Ham Radio

The book I read to research this post was Ham Radio for Dummies by H Ward Silver which is an excellent book which I bought from kindle. Although I’m british this book covers the subject from an american perspective. There are organisations like Hammi Hams devoted to getting people with disabilities set up with radio ham stations when you think about it, it’s ideal pastime for someone who is blind for example. In britain & america you must have a licence to be a radio ham. If you join a local club they will often have a base station that you can get experience using & often they will be responsible for officiating exams. A lot of people stick with using morse code because they can do a lower exam & the start up costs are quite low. The morse code transmitters used nowadays use separate keys for the dots & dashes signals which makes it easier. In america when you complete the standard exam for ham radio of which there are 35 questions & you must score at least 75% you get AX to add to your call sign in addition for people who want to get involved in emergency & relief relay work there’s a higher exam consisting of 50 questions upon completion you get AE to add to add to your call sign. The first ham radio satellite was launched 2 years after sputnik & was about the size of a coffee jar they have come a long way since then & nowadays there are many radio ham satellites. When a radio ham contacts someone in a far flung place they exchange QSL cards which are similiar to postcards except they contain the hams call sign which they use as proof they have contacted someone.

Amateur Radio

You need a special licence to be a radio ham which often includes being conversant with morse code. A lot of people build there own equipment to save money.  They usually use the short wave or uhf or vhf  frequencies. When  you contact someone abroad you send each other a QXL card which is a kind of postcard which confirms where you live. When you get more than a 100 countries in QXL cards you get an award. Many radio hams have more than 300 countries. Some people use morse and some use teleprinters which print out the messages. A lot of radio hams watch foriegn television.  CB is similiar but doesn’t have the range. English is the standard language but they use a lot of abbreviations like op for operator or QXM for interference. Also they use location codes and in addition every radio ham has a call sign which is unique.  A lot of people use scanners which only listen and for which you don’t need a licence.

 

Two-Way Radios & Scanners

The book I read to research this blog is Two-Way Radio and Scanners for Dummies by H Ward Silver. I got it from the library and it’s such a good book it’s the third time I have borrowed it. It’s the kind of book that you can read over and over and still enjoy.

Your simplest kind of two-way radio is FRS or family radio service which you don’t need a licence for and is the walkie-talkies you can buy for about twenty pounds. Then there’s GMRS or General Mobile Radio Service for that you need a licence and it has a longer range and the radios are much more powerful. I think in the UK these radio services go under a different name because this book is american. CB or citizens band is on a different band in the UK to what it is in the US. MURS or multi use radio service is quite expensive and you need a licence and is often used by companies with a lot of people who need to stay in touch.

Scanners are probably on the way out because a lot of communication is digital and is often scrambled. I have a scanner but I don’t have any kind of two-way radio. I must admit I haven’t used my scanner in a long time.