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Ham Radio For Dummies
H. Ward Silver (Author)
9781119695608, Wiley
Paperback / softback, published 24 May 2021
448 pages
23.1 x 18.8 x 3 cm, 0.59 kg
Respond to the call of ham radio Despite its old-school reputation, amateur radio is on the rise, and the airwaves are busier than ever. That’s no surprise: being a ham is a lot of fun, providing an independent way to keep in touch with friends, family, and new acquaintances around the world—and even beyond with its ability to connect with the International Space Station! Hams are also good in a crisis, keeping communications alive and crackling during extreme weather events and loss of communications until regular systems like cell phones and the internet are restored. Additionally, it’s enjoyable for good, old-fashioned tech geek reasons—fiddling with circuits and bouncing signals off the ionosphere just happens to give a lot of us a buzz! If one or more of these benefits is of interest to you, then good news: the new edition of Ham Radio For Dummies covers them all! In his signature friendly style, longtime ham Ward Silver (Call Sign NØAX)—contributing editor with the American Radio Relay League—patches you in on everything from getting the right equipment and building your station (it doesn’t have to be expensive) to the intricacies of Morse code and Ohm’s law. In addition, he coaches you on how to prepare for the FCC-mandated licensing exam and tunes you up for ultimate glory in the ham radio hall of fame as a Radiosport competitor! With this book, you’ll learn to: Whether you’re looking to join a public service club or want the latest tips on the cutting edge of ham technology, this is the perfect reference for newbies and experts alike—and will keep you happily hamming it up for years!
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
Subject Areas: Electronics & communications engineering [TJ]
