I got licensed back in 2008, but didn’t really do much with it (bi-monthly drills, Emcomm stuff). I had a Baofeng hand-held ‘walkie talkie’ style radio that barely worked and I really didn’t know how to contact anyone on, and used a mobile station (2 Meters/70cm) at work (that had been programmed by someone else) for those drills. For those of you that don’t really know about ham radio, that is the type of frequency range that most people start out with and what many stay at until they are ready to really delve deeper into things.
Then about a year ago I decided to start taking it a bit more seriously. Since then I have put up a couple of antennas, obtained a few radios, joined a couple of radio clubs, signed up with my local ARES, and started studying for my ‘General’ license.
I have also started to communicate on 10 Meters, with my first few contacts being around the Great Lakes and in Texas.