General Class!

Wow, I’m really falling behind! It’s been 8 months since earning my Technician class. In those months, I’ve built myself out quite the set-up. My Yaesu VX-7R has served me well, and I’ve added a Yaesu FT-100 to my collection. The joy about the FT-100 is that it’s a mobile HF radio – it goes great in my car, and it does all bands (160m to 70cm). In my most recent article, I mentioned I made my first HF contact (on 10 meters, with a guy near Sacramento, CA).

Well, this week I reached a long-time goal: I earned my general class license! I am now licensed to operate on all amateur radio bands! Pretty exciting, frankly.

So the day after I earned my tech, I hopped onto the 160, 80, 40 and 20 meter bands to make my first General contact. And sure enough – next thing I knew, I was chatting with Hector, XE2GAG, in Ensenada, Mexico (about an hour south of San Diego).

Just goes to show you, you can do just about anything you set your mind to. Eight months ago, I had only heard about amateur radio once (when I was living in Virginia, my buddy Fred told me we’d be able to chat together, even though he lived in Washington at the time). Now I’m learning about HF and the big wavelength bands.