On Wednesday 17th March 2004 (St. Patricks Day and no doubt I shall have a few Guinness’), I will be taking my Foundation Amateur Radio license exam. I am sure I will pass.
Nowadays you can choose the last 3 letters of the callsign if available but will start M3. I was thinking that some of the following would be possible good selections:-
• GAD (As in Gadget17)
• GIB (From Surname)
• PDG (Initials)
• JCP or DWP (from Work not great selections)
• NOK (As in Nokia)
• AAS (As in All About Symbian)
I am sure others will be thought of in the time until the exam, but I can’t think of anymore right now.
On Saturday 20th March 2004, I shall be flying off to Nice France (with EasyJet to visit my Uncle briefly to collect an Amateur Radio HF transceiver. It’s a Kenwood TS-50
Here is what Kenwood say about the Radio:-
TS-50S: Mount it in a vehicle, take it on a DX-pedition or use it as a permanent base station transceiver and you’ll see that the compact TS-50S packs a hefty punch. The easy to use menu system adds flexibility and the powerful cooling fan with heat sink ensures stable operation in any situation.
Features: 160M TO 10M Amateur band operation with 500kHz to 30MHz general coverage receiver, DDS (Direct Digital Synthesizer) with fuzzy control, 100 Memory channels, Switchable AGC circuit (SLOW/FAST), IF shift, Noise blanker (pulse), Dual VFOs (A & B), and Outstanding performance
Specifications
General
| Antenna Impedance | 50 ohms |
| Dimensions (W x H x D) | 7-1/16 x 2-3/8 x 9-3/16 in (179 x 60 x 233 mm) |
| Frequency Stability | less than ±10×10-6, less than ±0.5×10-6 with SO-2 |
| Memory Channels | 100 |
| Mode | A1A (CW), J3E (SSB), A3E (AM), F3E (FM) |
| Operating Temperature Range | -20° – 60°C |
| Power Consumption Receive | 1.45A |
| Power Consumption Transmit | 20.5A |
| Power Requirement | 13.8V DC ±15% |
| Weight (approx.) | 6.4lbs (2.9kg) |
Transmitter
| Carrier Suppression | more than 40dB |
| Frequency Range 10m band | 28.0 – 29.7MHz |
| Frequency Range 12m band | 24.89 – 24.99MHz |
| Frequency Range 15m band | 21.0 – 21.45MHz |
| Frequency Range 17m band | 18.068 – 18.168MHz |
| Frequency Range 20m band | 14.0 – 14.35MHz |
| Frequency Range 30m band | 10.1 – 10.15MHz |
| Frequency Range 40m band | 7.0 – 7.3MHz |
| Frequency Range 80m band | 3.5 – 4.0MHz |
| Frequency Range 160m band | 1.8 – 2.0MHz |
| Frequency response | 400 – 2600Hz (less than -10dB) |
| Maximum Frequency Deviation | ± 5kHz |
| Microphone Impedance | 600 ohms |
| Modulation AM | Low Level modulation |
| Modulation FM | Reactance modulation |
| Modulation SSB | Balanced modulation |
| Output Power AM | 25W |
| Output Power SSB, CW, FSK, FM | 100W |
| Spurious Radiation | less than -50dB |
| Unwanted Sideband Suppression | more than 40dB |
Best of luck for the exam gadget.
Rafe
Thanks Rafe. If I am evil, I may wait until the Pub Meet to let AAS members know if I have passed! 🙂
I contacted the Radio License Centre earlier this week and all the M3 call-signs up to FUB had gone, so a couple of choices were out. The next call-sign after FUB will be FUD as apparently rude call-signs are not available for issue. I have chosen one I like from available list (Not one of the ones I posted), but I am not saying what it is as don’t want someone else to choose it, and I cannot reserve it.