Welcome to my Amateur Radio Blog!
Hi! I'm Mark Ehr, callsign K0EHR. I live in Littleton, Colorado, about 15 miles South of downtown Denver.
I first became interested in amateur radio, also known as "ham" radio, when I was about 12 years old. A friend's Dad, Allan Applegate (K0BG) had an awesome home ham shack, and I remember him showing me around the shack, including his slow-scan TV (SSTV) equipment. This was a very, very long time ago, long before fax machines went mainstream, and the idea of being able to talk to other people all over the world, with just an antenna, radio, and power, seemed like magic.
For a variety of reasons, I didn't pursue getting a ham radio license for another forty years. One reason was that I didn't have a mentor, called an "Elmer" in ham lingo, to help me along, and in the days before the Internet, it was difficult to find information on becoming licensed. Another big reason was that I did not really want to learn morse code, known as "CW" in ham speak, mainly due to the time commitment required. And lastly the main reason was that I discovered computers in 9th grade, and they became my passion from that point forward. I pretty much literally spent every spare moment learning everything that I possibly could about computers. And it paid off--40 years later, I am still in the industry, doing what I love.
So what finally inspired me to go out and get my amateur radio license? It was 2019, my wife and I had become empty nesters, and one day it dawned on me that I should check out becoming licensed. I checked into it and became very interested when I realized that the morse code requirement had been removed. Then, after I did a a little more research and discovered that I already knew a lot of the concepts required for the technician class license, I began studying.
After a few weeks, I decided to sit for the exam, and I passed it easily, earning my first call sign, KE0WHY. I also took the general class exam, and nearly passed that one too. I was on my way!
I immediately started studying for my general class license, with plans to sit for that exam in February 2020. Then COVID hit and all of the tests were suspended, so I decided to just continue studying for my amateur extra exam. Finally, in May 2020, when testing resumed, I sat for the amateur general and amateur extra class tests, and passed them both. I also applied for and was awarded a vanity call sign, K0EHR, which I continue using today.
My early days as a ham were not as easy as I had hoped, and I struggled to figure out where to start. I will discuss my early trials and tribulations as a ham in another blog. The good news is that today, I am still fascinated and continually rewarded by this amazing hobby. I am active on VHF, UHF, HF, analog, CW, digital, Summits on the Air (SOTA), antenna design, low-power (called QRP) operating, and much more. Ham radio is truly a hobby of thousands of hobbies and I literally learn something new every day.
The goal of this blog is to share some of the knowledge that I have gained over the past three years, for the purpose of encouraging others to become licensed amateur radio operators and to ease the process by passing along some of the things that I've learned. So welcome aboard and I hope this helps you solve a problem, get interested in the hobby, or at the very least, provides an entertaining read. And if you would like to reach out to me directly, I can be reached via email: k0ehr at arrl dot net.
A final note: some of the links in this log may redirect to "Amazon Affiliate" links, which means that if you buy the item from Amazon, I *may* get a couple of bucks out of the deal. It doesn't increase the cost to you.
Happy reading!
73s,
Mark K0EHR
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