Welcome to Ham Radio 101 New Tech Session

Transcription

1 Welcome to Ham Radio 101 New Tech Session Sponsored by

2 Agenda New Technician / New Licensee 8:00 Kickoff 8:40 VHF/UHF Gear 9:20 VHF/UHF Operating New General / Extra 10:00 HF Gear 10:40 HF Operating 11:20 HF Digital

3 Virtual Amateur Radio Club > 290 members groups.io 6 2 sites Analog FM, D-Star & C4FM Dig IRLP / EchoLink VOIP Events Field Day Antenna Shootout BayCon Urban Shield Supports American Red Cross FEMA USAR TF 3 Radio Mala - Nepal 501(C)3 Non-profit Field Day!!!

4 Great Resources HamRadio 360 Podcast com TX Factor factor.co.uk The Doctor Is In QSO Today podcast website

5 Speakers Jason K6DGN Beric K6BEZ George KJ6VU David W6DTW

6 New Tech Gear Jason K6DGN Sponsored by

7 Terms Station - Your transceiver not specifically a place Shack Your home station Rig Your radio (even a hand held) Go Bag or Go Kit Organized set of accessories you can grab and go and be fully operational

8 Assumptions You Want To Operate Portable/Handheld HT In your hand Mobile radio - In your car Base station - In your shack

9 Choosing Your First HT Baofeng UV82~ $30 Upgrade later Basic VHF/UHF Kenwood TH-F6A $315 DISCONTINUED Great radio Wide Rx, Air Rx, VHF/UHF Tx Yaesu FT1D $309 DISCONTINUED Great radio ++ Digital, APRS, etc.

10 Choosing Your First HT Baofeng UV82~ $30 Upgrade later Basic VHF/UHF ICOM IC-T70A - $199 Yaesu FT-60 - $154 Solid Analog VHF/UHF Yaesu FT2D $419 $369 Great radio ++ Digital, APRS, etc.

11 Choosing Your First HT After you buy your $500 IcKenYa Do-All HT Your $30 cheapie radio makes a great knock around radio - Camping / Hiking - On roof - Loaner Baofeng UV82 $30 Upgrade later - Buy 3 more as spares

12 HT Accessories Drop-in charger External speaker / mic Programming SW & cable Bigger antenna Ed Fong roll up J-Pole antenna Turn your HT into a mobile radio? Mobile DC power cord Mobile antenna Power amplifier External microphone External speaker Pro: Cost effective Cons: Mess of wires. Lower performance than a real mobile radio.

13 Mobile Radio Radio Good: Single band (2m) Better: Dual band 2m / UHF More better: Dual band / dual VFO (V/V, V/U, U/U) Best: Dual band / dual VFO ++ APRS / D-Star digital / C4FM digital Antenna For repeaters small is fine For simplex bigger is better Mounts are equally good: Magmount, bracket, hole

14 Base Station 50 RG-8X $40 Kenwood TM-V71A Dual band / Dual VFO Easy to use APRS capable. $335 ~ Comet X-50A Powerwerx $89 ~ 30A Switching power supply $110 ~

15 Standardize on Power Pole Connectors Anderson Power Pole THE standard for ARES / RACES interoperability Buy them at any amateur radio store Easy to use Buy the crimper if you plan to make a lot of connections CQCQCQ!

16 Feed Line & Connectors Cable Type 144 MHz 440 MHz Advice LMR Best RG Good RG-8X OK RG Bad RG Dummy load Connectors N (Best) BNC (Good) UHF PL-259 (OK)

17 Learn to Program Your Radio Set frequency, offset, tone, power Save into a memory Advanced features Program your memories in banks Favorite repeaters More repeaters Simplex Public safety, weather, etc Program multiple radios (HT, mobile) with the same channel / frequency assignments

18 More Programming Options RT Systems radio specific software & cables Icom/Kenwood/Yaesu/Wouxun make software for their radios KG-UV Commander free software for Wouxun Radio Reference web site Public service frequency lists Repeater Book is a great web site for finding local and remote repeaters iphone & Android apps Also has API Chirp can access

19 Programming Your Radio Chirp software is a way to program many radios with the appropriate cable Choosing your first radio.

