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Design, build, hack....zap and repeat!

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

So I went to the Portage Amateur Radio Club HamFair today (7/28/13) to see what nifty little pieces, parts and gadgets I could pick up on the cheap. And I did find some inexpensive variable capacitors. Check out this bounty for $6 bucks:

variable capacitors

Bounty from the hamfest, variable capacitors

Unfortunately, this hamfest wasn’t that well attended or participated and I was all done walking through all the tables and car trunks. . . three times in 90 minutes. I even caroused around with some of my fellow CFARC members to see if they found anything. I thought, what a bummer. I had budgeted more mad money than 6 bucks and had hoped there would have been more displays and vendors. Oh well, it was still a fruitful endeavor and started back to the car.

On the way out I noticed a sign that read “VE Exams.” Thinking “what the hell. . .” I’ve been reading the Extra Class License Manual off and on, and trying some practice tests and study material from HamTestOnline, and I’ve got time to kill, so why not!  I took the plunge, paid my $15 dollars and sat for the Extra.

You may have guessed. . . by the title of this blog post. . . that I passed! I didn’t ace it, I’m such a perfectionist, but I did get 44 out of 50 questions correct. You need 37 or better to pass. You may remember back last year when I got my General that I also tried for the Extra, but failed. That time I only got 22 of 50 correct. So I doubled my score. See what a little reading and practice can do!

Now I’ll go and listen through the “Extra Only” frequency allocations and see what this top-of-the-heap license can do for me. See you on the airwaves!

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