A new HAM is born!

Hello world from KQ4TAY. I recently jumped from being passively interested in amateur radio to being a licensed station operator. That’s right, I own my radio station. It sounds a lot more impressive than it is. I didn’t hit the lottery-lol. I set the whole thing up for less than $130 in just a few weeks. If you enjoyed this post about HAM radio, please scroll to the bottom of the page and subscribe to receive notifications of future updates.

My progression to becoming a licensed operator looked like this.

1. Have two or more friends talk to you about their interest in HAM radio just enough to get you hooked.
2. Watch a youtube video or two.
3. Get hooked on the Ham Radio Crash Course YouTube channel.
4. Get invited to the local HAM radio club breakfast meeting.
5. Order the (25$) Baeofeng GT-5R radio with the (16$) BAOFENG BL-5 3800mAh Extended Battery and the (23$) MIRKIT FTDI USB Baofeng Programming Cable 6 in 1 Model 5.
6. Establish your FCC FRN using the FCC’s CORES website. ($35)
7. Study the HAM technician class exam questions nonstop for an entire day using hamstudy.org.
8. Get the Hamstudy mobile app to obsess even more.
9. Scheduled the exam and fail by one question. ($14)
10. Retake the exam 2 hours later, pass, and receive your certificate. ($14)
11. Wake up the next day with your newly assigned FCC call sign!

Look out for my next post, where I will discuss my experience at my first ARRL National Field Day.