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
Everything you know about dipole (calculators) is wrong ...
October 13, 2018 16:00 - 3 minutes - 6.85 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio The other day I did an experiment. I searched for "dipole calculator" and using the first 20 results I calculated the length of a dipole suitable for 7.130 MHz. I chose the frequency for no other reason that there is a 7130 DX net every Monday, Wednesday and Friday and for the longest time I've been unable to participate due to the lack of a HF antenna in my new shack. So here's some things I learnt from doing this experiment. Depending on which calculator I us...
Random bits of wire ...
October 06, 2018 16:00 - 3 minutes - 6.95 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio One topic that is longer than all other topics combined is that of antennas. Designing, planning, sourcing, building, tuning, using, you name it, all of this is regular fare in the day of a radio amateur. I've discussed the topic here regularly and no doubt I'll revisit that when the mood or necessity takes me. One topic that is rarely discussed is that of failure. About six months ago I moved house. I've been rebuilding my shack, doing all manner of fancy shuf...
Is man-made noise really vertical?
September 29, 2018 16:00 - 5 minutes - 9.24 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio One of the often repeated attributes of noise and antennas is that man-made noise is vertically polarised and that is why a vertical antenna sounds noisier than a horizontal dipole. It's an interesting thing to say, but it it true? Let's start with what constitutes man-made noise. Cars driving past, solar panel inverters, pool pumps, high-tension power lines, garage door openers, broadband internet modems, LED lights, lawn mowers, leaf blowers, plasma television...
Antenna Polarisation and you
September 22, 2018 16:00 - 4 minutes - 7.73 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio The first time I came across the concept of antenna polarisation was a decade before I became a radio amateur. To connect to the internet while driving around Australia I became the proud owner of a portable satellite dish. Portable in the broadest sense of the word, 150 kilos with a dish that's 2.4m high, 1.8m wide, steel base, electronics, power and patience to erect and point. The dish has a receiver and transmitter component that needs to be aligned, just so...
Cloud Warming in style or what is NVIS?
September 15, 2018 16:00 - 3 minutes - 6.82 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio The term NVIS, or Near Vertical Incidence Skywave is in my short experience as an amateur heaped with scorn and ridicule. Terms like cloud-warmer come to mind when people discuss the principles associated with NVIS, but that does happen in the context of where I live, that is, one of the most isolated cities on the planet, Perth in Western Australia. NVIS has several advantages over other forms of HF communication, it can be done with low power, there is little ...
How can I talk to my friend?
September 08, 2018 16:00 - 3 minutes - 6.54 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio A recurring question for people who are not yet, or newly licensed is something along the lines of: I have a friend who is 400 kilometres away, can I talk to them on my hand-held 2m radio? This particular question arrives in different forms, but generally along the lines of attempting to communicate between point A and point B at some or other distance. The responses, on social media at least, less so on-air, are often very technical, or offer the advice to get...
Nothing like the standard of Morse Code ...
September 01, 2018 16:00 - 6 minutes - 12.4 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio Morse Code is a way of communicating with people across the globe using dits and dahs and the spaces between them to convey a message. It's no longer required to get an Amateur License, but that doesn't mean that it's not useful, in fact, far from it, Morse is still heavily used in this hobby. I've been attempting to learn Morse code for quite some time. To do this I was told, time and time again, over and over, ad nauseam, that Morse is an Auditory Language. ...
How to start your own net ...
August 25, 2018 16:00 - 2 minutes - 5.45 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio In the past I've talked about a weekly net I run, called F-troop. It's intended to be a place where new and returning amateurs find their feet, have a chat, test their gear, meet new friends, ask questions and sometimes get answers. If you want to come and join in, you're welcome to and I'd love to meet you. This net came about because I was new to the hobby and didn't find anyone running any on-air activity for people like me. I asked around and with some encou...
Getting Started ...
