Hello, Frank here.
Hi everybody, I hope there are still a few people out there following along. Okay, this session we're going to talk about amateur radio practices. I'm on page 38 of Romanchik. I want to remind you of a few things before we get
started. When it comes time to take the General test, you will need to get in touch with the local ARRL club and check for when and where to take your test. There is no way around this, it's the only way. Check the price for the test. In my area, they are normally $15.00. If you plan on taking the test more than once, then bring a couple of extra $15.00 bills. Also remember that the manual I'm using here is not the only way to study. There are some free online sites, paid online sites and the ARRL manuals that now days come with a CD so you can study with your computer. For my General I used HamTestOnline and it worked well for me. I did not use the Romanchik manual for my General, it's just a common reference point for you and I to communicate, and it's free. Some of this information we are about to cover is going to appear to be a little outdated. The reason being, because it is. But this is what is on the test. So, learn the answers.
Okay, so let's talk about it some. The newer HF transceivers are pretty much plug and play. Back in the old days ham radio consisted of two different radios, one transmitter and one receiver. These were two separate beasts entirely. I don't believe these can even be bought new. So, here is where some of this information we are about to cover comes from, it's the old days. Also remember that not very long ago CW, or morse code, was a requirement for ham operators. That is not the case now days. Many still pursue CW, but that's strictly by choice.
These next few items are just ways to help you receive signals better. I seldom use these on my bottom of the line radio, but it does have them. One is a notch filter and one is an IF shift. Next we go onto RF amplifiers. You can run lots of power through a radio. This is where it's particularly important to understand the affects of RF and how to use it properly and not fry your brain. Remember, safety. If you don't know what you're doing, DON'T DO IT. And if you're going to do it anyway, do it at low power.
Skipping on down here, other things you need to know about the operation of your radio. How to set up CW. How to operate in split mode, which you notice has a lot of questions. That means a lot of answers. Split mode basically means transmitting in one frequency and receiving in another.
I'm in the middle of page 39 now, and at the bottom it briefly mentions antenna tuners. Most modern operators use an antenna tuner and most use an automatic antenna tuner. Many radios come with them built in, but the less expensive radios, if you choose to use one, will need an antenna
tuner. I would recommend an automatic one, and I would recommend LDG. If you buy a matching tuner for your radio manufactured by LDG, it is basically plug and play. A word of wisdom here. A capable tuner will tune many frequencies, but in many cases you are losing a tremendous amount of power to do so. This is where a quality antenna is important. As stated before, your antenna is the most important part of your radio system. For most operators, a dipole antenna works great, and I would check out Alpha Delta antennas, but there are many other quality antenna manufacturers.
Okay, I'm sliding over to page 40, test equipment. Do you have to have test equipment? No. Do you want to blow your radio up? No. Here's what I
would recommend. A decent mulitmeter, an antenna analyzer, and an appropriate frequency SWR meter. Let's talk about these. A multimeter measures voltage and resistance. They are relatively easy to use, just ask somebody to teach you. That's where your mentor, or Elmer, from ARRL will come in real handy. They make $10.00 multimeters and up. If you don't know how to use one, make your first one a cheap one, because if you're going to fry something, you'd rather fry $10.00 than $100.00. Okay? Okay.
Your antenna analyzer, not a piece of equipment that you have to have. Once your equipment is set up and running, you may not ever use it again. They cost $250.00 and up. An SWR meter is highly recommended. Normally it goes between your radio output and your antenna. Extremely high SWR will damage or kill a radio. Once it's set up and operating,
it'll operate for years just fine. They make meters that cover wide frequency ranges, and they make meters specific to certain frequency ranges. Some radios have built in SWR meters. Most operators still use an external meter, though. Inexpensive meters start at about $60.00. SWR is important. There are analog type meters and digital, find one that works for you. This is not a piece of equipment that you have to have, but it is highly recommended. It's very important if you're choosing to operate out of the ham bands on the VHF/UHF frequencies. Many of the commercial VHF radios are built to operate outside of the ham bands, but just because the radio will transmit on those frequencies does not mean that your antenna will. This is where an SWR meter comes in very handy. There are antennas made that will operate out of the ham bands, but you might have to have more than one antenna. If you choose to stay within the ham bands, then as a general rule your antennas will work fine. But you still need to check your SWR.
