H. Ward Silver - Ham Radio For Dummies

Entering ham radio elmer or ham radio mentor into a search engine turns up lots of resources. Some specialize in helping you study for the exam. Some are organized in a frequently asked questions (FAQ) format. And a few are online forums where you can ask a specific question. You may want to join one of the groups set up specifically to answer questions and offer help to new hams and those studying for the license exam.

When looking for answers in an online forum or email list, check the website’s archives first. It’s likely that others will have had similar questions and you can find your answer right away. This is just good “netiquette.” For example, in the eham.net “Elmer” forum (look in Community > Forums > Elmers) searching for tuning dipole turns up dozens of helpful responses. Along with answering your original question, you are likely to find a lot more information in the archives!

Can you be a mentor? Although you may not think you are ready to mentor someone, you might be the perfect person! Since you are learning about ham radio, you understand very well how other new hams might feel and what questions they might have. Don’t hesitate to take someone else along for the ham radio ride. If you are both studying for the license exam at the same time, you can even mentor each other! Studying together is a great way to learn.

After you succeed in getting your license (and you will!) you are in a great position to help someone else learn and understand the material. The things that were confusing to you might also be confusing to him or her, and you can relate how you figured things out. Advice given by another newcomer can feel less intimidating than from a seasoned “old timer.”

As you progress with ham radio, you’ll acquire some equipment, learn about using it, and have more than a few aha! moments. You might not think you can act as a teacher, but why not give it a try by answering someone’s question. Offer to help a new ham at an operating event or pair up when performing public service. As is often said (and demonstrated), the best way to learn something is to teach it! You were once brand new, too, so don’t hesitate to reach out.

Just like every other human activity, ham radio has online communities in which members discuss the various aspects of the hobby, provide resources, and offer support 24 hours a day. Will these communities replace ham radio? Not likely; the magic of radio is too strong. By their presence, though, they make ham radio stronger by distributing information, cementing relationships, and adding structure.

The number and type of online ham radio resources is increasing every day. There are too many to list here, so your best strategy for finding them is to use a search engine. Of course, you have to know what to look for! The online list of forums and articles under the Community tab at www.eham.net cover a lot of topics.

If you are searching for ham radio information online, be sure to use both ham radio and amateur radio in the search window. Both terms are used interchangeably. By using both, you’ll see a full selection of links and pages.

Everything has a presence online, and ham radio is no different. Just search for ham radio on Facebook, for example, and you’ll find dozens of possibilities, ranging from general-interest clubs to emergency communications to license-exam practice to contesting — and more.

As with all online communities, not everyone behaves perfectly, but I recommend that you give a few of these communities a try and see which of them suits your personal style.

Here are some popular streams of information about amateur radio:

Twitter: twitter.com/amateurradio (@Amateurradio) or search for ham radio topics at twitter.com/search?q=ham+radio

Reddit: www.reddit.com/r/amateurradio and www.reddit.com/r/hamradio

Instagram: #hamradio or #amateurradio

New platforms are being introduced every day — Slack and Discord both have a lot of ham radio content, for example. Use the platform’s search tools to look for ham radio or amateur radio . Most posts and threads will treat those search terms the same so there will be a lot of overlap, but searching for both will find just about everything they have to offer.

The Internet is full of misinformation and, ham radio being a technical hobby, it can be hard to tell the helpful from the inaccurate. If something seems a little too simple for a complicated question, or if you just don't understand the claims, get some second opinions. Asking a mentor often leads to learning something completely new. This is where an experienced mentor can be really helpful!

As a beginner, blogs and individual websites can be very valuable in finding answers to common questions. One blog that’s very helpful for newcomers to amateur radio is KB6NU’s Ham Radio Blog ( www.kb6nu.com ). Run by Dan Romanchik (KB6NU), it offers study guides and news. Dan writes books and guides for newcomers, too.

There’s nothing quite like a demonstration to find out how to do something, such as put on a connector, make a contact, tune an antenna, or assemble a kit. Many video and photo websites are available to speed you on your way to ham radio success; YouTube ( www.youtube.com ) and Instructables ( www.instructables.com/howto/ham+radio/ ) are just two of the options. Instagram ( www.instagram.com ) and Vimeo ( www.vimeo.com ) have quite a few ham radio videos, too. The YouTube channel of Randy Hall (K7AGE — www.youtube.com/user/K7AGE ) has quite a few good instructional videos, for example.

Also available are several nicely produced talk show–style programs that have large followings. Here are a few of my favorites:

Ham Nation on TWiT.TV ( twit.tv/shows ) covers operating and technical topics in an informal and fast-paced format. A new show airs every week.

Ham Radio Now TV ( www.hamradionow.tv ), hosted by David Goldenberg (WØDHG), is a weekly podcast that tackles all sorts of interesting topics. Pearce’s web page lists many other audio and video programs.

Ham Radio Newsline ( www.arnewsline.org ) is a podcast structured like a news program with the latest ham radio-related stories. It is produced by Neil Rapp (WB9VPG).

QSO Today ( www.qsotoday.com ), produced by Eric Guth (4Z1UG and WA6IGR) includes podcasts, videos (mostly interviews), and blog entries. This is a great way to meet some of ham radio’s leaders and learn about specific topics, too.

It’s hard to use a dictionary to look up a word you don’t know how to spell! It can be the same with ham radio. If you don’t know the right name for something, your online search can be pretty frustrating. You can use the Google Images service ( images.google.com ) to help, though. If you have a mental picture of what you’re looking for, describe it in the images search window and click on some images that look right. Then follow the links to the web page the image came from.