current standards of the foundation licencee..

[kr0ne]

How does one "SWR an antenna" anyway?

I've looked over the Foundation, Intermediate and Full license books and can't seem to find the procedure described anywhere...

[stigggeh]

Repeater User, He is trying to say that there are certain things that should be made clear during foundation training that are not necessarily listed in black and white in the rules and regs. If you actually read the posts that is made quite clear imo.

I have read the posts and I cannot see anything of the sort? He (Monsta) is spouting nonsense as fact and quite rightly being pulled on it.

The funniest part of this thread is the OP. RAE holder with an abnormally large stash of, what looks like illegal CB's spending what appears to be most of his time on 555 & Ch19 (monitoring of course ) talking about a drop in standards.

[sureshot]

Repeater User, He is trying to say that there are certain things that should be made clear during foundation training that are not necessarily listed in black and white in the rules and regs. If you actually read the posts that is made quite clear imo.

I have read the posts and I cannot see anything of the sort? He is spouting nonsense as fact and quite rightly being pulled on it.

The funniest part of this thread is the OP. RAE holder with an abnormally large stash of, what looks like illegal CB's spending what appears to be most of his time on 555 & Ch19 (monitoring of course ) talking about a drop in standards.

Take it the OP's not in the Christmas card list then. live and let live.

PS. Unless he murders someone by radio battering, Jumbo or Excalibur works best.
Then lose license and status.

[stigggeh]

Take it the OP's not in the Christmas card list then. live and let live.

PS. Unless he murders someone by radio battering, Jumbo or Excalibur works best.
Then lose license and status.

I expect he will be on the QSL list if i ever return to 555

[Monsta]

He is right you know !

of all the pointless blither in there about license regulations that a user forgets the minute they pass
there is not ONE mention of this very basic process which is a universal constant for ALL radio users
Glaring omission? ...

I don't care whose Xmas list I am on or off. If i have made some people aware of injustice and have started a useful dialogue
then i have achieved my aim. I was a full time journalist ...and it's what we do

Amateur Radio is sliding into obscurity (sadly) .. free-banding still appears to be flourishing. I welcome the crossover individuals that come from CB and the Triple as IMHO we need them to keep our hobby alive... that's all I am saying.
But to be a radio Amateur needs to be something to aspire to, and be proud of ....Whats the point of being part of club that is so easy pre-school children can get in ?

How does one "SWR an antenna" anyway?

I've looked over the Foundation, Intermediate and Full license books and can't seem to find the procedure described anywhere...

[Yeti]

Well I guess when i read their Syllabus (extract below)

8f.1 Demonstrate connecting a transmitter/receiver to a power supply,
antenna and feeder. (i would assume being able to make or at least recognize good connections)

8g.1 Demonstrate, using a 1/2 dipole antenna with adjustable elements, that
the SWR varies as the length of the elements are varied. Set up the dipole for minimum SWR.
(do we REALLY think this was done,what did they do ...hold her on their shoulders)

Firstly, there's nothing in the syllabus that says you have to fit the plugs to the feeder (or even that the feeder has to be coax!).

Secondly, the SWR on a dipole thing is done at my club using a 2m one with telescopic elements, sitting on the desk.

[Monsta]

Your right of course...

but the essence here is DOES the M6 have the relevance to turn out decent radio operators onto the bands?
or is the test woefully inadequate, pitifully simplistic and is now so ill-considered by other amateurs that M3/6 regularly
get ignored, slated, barracked whilst attempting to gain acceptance?

I mean for years they have been saying the test was so easy that even a pre-school child could pass it ....and guess what?
That has just been proven true

Radio is MORE than that ....if all there is to it is twiddling the VFO and saying "five and nine" then whats the point ...Its a great gateway to knowledge on electronics, to speak to different people and cultures ....but a lot of the M6 these days originally took it so they could legitimize their home antennas in the face of planning queries ....it looks like "Buzby-Fear" has been replaced by "Neighbour-phobia"

come on Yeti! ...you MUST be at least a closet M0, and i am taking mine next month ....whats it all about (Alfie?)

[Repeater User.]

DOES the M6 have the relevance to turn out decent radio operators onto the bands?

It is good mentoring at any licence level along with experience that makes good radio operators , not what callsign you have.

[thedeerhunter270]

I found this over on CT - an old RAE paper from 1973. I think this is just a part of the full paper.

I don't think it is that hard to be honest, not sure what the pass mark was though.

Edit:

And a few more here

[Monsta]

i just printed this and handed it to next years 4 yr old girl, she hadn't got a clue really, but by the time i finished reading it to her, pointing out the right boxes for to tick and after 3 goes ...what do you know ....I have found ANOTHER prodigy!,
i stuck a modulator on a biccie tin and asked her to pull on the whip..Bingo SWR knowledge demonstrated ...practical over
..she passed!

I mean she is playing with a peppa pig doll, now ...but i hope to get her on top band later on the old heavy compression pileup busting action ....screaming at the "fake fijis"

....obviously some DX she can't hope to get, as she has to be in bed for 7pm ...but there you go

[mof000]

i just printed this and handed it to next years 4 yr old girl, she hadn't got a clue really, but by the time i finished reading it to her, pointing out the right boxes for to tick and after 3 goes ...what do you know ....I have found ANOTHER prodigy!,
i stuck a modulator on a biccie tin and asked her to pull on the whip..Bingo SWR knowledge demonstrated ...practical over
..she passed!