The stuff we just talked about, you need to read these pages and understand the answers. I'm heading on to page 42 now where we're going to talk about interference. I'm not going to cover all of the information on pages 42 and 43, but you need to understand some very simple concepts. If you put up a ham antenna and your
neighbor is having a problem with their TV signal, and they didn't have one before you put your antenna up, then you are probably the problem. And if you are the problem, you need to stop being the problem. It's real simple. Your transmissions can affect television, telephone, baby monitors, heart and respiratory equipment...so you don't want to be interfering with these signals. And it's real simple, under the law you have to stop transmitting until the problem is fixed. No if's, and's, are's or but's. There is no point in arguing with your neighbor that your signal is clean and pure. Any questions about that? This is one of those cases where grounding your equipment well will help solve a plethora of problems.
Okay heading on to page 44, down toward the bottom of it, it talks about single side band operation. You will see a lot of this on the test, it is important and you need to understand it. One, if you understand it, it's
a whole lot easier to figure it out. But if you are on frequency and you're
operating on LSB or USB, then your signal extends out to the edge of your operating frequency, which in most cases is 3 KHz. If you need to get a piece of paper and draw a little signal, we all know 3 + 3 = 6. So, can you go right to the edge of a band and operate on SSB? Sure you can. If it's the top of the band, then you can operate on LSB. If it's the very bottom of the band, then you can operate on USB. Let that sit in your brain for a while. Get a piece of paper and a pencil and if you need to, draw it out.
Okay, on to page 45. I do not recommend mobile HF operation for new operators. For the most part the antennas are very expensive and they don't operate particularly well. Again, if you're using a 100 watt transceiver, then you need to connect directly to your battery and make sure it is fused correctly. Your cigarette lighter plug as a general rule, will not provide enough power to operate 100 watts. Remember, P = E x I. Go ahead and read page 45 and 46 because you will see it on the test.
We should have about three more lessons, three, at the most four, for your General. I hope you're enjoying this particular teaching style. What I'm trying to do is get a few people set up for emergency communications when things shut down. If you
choose to pursue other routes, wonderful. Amateur radio has a place for just about everybody. An example. Some guys still like to build their own radios. Some of these guys have a tremendous amount of knowledge. Others like to contest and there is a large arena for these folks. My goal is to help get people in the door using the least amount of equipment possible and doing it safely. The equipment I recommend is the equipment I use, and this is just one man's opinion. But if you see a need for communications, then you need to get started. There are lots of ways to communicate in ham radio and outside of ham radio. In the section called Frank's Radio Communications there are articles about CB's, GMRS, scanners and lots of other good, solid information. You might want to skim these areas. Remember, a CB is an HF transceiver that operates between 10 meter and 12 meter, and has the ability in some cases to operate on SSB.
There's an old saying around, "I'd rather be a day early, than a minute late." and if you're reading this, then you know what I'm talking about. Today the stores are open, the internet is working and the electricity is on. No guarantees about tomorrow. If you're a fence sitter, then get it done.
We'll talk more later. 73, Frank
Hello, Frank here.
Hope all are doing well. Everybody got their tin hats on? All a tin hat is, is a Faraday cage for your head. You do know what a
Faraday cage is, don't you? Well, if you don't, then look it up. Because I know that everyone now knows what the gray line is. I've been reading lately about a lot of gray people. I've talked about it often in some of the other things I write, but I didn't know there was an actual term for being nondescript, not attracting attention to yourself, kind of being plain, boring, well, maybe not boring. This is what the gray person is. It has nothing to do with the gray
line. But when you get into radio, or anything in life for that matter, if you want to be the type of person that is always hollering or screaming, "Look at me! Look at me!", then that is your choice. But if you're not that type, then you might be a gray person. Being gray will keep you out of tense and sometimes intense situations. But that's not what a gray line is. I have seen gray line spelled 'grey' and 'gray', so take your pick.
So, I'm going to go back to page 10 and start talking about circuit components. Is it important that you know what all of the answers really mean? Well, that's yes and no. If you want to design and build your own radios, then yes, it's critical that you know what these components mean. You'll need to know how they're built, where they come from, and you will need to know a detailed knowledge of electronics and electrical physics. In
my neck of the woods, we have a very popular VHF repeater and most guys talk about the weather, sports, stuff like that. But every now and then somebody will chime in and ask a question related to tube circuitry. What amazes me is there are normally three or four guys waiting in line to answer the question. You see, I'm a plug and play type of survival radio guy. I don't need to know whether a resistor is better if it's coated in silver or gold. That's just not on my radar. But for the guys that want to do this, that is wonderful. If you're one of those guys, then you can probably find someone in your area that is extremely knowledgeable about radios. So, just because I make off colored jokes sometimes about these guys, that does not mean I don't have the highest respect for their knowledge. But for our purposes here, you need to know the question and you need to know the answer. And with Romanchik, at the end of each section, example, the bottom of page 11, there are links to many of the questions he just discussed. So please use them.
