General blog post

 I've committed myself to taking a test this coming Saturday, for the General Class FCC Amateur Radio license.  I've been saying "Yeah, yeah, I'll get to it" for over a year, and finally, I'm going to do it.  I have to.  I clicked YES and paid my money.  Why am I doing it?  Peer pressure mainly.  Ernesto, a buddy in a couple of local radio clubs and I were talking one day a few months back, and he asked when I was going to get my General.  I hemmed and hawed and made up some weak excuses about antennas and such, and he told me something to the effect of "Man, you just need to get some wire and throw it up in the trees and along the fences.  That's all you really need to do HF radio."  

It struck me, yeah, that's really all I need.  I don't need a $800 antenna from the UK with multiple elements and radials to reach out and communicate on HF, I just need some wire.  So I ordered a cheap end fed dipole antenna and started studying for the General exam.  The date with the examiner is Saturday the 22nd.  I've been studying via book, audiobook, videos, exam cram websites and taking endless practice tests.  I haven't failed a test in 4 days now, so I guess I'm ready.  Me being me, I'm going to continue to study instead of sleeping for the remainder of the week.  (Getting up on time to watch SpaceX launch is NOT FUN.)

Soon, I hope to have the AG behind my callsign signifying I'm an acting General, and I'll have to add yet another antenna to the backyard - there are 3 out there already as seen in the previous posts.


Thanks Ernesto, for adding this to my workload!  😫

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