Foundations of Amateur Radio
488 episodes - English - Latest episode: 9 days ago - ★★★★★ - 30 ratingsStarting in the wonderful hobby of Amateur or HAM Radio can be daunting and challenging but can be very rewarding. Every week I look at a different aspect of the hobby, how you might fit in and get the very best from the 1000 hobbies that Amateur Radio represents. Note that this podcast started in 2011 as "What use is an F-call?".
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Episodes
Will the real inventor of Morse code please stand?
July 29, 2023 16:00 - 6 minutes - 12.8 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio Morse code is a way for people to send information across long distances. The code we use today, made from dit and dah elements is nothing like the code demonstrated and attributed to Samuel Morse in 1837. Over years and with assistance from Professor of Chemistry Leonard Gail and Physicist Joseph Henry, then Professor of Literature, Samuel Morse, and mechanically minded Alfred Vail developed an electrical telegraph system that automatically moved a paper tape a...
Is Morse really built around the most popular letters in English?
July 22, 2023 16:00 - 6 minutes - 12.3 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio Thanks to several high profile races we already know that sending Morse is faster than SMS. Recently I started digging into the underpinnings of Morse code to answer the question, "Can you send Morse faster than binary encoded ASCII?" Both ASCII, the American Standard Code for Information Interchange and Morse are techniques to encode information for electronic transmission. One is built for humans, the other for computers. To answer the question, which is faste...
Adventures with Morse Code
July 15, 2023 16:00 - 6 minutes - 11.3 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio If you've ever looked at Morse Code, you might be forgiven if you conclude that it appears to be a less than ideal way of getting information from point A to point B. The idea is simple, based on a set of rules, you translate characters, one at a time, into a series of dits and dahs, each spaced apart according to the separation between each element, each character and each word. The other day I came across a statement that asserted that you could send Morse fas...
The nature and ownership of information
July 08, 2023 16:00 - 8 minutes - 14.7 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio Have you ever made an international contact using amateur radio and used that towards tracking an award like for example the DXCC? If you're not familiar, it's an award for amateurs who make contact with at least 100 "distinct geographic and political entities". In 1935 the American Radio Relay League, or ARRL published an article by Clinton B. DeSoto, W1CBD, titled: "How to Count Countries Worked: A New DX Scoring System". In the article he asks: "Are Tasmania ...
Asking a professional in the community...
July 01, 2023 16:00 - 4 minutes - 8.14 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio In the earlier days of my career I worked in a computing centre at a university surrounded by people with different interests and experiences in computing. There were programmers, hardware engineers, technicians, sales people, administrators, educators, support staff, statisticians and even a librarian. There wasn't a lot of socialising or foosball, but every now and then we'd bump into each other in the lunchroom and talk about things that were not work related...
Planning and making lemonade
June 24, 2023 16:00 - 4 minutes - 8.44 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio The other weekend there was an amateur radio contest on. Not surprising if you realise that's true for most weekends. For a change, I knew about this contest before it started, because I missed out a year ago, so I did the smart thing to add it to my diary with an alert a month out. In this particular contest there's points to be made by being a so-called roving station, that is, one that moves around during the contest and in the past that's how I've participat...
Where is your community and how resilient is it?
June 17, 2023 16:00 - 6 minutes - 11.4 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio During the week, prompted by a protest on popular social media site Reddit, I rediscovered that there are other places to spend time. It sounds absurd now, but until then much of my social interaction with the world was via a single online presence. This didn't happen overnight. Over the years more and more of my time was spent on Reddit engaging with other humans around topics of my interest, amateur radio being one of them. As you might know, I'm the host of a...
What is our legacy?
June 10, 2023 16:00 - 7 minutes - 13.1 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio Our hobby has been around for over a century. The Wireless Institute of Australia, or WIA, is the oldest amateur association on the globe, having just marked 113 years since formation. The American Radio Relay League, or ARRL, is four years younger, founded in 1914. I'm mentioning these two associations because they documented their journey through many of the years since foundation. The ARRL has published QST magazine since 1915 and the WIA has published Amateu...
