Your Virtual Elmer
Trying to make a ham radio contact on HF means you might talk with someone in your neighborhood followed by someone half way around the world. Both kinds of contacts have a lot in common and before you earn DXCC or Worked All States you need your first! Jim goes through the basics in this video.
Related Videos
It was great to find this question from KD9SNP that was right up our alley. Some good responses on Reddit but Jim can expand on the basics of grid squares.
Links Mentioned:
Grid Square Locator: https://levinecentral.com/ham/grid_square.php
No amount of reading or prep will help if you never get active in the hobby. There are so many different ways to get started it might be overwhelming, but pick one and get started!
When people think of ham radio and public service they are usually focused on the great work hams do in times of crisis like storm spotting. But, hams enable a whole bunch of community groups to do so many events.
Bonus Links
ARRL Public Service Site
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.
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.
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)