After a couple of weeks of solid study, I drove to the Saratoga Fire House this morning and took the Amateur Extra upgrade exam. Boy was I nervous! After all this time, I still sweat every test like a Freshman in college. But I didn’t have to worry. I got all 50 questions correct, didn’t miss a single one. So as of 10:05 AM this morning, I’m KJ6HZC/AE.
Once my new license class shows up in the FCC database, I’m going to pick out a vanity call. Back when I started this whole process, I thought I’d be perfectly happy with whatever call the FCC gave me, but as it turns out KJ6HZC is just plain hard to say. Almost everybody gets it wrong the first time they come back to me on the air. And I don’t blame them! I had trouble with it myself for about two weeks after I got my General. So it’s time to get something short, sweet, easy to say, and DX-friendly. I’m thinking a 2x1, since 1x2s in 6 land are rarer than hens’ teeth.
But for now, I’m just happy to get on the lower parts of the bands for the first time and see what’s out there.
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