AD5KL - Extra Class Radio Amateur

MP00009299 - Marine Radio Operator

Got to meet fellow ham Joe Walsh, WB6ACU recently.  Life's Been Good!  Very nice guy.  The Eagles rule!

Special Thanks to Bryan McGee, AB5LQ for taking this.  I forgot my camera, of all days - but he saved the day!

Here it is.  The official web presence for all my radio hockey.

I used to talk on CB some, but most of the people on there were real wing-nuts & rudy poos.   Modulating with the good buddies and the breakers was strange, not to mention the beavers.  You can only use 4 watts on CB, and it's illegal to "shoot skip," that is, talking with someone over 155 miles away.  Although the CB band is next to a ham band that is VERY HOT during the daylight hours for long-distance communications, it is still a no-no to talk over long distances on CB.

Then came scanners.  My dad's a deputy, so I always had a habit of listening to the scanner to hear the cops & firemen.  Plus you can hear a bunch of businesses & other stuff you wouldn't normally hear.  Like the city buses, taxis, wreckers & trains.  Give a listen to mall security, or the people at Burger King taking orders at the drive-thru if you want to laugh.  There's some classic comedy if you ever get bored.  Guaranteed.

Some stuff you can hear, but is illegal to hear.  Like cell and cordless phones, baby monitors and beepers.  As of 1986, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act determines what is legal & what is not.  So check it out before you start tuning around.  Up until then, you could tune to your heart's content - as long as you didn't divulge what you heard to a third party.  I haven't actually heard of anyone getting busted for listening to the wrong frequencies.  The ECPA was passed by the greased palms in Congress to appease the phone companies, so they could sell mobile phones that were "private."  This was total BULLSHIT, since the signals were unscrambled, and nobody could possibly know if you were receiving them on your scanner - unless you went around telling everyone that you tuned them in.  A nicer term for consumers would be "smoke screen."  With PCS phones now dominating the market, this has pretty much become a non-issue. Currently, most cell conversations are digital and can't be received by conventional scanners, so now it's really a moot point anyway.

I got interested in worldwide communications in the 80's while listening to shortwave broadcasts like the BBC, Radio Netherlands and Radio Australia.  I sent for, and got QSL cards from broadcasters all over the world - their way of verifying that I had received their signals.  They would also send stickers, calendars and other gifts with their logos on them. I was also able to listen to ham operators on shortwave frequencies, and this piqued my interest in ham radio.  So I decided to learn the Morse code and study the theory.

Morse wasn't as bad as I thought.  It's been said that if you have an ear for music, the code is easier to learn - it is a rhythmic pattern of dots & dashes.  I play guitar & bass so I guess that helped - didn't seem to be that big of a deal to learn the code.

Been licensed since 1990.  Got my Novice ticket with callsign KB5OQK then upgraded to Technician a few months later.  Those gave me a little HF worldwide on 10 meters, CW on other HF bands, and all modes on all VHF & UHF frequencies 6 meters and above.

Wanted to go worldwide on the lower HF bands so I got my General in 2001.   Went for broke and studied for the Amateur Extra, which I passed in 2002.  Got a new callsign at that time to celebrate passing my Extra license - so I am now AD5KL.  Short callsigns that start with 'A' are for Extras only, so now most everyone on the air knows I am an Extra without asking.  I am done with all the tests, and now have access to all amateur radio frequencies & privileges.

My sister Joy just got her license recently.  She's the Director of the Office of Emergency Management for Garland County, Arkansas.  Her call is KD5VCG.  Right on! 

Now if I could only get my nephew DJ on board - he's a 911 dispatcher for Hot Spring County, Arkansas - so he works with 2-way radios all day on the job.  Allegedly,  he is studying for it now.  Go get it, cat.

Just got my MROP - Marine Radio Operator License MP00009299.  It's the first element for the General Radiotelephone Operator's License.  I am studying to get the GROL w/Radar Endorsement.  This would allow me to use and maintain commercial and maritime 2-way radio equipment, and maybe get a job with decent pay.  A lot of the material has already been covered in my ham tests, so hope to get that kicking before too long.

Here's a shot of some of my radios - and I say SOME.

Currently have a lot of radio gear, here's a little run down of the toy box:

Icom-718 HF transceiver (100 watts) w/wire dipole

Bencher low-pass filter to keep my HF out of neighbors' TV's

Hamstick dipoles for different HF bands for quick hookup

Radio Shack DX-390 and DX-398 shortwave receivers

2 Kenwood TM-V7 mobile VHF/UHF 50 watt transceivers (car & house)

Home-brew PC w/1900 mhz processor & 6 drives

PC programming software & interface for Kenwood TM-V7's

MFJ "Mighty Lite" 25-amp switching power supply

Radio Shack HTX-202 (2 Meter) and HTX-404 (440) Talkies

Speaker mikes for HTX talkies

Yaesu FT - 50R Dual Band Talkie w/PC programming software & interface

Echo Link software for web contacts

Realistic PRO-2006 scanner - 400 channels

Regency Z-45 scanner - 45 channels

Regency 10-channel crystal scanner (a keeper!)

Realistic PRO-2026 mobile scanner - 100 channels

Radio Shack PRO-92 trunking scanner - 500 channels

Newtech 5" b/w TV (to see weather warnings AFTER hearing on ham)

Magellan Pioneer Global Positioning System (GPS)

Magellan Meridian 12-channel GPS

Pair of Motorola 14 channel FRS talkies w/weather receive & voice encryption

Homemade 100 mw FM Stereo transmitter (per FCC Part 15 rules)

Met Gordon West WB6NOA at HamCom 2005.  He is the author of excellent study materials for ham and GROL exams.  I used them to pass mine and recommend them highly - go to w5yi.org for more info.

Learn about antennas here

Shop for ham supplies here

Back To Top

Copywrong 2008 - LanceSanders.com