What use is an F-call?

Firstly I should thank all those f-calls that contributed to the call-back last week. If you know of any f-calls that are not listening to the broadcast, tell them about it and who knows what might happen.

When I started this hobby I did what I am beginning to suspect many newcomers to the field did. I asked around what things to do and who to talk to, then I made my first purchases.

I've now spent some of my hard-earned money and to-date I'm very happy about what I bought, but along the way I learnt a few things that I think might be helpful. My biggest frustration in going out to get my kit was this phenomenon that seemed to plague me where-ever I went.

"Why can I not just buy a standard kit with radio, power-supply and antenna?" All in one box, all from one supplier, all shipped to my door, point and click-style.

My limited experience to date tells me that you can in fact do that - it's called a hand-held all-in-one transceiver and it is all that. Of course there are trade-offs such as transmit power, battery life, band-availability, user-interface, etc.

I'm extremely familiar with the I.T. industry. The answer to any given question asked by any given person is always "it depends". I've learnt that Amateur Radio is exactly the same - and as an aside, I suspect it's true for many more fields.

Back to buying a kit. Why not all-in-one? Why is this so hard?

Well, you now know the answer, "it depends". It depends on many things, where you're going to install it, how you're going to use it, how much space you have, how much money, whom you can buy the gear from, etc. etc.

So, my observation today is that for every HAM there's a solution - and for every solution there's an alternative - or six. You can buy your gear brand new, like I did, or you can buy it second or third hand. Perhaps you were given a set.

In the end, it doesn't matter what you have when you get started, just that you actually do that, get started.

I'm sure that as I learn more I'll know more and be able to reflect on the choices I've made to date, but in the end, it's up to you to get started.

Go forth and transmit! - I'm Onno, VK6FLAB