Okay, I'm skimming through pages 11, 12 & 13, information that you will need to know. It will be on the test. If you don't understand it, but you're capable of memorizing the answer, that's great. By the way, at the bottom of page 13, there is a link to diodes and LED's that
has some really cool information. You might want to check it out. As you've noticed, I'm not going into detail during this part of this manual because during the Technician's test, you should have learned what type of learner you are, and what techniques you will use to get to your end results. Okee-Dokee? So this part here, we're just going to skim.
Like on page 14 at the bottom, it talks about DB-9 and RCA phono. These are two types of connectors. Romanchik does not provide pictures. If you need more information, copy, paste and search. As I mentioned before, I did not use Romanchik for my General. I used HamTestOnline, the paid version. But a buddy of mine only used QRZ.com, which is free, for both his Technician and General. So you should know your learning style by now. In the near future I am going to start working on my Extra license. My plan is to use HamTestOnline, the paid version. I also bought the Romanchik version online and I have invested in all three levels, Technician, General and Extra manuals from ARRL, because on occasion, there are questions I have that are not in Romanchik or the online testing services. An example of that would be, "What is a gray line?" So, we all have different learning styles. Some people can read this stuff one time, take the test and Wa-la! they pass. And it also depends greatly on how deep of a knowledge you want or desire.
Okay, back to Romanchik. Page 16, Practical Circuits. This is interesting talking about AC, DC, peak power and things like that. In this manual, it gives you a very simple explanation. Very simple. So to truly understand it you will need more information from an outside source. And I believe page 17 has our first circuit diagram, Figure G7-1. If I remember correctly the
Technician had two diagrams. These little picture looking gizmo things you do need to know what they are. It would be nice if you understand how everything functions and how they are related to each other. And if you really want to know, you can find the answers. But you do need to know what all of those symbols mean, because it will be on the test.
Okay, page 18. I always find this stuff kinda cool. Ones and zeros in a binary number system. This is not something that you will ever really use, but if you can understand it and grasp it, it just improves your overall knowledge of how the smallest circuits work. And, as usual, you will see these questions and answers on the test. And, don't forget the links at the bottom of each section.
Okay to finish off today's discussion, go ahead and read up to page 21. Because next time we are going to go into Signals and Emissions, which
is something that you do need to understand. Some of it will be a repeat of what you learned in your Technician, just going a little bit deeper. At this stage you should have been in touch with ARRL a long time ago. There are going to be some items taught here that there are just not easy answers for, so you will need some type of a mentor. Not all mentors are a good fit. Find someone you can talk to and ask real questions. Don't be afraid to ask what you may think is a stupid question. Let's finish up here for today.
But let's finish thinking safety. As we discussed earlier, you're getting into an area of radio where you can use more power. It's kind of like driving down the highway with your stereo going full blast. There will come a day when you will start seeing a hearing loss. It's kind of like using extra power
in a radio. You may not notice that you are losing part of your brain, but over time, it could be a significant problem. Don't be afraid of radio, it's very easy, but do it right. And if you don't know what's right, call that ARRL guy that you have developed a relationship with. You want to do it right and you want to do it safe. You don't want to key your microphone, and you're putting out 1000 watts, and you forgot that you disconnected your antenna. If you want to know what happens, ask your ARRL buddy. It's not something you will probably do twice.
Well, I gotta go. I've got baby chicks a hatchin' and goats a birthin' and every time my wife and I go up to the barn, we carry an HT in our pockets.
We'll talk more later. 73, Frank
Hello, Frank here.
Again, I'm sorry for the absence, but now that that's over, let's start working on the General. By no means do you have to have your Technician's license to read the following material. We still live in a relatively free country, so please continue reading.
