cb to ham

well ,finally bite the bullet , as a youngster on 27/81( for use oldies lol )  days, always said I would,  ld do my ham radio licence ,well now that time has come.
 Bought a cst 9900 ,enrolled with Essex ham  and GM6DX  but if anybody has other any other online info/courses and any recommendations for a 10 to 12 mhz mobile antenna,bearing in mind it will be swrd to uk fm ,im all ears and appreciate the input 73s and 88s

Hi Kevin,

Congratulations on deciding to take your Ham ticket and may I wish you the very best of luck with it all.

I took mine with Essex Ham and must say that Pete and the gang are just the best!

Like you I started my radio adventures with CB back in the day but only took my ticket a year or so back, (about flipping time whilst I've still got a few years left in me! ) Got to say I've never had so much radio fun!

I wouldn't worry about cramming too much info into the old noggin, the Essex Ham course is more than enough to successfully pass your Foundation.


As for antenna suggestions I have a friend that runs a CB whip atop his van and uses an autotuner to give him 12m to 10m. There's probably some other, maybe better suggestions that someone might pop up with for you.


Again, the very best of luck and do let us all know how you get on. (I'm sure you'll pass no problem. )


All the best,
Victor

Cheers Victor, , but always said i would do my ham licence ( getting back into the hobby , nows the time ).
yea started back in the day ,on 27/81 , when you still needed a licence from the dti .                           
    Giving my age away lol
Fingers crossed i pass ,if im honest its circuits that give me the fear , says the person who has an "o" grade in physics .
But being mostly a static mobile station , dont want to much crap on dashboard ,so would rather have just on antenna covering bands, if truth be told im looking at sirio 5000 but i know it only covers 27 to 28.5 mhz ,not 10 to 12 m, all the best  Victor 73s and 88s kevin

No worries there Kevin.

I was going to get my Ham ticket many moons ago but that was back in the day of the RAE City & Guilds and every time the courses were cancelled due to the number of people dropping out. After that it became about attending a 'club' and I never did find a good one!

I'm clocking a few more years than you mate and unfortunately nowadays a housebound cripple so opportunities like Essex Ham and taking online examinations was all the push I needed to finally do it.

Don't be worrying about electronic circuits and the like because you won't find any of that stuff on the Foundation thank heavens. (You don't need to be a car mechanic to drive a car, same with radio!) You will be expected to know some silly facts for the 'hoop-jumping' like how far away the ionosphere extends, (weirdly in kilometres), or knowing you can't transmit within 100km of Charing Cross.

They're also not expecting you to be a master of memory either and there's a handy sheet or chart you can refer to during the exam with the band plans/frequencies on there as well as a couple of other useful items. This is all about getting good operators who will check or look up specifics, not simply guess.

Pete at Essex Ham will give you all you need to pass the exam and remember you only need 19 questions right out of 26 to gain your ticket.

I'd say forget what you think you know, follow the course which is very enjoyable and build your confidence up knowing that you can do this. 

The worst that can happen is you miss the exam by a point or two and as you'd say up there in Scotland it's "nae bother" as you can always take it again.

Stick with it, you'll do alright and hopefully I'll even maybe bump into you on the bands one of these days.


All the best to you,
Victor

Hi Kevin. On the mobile antenna, I don't know of one that would cover 10m through 12m well just on its own. Victor's suggestion of using a CB whip with a tuner is probably the easiest way to go.

If you are just going to do static mobile work though, that would open up more options. Couple of suggestions would be a telescopic whip something like the MFJ-1979 seems quite popular currently which you can extend to match many bands. Or if you like to save your pennies and don't care what it looks like, maybe get a CB 1/4 wave steel whip, prune it for 10m and just add a little extra stiff wire on top with a choc block for 11m and a bit longer one for 12m.

I wish you all the best on working through obtaining your licence. Many helpful people here if you have any questions.

Cheers for the reply's guys , SangueG, im currently using a sirio147 swrd to uk  fm , its ok on am(cept) but usb/lsb ,not getting anywhere ,rx or tx ,but defo looking for one that i can swr and covers the bands , and i have been surfing the net with no luck so far , ,closest i have come is on the thunderpole site and yep , no stock , typical of my luck lol !
Victor thanks for the words of encouragement ,and i also mind city and guilds as i have 3 in a totaly different field ,as for Charing cross  ,was always half p$%sed passing through it (back in the day ) when getting leave ,from Aldershot ,or totaly p£$sed ,on the way to Wembley/Twickenham  for the internationals 73s guys

Kevin
Stop looking for that aerial as you won't find a mobile one that will cover 10-11-&12m bands.
The tuner suggestion would be the way to go.
You can get a Chinese ATU-100 i think it is called and don't cost a fortune plus you can get it with an internal battery as well.
As SangueG (Neal) said you could tune a whip down to 10 then add a extra bit for 11 or even 12 with the choc-block idea.
The test well if i can pass then you can lol took mine weeks after our Victor and with a lot of encouragement from him as well as my old head is like a sieve but did it first time also did the Essex-ham course as well.
You can get an app on your phone or tab with mock tests witch helps doing them over and over every time a new set of questions.
Ps. I am dyslexic and that didn't help but i told myself to read the question 3 times ??/ helps lol.

i have gone the other way Ham to Cb as my first hobby is cb and got lots of fun and still getting lots of fun with the cb and pmr, this is not a dig at ham its just me , this week had some great contacts on 555 USB AM and mid band fm i knew ham was not got any kick, like cb has for me have thought about this a long time and i am happy at that, but please this not a ham v cb and i happy at that

well thats the exam booked for tuesday  the 24th of may

Alan Pilot wrote:

Kevin
Stop looking for that aerial as you won't find a mobile one that will cover 10-11-&12m bands

Yaesu ATAS-120 covers it, plus 160 to 70cms, pricey though.

pity i don't have a yeasu rig Alan or that would have been ideal ,looks like its an amu/atu ,though i hate extras in the motor , but there's always blu-tak lol

Quote :

 well thats the exam booked for tuesday  the 24th of may

Well did you pass ?

Well I hope you passed, but as 10m starts at 28.0 MHz and 12m ends at 24.99 MHz the best compromise would be a CB Base Loaded Whip and an Auto ATU, as at least it won't be 10ft tall as a 1/4 wave if it's base loaded, something tuned to 27.1 MHz would be ideal, as it's less work for the ATU.

However, its not a lot of work, so you don't need perfection.

Also, if you get an M7 Licence, you'd have a lot more fun on 40m and 20m, as then you'd work the entire World normally, and not need the elusive multi-hop conditions at higher frequencies.  The bands open at different times of the day, to different parts of the World, so if you're out mobile and 40m starts going quiet, pull over and swap the whips, and operate on 20m for the rest of your journey, and vice versa, its a two minute job screwing in another 3/8 Whip into a Mag Mount.

Dave P  i did , flew through it , and even have my callsign MM7RKJ

Great news there Kevin about you passing Foundation and very pleased for you. Well done!

Hope to catch you on the bands one of these days.

73
Victor