What sort of radio amateur do you want to be?
'Radio amateurs come in all shapes and sizes. Although most are male it is always a pleasure to hear a female voice on the airwaves. There are several very experienced licensed "XYLs" in my home state of VK3.
Some amateurs are perfectly happy just using the 2 metre and 70cm bands (VHF and UHF) on their local repeaters and don't bother with HF or long distance communications. If this suits you, all you need is a $50 handheld radio and you don't need to go past the Foundation Licence stage. In Melbourne there's a regular group that has a rag chew (ham speak for conversation) on the VK3RSE repeater every morning on their way to work. Remember, if you don't live in a majot city there may not be a repeater withing range of a cheap handheld radio.
Other hams like to join in the 80 metre, 40 metre and 20 metre HF nets. These are held regularly and you can find details of some Australian nets on this page. A net is where a group of amateurs get together at regular times. The net is run by the net controller and everyone is given their turn to have their say. Most nets make newly licensed amateurs very welcome. Listen in to a few of the nets and if you like what you hear join in. You'll find that the net controller regularly asked for new stations to join in. Nets cover all sorts of topics; some discuss what they did that day, some are interested in each other's equipment. I've even heard a net of Australian and New Zealand farmers discussing stock prices! One of the problems with Nets that some are quite large with ups to 20 Hams all waiting to have their say, so you can be sitting around waiting for half an hour before you get to have your say.
Other hams like working DX (long distance) and just exchanging callsigns and signal reports while others engage in long conversations with people from distant cultures. I had a DX contact with LA2FKA in Norway last night which is about as far away from my hometown of Melbourne as you can get on this planet. Not bad for a half wave 20m dipole and 100 watts RF output.
Other hams like working portable stations from summits, islands and parks. You might like to check these out by using your favourite search engine to research the following:
SOTA - Summits of the Air
IOTA - Islands of the Air
WWFF - Worldwide Flora and Fauna
WWFF is one of my favourites where you work "portable" from a national park. This is called "activating". Or you sit at your QTH (home) and "chase" other hams who are out there activating a National Park.
For more information follow these links:
SOTA www.sota.org.ok
WWFF Australia www.wwffaustralia.com
Some amateurs are perfectly happy just using the 2 metre and 70cm bands (VHF and UHF) on their local repeaters and don't bother with HF or long distance communications. If this suits you, all you need is a $50 handheld radio and you don't need to go past the Foundation Licence stage. In Melbourne there's a regular group that has a rag chew (ham speak for conversation) on the VK3RSE repeater every morning on their way to work. Remember, if you don't live in a majot city there may not be a repeater withing range of a cheap handheld radio.
Other hams like to join in the 80 metre, 40 metre and 20 metre HF nets. These are held regularly and you can find details of some Australian nets on this page. A net is where a group of amateurs get together at regular times. The net is run by the net controller and everyone is given their turn to have their say. Most nets make newly licensed amateurs very welcome. Listen in to a few of the nets and if you like what you hear join in. You'll find that the net controller regularly asked for new stations to join in. Nets cover all sorts of topics; some discuss what they did that day, some are interested in each other's equipment. I've even heard a net of Australian and New Zealand farmers discussing stock prices! One of the problems with Nets that some are quite large with ups to 20 Hams all waiting to have their say, so you can be sitting around waiting for half an hour before you get to have your say.
Other hams like working DX (long distance) and just exchanging callsigns and signal reports while others engage in long conversations with people from distant cultures. I had a DX contact with LA2FKA in Norway last night which is about as far away from my hometown of Melbourne as you can get on this planet. Not bad for a half wave 20m dipole and 100 watts RF output.
Other hams like working portable stations from summits, islands and parks. You might like to check these out by using your favourite search engine to research the following:
SOTA - Summits of the Air
IOTA - Islands of the Air
WWFF - Worldwide Flora and Fauna
WWFF is one of my favourites where you work "portable" from a national park. This is called "activating". Or you sit at your QTH (home) and "chase" other hams who are out there activating a National Park.
For more information follow these links:
SOTA www.sota.org.ok
WWFF Australia www.wwffaustralia.com