20 Go Kit Be Prepared 2M/UHF HT Radio Battery (rechargeable) Battery (AA) Charger & Power cord External mic & earphone First aid kit Notebook and pen Flashlight & headlamp Batteries & FM Radio Kleenex Personal items Frequency directory SUN BLOCK!!!!11!1oneone Detailed Go-Kit Info at

21 Radio Advice Get a cheap HT. Good to start, useful later. Upgrade to a better HT when you know what you want Add a mobile radio for better performance Outside antennas make a big difference Program your local favorite frequencies (like!!!) Standardize on Anderson Power Pole connectors

22 10 Things to do in your first year Get a radio Learn how to use it Find a friendly repeater Listen to the repeater Join a club or find an Elmer Get on the air, simplex & repeater Go to a ham radio convention (CHECK!) Show your friends Go to a Field Day or other contesting event Try not to get TOO addicted.

23 One More thing Emergency Comms North Bay fire tragedy: A harsh reminder So many people missing because they couldn t reach their family on a damaged and saturated cell phone network. Setup the Hamily with friends, family and other loved ones. Do drills at least once a month to start, when you have it down, do it once a quarter. Take good care of and distribute emergency radios. Preprogram radios & procedures.

24 One More thing Emergency Comms Any radio will do. But these can charge via USB. Cons: UHF only, no DTMF keypad, small antenna Baofeng BF-T1 MINI

25 New Tech - Operating George KJ6VU Sponsored by

26 Repeater Operation Rx > Tx Tx PL Rx Frequency Set the Rx frequency ( ) Offset (shift) 2m: 600 khz, UHF: 5 MHz PL tone (CTCSS) Sub-audible tone access

27 Repeater

28 South Bay Site

29 Popular Freqs Northern California 2 Meter Band Plan CW SSB SAT DIG PKT EXP DIG SAT Repeater Repeater Repeater SMPX Repeater Repeater SMPX Repeater 20 Ch khz Spacing 15 Ch khz Spacing SSB Calling (USB) APRS Digital data repeater Remote bases Calling frequency Red Cross. d Coordinators FM/Repeaters Packet Satellite Every region has some differences Go by the regional coordinators band plan first Then ARRL band plan.

30 Repeater Inputs UHF Band Plan 25 Ch khz Spacing Repeater Outputs Links Satellite Experimental Popular Freqs SSB (USB) D-Star C4FM Simplex CW / SSB ATV Links

31 Transmit Offset or Shift The transmitter s offset from the Rx frequency Where the repeater listens Standard offsets 10m 100 khz 6m 1.2 MHz 2m 600 khz MHz UHF 5.0 MHz MHz MHz

32 CTCSS - PL - Channel Guard Names for the same thing Continuous Tone Coded Squelch System Private Line (Motorola) Channel Guard (GE) What is it 32 standard sub-audible tones between Hz Deviation < 600 Hz (Voice peaks at +/- 5 khz) Allows multiple repeaters to co-exist on the same frequency PL Tone 5 khz Adding voice modulation

33 CTCSS Decode Rx > Tx PL Tx PL Bob Rx PL Joe Rx PL Only hear stations that transmit the same PL Useful for areas of high interference Listen only for members of my group

34 Digital Coded Squelch (DCS) - DPL Same application as CTCSS Sub-audible tone bits per second 104 Digital Codes Less likely to false than PL 9 data bits + 11 check bits + framing bits 3 digit octal value

