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== K6WOO ==
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Hello World

The worst thing about starting any new blog-like thing is bootstrapping infrastructure, so here we are. This is k6woo.com, where I’ll be jotting down radio-related things.

An amateur radio license is something nobody would be surprised to hear I have, but I hadn’t yet. In the long ago, things required morse code proficiency which scared me off, but these days it’s just straight-forward multiple-choice tests.

I finally got the itch strong enough: doing some work in the attic + under the house and using my expensive + fragile cell phone as a walky talky inspired me to look into the current state of things to get something different. Picked myself up some cheap FRS blisterpacks for that stuff, and realized that in the Covid era, everything was easier online & I should just finally get licensed.

A little bit of cramming on hamstudy.org (I knew most of the technicaly bits for technician + general, but roughly none of the FCC rules), a test proctored out of Alaska because it was the most convenient timing, and Bob’s your uncle. Newly minted general license KN6PMQ, quickly updated to the vanity K6WOO. I should take a little more time to brush up enough to get my Extra so I can stop thinking about privileges, but it’s less pressing.

To date, I’ve got a few radios:

  • A set of BF-888S FRS HTs. Can use these without thinking, give them to the kids, etc.
  • A Wouxon KG-1000G. It’s maybe overkill, but gave me something to play with at home and in the car while sorting things out, and can interoperate with the FRS radios. I’ve had some fun eavesdropping on folks rag-chewing on a local GMRS repeater.
  • Everyone’s favorite HT to hate, the UV-5R. It lets me hit the local 2M repeaters just fine, especially after literally doubling its cost by adding a signal stick.
  • An IC-741. The Asian-market version of the IC-745, it’s a real purty HF rig which hits my sweet spot of not just being a computer while also not requiring me to source dead stock tubes.

I’ve had mixed luck RXing on HF, and very little luck TXing, but more on that later.