re: Does anyone still use ham radios?

quote:

---

How hard is it to learn for someone who knows nothing about communications? Seems like a very good skill in times of disaster

---

I knew nothing about it before Katrina. After Katrina, hospital staff were encouraged to become HAMs, they even paid for the testing. I became a HAM about a year later.

If you buy the book, you can pass the test, it isn't hard stuff at all. You don't even have to know Morse code anymore, which I think kept a lot of people out.

LC

quote:

---

TigerTatorTots

---

Believe me, knowing what to do and passing the tests are two different things. Knowing comes from doing, so once you're licensed, you'll learn continually. I've been at it for 30 years, since I was 13. I still learn.

Passing the test is another. If anyone has mastered Tigerdroppings, you can pass the test. The hobby has seriously been dumbed down, to the point where an 8 year old memorized the pool and passed the highest license class. Not old enough to pay a fine for operating illegally, but old enough to memorize the book. There are those who would disagree with me. The knowledge is there, there are still smart hams. But because the tests are so easy now, there are a bunch that shouldn't and wouldn't have passed a test 30 years ago.