Introduction 1
About This Book 1
My Assumptions about You 2
Icons Used in This Book 3
Beyond the Book 3
Where to Go from Here 4
Part 1: Getting Started with Ham Radio 5
Chapter 1: Getting Acquainted with Ham Radio 7
Exploring Ham Radio around the World 8
Tuning into Ham Radio 9
Using electronics and technology 10
Joining the ham radio community 12
Radiosport — Competing with Ham Radio 15
Communicating through Ham Radio Contacts 16
Ragchews 17
Nets 17
Citizen Science and HamSCI 18
Chapter 2: Getting a Handle on Ham Radio Technology 21
Getting to Know Basic Ham Radio Gear 21
Building a Basic Ham Radio Station 23
Basic stations 23
Communication Technologies 26
Understanding the Fundamentals of Radio Waves 28
Frequency and wavelength 29
The radio spectrum 30
Dealing with Mother Nature 32
Experiencing nature affecting radio waves 32
Overcoming radio noise 33
Chapter 3: Finding Other Hams: Your Support Group 35
Finding and Being a Mentor 36
Interacting in Online Communities 37
Social media and blogs 37
Videos, podcasts, and webinars 38
Email reflectors 39
Online training and instruction 40
Web portals 41
Joining Radio Clubs 41
Finding and choosing a club 42
Participating in meetings 44
Getting more involved 45
Exploring the ARRL 46
ARRL benefits to you 47
ARRL benefits to the hobby 48
ARRL benefits to the public 49
Taking Part in Specialty Groups 50
On the Air — IOTA, SOTA, and POTA 50
Young Hams — YOTA 51
Competitive clubs 51
Handiham 52
AMSAT 53
TAPR 54
YLRL 55
QRP clubs 56
Attending Hamfests and Conventions 57
Finding and preparing for hamfests 57
Buying equipment at hamfests 58
Finding conventions and conferences 59
Part 2: Wading through the Licensing Process 63
Chapter 4: Understanding the Licensing System 65
Getting Acquainted with the Amateur Service 66
FCC rules 66
Ham radio frequency allocations 67
Learning about Types of Licenses 69
Technician class 70
General class 70
Amateur Extra class 70
Grandfathered classes 71
Getting Licensed 72
Studying the exam questions 72
Taking your license exam 72
Volunteer examiner coordinators 73
Volunteer examiners 73
Receiving Your New Call Sign 74
Call-sign prefixes and suffixes 74
Class and call sign 75
Chapter 5: Preparing for Your License Exam 77
Getting a Grip on the Technician Exam 77
Finding Study Resources 78
Licensing classes 79
Books, websites, and videos 80
Online practice exams 82
Locating Your Mentor 82
Chapter 6: Taking the Exam 85
Types of Exams 86
Public in-person exams 86
Remote exams 86
Exams at events 87
Exam sessions in homes and online 87
Finding an Exam Session 88
Registering with the Universal Licensing System (ULS) 88
Getting to Exam Day 90
What to have with you 91
What to expect 91
What to do after the exam 93
Chapter 7: Obtaining Your License and Call Sign 95
Completing Your Licensing Paperwork 95
Finding Your Call Sign 98
Searching the ULS database 98
Searching other websites for call signs 99
Printing your license 100
Identifying with your new privileges 101
Picking Your Own Call Sign 101
Searching for available call signs 102
Applying for a vanity call sign 103
Maintaining Your License 104
Part 3: Hamming It Up 105
Chapter 8: Receiving Signals 107
Learning by Listening 107
Finding out where to listen 108
Understanding how bands are organized 109
Using Your Receiver 110
Tuning and scanning with channels 112
Continuous tuning with a knob 113
Software-controlled tuning 114
Listening on VHF and UHF 115
Listening on HF 116
Using beacon networks and contact maps 118
Receiving Signals 121
Receiving FM voice 121
Receiving SSB voice 125
Receiving digital voice 127
Receiving digital or data modes 128
Receiving Morse code 131
Chapter 9: Basic Operating 133
Understanding Contacts (QSOs) 134
Common parts of contacts 135
Casual contacts 139
Nets and talk groups — On-the-air meetings 139
Contests and DXing — Radiosport 141
How contacts get started 142
Joining a contact 144
Failing to make contact 145
During a contact 147
Calling CQ 150
Casual Conversation — Ragchewing 152
Knowing where to chew 152
Identifying a ragchewer 154
Calling CQ for a ragchew 155
Making Repeater and Simplex Contacts 156
Understanding repeater basics 156
Making a repeater contact 160
Using access control 161
Miscellaneous repeater features 163
Maximizing your signal 164
Setting up your radio 164
Making a simplex contact 168
Digital Voice Systems 169
HF digital voice 170
VHF/UHF digital voice 170
Digital repeater networks 172
The DMR system 176
Casual Operating on HF 178
HF bands 178
Picking good times to operate 179
Contacts on CW and digital modes 181
Chapter 10: Public Service Operating 185
Joining a Public Service Group 186
Finding a public service group 186
Volunteering for ARES 188
Preparing for Emergencies and Disasters 189
Knowing who 189
Knowing where 190
Knowing what 190
Knowing how 192
