started with a High Frequency radio and asmall antenna. Besides simply makingcontacts, you can improve your skills andtry your luck at contests or working on avariety of awards. There are RANV memberswho consistently do very well in this area innational and international contests.

Morse code

The code has always had a special place inamateur radio and a special fascination forits users. Even though it is no longerrequired for a license, you’ll find many hamson the bands using code, day and night. Toget started here you need both regularpractice with a computer program andregular on-the air practice. Some RANVmembers use the code as their primarymode.

Equipment

You can get a good handi-talkie, new, forabout a hundred dollars, and you can get aperfectly working used one for much less.For your car, a used rig in fine workingorder, with an antenna, will not cost you toomuch more than that. For instance, youshould not have much trouble gettingstarted, with very reasonable equipment, fortwo hundred dollars.

You can buy equipment used or new at alocal hamfest; there are a number of thesethroughout the year (for instance, our clubsponsors HAM-CON on the last Saturday inFebruary). Many hams also use EBay or areputable online dealer. If you could usesome help with this, we’d be very happy toput you in contact with a club member.

Debbie W1DEB, Carl AB1DD, and Bob KB1FRW with friends

Amy KB1KXF and her brother Robert K1RFM, tuning around.

Alan KB1PNF on VHF.

Cover: RANV hams at the annual Field Day event.

Contact line: ranvmentor@gmail.com

Booklet author: Jim Hefferon, KE1AZ, 2009-Summer, for theRadio Amateurs of Northern Vermont http://www.ranv.org.Source: http://joshua.smcvt.edu/ham_mentoring.html.

Making Contacts

What’s next, now that youhave your ham ticket

You got it!

Congratulations! You’ve gotten youramateur radio license. You must be lookingforward to using it.

We are your fellow hams. We’d like towelcome you to the community — now it’syour community also — and to help you tohit the ground running.

The essence of being a ham is to makecontacts, and we’d like to make contact withyou.

Getting on the air

The steps that you should take to get starteddepend on where you would like to go.Below we have sections on the mostcommon interests. But by far the mostimportant thing is to get on the air.

The easiest way to get on the air is with ahandi-talkie. This is how many successfulhams begin. Get on a local repeater, startchatting, and you’ll find people who haveinterests like yours. Many people also get aradio for the car that they use duringcommuting, on a repeater or one-on-one.Below we have some discussion of whereand how to get equipment.

Getting in touch

You’ll meet plenty of friendly people on theair. As you tune around you’ll hear hamsdoing all sorts of things, including peoplelooking to make new contacts (that meanswith you!), as well as talking with theirregulars. Feel free to jump in.

As part of the community, hams often formclubs. Our club, the Radio Amateurs ofNorthern Vermont, is an example. We are inChittenden County, although we also getpeople from adjacent counties. We meet onthe second Tuesday of each month for apresentation of some kind, often including a

demonstration, followed by snacks and chat.These are about practical how-to-do-itthings. Its a good chance to hear about neatstuff that you might like to try or to askquestions about what you are trying now.We’d love to see you at a meeting. (Showyour new license to get a year’s membershipfor free.) For directions and times, look onhttp://www.ranv.org or thehttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/RANV/mailing list.

Another resource for you is our contact lineemail address ranvmentor@gmail.com. Mailhere goes to club members who havevolunteered to help you with ham questionsand problems. We’ve all been beginners, andwe know that sometimes a little help goes along way.

Starting out

Below are some common categories of haminterests (although there are many morethat we could have listed). Each has a briefdescription.

If you are interested in one of these, or insome other ham activity, that’s great. Thereare RANV members who are interested inand knowledgeable about each of thesetopics, and who have volunteered to helpothers who share their interest. Please feelfree to ask about it on the air, or at a clubmeeting, but in particular, feel free to writeour contact line.

Playing with technology

Many people get into ham radio becausethey like playing with technology.

You may be interested in connectionsbetween radios and computers. Forinstance, on the repeater you may hearpeople who contact their local repeater, fromthere go through the Internet using a

technology called EchoLink, and come out onour repeater to have a conversation withyou. Our repeater lets you make such callsout — give it a try.

Many people are intrigued by the new digitalradio modes that allow you to make verylong distance contacts even under quite badconditions. These are still experimental andyou could contribute to their development.

Other hams also like to build andexperiment with electronics.

Still other hams enjoy communicating withamateur radio satellites, or through theInternational Space Station. You can go along way with surprisingly little.

We have club members experienced in eachof these things.

Public service and emergencycommunications

Hams have always been at the service oftheir communities. Locally, this includeshandling the communications at eventssuch as the Vermont City Marathon and theEssex Memorial Day parade. Many hamswith families find this an enjoyable way towork together.

One way to contribute to your community isby being active in preparation for emergencycommunications. The key here is to be readyand trained to deal with what happens,sometimes quite quickly. There are nationalham organizations, ARES and RACES, activein this, and local hams are affiliated withthem.

Long-distance communications

Many hams love the High Frequency bands,for making contacts around the country andaround the world (contacts outside thecountry are called DX). This was historicallythe first activity of amateurs. You could get