Amatuer Band Antennas - need help choosing

[meg]

sounds like bangers needs these http://www.dse.com.au/cgi-bin/dse.store ... View/D1764

Yep - bangers, you might find a CB setup will do you without needing to get a license. I don't know if there are CB repeaters in your area though, nor how well they'll do without knowing more about the terrain you're in etc.

[bangers]

just checked out http://www.acbro.org/repeater.htm
no CB repeaters in busselton unfortunately.

[Blinky]

I will mainly use the radio to report back to the farm when im around 10-20kms out in the forest...

Should not require a repeater for these distances. Decent antenna both sides and should be possible on UHF CB simplex. Who would you be reporting to back on the farm? Would they also be getting a license?

Don't wish to sound mean but unlicensed operations on amateur repeaters are not desired. Amateur Radio is self regulating and unlicensed operations will be reported to the authorities. I can easily receive VK6RBN and would not hesitate to do so.

There was talk of a club forming in the Busselton area last year. I know they had one meeting but not heard if it progressed any further from there.

[bangers]

im not going to be unlicensed when i use it. FFS

[meg]

im not going to be unlicensed when i use it. FFS

Nice attitude

People have offered a fair bit of advice and suggestions now. Let us know your callsign when your license comes through. At that stage you'll have a much better idea of what you need rather than purchasing a CB antenna for a ham radio...

[bangers]

I realise this and i thank everyone for their time and advice.
It seems to be a very tight nit community.
Sorry about the attitude..... that was about the 5 time someone one told me i cant operate it unlicensed...
Im not that dumb, I got the idea when you first told me Meg
I work away from the 10-24th of March so i miss the foundation examination and i miss the one Mt Barker..
*sigh*
Is there any way I can get my license apart from going to those examinations?
There is a list of assessors on http://www.wia.org.au/licences/foundation/assessors/
maybe email one of them and organise something?

[meg]

Of course you can email an assessor and see if they can arrange another exam for you - I don't know what the costs for that might be. Alternately the next Ham College course and exam are in May. There is no other way to get your license than to do the examination somehow - it's a requirement set out by the federal government here in Australia and in every other country in the world too.

Do a bit of research on what kind of coverage you'll get from CB (UHF) vs the amateur bands (2m and 70cm) and keep in mind your local area (whatever hills/trees etc might be in the way). Find out where your local repeater(s) are, what direction and how far from you etc. No antenna in the world is going to help you if you've got a granite hill between you and where you want to transmit to, not on the amateur or CB VHF/UHF frequencies.

And please consider how your posts look to the rest of us - you bought the radios without realising you needed a license to operate them, and it's essential that you are licensed if you use them or you'll be in a world of pain with the feds - so excuse us if we've over-emphasised this fact, but we're actually trying to do you a favor! Also, what you'll learn in getting your license will help you to figure out all of the above stuff.

Good luck!

I realise this and i thank everyone for their time and advice.
It seems to be a very tight nit community.
Sorry about the attitude..... that was about the 5 time someone one told me i cant operate it unlicensed...
Im not that dumb, I got the idea when you first told me Meg
I work away from the 10-24th of March so i miss the foundation examination and i miss the one Mt Barker..
*sigh*
Is there any way I can get my license apart from going to those examinations?
There is a list of assessors on http://www.wia.org.au/licences/foundation/assessors/
maybe email one of them and organise something?

[Fastlane]

not wanting to play the devils advocate too much, but where did bangers say that he'd already bought radios?

[Blinky]

FFS

Presumably aimed at me. I was not refering to you, more the farm house

[robbage]

There's another hamcollege foundation course in May I believe.

[Zebedee]

I have just purchased the book off the WIA bookshop.
I hope it covers a lot more than just foundation level.

The Foundation Manual is aimed primarily at people interested in that level of licence. It does however contain more information in there than is required to pass the exam...

megs yeh i was just specifically looking at hamtestonline.com

From a *very* quick look at that, it appears to be aimed more at the Americans than us. To give you an idea of what kind of written exam you'll face for Foundation level, take a look at the following:

http://www.wia.org.au/licences/foundation/trialexam/

The questions in that trial exam are a very good example of the kinds of questions you'd need to answer when you sit your own exam. The pass mark is 70% (so 18 or more out of 25).