Operating in Emergencies and Disasters 193
Reporting an accident or other incident 194
Making and responding to distress calls 195
Providing Public Service 197
Weather monitoring and SKYWARN 197
Parades and charity events 198
Participating in Nets 199
Checking in and out 200
Exchanging information 200
Tactical call signs 202
Radio discipline 202
Digital Message Networks 203
Winlink — email by radio 204
AREDN 206
NBEMS 207
Chapter 11: Operating Specialties 209
Getting Digital 210
Digital definitions 211
WSJT modes — fast and slow 212
FT8 and FT4 213
PSK31 and PSK63 216
Radioteletype (RTTY) 216
Non-WSJT MFSK modes 218
PACTOR, ARDOP, and VARA 219
Packet radio 220
APRS and tracking 220
DXing — Chasing Distant Stations 223
VHF/UHF DXing with a Technician license 223
HF DXing with a General license 227
Taking Part in Radio Contests 235
Choosing a contest 237
Operating in a contest 238
Chasing Awards 245
Finding awards and special events 245
Logging contacts for awards 246
Applying for awards 247
Mastering Morse Code (CW) 247
Learning Morse correctly 248
Copying the code 249
Pounding brass — sending Morse 250
Making code contacts 251
QRP (Low Power) and Portable Operating 251
Getting started with QRP 252
Portable operating 253
Direction-finding (ARDF) 256
Operating via Satellites 257
Getting grounded in satellite basics 257
Accessing satellites 258
Seeing Things: Image Communication 259
Slow-scan television 259
Fast-scan television 261
Part 4: Building and Operating a Station That Works 263
Chapter 12: Getting on the Air 265
What is a Station? 265
Planning Your Station 266
Deciding what you want to do 266
Deciding how to operate 267
Choosing a Radio 270
Allocating your resources 271
Software defined radios 272
Radios for VHF and UHF operating 273
Radios for HF operating 278
Filtering and noise 281
Choosing an Antenna 282
Beam antennas 283
VHF/UHF antennas 284
HF antennas 285
Feed line and connectors 289
Supporting Your Antenna 293
Antennas and trees 293
Masts and tripods 294
Towers 295
Rotators 296
Station Accessories 298
Mikes, keys, and keyers 298
Antenna system gadgets 299
Digital mode interfaces 301
Remote Control Stations 302
Remote control rules 302
Accessing a remote control station 303
Upgrading Your Station 304
Chapter 13: Organizing a Home Station 307
Designing Your Station 307
Keeping a station notebook 308
Building in ergonomics 309
Viewing some example ham stations 312
Building in RF and Electrical Safety 316
Electrical safety 316
RF exposure 317
First aid 318
Grounding and Bonding 319
AC and DC power 320
Lightning 320
RF management 321
Chapter 14: Computers in Your Ham Station 323
What Type of Computers Do Hams Use? 323
Windows 324
Linux 324
Macintosh 324
Android and iOS 324
Microcontrollers 325
What Do Ham Computers Do? 325
Software-defined radio 326
WSJT-X and fldigi 327
Radio and remote control 327
Hardware considerations 328
Keeping a Log of Your Contacts 329
Paper logging 329
Computer logging 330
Submitting a contest log 333
Confirming Your Contacts 335
QSL cards 335
QSLing electronically 336
Direct QSLing 337
Using QSL managers 337
Bureaus and QSL services 338
Applying for awards 339
Chapter 15: Operating Away from Home 341
Mobile Stations 341
HF mobile radios 342
Mobile installations 343
Mobile antennas 347
Portable Operating 349
Portable antennas 353
Portable power 354
Field Day 355
Field Day “gotchas” 357
Chapter 16: Hands-On Radio 359
Acquiring Tools and Components 360
Maintenance tools 360
Repair and building tools 366
Components for repairs and building 368
Maintaining Your Station 370
Overall Troubleshooting 372
Troubleshooting Your Station 372
Power problems 373
RF problems 374
Operational problems 375
Troubleshooting RF Interference 377
Dealing with interference to other equipment 378
Dealing with interference to your equipment 380
Building Equipment from a Kit 383
Building Equipment from Scratch 384
Part 5: The Part of Tens 385
Chapter 17: Ham Radio Jargon — Say What? 387
Spoken Q-signals 387
Contesting or Radiosport 388
Antenna Varieties 388
Feed Lines 389
Antenna Tuners 389
Repeater Operating 390
Grid Squares 391
Interference and Noise 391
Connector Parts 392
Solar and Geomagnetic Activity 393
Chapter 18: Technical Fundamentals 395
Electrical Units and Symbols 395
Ohm’s Law 396
Power 397
Decibels 397
Attenuation, Loss, and Gain 398
Bandwidth 398
Filters 399
Antenna Patterns 400
Standing Wave Ratio (SWR) 401
Battery Characteristics 402
Satellite Tracking 402
Chapter 19: Tips for Masters 405
Listening to Everything 405
Learning How It Works 406
Following the Protocol 406
Keeping Your Axe Sharp 406
Practice to Make Perfect 406
Paying Attention to Detail 407
Knowing What You Don’t Know 407
Maintaining Radio Discipline 407
Make Small Improvements Continuously 408
Help Others and Accept Help from Others 408
Index 409