August 18, 2018 16:00 - 3 minutes - 6.06 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio Don't get me started, Let's start this thing, Where do I start, Start me up, I could go on, but I have better things to do today, like starting a podcast. Amateur Radio is a hobby with an enourmous range of activities, interests, skills and experiences. If you're new to this hobby, you might find yourself standing at the edge of a precipous wondering what to do next. Where do I start, who do I ask, what's the first step, what if I fail and a myriad of other doub...
The mysterious three phase power ...
August 11, 2018 16:00 - 3 minutes - 6.58 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio There are times when you realise that you've always nodded your head when a particular topic came up and after doing that for long enough, you think you know what's going on. Turns out that, no, you didn't, but that the topic itself was interesting enough to learn from. In my case, Three Phase Power. I came upon this topic over the past month while I struggled with power interruptions, blinking lights, weirdness throughout my house. Turns out that it's been happ...
Water and Electronics a match made in hell ...
August 04, 2018 16:00 - 5 minutes - 9.42 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio It's been raining around here for a while now. Not in the order of 40 days and 40 nights, but significant. Mind you, I have lived in a place where it rained every day for 57 days, but I digress. Water, plenty of it and often in all the wrong places. Being a radio amateur you come across water in many aspects of the hobby, sometimes it comes in handy, like lubricating your throat while you're calling CQ, or as a ground plane for an antenna, other times, not so m...
Heated Elements and Circuit Boards
July 28, 2018 16:00 - 3 minutes - 6.63 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio Recently I had a conversation with a group of amateurs, ranging in experience from newbie to salty, from purchase to build, from buy to scrounge, in other words, the whole range. One person in the group asked about how to get started with soldering. Their first harmonic had just been granted a license and they wanted to encourage the new amateur to build something, anything. That in turn started a whole conversation about the how, where, why and what of the way ...
The Contesting Coin Toss for the rest of us
July 21, 2018 16:00 - 3 minutes - 7.1 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio If you've been part of the amateur community for a while and have heard me talk on matters of contesting, you'll know that I'm an avid contester and that for me it's better than sliced bread. Of course, I'm me and you're not. If contesting isn't of any particular interest to you, the hobby of amateur radio is big enough for at least 999 other attractions. I talk about them regularly. If you're on the fence, or if you're unsure, or if you are not enamoured with ...
Programming Repeaters ... Revisited.
July 14, 2018 16:00 - 4 minutes - 8.34 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio It seems that when you categorically state something, like I did recently, you get emails and feedback, almost immediately, pointing out the folly of your assertion. Within the context of setting up your radio, an hour before you go away, I intended to convey: "One thing I can categorically state is that programming your radio manually just before your holiday is really something that you should try and avoid." That's not what I actually said. I missed out on t...
Which repeaters should I put into my hand held radio?
July 07, 2018 16:00 - 3 minutes - 7.11 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio A regular question from people who go on holiday is: "Which repeaters should I put into my hand held radio?" If there was infinite amount of memory and time, the answer would be simple - All of them. If it were that simple, I wouldn't be talking about it and you wouldn't be asking the question, so given that it's not that simple, what options do you have for dealing with this question, generally an hour before you pack up your suitcase to leave on that trip to a...
How to get the best Amateur Radio gear?
June 30, 2018 16:00 - 3 minutes - 7.19 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio How to get the best Amateur Radio gear? A recurring question for new entrants to our hobby, and truth be told, some experienced ones as well, is: "What's the best hand held to buy?", or the best antenna, or the best base station, the best coax, the best mount, the best software, the best something. There's a principle in Engineering, Good, Fast and Cheap, pick any two. You can have Good and Fast, but it won't be Cheap. You can have Fast and Cheap, but it won't ...
The Power for your Radio
June 23, 2018 16:00 - 4 minutes - 8.85 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio A question that occurs more often than you might think is one related to powering your radio. It comes in a few different flavours, like: "I want to install a radio in my car, how do I power it?", or "I want to operate portable, what's the best way to power my radio?" or "What power-supply should I buy?" There are many more versions of this, but they all come down to the same underlying challenge. I spoke about sizing a battery a couple of years ago, but that's n...