With the Technician's license, you were able to access all frequencies above 30 MHz. If you don't know what MHz means, then please read back in the previous posts. If there is a new concept that you have not been exposed to yet, I will give that information to you, otherwise, I assume
that you know the basic terms, like MHz. Above 30 MHz includes 6 meter, 2 meter, 440 band and up. Beyond a doubt the most common of these bands is 2 meters. 2 meters is where most repeaters are, and it provides guys with, in some cases, 200 to 300 mile diameter range. In some bigger towns, the 440 band is also very popular, which is called UHF. It has about the same range, 200 to 300 miles, on a good repeater on a tall hill. All of these above 30 MHz are great frequencies for their purpose. In the Technician's class, I kind of had a little humor with 6 meters, and bouncing off of a meteor, but that information is, or can be, on the Technician's test. I think it's kind of silly myself, but if I could ever actually see it done, I think that would be really, really cool. But remember, VHF and UHF, even though they are great frequencies, are limited to line of sight and repeater use, in most cases.
With the Technician's license, a portion of the HF bands is also available. Let me clarify. Anything in any of these posts, deals with voice or phone. There is a large CW part of the ham bands, but I only cover the voice part. So, that Technician's license opens up a piece of the 10 meter HF band: 28.3 to 28.5 MHz. With 10 meter, you can talk about as far as you want to, but the band has to be right, which means, the ionosphere has to be cooperating. When these things are working together, that portion of the 10 meter band will get you anywhere you want to go. That's kind of a wrap up of the Technician's license.
With the General license, it opens up a portion, if not all, of the HF bands. If you'll look at the ICOM chart that I've given you before, you'll see what
I mean. So, if you think that you have to get the highest license, not at all. A General will get you just about anywhere you want to go. For the benefit of discussion, you know that you don't have to learn Morse Code for any level of test. Some of the old hams don't like this, but that's the way it is. You do not have to learn Morse Code. So, if you meet some ham radio operators that believe that the quality of amateur radio has been lessened by removing the Morse Code requirement, these guys just need to get over it and put on their big girl panties.
Another topic here. If you do want to bounce a signal off of a meteor, or you want to contest, or you want to do Morse Code or CW, then I'm not going to be able to help you. My intention is to get people in the door of ham radio. Nothing wrong with the things mentioned above, if that is what you want to do, that is wonderful. My intent is to get people prepared for what is eventually going to get here. I use ham radio to communicate, to listen, to know what's going on, not only in the world, but in my own neighborhood. Don't forget, if you have an HF ham radio, then you have a first class shortwave radio. Shortwave just operates on a different group of frequencies. There may come a day in the future where we are looking at a type of survival mode. Just use your imagination for what's going on right now in the Ukraine, a country torn between being east or being west. A modern nation, very
modern. We're going to have to wait and see how this one plays out. But these things happen very quickly and the last time I read, there were Russian troops, equipment, planes and helicopters heading into their country. This morning on the HF bands there were multiple contacts coming out of Ukraine. There are all different reasons to have your General license. One reason is just to be able to listen to what's happening in the world. Like you've heard me teach before, a solar panel, the associated equipment, an appropriate battery, whatever ham radio you choose, and associated equipment, and if the lights go out, you can still know what's going on around the world and your local environment. With some other pieces of associated equipment, you can talk to your buddy down the street.
So, let's get started on the Romanchik manual, No Nonsense Study Guide, General License. Okay, there are about five pages of the table of contents, a couple of pages of recognition, and let's do a brief review of how the manual works. On page 4 it starts off with electrical principles. In the first full paragraph it talks about the Ohm and it says, "Ohm is the unit used to measure reactance. (G5A09)" What you have here is the question and the answer. Ohm is the answer. G5A09 is the section and number, because these questions are grouped into specific categories. This is the same as it was for your Technician. Each question
is multiple choice, with four possible answers. So this should look very familiar to you. Even if you don't use this manual, and you use one of the online practice tests, this is still the same question, with the same answer and the same categorical system, G5A09.
When I studied for my Technician's test, as I've said before, I used the Romanchik Technician manual, which is free, by the way, and the QRZ.com practice tests, which are also free. When I was preparing for my General test, I did not use the Romanchik manual and I did not use QRZ online, but instead, I used HamTestOnline, which is a paid service. The reason I used the paid version of HamTestOnline, is because I need all the help I can get, and it worked for me. It worked quite well. But I also have a friend that used QRZ.com, which is free, for his Technician and General. So, it just depends on what you want to do. If and when I ever pursue my Extra license, I will use the paid version of HamTestOnline.
