Many new hams have passed the Technician Class test by simply memorizing the answers to the questions and not really learning very much. Along with that, there’s nothing in any of the test questions that involves programming your radios, installing antennas, and how to properly speak into the mic, as well as what to say on the radio when initializing a call or desiring to know if your signal is reaching its destination.

These  pages are to educate new hams on these basics as well as the normally accepted terminology & jargon that has been used by hams since the inception of telephony (voice communication) via radio. And some history as to where some of the terminology originated.


Contents:  (Click on a link in this table of contents to advance to the corresponding page.)

Page 1.
Should I use an HT or mobile / base radio.

Page 2.
Programming your radio.

Page 3.
Choosing and installing an antenna system.

Page 4.
Powering your transceiver.

Page 5.
Operating your transceiver.

Page 6.
Etiquette and terminology (jargon).

Page 7.
Common termsinology used by hams & some history as to where they come from.

Page 8.
Emergencies Pertaining to Life and Property.


Pages with full text:

Page 1.
Should I use an HT or mobile / base radio.

An HT (Motorola trade name "Handi Talkie") a.k.a. walkie talkie, hand held are one in the same.
They are a popular choice for new hams, much of the reason is the cost as several models of low end HTs can be purchased for under $30. While they are portable and convenient, they have significant limitations.
They typically produce fairly low power - usually around 5 watts, and being battery operated, they have limited talk time on a charge.

Walkie Talkies were never meant to REPLACE a mobile or base radio, they're made to SUPPLEMENT a mobile or base radio when you're unable to be near one. And they're meant for use in close in areas such as events at a venue or small area where communications will most likely be in the simplex mode, or through a local repater that covers the venue or area very well. This repeater may be a temporary "porta-peater" set up for that event.

For those who want to stretch their walkie talkie to its limits and try to use it as a mobile or fixed station......
While 5 watts is more than enough to hit your "local" repeater system, this is only true if you are in a good location and using a decent antenna. From inside a building, the materials around you will easily block a very high percentage of your signal, both receive and transmit. And it can be worse if your location is blocked by other structures. Not only does the building reduce the transmitted signal, one often finds themselves surrounded by electronic devices (computers, LED light fixtures, various appliances that use micro-processors, cheap Chinese wall wart power supplies) further submerging an already weak signal making it even more difficult to hear the other station or repeater.

When operating from inside a vehicle an HT can work well from locations fairly close to the station that is line of sight, but with their limited power and the fact that the structure of a typical vehicle is too small to permit the relatively large wavelength of a 2-meter signal to escape effectively means that they are marginal for more distant, weaker stations particularly as terrain and local clutter (buildings, vegetation, mountains) get in the way.

When using an HT in a building or vehicle, a worthwhile investment is an outside antenna; Even a mediocre outside antenna with a poor feedline will almost always out-perform a "good" antenna indoors or in a vehicle. If you are using an HT portable such as a "walkie-talkie", replacing the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer)
antenna with a better quality, lower loss, more efficient and usually larger one will also provide a dramatic improvement in both "talk power" and reception - especially when you are outdoors.

A large, higher end antenna does have a downside. Many HTs - particularly inexpensive Chinese models can't handle strong signals, often resulting in "intermod" - a situation where off-frequency signals combine inside the radio to produce signals on yet other frequencies.

Another problem is simple overload where sensitivity can be degraded by the mere presence of another unheard, off-frequency signal (perhaps another ham using their radio on a near-by frequency in a near-by physical location to you). This "deafens" your receiver making a perfectly usable signal suddenly disappear into the noise.

A Mobile / Base radio:
A "Mobile" radio is typically capable of much more transmit power than an HT - typically 50 watts, making it a better choice when trying to communicate with more distant stations either simplex or through a distant repeater.
Coupled with an outdoor antenna it really boosts performance many times fold at the home location or in a vehicle when compared to an HT.

A high performance receiver (one that doesn't overload easily like most HTs do) is another proposition.
While most radios sold by the mainstream companies (Yaesu, Kenwood, Icom, Alinco, etc.) are fairly robust, many of the in-expensive Chinese mobile radios are merely an HT with a higher-powered transmitter which many don't even meet their advertised specs. Their receivers are easily overloaded - just like in-expensive HTs, especially when one tries to use it with a good antenna system on a vehicle, in a building or in the vicinity of other transmitters.

