Welcome to Ham Radio 201 New General / Extra Session

Welcome to Ham Radio 201 New General / Extra Session Sponsored by

Virtual Ham Radio Club > 160 members 6 repeaters @ 2 sites Analog FM, D-Star & C4FM Dig IRLP / EchoLink VOIP Events Field Day Antenna Shootout Annual meeting Urban Shield Supports American Red Cross FEMA USAR TF 3 Radio Mala - Nepal 501(C)3 Non-profit Field Day!!!

Agenda New Technician / New Ham 8:15 Kickoff 8:25 Gear Jason K6DGN 9:00 Operating George KJ6VU 9:30 Q&A Group 10:00 Done New General / Extra 10:15 Gear George KJ6VU 10:45 Operating Beric K6BEZ 11:15 Going portable Nick N3WG 11:30 Guest speaker Wayne Burdick, N6KR, Co-founder Elecraft 12:00 Done

New General / Extra Gear George KJ6VU Sponsored by

What s In A Station? Antenna Power Supply Radio Feed Line Watt Meter Headphones Microphone Speaker

HF Radios Good Better Best $650-$1,000 $1,000-$2,000 $2,000-$4,000++ Standard features common to all radios Frequency bands, Modes, Power output So, what is the difference??? Performance - Quality - User features

HF Mobile Radios Good Universal Rig Same standard features as base radios Typically good / not great performance Much smaller Designed for mobile good for portable Easy to haul around Can have a cramped user interface

Buy a Used Radio A 20 year old radio is still a good radio Price range: 50% to 75% of new pricing Ebay Craigs List Local hams Try before your buy if you can

Portable Low Power Radios $900+ $650 $300 Optimized for portable use Backpacking / hiking / travel Battery operated Wide range of performance and features Wide price range

Advanced Radio Features Performance Digital signal processing Automatic notching IF shift More sensitive / selective Lower noise Rx Better Tx audio processing Spectrum display / waterfall display Antenna Tuner Better Rx filters Keyer CW / RTTY / PSK decode

Typical Antennas Wire Dipole Vertical Yagi

Feed Line & Connectors Cable Attenuation @ 144 MHz Attenuation @ 440 MHz LMR-400 1.5 2.6 Best RG-213 2.3 4.5 Good RG-8X 4.6 8.5 OK RG-58 5.1 12 Bad RG-174 10.1 20 Dummy load Connectors N (Best) BNC (Good) UHF PL-259 (OK)

Accessories SWR/Watt Meter Computer Interface Headset External Speaker Desk Mic

Power Supply 13.8 VDC 35 Amps Fused power junction

Battery Power

Tool Kit In-Line Volt / AMP Meter Antenna Analyzer Digital Volt/Ohm Meter (VOM) Soldering Iron & Hand tools Watt Meter PowerPole Crimper

Parts Kit PowerPole Connectors Fuses Coax adapters Resistors Capacitors Coax connectors Scotch 33+ Tape Rescue Tape Solder Zip ties Lugs

ARRL Handbook Fundamental Theory Electrical Fundamentals Analog Basics Digital Basics Practical Design and Principles RF Techniques Computer-Aided Circuit Design Power Supplies Modulation Oscillators and Synthesizers Mixers, Modulators and Demodulators RF and AF Filters Receivers Transmitters Transceivers Telemetry and Navigation DSP and Software Radio Design Digital Modes RF Power Amplifiers Repeaters Antenna Systems and Radio Propagation Propagation of Radio Signals Transmission Lines Antennas Equipment Construction and Maintenance Component Data and References Construction Techniques Station Accessories Test Equipment and Measurements Troubleshooting and Maintenance RF Interference Station Assembly and Management Safety Assembling a Station

Radio Advice Get a good quality / basic radio to start Consider mobile radios You will want to upgrade later Do NOT start with a QRP radio Any antenna is better than none Dipoles and verticals are good starter antennas Get the antenna as high as possible Get a CW filter if you plan on operating CW Invest in a good quality set of accessories and tools

10 Things to do in your first year 1. Set up your station 2. Assemble your tool kit 3. Register on the Logbook of the World 4. Work a contest 5. Get an ARRL handbook 6. Join the ARRL 7. Participate in Field Day 8. Make a CW or PSK contact 9. Build an accessory or cable assembly 10.Listen to a ham radio pod cast or video

HF Operating Beric K6BEZ Sponsored by

Basic Bands and Propagation

Basic Bands and Propagation Band 160m 80m 40m 20m 17m 15m 12m 10m DX Night in winter months Local day, further at night DX Night, local day DX Day & Night DX Day & Night Daytime Daytime Daytime Worldwide during sunspot high

