[SBE] Is it worth me pursuing my amateur extra license?

[Cowboy]

On Friday 25 September 2009 08:02 am, Russ VanderHorst wrote:


>  I have a general class amateur radio license.would it be of any benefit for

>  my future career in broadcasting to pursue my amateur extra license?


 Yes, but not like it used to be.

 When I got mine, and well before I was the first FCC certified Voulenteer
 Examiner in Ohio, the Extra was more in-depth that the First Phone, and
 required a good deal more understanding than a Telegraph ticket.
 A real extra from the old days did mean something.
 That's no longer the case, and hasn't been for quite some time.

 Still, it does demonstrate a fundamental interest, and can provide some
 very small additional networking/contact among some people.

 If it was me, and I already held an Amateur ticket of any class, I probably
 wouldn't bother. Many of the very, very best broadcast engineers do not
 have an amateur ticket at all, but many do.

 Without a track record ( a resume' in broadcast ) I'd likely get any and
 every ticket/certification I could find, because you gotta start somewhere,
 and something is always better than nothing !
 Some ( many ? ) government gigs require an EE or better, but I've not found
 any in the private sector that do, and *nothing* will substitute for a University
 degree to/for the government.

 SO, will an Extra class Amateur ticket help you in broadcast ?
 Some, maybe, but not enough for that to be your sole motivation.
 If you have no other reason to get it, don't bother.
 My one by two K call has helped me not at all, but the understanding
 of the material required to get it has helped me greatly !

 In other words, if two candidates came to me for work. One had an Extra,
 but the other could legitimately claim that he/she was there when Rackley,
 or Jones, tuned up an 11 tower array, or could claim to have been there
 when Clear Channel built out a 6 station cluster studio, even if he/she did
 nothing more than hang around, and run for donuts, I'd pick the second.

 Of course, since many brodcasters do have tickets, simply going to the
 local amateur club meetings will likely afford more,
 just by meeting the prople.

-- 
Cowboy

http://cowboys.homeip.net

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