Hello, Frank here.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are going to finish preparing for the general exam today. I'm going to have lower back surgery here in a few days, and I am going to be out of service for a while. This is the same reason the radio posts have been sporadic and far between. I have an old back injury that I decided to reactivate in full force. So, if I spell the word excruciating correctly, it's the word I use to describe my stabbing pains, which will soon be over. Hopefully. So much for my whining routine.
Okay. I'm on page 47 of Romanchik, and this manual ends on page 66, and that's where we will be at the end of this post. As I've stated more than once, if you have your Technician, then you know how to get in touch with the ARRL. You know how to find a mentor, or Elmer. And you know a little bit about safety.
Speaking of safety, know the safety rules, follow them. If you want to cut corners on an antenna, wonderful. If you want to open your radio up and start whacking diodes and resistors, wonderful. But, never compromise on safety. Yesterday I was doing a little soldering. My tip was a little shaky, and without thinking, I reached down with an unprotected index finger, and stupidly, stabilized the tip of my soldering iron. After I got finished with my diatribe of expletives, I promptly stuck my burnt finger in my mouth. Next, I pulled out my trusty commercial handheld radio, called my wife on GMRS 20, and asked her to bring me the burn cream. Those were not the exact words, but for family publication, it will do. And if you think you'll never do something stupid......
Okay, let's go. Operating procedures. If you're using Romanchik, then you know that all of the bold print words are the answers, and he surrounds it with the question. It gives you the number and letters where the question comes from. Example: G2A05. It talks about sideband, upper and lower, which is the outside part of the carrier. This is stuff you should already know. Now, I'm not an old salt at this stuff, but I do not remember everything I've learned in the past. By the way, this is not on the test, but if you use 11 meter, or CB, channels 30 through 40, folks use the lower sideband, even though the ham bands 10 and 12, are upper side band. Also do a google search, CB Free Band. With your HF radio you can listen to all of these frequencies. And if you have a modified HF radio, you can also broadcast on these frequencies. As you know, that is illegal.
You need to know what "CQ, CQ, CQ" means. And you also need to know what CQ DX means. Read pages 48 and 49. These are things you will need to know for the test. But most of them are just common courtesy. Page 50 starts CW, which is morse code. Whether you ever do CW, or you ever plan on doing CW or not, these questions are still going to be on the test. And they will be on the test, therefore, you will need to know the information about CW. Pages 51 and 52 are some very general rules. Remember, if you see a question about 'all these choices are correct', that is not the answer every time, but more than not, it is. Know what QRP means, and always use QRP.
I'm on page 53. Most of these terms are not going to be familiar to you. Most of you will never use these. But if you choose to, know what they are. RTTY, for example, means radioteletype. It has been around a long, long time. But, as usual, this information will be on your test, and if you never plan on using this information that is fine. Learn it long enough to pass the test. I know there are guys in ham radio that hate this type of teaching technique. Some of them believe that you should study and know everything, even if you're never going to use it again in your life. There are those types everywhere. We're not talking about studying for a medical exam here. So. If you're in a crowd of old guys, talking about how you did, and you talk about the techniques learned here, it might be one of those good days to be quiet and listen.
Okay, I'm on page 55. Electrical and RF safety. You know that microwave oven you have in your kitchen? Microwave is just a band of RF. If you don't know what you're doing, DON'T DO IT. And you will not see this in any safety manual anywhere. But, if you are going to do something that you know you are not supposed to do, then do it at low power. Those brain tissues that you fry are not going to come back. We all do things that are stupid, trust me, I know. And we all do things we're not supposed to do. But if you're going to to it anyway, do it at low power. That does not mean it's okay to go out and stand in a puddle of water, and work on an electrical outlet. That is categorized as ultra stupid. Okay. Read about safety and RF safety. Again, if you see, "all of these choices are correct", in more cases than not, that is the answer, but not every time.
This is a good time to know how to ground your equipment. And if by chance you are one of these guys, that took a sharp hit to your head when you were a child and find some pleasure in climbing towers, follow the safety rules. I can never understand how anybody would want to climb a tower. To get me up a tower past, oh, six feet, there's going to have to be a raging water buffalo at the base of that tower.
