Amateur Radio General Class License, Adam Curry
Adam Curry announces he passed the amateur radio General Class license exam and plans to pursue the Extra Class license in December. The hosts discuss the culture of ham radio, including the volunteer examiners and the technical appeal of the hobby. Curry expresses interest in software-defined radio (SDR) and making Morse code popular again.
amateur radio· ham radio· general class license· volunteer examiners· hams· morse code· echolink
00:00 I'm just saying they're idiots, okay? Welcome the Euro Trash to Austin, the capital of the drone star state. In the morning everybody! I'm Adam Curry and where nothing's going on here in northern Silicon Valley i am John C. Dvorak. It is crackpotting buzzkill in the morning! Woohoo with a stinger. John from now on when appropriate thou shalt address me with slash AG
00:44 Oh, you got your... You passed your test? Yes I did. I got my general! You're a general now. You can call me General Adam Curry. General Curry that's right for those of you wondering what are they talking about i took my test yesterday for the amateur radio general class Which I will say you're gonna go for extra you going one more step one more step You better believe it or stab so of course they mean, you know? I did so well on the test that they did what I expect was like hey man Take the extra. You won't have to pay the extra $14
01:23 Did you do that? Of course I did! And I almost passed, I almost passed. It was like... That extra test is...I looked at that and went nah, not even gonna try it If you can pass the extra I will have nothing but incredible respect for you forever December 15th...okay whoa hold on a second I'm glad i was recording December 15th, I'm taking the extra class. I did the test! I almost passed the extra test without studying for it. It was like whoa But here's the thing, it was the same dudes up there. They sit at the little dais, the VEs, the volunteer examiners and they're like, oh man congratulations you passed your general. You did so well we think you should do your extra! I'm like well but if I do my extra and pass it then I won't be able to see you guys next month. And you know what their response was? Hey man, you can always become an examiner! Actually that's true, you can see them every month
02:23 And the same dude was there juggling again. It was pretty funny, it was the same thing Same thing and they don't know who you are They have no clue absolutely zero zero clue and I'm in you know, and I'm looking at this You know, I had a long discussion with miss Mickey about this ham radio stuff which She's like I'm so glad you have a hobby and then she kicked my hobby in the nuts by saying, you know But I do understand why you want to talk with random dudes It's not about random, they're hams. It's not really it's not really about the talking with random dudes and they're like what is what really is it about this that I'm so attracted to? It's not it's not talking to random dudes. I think it has to do with the technology or maybe the magic of... The magic of the radio! This is the magic of the radio, I'm telling you. That's exactly what it is And then so something like I looked at that I saw there was a new episode of Ham Nation
03:24 Came out and like oh, you know now that I understand what's going on. Yeah? I'm gonna watch this episode of ham nation Oh my god There's an hour of my life all never ever have returned to me What was wrong with the show it's I mean all respect to Bob Heil for his microphone But this is like they're showing a guy soldering Literally, watch me solder this. And then they're like putting up an antenna and it's just like... But they do it the way you do a QSO or the way you talk on the ham radio but over back to you Bob! You know I'll hand it over to you. Then the funniest thing whenever they're talking about each other and this one is not okay. This is not okay ham speak
04:09 At least it's not in todays modern language. When they say, you know, hey congratulations on getting your general license I hope to work you soon. Yeah! This is not a good phrase. We're gonna work ya there buddy. Don't move. Don't move. It won't hurt. I'm gonna work ya real good Anyway so i am definitely getting an HF rig now For sure. I gotta save up for it, because these things are expensive! You're talking like five six hundred bucks. Craigslist? No but you know eBay and everything there's still it's five six hundred bucks John is not like cheap... Oh yeah yeah that's gonna cost you some money. Yeah and but then the antenna which is another point of discussion. Well there's all kinds of ways to go with the antenna we got a guy around the corner here on the other side of the Albany Hill thank God
04:57 No, really. You have no idea because you look at this and think NASA runs this guy's house! He has at least 10 different kinds of antennas. He's got big things hanging there... he's got big giant dish-looking things and then he's got like focused antennas and just random wires running through the trees It's just the whole place is covered with antennas Miss Mickey is listening She made me promise last night she was like Promise there won't be a big antenna in my yard And I'm like, let me talk to you about the antenna. And she's like, You're not saying promise and listen, I swear it to God. I'll put up an antenna that says I'm not an antenna. You know how on the 405 in LA when you're driving? You have those cellular towers that look like trees. Yeah, that's what I'm going to have. I am NOT AN ANTENNA! Anyway...I don't know what is is weird. It's like all of a sudden, yeah, I've created a monster. It's your fault
05:54 It is. I'll take full credit, but I don't understand that you had the potential to be like a real first You know first tiered ham which is like something? I'll never achieve What does that mean of first-tiered ham you know an extra involved yeah? You know you're gonna do and show it's a little bit things happen Changing legislation would benefit the ham community hey baby. I'm an influential ham Well, all I need is a good well it was it's interesting to see the software defined radios and the digital communication happening
06:31 Are you mocking me? No, it is software-defined radio is a big deal I first heard about those about 10 years ago and I couldn't figure out what the hell they're talking about. It's pretty amazing understand It's pretty amazing You can go to web sdr org and you can actually log into people's software defined radios And you can you can use remotely or listening to their rigs. This is pretty interesting Anyways, and I think that here would be the only thing I want to achieve. I think I can make Morse code cool again Now that I think would be very... That would be cool. It's a retro kind of thing. If nerd is kinda cool, that would be it Yeah! That I think I can do. I think I could make Morse code cool again Maybe the only way we communicate in the future Well this is what I keep saying
07:23 See, Miss Mickey is cool with everything as long as I add... You don't have an ugly antenna in the yard. That's kind of it and as long as I add the word apocalypse or prepper after each statement. Prepper? She like okay well if it's about prepping then she's okay with it but was about talking to random dudes she's not so okay with it. But I want to do Morse code with them. I want to send files through packet radio Okay, well I'm glad you had a good day. I'm glad you got that that's great yeah Well, you should get your general John. Yeah, just say yeah, I barely get this other rigs working even So we have the daily Morse code DailyMorseCode.com and and the show literally is everything on there is it a bunch of random dudes? myself included talking on on ham radios about how you're not there and
08:22 And it has to we do two episodes a day by the way, it's a good show is Dvorak here yet? Was he ever say he was gonna be here? No, he's never committed to it. But we expect him! You told me that you would check out the echo link stuff...you did tell me that I will! I didn't say i was going to do immediately Just get the app and pretend your on a radio He is writing down Anyway, forget about all that because this is of course the show known as... The Best Podcast in the Universe! And we are not the best podcast in universe just for any random reason.