What should I choose?
While an HT is nice to have, you should know its limitations. If your main interest is very local communications, particularly if you need a very portable radio - it will serve you well. But if you are planning to frequent distant stations or repeaters - or frequently operate in rural areas, it may not be the best choice. Don't forget, if you are on the edge of coverage using a low-power radio, your signal can be difficult for others to copy - and this can be important as you travel through different or remote terrain and especially if you need to pass emergency traffic.

A good quality mobile radio coupled with a decent antenna will greatly expand your capabilities both at home and in the car in that it will not only be able to cast a signal over longer distance, but its receiver will better withstand the assaults of other nearby transmitters. For the majority of uses, even an older radio will serve you well at a much lower cost, as long as it has the ability to transmit subaudible tones (CTCSS) it will work with the vast majority of repeaters and on all simplex frequencies.

And for the absolute best performance, a higher end commercial radio (Motorola, Kenwood, Vertex, etc.) will have the best receiver selectivity and a transmitter of up to 100 watts. The downfalls of commercial radios are that the purchase price can be very expensive (even for used equipment), they're mono band (VHF or UHF only), they're not front panel or keypad programmable, special programming software from the manufacturer must be purchased and may be expensive, plus additional software add-ons may be needed in order to program the radio for wide band operation which all simplex frequencies and most repeaters are wide band.


Let's define a Base (Fixed), Mobile and Portable station.
It doesn't matter what make and model the transceiver is, let's use the Yaesu FTM300 as an example:

- If it's permanently installed in a fixed structure and connected to an outdoor antenna mounted on the roof or on a mast or tower, it's a BASE or FIXED station.

- If it's permanently installed in a motor vehicle and connected to an outside antenna mounted on the roof, trunk, etc. of the vehicle, it's a MOBILE station.

- IF it's rigged into a box or case of some sort that can be easily carried and transported such as a "go-box", it's a PORTABLE station.

Supplement to Page l.
OEM HT Antennas:

A "rubber duck" is the type of flexible portable antenna that is most often provided with a Handheld radio when purchased. Rubber Duck antennas were invented back in 1958 consisting of a helical coil of wire covered with heat shrink material with a removable connector. These antennas are very inefficient radiators as well as reception devices, most of the transmitted RF goes up in the coil in the form of heat. They have negative gain compared to a standard ¼ wave vertical. In other words they do not provide very good range. However, they are very convenient and useful when you are in line-of-sight range of the repeater. How much attenuation? You can look up testing that has been done a variety of rubber duck antennas but in general the loss is around 6-8 dB compared to a 1/4 wave vertical. That is a lot of loss. For example, if you set your handheld to transmit 5W and your antenna loss is 8 dB, only about 1.6 watts is actually being radiated.

We live in a mountainous state and it is likely that you will not have a line-of-sight view of the antenna you're talking to most times. Also many tower sites often struggle with high background noise issues meaning their receive sensitivity is likely lower than your handheld radio's sensitivity. Also keep in mind that a repeater transmitter is running much more power than your handheld radio, so you will hear the repeater long before you can get into it. Thus while handheld radios are convenient and relatively cheap they may be frustrating to use mainly due to the poor antenna attached to the radio.

There some things you can do to improve your ability to get a better signal into a repeater.

1. Put a better antenna on your handheld radio such as a Signal Stick or other similar longer antenna. You can make a 1/4 wave antenna out of stiff wire which will work better than your rubber duck. Check YouTube.

2. Wait to transmit until you are at a location where you can see the repeater site location without any obstructions.

3. Do you operate your handheld radio while it is attached to your belt or in contact with your body. This detunes the antenna and really attenuates your transmitted and received signal.

4. Make sure you are holding the handheld vertically with the radio up in the air. Do not transmit with your hand over the antenna. I see this often in commercial businesses that use handheld radios by employees who do not understand radios.

5. When in a building, all of these rules of holding the radio vertical become null and void, as the signal will bounce off of walls, and objects in the room causing the pattern to change with each bounce and will be unknown as to how to hold the radio. The best way to tell is if you're talking into a repeater that uses a single antenna (most repeater stations are built this way), move the walkie talkie around until you receive the best signal and hold it in that position when you transmit.


Page 2.
Programming your radio.

A. By simply following the instructions in your owner’s manual will get you 90% of the way there.

B. Program your TRANSMITTER TIME OUT TIMER!!!
During the course of each year, there are numerous incidents of “stuck mics”. Stuck mics a/k/a “someone sitting on their mic” are normally caused by someone leaving a mobile radio mic on the seat of a vehicle and literally sitting on it, or the mic’s in a hangar and another object inadvertently presses the PTT switch a/k/a “pickle”, keying the transmitter to the radio operators unawareness and transmit until one of the following happens; the button is released, the final amp burns out, or the battery runs down.