Okay, on page 57 it talks about AWG12. This is probably the size of wire that carries most of your electrical outlet current. So, now you know about what size #12 is. Okay, remember, the bigger the number, the smaller the cable size. #22 is a whole lot smaller than #12, and #6 is a whole lot bigger than #12. Ground your equipment. When you're working on a piece of equipment, turn off the power. And, even if the power is disconnected and unplugged, you can still fry your piece of equipment if you touch the wrong capacitor. Know what you're doing. And you say, "If I don't know what I'm doing, how am I going to learn?" Find a mentor through your local ARRL. Find one you get along with. If you're going to be the type of person that follows the rules 100% of the time, then find somebody that has that same belief. If you're the type that's going to experiment a little bit, then find someone that has that same type of belief. I would guesstimate the numbers are about 50/50, so just ask around. Don't be afraid to ask. Tell the mentor what you want to do, and if he says you can't do that, then ask him to direct you to someone who will teach you what you want to know. It's no big deal.
Page 59. Rules. There's a lot of stuff here that doesn't seem to be particularly important, but it is on the test. Get out one of those ICOM band charts, a pencil and start playing with the edges of the bands, and this stuff will come to you pretty quick. There is a lot of it on the test, so therefore, you will need to know it to pass.
And you might say, "Well, I can't transmit on the 60 meter band." So, what do you do? It's legal to transmit there, but your radio won't do it. You open up your radio. Is that legal? Yes. Will it then be legal to transmit on 60 meters? Yes. Will your radio then transmit on the CB frequencies? Yes. Is it legal? No. So, is it legal to open up your radio? Yes. Okay. To open up your radio means, to allow it to transmit on frequencies that it was not initially designed to transmit on. Can you go inside your radio and smash a diode and now transmit on 60 meters? Yes, you can. Is it legal? Yes, it is. One more time. After you open up your radio, you will also be able to transmit on many frequencies that are illegal. Remember, you can listen to any frequency in the HF spectrum legally. Also remember, your HF radio is a first class shortwave receiver. Okee-dokee?
If you notice on the bottom of page 60 it says, "None of the amateur bands are shared with the citizens radio service." That's in this country. CB radio in other countries has different frequencies, but that's not on the test. But again, do a google and check out CB Free Band.
Proceeding right along to page 61, a few more rules and regulations. Talking about antennas. An antenna is probably the most important piece of equipment you will own. It does no good to have a $10,000 radio and a poor antenna. Now, I did not say cheap antenna. An inexpensive long wire antenna, or dipole, will do an excellent job if it is erected properly. Don't forget that either. You'll not impress your friends with a high dollar radio if you cannot produce an intelligible signal. Read the last paragraph on page 61, this is our government at it's best. One other free piece of advice. If you see FCC in the answer, the majority of the time, that is the correct answer, but not all of the time.
Alrighty. Page 63. More stuff you will see on the test, and it's going to be there. Go ahead and learn it. And the last part deals with volunteer examiner coordinators. There is a little bit more information about ITU. That will be the answer on at least one of the questions.
Boys and girls, ladies and gentlemen. That's it. Call your local ARRL, find out when they do testing. This is ham fest season, and many of them offer testing. If you have been taking the practice tests and you're scoring 85 or above, then it's time to go take the test. If you don't think you're going to pass the first time, then take a handful of $15.00 bills. A little humor there.
I talked on the radio to a gentleman in northern Ohio last night at 28.302. That's the first time I've talked on the radio in about a month. The last guy I talked to was in Argentina. He was also on the 10 meter band. As stated before, I don't contest, I have nothing to prove about how much my equipment costs. I listen to shortwave every chance I can, which is not very often. I am not intimidated by a man that has a $10,000 radio. I am happy for him, if that's what he truly wants. I'm also happy for the man that likes to contest. I've told you before, ham radio has lots of opportunities. Connected to my HF radio, is a dipole antenna and an A99 antenna, which is considered to be a CB antenna. I use it for 10, 11, 12 and 15 meters. It works great. I also have a couple of antenna switches that I use the A99 and the dipole on my legal CB radio. I like CB, but my antennas work for both. If you want to take an HF radio and open it up, that is not illegal. It just depends on where you use it. If you don't do something stupid, no one will notice you.
