http://ab3bo.com/dual-band/
Amateur Radio programming can be a chore. I see on reviews many complain about how hard it is to program the radio. Others mention how easy it is.
When I get a new radio, I first play with the radio without reading the manual. Knob-ology is what I call it.
When I was in my first Electronics lab class at South High School in Willoughby, Ohio, the first thing us students were presented with, were oscilloscopes. We had about an hour to turn them on, experiment, view the screen and turn the knobs (knob-ology). We had no idea what we were doing but we were getting some elementary experience with the controls and having fun at the same time.
With the new radio, hooking it up to an antenna, coat hanger, piece of wire, existing antenna and a power supply should not take long. Mic connection should be fairly straight forward.
Getting to receive and finding a first repeater of simplex station should not take long.
Learning to program may take longer and require the manual. I still resist and try to learn without picking up the manual. I have found learning by trial and error usually sticks harder and becomes second nature!
No need for fear with these things. They were engineered by humans! Humans should be able to learn to use them!
There is a point where I must resort to the manual. Questions while playing will need answering and if knob-ology does not provide answers what else is one to do.
I know others resort to forums, reviews, etc. But I use the manual first. I know some manuals suck! But still its worth a try. If the manual is gross (and some are), then forums, and guides written on the web may be the next best thing. Videos can help too.
With the manual, I try and get my questions answered first.
Next I start reading documentation on the individual controls, functions, second functions etc. It is worth while to try each function and control. I also check out the purpose of each connector along with the pinouts. Sure the antenna and speaker jack are simple but the data ports can be more interesting! Especially if one plans on interfacing.
So far with HT's and VHF/UHF Mobile Rigs, I have not made use of the interface cable and programming software to program the radio. Knob-ology and the manual have solved my needs!
Yes it takes time to learn the rig. But if you think about it, it probably took even longer to earn the cash to pay for the rig in the first place!
What about your experiences?