On a side note, you don't learn everything you really need to know by taking these online tests, whether free or paid. So I bought the ARRL manuals for all three levels, Technician, General and Extra. I use these
as reference material. But remember, there are some things that you're just not going to learn about operating your radio successfully unless you do a little bit more independent study. A quick example. "The gray line." What is it? How important is it? What does it do? The reason I mentioned this particular item is that I did not see or hear the term during my Technician or General studies. I learned what it was while reading through shortwave material. So, you want to know what it is? Look it up. So don't think that what you're going to pick up here is going to teach you everything you need to know, it just won't do it.
Okay, on this introduction to electrical principles you see a couple of formulas. If you want to build a radio, then these are very important. If not, then memorize these questions and answers because you will never see this again. Now there are some things that you don't need to know the exact answer, but you do need to understand the principle of how it works.
Another example. A 10 meter radio. Okay, think 10 meters, for the benefit of teaching, a meter is a little bit longer than a yard. So, 10 meters is about 30 feet. Half of 10 meters is, therefore, about 15 feet, and one quarter of 10 meters is about 7.5 feet. Okay, so, you have a 10 meter wave. A quarter of that wave is 7.5 feet. If your cell phone used the 10 meter frequency and had a quarter wave antenna, then your cell phone, if it were 10 meter, would have a 7.5 foot antenna. This is probably not cool. But, since your cell phone is around 900 MHz, then your antenna is significantly shorter. So, you need to have the basic idea of how things function. The higher the frequency the shorter the antenna, the lower the frequency the longer the antenna. We'll talk much more about that later, but you need to understand the concept. That's why, if you're going to memorize an answer, try to have a basic idea of what it means. And if it still doesn't click in for you, then just plain old memorize the answer.
Okay, let's continue. As I mentioned earlier, we're going to go through this General study guide much quicker, because at this stage you should have a functioning knowledge of terminology and how most things work. I'm on page 6 now. Here's a couple more formulas. You will see this information on the test. But after the test is over, you will not use it again. There are two formulas that you need to know. E = I x R, and P = E x I. You will find in many manuals that E and V are used interchangeably. They both mean voltage. Okee-dokee?
The first part of these manuals always start out with the formulas. And for some people this is a real turn off and they quit. If formulas are not your cup of tea and you don't ever plan on building a radio, don't worry about it. Memorize the answers. Ham radio now days is very similar to a plug and
play type system. There are some things you need to know. But these formulas are not one of them. Have I mentioned safety yet? If you don't know what you're doing, DON'T DO IT! But, you say, "You just told me I don't need to know what these formulas mean." And that's true, you don't need to know what these formulas mean. But you do need to know basic safety and 90% of safety is common sense. Example. Don't stand in a bathtub full of water and change an electric light bulb. Some people would consider that to be stupid. That's what I mean by safety and common sense.
Okay, I'm on page 8. More stuff to memorize. But it is nice to know that if you put batteries in series you increase the voltage. If you put batteries in parallel, the voltage stays the same and you increase your amperage. Yes, the General test is a little bit more complicated than the Technician, but not a great deal.
Okay, I'm up to page 10. A little reminder here. If you see an answer that says, "All of these choices are correct." and you don't have a clue what the answer is, if I were you I would guess, "All of these choices are correct." That tends to be the answer more often than not, but not in every case.
Okay, we're going to quit here today. We'll pick up next time on page 11 of Romanchik. But you need to remember, that with VHF and UHF, your chances of doing damage through RF is possible, but not a major concern. When you get into the HF frequencies, you generally start running more power. Your average HF radio puts out about about 100 watts of power,
and with an amplifier, a whole lot more power. This is where you can start doing damage. If your radio is operating right, your coax cable is in good shape, your antenna is of proper size to handle the power and your equipment is grounded, then in most cases, you're good to go. So, that's why I will stress safety a whole lot more in this section. Yes, there are some people saying, "But you can do damage with VHF and UHF." Yes, you can. But, an example here. 40 to 50 watts of power will not do near the damage of 500 watts of power. All of these utility work vehicles, police cars, ambulances use 25 to 50 watts of power on average, and their antennas are any where from 2 to 5 feet away, and this is a standard practice. If it were dangerous, then we would have a whole lot more injured people. So, be concerned and study up, and know what you're doing. Take safety very seriously.
