K3NCO

I first got interested in radio by listening to shortwave broadcasts on an old 1937 Sears Silvertone all-band police radio. First licensed as KN3NCO in 1960 (back when a novice license was only good for 1 year), my first contact was made with a used Knight Kit T-50 transmitter (crystal controlled, of course) picked up at a hamfest and that same Sears radio – and no BFO!! I was hooked, and went through a range of borrowed and rebuilt receivers all from about the same era, eventually picking up a Hallicrafters SX-16 Super Skyrider. I was forced to upgraded to Technician as my year came to a close, unable to get any faster than 12 WPM. In those days Technicians were restricted to the VHF bands and above in those days, even though you had passed a 5 WPM code exam as well as the General class written exam. With little chance to practice CW, I remained a Technician for about 19 years. We actually had A2 (modulated CW) practice sessions after school on 6 meter AM for a while, but all it did was keep me vaguely in practice. Eventually, the FCC decided to grant novice HF privileges to technicians as well, and I got on 40 meters with a dipole that was barely 7 feet off the ground at the feedpoint and an old Heathkit HW-100 that I eventually installed a CW crystal filter in. Listening to W1AW and lots of on-the-air practice with real QSOs eventually brought the speed up and I got my Advanced ticket. This was followed about a year later with my Extra class ticket.

Over the years I have been involved in satellites and repeaters, DX and ragchewing, CW, AM, FM, SSB and PSK31 - a little of everything I guess. I am a lifetime member of ARRL, AMSAT, IDXF, and 10-X and have been involved for a large number of years with QRP, all the while picking up states, counties, and countries, and whatever else people use in keeping score, although I have not gotten around to sending in for any awards for these collections.

In the following pages I hope to put together a set of notes useful for people planning on taking an amateur license exam. These notes are based on the material I put together for a class I taught at my office, where the audience consisted of scientists and engineers, so some background education is assumed. The class was aimed mostly at people who were trying to get their entry-level Technician class ticket, although two members of the class were licensed shortly after the class began. This class was not intended on teaching you how to pass the exam, but rather to provide some background understanding of amateur practices and principles that would supplement existing exam question lists and the FCC Part 97 regulations.

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