Ham Radio is used in many aspects of my life. From working in a volunteer capacity for the San Francisco Office of Emergency Services and the Red Cross, to communication with friends on road trips, amateur radio is an important, easy to learn activity.

Since the frequencies that Hams are allowed to use are allocated by the Federal Communications Commision (FCC) you must have a valid licence to transmit within the Ham bands. The licence is actually pretty easy to get. They even have a licence class that doesn't require you to learn morse code! But if you want to start doing the long distance (DX) communications that Ham radio is famous for, you are still going to want to learn code. Local communications are served very well by the Technician licence, or as it is sometimes called, No-Code Tech.

From the ARRL Website:
"The most popular license for beginners is the Technician Class license, which no longer requires a Morse Code examination, and gives you all ham radio privileges above 30 megahertz (MHz). These privileges include the very popular 2-meter band. Many Technician licensees enjoy using small (2 meter) hand-held radios to stay in touch with other hams in their area. Technicians may operate FM voice, digital packet (computers), television, single-sideband voice and several other interesting modes. They can even make international radio contacts via satellites, using relatively simple equipment. To earn a Technician license, you'll need to pass the Novice and Technician written exams. These are multiple-choice tests, written with beginners in mind. You'll study topics such as radio operating practices, FCC rules and basic electrical theory.

The Novice Class license lets you talk by radio using voice, Morse code or computers. To earn a Novice license, you'll need to pass the Novice written exam and a 5 words-per-minute Morse code test.

Novice Class operating privileges include FM voice (on the 222-MHz band), digital packet, and single-sideband voice on the 10-meter band. Novice operators may also use many other popular shortwave frequencies (below 30 MHz) to communicate worldwide using Morse code."

Activities
Well, there are a lot of activities that I participate in with my friends, and whenever possible we find a way to use the radios in the process. Events are things like skiing, drinking, bowling (check out the scores!), clubs, parties, emergency response, helping stranded motorists, and the occasional "Random Intimidating Presence"^®

Equipment
Well, my two radios are a Yaesu FT-50R as my workhorse/handheld and an Icom 2710H as my mobile/base station.

My blue-haired friend Desmond ALWAYS seems to have a bunch of radios for sale.

Useful

Misc Links
Office of Emergency Services: Auxiliary Communications Service
Quark's Bar
Pirate Radio Stations - London Pirate Radio Listings
www.amsat.org/
www.cyberventure.com/heath.html
Smolinski Scientific Systems, Inc.
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Home Page
The FLEX(tm) Family
Santa Cruz Geekhams
Scanner Specific Sites
Optoelectronics Online
ham-exam.html
callsign.ualr.edu¥2000
Index of /vegas/part1

SOFTWARE
Since I am basically a Mac guy, most of the available amateur radio software is pretty much useless to me. There are however more and more applications coming out for the Mac and as I find them (Or you tell me about them) I will review them here.

Morse Tutor
Audio decode app.
Mac SW is a wave propogation app for the mac
Download file morsecode.hqx -or- browse its directory.
Download file morsecode1.0.sit.hqx -or- browse its directory.
Download file morsemaster1.0.sit.hqx -or- browse its directory.
Download file morsetrainer1.1.sit.hqx -or- browse its directory.