I hope you enjoy this series. I will try to use some down home type humor, but I cannot stress the importance of communications enough. There are bad things going on around the world. Modern countries like ours are in the process of collapsing, and folks, if you don't think it can't happen here, then you are not paying attention. If you think that communications is something that you might want to do, if you start studying today, by whatever means
you chose, you can have your Technician and General license within a month. I will give you radio and antenna recommendations, but it will be the Chevrolet version and not the Cadillac version. An HF radio makes an excellent shortwave receiver. Same radio, same antenna, same power supply and you can listen to the world, and if you choose, you can also talk to them. The Chevrolet version will do the job, but if you like Cadillacs, they will do the job too. Remember, it's all about choices. There's nothing wrong with a Cadillac. Let's get it done.
We'll talk more later. 73, Frank
Hello, Frank here.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to apologize for not doing a radio post for over a month. I have been sick, down and out with what is commonly called shingles. This is not something I would wish on my worst enemy, well, in most cases anyway. So, for those of you that are still with me, and interested in getting your General license, then let's get started. The last post I sent out was the beginning of the General license program. I'm going to re-post it, primarily because it is filled with information and if you will take a day or so and go through this information, then we will have a restart. By the way, the shingles. I had a very mild variation of it, which we attribute to catching it very early. I am happy for this, but the medication I was taking had some nasty side effects, which is the primary reason I have not been able to post about radios. So, if you're interested, please read the last post, which is re-posted below. Thank you for your understanding.
Originally posted January 20, 2014
Time
to put our thinking hats back on, tin foil inserted or not, is entirely
up to you. But, I kind of like tin foil in my hat. The General test is
going to be more complicated than the Technician. This is just the
nature of things and it is nothing to be afraid of. The formulas are
going to be a little bit more sophisticated, but as before, there are
only so many formulas on a test, and if you can't figure them out, then
memorize the answer.
This
first post over the General test is going to re-familiarize you with
some former sites that you used during your Technician test. But before
we start, let me remind you of safety. Not only can you electrocute
yourself, or your cousin Billy, you can also do internal damage with RF
signals. This is not a joke. You heard me talk earlier about frying your
little girl's brain. Studying your General test, you're going to step
into more power, a lot more power sometimes, and if you don't know what
you're doing, DON'T DO IT. Pay attention to safety.
Again, throughout this series of blogs, I'm going to reference Universal Radio,
because I find their website easy to use, and they provide data and
information about the equipment they carry. I will also be referencing
many other radio websites.
Whatever style or mode you choose to use, whether it be the Romanchik, General Class No Nonsense Study Guide, the ARRL manuals, online tutorials, or a combination of the above, use what works for you. I have a friend that studied QRZ.com
only, which is a free online service, for his Technician and General,
and it worked for him. So, if your goal is to just pass the test, then
this is one way. I needed more information, so I used the Romanchik
manual for my Technician and the QRZ website. For the General, I did not
use the Romanchik manual, but instead chose to use the paid version of Ham Test Online.
This worked well for me. Ham Test Online provides tutorial information
about subject material. This is what I used, it works for me. By the
way, the Romanchik manual, online version has links at the end of the
units for additional information that the Technician manual did not.
Just more food for thought.
Practice test resources:
QRZ.com
HamTestOnline
HamStudy.org
A resource that I found very valuable was ARRL. Their website has so much information, it's just hard to discuss. But if you need to locate a local club, which I would recommend, and find yourself an Elmer, that you
can
easily communicate with. Most of these guys are good, down to earth
people. There are some things that you just can't figure out from a book
or a manual, so I highly recommend that you get in touch with ARRL and
find yourself an Elmer. ARRL also has a catalog section
where they sell manuals for the Technican, General and Extra, as well
as other manuals for these tests also. This catalog also contains a
plethora of books on ham radio and SWL. Use ARRL, they're a handy, handy
website.
FCC. The FCC is the group that controls the rules, regulations and licensing. I'm going to include a section for ham radio rules and regulations. I'm also going to provide you with a link to their licensing webpage.
Amateur radio is pretty open to making your own modifications and
adaptations, but you don't want to get out of the rules. An example, if
you're broadcasting and you're interfering with Gramma's TV down the
road, whether you're legal or not, doesn't make any difference. You need
to stop and fix the problem. Another example, if you live close to an
airport, again, whether legal or not, you don't want to be messing or
interfering with aircraft communications. So, there are some rules you
do need to know and you do need to follow. But if you want to build your
own antenna that looks like Sputnik, go ahead. Try not to burn your
house down in the process. So, follow the rules. Did I mention safety?
