A friend of my dad introduced me to ham radio when I was 7 years old. When I was 15 or so I passed my beginner’s exam and then I did nothing with it. I got my call sign when I was 24 years old and moving out of Argentina: LU5ARC. I never used it because Argentina is not part of CEPT (and I haven’t gone back except for short holidays).
To get that Argentinean license, I had to take three months of two evenings a week of lessons on theory, Morse code and operating a radio (just making QSOs on 80 meters). I actually collected about 10 QSLs from that time (I wish I knew where they are).
When I moved to the UK almost 7 years ago, I looked into transferring my license but I was told it was impossible. I wish they also told me how easy it was to get a license in the UK and I wouldn’t have waited so long to get started. Last year something else got me interested in radio and I decided to take the plunge and get licensed. I was delighted to see how easy it is.
The hardest part of getting licensed was waiting for the two day course to happen (at that point, I didn’t know about ML&S running them). Because of my previous experience with radio and the fact that I studied electronics and electromechanics in school, there was little to nothing that I didn’t know for the foundation level. Without too much effort I got my first British call sign: M6UON.
Then, I had to wait again and I was thrilled to find that ML&S run foundation and intermediate courses, as well as advanced exams so often. I took the course, pass the exam, and I got my intermediate license: 2E0GGE. A month after that, I took the advanced exam and I now have my full license M0ONP.
Oh… even before there was a foundation course available, I went to the RSGB convention and I took the three exams in a row for the FCC (American) license, so, even before managing to get M6UON, I got an extra (full) one for the US as AC1DM. So ironic!
And now the fun begins. I lifted all possible restrictions. I can use the full 100W of my Icom IC-7300 as well as take my Icom ID-51E PLUS2 abroad and use it. I can also supervise unlicensed people so I’ve been introducing all my friends to ham radio. I either have friends that are genuinely interested in this technical hobby that’s going without them knowing about or very good friends that humor me when I spend hours explaining frequency, modulation, SWR, antennas, bandwidth, etc.
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