Hello! My name is Will, KN6VZX, and this is my blog. At first the idea was simple. A basic WordPress site to document and catalog my radio endeavors. Nothing fancy, just a basic WordPress site to look upon later in life. However, with the amount of struggles it took to customize WordPress, along with the amass of garbage plugins, I figured it'd just be easier to write the website myself. The result was a lightweight static site which is easily hosted out of an AWS S3 bucket.

I started my ham adventure near the end of 2022 while looking for an off-road radio solution for my truck. I have long used bubble pack FRS radios, but was looking for something a little more robust. Even before getting educated in radio technology, I knew CB was old. Surely there was a more modern solution. Through some basic research I stumbled across GMRS. This seemed to fit the immediate bill so I paid the easy $35 to the FCC and got my GMRS license (WRUN299).

Freshly GMRS licensed, I had inadvertency stumbled across a new interest in RF technology. At this point I was "hooked" and decided to go for my technician license. After about a week of study on HamRadioPrep, I signed up for an examination with my local VEC. The test was a breeze, and before I knew it I was a ham. Please note that although I passed the technician exam with relative ease, I come from a background of IT/Networking where the industry requires constant learning and certification. I am not new to the world of self-study and employed the learning techniques which work best for me. If you are reading this while struggling to study for the technician exam, don't give up! You'll get there! With a shiny new technician license I was able to get myself a cheap Baofeng (the defacto starter radio) and start talking to local repeaters. As with any new hobby, there's a bit of an introductory learning curve, but with persistance and study I was starting to get the hang of things.

The next step in my ham journey was to acquire the general license. Immediately after passing the technician license, I started studying for the general exam. The general took me a bit more effort and time to pass compared to the technician exam. Primarily because life got in the way. At the time of studying for my general I was dealing with the holiday season, moving in with my girlfriend, and my car being wrecked while on parked on the street. Thankfully by late december, my schedule opened up and allowed me the time needed to actually study. Within a month, I was licensed as a general and the world of HF opened to me.

Before I could even buy my first HF rig, I decided to shoot for the extra license. Unlike IT or networking certifications, amateur radio licenses never require retesting (as long as you keep your dues current). For this reason I figured it would be best to get the extra out of the way and be done altogether with my license privileges. The extra exam was a significant step up from both the technician and general license exams. This makes sense, but as a result, it required a bit more dedication and focus to get the process done. Utilizing free online resources, I was able to fumble through the exam with a basic understanding of the topics. Looking at the exam as an opportunity to learn, rather than a chore, certainly helped with my ability and willingness to ingest the information. Although I do not see myself utilizing many of the practical skills learned in preparation for the extra exam (especially the math and electrical engineering sections), I do feel much more well rounded as a result.

Still very new to a world that requires constant learning, I am excited where this lifelong hobby will take me in the future. This was the primary motivation for building a web blog. I wanted something to look back on in the future and have a physical reference of how much I have learned and how far I have grown. I do not expect this website to get much external traffic aside from me and potentially a few random visitors. However, if you are a random visitor and have any questions or comments, first of all congratulations on reading this far and secondly, please do not hesitate to shoot me an email! administrator@kn6vzx.radio. The secondary goal of this website was to brush off my web development knowledge. Working in IT as a generalist requires multiple different skills. If you would like to read more about me or my other ventures, please see the link at the top navigation bar.

Thanks for reading and 73!