{"id":76,"date":"2026-07-20T23:49:38","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T23:49:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/w6sg.net\/site_2025\/?page_id=76"},"modified":"2026-07-21T10:45:42","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T10:45:42","slug":"newcommers","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/w6sg.net\/site_2025\/join-us\/newcommers\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting Started"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Once you have passed your Technician Amateur Radio License (we offer <a href=\"https:\/\/w6sg.net\/site\/why-how\/exams\/\">Volunteer Examiner Testing<\/a> through the year), now what?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Get On Air<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Radios<\/strong>: If you\u2019re looking to purchase a radio, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.qrz.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">QRZ.com<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gigaparts.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">GigaParts.com<\/a> offer an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gigaparts.com\/explorer-qrz-1-5w-vhf-uhf-handheld-transceiver.html\">Explorer QRZ-1 VHF\/UHF handheld transceiver<\/a> (with accessories) for $17.99 (plus tax and shipping) to amateur radio operators who obtained their first license from the FCC within the last 6 months.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Finding \u201cGood\u201d Radio Frequencies<\/strong>: See our <a href=\"https:\/\/w6sg.net\/site_2025\/repeaters\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"53\">Repeaters page<\/a> for great resources.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Check in to our <a href=\"https:\/\/w6sg.net\/site\/nets\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Radio Nets<\/a><\/strong>: On Sunday mornings (10-11 am) we have a radio net for club members to check in, but all operators are welcome to also participate. On Tuesday, feel free to check in to one of the Marin County RACES\/ACS Nets (5p, 7p, 7:15p, and 7:30p)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Make New Friends<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>2m Critical Mass<\/strong>: Both our club (MARS) and the SF Radio Club have monthly gatherings that are welcoming to everyone. The <a href=\"https:\/\/groups.io\/g\/nb2mCM\/topics\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">MARS North Bay 2m Critical Mass<\/a> generally meets on the 3rd Sunday of each month at the Marin Civic Center (San Rafael) from 10a-Noon. The <a href=\"https:\/\/2mcmv20.wordpress.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">SF Radio Club\u2019s Critical Mass<\/a> generally meets on the 2nd Saturday of each month at Spreckles Lake (San Francisco) also from 10a-Noon (great for message passing practice)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Volunteer for Public Service Events<\/strong>: Throughout the year , we volunteer to provide communications for special events like marathons, bike races, parades and other public service events.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Attend a meeting<\/strong>: We have monthly club meetings generally on the first Friday of each month at our clubhouse (27 Shell Road, Mill Valley) 7p-9p. You can also attend meetings by Zoom, but if you want to meet people, we recommend going to the clubhouse.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Once you have passed your Technician Amateur Radio License (we offer Volunteer Examiner Testing through the year), now what? Get On Air Make New Friends<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":96,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-76","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/w6sg.net\/site_2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/76","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/w6sg.net\/site_2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/w6sg.net\/site_2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/w6sg.net\/site_2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/w6sg.net\/site_2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/w6sg.net\/site_2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/76\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":142,"href":"https:\/\/w6sg.net\/site_2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/76\/revisions\/142"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/w6sg.net\/site_2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/96"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/w6sg.net\/site_2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}