[WARC] Advice on equipment to get started.

[Len Litvan]

David,

Congratulations on getting your license!  You should enjoy this hobby 
and service--I certainly hope so.

You ask some interesting questions--and not all that easy to answer as 
far as I am concerned....  A handheld transceiver is a good way top get 
started.  Make sure you get one which is appropriate for use with 
digital as well as phone operations if your interest is in digital.  I 
have a Kenwood TH-F6A which is a 2 meter, 1.25 meter, 70 cm unit with 
TNC capability for data.  I've never used it for data--my exploration of 
data has been strictly HF bands.

I don't know what's available for Mac machines relating to ham radio.  I 
do know that it is somewhat limited.  My wife has a Mac, but I have used 
a Windows laptop (or three) for the past ten years or so.  I've had my 
license less than six years, so I began ham operations under a Windows 
PC environment.  One of our radio club members, Lance KB0YJU, uses Macs 
for many activities, maybe he can be of help.  Otherwise, use the 
Internet search engines or find a Yahoo Mac/ham radio group and learn 
from them.

Another issue has to do with digital on VHF/UHF vs HF.  My data 
experience--what little of it there is--has been in the HF bands.  You 
might want to participate in some of the Winona radio club activities to 
get some help.  The club is a good source of "Elmers" to help newcomers 
learn quickly.  Ham radio has soooo many different activities, an 
experienced person or two can really help a newcomer.  See the club 
website <http://www.w0ne.org>for upcoming activities.  The breakfasts 
offer a good time to meet people and find someone who might be able to 
help you with specific needs.

Again, welcome to ham radio, David!!!  I look forward to meeting you in 
person soon.

73,
Len KC0RSX



David Russell wrote:
> Greetings,
>
> I've fairly recently obtained my Technician Class License and am 
> seeking advice and input on what equipment I should buy.  Right now 
> I'm considering getting a hand-held radio and am pretty sure I want to 
> be able to use the 2M band for both audio and data.  Beyond that I 
> think I might also like to be able to use the 6M and 70cm band.  For 
> voice operation I'm not too concerned and am sure just about any radio 
> would be reasonable to start with.  It's the data I'm concerned about.
>
> I have an Intel MacBook and that is the computer I would be using for 
> most things.  I realize that most people are using Windows and maybe a 
> few Linux and that's always a possibility but I'd really prefer to not 
> have to boot into another OS or run a virtual machine.  I'm very 
> familiar with computers and software and can even program but I'm 
> pretty clueless about hardware and Amateur Radio in general.
>
> Initially I'd like to be able to do the common things such as standard 
> RTTY and the like but eventually I'd also like to experiment with less 
> common and maybe even new encoding and modulation types.
>
> Any advice or input is welcome.
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
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