I just got my General Amateur Radio license, like 2-3 weeks ago. I picked up a very nice, lightly used ICOM 7300 transceiver, but I don’t yet have a suitable antenna (it’s on its way, an off-center fed multi band antenna that I plan to set up in the back yard).
In the meantime, I’ve got about 30 feet of 14-gauge wire stretched around the room with the end “plugged” into the center conductor of the antenna jack on the back. I do NOT DARE to key up the mike, since it is nowhere near a matched impedance, but I am able to receive (sometimes noisy) generally within about 600 miles, and sometimes, across the country with one guy in Italy coming through pretty clear over the weekend. I just listen for now. 7 and 14 MHZ are really pretty good, a little on 3.5 too, but until I get a proper antenna installed, I don’t think I’m going to get anything excellent.
I’m watching this thread just to maybe become familiar with a few freeper-hams that might be lurking about.
Side question - does anybody know where on the dial, the ultra-conservative hams hang out?
Get an antenna tuner and cross needle power/SWR meter. A noise bridge is helpful for initial no TX matching. Gigaparts or HRO are good sources.
Look where the nets aren’t. Usually on the lower end but also scattered about. I hear a round table discussion the is wide ranging from antenna theory to the latest political theory.
For me I shy away from the political content. I use ham radio as a hobby and escape from the day to day sludge of politics. That is me. Your enjoyment is yours
It’s funny because I really don’t hear much politics but go to Reddit and there are a lot of complaints about old farts talkie politics