A frayed mic cord can possibly short the PTT wire and also in the case of a desk mic w/ PTT bar, a book or other object can inadvertently be set on it causing the transmitter to key.

 Not only can a stuck mic cause harmful interference to a system, especially during an emergency event, but when your transmitter is keyed, the mic is “HOT” (transmitting the audio it hears).

More than once a very private conversation, phone call (both parties if speaker phone is used) going on in the ham shack or vehicle was broadcast over a busy system with dozens monitoring, causing extreme embarrassment and even worse…. financial or other personal damage to someone due to the private conversation being inadvertently transmitted & thus overheard!

Every frequency agile VHF / UHF transceiver manufactured since the 1980s includes a programmable “Transmitter Time Out Timer”. The purpose of these timers is to prevent a “stuck mic” from tying up a repeater system or simplex frequency and minimize the amount of time a private conversation will be heard. 

When the timer times out, the operator will hear an audible tone from the transceiver’s speaker and the transmitter will un-key. The factory default setting on most transmitter time out timers is set at “0”. A few are set at 5 minutes, which is way too much time.

It is highly recommended that everyone activate the time out timers on all of your rigs and set them to time out (un-key the transmitter) at no more than 2 minutes. 1 minute is optimal.

C. Make certain that you program all FM channels to “WIDE BAND”. This pertains to ALL OPEN FM systems in Utah as well as most other states.

D. Program CTSCSS tones into your ENCODER ONLY, unless you know for certain that the repeater’s transmitter on that system encodes tone. Most repeater systems do not encode CTCSS.
The common term used for CTCSS is "PL". PL stands for "Private Line", which is a Motorola term used for commercial
radios made for public safety, business & industrial services when they invented the technology around 70 years ago. It has ever since been the "household name" for CTCSS. Other commercial manufactures have their own trade names for CCTSS such as "Channel Guard" & "Quiet Channel".
A slang term for a repeater that encodes CTCSS is that "it hums".

E. Beware of PRIVATE CLOSED SYSTEMS especially in the 440MHz band. The standard CTCSS tone for open systems in Utah is 100.0 Hz. Thus, if the tone is anything other than 100.0, consider the system closed, unless you have been informed differently from a bonafide source. DO NOT TRANSMIT on a closed system without authorization from the owner of the system.  
If you inadvertently ID or make a call on a closed system and someone answers you and brings that to your attention, your best response is to apologize, legal ID and QSY. If they come back to you and invite you to stay on and chat for a while, that's their prerogative and you can feel free to take them up on it for the one time.


Page 3.
Choosing and installing an antenna system.

There are numerous mobile and fixed station antennas out there to choose from, thus this is what needs to be considered when purchasing a system: Purchase price depending on your budget. Aesthetics depending on your vehicle style, house, neighborhood antenna covenants etc. Below is based on Performance being the bottom-line priority.

A. Mobile.
If performance is your bottom line, you want a mobile antenna that has maximum gain to the horizon. Keep in mind that most require a decent counterpoise (flat metal roof or trunk) to be mounted on. Should your vehicle not have a good flat metal surface such as a convertible, roll bar, hood or trunk cowling etc. you will want to purchase an antenna that is a ½ wavelength at VHF and a 5/8 over 5/8 wavelength at UHF. The Comet SBB5 is an example of this.

Feedline is of minimal importance since the run of cable from transceiver to antenna is usually 10 feet or less, thus even fairly high-loss cable will work just fine. RG-58AU is most commonly used.  RG-58U IS NOT RECOMMENDED because it has a solid center conductor that can easily fail with flexing that it will receive in a mobile environment. RG58-AU or CU has a stranded center conductor which can much better handle the flexing. Should your install be in an RV where the run can be much longer, then LMR190 Ultra-Flex would be your best choice. Make certain that you specify “Ultra-Flex” as that is LMR190 with a stranded center conductor.

B. Fixed Station.
For a fixed station, you want an antenna that has maximum gain to the horizon. The Diamond X-510 is an example of this. You will need an antenna support structure (roof mounted tripod, mast, tower or other hardware) that can handle the weight and lateral thrust (wind loading) of the antenna.

If the feedline run between the transceiver and antenna is 25’ or less, RG-8X will work fine. For the 25’ to 50’ ballpark, LMR 240 will be a good choice. For well, over 50’, LMR400 or 9913 will be the cable of choice.

