re: Happy Morse Code Day - April 27.

quote:

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When I got my Novice in 1955 I was assigned KN5ABF. A year later I upgraded to General and the N was removed. I got my Amateur Extra Class in 1987.

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And I suppose that took a lot of Morse code given the timeframe. I'd like to get to General at some point. Haven't really thought about Extra yet.

One thing that has surprised me in listening is the amount of GMRS traffic in the Atlanta area. Day to day, GMRS 22 is at least as busy as any of the ham-frequency repeaters. The way they use it seems similar to ham radio, too. There's lots of talk of upgraded sets and antennas, and a lot of the operators say they have amateur licenses as well.

I was not expecting that before I started listening on those channels. Maybe I will get a GMRS license / radio at some point (not really supposed to run true ham radios on GMRS) but I've actually enjoyed studying for the technician-class license. It's kind of a "crash course" or refresher in some interesting science.