I recently bought a handheld radio. It's a good walkie-talkie
handheld radio that exceeds Federal Communication System (FCC) power
limits so I figured for the price I had to have one!
After I got it I started thinking about how seriously the FCC takes
that stuff so in order to press the talk button on it I wanted the
license myself and make sure that I wouldn't get arrested if I tried
to use it to talk to people. So I did something that I've wanted to
do for really long time: I got an FCC license as ham radio operator!
It's cool because now I can use those channels that are licensed for
use above the family radio service (FRS) channels that come with the
cheap little bubble-wrap walkie-talkies. And I can use those
frequencies too. And others. It will be interesting to see what I
can listen to and maybe talk to some people.
I am most excited about possibly getting to listen to the talk on
International Space Station frequencies during a flyover. That would
be very exciting to pull off!
I've always enjoyed radios of different kinds. I remember when my dad
brought home a professional walkie-talkie with the huge brick battery
and long antenna that somebody lost on the side of the road. My dad
was a communications guy so he picked it up and put it on our kitchen
counter at home. I was 15 years old so one night while nobody was
around I started tinkering with the radio and turned it on. Nothing
ever came on the speaker. So I pressed the push-to-talk button a
couple of times. And somebody called and said who is transmitting on
this? He asked again and I answered and we were able to connect with
the contractor who had spent lots of money on this radio and licensing
to use it. I went with dad to return it to him. The guy tried to
offer dad money but dad refused. The guy him his business card with a
discount on fencing or something written on the back of it. Which dad
never used.
So now I'm licensed to do what I did when I was 14 or 15 years old!
Listen up for my call sign WRNR277. You may hear me out there on the
frequencies...
