Ham Radio For Dummies. H. Ward Silver
Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers (SARA): If keeping an eye on the sky sounds interesting, check out the SARA website (radio-astronomy.org). It can help you build your own equipment, find kits, or purchase preassembled gear.
WSPRnet: A special digital protocol, WSPR was designed to make measurements of propagation using extremely low power. To collect the observations, WSPRnet was created (wsprnet.org) with stations reporting in world-wide, 24 hours a day. The data is used for modeling the ionosphere, examining the effect of solar activity, and making propagation predictions.
In August of 2017, the United States was treated to a coast-to-coast total solar eclipse. Hams realized this would have a big effect on the ionosphere as the solar shadow traveled west to east. Because the ionosphere reflects shortwave signals, those signals could be used to measure the effect of the eclipse. HamSCI (www.hamsci.org) was created to conduct the experiment, inviting hams to participate in a large-scale experiment to characterize the ionosphere’s response to the eclipse and other open scientific questions. Hundreds of hams helped out by getting on the air during the Solar Eclipse QSO Party (SEQP — see Figure 1-2), a contest-like operating event designed to generate data for studying the eclipse.
[Ann Marie Rogalcheck-Frissell, KC2KRQ, photo]
FIGURE 1-2: Students from the New Jersey Institute of Technology club (K2MFF) operating during the eclipse.
The success of the SEQP both in the number of observations and their high quality, led the group to create today’s forum for academic and other professional researchers to engage the ham radio community. Today’s HamSCI features a wide range of researchers and interested amateurs. Check out the group’s projects and events if you’re interested in using ham radio to advance science — any interested person is welcome. And there’s another total solar eclipse traversing the United States from south to north in 2024!
Chapter 2
Getting a Handle on Ham Radio Technology
IN THIS CHAPTER
Ham radio covers a lot of technological territory — one of its most attractive features. To get the most out of ham radio, you need to have a general understanding of the technology that makes ham radio work.
In this chapter, I cover the most common terms and ideas that form the foundation of ham radio. If you want, skip ahead to read about what hams do and how we operate our radios; then come back to this chapter when you need to explore a technical idea.
Getting to Know Basic Ham Radio Gear
For some hams, their entire station consists of a small handheld radio or two. Other hams operate on the go in a vehicle. Most hams also have a spot somewhere at home that they claim for a ham radio and associated gadgets. I discuss building and operating your own station in Part 4 of this book. You can see examples of several stations, including mine, in Chapter 13. For now, though, here’s a list of the usual gear that makes up a ham’s station:
The radio: The modern radio transceiver, also referred to as a “rig,” combines a receiver and transmitter in a single compact package about the size of an average home entertainment receiver. Transceivers usually have a large tuning knob that controls the frequency, but computer-style displays and screens have replaced the dials and meters of older gear. Today’s software-based radios use a PC or tablet for controls and displays.
Computer: Most hams today have at least one computer in the station. Computers can control many of a radio’s functions. Using most digital signals simply wouldn’t be possible without them. Hams often use more than one computer at a time to perform different functions. Accessories and gadgets using Arduino and Raspberry Pi computers are quite common. Software allows you to control the operating frequency and many other radio functions from a keyboard. Computers can also keep your log, a record of your contacts. Computers can send and receive Morse code, too.
Handheld radio: Popular with new hams, a handheld transceiver is a convenient way to get started making contacts through local repeaters. Battery-powered, these radios can be used in a vehicle or any time you are away from your home station.
Mobile/base radio: These radios are used for regular mobile operation and in home stations. They produce much more output power than the small handheld models and are about the size of a mid-sized hardcover book.
Microphones, keys, and headphones: Depending on the station owner’s preferences, you’ll see a couple (or more) of these important gadgets, the radio’s original user interface. Microphones and keys range from imposing and chrome-plated to miniaturized and hidden. The old Bakelite headphones, or cans, are also a distant memory (which is good; they hurt my ears!), replaced by lightweight, comfortable, high-fidelity designs.
Antennas: In the station, you’ll find switches and controllers for antennas that live outside. A ham station tends to sprout antennas ranging from thin whips the size of pencils to wire antennas stretched through the trees and supersized directional beam antennas held high in the air on steel towers. See Chapter 12 for more info on antennas.
Cables and feed lines: Look behind, around, or under the equipment and you find wires. Lots of them. The radio signals are piped through thick, round coaxial cables, or coax. Power is supplied by wires not terribly different in size from those that power a car stereo. I cover cables and feed lines in detail in Chapter 12.
Building a Basic Ham Radio Station
Although the occasional vintage vacuum-tube radio still glows in a ham’s station, today’s ham radios are sleek, microprocessor-controlled communications centers, as you see in this section.
Basic stations
The stations shown here are very versatile — they can be used as a home or base station, a mobile station in a vehicle, or as a portable station. Equipment is available for very lightweight, low-power