Ground your feedline prior to it entering the structure. There are countless opinions on grounding, so we won't go into any of them here other than to say, follow the NEC (National Electrical Code) requirements as a minimum.

Keep in mind that with the higher gain and antenna, depending on your location with respect to RF noise generators you may hear a lot of signals that you don’t want to hear and may not hear weaker signals that you do want to hear depending on the receiver selectivity and general quality of your receiver. Ideally you want to purchase a higher end Japanese made transceiver, not a low-end Chinese transceiver, and you even may wish to purchase an additional “window filter” that is inserted in the feedline between the transceiver and antenna to better filter incoming signals.

Page 4.
Powering your transceiver.
Power consumption on a typical 50-watt dual band transceiver is in the ballpark of 6 to 10 amps when transmiting at the 50 watt level depending on make, model and variables.

For installation in a motor vehicle:
With older vehicles (prior to the 1990s), it was always necessary to connect the power cable directly to the battery, starter relay or other lug near the main distribution box.
This was due to minimizing alternator whine and voltage drop to the transceiver.
This is still the recommended location, but with the construction of many newer vehicles it is very difficult at best to nearly impossible to penetrate the firewall and gain access to this location.
Most newer vehicles have several distribution panels (fuse boxes) under the dash, kick panels, rear panels etc. that are fed by a 10 gauge or larger feed line.
These locations are also just as good as going directly to the battery as long as you connect to a terminal that is not switched (hot all the time) and you know for certain that it is fed by that larger gauge wire.
These locations are not recommended should you install an amplifier or a 100-watt HF radio. Go directly lug next to the battery for this.

Try not to use cigarette lighter sockets (12V power sockets) as labled in newer vehicles. By design they are very poor quality connectors. They easily create resistance between the contact points. They are usually wired with 18 gauge wire (way too small to power a 50 watt transceiver). And because of this, issues from voltage drop & intermittent resistive contact are often created while transmitting with tranceivers powered from them.

If you're planning on using hook-up wire other than the OEM power cable supplied with your 50 watt transceiver, use nothing smaller than 14 gauge.
12 gauge is ideal. And for a 100 watt HF mobile radio 12 or better yet 10 gauge is appropriate. Always use stranded wire.

NEVER BYPASS OR REMOVE ANY FUSES!!! The main purpose of the fuse is to protect your vehicle from fire should there be a dead short in the wiring between the power source and transceiver. The secondary purpose of the fuse is to protect your transceiver. ALWAYS MAKE CERTAIN THAT YOU HAVE A FUSE AS CLOSE TO THE POWER SOURCE AS POSSIBLE to protect the wiring between the source and the transceiver.
Ideal fuse size is 15 amp for a 50 watt transceiver.

For installation at a fixed location:
For a Fixed Station you will need a power source, which can be a battery on float (continuous) charge, solar & battery power or a power supply also known as a power converter.
Here we'll focus on power supplies (power converters). A power supply (converter) takes 120 or 240 Volts AC (commercial grid power or generator power) and converts it to between 12 & 14 Volts DC. Some are manually variable.

There are two basic types of power supplies; switch mode and linear.

Switch mode is the more common type used today, as they are much lighter in weight, smaller in size and they're very efficient (consume about 1/2 the power) when compared to linear.

The only real dis-advantage of switch mode power supplies is that some makes and models can produce "birdies" (RF signals) across some bands, especially the HF bands.  And the power factor is often much worse, should that be an issue if you're powering it with a small generator.

 
Prior to purchasing a power supply, the most important specs you need to know is the power consumption of your radio or all of the radios in your ham shack that you plan on powering with this power supply.

Plan on 10 amps for each VHF / UHF 50 watt dual band transceiver and 20 amps for each 100 watt HF transceiver when transmitting at the highest power level, should there be a chance that you may be transmitting on more than one at a given time. And this can happen should there be more than one operator in the shack or should you be simulcasting which some hams do occasionally especially during some emergency situations.

And figure stand-by / receive currant giving a fudge factor, plan on 500 milliamps for each dual band VHF / UHF and 1500 milliamps (1.5 amps) for each HF station. Plus any other appliances you may be powering with this power supply, such as lighting, antenna tuning units, computers for digital modes, etc.

If the only transceiver in your shack is a 50 watt VHF / UHF dual band, a 12 amp power supply will be perfectly adequate.
For a 100 watt HF transceiver, a 25 amp power supply will be perfectly adequate.

A 30 amp power supply or larger will run a typical 100 watt  HF and 50 watt VHF / UHF dual band transceiver transmitting at full power simultaneously with no issues.
30 amp power supplies are the most common power supplies found in most ham shacks that contain multiple transceivers. The Samlex SEC-12-35M is an example of a 30 amp switch mode power supply.



