I’m studying for an Amateur Radio Technician license. I tried this on for size a year or two ago — went downtown, took the test, flunked miserably. Lesson learned: a little bit of study can’t hurt.

I’ve licked my wounds, bought a book and will return to the fray tomorrow as one of a couple dozen testees. Maybe I’ll buy a vanity plate for the pick-up with my call sign on it. Yeah. And a rifle rack wouldn’t hurt either. And a couple of those big spotlights. And some amber flashers for the roof. And I think a winch. And a pair of big whip antennas. Oh… and maybe a radio too.

:-)

No, really… I’ve committed to memory arcane formulae like E = i * r and P = i * e and the speed of light is equal to the frequency times the bandwidth… and my keyboard doesn’t have a lambda on it… and the US is in ITU region 2, which I wonder how that made them feel at the FCC, running around with their big stadium fingers up chanting “We’re number one! We’re number one!” And the Europeans saying, “Mais non… we’re number one. You’re number two!”

I hate tests, but I welcome informed puns about testees.

There’s a book to write about HAM radio culture. I wish someone else would write it.