General Information
- What's Ham Radio? Find out here, from the ARRL. Best general intro page I've seen on the web.
- Amateur Radio from Yahoo
- Newsline Report
- eHam.net - online articles and discussion groups
Organizations, Groups and Clubs
- FCC - Federal Communications Commission
- ARRL - American Radio Relay League
- Divisions: [Southwestern] [Pacific]
- Sections: [Arizona] [Los Angeles] [Orange] [San Diego] [Santa Barbara]
- 6th District QSL Bureau.
Others: 0 1 2 3 4 5 7 8 9 etc - W5YI Group
- AMSAT- Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation.
- TAPR - Tucson Amateur Packet Radio. These are the guys who invented packet radio.
- QCWA - Quarter Century Wireless Association. Prove you were a ham 25 years ago and you can join. Whee, I can't wait to be called an "Old Man."
- Courage HANDI-HAM System - this organization is by and for people with disabilities who would otherwise find it difficult to become hams.
California Clubs and Organizations
- Northern California:
- ARRL Pacific Division
- Mt. Vaca Radio Club
- cAVe - California Amateur VHF Enthusiasts
- YARS - Yolo County Amateur Radio Society
- K6IS - North Hills Radio Club, Sacramento CA.
- Southern California:
- ARRL Southwestern Division
- TASMA - Two-meter Area Spectrum Management Association
- 220 SMA - 220 MHz Spectrum Management Association
- SCRRBA - Southern California Repeater and Remote Base Association
- Lake Isabella Amateur Radio Association
- K6OX - Antelope Valley Amateur Radio Club
- Ham Radio In The High Desert (Barstow... gateway to Daggett!)
- W6JW - Santa Clarita Amateur Radio Club
- SMRA - Sulphur Mtn Repeater Association
- San Fernando Valley Repeaters and local ham classes and exams.
- MARS - Metropolitan Amateur Repeater System
- Valley Good Guys
- W6VIO - Jet Propulsion Laboratory Amateur Radio Club
- BOMB Squad - Best of Mt Baldy
- KPRA - Keller Peak Radio Association
- N6ENV Repeater Group
- BARC - Baldwin Hills Amateur Radio Club
- SANDRA - San Diego Repeater Association
- W6NWG - Palomar Amateur Radio Club
- ECRA - East County Repeater Association (San Diego and Imperial Counties)
- CORA - Cactus Open Repeater Association (San Diego)
- Some Open Linked Systems:
- Intercity Network
- WALA Linked Repeater System
- Mountain Repeater Association (220 MHz system)
- Condor Connection (220 MHz system)
- Calzona Link (California and Arizona)
- ZIA Connection (RIP, tnx for the memories)
Great Pages about Specific Ham Interests
- Official PSK31 Page - find out all about this new digital mode. If you're using a computer with a sound card, you already have much of what you need (other than a transceiver) to get on the air with it.
- W4RNL's Antenna Pages. This guy discusses nearly every HF antenna with very detailed articles from his appearances at Dayton and other ham conventions.
- APRS - Automatic Position Reporting System
- APRS - A different site from someone else
- IRLP - Internet Radio Linking Project
- N2JEU's HF Internet remote base software
- AB5P's Transmitter Hunting Page
- KB6MMF's Amateur Television Network
- Ashley's Space World by WB5OTD
- SAREX - Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment
- SpaceNews (ham satellite newsletter, published each Monday)
- N6FRI's APRS/GPS Page
- Slow Scan Television
- KN6LA's California 6 Meter List
- N0IAK's Colorado Amateur Radio
- KB7PZS's Utah Amateur Radio
- NL7J's Alaska Amateur Radio
- WZ1V's Northeast Weak Signal VHF Pages
- WA7S tells you how to make your own QSL cards!
Callsign Lookup
- WM7D Callsign Database
- QRZ Callsign Database
- Buckmaster World Wide HamCall™ Server
Practice License Exams
- HamExam Practice Exams
- AA9PW's Amateur Radio Exam Practice
- More information on Studying, Classes and VE Testing in this area
Vanity Callsigns
- Vanity Callsign HQ - Go here first.
- QRZ.com - this has other useful tips.
- FCC's FAQ about Vanity Callsigns. Study it carefully.
- ULS page at FCC - where you actually apply for your vanity call.
Companies
- Manufacturers:
- Dealers:
- Ham Radio Outlet
- Jun's Electronics
- Amateur Electronic Supply
- Austin
- Texas Towers
- Burghardt
- Forrest Communications Co.
- All Electronics (best junkstore there is!)
- QSL Card Printers:
- QSL Shop - good photo work but pricey.
- FDS Graphics - ditto.
- Octavia - nice looking cards, but Russian customs can delay shipping from these guys for months.
- Star Quality QSLs (WX9X) - good designs, unfortunately every other ham seems to have the same card.
- Rusprint - reasonable selection and prices.
- W4MPY - more cookie-cutter cards.
- QSL Card Printer - cheap and quick and simple, and you have to admire this Canadian's spirit.
Solar Conditions and Propagation
Important in almost all ham bands, 160 meters all the way to UHF.- Todays Space Weather
- DRAO 10cm Solar Radio Noise Patrol
- Solar images at SDAC
- Current Solar Cycle Charts
- Current Propagation Report - lots of charts!
- Propagation Forecast Bulletins (from the ARRL)
- Solar Cycle Progression
- Aurora Activity
- MUF Map - updated hourly. Shows shortwave propagation information for the whole world, including the Gray Line. Page also has detailed explanations, quite nice.
- Earth View
- U.S. Weather Map - may be useful for specialized work with VHF tropospheric scatter and ducting, etc.
And other assorted stuff
- The Ham Shack -
a
Club. There are a bunch of
other clubs there too.
LIVE AUDIO:
- Cal-Net: 440 MHz repeaters in California - [Live audio, (requires RealPlayer)] [Web site]
- IRLP: Worldwide repeater linking via the Internet - [Live audio] [Web site]
- MAPS: [Azimuthal] [US Calls] [Canadian] [Prefix Map] [Int'l Prefixes] [ITU Zones] [CQ Zones] [Grids] [Others]
- US Amateur Bands Chart - annotated, very nice!
- Another Amateur Bands chart from ARRL.
- Heavens Above -
this fantastic site will show you where all of the
ham satellites are in real time,
and give you a list of the passes for the next 24 hours.
You'll need to specify your QTH; once you do that, bookmark the page
so you can access it easily (I can't do everything for you!).
Here's some around these parts for convenience:
[My QTH in Van Nuys] [Los Angeles] [San Francisco] [San Diego] [Phoenix] [Las Vegas] [Reno] [Salt Lake City] - How to find your own Grid Square coordinates
- Top Ham Radio Movies!
- Ham Radio as depicted on TV shows!
- Icom V21AT, X21AT, W21AT feature notes
- Hundreds of other Amateur Radio pages. If you can't find something on my own pages, look for it here. If AC6V doesn't know about it, it doesn't exist!
Disclaimer:
