On Monday, I took the exam to upgrade to a General class license. I’ve now ticked off one of my 2026 goals.
I have not actually spent much time using a radio. I’ve tuned into the repeater a few times, listened in on a couple nets, and taken advantage of PLOTA after my exams, but that’s it so far. The license upgrade will doubtless filter through the FCC’s system before I have to identify myself as KD3CPY/AG (though I did, gratuitously, on the repeater during PLOTA last night).
Instead, my radio time has mostly been attempted cultural osmosis (minimizing the chance I’ll make too much of a fool of myself, hopefully) and book study. But now that I have the General license, I’m more inclined to dive into the hands-on stuff. At some point, I expect I’ll upgrade to Amateur Extra, but that’s not on the immediate horizon.
The big impetus for doing the General this month is the QDX kit I ordered from QRP Labs. Once I build it, I want to be able to take it out for a spin. (I got the five-band version—20, 30, 40, and 80 meters—so you can’t legally use it with a Technician license.) And now that I don’t have studying hanging over me, I’ll actually try to make some progress on ARES and Red Cross volunteering.