Get a Contesting Buddy
June 16, 2018 16:00 - 3 minutes - 7.33 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio There is a solitude about amateur radio. Sitting in your shack, listening to the bands, trying to locate an elusive station and if you're doing a contest then even that can be something that you do alone. Don't get me wrong, I like my own company as much as the next introvert, but there is much joy to be found in finding a companion. Over the years I've participated in group activities, camping, field-days, contests, activations, antenna building, ham-fests and ...
Logging of a Different Kind
June 09, 2018 16:00 - 3 minutes - 6.95 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio We as radio amateurs log things. We log our contacts, we log our progress towards an award, we log how many different countries we've contacted, which stations we heard with WSPR, how many kilometres we managed per watt, which stations were in a net, what callsigns received a QSL card, what location we're in when we made a contact. You get the point, we log things, many things and for many different reasons. Here's a log that I started last week. An asset log. ...
The Internet of Digital Radio
June 02, 2018 16:00 - 6 minutes - 12.8 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio The topic of how radio evolves and embraces available technology is one that describes the hobby itself. From spark-gap through AM, SSB and FM our community picked up or invented solutions to make communication possible. When the internet came along it too became a tool ripe for picking and in 1997 a connection between a radio and the internet was made with the Internet Radio Linking Project or IRLP when Dave VE7LTD, a student at the University of British Columbi...
How to find other Amateurs on Air
May 26, 2018 16:00 - 4 minutes - 8.35 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio Where are all the Amateurs is a question that I am asked regularly by new entrants into our community. The journey most new amateurs go through and the one I followed starts with becoming interested, getting a license, buying a radio, setting it up and then turning on your radio. If you're lucky you are at this point surrounded by other amateurs, hopefully in a club setting, or you have a friend nearby and you're off and running. The reality is likely that even ...
How does a waterfall display work?
May 19, 2018 16:00 - 3 minutes - 6.14 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio With computers becoming more and more ensconced within the confines of our radio shack the variety of information available is increasing regularly. The introduction of a waterfall display has dramatically simplified the process of detecting what the activity level is on a particular band. If you've never seen a waterfall display, it's often a real-time, or nearly real-time display of radio activity. Leaving aside the mechanics of how this comes about, or how mu...
Why do you contest?
May 12, 2018 16:00 - 3 minutes - 6.31 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio The other week I participated in a contest. This particular contest was on the 80m band, around 3.5 MHz. The contest itself, while worthy of a mention, the Harry Angel Memorial Sprint, runs for 106 minutes and commemorates every year of Harry's life, at the time, the oldest radio amateur in Australia. I made two contacts. Count 'm and weep. Two. So, you could do the thing that I might have done in a previous contest, smiled, thought, "Wow, that's not very many ...
Preparation for an outing ...
May 05, 2018 16:00 - 2 minutes - 5.17 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio Previously I've talked about leaving your shack and setting up your station in a different location. I have my car configured as a mobile shack of sorts, that is, it's got a radio, an antenna mount and wiring to manage the location of the speaker, the head-unit and the microphone. This weekend I'm planning to do a contest and it's been a while since I operated my radio from my car. I've been advocating that you should do some preparation before actually going a...
SWR assumptions
April 28, 2018 16:00 - 3 minutes - 6.63 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio In the past I've talked about the Standing Wave Ratio, the SWR, and how it describes some of the characteristics of your antenna system. I say system because it's not just the antenna, it's the connection between your radio and the antenna as well. The coax or feed line, their length and how you've connected your antenna, all feature in the performance of the entire kit and caboodle. As an aside, that's why measuring an antenna with an SWR meter at the bottom of...
