i cant find an elmer, this sucks!

My Elmer is the club curmudgeon. Old and cranky. However, he has decades of experience in station engineering and operating (Three towers, 10 Yagis, four 1.5kw amps he built himself, and is a great CW op). I knew this was the guy I wanted to learn from.

At a meeting I asked him about an antenna I was putting up. I thought he was going to bite my head off. He growled a little but gave me a long lecture on the importance of resonant antennas. He told me I should never need a tuner to use an antenna fed with coax and spent a great deal of time explaining why. The next weekend his was helping me put up an antenna.

I've learned a lot from him and continue to do so. Now he is learning from me (Auto tune amplifiers, Reverse Beacon Network for antenna testing, usefulness of a panadapter, how to use N1MM ect.)

Keep trying to find a local Elmer. He will save you a lot of money and frustration.

Good luck with the test. Enjoy your new HF privileges