Area Technicians License class coming up

The Plano Amateur Radio Club will be presenting a Technician level amateur radio class on October 21st and 22nd, 2017. The class will be held at the Allen Central Fire Station training center, which is located at 310 Century Parkway, in Allen TX… As always the class is free, the EXAM is $14.00 cash. We are looking at a timeframe of 8:00am- 5:00pm on Saturday and 8:00am- 3:00pm on Sunday, with the EXAM starting at 3:00 on Sunday. Limited parking should be available on the north side of the fire station. Additional parking is available across the street (Century Parkway), at the City of Allen municipal complex. A government issued photo ID will be required to take the exam on Sunday afternoon (FCC Requirement).

Other amateur radio class exams (General,Extra) will also be available for those wishing to take those exams. You need to bring a copy of your current amateur radio license.

To prepare for this class, we urge you to pick up a copy of a Technician License Class study guide prior to the class, and read through the course material at least once. The material is not difficult, but you should not expect to just walk in to the two day training class and grasp all the necessary information to successfully pass the exam. But, if you prepare by reading through the study guide, and marking any items that you have questions about, and then pay attention and ask questions during the two day training class, there is an excellent probability that you will pass the exam with a high score.

The course material we use matches the Ham Radio School’s Technician Class study guide, by Stu Turner, which should be available locally at the Ham Radio Outlet store 701 E. Plano Parkway Suite 406, across the street from Fry’s Electronics in Plano. The cost for the study guide should be $19.95. We highly recommend this study guide.

We also have a number of used study guides available, which we can loan you for $14.00 cash security deposit. When you return these used study guides, in good condition (not marked up or dog ear’ed), your $14.00 security deposit will be applied to the $14.00 cost to take the examination. Basically, we save you the cost of buying the study guide.

If you find it is easier for you to prepare by studying online material, and taking online practice exams, we would also suggest you look at “Ham Radio School’s” online material. They have excellent online study resources. We would also recommend looking at the online testing available at the “Ham Whisperer” website on the Internet.

To register for this class, or if you have additional questions, please send an email to Mike Pruden at ([email protected]). Please provide your NAME, EMAIL ADDRESS, and TELEPHONE NUMBER.

Let us know if you are interested in one of our used study guides, and we will contact you regarding how to pick up your copy.

Thanks
Mike Pruden

[email protected]

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Thanks for the info Walter,
So after Houston and the need for HAM Radio volunteers to communicate with the Coast Guard, I’m looking to get my HAM cert. Is Technician the beginner level or do I need a lower level first? Sorry for the ignorance and I bet this is a LMGTFU question. But, I would appreciate your assistance.

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Technician is the current entry level license.

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Technician is the current entry level.

If you interested in helping during emergencies you will also want to look into getting RACES certification and/or ARES certification.

My understanding is that some basic training is required, regular participation in practice events, and a background check before deployment in emergency areas.

Not much personal experience, the last disaster I personally helped with was Hurricane Andrew in 1992.

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Increasingly ARES and RACES are requiring between 2 and 8 FEMA emergency management classes (free on line classes) and prefer AuxCom training. (Usually a two weekend class in person available once a year). Also increasingly often required is skywarn spotter training not more than 24 months ago. Honestly, I recommend that anyone in north Texas should go spend a half day between January and March each year to learn how to identify storm cells that have the potential to become tornadoes and the features that are important. Better yet, spend 8 hours and get both the basic and advanced skywarn spotter classes.

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Best part of the Skywarn traing is the skit put on by the National Weather Service, based upon recording of an actual tornado net, that demonstrates ALL of the problems with the ARES groups.

One of my favorite entertainments is listening to the local ARES nets during the storm activations. As a result of these types of issues nationally, the national weather service has mechanisms for field spotting that by passes the ARES folks.

RACES on the other hand is managed by the government civil defence folks so is somewhat better. YMMV

Wow,
This is a lot to absorb. I’ll have to look closer at what I’m walking into. I want to be helpful in future emergencies, but not sure if I will be able to keep all these certs strait.

Well it is unlikely the Cajun Navy would care about your certs. Get the Tech license regardless. Very little effort required.

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Will do,
HAM was definitely needed in Houston. I was told there was a First Responders course that I needed as well as a FEMA course that was required to get access to some of the emergency channels used. I’m guessing that is some of the courses listed under other names above. I’m excited to get to listen to skywarn on my own. The few times I’ve listened with other has been very interesting, especially when the transmitter is knowledgeable. To be honest it is also kind of fun to hear them yell at people that have no clue and broadcast anyway as well.

The FEMA course they were talking about is likely NIMS: https://training.fema.gov/nims/

The different levels are generally commensurate with how high up the command you fall.

I’m only ICS100 certified a/k/a general labor.

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Given what we saw in Katrina, I was thinking the training was to make the folks more efficient looters.

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I attended the Technician Level Amateur Radio Class that was sponsored by the Plano Amateur Radio Club over the weekend … I made it through two long days of classes and passed the test late Sunday afternoon. I’m now shopping for a 2-meter radio.

Walter (@wandrson) - Thank you for posting the information about the class!

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Congratulations!

What is your budget for the HT?

Early last week … I was thinking $250 - $375.

The members of the Plano Radio Club were talking up a couple radios from a Chinese manufacturer called BaoFeng. One particular radio that I was looking at this afternoon and watching YouTube videos on was the BaoFeng UV-82HP

I’ll checkout the radios from Alnico! Thanks!

For that price range ignore the BaoFengs (<$50) but if you ever need a disposable radio they make a good choice.

With that budget you may want to consider a portable, rather then an HT. Something with >25W of output power, and a simple outside antenna (plumbing pipe dipole) will let you work most of the repeaters within 25-50 miles from home and/or your car, which ever you choose.

Hmmmm … Ok, I’ll looking into portable radios. Thank you for the feedback!

Ok, great! I’ll be at the Space this evening! I have a class from 7:00 - 8:30. I’ll look for you after my class. Thanks!

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It’s going to be tough for me to get to the Space before 6:50. I’ll be in town all this week. Let’s meet sometime later in the week.

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