@vk3arr @literatesavant

Looks like my first task, then, is "get a picnic table". I appreciate all the input!

@chigh

Lol!

Seriously, you can spend what you want. We are in an era of $30 handi-talkies if that's your thing ... or ~$100 QRP CW rigs if *that's* your thing ... and wire antennas are pretty cheap.

But you can also spend north of $5000 on an HF rig ...

@chigh WAHOO! Congratulations!

Now, how can we most efficiently spend your Radio Money?

@kd8lci That's all you need. FRN and ULS are different databases (and were long before the cheeto was let loose) so one doesn't actually affect the other. Part 97 requires you to be up to date in ULS ... which you wlll be once the VEC processes your paperwork. But you DO need to use your existing FRN. And then, after the test is over and you have unclenched, you can fix it in CORES. You know, assuming CORES or anything else survives the week.

@chigh @KA7O @qrper

We're really in a golden age of radios. I do not have one of the kits at the site below, but people seem to love them. They are #QRP (5 W or less) but are amazingly capable.

And the guy that makes these radios is not the only guy (or company) out there making this sort of stuff. Really remarkable. When I got in in 1991, #Heathkit was dead as far as amateur stuff & Ramsay was the only other thing out there.

https://qrp-labs.com

@chigh @KA7O @qrper

I helped out with a class or two before QSYing back to VE (the country!) and did this page. The magic circles for Ohm's Law and the power one are here but the link at the bottom has "all the stuff we couldn't cover in class". Most of that started out on my own website (from an even earlier class I helped with) so I should rejigger it and put it back on my own site. Anyway, have fun.

https://w5nor.org/class/

@chiefgyk3d

The big money is at General. Don't let me dissuade you from going All. The. Way. but passing that 3rd exam just gets you slivers of 4 HF bands.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1iumARkdNU3uTNgjeLIqlIFlgEqh8q31D-LO_08yxFRA/edit?usp=sharing

@TonyYarusso @chigh

Excellent summary. And why I suggested reading through Part 97.

The regs (for now!) basically comes down to @wilw Wheaton's Law: Don't be a dick.