Accolades in Amateur Radio?
June 03, 2023 16:00 - 3 minutes - 7.01 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio Today I'd like to start with saying thank you to the Wireless Institute of Australia for awarding me the Brenda Edmonds Education Award "in recognition of outstanding service in the education of the Amateur Radio Community and advancement of licensees." It's an unexpected honour and a thrill that leads me to a question about how we recognise the people around us. Over the years I've been a member of around a dozen radio amateur clubs and associations. To my rec...
A Linux contest logger ...
May 27, 2023 16:00 - 3 minutes - 6.96 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio As you might know I'm in the process of building a cross-platform, open source, contest logger. Right now that project is at the stage where there is a proof of concept that you can use and install as a progressive web app on any web browser. It's intended as a starting point for discussion. Note that this is a long way from the stage where you might want to actually use it for any contest, it's not feature complete and if it breaks you get to keep both parts. I...
Considering the language of our community ...
May 20, 2023 16:00 - 4 minutes - 8.36 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio A curious thing happens when you become part of the amateur community, you start to talk like an amateur. This phenomenon isn't specific to being a radio amateur, it happens whenever you join any community. Lead by example, one word at a time, you start to inherit a vocabulary that represents that community. Amateur radio, rife with acronyms and so-called Q-Codes, a standardised set of three-letter codes that start with the letter "Q", does this in spades. If yo...
Measuring the Solar Flux Index at home ...
May 13, 2023 16:00 - 5 minutes - 10.3 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio Recently the Australian Space Weather Forecasting Centre issued an alert for a Coronal Mass Ejection or CME expected to impact Earth within 24 to 36 hours. This was presented within the context of seeing the resulting Aurora, but as a user of the HF radio spectrum, I'm subscribed to their email list, not for the pretty pictures, though I would be delighted to actually see them with my mark one eyeball, I'm on the list for the impact on propagation for my hobby. ...
Propagation during the 2023 Solar Eclipse
May 06, 2023 16:00 - 5 minutes - 10.9 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio On Thursday the 20th of April, 2023 at 04:17:56 UTC the world was subjected to a rare event, a hybrid solar eclipse. In Perth I experienced a partial eclipse and people lucky enough to be directly in line, places like Ningaloo Reef, Exmouth and Barrow Island, experienced a total eclipse. Timor-Leste had the experience of the peak total eclipse. At the time I went into my shack and refreshed the WSPR or Weak Signal Propagation Reporter beacon map I have open and ...
Doing the same thing over and over again ...
April 29, 2023 16:00 - 3 minutes - 5.78 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio Over the years I've used the phrase, which I shamelessly stole, that amateur radio is a thousand hobbies in one. I've discussed countless different activities and adventures that all fall under the banner of amateur radio, in one way or another. Since becoming a licensed radio amateur I've had the opportunity to speak with many different amateurs and hear their views on what amateur radio means to them. Based on their responses I've often found myself exploring ...
Why is radio regulated?
April 22, 2023 16:00 - 7 minutes - 14.3 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio One of the more perplexing things is the nature of radio regulation. If you're a licensed radio amateur, you'll be familiar with this idea, but if you're not it's bewildering and apparently absurd. To explain, let me start with a light bulb that your neighbour put on their back porch. It's bright. It's pointing at your house. Like the apparent radiation from a gazillion suns it lights up the bedroom and sleep is hard to come by. Pretty annoying right? As it hap...
The antenna system
April 15, 2023 16:00 - 6 minutes - 12.8 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio Several years ago I participated in a local contest. Over a 24 hour period I activated my mobile station in about 30 different locations. On my car, my vertical antenna screwed into a boot-lip mount connected to an antenna tuner or ATU, and my radio. I used rope to guy the antenna, threaded through the rear windows and held tight by closing the car boot. Setting up consisted of parking the car, triggering the ATU to tune the antenna system and calling CQ. Moving...
