Earlier in the year, on January 25th, I traveled to Bloomington Minnesota to take a written test for a HAM radio license. Truth be told I was planning on taking it a few weekends sooner, but weather and life got in the way. Sadly I had to put it off a couple weeks.
Cutting to the chase: I took the test for the Technician Rating and passed.
HAM, Camping, & Overlanding
There were a couple reasons why I wanted to get a HAM license. The first was that my grandfather, Dan, whom I was very close with, was into radios, CBs, transceivers, etc… I wanted to honor his memory by getting a HAM tech rating.
There were two other reasons for wanting to get a HAM license, and they both had camping and overlanding in mind. While I do have a Garmin Inreach that provides some limited text/email communications while out of cell phone tower range via satellite, I wanted more.
There are HAM repeater towers all over the United States. There is a good chance, even when in locations like the BWCA or Quetico, that I will be able to communicate through one using a mobile HAM radio. If an emergency situation arrives I will hopefully have another option for emergency communication, if needed.
First and foremost I have a cell phone, then I have a HAM mobile radio and a Garmin Inreach Se+.
HAM Call Sign: N9BWA
My HAM operator call sign is N9BWA.
TD