Basic Bands and Propagation Solar Cycle

Basic Bands and Propagation - Tools PSK Reporter http://www.pskreporter.info SolarHam http://www.solarham.net DX Cluster http://dxheat.com/dxc ebook: Understanding LF & HF propagation http://g0kya.blogspot.com

www.pskreporter.info

That Band Plan again 14.000 CW 14.070 RTTY 14.095 Packet 14.100 NCDXF Beacons 14.112 CW 14.150 SSB 14.230 SSTV 14.286 SSB Calling Freq 14.350 http://www.arrl.org/band-plan

Making your first QSO Calling CQ Find an open frequency Check band-plan CQ CQ CQ K6BEZ calling CQ May not get a response. Don t take it personally

Making your first QSO Answering CQ Caller calls CQ or QRZ? QRZ means who s calling me? Make sure you are on frequency Tune until the caller sounds normal K6BEZ

Making your first QSO Arrange a Sked A Scheduled Contact Work with a friend or club Useful for testing problems in setup

Making your first QSO The Exchange Location Country, City Maidenhead Grid Square Signal Report RST Readability 1-5 Signal strength 1-9 Tone (CW only) 1-9 Weather Station Details

Morse Code Why? No longer required for license More popular than ever before Miles per Watt 10 db gain over SSB Low signal to noise Very narrow bandwidth Quiet operation Need transceiver and Key Need to learn new language

Morse Code How to Learn? Online PC www.lcwo.net www.g4fon.net Smart-phone Tapes & CDs Broadcasts W1AW transmissions

Other Digital Modes Miles per Watt Low signal to noise Bandwidth efficient Quiet operation Need a PC or Smartphone

Other Digital Modes PSK31, RTTY, Olivia QSO modes JT65, JT9 Slow but very efficient Winlink2000 Email over HF

Find Out More PSK31 Randy Hall, K6AGE on Youtube FLDigi Cross Platform Winlink 2000 (email) http://www.winlink.org/ JT65 http:///articles.html

Digital Setup Laptop, FLDigi, Signalink & FT-817

Portable PSK FT-817 & DroidPSK

Operating HF Portable Nick N3WG Sponsored by

What Do I Need? Radio Microphone Key Antenna Coax Power Tuner Just Like Any Station But Smaller & Lighter

Radio Ideas Elecraft KX3 Elecraft KX1 Elecraft K1 Xiegu X1M Yaesu FT-817ND

Key SSB at low power can be frustrating, learn CW! Or, get on PSK/RTTY/JT65/etc. Begali Traveler Light Palm Radio Mini and Pico Paddle KX1 Paddle

Antenna / Tuner Big Freakin Ground Plane (BFGP) End-Fed Good Ol Dipole Longwire w. Counterpoise Buddipole Alex Loop Super Antennas Yagi 31 Jackite Pole LNR Precision EFT-10/20/40 Trail Friendly BNC Binding Post Adapter Elecraft T1

My Favorite Park Antenna Big Freakin Ground Plane (BFGP)

Coax RG-174 is A-OK for me Do you even need it? You re going to be sitting right next to the antenna anyway * Don t forget connector adapters if needed.

Power You don t need a huge battery Always shoot for weight savings SLA Sealed Lead Acid HEAVY! Buddipole A123 (Li-Ion Nanophosphate)

Where do I go? Go To The Green!

Quick Trip to Borel Hill

My Pack Pack Elecraft KX3 Par EF Trail Friendly KX3 Mic + Key Buddipole A123 Battery NOTES: KX1 w/int. batteries on overnight backpacking trip. That KX3 might become an FX4 when available Park (Heavy Okay) Elecraft K3 (100W) 50 RG-8X 31 Jackite Pole 20m Ground Plane A123 or 12AH SLA NOTES: Parks with power outlets? Use them!

Gear Guide http:///fd_gear.html

What About Logging? Paper and Pencil always works Or

10 Things You Should Do on HF In your 1 st year 1. Get on the air! 2. Make a contact on every HF band 3. Learn CW (the right way, not the way I did) 4. Bust through a pile-up 5. Make a contact on a radio you built 6. Build a home brew antenna 7. Recruit a friend, neighbor, co worker, or family member into the hobby without a repeater 8. Work a satellite on HF 9. Work a contest 10. Spend some time each week using CW only

Welcome to Ham Radio 101 & 201 Sponsored by