Page 5.
Operating your transceiver.

A. MAKE CERTAIN THAT THERE ARE NO LIVING BEINGS WITHIN TWO FEET OF YOUR ANTENNA! This is to protect people and animals from RF burn and exposure.

B. Make certain that your antenna is clear from overhanging metal or vegetation. This is to protect your transmitter from high SWR and to maximize antenna performance.

C. Prior to making a call, make certain that your receiver volume control is turned up! There are many instances every day where someone is calling and calling and someone else is answering and answering. The caller thinks that he is not transmitting, but in reality, he is transmitting, but with his volume turned down he can’t hear the station answering him. When making a call through a repeater system, listen for the repeater transmitter hang time and if you don't hear it, check your volume control.

D. THIS IS A HUGE ONE…….. Make certain that you are speaking into the mic with your LIPS NO MORE THAN A FRACTION OF AN INCH FROM THE GRILL AND YOUR MOUTH RIGHT OVER THE LITTLE HOLE IN THE GRILL WHERE THE MIC ELEMENT ACTUALLY IS!!!

The number one cause of stations transmitting with low deviation (modulation level, transmit volume) is that they’re talking too far away from the mic. ALL two-way radio hand mics and handheld radios are made to be spoken into with your lips virtually touching the grill and with your mouth right over the mic element.

The reason for this is in many mobile and hand-held environments, there is a lot of audio noise (people talking, road and engine noise, rushing air noise, etc, etc, etc.) Thus, the mic gain is set fairly low. And for that reason you really need to “eat the mic”. And if you’re a soft spoken person you need to make a concentrated effort of “speaking up”.

Adjusting your receiver's volume control has zero effect on your transmitted audio level!

E. ANOTHER BIG ONE.... Set your TRANSMIT POWER at its HIGHEST LEVEL.  In the interest of safety should you suddenly have an emergency and need to call for help, you want as much power as you can muster to initiate your call and the last thing that will be on your mind will be to raise your transmitter power. In a mobile environment, signal levels are always changing due to multi-path reflections, along with natural and man made objects between you and the station you're talking to. Plus you never know when the receiver you're talking to will experience interference or have a technical failure that will lessen its sensitivity.

If you're talking into a repeater that is in very close proximity to you or a fixed station on simplex or if you're mobile in a caravan talking simplex to other mobiles in close proximity to you, you can always lower your power once a conversation has commenced if you feel that you can work with less power. ALWAYS REMEMBER TO SET YOUR POWER BACK TO FULL ONCE YOUR QSO HAS ENDED, so you'll have it if you suddenly need it.

F. With FM radio, increasing transmit power DOES NOT increase the deviation level (transmitted audio volume). If someone tells you that your transmitted audio level is low, increasing your transmitting power or changing your antenna will NOT make your audio louder. Should your signal be noisy into the receiver that’s listening to you, then increasing power can quiet your signal and better improve the audio signal to noise ratio, but it DOES NOT increase the actual level.
What DOES increase deviation level (transmitted audio volume) is properly speaking into the mic (see "Page 5 D" above) and have your tranceiver programmed for Wide Band (see "Page 2 C" above).

G. Must you use a repeater?
The answer to this is, "it depends".
Many new hams are under the impression that the only way that VHF and UHF FM works is through repeaters.
This is far from correct, depending on the distance between the stations trying to communicate, the type of equipment being used, obstacles in-between the stations, RF noise at the receiving antennas.

In a large percentage of cases where stations are communicating through a repeater, they are actually in SIMPLEX range of each other. Simplex can be a lot of fun and can be somewhat challenging to add to the fun. Simplex is a real test of your equipment and teaches you many skills that can be a life saver should the repeater you need to use fail.

Nation wide there are 20 designated simplex frequencies in the 2 meter VHF spectrum 146.400 - 146.580 and 147.400 - 147.580. Most of these simplex frequencies are rarely ever used. And in Utah 446.000 and 446.500 are for simplex use. Other states may have different simplex freqs for UHF, but 446.000 is the national UHF calling frequency, so it's good nationwide for simplex.

Repeaters are great for making a contact, but once you learn where the station you're talking with is and what his equipment is (especially the antenna) you may want try to QSY to a simplex frequency. Many repeater owners really appreciate this, as "why should you use a repeater if you don't need one"!

