Hello again! Its been quite a while sense I wrote anything on here, and thats mostly because I've been quite busy. But here we are, and I've got a bit to write something. Something about what I did recently. I became a ham radio operator! I am a technician class ametuer radio operator, with callsign KE8TIZ.

Funny thing about the name before we go on, the callsigns are really well organized and I like how they're laid out alot actually. The leading K means I am american, and all technician operators are have a 'K'. This does mean, however, that there are other that have other license classes that have a 'K' prefix.

Speaking of, a mention of how the classes work is probably worth mentioning. Technician is the lowest class, and gives you access to several bands of the radio spectrum, but limits you on the modes you can operate on (FM radio vs Morse code, for example). After this is general, which unlock alot of access to the places that you are restricted as a technician. After general is Extra, which gives you full legal access to the entire ametuer radio spectrum. Each class requires a class to be taken to determine if you have the background to operate in both a safe and respectful manner.

So why would you do this? I've wanted to get mine for a while, I just finally got everything together, and said I'll take it. And it was worth it. The biggest reason I wanted to take it is for access to certain bands that I will be able to communicate/experiment on using a Software Defined Radio (SDR). You can use them for digital modes, but the analog modes like voice are also just as valid and doable using an SDR. A project I'm very interested in is Broadband hamnet an attempt at a decenteralized network using commonly available routers. The idea is to make a large mesh network to create an off-the-grid type backbone for IP traffic. Pretty cool!

That's really all I have to say on the topic, however I have covered this topic in the past (somewhat) on my post regarding weather satellites. That endevour is what lead me to this interest to begin with. Its worth a read, as it really is the stuff that makes you feel as though we live in the future.

Either way, I hope I've sparked your interest in ham radio!