How much antenna is enough?
April 08, 2023 16:00 - 5 minutes - 10.6 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio When you start in this hobby one of the most frustrating aspects is that of selecting the right antenna. If you've been around for a while, you'll discover that this continues to be the case, even when you've been licensed longer than I've been alive. In the past I've discussed at length why that is the case, but to recap, consider a dipole antenna. In essence it's two pieces of wire that are connected to the radio via some form of feed-line. Now consider the i...
Lost in space ...
April 01, 2023 16:00 - 6 minutes - 11.5 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio There is a fascination with space that arguably started long before the first time that human spaceflight was proposed by Scottish astronomer William Leitch in 1861. Names like Sputnik, Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and Columbia speak to millions of people and organisations like NASA, SpaceX and Blue Origin, to name a few, continue to feed that obsession. In amateur radio we have our own names, things like ARISS, or Amateur Radio on the International Space Station, or...
The Contester In Me...
March 25, 2023 16:00 - 6 minutes - 11 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio So, I have a confession to make. I'm a contester. I'm not ashamed of this. While I'm in a confessing mood, I'll also mention that I've not participated in many contests in the past few years. This is not for the want of desire, but for the lack of motivation to fix things in my shack that are fundamentally broken. On the weekend I participated in a local contest. I took part for six hours, got on-air and made noise, made about 30 contacts, had a ball. I wasn't p...
What's with a negative SNR?
March 18, 2023 16:00 - 7 minutes - 12.9 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio We describe the relationship between the power of a wanted signal and unwanted noise as the signal to noise ratio or SNR. It's often expressed in decibels or dB which makes it possible to represent really big and really small numbers side-by-side, rather than using lots of leading and trailing zeros. For example one million is the same as 60 on a dB scale and one millionth, or 0.000001 is -60. One of the potentially more perplexing ideas in communication is the ...
Acronym not found ...
March 11, 2023 16:00 - 7 minutes - 13.2 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio Our community is full of TLAs, or three letter acronyms. Some of them more useful than others. For example, I can tell you thank you for the QSO, I'm going QRT, QSY to my QTH. Or, thanks for the chat, I'll just shut up and take my bat and ball and go home. Acronyms arise every day and it came as no surprise to spot a new one in the wild the other day, SHF. It was in a serious forum, discussing antennas if I recall, so I didn't blink and looked it up. Super High ...
Antenna Testing Day ...
March 04, 2023 16:00 - 5 minutes - 10.4 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio Last week I went outside. I know, it was a shock to me too. The purpose of this adventure was to test an antenna that has been sitting in my garage for nearly a year. Together with a friend we researched our options and at the end of the process the Hustler 6BTV was the answer to our question. Before the commercial interest police come out of the woodwork, I'll point out that I'm not providing a review, good or bad, of this antenna, it was the antenna I purchased...
Are all spiky antennas the same?
February 25, 2023 16:00 - 6 minutes - 11.6 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio The world is filled with antennas. You'll find them on towers, buildings, cars and on your next door neighbour's roof. They come in an astonishing variety, to the point where you might start thinking that antennas are a fashion accessory that vary with the season and if you start digging through the history books you'll come across designs that dial that variety up to eleven. Possibly the most visible antenna today is the television antenna and when you start no...
Some Amateur Radio ABCs ...
February 18, 2023 16:00 - 4 minutes - 8.26 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio A is for Antenna, the eyes and ears of any amateur station. You'll spend eighty percent of your life attempting to get twenty percent improvement for any antenna you'll ever use. B is for Balun, bringing together the balanced and unbalanced parts of your antenna system. C is for Coax, the versatile conductor that snakes into your station, one roll at a time. D is for Dipole, the standard against which all antennas are measured, simple to make, simple to use an...
Do you really know when the best time is to go on air?
