One of the most important pieces of equipment in your Ham Shack is your SWR Meter. If you don't keep track of your SWR(standing wave ratio) you can easily damage your expensive Ham Radio. Just imagine running 1500 watts of power and it goes out the coaxial cable ,up the antenna, can't make it out and comes right back down to your Ham Radio. Chances are your going to cook your finals and then it's time to visit the repair shop. It can get damaged so bad that it may end up on Ebay for parts. I can't count the number of times I heard someone back in the day running lots of power and their modulation sounded like their nose was pinched. The next thing you know they are off the Radio. I remember speaking to them a few days later only to find that they cooked their radio. You never know when something loosened up on your antenna and their you are transmitting with no place to go. I mean your power has no place to go.
Here is a list below of some of the popular brands.
So my advise is get a good SWR Meter for your Ham Shack. Mine is always in line, so I can always keep an eye on it. There are quite a few different brands to choose from. My advise is to check out the reviews on eham.net and read what fellow Hams are saying about the various brands and models. I would definitely choose one that has good power ratings and covers quite a few bands. Prices do vary on the different models, so don't go too cheap. You can search through the Amazon Store below the posts or check out one of my other blogs. Thank You for reading from Dan KC2YTI 73s.
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Studying for your Ham Radio License is really a hard task. My advise is to purchase the ham radio book or manual and start studying today. There are 3 ham radio licenses that you will need to in so that you can transmit on a particular band and frequency. Your first license is the Technician and you can transmit on most uhf and vhf bands. The second license is the General and most hams don't go further due to being able to transmit on most HF Bands, Uhf and Vhf Bands. You can however go for the Extra License and transmit on all the ham radio bands.
If I were going to suggest any books or manuals I would recommend the ARRL License Manuals or the books written by Gordon West. They are written in a way that makes it to remember and provides you with an excellent source of knowledge. These books and manuals are worth every penny. Once you have studied your ham radio books or ARRL Manuals your ready to take the test. There are plenty of websites where you can practice taking the tests. If you feel confident, then I would check out the local college or see when the hamfest is coming to town. It does not cost anything to take the test, just some of your time. |