Just a few (probably) simple questions.

Good morning!

I am as new to this hobby as I think it is possible to be. I purchased the ARRL Technician handbook last week, and with that I purchased a Baofeng UV-5R V2+ hand held (http://ift.tt/2fkrCN8). My thought process was to give it a try. Read through the manual, learn how to use my hand held while learning all about Amateur Radio, and if I liked what I was doing then I would move forward from there.

First off, I love it. I get such a kick out of everything from the potential uses in disasters, assisting emergency personnel, to building my own radios and learning about the finer points of Amateur Radio. I have, however, come to find that even with the most basic hand held, I am severely inexperienced.

So I am here to ask a few questions, and I hope all of you will provide me with even more unsolicited advice above and beyond what information I am asking for in this thread.

1. I have scanned manually at a frequency step of .005. Is this acceptable? Is a smaller step desired or does it not make much of a difference?

2. At times I will come across a frequency on which it sounds like someone is flicking a microphone. Not morse, but frequent “dot”s that sound like a thumb tapping a transmitter. What is this? Could it be a signal my hand held can’t quite receive?

3. Are 15″ antenna’s useful for this handheld, or is the power restriction of the device going to subdue my capabilities for receiving no matter what kind of antenna I attach this to?

4. I’ve navigated to my local EMS and Dispatch frequencies, but rarely hear much of anything taking place. I am able to hear the weather which is transmitted from 40 miles away, so how would a new HAM go about finding and monitoring his local emergency service radio frequencies?

Lastly, if my questions are beyond even the typical Novice questions on this sub-reddit, please tell me so and I will simply return to reading the device manual and the AARL hand book.

Thank you,

(P.S. — I only receive, as I am not licensed to transmit.)

submitted by /u/Rocketpotamus
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