For those that may have an interest in Amateur (or Ham) Radio, New Jersey and the greater Delaware Valley have a wide range of resources and opportunities for you to begin the process of obtaining an amateur radio operator's license and for obtaining advanced licenses. Amateur Radio clubs are spread throughout New Jersey and the Delaware Valley area. Check out the links below to find the club and training center nearest you.
Among radio hams, there are a broad spectrum of special interests groups centered around equipment, communications, training, establishing contacts and eventing. Training and testing for licenses, while regulated by the FCC, are conducted by volunteers. Involvement as an amateur radio operator can not be for commercial gain, it is for personal use only. During times of emergency amateur radio operators often perform important communications support services.
Morse code used to be required, but is no longer needed to obtain any class license. Licenses are now obtain solely through written examination. The entry level class is "Technician". The next level class after "Technician" is "General", followed by "Amateur Extra". (There used to be "Novice", "Technician Plus" and "Advanced" classes which you may encounter in older literature, but there are no new licenses given for these license classes.)
A popular amateur radio hobby is "DXing" (DX is telegraphic abbreviation for "distant or distance"), in which radio hams attempt to identify distant radio signals or make two-way contact with distant stations. They will often make a general broadcast (called a CQ call) requesting a response. Usually they will verify reception of their signal by a distant station in writing (called "QSLs"). eQSLs and other forms of verification are also available on the Internet.
Amateur Radio Related Clubs:
New Jersey Ham Radio Clubs (Pennsylvania Clubs)
New Jersey Amateur Radio Repeaters (Pennsylvania Repeaters)
South Jersey Radio Association (SNJ Links)
South Jersey Section News - ARRL
Southern New Jersey Section Amateur Radio Emergency Communications
Jersey Shore Amateur Radio Society
Burlington County Radio Club
NJ Antique Radio Club
North Jersey DX Association
Ocean-Monmouth Amateur Radio Club
Amateur Radio Resources:
ARRL - National Association for Amateur Radio
The History of Amateur Radio
Electronics and Amateur Radio Links
Amateur Radio Prefixes
Amateur Radio News (on Google)
CQ Amateur Radio Magazine
DXing (Wikipedia)
Amateur Radio and DX Reference Guide
The DXZone
Amateur Radio Repeater Database
Amateur Radio Lighthouse Society
Amateur Radio Links
World Radio Magazine
Amateur Radio Resources
Amateur Radio Bookmark file
Delaware Valley Radio Association
DX.QSL.Net (QSL.net)
QRZ Ham Radio
HamRad - Amateur Radio Resources
FCC Amateur Radio Service
FCC Rules and Regulations - Part 97 - Amateur Radio Service
AA9PW Amateur Exam practice pages
U.S. Amateur Radio Call Sign Lookup
Amateur Radio Licensing in the United States (Wikipedia)
Ham Radio Jargon - Glossary
Ham Radio Online Resources (Q-codes)
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