The club has had a few new members join of late, and also passed their Foundation Exam.
We welcome all to our club.
To help you get on the air, here is a some help in Radio Procedures.
On-air procedures and giving signal reports
Before you start:
It is good practice to work through a check-list before you get on-air. Even the most seasoned operators make mistakes.
Are all my power cables connected?
Is my feedline connected and have I selected the correct antenna for my band of operation?
If I unplugged my feed-line due to storm activity yesterday, have I plugged it back in?
Are all radio controls set correctly? eg. Power level, Mic gain, Mode switch
Is my VSWR acceptable? Any tests prior to calling CQ should ideally be performed with a dummy load or on a clear frequency.
The Phonetic Alphabet
The Phonetic Alphabet is an internationally recognised set of words used to help communicate when language differences or band conditions are inhibiting effective communication. A typical example might be:
“My name is Harry, Hotel, Alpha, Romeo, Romeo, Yankee”. This would help clarify where the other station might think your name is Barry, or is simply having troubles copying your signal.
You are not required to know the Phonetic Alphabet for the examination, but a complete list of the Phonetic Alphabet is provided in the appendix. Note that you use the phonetic alphabet to spell your call sign and name completely. Do not use a mixture of plain language and the phonetic alphabet, as that will lead to confusion.
Q-Codes
Q-Codes are three letter codes beginning with the letter Q. They were originally used for Morse Code but have made their way into voice communications.
Typical examples will include:
“My QTH is Sydney” (QTH means location) “There is QRN affecting your signal” (there is storm static affecting your signal)
You are not required to know the Q-Codes for the examination, but a list of commonly used Q-Codes is provided in the appendix.
Calling CQ and making contacts
There are two ways to initiate a contact. When starting out it may be easier to respond to another station calling CQ.
Let us work through an example:
You are tuning on 40 metres and you hear “CQ CQ CQ this is K0XXX calling CQ and listening”.
You respond “K0XXX this is VK1ABC VK1ABC over”.
If conditions are poor you may need to use Phonetics “ Victor Kilo wun Alpha Bravo Charlie”; repeat twice.
K0XXX responds “VK1ABC this is K0XXX thanks for the call, My name is Bob, Bob and your signal is five, nine. Five and nine, over”. Alternatively you want to call CQ. You have already listened and confirmed the frequency is clear.
You call “CQ CQ CQ this is VK1ABC VK1ABC VK1ABC calling CQ and listening”. Depending on propagation conditions you may need to call a number of times before you get a response. If you are operating on a calling frequency (a frequency reserved for calling CQ – normally on VHF and UHF bands) you should move to another frequency once you have established a contact.
“VK9ABC this is VK1ABC thanks for coming back to my CQ, shall we move frequency? 146.550 is clear. I’ll see you there. QSL?” to which the other station would respond: “VK1ABC this is VK9ABC, QSL, see you on 146.550, this is VK9ABC clear”.
Operating through a repeater
You will be required to demonstrate the correct use of voice repeaters including the use of Continuous Tone Coded Squelch System (CTCSS) and Dual Tone Multiple Frequency (DTMF) access control systems.
As with any frequency, always listen first to ensure the repeater is not already in use.
When operating through a repeater leave adequate breaks between transmissions. This will allow other users to access the repeater if required. If you are likely to have an extended contact and the other station is within range, you should move to a simplex frequency and leave the repeater available for other users.
You normally do not call CQ on a repeater – just announce that you are listening – i.e. “VK2ABC listening”
To view videos about this topic click on these links
Signal Reports
Signal reports are a standard protocol for reporting signal strength and readability. Generally, each station will inform the other of their signal report. A signal report comprises two numbers, the first being readability, the second being signal strength.
Readability is a subjective measure and rates the readability on a scale of one to five. The agreed protocol for readability is described below:
Unreadable
Barely readable, occasional words distinguishable
Readable with considerable difficulty
Readable with practically no difficulty
Perfectly readable
The signal strength is read from your radio’s signal meter, commonly referred to as an S-Meter. This number will be between one and nine. (There is no such thing as a signal strength of zero)
Above S-9 meters have a decibel scale indicating the number of decibels over S-9.
