I was a Ham when I was 12. Had a Technician Class license, WA6ZHL. Fell out of it when I got into high school. Wish I had stayed in.Now, I'm studying to take the tests to get my license renewed. But this time I'm going all the way for the top Extra Class, something I could only dream about when I was a kid. Great site I found, http://www.hamstudy.org. I've gone through the Technician and General Class questions and was happy about what I still remembered after all these years. Now working on the Extra Class questions. Once I get to about 85% pass on those, I'll go in to take all three exams at once. Have to say I'm glad they eliminated morse code as a license or even an exam requirement (when did that happen?). I hated learning code, and could barely get to 5 WPM to pass the Novice and Technician Class exams. 13 WPM for General and 20 WPM for Advanced were simply way too far out of my reach at that time. I'm sure some old-timers would say the standards have all gone downhill from the "good old days," but I'm glad I won't have to learn and pass an exam on a technology I'll never use. Anyway, would like to hear from any fellow Hams on this forum? Let's QSO :)

Let the rest of us "Ham's" know what you purchased with your $2000.00. This way we can salivate a little.73'sBernie KD2JYU

Any Amateur Radio Operators (AKA "Hams") Here on The HughesNet Community Forums?

BirdDog
Assistant Professor
8 years ago
Not an operator but lots of friends in the military when I repaired vacuum tube Collins KW2-MA transceivers. Boy, they could punch out the power. Very touchy to tweak, lots of band adjustment capacitors that took a jeweler size screwdriver and very small turns. I finally discovered injecting the appropriate 1st, 2nd stage frequency with a freq generator and adjusting worked miracles. Wasn't in the technical manual at the time.

Old man digressing, solid state has killed off need for technical repair and adjustment at such low levels. All board replacement now. Old dinosaur who's time is history but do have fond memories of the HF shacks most military bases had.
- El Dorado Netwo
  Advanced Tutor
  8 years ago
  Collins was the box everyone wanted. Now they're like vintage guitars ~ $1,500 on EBay
  - BirdDog
    Assistant Professor
    8 years ago
    El Dorado Netwo wrote:
    Collins was the box everyone wanted. Now they're like vintage guitars ~ $1,500 on EBay
    Lol..sounds like me except doubt I'd bring $1500 if even wanted.
    
    Saw that on EBay......wow! Don't see tranceivers though. Doubt many people left to tune them plus the vacuum tubes. Also they did have spurious frequencies on transmit so maybe gov banned them. They could punch through even hurricanes though. :smileyhappy:
    
    EDIT: OK, did some more brain refreshing since so long ago. Maybe never a tranceiver but seperate units even on military side. Now that I think about it was two different boxes. Just remember working on the transmitter more. Shoot, been 37 years since I worked on them, give me a break. :smileyhappy:
MarkJFine
Professor
8 years ago
Not a ham but used to be an avid SWL... and started getting back into it until my buried coax got cut by an overactive lawnmower. I just need time to repair it, as well as remount the balun and then should be back in 'business'.

Was working on a rudimentary receiver control for Macs using the EiBi database before it got cut. 😠
- El Dorado Netwo
  Advanced Tutor
  8 years ago
  MarkJFine - I used to love staying up late at night and just tune across the dial to discover and listen to something from some far-off place. That was the magic - something I hope to catch again.
  - MarkJFine
    Professor
    8 years ago
    Best bet is playing around on AM broadcast. Maybe not so surprising, but a lot of the old guard on HF is long gone. Many international broadcasters have chosen the less expensive, digital streaming via internet route.
    Guess no one wants to maintain massive steerable antenna arrays 500MW transmitters, let alone deal with bi-annual frequency steering committees.
    
    Edit: Oh, and all those regional Africans that used to dominate the afternoons with hilife music - all gone.
mikehvac
Freshman
8 years ago
KJ6NT, One of the few Advanced Class operators left. Not to active in the last few years. Enjoy
- Bernie_
  Freshman
  8 years ago
  Bernie in New York-Technicians Class KD2JYU
  - El Dorado Netwo
    Advanced Tutor
    8 years ago
    Nice to meet you, fellas! I'd kinda forgotten I had started this topic, and it's nice to hear there are other Hams in this group.
    
