The Technician license class this semester has been going very well so far. We have gone through the material for Chapters 2, 3, and most of chapter 4 corresponding to the ARRL Technician license manual. If you are interested in joining us, the rest of the classes will be in the IDEA lab in TIW (EER 1.632). Big thanks to Roger of Texas Inventionworks for making this possible!
| DATE | TIME | LOCATION | PLANNED TOPICS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday, October 14 | 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm | EER 1.632 | Antennas and radio operation |
| Monday, October 18 | 5:15 pm – 7:00 pm | EER 1.632 | Radio operation (part 2) |
| Monday, October 25 | 5:15 pm – 7:00 pm | EER 1.632 | Communicating on the air |
| Monday, November 1 | 5:15 pm – 7:00 pm | EER 1.632 | FCC regulations and safety |
In each class, we go through the material and answer and discuss FCC exam questions.
If you would like to have a copy of the notes we have gone through so far, please email me. My email is posted here.
At the end of the class, I recommend taking a few practice tests at HamStudy and making sure you are consistently scoring more than 90%. Then you can sign up for an online Tech class exam with GLAARG or take another exam of your choice. Note that GLAARG is strict about what stuff you can have around you, like multiple monitors, so make sure you prepare your workspace following their guidelines before going to the exam.
More resources
Here are some resources I have shared via email, but might be useful.
- Regarding propagation, there’s all sorts of “space weather” and “solar weather” data and predictions which are useful to predict the success of various modes of propagation. One website providing this data is the NOAA.
- Earlier, I mentioned the “ham bands have boundaries” – these boundaries are documented informally in this chart. It’s useful to have a copy near you when on the air. We have two nice laminated ones at N5XU. We will talk about this in more detail in the regulatory part of the class.
- W2AEW’s video on reflections on transmission lines.
- Mr Carlson’s Lab’s video on reflections on transmission lines.
- APRS spots at aprs.fi
- WSPR spots at WSPRnet