Learning on 2m FM
April 21, 2018 16:00 - 3 minutes - 7.11 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio Last week during F-troop something very interesting happened. If you're not familiar with F-troop, it's a weekly net for new and returning amateurs and every Saturday we welcome callers to the one hour net to discuss anything and everything amateur radio. It's been going for about seven or so years, about as long as I have been making this weekly contribution to the hobby. Normally there's a host, often it's me, but not always, handing the microphone to the next...
Shakespeare and Coax Stub Filters
April 14, 2018 16:00 - 4 minutes - 8.71 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio If you read it on the Internet, it must be true, but what happens if you read it and there are 700 different answers? In my day job I search countless times a day for answers to problems. Based on my experience I can look at a list of responses to a question and tell myself what the skill-set is of the poster, "they don't know what they're talking about", "they're guessing", "they've got no clue", "they tried it", "ah, this one knows what they're talking about"....
Experience comes from doing ...
April 07, 2018 16:00 - 3 minutes - 6.39 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio During the week a friend reminded me that the process of determining what's happening within a shack comes with experience. In my day job my whole skill-set can be summed up with one word: "debugging", in all its many and varied guises, fixing code, hardware, business processes, skill-sets, what ever it may be. The process is pretty much, figure out what's going wrong, find out what shouldn't be happening and attempt to join the mismatch together with anything f...
eBook Volume 6 - short
April 03, 2018 16:00 - 26 seconds - 842 KBFoundations of Amateur Radio is now available as an eBook. In Volume 6 - Joy of discovery - read about microphone technique, the dead band, propagation maps, melting coax, amateur radio satellites, strange antennas, self-training, SOTA adventures and more. Search for my callsign - VK6FLAB - on your local Amazon store to have a Look inside. I'm Onno VK6FLAB
You and the IARU
March 31, 2018 16:00 - 3 minutes - 7.09 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio Have you ever considered the infrastructure that exists to make it possible to tune to 7.090 MHz, call CQ and make contact with anyone on the planet? In a world where we as radio amateurs share spectrum with radio and television broadcasters, mobile phones, wireless networks, satellites, GPS, drones, wireless headphones, radar, boating, aviation, citizen band, garage door openers, fitness trackers and any other wireless gadget imaginable, not to mention radio as...
Coax Loss vs Connector Loss - now with more coax
March 24, 2018 16:00 - 4 minutes - 7.4 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio Recently I spent some time discussing the losses associated with connectors between your radio and your antenna. The traditional wisdom, and I use the word "wisdom" ironically, says that each connector introduces loss into the feed line. There is an understanding that the more connectors you have the worse it is and the more loss you have. Jim W6LG did the test, connected up 30 odd connectors and measured. His measurements were done on 14 MHz and on 50 MHz, usin...
eBook Volume 5 - short
March 20, 2018 16:00 - 28 seconds - 901 KBFoundations of Amateur Radio is now available as an eBook. In Volume 5 - Getting on air - read about the perfect SWR, how to become a better operator, what batteries to use, the difference between a propagation forecast and reality, the phonetic alphabet, antenna compromises, Q-codes and more. Search for my callsign - VK6FLAB - on your local Amazon store to have a Look inside. I'm Onno VK6FLAB
Coax Loss vs Connector Loss
March 17, 2018 16:00 - 3 minutes - 5.59 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio A question that comes up regularly is one about loss, specifically loss in the coax and connectors between your radio and your antenna. The general wisdom is that better coax gives you better results and more connectors is bad. Anything with double joiners, or such like is really bad. So, essentially we've been taught that we should have the shortest coax possible with as few connectors as possible. Pretty fair and reasonable, right? During the week I was int...