The other two components of getting licenced are the two practical parts - one part involves oral questioning by an assessor on some basic electronics and radio stuff, the second part involves getting on air and performing some set exercises on both HF and VHF radios.

If you can find the time to do one of the courses, you'll know everything you need to pass the exam. It's possible to pass the exam without doing the course, but I think most Foundation licencees (in WA at least) have chosen to do the course first.

Based on where you live, I'd recommend checking with both the Southern Electronics Group and Ham College to find out if there's any course dates that you can get to. Ham College's ones are all published on their website (link below). The SEG have only organised a course for March at this stage, but hopefully it'll be the first of many!

http://hamcollege.com.au/wordpress/?page_id=8
http://www.hamradio.org.au/site/?page_id=25

If you can't get to a course or a scheduled exam session, you may be able to get a Remote Assessment... Take a look at the WIA page about "Finding your nearest Assessor", it says:

The WIA Assessors are supported by Nominated Assessors, who are qualified by the WIA nominated RTO, and are responsible for assisting and auditing WIA Assessors, determining Recognition of Prior Learning assessments and undertaking Special Assessments for candidates with a disability or in remote areas.

[bangers]

not wanting to play the devils advocate too much, but where did bangers say that he'd already bought radios?

hehe yeh i did not say i had on here but i did on whirlpool thread.

damnit... i got 17/25 on that test, but thats without any study or anything.
need to study!!! i have the book coming and will print off the slides off wia or hamcol (forgot which one)
i think they are the slides out of the courses.
the written will be ok to prepare for but any advice on how to prepare for the practical side?
unfortunately due to work commitments i can not make any of the courses and dont want to wait another 2 mths!!
How much is it to sit the exam?


thanks Zebedee, i will send a msg off to those peeps and see what they can do.

ahwell, hoping to learn lots thanks guys

ps. megs : i wonder if they'll let me use {ADMIN EDIT: No, they won't let you use that callsign, I can guarantee it!} as my callsign? hahaha nah i wouldnt get that one, but yeh i'll let yas know when i got it and will be pestering you all on the wireless haha

[Zebedee]

damnit... i got 17/25 on that test, but thats without any study or anything.
need to study!!! i have the book coming and will print off the slides off wia or hamcol (forgot which one)
i think they are the slides out of the courses.

Once you've got the book, you'll get a much better understanding of what they're looking for.

any advice on how to prepare for the practical side? unfortunately due to work commitments i can not make any of the courses and dont want to wait another 2 mths!!

Take a look at this page on the WIA website and download the PDF copy of the syllabus. It tells you everything you'll be assessed on:

http://www.wia.org.au/licences/foundati ... mentation/

Pay particular attention to items in the syllabus that start with "identify" or "demonstrate"...

[bangers]

haha *smirks* at the admin edit above
nah im hoping for FKAM or FDOD
KAM for Kamelot (all time favourite band) and DOD for Day of Defeat (fav comp game that i've played for 7 years)
What are the meaning behind ur guys callsigns? just intitals or something else?

I did not realise there was a practical side to it until today....getting worried now

[Zebedee]

Some people use their initials as their callsigns, some try and make interesting or amusing acronyms, it's all up to the individual really, so long as the callsign meets the requirements for the class of licence etc. When I had my foundation licence I was VK6FZDB (DB being my initials, and ZDB is sort-of almost-ish "Zebedee"). When I upgraded to Standard, I had to change the callsign, so I switched to become VK6LAN. And now I've gone on to Advanced, I'm VK6WAN.

Here you go, a bit of the Foundation course for free

VK = Australia (international allocation by the ITU)
6 = WA (each state/territory gets its own digit)

Any four-letter callsign after the digit is a Foundation licence (all Foundation licences currently begin with an F and have three other letters).

Any three-letter callsign beginning with H L M N P or V is a Standard callsign.

Almost all other three-letter callsigns (there's some exceptions) and any two-letter callsign is an Advanced licence.