Ham Radio For Dummies. H. Ward Silver

noise level, even bouncing their signals off the moon with simple equipment. You can download WSJT-X for free at physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT.

Chapter 3

      Finding Other Hams: Your Support Group

      IN THIS CHAPTER

      

Finding mentors and clubs

      

Checking out online communities

      

Becoming a member of the ARRL

      

Finding a specialty organization

      

Going to hamfests and conventions

      One of the foundations of ham radio is helping newcomers. After all, a ham radio license is mostly a license to learn! Hams are great at providing a little guidance or assistance. You can make your start at ham radio operating much easier and more successful by taking advantage of those helping hands. This chapter shows you how to find them.

HAM RADIO — MEETING ONLINE

      As this edition is being written, Covid-19 continues to require social distancing, so many face-to-face ham radio events have been canceled. For now, the hamfests, meetings, conventions, and conferences described in this chapter are still happening, but only online. Many hams are taking advantage of the situation to watch the many presentations and seminars now available to an online audience at little or no cost. The success of this format means you can expect to find many “virtual” events available in the future.

Finding and Being a Mentor

      A mentor is very useful in helping you over the rough spots that every newcomer encounters. A good place to start your search for a mentor is to search for ham radio clubs in your area (refer to “Finding and choosing a club,” later in this chapter). You might start on the clubs page of the QRZ.com website (go directly to www.qrz.com/clubs or use the Database menu), for example.

      As your interests widen, you’ll need additional help. Luckily, hundreds of potential mentors, known in ham radio as Elmers, are available around the world.

      

Using the word Elmer to mean mentor is unique to ham radio. Rick Lindquist (WW1ME) traces the origin of the term Elmer to the March 1971 issue of QST magazine; the term appeared in a “How’s DX” column by Rod Newkirk (W9BRD). Rod’s mentor was a ham named Elmer and the message was that every new ham should have an Elmer to help them. The name stuck and since then, “Elmering” has meant “helping.” Every ham has at least one Elmer at some point. You will, too, and if someone refers to you as “my Elmer,” you can be proud.

      Entering ham radio elmer or ham radio mentor into a search engine turns up lots of resources. Some specialize in helping you study for the exam. Some are organized in a frequently asked questions (FAQ) format. And a few are online forums where you can ask a specific question. You may want to join one of the groups set up specifically to answer questions and offer help to new hams and those studying for the license exam.

      

When looking for answers in an online forum or email list, check the website’s archives first. It’s likely that others will have had similar questions and you can find your answer right away. This is just good “netiquette.” For example, in the eham.net “Elmer” forum (look in Community > Forums > Elmers) searching for tuning dipole turns up dozens of helpful responses. Along with answering your original question, you are likely to find a lot more information in the archives!

      Can you be a mentor? Although you may not think you are ready to mentor someone, you might be the perfect person! Since you are learning about ham radio, you understand very well how other new hams might feel and what questions they might have. Don’t hesitate to take someone else along for the ham radio ride. If you are both studying for the license exam at the same time, you can even mentor each other! Studying together is a great way to learn.

      After you succeed in getting your license (and you will!) you are in a great position to help someone else learn and understand the material. The things that were confusing to you might also be confusing to him or her, and you can relate how you figured things out. Advice given by another newcomer can feel less intimidating than from a seasoned “old timer.”

As you progress with ham radio, you’ll acquire some equipment, learn about using it, and have more than a few aha! moments. You might not think you can act as a teacher, but why not give it a try by answering someone’s question. Offer to help a new ham at an operating event or pair up when performing public service. As is often said (and demonstrated), the best way to learn something is to teach it! You were once brand new, too, so don’t hesitate to reach out.

Interacting in Online Communities

      Just like every other human activity, ham radio has online communities in which members discuss the various aspects of the hobby, provide resources, and offer support 24 hours a day. Will these communities replace ham radio? Not likely; the magic of radio is too strong. By their presence, though, they make ham radio stronger by distributing information, cementing relationships, and adding structure.

      The number and type of online ham radio resources is increasing every day. There are too many to list here, so your best strategy for finding them is to use a search engine. Of course, you have to know what to look for! The online list of forums and articles under the Community tab at www.eham.net cover a lot of topics.

      

If you are searching for ham radio information online, be sure to use both ham radio and amateur radio in the search window. Both terms are used interchangeably. By using both, you’ll see a full selection of links and pages.

      Social media and blogs

      Everything has a presence online, and ham radio is no different. Just search for ham radio on Facebook, for example, and you’ll find dozens of possibilities, ranging from general-interest clubs to emergency communications to license-exam practice to contesting — and more.

      

As with all online communities, not everyone behaves perfectly, but I recommend that you give a few of these communities a try and see which of them suits your personal style.

      Here are some popular streams of information about amateur radio:

       Twitter: twitter.com/amateurradio (@Amateurradio) or search for ham radio topics at twitter.com/search?q=ham+radio

       Reddit: www.reddit.com/r/amateurradio