Amateur Radio Minimalism
March 10, 2018 16:00 - 2 minutes - 4.74 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio The ultimate radio shack is a nirvana that most amateurs I've met strive for all their life. One of the many views I've heard on the topic keeps speaking to me, one of minimalism, less is more, what is the absolute minimum that you can use and still call yourself an amateur? As you know, I've recently moved and my shack was packed up into some boxes and is now slowly being unearthed. At the moment there are two antennas, a radio and a power supply. Keen observer...
eBook Volume 4 - short
March 06, 2018 16:00 - 30 seconds - 972 KBFoundations of Amateur Radio is now available as an eBook. In Volume 4 - Just get started - follow my journey through the amateur radio community, how to use QSL cards, mobile antennas on HF, licensing requirements, policing the airwaves, the super check partial list, packing up coax, lightning protection and more. Search for my callsign - VK6FLAB - on your local Amazon store to have a Look inside. I'm Onno VK6FLAB
What improbable antenna solution works?
March 03, 2018 16:00 - 4 minutes - 7.86 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio There is some truth in simplicity. I've mentioned in the past that "suck it and see" is a perfectly valid solution to figuring out if something is going to work or not. I've moved into my new home, my new QTH. The roof is colour bond, that's basically a corrugated iron roof, painted in some random colour. I think it's grey, but don't quote me on that, could be green. Inside is a mezzanine floor, essentially carving out a space within the roof area. It's going t...
What criteria do you have for your ideal shack?
February 24, 2018 16:00 - 4 minutes - 7.61 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio From time-to-time people move and their shack tends to move with them. For me that move is happening right now, I'm moving all of 900m up the road, a long story in itself, but perhaps best told over a camp fire far from civilisation. As I started the process of working out what needed to be done I realised that I made a few rookie errors. The first one, one that I've made before, but at the time my excuse was that I knew nothing about amateur radio - some say I ...
eBook Volume 3 - short
February 20, 2018 16:00 - 26 seconds - 836 KBFoundations of Amateur Radio is now available as an eBook. In Volume 3 - Share the fun - follow the third year of my journey, how to make contacts on HF, how to go on-air QRP, propagation planning, how to deal with trolls, online resources and more. Search for my callsign - VK6FLAB - on your local Amazon store to have a Look inside. I'm Onno VK6FLAB
What do you know now that you would have liked to have known when you started in amateur radio?
February 17, 2018 16:00 - 3 minutes - 7.13 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio Recently I was asked: "What do you know now that you would have liked to have known when you started in amateur radio?" The hobby of amateur radio is one filled with generosity. Extreme forms of it. People go out of their way to help, to explain, to loan equipment, to help out, to repair stuff and to participate. In the past I've spoken about the negative aspects of this hobby as well. Belligerence, the warlike aggressively hostile nature of individuals and grou...
How should I promote my contest?
February 10, 2018 16:00 - 5 minutes - 10.9 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio The act of telling someone about something is promoting it, not in a marketing sense, just an awareness sense. The act of not telling someone is keeping a secret. Radio amateurs, and I have no doubt, people who are not, like to plan things. They set-up contests, on-air activities, organise swap-meets, build websites, write articles, invent things, build stuff, and all manner of other amazing activities. Some amateurs talk about what they've been up to, but most ...
eBook Volume 2 - short
February 06, 2018 16:00 - 29 seconds - 915 KBFoundations of Amateur Radio is now available as an eBook. In Volume 2 - Find the spark - follow the second year of my journey through the hobby of amateur radio, what's the point of Morse code, making contacts during lunch, Magnetic Loop Antennas, keeping your shack tidy, the identity of your callsign and more. Search for my callsign - VK6FLAB - on your local Amazon store to have a Look inside. I'm Onno VK6FLAB
Antenna gain and polar chart magic
February 03, 2018 16:00 - 5 minutes - 9.8 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio If you've ever been on the hunt for an antenna, and let's face it, in amateur radio that's pretty likely, you'll get information about the gain of an antenna. Often someone will tell you that this one has 12 dB gain, versus that one which only has 9 dB. As an aside, I've seen a few videos where people are comparing sound levels and mention that without the fan, there is only 3 dB less noise. What they don't realise is that 3 dB means HALF the noise. The same is...
