Radio Preppers

General Category => Licensing => Topic started by: Sunflower on September 16, 2012, 05:04:57 PM

Title: What is a W5YI?
Post by: Sunflower on September 16, 2012, 05:04:57 PM
I copied this from a club's website: "The ARRL exam fee for 2012 remains at $15.00, and the W5YI exam fee is still $14.00."

What is a W5YI?
As a first time tester, will I be taking the ARRL Technician License Exam?

For my area, having to travel 90 minutes to take an exam is not real bad. This club in Salina, Kansas holds the exams every month.
Title: Re: What is a W5YI?
Post by: WA4STO on September 16, 2012, 06:04:06 PM
Tess:

W5YI is the amateur radio callsign of a specific person.  In this case, he was the fellow who set up the very first Volunteer Examiner group, once the FCC was allowed by law to let volunteer groups do it.

His group was known as the W5YI Volunteer Examiner Coordinator group.

The ARRL is another group (I used to work for them) that coordinates the volunteer examiners. 

The only way to know which group will be coordinating your exam is to ask when you're verifying the date and time of the session. 

Helpful tip: Whenever you see a ham radio callsign like W5YI, you can go to http://www.qrz.com (http://www.qrz.com) and in the little box, type in "W5YI" and you'll see a lot about the person, usually.  In this particular case, the callsign is being used by a club station in Texas.
Title: Re: What is a W5YI?
Post by: Sunflower on September 16, 2012, 09:07:58 PM
Thanks for response.

I did not realize that call signs could be 4 letter/digits long also. Most viewed have been 5 in length. Is there any difference or desigation between call signs that read 4 and 5 in length?
Title: Re: What is a W5YI?
Post by: gil on September 16, 2012, 09:11:06 PM
Hello,

They can be 3,4,5 or 6 characters long.

3 characters are for special events call signs.
4 are for Extra class operators.
5 is for Generals and recent Extras.
6 is for Technicians.

Gil.
Title: Re: What is a W5YI?
Post by: Sunflower on September 16, 2012, 09:40:17 PM
Can you pick your own call sign? or is assigned? or can you earn the opportunity to pick your call sign when it is available?

Thank you for the info on the 3,4,5,6 lengths of call signs. The categories/lengths are more informative with this knowledge.
Title: Re: What is a W5YI?
Post by: gil on September 16, 2012, 09:45:20 PM
It is assigned, but you can pick another one later if it is available and you licensing level allows it. See
Quotehttp://vanityhq.com

Gil.
Title: Re: What is a W5YI?
Post by: Jonas Parker on September 17, 2012, 12:07:58 PM
Quote from: gil on September 16, 2012, 09:11:06 PM
Hello,

4 are for Extra class operators.
5 is for Generals and recent Extras.

Gil.

6 is for us cheap so-and so extras who won't spend the money for a vanity callsign!   8)
Title: Re: What is a W5YI?
Post by: gil on September 17, 2012, 12:13:27 PM
I hope I get assigned a 5 character call sign right away  :o

Gil.
Title: Re: What is a W5YI?
Post by: Sunflower on September 17, 2012, 12:28:49 PM
Quote from: gil on September 17, 2012, 12:13:27 PM
I hope I get assigned a 5 character call sign right away  :o

Gil.
Nice part about passing all three exams on same day is that you can keep one Call Sign for life.
Title: What is a W5YI?
Post by: gil on September 17, 2012, 12:54:35 PM
Well, you always can keep your call sign for life.. If you like it! We'll see...

Gil
Title: Re: What is a W5YI?
Post by: Mitch on September 17, 2012, 01:49:11 PM
Keep in mind there is a lot of generalization going on, I have a 6 character call and I'm a general class licensee.

I tested to general at my first sitting if that possibly made any difference.
Title: Re: What is a W5YI?
Post by: White Tiger on September 27, 2012, 10:20:39 PM
Quote from: gil on September 16, 2012, 09:45:20 PM
It is assigned, but you can pick another one later if it is available and you licensing level allows it. See
Quotehttp://vanityhq.com

Gil.

If you have an iPhone - or an iPad - you can download an app called: "Call Sign" - it allows you to type in any call sign, anywhere, and it gives you all the same informaton.
Title: Re: What is a W5YI?
Post by: gil on September 27, 2012, 10:29:12 PM
I'll try that on my iPod, thanks.