February 11, 2023 16:00 - 5 minutes - 9.25 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio Getting on air and making noise is a phrase that you've likely heard me repeat often, actually, this will be the 24th time or so. It's an attempt at encouraging you to actually transmit and use the radio spectrum that is available to you. It's a nicer way of saying: Use it or lose it! One of the more frustrating aspects of our hobby is finding other people to interact with. At the beginning of your hobby you have access to all these magic radio frequencies with ...
The evolution of software in radio ...
February 04, 2023 16:00 - 5 minutes - 10.8 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio The amateur community is nothing if not entertaining. Look at any discussion about a mode like FT8 and you'll discover people who describe it as the dehumanising end of the hobby. In the same thread you'll find an amateur who's been licensed longer than I have been alive who welcomes it using words like revitalising, more active, and the like. If you're not familiar, FT8 is one of many weak signal digital modes that gained popularity over the past years during t...
Path loss and very small numbers ...
January 28, 2023 16:00 - 5 minutes - 10.1 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio Sometimes you learn mind boggling things about this hobby, often when you least expect it. Recently I discussed having my 20 mW WSPR or Weak Signal Propagation Reporter beacon heard on the other side of the planet, in Denmark, 13,612 km away. That in and of itself is pretty spectacular, but it gets better if you consider just how weak the signal was by the time it got there. In radio communications there is a concept called path loss or path attenuation. Until r...
What is the difference between handheld, mobile and a base radio?
January 21, 2023 16:00 - 5 minutes - 10.7 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio If you've ever been in the market for a new radio, and truth be told, who isn't, you'll find yourself faced with a bewildering array of options varying from obvious to obscure and everything in between. At the obvious end of the scale are things like price, bands and transmit power and at the other end are things like Narrow Spaced Dynamic Range, which you'll find explained by Rob NC0B on his sherweng.com website where he's been publishing receiver test data for ...
What should we be learning?
January 14, 2023 16:00 - 4 minutes - 7.47 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio It's an immersive effort to create an article every week, so much so, that I've only just discovered that I passed the 600 article mark some time ago. I'd open up a bottle of something celebratory if I thought it warranted the effort, but I'd rather talk about amateur radio and what I've learnt since becoming licensed in December of 2010. This hobby, this community, the activity of amateur radio keeps surprising me in unexpected and exciting ways. I know that th...
Where does propagation data come from?
January 07, 2023 16:00 - 6 minutes - 11.2 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio One of the many questions that new amateurs ask is, "When should I get on-air, and on what band?" The often-heard reply is just to get on-air and make some noise. As time goes by, the importance of this seems to fade in favour of using HF prediction tools. Some amateurs never venture beyond that point, relying almost exclusively on technology to determine if they should turn on their radio or not. If you search the internet for "current HF conditions", you'll en...
What's the weakest signal that WSPR can decode?
December 31, 2022 16:00 - 7 minutes - 13.9 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio In 2016, Daniel EA4GPZ, documented how to discover the weakest signal that could be decoded using several weak signal modes, including WSPR, or Weak Signal Propagation Reporter. This is an interesting question because as you might recall, I've been experimenting with very weak signals coming from my shack. To date, my 20 milliwatts has been heard over 13 thousand kilometres away. When you tune to a weak station you'll often hear both the station or desired signa...
One Volt ...
December 24, 2022 16:00 - 6 minutes - 12.8 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio Have you ever asked yourself a question that turned out to be a rabbit hole so deep you could spend a lifetime exploring and likely never come out the other end? I did. Yesterday. What's a Volt? This came about when I started exploring how to measure the power output of my WSPR or Weak Signal Propagation Reporter beacon. According to the specifications the output level is 23 dBm or 200 milliwatts. If you read the fine print, you'll discover that the power out...
Which way did it go?
December 17, 2022 16:00 - 7 minutes - 13.8 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio Propagation, the art of getting a radio signal from one side of the globe to the other, is a funny thing. As you might know, I've been experimenting with WSPR or Weak Signal Propagation Reporter and for about a year running a beacon on 10m. Out of the box my beacon uses 200 mW to make itself heard. I couldn't leave well enough alone and I reduced the output power. Currently a 10 dB attenuator is connected to the beacon, reducing output to a notional 20 mW. I say ...
