{"id":264,"date":"2017-12-09T23:04:32","date_gmt":"2017-12-10T07:04:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/?p=264"},"modified":"2017-12-10T11:21:24","modified_gmt":"2017-12-10T19:21:24","slug":"passed-the-amateur-extra-exam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/2017\/12\/passed-the-amateur-extra-exam\/","title":{"rendered":"Passed the Amateur Extra exam"},"content":{"rendered":"

It took a while of studying, and a HamCram<\/a> at the end, but I got my Extra class ticket this afternoon with W6SF Stockton Delta Amateur Radio Club<\/a>. I missed one out of the 50-question exam<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
I highly recommend taking your amateur license exam with SDARC. They don’t follow all those outdated 1980’s ways of doing ham things (i.e. physically mailing a big stack of paper to the VEC), but file with the VEC\/FCC electronically. The VE assures me I’ll see the FCC database update in 3 days; instead of weeks with other examiners.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This is the last level of amateur radio licensing. Now I have no excuses… I need to just focus on actual radio practice and experimenting with all the different things that have opened up at this level.<\/p>\n

I will have the ARRL Band Plan<\/a> on hand at all times till I memorize it, and can now pretty much transmit on all available FCC amateur bands without worrying if I’m in the wrong operator allocation.<\/p>\n

N6KZW Paul was there, not in a VE role, but helping out. He asked me, “What are you going to do in ham radio?” I said, “Just get out there and reach people.” I actually don’t know what I want to do next… There’s still so much to learn, and to\u00a0even get working<\/em> (e.g. my HF antenna mounting, digital, learn CW…). What will I do in ham radio? My problem is I want to do it all, with never the time or finances to follow each path in depth. This constraint drives selectiveness and getting creative.<\/p>\n

This was a huge rush for me, and I’d personally like to thank W6SXA Mark for study tips earlier this month; NZ6Q John for leading the HamCram and the Club (he’s got ideas and is moving the whole ham community!); K6AAN Mike for being a VE and reigniting some interest in homebrew DMR repeaters,\u00a0N6KZW Paul for always being a warm helpful jokester, N6TCE Bob and\u00a0N6ZDH Dan for doing a bunch of legwork and setup for the exam.<\/p>\n

Now to get on the air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It took a while of studying, and a HamCram at the end, but I got my Extra class ticket this afternoon with W6SF Stockton Delta Amateur Radio Club. I missed one out of the 50-question exam. This is the last level of amateur radio licensing. Now I have no excuses… I need to just focus on actual radio practice and experimenting with all the different things that have opened up at this level. I will have the ARRL Band Plan on hand at all times till I memorize it, and can now pretty much transmit on all available FCC amateur bands without worrying if I’m in the wrong operator allocation.… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12],"tags":[21,18,20,17,34,19,22],"class_list":["post-264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-radio-club","tag-arrl","tag-club","tag-elmer","tag-exams","tag-fcc","tag-learning","tag-vec"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9naFX-4g","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":129,"url":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/2017\/11\/got-my-general\/","url_meta":{"origin":264,"position":0},"title":"Got my General!","author":"kf6ujs","date":"November 4, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Passed the General License exam this morning in Granite Bay, California. I'd been studying for about a month. But last night I thought to cram for it since there was an available exam going on in the morning about 50 miles north of me. I went through the whole General\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Radio Club"","block_context":{"text":"Radio Club","link":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/category\/radio-club\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"General CSCE","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/GeneralPassCSCE-300x197.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/GeneralPassCSCE-300x197.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/GeneralPassCSCE-300x197.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/GeneralPassCSCE-300x197.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":217,"url":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/2017\/11\/we-want-to-put-up-our-antennas\/","url_meta":{"origin":264,"position":1},"title":"We want to put up our antennas!","author":"kf6ujs","date":"November 15, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Senator Diane Feinstein wrote (or her auto responder wrote) me back: Dear Dennis: Thank you for writing to express your support for the \u201cAmateur Radio Parity Act.\u201d I appreciate hearing from you, and welcome the opportunity to respond. As you may know, current Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules require local\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Antennas"","block_context":{"text":"Antennas","link":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/category\/antennas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":371,"url":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/2018\/02\/sdarc-meeting-2-8-history-of-phonetics\/","url_meta":{"origin":264,"position":2},"title":"SDARC Meeting 2\/8: History of Phonetics","author":"AD6DM","date":"February 8, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"We had our monthly meeting for the Stockton Delta Amateur Radio Club on February 8, 2018 at 7:30pm. After usual club announcement and business, we were treated to a presentation by Jim\u00a0WB6BET of the Lodi Amateur Radio Club (LARC): The History of Phonetics. Jim went on to describe DX phonetics.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Elmer"","block_context":{"text":"Elmer","link":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/category\/elmer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/IMG_7987-1-1024x768.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/IMG_7987-1-1024x768.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/IMG_7987-1-1024x768.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/IMG_7987-1-1024x768.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1187,"url":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/2021\/09\/amateur-radio-texting-using-aprs\/","url_meta":{"origin":264,"position":3},"title":"Amateur Radio Texting Using APRS","author":"AD6DM","date":"September 19, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Experienced hams have been talking about using APRS messages for SMS texting to friends and family for a few years now. I was mildly interested but found messaging tedious on a handheld transceiver, as well as the brief privacy implications of APRS SMS registration a barrier to entry. However, when\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Digital"","block_context":{"text":"Digital","link":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/category\/digital\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Regedits for VARA FM COM ports","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Screenshot-2021-09-07-123043.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Screenshot-2021-09-07-123043.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Screenshot-2021-09-07-123043.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Screenshot-2021-09-07-123043.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":185,"url":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/2017\/11\/sdarc-meeting-119\/","url_meta":{"origin":264,"position":4},"title":"SDARC Meeting 11\/9","author":"kf6ujs","date":"November 9, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Met with the club members of Stockton Delta Amateur Radio Club (SDARC) this evening at a classroom in the Bear Creek Community Church. The club elected (or re-elected, rather) the club board for 2018, and discussed upcoming club events. Then W6SXA Mark gave a presentation and demo of the\u00a0Rigexpert AA-600\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Antennas"","block_context":{"text":"Antennas","link":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/category\/antennas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/IMG_9911-651x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/IMG_9911-651x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/IMG_9911-651x1024.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":295,"url":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/2017\/12\/new-callsign-ad6dm\/","url_meta":{"origin":264,"position":5},"title":"New Callsign: AD6DM","author":"AD6DM","date":"December 29, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The FCC has granted my request for new vanity callsign: AD6DM Why the new callsign? I wanted something easier to transmit in Morse code. But also, the initials make it a true \"vanity\" callsign. Truth be told, I applied for a 2x1 callsign and AD6DM was my second choice. But\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"FCC\"","block_context":{"text":"FCC","link":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/tag\/fcc\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Single-level paddle","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/IMG_0786_2-300x248.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=264"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":278,"href":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264\/revisions\/278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ad6dm.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}