One of the early decisions you will make in ham radio is “Which radio should I start with?” While Jim – N4BFR won’t tell you exactly the one to pick, he will give you the things to think about when making your choice.
Author: Jim N4BFR
The Basics of Ham Radio Clubs and Social Media Groups [HTL-6]
Ham Radio is a social hobby, and the benefits of clubs and social media lets you have many many resources to learn and explore parts of the hobby.
Bonus Links
Metro Atlanta Club listing at AtlantaHams.com
ARRL Club Finder
Reddit r/amateurradio Reddit r/HamRadio
The Basics of Repeater Setup for your Radio [HTL-5]
Getting your radio communicating through a repeater, no matter if it’s a handheld or mobile, means knowing 3 key things to make it work. Jim, N4BFR, reviews the basics.
Bonus Links
RepeaterBook.com is a good place to search for local repeaters with their tones and offsets.
The Basics of Ham Speak [HTL-4]
Every hobby seems to have it’s quirky language you want to know, like horsepower for cars or treble stitch for crochet or AMOE if you are a sweepstaker. Amateur Radio is no exception and many of these date back to morse code days. In this video, Jim takes you through a few of the ones you will encounter.
Extra Reading
ARRL Ham Radio Glossary, ICOM Ham Radio Terms (PDF)
The Basics of Keeping a Log [HTL-3]
If you do any ham radio activities via HF (High Frequency) or Satellite, you are probably going to want to have a record of who you talked with and when. A log is just the thing to do that.
The paper log example can be found at: https://hamwaves.com/
The Basics of QSL Cards [HTL-2]
QSL cards have been long associated with HF but you’ll find them popular among satellite users and other groups where you want to confirm contacts. Jim takes a look at the key things you’ll find on a QSL card.
For more info on QSL Cards try this Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QSL_card
I have been happy with cards from https://www.kb3ifhqslcards.com/
The Basics of Power Poles [HTL-1]
Anderson Power Poles are now widely used to connect radios to batteries and power supplies. Watch the video for the basics on getting started with Power Poles.
More Info
For a spec sheet on Anderson Power Poles visit: https://www.andersonpower.com/us/en/resources/PowerPoleResourcesPage.html