Morse is dead ... long live Morse!
December 10, 2022 16:00 - 5 minutes - 10 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio One of the oldest means of electronic messaging is Morse code. Developed by Alfred Vail and Samuel Morse and sent for the first time on the 24th of May 1844, Morse code changed the way we communicate. For nearly a century it was required to become a licensed radio amateur until in 2003, the International Telecommunications Union or ITU left it to the discretion of individual countries to decide if a budding amateur needed to demonstrate their ability to send and...
Attenuators, the missing link...
December 03, 2022 16:00 - 5 minutes - 10.1 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio Having been able to call myself an amateur for over a decade, it might come as a surprise to you that it wasn't until a couple of weeks ago that I thought about attenuators for the first time. They're a curious tool and once you come across them, you'll never be quite the same. Before I dive in you should know that an amplifier is an active tool that makes things bigger and an attenuator is a passive tool that makes things smaller. To look at, attenuators are di...
How low can you go?
November 26, 2022 16:00 - 3 minutes - 7.3 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio It's common knowledge that power, as in output power, makes your signal heard in more places. If you've followed my adventures you'll also know that I'm a firm believer in low power or QRP operation. It all started when I was told that my shiny new amateur license was rubbish because I was only allowed to use 10 Watts. Seemingly the whole community around me shared that opinion and slogans like "life's too short for QRP" are still commonly heard. As a direct re...
The nature of learning things...
November 19, 2022 16:00 - 4 minutes - 8.48 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio Recently I discussed the concept of a VFO, a Variable Frequency Oscillator. It's an essential building block for our amateur radio community. In describing the idea behind it, while making an error in one of the CB radio frequencies, thanks to Ben VK6NCB for picking that up, I skirted around how a VFO actually works. In reality the VFO is a collective term that describes a whole range of different methods to vary a frequency. Naturally I continued my exploration...
What's in a VFO?
November 12, 2022 16:00 - 5 minutes - 9.38 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio One of the many acronyms that define the world of amateur radio is VFO. It stands for Variable Frequency Oscillator. That doesn't explain much if you're not familiar with the purpose of it and just how special this aspect of amateur radio is. Much of the world of radio beyond our hobby, like broadcast television, WiFi and Citizen Band or CB, to name a few, uses radio spectrum in a particular way. On a television you change channels to switch between stations. Si...
My Virtual Workbench
November 05, 2022 16:00 - 5 minutes - 9.29 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio With the ever increasing pace of innovation, well, change, I'll leave alone if it's actual innovation instead of marketing, we see new software released at an almost alarming rate. There is an urge to stay abreast of this process, to update, upgrade and try new solutions as soon as they are presented to you by well meaning friends and colleagues, not to mention online marketing, uh, reviews and other enticements that make you click the button to install somethin...
A plan for distributed SDR decoding
October 29, 2022 16:00 - 4 minutes - 8.22 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio Yesterday I finally discovered the missing piece of information that will allow me to create a project that I've, if not outright spoken about, at least hinted at. In an ideal world by now I'd have built a proof concept and would be telling you that I've published a GitHub repository under my callsign for you to explore. If wishing made it so. Unfortunately, currently sitting at a keyboard for anything longer than ten minutes or so makes it nigh on impossible to...
The sedentary myth of radio.
October 22, 2022 16:00 - 3 minutes - 7.06 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio When people think about and discuss my chosen hobby, amateur radio, there's often a perception that it's old men sitting behind a radio tapping on a Morse key, making beeping noises surrounded by all manner of imposing equipment, stacked thick and high in a tiny room that soon becomes too stifling to spend much time in. While such scenes might exist, often reinforced by old photos and messy radio shacks, any self respecting amateur will tell you that plenty of t...
Setting a little personal challenge ...
