I first received my technician license in November of 2019 after rekindling my desire to learn more about radio. I used the ARRL Technician study guide and hamstudy.org to study for the test and ended up acing it.
As I reflect back upon this year I realize that I have come along further than I thought I would have. Living in the age of a global pandemic isn’t ideal, especially when KF0BTJ and I just want to go play radios. Alas, we’re well out of simplex range and HF is just a dream at this point.
I have an HF rig – a Yaesu FT-891, an MFJ diploe (80m and lower) and an MFJ automatic antenna tuner – but no place to put it yet. Part of this year has been spent building a new shack from scratch in an area of the basement that used to be a bathroom. Once done, I’ll set up shop in there.
KF0BTJ and I have done a few really cool things: We’ve listened to space, fudged our way through learning digital/DMR stuff, and are consistently checking range/performance on all sorts of antennas and power settings, analog vs. digital, etc. It’s been a fun year, but the reality of the pandemic is that I can’t just mosey on over to Iowa whenever I want to and experiment with the technology. Not yet.
I am looking forward to getting the HF rig up and running. Along with that is the requisite upgrade to general. I’m studying for it now but finding an exam center might be a challenge. I also really want to learn DMR inside and out, especially the details of talk groups and stuff like that.
I’m also planning on getting a roof-mounted dual-band antenna up at some point next spring or summer. I have the Ed Fong dual-bander I use in the field but it’s also easily mounted temporarily in some U-bolts along the deck.
The next year looks promising – I can’t wait to keep learning more stuff about this fascinating hobby.