Likewise when using a linked repeater system, should you find out that you both or all stations in the QSO are using the same repeater, it's a good act of courteously to QSY to a standalone repeater that everyone can access to free up the linked system, and of course if everyone is in simplex range, go to a simplex frequency.

And you can use "Talkaround" (scroll down to page 7) should the repeater fail or you travel out of range of it while talking to someone within simplex range.


Page 6.
Etiquette and terminology (jargon).

None of the information below is an FCC rule or UVHFS policy.
This is the standardized practices and terminology used by hams over the past many decades.

If you want to get on a repeater system or simplex frequency wondering if you’re being heard and how you sound, you want to state your legal ID (your callsign) and say “looking for a signal report”.

It's preferable and more proper that we ask for "Signal Report" rather than "Radio Check", when we are indeed looking for just that -- a report on the quality of our signal.  Even though there’s no law against saying "Radio Check", the standard terminology in the amateur community is “Signal Report”.

To give a proper signal report on FM, a responder should say that you are “full quieting” if you signal has no noise on it, or say “you have some noise on your signal and your modulation level is normal, low, too loud etc.” Many use the word “steam” in lieu of noise and this is a perfectly acceptable term.

It's also recommended that on FM, we not use the terminology like “You're Five By Nine" and instead use something like "You are full quieting into the repeater."  
What Five By Nine really means, is that on AM or SSB modes, there is what’s called RST. That’s a signal report giving the quality of tone or voice, 1 being not readable to 5 being very loud and clear and then 1 through 9 representing the level read on the receivers S meter. Over the years, many hams mainly because they were never educated on a proper RST signal report have come to use “five by nine” as a general acknowledgement regardless of the accrual signal quality.
This, along with using the term “radio check” is a good way to rub long time seasoned hams very wrong.

You’re looking to make a contact and have a good chat (QSO). Monitor the frequency to make certain that no one else is using it for 15 seconds or so. Then legal ID and say “looking for a contact (or QSO), anyone out there want to chat, etc. If you just want to make your presence known in case someone wants to talk to you. Simply legal ID and nothing else.

It is not a general practice to call "CQ" on repeater systems like it is the common practice for HF and VHF / UHF simplex operations. Even though there's nothing wrong with calling CQ on repeater systems, it's not commonly practiced there.


If you’re looking for a particular station. Simply state their callsign followed by yours.
Always call the station that you are calling first, and then state your callsign.
Keep in mind that they may hear you but not be near their radio or busy and can’t drop what they’re doing, so wait 15 seconds or so and then give a second call, wait again before giving up. And when you give up, state that you’re standing by, QRT or QSY to where you’re going to. This is so that if they are listening and can't get to their radio in time, they will know where to find you when they do get to their radio.

You hear a conversation (QSO) going on that you wish to join in on;

If it’s a serious, detailed technical discussion on a topic that you are not directly involved with in that group, then don’t break in…. wait until they’re done. If you have an emergency, then state it by saying "Emergency" and they’ll let you in. If you simply want to contact another station and move them to another frequency or system, then key your transmitter and say your callsign (legal ID). When someone answers, make your call and move them off as quickly as possible and thank them for letting you in. Make certain that you legal ID before moving.

If you hear non-technical “rag chewing” (general chit chat), then simply wait until one of the stations un-keys and then transmit your callsign (Legal ID) and wait for someone to say “go ahead”.


 


Page 7.
Common termsinology used by hams & some history as to where they come from.

SEVEN THREE
dah dah dit dit dit   dit dit dit dah dah

TALKAROUND 

The term "Talkaround" has been used for decades in commercial Land Mobile Radio.
And it is becomming more widespread in the amateur community.

It simply means= Simplex operation on the output frequency of a repeater.
Hence you are "talking around" the repeater.

It's also commonly known as "Direct".
Hence you are direct from your antenna to the antenna(s) you're talking to.

Saying "Go to simplex on the output frequency" uses alot of words and air time.
Saying "To to talkaround" takes a fraction of that time.

You should NEVER operate simplex on the input frequency of a repeater.

It's always a good idea to be able to operate talkaround on the repeaters that you regularly use if not all of them.

And especially if you're involved with EMCOM operations!

If your tranciever does not have a "Direct" or "Talkaround" button and the process of disabling the offset is not easy, then when programming momory channels in your radio, program the repeater pair "duplex" or "with offset" into a channel and then program the same frequency without the offset in the next channel up. Thus it's as simple as switching to the next memory channel to go between repeater use and talkaround.
Having talkaround programmed on your repeater channels can be a life saver during an emergency!

