01/24/2026

Hello everyone!

Welcome to my first email!

I hope you all are safe and keeping warm this winter!

Here's what is going on:

Amateur Extra - 1 Year Later
I cannot believe that it's been one year since I passed my Amateur Extra exam. I originally got my Technician license in January 2015 and then my General in March 2015. After a month or so, I wanted to take my Extra exam before the question pool changed on July 01, 2015. I felt self-imposed pressure to get it done before that deadline. By doing that I psyched myself out of studying altogether.

I got motivated in 2023 to get my Extra and started studying again. I was going to do it. And then something unexpected happen. I was asked to contribute to the ARRL's Parks On The Air book. I was one of a handful of people that were asked. To me, this was a no brainer. Of course I would contribute, but this meant that I needed time devoted to writing my chapter for the book. Since I am not a professional author I needed free time devoted to organizing and writing my part of the book. After completing my chapter, I just couldn't get motivated to start studying again.

Near the end of 2024, I decided that I needed to get this done before my license expired in March of 2025. So I started studying again. I needed to get this done. I studied everyday when I could. Out of the roughly 2.5 months of studying I did, I missed maybe one or two days. And then one day in late January 2025, I took a practice exam. I passed. I was ecstatic! I took another one and I passed that one too. I continued studying, trying to get/remember what I could. A day or so later, that Saturday, I did my errands. I took another practice exam while waiting in a long line at my local warehouse store. I passed. I ran through some more questions once I got home. I registered to take the Extra exam that night with my VEC. I kept studying.

That night, Saturday, January 25, 2025, I got to the remote VE session and was ready. I was confident I would pass the exam. I was still a little nervous as I knew it was the luck of the draw with which questions would appear on the exam that I would take. It was time. As a VE, I knew the drill on taking remote exams, so it didn't take long before I was able to start my exam. "You may begin and good luck." I started answering the questions. One after the other. I knew these answers. Now, there were some questions that gave me a harder time, but I answered as best as I could and moved to the next question. Once I got done, I reviewed the 50 questions and my answers. I clicked the GRADE EXAM button.

I PASSED. 44 out of 50. I was THRILLED! The exams are all pass/fail, so as long as you pass it's all good. Yes, I would have been over the moon if I scored a 50 out of 50, but I still passed and was happy. It was also the biggest relief I had felt in a long time. Now it was time to experience and learn more with my new privileges.

One of the VEs said I needed to go out the next day and through out my callsign with /AE at the end (K3JRZ/AE). I did and worked 10m. I didn't get on an Extra portion of a band until my next activate on President's Day, Monday, February 17, 2025. It was a nice way to spend a day off from work. And since then I have gotten on the Extra portion of bands from time to time and made the most out of the privileges that I have as an Amateur Extra licensee.

I am planning to write an article and make a video about my experiences in an effort to help others study for any of the three U.S. amateur license exams.

Hamcation & Hamvention
Hamcation is coming up in a few weeks, although I will not be attending. I will be attending Hamvention in Dayton/Xenia in May. My accommodations are all set and I am currently prepping many things for my first venture to Dayton. This includes designing and getting new stickers (will have 1 new design and my current logo stickers, including older ones too). I still need to plan the trip itself, but I am going to break the trip up into a 2 day drive so I am not rushing to get there in 1 day. And it will give me some time to stop at a POTA entity in West Virginia.

Snow Storm January 2026
Here in northern Delaware, we were supposed to get over a foot of snow, but the storm has been slowing moving north per those "weather experts" over the past 2 or 3 days. At least we'll get some. The snow is supposed to start sometime late Saturday night to early Sunday morning. I've already got my supplies I might need and all of my batteries are charged up and ready to go if needed. We don't expect to lose power, but you never know.

Videos
This week I dropped two videos. One about HamClock Launcher for the Mac and my New Year's Day 2026 POTA activation. If you haven't check them out yet, click the thumbnails below.