Doug in Illinois
Member
Many years ago I had CB radios before they became a fad. First ones were Johnson tube types, 3 channel crystal controlled. Channels 10, 12, and 14. Call sign was KWA7191. That would have been late 60's.
When the fad hit I enjoyed it except for the idiots who had nothing to say. I went to sideband to be able to talk to who I had to, including the radios in our trucks and sprayers back at the grain elevator. Sideband would at least double your range anyhow.
That is in the past. CB is dead except for the occasional trucker that still has one.
Now, to get to the point: I don't talk much on a radio anymore, but would like to be able to in an emergency (like happened in Joplin). I already have the ARRL Ham Radio License Manual, and am NOT going to cheat by just learning all the answers to the test.
My concern is, how many of the test questions are directly related to the metric units? I know all are indirectly, and we can bring a calculator to the test but none of my calculators will handle stuff as small as the Pico unit, which is 10 to the -12th power or on the other end Tera which is 10 to the +12th power.
Wish I would have been brought up on the metric system. It is a little hard for this old dog to get his arms around it.
I would just be running a 2 meter or dual band handheld from in the car, with a magnet mount antenna. Probably a 5 or 7 watt high power unit with 1 or 2 watt low power similar to a ICOM 92AD or similar. Might get once of the dirt cheap "off breed" radios for a starter unit.
Just wondered how tough the test really is. DOUG
When the fad hit I enjoyed it except for the idiots who had nothing to say. I went to sideband to be able to talk to who I had to, including the radios in our trucks and sprayers back at the grain elevator. Sideband would at least double your range anyhow.
That is in the past. CB is dead except for the occasional trucker that still has one.
Now, to get to the point: I don't talk much on a radio anymore, but would like to be able to in an emergency (like happened in Joplin). I already have the ARRL Ham Radio License Manual, and am NOT going to cheat by just learning all the answers to the test.
My concern is, how many of the test questions are directly related to the metric units? I know all are indirectly, and we can bring a calculator to the test but none of my calculators will handle stuff as small as the Pico unit, which is 10 to the -12th power or on the other end Tera which is 10 to the +12th power.
Wish I would have been brought up on the metric system. It is a little hard for this old dog to get his arms around it.
I would just be running a 2 meter or dual band handheld from in the car, with a magnet mount antenna. Probably a 5 or 7 watt high power unit with 1 or 2 watt low power similar to a ICOM 92AD or similar. Might get once of the dirt cheap "off breed" radios for a starter unit.
Just wondered how tough the test really is. DOUG