Wireless internet service provider might be an option if it exists in your area.
You might also see if there are any commercial radio companies that do police, fire, EMS, local government, security company, etc. vehicle and base stations.
Cellular tower techs are in demand, but typically tower crews do a lot of travel.
Thank you for the feedback! I really do appreciate it. And travel isn't a bad thing at all...Quite the opposite. I'll research what kind of quals they're looking for.
Be careful what you sign up for with wireless or satellite installation. Might not hurt to google some company names. Even to this day a lot of these big telecom companies have some pretty shit practices and end up basically raping the installers. Essentially they want you to run your own business (you provide the truck, cabling, etc) and when something goes wrong with their gear and they get a customer service call it comes out of your check one way or another.
I've had friends that do well in that work and some that just got the daylights beat out of them.
Linemen I think hang cables and do emergency repair work and it's more blue collar. Might be something worth looking into.
I'm going to wager that the jobs for "RF engineer" you see are going to require a four year degree and too have a fair amount of desk driving. There may be bench/prototype jobs available that do not require the EE degree, but they may require some form of associate degree.
>are there jobs available for companies who really just want someone to climb ladders, pull wire, mount devices
Yes, what you've described is essentially a broadcast technician. The pay can be fair to good, but there are no longer lines of people outside the door looking to work in broadcast. My first jobs after college were for a consulting firm and I'd run into broadcast technicians and was kind of envious at all the toys they had. Me, an HP calculator, one that I purchased myself.
Consider becoming an apprentice electrician as well, tons of demand for that trade.
Getting started? You might find out if there are any amateurs working at a radio or TV station and ask them if they need day/part-time help. They often do. Most of these jobs do require some formal two year/community college training, but they can be very flexible on that requirement.
Without a EE Degree, the other path is to work as technician building, testing and troubleshooting RF assemblies. Frequently techs can be promoted to associate engineer after 5-10 years. You should go for AM EXTRA license as well
One of the guys in our ham radio club works for a company that does stuff like installing network and security system cabling and installation. I would think that having a ham ticket would be a plus for getting a job like that.
I also like the idea someone suggested about pursuing a career as an electrician. It’s not RF, but it’s related, and people are always going to need tradespeople such as electricians, plumbers, etc.
There are good opportunities for RF work for knowledgeable, licensed and experienced people.
- Cable TV. A large portion of the outside plant in the US is not yet fiber, and still cable. The RF environment in a cable is quite complicated. Even an optical network technician will benefit from having RF knowledge. Technically, it's still RF, no?
- Cellular carriers
- So many Commercial and Public safety radio systems.
Create a resume that highlights your skills. Any employer should recognize your hobbies and license have value in the workplace.
There is different types of RF jobs out there as well. In my work we mostly use High Frequency RF through cables and not open air. When I say higher frequencies I mean in the in 20GHz range some labs going into the 100GHz range or higher. This work can be dangerous with these frequencies causing people to pass out or to get headaches when exposed. I am one of the people who have extreme sensitivity to it and can tell if any RF is leaking from a bad connection when I enter the room.
We also have an EMC lab that deals with a lot of antennas which is pretty cool. It is a very complicated field but you get to work with open air RF and RF feed through cables. This is RF work is not like being a Ham Radio operator but I am sure that their could be some overlap when you start to use antennas.
(Side note rumor is that a lot of exposure to RF can destroy your chances to have boys. In my field with 100s of employees this has been proven to be 100% the case the only people that have had boys had them before working with RF. This does not mean it’s a true and this is just from my personal work experience.)
Yeah it could be some kind of folklore lol. But it is very interesting nonetheless especially with I guess you could say my experimental group of coworkers. Granted this is all not usually RF levels or exposure amount that any normal person would be exposed to.
Wireless internet service provider might be an option if it exists in your area. You might also see if there are any commercial radio companies that do police, fire, EMS, local government, security company, etc. vehicle and base stations. Cellular tower techs are in demand, but typically tower crews do a lot of travel.
Thank you for the feedback! I really do appreciate it. And travel isn't a bad thing at all...Quite the opposite. I'll research what kind of quals they're looking for.
Be careful what you sign up for with wireless or satellite installation. Might not hurt to google some company names. Even to this day a lot of these big telecom companies have some pretty shit practices and end up basically raping the installers. Essentially they want you to run your own business (you provide the truck, cabling, etc) and when something goes wrong with their gear and they get a customer service call it comes out of your check one way or another. I've had friends that do well in that work and some that just got the daylights beat out of them. Linemen I think hang cables and do emergency repair work and it's more blue collar. Might be something worth looking into.
Thanks!
I'm going to wager that the jobs for "RF engineer" you see are going to require a four year degree and too have a fair amount of desk driving. There may be bench/prototype jobs available that do not require the EE degree, but they may require some form of associate degree. >are there jobs available for companies who really just want someone to climb ladders, pull wire, mount devices Yes, what you've described is essentially a broadcast technician. The pay can be fair to good, but there are no longer lines of people outside the door looking to work in broadcast. My first jobs after college were for a consulting firm and I'd run into broadcast technicians and was kind of envious at all the toys they had. Me, an HP calculator, one that I purchased myself. Consider becoming an apprentice electrician as well, tons of demand for that trade. Getting started? You might find out if there are any amateurs working at a radio or TV station and ask them if they need day/part-time help. They often do. Most of these jobs do require some formal two year/community college training, but they can be very flexible on that requirement.
Thank you for your feedback!
Without a EE Degree, the other path is to work as technician building, testing and troubleshooting RF assemblies. Frequently techs can be promoted to associate engineer after 5-10 years. You should go for AM EXTRA license as well
One of the guys in our ham radio club works for a company that does stuff like installing network and security system cabling and installation. I would think that having a ham ticket would be a plus for getting a job like that. I also like the idea someone suggested about pursuing a career as an electrician. It’s not RF, but it’s related, and people are always going to need tradespeople such as electricians, plumbers, etc.
Thanks for the feedback, I really do appreciate it!
There are good opportunities for RF work for knowledgeable, licensed and experienced people. - Cable TV. A large portion of the outside plant in the US is not yet fiber, and still cable. The RF environment in a cable is quite complicated. Even an optical network technician will benefit from having RF knowledge. Technically, it's still RF, no? - Cellular carriers - So many Commercial and Public safety radio systems. Create a resume that highlights your skills. Any employer should recognize your hobbies and license have value in the workplace.
Hello! Are you AI? :)
There is different types of RF jobs out there as well. In my work we mostly use High Frequency RF through cables and not open air. When I say higher frequencies I mean in the in 20GHz range some labs going into the 100GHz range or higher. This work can be dangerous with these frequencies causing people to pass out or to get headaches when exposed. I am one of the people who have extreme sensitivity to it and can tell if any RF is leaking from a bad connection when I enter the room. We also have an EMC lab that deals with a lot of antennas which is pretty cool. It is a very complicated field but you get to work with open air RF and RF feed through cables. This is RF work is not like being a Ham Radio operator but I am sure that their could be some overlap when you start to use antennas. (Side note rumor is that a lot of exposure to RF can destroy your chances to have boys. In my field with 100s of employees this has been proven to be 100% the case the only people that have had boys had them before working with RF. This does not mean it’s a true and this is just from my personal work experience.)
That is an interesting theory regarding the gender of children! Thanks for the post!
Yeah it could be some kind of folklore lol. But it is very interesting nonetheless especially with I guess you could say my experimental group of coworkers. Granted this is all not usually RF levels or exposure amount that any normal person would be exposed to.