Today I wrote an exam to obtain my basic Canadian amateur radio operator certificate, and I passed! Within an hour of completing the in-person, on-paper exam, I received an automated email from Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, the government body who oversee radiocommunications in Canada, inviting me to create an online account and get my call sign.
I am now VY2VH. “VY2” is the prefix for PEI, and “VH” is in honour of my mother, Vivian Hardy, her name until she married my father, Harold Phillips, so handily the “H” if also in honour my father. Victor Yankee Two Victor Hotel.
I have never studied so hard for anything in my life, two online classes a week since the middle of February with the wonderful Al Penney (VO1NO) from Nova Scotia, who runs the course for the Radio Amateurs of Canada. There was a lot of math and formulas at the beginning and I was certain I would never get it all straight in my head, but I read and studied and it finally all came together. It’s an interesting course, Al is a patient and goodnatured teacher, and if I can pass it, anyone can. It’s only $50, about the same again for the study guide, and the radio licence is free and for life.
There is a little handheld radio tuned to the O’Leary repeater sitting on my counter. Every so often it beeps or the time is announced. I heard a couple of people saying hello to each other, talking about the rainy weather and wishing each other a good night. The examiner from the Summerside club was a kind and generous fellow and it seems like a welcoming community. Will report back when I actually get up the nerve to push the button and talk.
This is awesome!
My call sign in PE1NOR (I was very active in hamradio in my teens, and did the license exam when I started university).
Then I encountered the internet in 1989, and that turned out to be much better for what I found fascinating in ham radio: weaving connections around the world.
I keep some VHF equipment at home, as a precaution (from experience mobile phones will be unusable when anything serious happens, either because the infrastructure itself collapses, or the number of calls is so high that it goes down.)
Welcome to the Dork Web! (see link)
I’ve been a guest in the dork web for a while, but feel I’m now a true citizen, so thanks for the welcome, Ton! My interest in getting my amateur radio license was similar to why you reactivated yours: we had a couple of wind storms a few years ago that knocked out landlines and mobile phone service here, and I hated feeling cut off from everything.
I’ve also been thinking about my early days on the internet, how similar finding my way around amateur radio feels to my memories of trying to figure out all the http and url and email stuff in the early 1990s. Did email addresses have to be upper case or lower case? Which slash came after the : in a url? It became easy, eventually, but unlike with joining the ham radio world now, I had no internet to help me search for how to use the internet!
Congratulations!!!!! A terrific accomplishment.
Thanks!
Congratulations on getting your Ham Radio License! I got mine 3 years ago (KE8YHL), but only got a working station setup last fall. I’m reviving a hobby I started towards in my teens. Working the local FM repeaters for now; W8EUP Pickford MI and VE3SSM Sault Sainte Marie ON.
I read your heartwarming post about your moms death; I’m going through some of that too; my father died last year at 95. Thank You for the wonderful post; it helped!
Great to hear from you, Duane, and I’m glad you found something helpful in my post about my mother. I can’t believe it’s nearly a year. I still miss her every hour of every day.
I got a handheld radio to start my ham journey and am, like many people, still at the “listening to how this works” stage. I hope to have enough nerve to push the talk button soon! 73 to you!