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by dlsspy 5287 days ago
Get a technician license. Get a radio. Start playing around. I had one for about 10 years before finally just getting motivated to give APRS a shot. It was just slightly to get my radio actually hooked up to a computer via softmodem and xastir and all that, but it feels good having it together.

Of course, I'm not a huge fan of xastir. At this point, I want to build something new that's not GUI based and see if I can get something that's more useful outside of vnc.
1 comments
xradionut 5287 days ago
Why stop at a technician license? CW (aka Morse Code) isn't a requirement like it was in my day, so I encourage folks to go all the way to Extra. The question pools are available and the actual material isn't too difficult to master since there are no labs or practical exams. (Plus code is more enjoyable to learn without the added pressure of the tests.)
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dlsspy 5286 days ago
I wouldn't recommend stopping there, but it's fine for starting. I haven't moved forward since I'm barely using my tech license and have too many hobbies anyway. :)

I'm really pretty interested in learning CW, but haven't been able to dedicate time to it yet. I'm not even quite certain how to pick any up. Most of the time I go looking, I don't hear anything (I've only got 2m/6m/70cm equipment, though).

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