The General will cover significantly more information about RF emissions
and proper grounding.
So, we've
talked about manuals and ways to get there, ARRL contacts, FCC, safety.
The need for communications. During your Technician studies we covered
mostly VHF and UHF and, of course, we learned about bouncing a signal
off of an asteroid, which was on the test, wasn't it?
And
we covered a teeny, weeny portion of the 10 meter band. Getting your
General license will open up the HF frequencies, plus the 160 meter
band. The HF bands are what most people consider to be ham radio. It
provides the opportunity to talk and listen very long distances, so this
will open up a new world. Getting your HF radio will also provide you
with a first class SWL radio. I enjoy listening to radio news stations
from other countries and continents. This is really not ham radio, it's
just a bonus feature.
The radio
equipment, overall, is going to be little bit more expensive. The radios
will have bells and whistles that you will not have heard of before.
The antennas are going to be more sophisticated than sticking a 2 meter
mag mount on your car. There are a number of different types of
antennas, and everybody and their cousin will have a preference as to
which one is
the best. If you remember from my previous posts,
there is no best of anything, it's all up to you. But then there's that
deer in the headlight look, "I don't know which one is best." So, you
go to one of these ham club meetings, sitting in this room is a world of
knowledge, mostly guys, and everyone of them has a different opinion of
what is best. So, what do you do? That's a good question, I can't
answer that one for you. I will tell you what I think is best. So, just
pretend like I'm number 15 in that room full of guys.
I
got into ham radio for the communications aspect of it only. I have no
intention of ever contesting. I'm not trying to "work all states". And
for the guys doing this, that is fine. It's a big stadium, and there's lots of room for
everybody.
I spend most of my time listening. I listen to Beijing Radio often on
shortwave. I listen to folks all around the country and spots around the
world. I use very simple equipment, and simple generally equates to
less expensive. My entire purpose for listening is to ascertain
information from around the world, around the country and local. Some of
us believe that someday some catastrophe is going to happen, who knows
what it will be, but there is a probability we are going to see reduced
electricity and more government control. This is why I want to be able
to listen. A couple of days ago, I was playing on my CB radio, which is
an HF radio 11 meter. I was on AM and talked to a man in Boston and one
in California, and I live in southeastern Oklahoma.
So, during the Technician's test, we talked about GMRS, FRS, MURS,
these are forms of local communication. Now, with the General, we're
going to step into long distance, or DX. So, as mentioned above, this
will open up a new world. If you will look at the ICOM band chart, you will notice that 10, 12, 17 and 160 meters are entirely open to the General class. ARRL also has a band chart that is a little bit different, but you can figure it out. The other bands not
mentioned
above, are partially open to the General. So getting your General
license will open up the majority of the HF bands. Don't forget, you
don't need morse code for any level of amateur license. Decide how you
want to pursue this. If you want to use Romanchik, go ahead and download
the manual, borrow, or purchase any other books that you want to use.
Check out the websites for tutorials, and I didn't mention earlier, that
local ARRL clubs often have free classes for the Technician and
sometimes for the General. Another reason to check out your local ARRL.
The pace on this particular class will be sharply quicker than the Technican. I will primarily use the Romanchik manual,
but at a much quicker pace. This manual starts off like the Technician
did, covering formulas and using some general math that occasionally
intimidates people. As mentioned earlier, if you can't master the formulas or the math,
then
just memorize the answers. After the formulas and math, it is just
general knowledge like it was in the Technician's manual and it is a
whole lot easier to learn. There are some old salts that disagree with
this idea and technique, but don't worry about them, they're not the
ones taking the test. So, if you need to, memorize the whole test.
That's what my wife did, she just memorized the whole test. She learned a
little bit, but not much. I on the other hand, have a background in
electronics and some of it I just memorized. So, do whatever you need to
do to pass and don't worry about what somebody else thinks, it's a
waste of time.
So, gather up the
tools you're going to use and we'll get started here shortly. But,
please do not wait on me, if you are a self learner, then you may be
finished by the time I start. If you have your Technician license, and
you take your General and pass it, you do not have to wait for the FCC
to post your new license before you can start transmitting. If you pass
your General test, you can start that day.
We'll talk more later. 73, Frank