Just enough radio ...
January 27, 2018 16:00 - 3 minutes - 6.1 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio In the past little while you've heard me talk about WSPR, Weak Signal Propagation Reporter and I've told you about signals I've heard across the planet. The longest distance at the time was a HF report, 18656 km from Perth to Pennsylvania, very nice indeed. I switched to monitoring 6m, 2m and 70cm about a month or so ago. My reports had been pretty minimal, from my QTH to the suburb next-door and then two suburbs away. Proof that a station is working, but hardl...
eBook Volume 1 - short
January 23, 2018 16:00 - 29 seconds - 916 KBFoundations of Amateur Radio is now available as an eBook. In Volume 1 - Join the hobby - follow my initial journey through the community, what to buy when you start, how to participate in the community, things to practice, what the first steps look like once you have a license, playing in radio contests, encouragement and sharing. Search for my callsign - VK6FLAB - on your local Amazon store to have a Look inside. I'm Onno VK6FLAB
Virtual Radio
January 20, 2018 16:00 - 3 minutes - 6.78 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio There is a feeling of anticipation in the air, the year has started, there are so many different ideas bubbling through my mind that I feel like an excited puppy dog wagging its tail. I've been playing with a wonderful piece of software called GNU Radio, more on that in a moment. So, I have for a while been dissatisfied with the offerings of SDR software. There is lots of development going on, lots of new toys being invented and many different hives of activity...
eBook Volume 6
January 16, 2018 16:00 - 45 seconds - 1.39 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio is now available as an eBook. Six years in the making, after much prodding from fellow amateurs, the edited transcripts of this podcast are now available as a series of eBook volumes. Covering our amazing hobby with short discussions about hundreds of different topics. In Volume 6 - Joy of discovery - read about microphone technique, the dead band, propagation maps, melting coax, amateur radio satellites, strange antennas, self-training, SOTA adventures and more....
Building a better community?
January 13, 2018 16:00 - 3 minutes - 6.05 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio A week or so ago I watched a movie that was simultaneously the funniest and saddest movie I'd seen in a while. "Pecking Order". It follows members of the Christchurch Poultry, Bantam and Pigeon Club in the lead up to the New Zealand National Championships, as they battle history and each other in a quest for glory and for the love of their birds. Think "Best in Show" with Chickens. While watching, all I could see was squabbling radio amateurs. We're having a sim...
eBook Volume 5
January 09, 2018 16:00 - 47 seconds - 1.45 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio is now available as an eBook. Six years in the making, after much prodding from fellow amateurs, the edited transcripts of this podcast are now available as a series of eBook volumes. Covering our amazing hobby with short discussions about hundreds of different topics. In Volume 5 - Getting on air - read about the perfect SWR, how to become a better operator, what batteries to use, the difference between a propagation forecast and reality, the phonetic alphabet, ...
What is amateur radio?
January 06, 2018 16:00 - 3 minutes - 6.32 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio What is amateur radio? What's not part of the hobby and what is? The more you dig into this, the deeper the rabbit hole goes. I'll start with an analogy to set the scene. In aviation, Sir George Cayley was the first person to investigate heavier-than-air flying vehicles. He invented the aeroplane in 1799. The first full-sized glider, built in 1849 carried the first person in history to fly, the ten-year-old son of one of his servants. Since then the Wright brot...
eBook Volume 4
January 02, 2018 16:00 - 49 seconds - 1.52 MBFoundations of Amateur Radio is now available as an eBook. Six years in the making, after much prodding from fellow amateurs, the edited transcripts of this podcast are now available as a series of eBook volumes. Covering our amazing hobby with short discussions about hundreds of different topics. In Volume 4 - Just get started - follow my journey through the amateur radio community, how to use QSL cards, mobile antennas on HF, licensing requirements, policing the airwaves, the super check p...