Ham Radio

by Jun 22, 2018

We get so sophisticated and we have gotten so used to the reliability and resilience in our wireless and wired and our broadcast industry and all of our public safety communications, that we can never fathom that they’ll fail. They do. They have. They will. I think a strong Amateur Radio community [needs to be] plugged into these plans.

—Craig Fugate, FEMA Administrator (2009-2017), 3 May 2011

 

The Role of Amateur Radio

Ham radio operators by the hundreds volunteered for service to the devastated areas of the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina and her sisters, Rita and Wilma, pounded a five-state area and destroyed other communications systems. For their life-saving work, the hams received commendations from the President and Congress, as well as international praise. It truly proved the saying, “When all else fails, ham radio works!”

Within minutes of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, ham operators were busy communicating from emergency operations systems. The ham operators continued for weeks, as the amateurs handled emergency and other important messages for disaster and government agencies, as well as for displaced families.

Hams use all sorts of radios and antennas on a wide variety of frequencies to communicate with other hams across town, or around the world. They use ham radio for personal enjoyment, for keeping in touch with friends and family, for public service communications and to experiment with radio technology.

 

You Can Have This Capability for Yourself and Your Family

If you’d like to become an amateur radio operator, the first step is to study for the FCC licensing test. There are three levels of licensing: Technician, General, and Extra. Technicians operate on a more limited range of frequencies than those with the General or Extra license, but it’s the most common type and sufficient for most people’s needs.

Some people can pass the test just by studying online materials or books, but the rest of us need to take a class.

 

Study Materials

Nearby Test Preparation Classes

NET FCC Technician and General classes are offered quarterly on a Friday evening and the following Saturday morning at the PCC Cascade Campus in northeast Portland, just off of I-5,

  • 10/25/2019
  • 01/24/2020
  • 04/24/2020
  • 07/24/2020
  • 10/23/2020

For details and to register for these classes, click on this link for the NET Radio Workshop Portal 

 

FCC Examination Sites

The Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL) is the national host organization for the hobby.  Among its many roles, it serves as a major Volunteer Examination Coordinators, training and certifying Volunteer Examiners (VEs) who administer the amateur radio licensing tests for the Federal Communication Commission (FCC).  It publishes a list of testing options by location

The Portland NET Program also has its own licensing events!  Upcoming NET FCC licensing events are coordinated with the classes listed above.  They occur at 3:00 PM on the same Saturday as the classes conclude and at the same location.

  • 10/26/2019
  • 01/25/2020
  • 04/25/2020
  • 07/25/2020
  • 10/24/2020

For details and to register for these exams, click on this link for the NET Radio Workshop Portal 

 

Special ARO Training workshops

NET ARO Training workshops are held at the PCC Cascade Campus about a two or three weeks after the licensing event.  There will be concurrent workshops held for NET hams who want to earn their ARO certification and for current AROs who want more intensive training in advanced topics.  For details and to register for these workshops, click on this link for the NET Radio Workshop Portal 

 

Listen into Amateur Radio Nets without a License

A lot of the learning opportunities exist “on the air” in amateur radio nets.  The weekly Portland NET Net has a curriculum that covers topics direct interest to both new hams and folks thinking about becoming hams.  For example, they talk about how to pick out a first amateur radio hand-held radio for emergency communications that would also be suitable for search and rescue operations.

To listen to these nets, however, you have to be able to listen in on amateur radio frequencies.  That would seem to be an expensive undertaking, even if you could figure out how to do it.  Wrong.  There are several inexpensive ways to start listening to ham radio forums and nets without a ham license, and we explain all that on the PortlandPrepares.org web page entitled “Listen In!”.

 

Keep up to Date with the PDX ARO Resource Page

Another great list of up-to-date events, courses, and resources is a Google Doc maintained by one of the Portland NET Net Control and NET class instructors, Bruce Schafer AA7PB.   The PDX NET ARO Info doc is described by its authors as a list of sources of training, learning, supplies and equipment.  Among the topics listed are:

  • Upcoming Events
  • Opportunities
  • Training
  • Clubs
  • Forums
  • Etc

That gives you a rough idea, but by all means check it out.

 

Now What?

Henry the Ham

Henry the Ham

Getting the license is only the first step on the road to becoming an amateur radio operator.  Many who pass the license regrettably never buy a radio, much less learn to use one.  The links below take you to the next levels

 

 

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