posts/amateur-radio-licence.md

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----
-title: "Amateur radio licence"
-slug: /amateur-radio-licence/
-date: 2026-03-12
-tags: ["radio"]
----
-
-In February I bit the bullet and booked the exam for the UK Amateur Radio
-Licence (Foundation Level).
-
-Having the exam in the calendar helped me concentrate and remain focused, as my
-learning style is naturally quite slow and meandering. I really wanted to earn
-my licence so that I could get on the air and begin to advance my practical
-knowledge.
-
-I used the official Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB) textbook and a
-simplified syllabus from [Essex Ham Train](https://www.essexham.co.uk/train/).
-
-![Flash cards from my studying](./img/flash-cards.jpg)
-
-In the mocks, I was averaging an 80% pass rate but in the exam itself I did
-particularly well and scored 92%, getting only two questions wrong (one of which
-didn't come up at all in the training materials). I completed the exam remotely
-but there was an RSGB invigilator observing my screen and environment to check I
-wasn't cheating! (Thank you Malcolm, G3ZNU.)
-
-Having received my certificate I was able to apply to Ofcom for my callsign. I
-chose **M7SYO**. The first two characters are mandatory and denote my
-qualification level ("Foundation") and the last three are your personal choice,
-based on what is available. Luckily I was able to choose letters reflecting
-"Systems Obscure". When appropriate to do so, I can add "E" as my regional
-secondary locator to indicate that I am operating from England (e.g. ME7SYO).
-
-The Foundation level is pretty generous given that it is the entry-level. I can
-transmit up to 25W and am permitted to use most of the amateur bands (10m, 12m,
-15m, 17m, 20m, 30m, 40m, 80m) at HF, apart from 60m, and many of the VHF/UHF
-bands.
-
-I am lucky that my uncle, Greg, is an experienced amateur operator and secretary
-of his local amateur radio club in Macclesfield. He has been helping me with my
-practical knowledge and advising on what gear to start with. For now, I have
-ordered the affordable and well-regarded
-[Baofeng UV-5RM Plus](https://www.baofengradio.com/products/uv-5rm-plus-8w-multi-band-radio)
-handheld along with a NA-771 antenna. This will enable me to connect to
-repeaters and hopefully make my first QSOs (contacts). I also plan to construct
-some home-made antennas that I can attach to the handheld and experiment with.
-
-![Monitoring over SDR](./img/monitoring-sdr.jpg)
-
-As I'm still waiting for the radio to arrive, I am currently limited to
-monitoring transmissions via my
-[SDR](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software-defined_radio#Amateur_and_home_use)
-(RTL-SDR v.4). I've been able to pick up some Morse conversations and a faint
-read of the strange - possibly Iranian - number station that is currently
-[perplexing the amateur community](https://youtu.be/ErmbTpxAM7Q?si=auxTnY8HSSnu1xZ5).
-
-In order to access the HF band and reach contacts further afield by exploiting
-[ionospheric propagation](https://www.qsl.net/4x4xm/Propagation/Ionosphere-propagation-of-radio-waves.htm),
-I will need a better and more powerful tranceiver. I am looking into getting a
-second-hand portable Yaesu through one of Greg's contacts. My plan is to drive
-or cycle to good spots locally and work in the field. I also eventually want to
-communicate over CW using Morse code and experiment with some radio astronomy.
-The possibilities are pretty limitless with this hobby!
-
-![The new to me X1 and some light reading](./img/thinkpad-x1-carbon.jpg)
-
-To facilitate my field work I wanted a small and robust laptop so I bought a
-second hand ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen.9). It's very sleek compared to my old T15
-and the i7 processor really makes a difference. I'm running Fedora Workstation
-for a hassle-free and easily maintainable Linux environment.
-
-Finally, I joined the RSGB. This gives me access to lots of useful radio
-resources, free access to the
-[National Radio Center](https://rsgb.org/main/about-us/national-radio-centre-gb3rs/)
-at Bletchley Park, and the print edition of the monthly _RadCom_ magazine which
-is a really good read.
-
-Once I start transmitting I will report here on my progress...