Note on using surplus public service radios....

I checked with a couple of friends that are into the Public Service Radio modification interest.  They both told me that most of the big dealers that sell the newer digital and narrow band analog radios basically put all the the trade in radios in a recycle bin and destroy them to keep them off the resale market.  They also indicated there is quite a learning curve in learning how to re-program and re-tune them for ham bands. Repeaters on the other hand frequently are constructed from retired commercial radios since most ham equipment is not designed for use in high rf environments or being used 7x24.   The 900 MHz ham band is one exception where the effort may be worth it for mobiles and handhelds since there is virtually no amateur equipment available for that band except for the modified commercial sets.

Eldon  W5UHQ

I just wanted to post a reminder to post the resources to buy surplus VHF FM radios.

I did a couple of quick searches on Cragslist and Ebay and came up empty handed.

I also looked on govdeals.com

The books are in.  If you have not gotten yours, contact Lori Dixon so you can make arrangements to pick it up.

Teresa....An  Elmer is what hams call a "mentor".  My intention is to assign a mentor to each of you new students.  They will be there to answer questions and help you get started in ham radio....long after you pass the test.

Thanks for the fee info, very helpful and what is an Elmer?

Note to Bruce Lane.   You were asking this afternoon about Incident Command Trailers.  This meeting usually has a show and tell from various counties that bring there EMCOM trailers to show off.

The All Ohio ARES Conference (AOAC) is Saturday, November 3rd at the Ohio Fire Academy in Reynoldsburg.  Things are shaping up nicely.  Stay tuned to the Ohio Section website www.arrl-ohio.org for details. 

Posted by W5UHQ

This is a copy of a message sent out to all Licking County hams.   I will be selecting from a list of very qualified folks to be your mentors.

ARES (Amateur Radio Emergency Service) is working closely with the Licking
County CERT organization (Community Emergency Response Team) to train new
Amateur operators to support their communication needs when requested by the
CERT Director. CERT currently has 3 licensed hams and would like to have at
least 10% of their members to be trained and licensed Amateur operators.

The COOKEN Amateur Radio Club is organizing the training and has planned a
November Volunteer Examiner exam for the Technician
Class License. In the meantime we will be conductiing classes for the exam.
This note is not seeking instructors for the classes as we have those in
place.

Our need is for about ten more experienced hams who are willing to act as
Elmers and to be individually assigned to the new ham candidates on October
28th after they complete boot camp training.

This will not require formal preparation or classroom presentations on your
part. All you are volunteering for is being the first line of contact
for one new ham candidate and a sounding board for all the questions that
come up during that first critical year.

Posted by Eldon  W5UHQ

Please respond to:  Eldon at <W5UHQ@arrl.net>

RE: Fees.  The total fees for any exam day are $15.00 for each try that day.  These fees are sent into ARRL VE system.  We do not retain any fees locally so we have little freedom in how that is done.

A try can be only element 2  ( what I would expect most to go for ) or optionally you can attempt one or two higher Levels ( 3, 4)  for a higher upgrade to General or Extra but you have to pass and have graded each exam before you go on to try another level.  In this case, you do not have to pay extra for Levels 3 and./or 4 if done that same day.  You do need to indicate the highest level you are going for on your test sign up sheet so we have proper exams printed up ahead of time..

What you can not do is try the technician 3 times by paying the one fee.

If you should score below 26 right on the Tech exam, you are allowed to pay for another packet that day and do the whole thing over for elements you did not pass.  This set will have DIFFERENT QUESTION SETS so there is some gamble there.

If you fail elements 3 and/or 4.  That does nothing to your passing element 2 and you are thus still a Technician licensee. 

Complicated but lots of folks go ahead and take at least the general if you have done studying on your own.

Obviously, we will not be able to cover Element 3 and 4 in class.

Another minor rule.  Cooken will only reimburse full or associate members for one passed ( $15.00 ) exam set  for any fiscal year whether used on basic or upgrades.  If you pass the exam as a non member, you will be given a free membership for the remainder of our fiscal year which starts in July.

We will be having members who passed element 2 and 3 years ago, that will be taking only element 4 and they too have the same $15.00 fee.

Clear as mud  huh!!!!!!

W5UHQ

Ok, got Eldon's correction.  I'm looking forward to helping class members with questions and getting through the class.

Mike, kd8dz

On the day of the test can we take all 3 tests and what would that cost