You’ve just passed your test! Now what?
One of the best things about amateur radio is the “can do” attitude of so many of those who are involved. Every ham was a new ham once–and everyone can learn more. It just takes time and patience.
VE Testing Handouts
Below are some things that might be helpful:
- Get a radio. Ask for help if you don’t know what to buy.
- Ask a ham to see his or her “shack” (their radio equipment).
- Listen or participate with other new hams on our “Now What?” net. You can send an email to nowwhat@valleyradioclub.org.
- Attend our monthly “Now What?” group for new hams at Norkenzie Christian Church, 2530 Crescent Ave., Eugene, Oregon, on the 3rd Thursday of each month.
- Look at this basic operating guide.
- Start to learn Morse code.
- Come 30 minutes early to one of our club meetings to our “Elmer” table and learn from an experienced ham.
- Ask questions on our regular VRC Tech Net.
- Ask questions on the VRC Reflector.
- Get on the air–with our help and equipment–at our club’s “Get on the Air Station.”
- Look things up on the Internet–we do too!
Amateur radio can be a springboard to so many other interests:
- Antenna building
- Automatic location reporting (APRS)
- Audio signal enhancing
- Awards for Worked All States (WAS), DX Century Club (worked 100 entities–DXCC)
- Balloon launching (w/ radio tracking)
- Basic science
- Battery science and management
- Boy Scouts on the Air
- Communicate on different bands (1.25m, 2, 6, 10, 15, 17, 20, 30, 40, 60, 80, 160)
- Community service
- Computer control systems for radio
- Contesting
- Digital communication
- DXing (long-distance contacting)
- DXpeditions (Operate from rare locations)
- Earth-Moon-Earth (moon bounce) communication
- Electronics
- Emergency communication
- Emergency preparation
- Experimenting
- Family communications
- Fox (or bunny) hunting (direction finding)
- Homebrew transmitters
- Internet Radio Linking Project (IRLP)
- Islands on the Air (IOTA)
- Kit building
- Low Power Transmitting (QRP)
- Marine mobile work
- Mesh Networking
- Mobile radio (bicycle, motorcycle, vehicle, RV, hiking)
- Moon-bounce communication
- Morse code communication
- Neighborhood emergency radio
- Net control
- Net participation
- Pacific Seafarers Net
- Parks on the Air (POTA)
- Physics of antennas
- Physics of electronics
- Physics of radio wave propagation
- Physics of the sun regarding radio propagation
- Physics of waves
- Public service
- Public speaking (at meetings & events)
- QSL card collecting
- Radio astronomy
- Radio control
- Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) Hunting
- Radio repair
- Repeater design and management
- Radio frequency engineering
- Satellite communication
- Search and rescue
- Sherriff assistance
- Short wave listening
- Software design for radio controls
- Solar panel science and management
- Space station communication
- Slow Scan TV (SSTV)
- Study radio spectrum
- Summits on the Air
- Support running & bike races
- Technology
- Tube radio work
- Voice communication
- Volunteer Examiner (VE) testing for new hams
- Volunteering in your club
- Weak signal propagation monitoring (WSPR)
- Wireless internet communication 802.11
- Worked 100 countries award (DXCC)
- Worked all county award
- Worked all provinces award
- Worked all states (WAS) award
- Young Ladies (YL’s) in ham radio groups
- Youth mentoring
