Welcome to the wonderful word of amateur radio! You have just joined a brotherhood (and sisterhood) of thousands of like-minded amateurs who are engaged in one of the most fascinating hobbies on the planet.
We bet you can’t wait to get on the air – and you’d probably like some help on choosing a radio, antenna and other accessories, which is why we built this part of the web site.
If you have just earned your technician license one of your first steps might be to investigate moving on to a general or extra license. By doing so you will get access to higher power limits and also extend your knowledge of amateur radio.
You might also want to join your local radio club – we have a page devoted to doing just that.
But in the meantime let’s look at just three things you could do with your new license.
Make a contact on 2m FM
Two meters is a great band for getting to know the locals. With a maximum range of around 5-50 miles under normal conditions, you stand a great chance of finding someone to talk to. Most areas are served by repeaters, but if not a CQ on the calling frequency of 146.520 MHz might rustle up up a contact.
Use two meters (144 MHz) SSB
Some modern amateur radios can cover everything from 160m (MF) to 70cms (UHF)
If you can put up a horizontal beam antenna you can take part in the world of 2m (144 MHz) SSB.
SSB, or Single Side Band, carries further than FM and will allow you to make contacts up to, perhaps, 100 miles under what we call “flat” conditions. But when the weather conditions are right (and they are usually associated with high-pressure systems) we can get a “lift” or tropospheric enhancement, to give it its proper name. When this happens signals can pour in from even greater distances.
The fun of 2m is knowing when the good conditions might occur and seeing how far you can get with your signals.
Get on the HF bands
Every one of the HF bands is different in terms of what you can work and when.
USA radio amateurs have access to a large number of bands and each have their own characteristics. For example, 80m (3.5 MHz) and 40m (7 MHz) are useful during the day for contacts around the USA and Canada. While 40m is better for this kind of activity near solar maximum, you might be better off on 80m when the sun is less active as it is right now (2018).
Once the sun sets, however, both bands start to open up to contacts at longer distances. In fact, 40m is a fantastic band, offering you everything from chats around the USAto real worldwide DX – although it can get crowded at times.
If we look at another band – 20m or 14 MHz – it is very different. During the day you might hear stations from all around the world if conditions are good enough. In the morning you might hear stations from the east of you and around lunchtime they might be rolling in from the south. But in the afternoon, depending upon the time of year and conditions, you might hear the Japan, Oceania (the islands of the Pacific) or South America.
In the winter, especially at sunspot minimum, you may find the band closes shortly after sunset. But in the summer, and at sunspot maximum, the band can remain open 24 hours a day – it is all part of what makes HF propagation interesting.
Looking further up the dial we come across 10m (28 MHz). At sunspot minimum it can be dead for days on end (like now). But near sunspot maximum it can come alive with incredibly strong signals from around the globe during the day.
The great thing about 28 MHz is that the antennas can be quite small – a half-wave dipole is only about 5m long (16.5ft). Even with such a simple antenna it can be easy to work across the Atlantic to the Europe or down into South Africa.
And if you only have a technician license your 10W can go a long way indeed.