Passed my Amateur Radio Technician test today!

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I just passed my technician’s test today ”first try” in Lafayette,CA at the MT. Diablo Amateur Radio Club meeting. (Mdarc.org) I’m now a HAM, yay me! XD I also joined the club too while I was there along with my father. I was studying and reviewing the questions all up to the moment I had to leave home to go test, and well it really paid off studying. Too be honest, once you go over the materiel over a couple of times, and use the ARRL Ham Radio License manual software that comes with the book to review everything and find out where you need to concentrate  more, it’s actually a pretty simple. One thing I agree on that they let you do when you start the test is have a piece of scratch paper, anything you think you have troubles on use that paper, it helps sometime to see it written out, though for the test I had I only ended up using it for the Voltage, power, and dB formulas. Now I’ve got it happily memorized.

So now I have to play the waiting game, before I can begin operating on the air I need to wait for my call sign to show up on the FCC database, which until then I have no idea what it is. I was glad to see a bunch of other people taking tests too, a bunch of people getting their technician along with me, and I heard at the meeting that we had 5 hams go to Extra class that day. :) Anyways I’ve started to add some links to useful  resources for Amateur radio for anyone that wants to get into Ham radio. I’ve really come to notice a lot of hams sites and blogs get abandon A LOT and or are extremely way behind times. I plan to stick with this site and share as much as I can of my Ham experiences and of course my other hobbies too I enjoy like computers, Science and other fun geek tech.  One thing Ham radio needs badly though is younger people, the ones out there that have had their licences for 40+ years are not getting any younger. I hope to now share my adventures down this new road, maybe I’ll even inspire someone else, but if you do go ahead and get your license, please don’t be afraid to go out their on the air and just spark up an interesting conversation, make new friends, and learn something new. Those repeaters or other frequencies may sound silent, but depending where you are you could be amazed on how many people are just out there listening, and want to be the first to break the silence. Also these large amounts of bands we get just given to us is a real privileged, I mean if you really stop and think about it, and go and look up what all is put aside for Amateur for non profit, it’s crazy, we don’t pay for it, other corporations and companies would probably love to get their greedy hands on it to make a profit for everything communications. Something to think about, my father told me, and he’s right. I’m honored to finally be a part of it.

Well I’ll be posting my call sign in the site title once I have it by next week i’ve been told, so if anyone is a ham and is reading this. Listen for me on the W6CX repeater at 2 meters located on top of Mt. Diablo in Concord,CA  and say hello. Also feel free to send me an email via my contact page. :P

Catcha’ laterz….. 73 :D

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Last Amateur Radio class, time to study hard.

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I finished my 7th and last amateur radio class last Thursday in Concord. Now I am hitting the books to study up for my Technician license so I will be able to enjoy being on the air. I already have a little hand me down handheld radio ready to go when I have my call sign. It’s a Yaesu vx-7R triband radio, it’s a little worn from being in someone’s pocket all the time, but it works flawless and it can pump out up to 5 watts of power with decent battery life. Also it’s Waterproof up to 3 feet, but I have not dared to test that out on this one. I’m excited to soon be part of the ham radio community, and I shall make some changes to this site to express my new hobby and experience along the way.

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Salamander spotted on South Park Dr. Berkeley,CA hills.

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On hike with my father, I saved this Salamander trying to migrate to another water source by crossing over the busy road of South Park Dr. in the Berkeley hills, which is now reopened. They close this road from November to March for just this reason, but it looks like we got a few late ones crossing. It had a few close calls before I was able to snatch it and carry it a ways to a safer location with plenty of water and cover. They are not much of a walker in the cold, but they can really swim. :P

Below I snapped a couple of photos from my phone before I continued on my hike.

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San Francisco Zoo with my wife today!

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Decided to go to the zoo this weekend and checked the weather for Easter Sundwy and it looked great so we got up at 8:30am and headed out for when the zoo opened at 10:30am.. We were lucky to see every Animal there was to see. :) Now we are out eating Ramen at a place called Majikku Ramen in Daliy City,ca before we head back home from a long fun day! Happy Easter readers!

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Iron horse trail bicycle ride to Danville and back.

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This Sunday I took a bicylce ride on the Iron horse trail to Danville from my home in the Lime ridge area of Concord with my wife and father. It was perfect weather for it and it was nice to see many other families in Concord, Walnut Creek, Alamo and Danville enjoying the same thing. We clocked in 14.5 miles there and back to 30 miles total round trip! Were will probably be feeling that one for the next few days but it was well forth it and we all feel refreshed after being inside so much lately with stuff going on and the rain, :)

We also enjoyed seeing a few interesting things along the way. This one house on the bike trail between Walnut Creek and Alamo had these very interested custom made statues that were in these people’s backyard staged perfectly through a black metal fence for anyone on the trail to see. The one that we could see and take photos are were as followed.

Sean the sheep.
Sheep
Pig
Man on sitting on a wagon
Native Americans.
Buffalo
Skeleton
Moose
Horses
Turkey vultures
Boa snake
Zebra
Man with milk pale.

These are the ones that I can think of off the top of my head. The pictures I have posted below should give some more insight of our little discovery. Enjoy.

 

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Quick post on what I am doing.

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I am currently studying for my amateur radio Technician license a.k.a  (HAM RADIO). My father has been a HAM since the early 60′s and he has hoped that one day I would be a HAM too, well he’s going to have his wish very soon. I’m taking free 2 hour classes every Thursday in Concord,CA for 7 weeks and going to attempt to take my test on the 20th of April. As long as I keep up on my reading and be sure to test myself often I don’t see why I can’t get it the first time. :P But if I don’t it’s no big deal, I’ll just try again.

My weekly activity this week as been baby sitting dogs for my brother for part of the week, they can be a handful sometimes, but I’m used to it by now. They make good company for walks around my area.

My wife and I are also fighting over my computer since it’s the only gaming machine in the house and while she is on her short college break she is back to gaming, but I can’t complain. Who wouldn’t want a wife that likes to play games? Right now she it obsessed with Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, I can’t blame her it’s an awesome game, I played the week it was released and we’re still playing changing characters and trying out new things in the game. I beat Mass Effect 3 in basically one sitting and after the shocking upsetting ending, I haven’t gone back to the game, i’ll get over it and play another round once the shock wears off. :)

Weather in my area Friday was decent, but later today we’re expected to have thunder showers so indoor activity’s I guess, not looking forward to two wet dogs though.

End of line.

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