Gil.
Title: Re: What is a W5YI?
Post by: White Tiger on September 27, 2012, 11:18:22 PM
Also have a general purpose amateur radio program called "Ham I Am" - that new hams might find interesting. It covers: the Phoentic Alphabet (Whiskey, Alpha, 4, Siera, Tango, Oscar - or to figure out how to say any call sign on-air), Q-Signals, Ham Jargon, a Morse Code key, Radio Best Practices, ARRL "stuff", and Electricity.

ARRL also has developed apps that allow you to take actual practice exams and studt guides.

I've downloded a couple of antenna apps (one antenna calculator, and the USMC Antenna Manual)...

..and although I haven't figured it out yet - downloaded something called "PSKer" as I tought I might want to try my hand (eventually) at PSK31 (what was I thinking...)...
Title: Re: What is a W5YI?
Post by: Lamewolf on January 07, 2015, 04:48:09 PM
Quote from: Jonas Parker on September 17, 2012, 12:07:58 PM
Quote from: gil on September 16, 2012, 09:11:06 PM
Hello,

4 are for Extra class operators.
5 is for Generals and recent Extras.

Gil.

6 is for us cheap so-and so extras who won't spend the money for a vanity callsign!   8)

Hey, I resemble that remark !  But in my case, I'm a cheap so and so advanced class !  ;D

In reality, I like my callsign and plan on keeping it - its one of the few letter/number groups I can recognize in CW without thinking about it.
Title: Re: What is a W5YI?
Post by: Luigi on January 07, 2015, 07:40:10 PM
I kept my original call sign when I became an Technician. It keeps them guessing when you are in the area only allowed for Extras.
Luigi
Title: Re: What is a W5YI?
Post by: KK0G on January 07, 2015, 08:54:45 PM
I'll admit it, back when I was first licensed as a technician I looked upon extra class hams with a god like reverence. They had somehow managed to achieve the pinnacle of amateur radio and were rewarded with coveted 1x2 calls. Of course now that I've been an extra class for many years and I don't have technicians and generals worshiping at my feet and offering sacrifices to appease me, I sort of realize it's not as big of a deal as I once thought it was.  8)

Not that it's not worth the effort, I'm very glad I did it and would do it all over again the same way. I highly encourage folks to go for Extra, with a little bit of studying it's not nearly as difficult as some make it out to be. Besides, if you don't go for it you'll anger me and I may rain down hell fire and brimstone upon the mere mortals of amateur radio. LOL
Title: Re: What is a W5YI?
Post by: gil on January 07, 2015, 09:24:32 PM
QuoteI highly encourage folks to go for Extra, with a little bit of studying it's not nearly as difficult as some make it out to be.

I couldn't agree more. It isn't rocket science! Even the math is just a bunch of formulas to remember, nothing head-scratching. At least everyone should go for Technician and General at the same time. I passed all three the same day after two weeks of study 8) Not to say than I'm super smart, but that is isn't that difficult. The advantage of General of course is the lower parts of the bands allocated to Morse code (CW mode). That in itself is worth the extra study time and reading your pocket calculator's manual...

The three ARRL books have similar chapters for the three levels, just a bit more in depth for each. So, the best way to do it IMHO is to read the same chapter from the three books per day. For example, you'd read the chapters on propagation starting with the Tech book, then the same chapter from the General book, and finally from the Extra book. About 14 chapters total if I recall, two weeks, plus a day or two to recover before the test.

The free practice tests on QRZ.com allow you to get used to the questions and evaluate your score. Even if you don't think you'll pass the real test, try! I didn't think I would pass extra, but to my surprise, I did. There is no penalty for failing.

Gil.
Title: Re: What is a W5YI?
Post by: Luigi on January 07, 2015, 10:45:41 PM
Having the original tech call sign also seems less pretentious when helping others reach their goals in becoming licensed. I became a VE to help people with that goal. That part is rewarding. Going for the extra is a personal goal that should be attempted by as many as possible.

I have some serious respect for Advanced level amateurs. A lot of those folks passed with CW and no test pools to study from at the time that they were being licensed.
Luigi