35 Narrow vs Wide FM In 1975 Wide = 15 khz Narrow = 5 khz Today Normal (wide) = 5 khz Narrow = 2.5 khz FM Deviation

36 Narrow vs Normal (Wide) FM +/- 5 Khz -0 db -10 db -20 db -30 db -40 db -50 db

37 Narrow vs Normal (Wide) FM on UHF +/- 5 Khz -0 db -10 db -20 db -30 db Narrow -40 db vs Normal (Wide) FM -50 db

38 Narrow vs Normal (Wide) FM on 2 Meters +/- 5 Khz -0 db -10 db -20 db -30 db -40 db -50 db

39 Narrow vs Normal (Wide) FM Normal (Wide) 20/25 khz channels Amateur radio GMRS MURS Old public safety & land mobile radio Narrow 6.25/12.5 khz channels 900 MHz amateur radio repeaters FRS Part 90 public safety & land mobile radio

40 Frequency Guides NARCC Web site & repeater guide ARRL Repeater Directory IOS & Android Apps

41 Digital Voice & VOIP Modes Digital Voice D-Star - Yaesu C4FM - DMR - P25 Growing interest Highly fragmented, incompatible systems Don t wait for a single standard Really fun new modes Jump in! VOIP Systems Connect radio systems through the internet IRLP: >1,600 connected repeaters world wide Echolink: >200k people and repeaters world wide

42 Try The Other Bands and Modes MHz CW MHz CW MHz CW MHz CW, RTTY/Data MHz CW, Phone CW can be really fun and great for DX and QRP. Use your computer/phone to decode if needed. Work the world when the band is open! 6 Meters 6 meters opens up for long distances 222 MHz 900 MHz 1.2 GHz Lots of repeaters on the other bands as well.

43 Getting On The Air - Repeaters Pick a repeater and program your radio Listen for a few minutes No traffic? Announce your presence KJ6VU Listening, Anyone on frequency? Not: CQ CQ CQ This is KJ6VU Round table QSO in process Wait for a pause in the action KJ6VU

44 What Do I Talk About? Basic (boring) QSO Call, Name, Location, Radio, Weather, Traffic More interesting QSO What are your areas of interest in amateur radio? What motivated you to get your ticket? What projects are you working on? What other hobbies or interests do you have? Why did you choose that radio? I need some advice on Did you attend Pacificon / Hamvention / Etc.?

45 QSO Lingo CQ CQ CQ - General call to any station Q-Signals Can be statements or questions. QTH Location QRZ Who is calling me? QRM Interference from another station QRP Low power QSO Two way radio contact QSL Verification of contact QRT Going off the air Signal reports RST You have a solid 59 signal here Readability 1-5 Signal Strength 1-9 Tone (CW Only) Best regards

46 Getting On The Air FM Simplex National FM calling frequency Establish a connection and move (QSY) to another working frequency Controversy Using 52 as a chat channel Calling Channel

47 Getting On The Air SSB Operation just like HF SSB but local Use USB (Upper Side Band) Antennas horizontally polarized? Not really Popular during contests EME (CW) General CW and weak sig EME and weak-signal SSB National SSB calling frequency General SSB operation Propagation beacons

48 Getting On The Air Easy Satellite ISS Digipeater Handheld APRS radio Homebrew Yagi Smartphone app

49 Media Resoures Podcasts Fo Time ICQ Podcast Solder Smoke Amateur Radio Newsline ARRL Audio News Video Tx Factor Amateur Logic TV EEV Blog

50 Structured Fun Contests Field Day CQ VHF Nets ARES, RACES, Red Cross, American Legion Summits on the Air (SOTA Hiking + operating Vacation mini-dxpedition - Take your radio with you! Fine print: Subject to spousal consent. May lead to significant financial hardship do to divorce or physical injury. Use only with pre-negotiated approval. Not recommended for newlyweds. May cause significant credit card cramping. If you need a good lawyer I know a guy.

51 10 Things You Should Do In your 1 st year 1. Program your radio 2. Join a local club and! 3. Attend a Field Day event 4. Attend the Maker Faire - or Hamvention 5. Operate on a net 6. Make a simplex contact 7. Try IRLP and/or EchoLink 8. Put together your go kit 9. Study for your license upgrade 10. Get on the air 50% of new tickets don t