When on air and providing signal reports you will need to apply a level of subjectivity, and over time you will become proficient at determining how to best provide the other station with a meaningful signal report.
A weak station which is perfectly readable might get a signal report:
“you are five and two. Five, two, over” A strong station suffering a some interference with some difficulty might get: “you are three and nine. Three, nine, thirty-nine. Over”
Operators will also want to know how their audio sounds:
“you are five and seven and your audio sounds great” or “you are four and seven and your audio sounds distorted”.
If a station has bad audio you should do your best to describe what you are hearing, even if you cannot offer a solution.
Language and Decorum
Amateur Radio is a hobby with a long and well respected tradition. When any of us are on-air, we are representing all of us. The LCD prohibits any offensive language as well as any commercial advertising or messages for personal financial gain.
In addition, the amateur code discourages controversial topics, so stay away from religion, sex and politics. You won’t always be aware who is listening, and sometimes your humour may not translate well to other cultures. What you and your friends find funny or unoffensive may not be the case in other cultures, or even with other local listeners.
When speaking with international stations, be aware that English may not be their first language, so keep your conversations brief and try to avoid colloquialisms or Australian slang; chances are the other station will not understand what you are trying to say.
Dealing with Abusive Stations
Amateur Radio is a reflection of society. You may experience inappropriate behaviour such as jamming or even outright abuse from other stations. Such behaviour is very rare, but not unknown.
In all cases, ignore the jamming or abusive station. This is often not easy to do, however it is the best strategy for defusing the situation. Never, ever “bite”, as this just gives the abuser what he/she craves – attention.
COMMENT FROM A CLUB MEMBER (Thank you)
Please please do have pencil and paper with you. Write down the call sign and name of person you are talking to.
Please please. 90% of the issues I see on our Tuesday night net is because people forget who is next in line. If you can’t remember who is next pass it back to net control.
Don’t just leave it hanging. In my egotistical opinion it’s plain rude not to use proper procedures.
Next…… if you don’t know the phonetic alphabet…….. learn it. It’s not rocket science.
Next……. Even on the repeater use the phonetic alphabet for call signs when starting the contact.
I got one of our member’s call signs wrong because I mixed up letters in his call sign.
Leave A Break!
Although mentioned above, please please.. Leave a Break Between Overs.. Around 2-3 seconds on HF, FM etc... But when using Digital Modes, Leave a Break for around 4 seconds.. This allows the connected network etc to reset. For FM Repeaters, leaving a break will re-set the timer. So you will not get timed out.
You know all of this stuff was hammered into us as beginners when we started. As one bad tempered crancy of fellow said “we’re not chicken band operators round here”.
Rant over. I’ll get off my soap box now.
Our thanks to RASA and the amazing efforts in assembling the Foundation Guide.
Have a question, feel free to drop into our club rooms or join in on our Tuesday evening Net.
Well done, so many issues covered with how the process has been set up, for very good reasons. I hate when Queen is used instead of Quebec. There is one issue as the number nine is actually pronounced as "Niner". Thank you to make operators aware that we need to use proper process and sometimes we get dragged into bad habits because it is easier. Just remember the 3 or 4 P's and I will not go through what that is because it is bad decorum, and some may see that as abusive and here we are using a communication device to communicate.
Very refreshing and thank you
Hi Stanley and Craig. Good post, message received, and will catchup with you at Tuesday nights sked.
Cheers
Phillip VK3LRO
Excellent post. However………. Please Mr Author, a little proof reading perhaps. Just at the end regarding the RASA and our thanks?
Next adding to this.
Please please do have pencil and paper with you. Write down the call sign and name of person you are talking to. Please please. 90% of the issues I see on our Tuesday night net is because people forget who is next in line. If you can’t remember who is next pass it back to net control. Don’t just leave it hanging. In my egotistical opinion it’s plain rude not to use proper procedures.
Next…… if you don’t know the phonetic alphabet…….. learn it. It’s not rocket science.
Next……. Even on the repeater use the…