October 15, 2022 16:00 - 5 minutes - 9.88 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio A week ago I unexpectedly had my gallbladder removed. As emergencies go, I was lucky to be in a major metropolitan area with a remarkable hospital, supported by a group of humanity whom I've never much interacted with in my life. The staff at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital were without exception amazing, from the orderlies to the nurses and everyone behind those, I interacted with about fifty people directly during my stay and every single person had a smile to sh...
This space left intentionally blank
October 08, 2022 16:00 - 18 seconds - 581 KBFoundations of Amateur Radio Forgive my briefness. You'll discover why this space was left intentionally blank next week. It involves a broken capacitor, of sorts. I'm Onno VK6FLAB
The Amateur's Code for future generations...
October 01, 2022 16:00 - 4 minutes - 8.38 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio Over the past while I've been discussing the Amateur's Code and its place in our community. I've shown that it was published in 1927, despite credits to the contrary and it's possible that it existed since 1923. I've discussed the original code, how it evolved and what changes have been made across the decades since. I'd like to take this opportunity to compare the original from 1927 to a revision that I've constructed using the various versions that have been p...
The Patriot in Amateur Radio
September 24, 2022 16:00 - 3 minutes - 6.31 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio It's been a while since I looked up the word "patriotic". Depending on which dictionary definition you use it could be: "showing love for your country and being proud of it", or it could mean: "having or expressing devotion to and vigorous support of one's country". Synonyms for the word patriotic include "nationalist" and "nationalistic" and it relates to words such as "chauvinist", "jingoist" and "fervent". Jingoist means having or showing excessive favouritis...
Finding balance in Amateur Radio
September 17, 2022 16:00 - 3 minutes - 7 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio When you are absorbed in a hobby like amateur radio it's easy to lose track of the world around you. I freely admit to spending many hours on this hobby and it wasn't until I spent some effort taking stock that I discovered just how much time I spent. The fifth clause of the Amateur's Code attempts to formalise this behaviour and I confess that it's taken me several years to find a more reasonable balance. Let's review the original 1927 published version of this...
Being friendly in Amateur Radio
September 10, 2022 16:00 - 3 minutes - 6.38 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio The fourth clause of the original Amateur's Code, published in 1927 has a lot to say about the tone of amateur radio. It says: The Amateur is Friendly. Slow and patient sending when requested, friendly advice and counsel to the beginner, kindly assistance and cooperation for the broadcast listener: these are marks of the amateur spirit. The 2022 ARRL handbook tweaks that into: The Radio Amateur is FRIENDLY...slow and patient operating when requested; friendly ...
Progressiveness in Amateur Radio
September 03, 2022 16:00 - 4 minutes - 8.68 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio The third clause of the original Amateur's Code reads: The Amateur is Progressive. He keeps his station abreast of science. It is built well and efficiently. His operating practice is clean and regular. The 2022 ARRL handbook is similar: The Radio Amateur is PROGRESSIVE...with knowledge abreast of science, a well-built and efficient station and operation above reproach. The ARRL website adds in some pronouns and removes the science from the clause: The Radio...
Loyalty in Amateur Radio
August 27, 2022 16:00 - 3 minutes - 7.29 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio The second clause of the original Amateur's Code reads: The Amateur is Loyal. He owes his amateur radio to the American Radio Relay League, and he offers it his unswerving loyalty. The 2022 ARRL handbook presents it with the following words: The Radio Amateur is LOYAL...offers loyalty, encouragement and support to other amateurs, local clubs and the American Radio Relay League, through which Amateur Radio in the United States is represented nationally and inte...
Consideration in Amateur Radio
August 20, 2022 16:00 - 4 minutes - 7.89 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio The first clause of the original Amateur's Code reads: The Amateur is Gentlemanly. He never knowingly uses the air for his own amusement in such a way as to lessen the pleasure of others. He abides by the pledges given by the A.R.R.L. in his behalf to the public and the Government. The 2022 ARRL handbook version states it like this: The Radio Amateur is CONSIDERATE...never knowingly operates in such a way as to lessen the pleasure of others. Today the ARRL we...