what can i do with a ham radio licence

[Hamradioop]

There’s plenty of fun to be had with ham radio even if you don’t have a license.
You can get a handheld radio to listen in on what’s going on while you are out and about or get a base station/desktop radio.

You can listen to activities on local repeaters. Repeaters allow ham radio operators to talk locally, they send a signal to a repeater and it transmits the signal to other radios in the area. You can listen in to their conversations or to Nets, regular ham meet us on repeaters that discuss a certain topic.

A larger desktop radio with a longer antenna will also be able to receive amateur HF communications sent directly from ham radios around the world, you can listen to conversations from places like Germany, Kazakhstan, or Japan.

You could start to learn morse code. http://www.justlearnmorsecode.com Although no longer a requirement morse code is an efficient means of communication and will work when other modes will not.http://www.g4fon.net/CW%20Trainer.htm

A PDF introdution to Amateur radio can be found here: http://thersgb.org/publications/alex-di ... -radio.pdf
Don't be put off by the cartoons it is full of good relevant info.

[Wulfshead]

Hamradioop,
Do you know if morse is still required for the foundation licence ?

Wulfshead

[Briggs 2.0]

Hamradioop,
Do you know if morse is still required for the foundation licence ?

Wulfshead

A basic understanding is required. Your examiner will relay a message in morse and you have to translate, and vice versa. You can have the alphabet open in front of you so it's not necessary to know all the letters and numbers, however a bit of knowledge will give you a better chance of keeping up with the code.

[Wulfshead]

Thanks Briggs
I best get studying.

Wulfshead

[Hamradioop]

Part of the Foundation examination is talking on a HF radio and VHF Radio and a morse appreciation. The examiner will give you a crib sheet to translate Morse to English at about 5 words a minute. and unless it has changed you will be required to use a Morse key to send a short message in Morse code.
The Morse code can be found here http://www.nadars.org.uk/morse.asp and common Morse code abbreviations can be found Here http://www.nadars.org.uk/cwabbs.asp

[Wulfshead]

Thanks Hamradioop, very helpful

Wulfshead

[SkyWatcher]

Just out of curiosity, who "polices" the airwaves and how would they know if you have a licence or not?

[Hamradioop]

Just out of curiosity, who "polices" the airwaves and how would they know if you have a licence or not?

the Government body is Ofcom and there are Volunteer Monitors and usually you will fall foul of the local Hams who guard their treasure as fierce as any Dragon LOL.