I mean she is playing with a peppa pig doll, now ...but i hope to get her on top band later on the old heavy compression pileup busting action ....screaming at the "fake fijis"

....obviously some DX she can't hope to get, as she has to be in bed for 7pm ...but there you go

Bed by 7pm...... come on it is school holidays and not long till she starts reception!!!!

[Monsta]

so why when i am ear-wigging on 2/70 do i hear no end of M3/M6 bashing and keying out.

One M5 even admitted to doing it ...Why? ..because when he gets keyed out its obviously one of them..... "F**king CB/M3/M6 D**heads" ....and "they are not going to get away way with it, they should never have been allowed on 2 and 70 with a corn-flake pack license" ...."its because of them bas***ds we are all moving to D-Star, they should have them Baofengs banned off eBay" etc etc ...I am sure we have all heard it before


..so where does this lead to ...well i can tell you where it leads to...All the new users club together and feel bitter about how they are getting treated and before long they single out certain Radio hams for the TREATMENT. The hams get wound up and so they (believing it to be CB users doing it) start to Blanket Chanel 19 UKFM and the triple with Marching Music, Multitone Bleeps and Echoes and sound effects ...Only recently around here suspicion was levelled at a CB user only for 2 mobiles to work out the QRM was in fact coming from a house with a 5 element and rotator on the roof and a long wire ...(sigh)

It is good mentoring at any licence level along with experience that makes good radio operators , not what callsign you have.

[Yeti]

Your right of course...

but the essence here is DOES the M6 have the relevance to turn out decent radio operators onto the bands?
or is the test woefully inadequate, pitifully simplistic and is now so ill-considered by other amateurs that M3/6 regularly
get ignored, slated, barracked whilst attempting to gain acceptance?

I mean for years they have been saying the test was so easy that even a pre-school child could pass it ....and guess what?
That has just been proven true

Radio is MORE than that ....if all there is to it is twiddling the VFO and saying "five and nine" then whats the point ...Its a great gateway to knowledge on electronics, to speak to different people and cultures ....but a lot of the M6 these days originally took it so they could legitimize their home antennas in the face of planning queries ....it looks like "Buzby-Fear" has been replaced by "Neighbour-phobia"

come on Yeti! ...you MUST be at least a closet M0, and i am taking mine next month ....whats it all about (Alfie?)

I never said it wasn't too easy. In fact, the Intermediate is so easy that I do agree that it should be the starting level.

And closet M0 nothing... I'm not in any closet!

[bigpimp347]

The funniest part of this thread is the OP. RAE holder with an abnormally large stash of, what looks like illegal CB's spending what appears to be most of his time on 555 & Ch19 (monitoring of course ) talking about a drop in standards.

and guess what ??
i don't give a sh1t..!!
i worked hard for my RAE and did an easy 5wpm to gain a now sought after A/B licence and for what ??
to find out amateur radio is full of bigger clowns than on CB..!!
'you get out of it what you put into it' is what i was told,
so i did, i did SSTV, RTTY o even set up a packet BBS and Node, worked 130 countries in one month on 10mtrs and for what ??
30 second QSO's..contest every other weekend.
OAP's on 2mtrs chatting boolox about their daily intake of tablets to keep the dreary old farts alive..
oh and don't get me started with this new foundation thing...'some' of the sh1t thats being allowed to ruin what 'was' a good hobby..

note i said 'some' there are genuine foundation licence holders out there......somewhere..
and a load of CBer fcukwits everywhere else, and mostly near me..!!

so i tend to play CB, where i started 30 odd years ago, and what i enjoy, i don't forget my roots like a lot of these clueless morons on the bands now days..

[Adriano9966]

I think most of us are in agreement that in order for this little girl to pass the rules have been bent .The whole concept of someone having a 'reader' is to aid people with disabilities (eg the blind or those who cant read due to dispraxia or dislexia) and not to get 5 year old children onto ham radio.Personally I am outraged by this as I think ham radio should be open to all that meet the criteria,but for me this is just a perversion of the rules .a stunt

I hold an intermediate licence and I will be the first to admit that I hardly know diddly squat about radio but that does not make me less enthusiastic or a bad operator.Once enthusiasts get on to ham radio they can learn ,develop whilst operating and by following examples set by more experienced hams.Many new operators have done just this and have gone on to achieve greater things

I have already said this many times Amatuer radio the clue is in the title
"self development in the field of telecommunications"

For fairly obvious reasons no reasonable person would be in favour of a five year old child holding a licence but would we feel the same thing about eg a 10 year old cub scout??? Surely it depends on the persons attitude and how responsible someone is?? I did my foundation course over several weeks and had to drive 22 miles to Stratford upon avon every Monday morning giving up half of my day off work .

When people dedicate time and effort and have the enthusiasm and a good attitude surely they deserve their licence ???

I would also be against the pass in a weekend course for the above motives
however I respectfully disagree that the test should be made harder because we need to make space for people of all abilities....ability is not the issue in my opinion ...its the bad attitude of a few individuals who are ruining things for everyone else ...a matter for ofcom perhaps??????