20220717 - Getting into HAM Radio

While I have wanted to explore Amateur Radio for a long time, I thought I could not learn all the code and technical radio wave stuff with my also busy life with a young family growing. I started to see GMRS radio was becomming a popular thing for the Jeep/Offroad community, it was almost advertised as HAM without the Exam... I purchased my GMRS license and received the call sign WROR957. I bought a radio and listened... but it was always pretty quiet on the frequencies. Sometimes kids with their HandiTalkies using FRS would be on, but not much else. So I began to think HAM again with visions of how contacts are made around the world.

Come 2022, I was traveling and stuck in a room with a bad case of COVID. With no way to get back home being that sick, I decided to study for the Technician exam during the moments that I was not completly knocked out. Two weeks later, feeling better, I found there was test session with the Western Carolina Amature Radio Society being held right down the street at a coffee shop. I got up early and and took the test at 8am. 15 minutes later, I walked out with a ticket saying I passed the Technician portion! Soon after my new call sign was issued: KK7CXU