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Reviews For: ARRL How To Become a Radio Amateur

Category: Books/Manuals/Videos/Pod-WebCasts on ham radio

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Review Summary For : ARRL How To Become a Radio Amateur
Reviews: 1MSRP: 1.00
Description:
Full information on setting up your own amateur radio station.

Product is not in production
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W4KYR Rating: 2017-02-16
How To Become a Radio Amateur is a must have book. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This classic publication introduced and inspired many over the years to become a ham. A total of 29 editions of "How To Become a Radio Amateur" were published from 1930 till 1974 (according to the N4MW reference site). This particular 1967 edition as well as others are still readily available on eBay and elsewhere from $3.00 and up.

Some of you out there may already have this in your ham library. Dust off the cover and give this another look. This book probably would make an interesting topic at your next ham radio club meeting.

While some might view the information as out of date by today's standards, the contents are still quite useful for almost any ham. This specific review is for the 1967 - Twenty Fourth edition.

This classic publication is a great snapshot into our past. This book is filled with illustrations, schematic diagrams, plans and photos of (now) classic vintage amateur radio equipment.

Toward the end of the book are great classic advertisements from Heathkit, Hallicrafters, the iconic Morse Code "Instructograph", Vibroplex, Hygain, Johnson and many others that should delight most hams of all ages.

Looking at this specific 1967 edition on page 119 there is an ad for possibly the 'most hated rig of all time'. The Eico 753 Triband, or perhaps better known as the "Seven-Drifty-Three" among radio amateurs.

The 753 earned it's namesake by drifting all over the band thus prompting one ham to comment in 2008. "The Eico 753 was junk. It should never have been allowed on the market. I see that it has the lowest rating of any transceiver on eham - and it deserves it."

However on a happier note, you'll like the classic photo over on page 11 of the W1AW station complete with a mechanical teletype machine.

Now if you like building things, there are the plans for an 80 meter, one watt 'Simple One-Tube Transmitter' over on page 76 running to all the way to page 92 complete with pictures, schematics as well as the power supply. These plans alone would make "How To Become a Radio Amateur" worth obtaining.

Summary:

The book easily gets a solid 5/5 hands down both for it's historical and rich content. It is inexpensive too, just $3.00 and up on today's online auction sites. Even new, the book was a modest $1.00 in 1967. And if anyone was wondering, the dues for the ARRL in 1967 was $5.00 a year or $5.25 a year for those in Canada.

I have a suggestion to the ARRL. How about making all your older publications available on pdf for anyone to download. Charge a modest fee for non-members and free for all the ARRL members.

The 1967 edition covered these chapters

The Lure of Amateur Radio
Fundamentals of Radio
A Two-Tube Receiver for the Beginner
A Simple One-Tube Transmitter
The World Above 50 Megacycles
The Final Steps
-Learning the Code
-Licenses
-Arranging a Station
-Getting on the Air