Ham Radio

When I was in Junior High School I would carry around the ARRL book, back then it was on paper and the size of a major city phone book (if you are too young to know what that is, google it).  In High School I joined the local Civil Defense with the idea of taking classes to study for my amateur radio license.  However, the folks that ran Civil Defense were not ready to deal with exhuberant teenagers and nothing came of it.

Then I got distracted by CB radio and communicated with friends that way until I went to college.  At one point I tried mounting a 6' whip to my bicycle and powering a mobile CB with a battery pack.  But there wasn't enough power in the NiCad packs of the day and it didn't really work.

Now that I'm retired I figured I can spend the time to study for my license.  I asked a neighbor friend who happens to be the president of the Tompkins County Amateur Radio Association for recommendations to study for the exam.  He recommended finding online tests and keep taking them until I pass.  I eventually ended up on hamstudy.org and their Android app and took a couple dozen Technician exams and several dozen General exams.  Several weeks later I took the exams on August 2, 2025; I aced the Technician exam and passed the General exam with 30 of 35 correct.  I was initially assigned a call sign of KE2GMJ.

On August 23, 2025 my vanity call sign came through.  I'm now N2VLV (as in Volvo).

While taking the Technician and General practice exams, I took a practice exam for Amatuer Extra and did horribly.  Over the next six weeks I kept studying and started passing, achieving as high as 48 on two practice exams.  On September 20, 2025 I sat for the Amatuer Extra exam and passed!  

I submitted my open book exam to be an ARRL accredited Volunteer Examiner.  Instead of taking 3-4 weeks, my paperwork arrived exactly a week later.

Interesting Ham Radio Projects

• XC70-Antenna-Tuning - Installing and verifying a mobile antenna on my car

• VGC VR-N7500 - An app-controlled mobile radio