    Update - On Dec 2, I took and passed all three exams in one sitting, earning myself an Extra ticket. Just got my call sign issued last week, AJ6AR. Just might keep that one since AR is the first two initials in my name (also stands for "Amateur Radio" :)
    The "F Cee Cee" no longer issues paper licenses but my wife is getting my CSCE framed:
    
    Also, you might be interested in the article I found that ran in our home town paper when I first earned my Novice license in 1962:
    
    Today, we're heading to Oakland in the SF Bay Area on a Christmas shopping trip to a Ham Radio Outlet warehouse. Wife said I can spend $2,000 to get my rig and antennas set up. Looking to get an ICOM 7300 as the centerpiece.
lm8542
Sophomore
7 years ago
Hey, not a ham operator but I do have a problem with someone skilled in radio... I use my hughes.net like most people pretty much have the laptop and blueray player going constantly streaming a movies etc. New guy moves in and is paranoid about someone spying on him. From the questions posed by this man he thinks when he picks up our wifi (hughes.net) that it's cameras looking at him. Long story short we don't have any cameras connected to our wifi. All we can figure he thinks someones trying to trap him poaching. But I stay busy in my own little world and don't worry about anything else until my wifi starts getting interrupted continuously. It's works great for a few minutes then my dog gets in the window and barks in the direction of this new neighbors house and my wifi gets jammed etc. He had mentioned that he uses an illegally overpowered amplifier and linear and bilinear ? I have no idea what that stuff means and I guess I will need to learn but my question to you or anyone who might want to help is : Is there a particular filter I can have put on my dish to prevent his interruptions? I mean he asked us once if we had wireless cameras linked back to our house and I told him truthfully NO. So I need to adjust my own enterainment system to keep him out. I am not going to try and prove myself to a rogue radio madman. This is my first experience with this sort of thing. Any help would we be greatly appreciated. I called hughes.net tech support and they said they have no filters and no nothing about it.
- El Dorado Netwo
  Advanced Tutor
  7 years ago
  I didn't answer your question about your neighbor interfereing with your WiFi. I have never heard of ham radio transmissions interfering with Wifi. When you lose your WiFi connection, do you also lose wired connectivity? You'll need a laptop or desktop computer connected directly to the HughesNet modem with a network cable to check this.
  
  Ham radio operates at relatively low frequencies, usually below 55 Mhz and very seldom above 440 Mhz. On the other hand, satellite communications operate at extremely high frequencies, well above 1,500 Mhz and often more than 30 Ghz (way, way up there).
  
  WiFi signals are at 2.4 and 5 Ghz, and they don't share frequencies with ham bands. If there is interference from a ham station, you'll usually hear it in AM or FM radios or with TV channels. Find an AM radio, tune it to an unused frequency near the low end of the band, and see if it starts making more noise whenever you WiFi stops working.
  Most self-respecting Ham Radio operators with work with you to eliminate "RFI" (Radio Frequency Interference).
  
  Also, if you give me an address I can check the F C C database to see if there is a licensed Ham at that address. Anyone can do this since it is public record.
  - BirdDog
    Assistant Professor
    7 years ago
    I'll just add "back in the day" when I maintained ATC and Ham frequency radios I saw them interfere with things you never thought they could or should given enough power and proximity. All radios emit some spurious frequencies at multiples of the assigned frequency. Normally at such low levels that it isn't a proble. But attach an amplifier that is poorly designed then those weak spurious signals can become quite strong and even inject into the electronics at the board level on nearby equipment. Not to mention induced into cables.
    
    Only saying IMO it is possible for such interference to happen as lm8542 describes.
    
    I'll shutup now. :smileyhappy:
- GabeU
  Distinguished Professor IV
  7 years ago
  lm8542
  
  I know very little about HAM radio, but if he's using amplifiers like you mention it wouldn't surprise me if it's screwing up your WiFi. Those things jack the power up quite a bit, throwing out a lot stronger signal. I don't know this from HAM radios but I am somewhat familiar with linear amplifiers used with CB radios.
  
  I'm not familiar with any filter that can be used with the HughesNet system.
  - BirdDog
    Assistant Professor
    7 years ago
    Depending how much illegal power he's transmitting and the proximity to you, there is no filtering available that will keep the signal from feeding directly into your equipment and causing havoc.
    
    If he's truly running illegal amplifiers those things are infamous for producing all kinds of spurious frequency signals across the entire radio spectrum. He's a prime example why Hams in general often get a bad rep.
    
    You've got a real problem on your hands IMO. Good luck.