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I did something stupid!
Jun. 24th, 2024 05:18 pmI passed the test for my ham radio license (Technician Class) back in '93. I was working at the police department at the time, and most of the guys that I worked with were hams. There were flyers being put up for a ham meet weekend at Scottsdale Community College, and they were going to offer a weekend class to get your Technician Class license! So I signed up and bought a book.
It was easy. I was the first one to finish the test and I passed. A few weeks later I got my papers from the FCC and was officially a licensed amateur radio operator.
A license is good for ten years, and then it's just sending in paper and paying a fee to renew it.
Unless you forget.
My last renewal was due May of last year. Oops. I was trying to query the FCC database to see when I was due, but their database hasn't been working. So I jumped on the ARRL site (the Amateur Radio Relay League, arrl.org) and found myself in their copy of the FCC database. Oh, well.
As I recall, you have a one year grace period to renew, during which time you aren't allowed to operate your gear, but you don't have to re-test. Well, I'm slightly beyond that. I could have sworn that I had plugged a reminder into my calendar app, either I failed or something happened to wipe it out.
So I've got to re-test. The good part is that the test really isn't that hard, and the book isn't terribly expensive, $20-25 or so. We have a radio club in High Rolls, just above the tunnel which is the approximate mid-point going down the mountain, so I'll have to study up and go take the test again.
The good thing is that in the 30 years since I first tested, they've eliminated the Morse code requirement! You can get the Extra class (highest grade in the USA) through just testing and jump on the world bands right away without knowing it, before you had to test at various speeds, sending and receiving, depending on the class you were testing for. When I first tested, there were (IIRC) six levels: Novice, Technician, Technician Plus, General, Extra, and Advanced. Now there's just three: Technician, General, and Advanced/Extra. You still need to know Morse code to operate on certain specific frequency bands, but if that's not your thing, don't worry about it.
While the American amateur radio operators are regulated by the Federal Communications Commission, the FCC for this purpose is operating under the aegis of the ITU (International Telecommunication Union), the world body that oversees all global radio bandwidth assignments and regulations. It was an ITU regulation that required the knowledge of Morse code to access the world bands, some time in the last 20 years or so they eliminated that requirement and eventually most of the countries, if not all, removed it from their licensing requirements.
* * * * * Edit: Just found out that my preferred study book by Gordon West isn't available right now! The pool of test questions (they pull 35 questions out of a pool of X) EXPIRES AT THE END OF JUNE! So the current book is still decent, but not as good as the next book. *sigh* The ARRL book is available at $33, I'll look into ordering it tomorrow. Gordon West is an excellent instructor, I'll probably end up with both.
* * * * * Edit the Second: I just exchanged emails with Gordon West, and I was wrong about the one year grace period - it's TWO years! So my license isn't cancelled yet. Still, I'd like to upgrade it, so I'll buy a book or two and go through the testing process anyway.
It was easy. I was the first one to finish the test and I passed. A few weeks later I got my papers from the FCC and was officially a licensed amateur radio operator.
A license is good for ten years, and then it's just sending in paper and paying a fee to renew it.
Unless you forget.
My last renewal was due May of last year. Oops. I was trying to query the FCC database to see when I was due, but their database hasn't been working. So I jumped on the ARRL site (the Amateur Radio Relay League, arrl.org) and found myself in their copy of the FCC database. Oh, well.
As I recall, you have a one year grace period to renew, during which time you aren't allowed to operate your gear, but you don't have to re-test. Well, I'm slightly beyond that. I could have sworn that I had plugged a reminder into my calendar app, either I failed or something happened to wipe it out.
So I've got to re-test. The good part is that the test really isn't that hard, and the book isn't terribly expensive, $20-25 or so. We have a radio club in High Rolls, just above the tunnel which is the approximate mid-point going down the mountain, so I'll have to study up and go take the test again.
The good thing is that in the 30 years since I first tested, they've eliminated the Morse code requirement! You can get the Extra class (highest grade in the USA) through just testing and jump on the world bands right away without knowing it, before you had to test at various speeds, sending and receiving, depending on the class you were testing for. When I first tested, there were (IIRC) six levels: Novice, Technician, Technician Plus, General, Extra, and Advanced. Now there's just three: Technician, General, and Advanced/Extra. You still need to know Morse code to operate on certain specific frequency bands, but if that's not your thing, don't worry about it.
While the American amateur radio operators are regulated by the Federal Communications Commission, the FCC for this purpose is operating under the aegis of the ITU (International Telecommunication Union), the world body that oversees all global radio bandwidth assignments and regulations. It was an ITU regulation that required the knowledge of Morse code to access the world bands, some time in the last 20 years or so they eliminated that requirement and eventually most of the countries, if not all, removed it from their licensing requirements.
