I earned my Technician’s license last month and since then I’ve accomplished a few minor ham-related things:
- Immediately got on the air after passing the exam
- Sorted out the FCC and new socials and logbooks and this site
- Ordered an introductory radio to play with (Baofeng GT-5R)
- Ordered the General Class License Manual
- Joined some mailing lists
- Joined some organizations: PMRC, YLRL, and AARN
- Attended an in-person meeting of Phil-Mont, the local club
I have some reasonably solid near-term hobby goals:
- Start using the aforementioned logbooks
- Participate in Parks on the Air
- Scope out equipment for future purchases
- Join in on Nets
- Register as a Red Cross volunteer
- Volunteer to work some summer events with Philadelphia County ARES
- Upgrade to a General license
- Build a transceiver with a QRP Labs kit
- Serve as a Net Control Operator
- Write some hopefully-helpful stuff about things I learn
I’m writing this mainly for personal accountability. While some of these items are time-bound, and I hope to make a lot of fun progress during spring and summer, I’m going to call these 2026 goals.