A common question I get is resources for the HAM hobby in the area. So here is a list of sites that I have found for Seattle and the pacnw.
Radio Reference – possibly the single greatest Internet database of law enforcement, and Public Frequency’s if you wonder what the light bar out side your house is talking about this is the location to get data. Also make sure to check out the forums there is a great location for learning and gathering data about how to scan or use radios.
Northwest Radio (Intercept Northwest) – Same Idea as the Radio Reference but specifically for the northwest, they have a lot more of the nitty gritty freq’ allocations like W hotel security, or McDonald's in Fife. forms to talk about local information
NWHam – here is a new kid on the block, this site is very slick. Has a repeater lookup database that is seemingly bad ass. Normally you must buy a book or do a lot of research for this data. This is a community fed database like RR.com to keep the data living. Again forms for HAM radio talk in the area.
I leave qrz.com for last because as its ‘the’ lookup database for amateur call signs. The forms are full of angry, know it all-Old farts that think that vista is cool because its new. Or google browser is great because its from ‘a real good company’ (translated to I wish my retirement was wrapped up in the google stock)
Other realms are the FCC ULS search which is the database for anything FCC (or everything).
HRO which is a suppler of radio equipment, the prices are not as good as they once were. but free shipping on over 100 bucks from Portland is normally good. Compare them to AES for best prices. Vetco is in Bellevue and has things if you need them now, but I very much dislike the staff there. (they also turned into the largest seller of HDTV crap ever)
Local Groups, Or Clubs are good if you’re into the group thing. The Mike and Key Club and the Puget Sound Repeater groups are good places to look into. There is a thousand groups in the area, from emergency to Boeing and Microsoft. Just Google search ‘Puget Sound Amateur Radio Club/Group’ to find more.
If you have uniden scanners check out the free tool bctool or freescan. Don’t buy the Butel Arc software its buggy and crappy for the price.
What to buy? Pages such as eham or RadioReference Wiki can help. The sites I have listed at the top all have Classifieds go there before you go to ebay. Craig’s list also always has mountains of crap. I find the local swap meets to be a waste of time for the most part. (Other then looking at other nerds) also check out groups.yahoo.com
Antenna’s …long topic, out is better then in. Big isn’t always the best. If it’s noisy get a tuned. Anything will work as good as the most expensive if you tinker. Noise blockers and RFI eliminators should be last resort.
Magazines, I find that the ARRL official mag is possibly the best. I am not an advocate of dumping money into ARRL but the subscription and online stuff you get is worth the cash. Popular Communications is also a great one to get. I have nothing good to say about Monitoring Times they don’t have good stuff on radios or the hobby IMO a lot of crap that PCMagazine also has. Sorry I don’t need a monthly grove catalog.
Books– the Northwest Frequency Database I carry with me everywhere I go. Official ARRL Repeater directory books are handy but sometimes are dated, However they are good to have. The ArtSci books are good, but also wrong or dated but you cant always have internet and they have sometimes better data then the ARRL.
Other things I would check out, is HamRadioDeluxe has a application for decoding digital modes, so far its the best I have found (including very $$$ apps) it will do most things that are still around. MixW is a nice tool for some comparative analysis on digital modes as one solution won’t always work. It’s a pay for app with no development but you can use it with out paying. FlDigi is an open source app that you want on your tool belt as well expanding again some of the things you can do with digi-modes is another analyzer to use. If you want to try some fun the DigiPup bootable Linux distro will throw a lot of apps at you for testing.
Other applications that might be handy for tooling around the RF is TrueRTA for sound card digital analysis. And unitrunker for trunk decoding, PDW for decoding other commercial digital modes. GoogleEarth is also a good application to have handy, just don’t install the Google updater to keep the NSA from keeping its link to you updated.
You need to take a Radio Test? Look around, most people will do it for the cost of the license work (15 bucks or so) don’t pay a lot unless you want to support the cause. Email me and I can get you in touch with free study groups w/ test.
If you don’t have a radio or have no place for antennas check out EchoLink this will allow you to link your computer to a repeater to talk to stations all over the world, something you cant do as easy or reliably even with the most expensive radio.
And don’t tell people you have a GRMS license they will only snicker.
Hope this little blurb of information finds your Google search and that I can help.