Please go back and read some of the other posts. The information is put in a simple manner, and I hope you enjoy it. Here in a week or two or three, depending on how my back surgery goes, I'm going to put out a post about survival radio. If you believe there are hard times coming, then you might want to be able to talk to your buddy down the road, who might have an old CB radio in his truck. If he hunts, he probably has a couple of GMRS handheld radios, and you can talk to him, too. If you have an HF radio, you can listen to, and talk to folks, all around the planet. With a commercial VHF/UHF radio, you can talk on the ham frequencies, GMRS and MURS. Some of the above mentioned frequencies are not legal. But in a collapse situation, I'm not sure that will be an issue. Just don't get stupid. Wish me well on my surgery. I wish you well on your test.
We'll talk more later. 73, Frank
Hello, Frank here.
This is going to be a short post with a lot of entry level information. There are three licenses in amateur radio, which is also called ham radio. The
first license is the technician, the next level up is the general, and the top and final level, is the extra. As you look through some of the information I am about to provide, you will find other titles for operators. Well, these are old titles that have been grandfathered in. Currently there are only the three mentioned above. Also, you are not required to know morse code for any current level of ham radio license. NO MORSE CODE REQUIRED.
First I am going to talk learning styles. I am a retired educator - teacher and school administrator. I want you to know that not everybody learns the same. Some people will take the information I am going to give you tonight and will be ready to take the technician test in three or four days. Other folks might take three or four weeks. If it takes you three weeks and it takes the other guys three days, no big deal. Everybody learns different. Don't compare yourself with anyone else, we are all different. Okay. So much for that.
The first level of ham radio is the technician. Of the three tests, it is the easiest with each test getting progressively more difficult. I'm going to give you two band charts. One is from ICOM, and the other is from ARRL. On both of these charts, you will notice old licesnse names. They mean nothing to you or me. But you will notice places where the technician can transmit and receive, which is mostly 2 meter and up. You say what does that mean? When you look at the charts, it will become apparent. There is a small portion of the 10 meter band that the technician can talk on, which in the ham world is called phone.
Another topic. Both of these charts are very informative. I prefer to use the ICOM chart for my frequency needs. The ICOM chart, just by looking at it, will provide a number of answers for questions on the technician's test, which, by the way, is the only test we are going to talk about today.
Probably the most useful website you can go to is the ARRL website. Play around in here and it will give you information about many things that
we are going to discuss right now. When you decide to take your test, you will need to contact an ARRL local club. This can be done through this page. You will need the town you live in or the closest town to you. Most of these clubs have websites and contact information. Not only can they tell you when the test date is, they'll also be happy to invite you to any club meeting they have. Someone there will be happy to walk you through the world of ham radio.
This next site will take you to information about how to get your technician's license. It's just more information. You notice these sites are all part of ARRL. This is a very handy webpage to use.
The next site I am going to take you to is the FCC regulations page for ham radio. These are all of the rules, right here. You've heard me joke about your third cousin, Bubba? Here are the rules. There are really not very many of them. But, again, these are the rules. When in doubt, pull up this site.
Okay. I'm going to give you a couple of sites that will provide you with free practice tests. The first one is QRZ.com. This is where I used the practice tests to study for my technician's exam. They will ask you to sign in with
your call sign. Well, you don't have one. Pick out a few letters you like. I used my initials for my first, middle and last name followed by the number 1. Then you will need to provide a password. Try to make it one that you can remember. Once in this site, go to the tab across the top that says resources. The first selection is 'practice amateur radio exams'. From here, you should be able to figure out the rest of it. These are free practice tests, and like I said earlier, this is the site I used to practice for my technician exam.
The next practice test site is called Ham Test Online. This is the site I used to get my general license which is the next license after the technician.