Low Band / High Band /  UHF

Many hams who operate on 6 Meters FM (Low VHF), 2 Meters FM (High VHF) and 70 Centimeters (UHF) are commercial two way industry professionals or public safety volunteers & professionals who use two way FM radio on the same bands and very close to the frequencies that hams do. Many of these pros who are also hams who have been licensed hams for decades. Many of these folks call the commercial Low VHF spectrum of 40 - 50 MHz "Low Band", the High VHF spectrum of 150 - 170 MHz "High Band" and the 450 - 470 MHz band "UHF" and thus this terminology has been commonly used in the amateur commumity ever since the inception of amateur FM operations.


Some models of hand mics made from the 1950s into the 1980s were made with an elongated PTT (Push To Talk) switch on the left hand side of the mic housing. It ran the whole length of the left side of the mic and it somewhat resembled a pickle.
Hence "Pushing the Pickle" or "Push the Pickle" over the many years is a slang way to say "Key your Transmitter".

The term "Key" goes back to the days of telegraphy and simply means "a manually operated lever for opening and closing an electric circuit, used to produce signals in telegraphy." (copied from Dictionary.com)





This item is FCC regulations:

97.403 Safety of life and protection of property. No provision of these rules prevents the use by an amateur station of any means of radiocommunication at its disposal to provide essential communication needs in connection with the immediate safety of human life and immediate protection of property when normal communication systems are not available.

§ 97.405 Station in distress. (a) No provision of these rules prevents the use by an amateur station in distress of any means at its disposal to attract attention, make known its condition and location, and obtain assistance. (b) No provision of these rules prevents the use by a station, in the exceptional circumstances described in paragraph (a) of this section, of any means of radiocommunications at its disposal to assist a station in distress

Simplified:
Anyone can use (transmit with) your amateur transceiver to summon help to an emergency that pertains to "The immediate danger of life and or property".

This DOES NOT mean that non-licensed people can transmit during an extended emergency situation to report on status or transmit any other type of information.

Anyone can transmit on any radio in any radio service to report "The immediate danger of life and or property
with no questions asked. But for no other purpose than that unless they're a licensed amateur for the amateur frequencies or authorized by the licensee of another service such as business or public safety.

An example of this would be the spouse or child of a licensed ham is driving their car with the licensee not present and they are involved in or come across an accident. They may use the mobile radio to summon help to that scene.

Another example would be to come across a policeman, electric utility worker, etc who is down from an injury or medical episode, you may use their radio to summon help for them.

An example of authorization from a public safety licensee would be; A local city government has a CERT team and wishes the CERT members to be able to communicate with each other and or communicate with other public safey officials. This local govenment would give written authorization to the CERT group to use certain public safety frequencies that the local government is licensed to use. Typically there would be special training, tactical callsign assignments, rules & procedures etc for the use of these radios on these frequencies.

It is a good idea to teach your un-licensed family members the use of your radio and which frequencies to use in order to have the best chances of contacting another ham to summon help to their emergency.

They should be taught to key the transmitter and state "I have an emergency and need immediate help" or something to that effect and state the location of and type of emergency. There's no need to say anything else other than to keep repeating the same until someone answers them.

The reason to state the location and type of emergency and to keep repeating is in the event of a ham may be listening and can't get to his radio for a few minutes. And also remember that anyone may be monitoring with an SDR or police scanner and they could phone for help without you knowing it.

All hams should give thought to what they would say and how they would handle a call for help from anyone on the radio should they hear one and be the only one to answer them.

Page 9.
What is a Repeater System?

A repeater system is a combination of a receiver or receivers and a transmitter or transmitters that operate in the duplex mode that re-transmits (repeats) the audio that the receiver receives. Repeaters increase the range of fixed, mobile and portable stations providing that they are line of sight to the antennas using them.

A repeater system can be a single stand-alone station at a single tower site or multiple stations at tower sites linked together enabling wider area coverage.

To provide wider area coverage, linking is accomplished by using point to point stations using directional high gain antennas. The typical RF spectrum used for linking sites together is 420 MHz and 2.4 GHz allocated to FCC Part 97 (Amateur Radio Service). The internet can also be used, but not recommended if there are plans for the system being available for emergency communications groups during times of emergency, due to the public internet being out of the control of amateur radio operators.

 

Let’s discuss simplex and duplex.
Simplex is transmitting and receiving on the same frequency (147.120 as an example).

Duplex is transmitting on one frequency (147.72 as an example) and receiving on another frequency (147.120 as an example).

