like to tell you how
I got my General upgrade. I crammed hamstudy.org! The web site is free, and
allows you to "cram" the Amateur Radio question pools from your phone,
tablet, or computer whenever you have free time. I literally took the test
over and over until I was well above passing, then took the test. If you're
someone who can study through taking practice tests, it's a super effective
way to upgrade.

You should absolutely get the General upgrade, and here's why: HF FT8
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkoQ9FD5KX8>. When I disconnect my radio
from all my antennas in a thunderstorm, I still get 40m FT8 decodes in my
basement on a short piece of coax - you can get started with a VERY modest
station, and the software itself isn't the worst in terms of accessibility.
If I was stuck on voice when I started out with my General class license, I
would have gotten frustrated very quickly. FT8 is a digital mode that lets
you make QSOs using very low received signal. Pretty snazzy!

In the meantime, may I recommend something to tide you over:
http://www.websdr.org/
WebSDR lets you tune into radio receivers covering many amateur bands. Log
on around 9pm, pick an SDR located in the USA, and tune around 7.175 MHz
and up, lower side band. You can easily listen to amateur radio operators
that way. See if you can find someone calling CQ!

Good luck and 73!
KC2IEB Chris

On Tue, Aug 9, 2022 at 3:49 PM Brian Haines <bdhrubi at gmail.com> wrote:

> I was a club member. Got my Tech. Layer in hospital for 30 days. Spent
> last year just trying to get knee working. Back is better. I can walk now
> with a walker or cane, leg weakness due to nerve damage and weaknesses.
> I have never used my radio. Lost focus. Now I like to get back to it.
> Don't know what I have to do to get back to club and getting general
> ticket.
>
> Brian Gained
> Bdhrubi at gmail.com
> KD2VDQ
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-- 
-- Chris