This is not a free site, but my wife and I found that the general class was a little more difficult than the technician, and we liked the format that these folks use. This site also has a free trial period. If you like their style and you like the way things are laid out and you want to use this for your technician's license, go ahead. It is not free, but I used it and I would recommend it.
Next on the list is HamStudy.org. This is a free practice test site. This is the site my wife chose to use for her technician practice tests. Remember, different folks have different learning styles. I like the first one I used and she liked this one. You will need to come up with a username and password, but you should be able to do that.
Next are the No Nonsense Study Guides. This is another cool site with a lot of information. All of the sites above also have a lot of cool information. Don't be afraid to play around in them. But this site will actually give you something that you can print out or use in pdf form. It puts the questions and answers into a textbook style format. Click on the toolbar where it says 'No Nonsense Study Guides' and open the one that says Technician Class. You'll notice that there are three or four different versions. I used the free version pdf file. This is free and it is a great way to study for the test. On
about page six or seven you will see where it deals with a couple of formulas. Play with these formulas a little bit and you will see that they are actually quite easy. If you have trouble with the formulas, we will talk about them in more detail in the very near future. Don't be overwhelmed by the math. It is a small, small portion of the test. Again, don't worry about the math. The technician's test will have 35 questions out of a question pool of 396 and you will need to get 26 correct to pass. Don't worry about the math.
Another example of learning styles. My wife, or YL in ham language, got her ham radio licenses just so we could do it together. Her level of operation is push the on button, pick up the microphone, click the button and talk. She knows little to nothing about antennas, coax, frequencies or modulation, but she does know how to push the button and talk into the microphone. Correction. She also knows how to change the channel.
You ask, how did she pass the technician and the general test? She took the practice tests, over and over and over and over until she memorized the answers. Well, some people might say, that's not right. She doesn't understand ham radio. Who cares! She met the requirements, she passed the tests and now she has her technician and general licenses. I, on the other hand, memorized many of the answers, but I needed to know more about the radio and it's overall operation. A side note here - she scored better on both tests than I did. So, each to their own. Whatever works for you. You have multiple choices here and most of them are free.
If you want to know more about the details of how radio waves work, the ARRL site above has a plethora of information and books that they will be glad to sell you. Or, get in touch with a local ham club and they will be happy to assist you. The testing fee is normally $15.00. The testing has to be done in person. If you have handicaps or special needs, let the folks know at the testing site and they will accommodate your needs. By the way, if you want to take the technician and the general on the same day, if you pass the first test, the second test is at no additional cost, as is the third test for the extra if you pass the general. If you do not pass the first test, you can take it again, same day, same place, but it will cost you $15.00 more.
One last thing. Always think safety.
We'll talk more later. 73, Frank
Hello, Frank here.
Today this is going to be a short post. No, actually, it's going to be about shortwave. Okay, let's see.
Shortwave is from 3 MHz to 30 MHz, or thereabouts. To help clarify a few things, medium wave is just underneath shortwave and that is where your local AM commercial radio station functions. Directly under medium wave is long wave. For entertainment purposes or listening, not a lot happens on long wave. But if you are in London, or other parts of Europe and you ask someone about an AM radio station, they may look at you a little odd, because over there it is called medium wave or MW. Most, but not all, shortwave radios will pick up all 3 of these bands.
But, what we are going to focus on today is between 3 and 30 MHz. Falling in that same range is where most HF (high frequency) ham radio
takes place. That's why I have included the ICOM ham bands. Take a look at this chart. Especially the lower part of page one. You can see where the ham frequencies operate. You will notice that between 10 meter and 12 meter ham bands are the CB frequencies, or sometimes called 11 meters. Why is this stuff important? If you want to listen on your shortwave radio, that picks up these frequencies, then all ham bands in the HF frequencies are either lower side band (LSB) or upper side band (USB) which is called SSB, single side band. So, if you want to listen to the ham frequencies, you will need a shortwave radio with SSB capability. Most shortwave radios do not have SSB.