Duplex is broken down into two categories; half duplex and full duplex.
Half duplex is defined as transmitting on one frequency and receiving on a second frequency, but not simultaneously (your stations operate half duplex when programmed to operate through a repeater system).
Full duplex is defined as transmitting on one frequency while simultaneously receiving on a second frequency. A repeater station operates full duplex.

 

Now let’s break down the basics of a repeater system.
There are two types of repeater systems; stand-alone and linked.

A stand-alone system is just that, a single repeater station operating on a duplex frequency pair at a single tower site.
The 146.620 on Farnsworth Peak, 146.780 on Lake Mtn systems are an example of a stand-alone system.

A repeater station is made up of these components.

1. A power source.
2. A receiver which receives incoming signals from fixed stations, mobile stations, portable & hand held stations in the field.
These stations are the users of the system. Another term oftern used for users of a system can be "subscribers" to the system. 

3. A transmitter that transmits outgoing signals while the receiver is receiving incoming signals. The nominal repeater station has a transmitter power output of 50 watts. But depending on many variables, power can be anything between 15 and 100 watts.
Since the receiver is receiving while the transmitter is transmitting (repeating the audio that the receiver hears) the receiver and transmitter must be mechanically RF isolated from each other so that no transmitted energy can interfere with the receiver (aka “desensitize” or “desense” the receiver).

4. A duplexer and a single antenna, or antenna combining equipment which uses a single receive antenna to feed several receivers and separate transmitting antennas in which up to 3 transmitters can be mulitplexed (combined) into a single antenna.
Some repeater stations use two separate antennas, one for the single transmitter and one for the receiver. No combining equipment is needed for this
but  tens of feet of vertical separation or hundreds of feet of horizontal separation is needed.
Most repeater stations use a duplexer and a single antenna. All repeater stations in the Intermountain Intertie System use a duplexer and single antenna.

5. A controller that will sense an incoming signal, key the transmitter and pass audio from the receiver to the transmitter as a minimum. A controller can also provide legal ID in either MCW and or Voice for the transmitter, transmitter hang time (aka drop out delay), tone telemetry to signal various conditions and or as a courtesy and provide interface to more receivers and transmitters for linking should the stand-alone become part of a linked system.

And some controllers contain a phone patch.
Phone patches were very common from the 1970s till the early 2000s prior to almost everyone having a cellphone. There are only a handful of them left across the country today and most of them are in remote areas where cellular coverage is poor to non-existent.
And controllers also interface computers and internet or MESH used for Echo Link, IRLP, All Star, etc. modes to repeater systems.

 

A linked repeater system such as the Intermountain Intertie is made up of a number of tower sites that contain a full duplex repeater station. The entire system can be thought of as a “repeater”, because by transmitting into any one site.... all sites “repeat” your transmitted audio from that site as well as all of the other sites that are linked together.

There are two basic modes of RF linking; Daisy Chaining and Hub & Spoke.

Most of the Intermountain Intertie is linked via daisy chaining.
Promontory to Farnsworth, Farnsworth to Frisco, Frisco to Blowhard, Blowhard to Navajo is an example of daisy chaining.

An example of the daisy chained portion of the Intermountain Intertie is, when an amateur station in Boise for example is talking to a station in Las Vegas for example. That station’s antenna is not talking all the way to Las Vegas, it’s only talking to Shafer Butte. And the station in Las Vegas, his antenna is only talking to Mt Potosi. The 420 MHz link radios and antennas are doing the “heavy lifting” by connecting Shafer to the next mountain top site and that site to the next etc. until it reaches Mt Potosi, and then out on the VHF pair to the station in Las Vegas. At the same time every repeater station on every site in the system is also “repeating” the signal.

 

And the Snowbird site is an example of hub & spoke.
A hub is basically a full duplex repeater station on a link frequency pair, and the spoke radios are half duplex subscriber radios that talk to it.

 Medicine Butte, Pisgah & Bear Lake are spokes that connect to the Snowbird hub.

There is a separate link from Snowbird to Farnsworth to connect the Snowbird hub which includes all of its spoke sites to the Intertie.

Thus, for example, a station in Evanston talking to a station in Cedar City. His VHF signal goes into Medicine Butte, his signal is repeated from the Medicine VHF transmitter to the Evanston area and the spoke transmitter that talks to Snowbird. The hub transmitter repeats it to the other spoke sites. The link transmitter on Snowbird repeats it to Farnsworth, Farnsworth daisy chains to Frisco, Frisco to Blowhard and VHF to the station he’s talking to in Cedar City as well as all other sites in the system are also repeating the transmitted audio.

                            End Page 9

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