I have included a few DX websites. DX in the ham world normally means out of the continental United States, DX for shortwave purposes, means shortwave. Go into these sites and play around. Prime Time Shortwave is filled with information about radio stations. Look on the left hand side, go down about five tabs and you will see SW schedules to America. Click on it. These stations are geared for broadcast to America, which means they are in English, normally. Play at this site for a long time, there is some really great stuff there. The DX Zone is a place with lots of information. Look around here. DXing.com is another site that is filled with information. Check out the left hand side column.
Okay. You've looked at a few of these and you have looked at some of the radio stations. The time is weird. The time for these stations is sometimes called GMT - Greenwich Mean Time, Zulu Time, or
UTC (Coordinated Universal Time). You will find these on the first website I sent you to. You can figure out the time where you are. I live in the Central Time Zone, CST. I am about six hours different from UTC. Example: If it is 8:00pm in London, it is 2:00pm in Oklahoma, CST, or thereabouts. But you say, it doesn't say am or pm. 8:00pm is actually 2000 hours. Because 8:00am is 0800, and you just keep on counting - 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 - you'll get the picture. There are some charts there to help you, if you need it. So, if it's 2000 UTC, it is 1400 CST.
Now for some radios. There are portable and tabletop SW radios. If you
will take a look at some of these, you will see there are vast differences between portable and tabletop. Most people use a portable, which I have included two of - one is the Tucsen PL600, the other is a Grundig 750. Each one of these will work fine for basic shortwave reception and both are SSB capable. Remember if you want to listen to the ham frequencies, you will need SSB.
You might ask yourself why do I want to listen to a bunch of old men talking? Because if the power goes off someday and you are operating this radio in the dark, plugged into your car's cigarette lighter plug, then those old men might be the only voices you hear. Then you might be glad that your SW radio has SSB. Almost all shortwave stations operate in the AM mode. This is not the AM band that is in your car. This is the AM mode of transmission which about any shortwave radio will receive. So much for preaching.
Also included are a couple of tabletop shortwave radios. The ICOM R75 and the AOR AR-Alpha. Both of these cost a little bit more
than your portable SW radios. The AOR costs a whole lot more. You might recognize that the ICOM R75 looks just like the ICOM IC-718 ham radio transceiver. And it does. The primary difference is that the R75 does not transmit it will only receive and it costs about the same as the IC-718.
Okay, so this light goes off. Why should I buy a receiver when I can buy an IC-718 that will transmit and receive for about the same cost? Good question. The IC-718 is a ham radio that will pick up all the HF frequencies and transmit. It will also pick up all of the shortwave frequencies which are just mixed in between the ham frequencies, but you can only receive on those. It will receive USB and LSB, which are ham functions and AM which is a shortwave function. These are all called modes, by the way.
The SW frequencies in many cases are also designated by meter. They are in between and around the ham meters. Look at that ICOM chart
again with the ham frequencies. Hopefully you are starting to get the
picture where the SW DX frequencies are located in relation to the ham
frequencies.
You can buy a used ham radio, from a local ham radio operator or at what is called a ham fest. The ARRL, American Radio Relay League, is the home site for most ham radio operators. Open this site and look for clubs. You can find one in your area. They have meetings, radio sponsored events, websites and phone numbers. You may not be interested in getting your ham license, which if you are this is the place to start, but if not these local clubs will have individuals that will be happy to answer many questions about radios and where to purchase them. The ARRL site also has lots of information about radios, it's a good place to play around in. If you're looking for a $100 SW radio with SSB, there is one mentioned above. If you're looking for a $300 radio, there is one mentioned above. If you have longer term plans and are thinking about a ham radio licence the ARRL is a great place to start. Then you can get a ham radio that will also work as a SW radio. Food for thought.
If you live in a metal building, or you want to put a radio on your desk inside a metal building, then you might want to consider a little bit longer wire for an antenna. If you don't live in a metal building, and you live out in the middle of nowhere, or somewhere in between, the longer the antenna wire, the better the reception. If you choose to go the ham radio route, you can use the same antenna as your ham radio. Okay, that's enough for now. Above is a lot of information, give it time, let it soak in. Next time we will talk about scanners, which should be a whole lot easier.
We'll talk more later. 73, Frank
