Foundations of Amateur Radio

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How to manage your first pile-up. Jan 17, 2016

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Foundations of Amateur Radio

There are skills that come from thinking and there are skills that come from doing. There is place for both in Amateur Radio.

There is nothing in the world that is like the experience of working a pile-up, unless the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange counts, but I've not personally been there and it doesn't look as intimate as a radio shack.

Working stations across the planet that are coming in thick and fast is an amazing thrill, not unlike getting onto a roller-coaster. The long slow journey to the top of the ride is calling CQ, the crest of the hill is the first response and the loop-de-loop is when they're all calling at the same time; rolling back down to earth at the end of the ride is the petering out of the calls, only to start again.

If you've never experienced it, I'd strongly recommend that you find a way to put yourself in the position where you are exposed to this absolutely thrilling experience.

So, what do you do when you're actually in this situation?

Hopefully you're not going to be on your own the first time, but it does happen and it might be that the person you're with has never had the experience either, so here's some ideas on what to do.

The first thing to remember, this is YOUR pile-up. You're the one running it, you're the one in control of it, it's your actions that make it work, or not.

I've said in the past, it's all about rhythm. It's about expectation management. If the pile-up sees you floundering about, not being consistent, not giving out succinct information, they'll go elsewhere and the experience will be over before it begins.

So. The noise is overwhelming, there are stations all over the place calling you. If you hear a callsign, or most of a callsign, then call that. Don't change your mind if someone else comes back instead.

You've called CQ and let's say that you heard, K1R. You call back, K1R, 59. If the station operator on the other end is any good, the response might be HK1R, 59 also. Your response will be HK1R. CQ VK6FLAB.

But lets say that you only heard K1. You call back, "the station with K1". The response is three stations at the same time, one SK1Q, one VK1AA, one JA7BG. You could get upset about the JA7 station calling, but remember, he too has lots of stations calling around him, he might not have properly heard either.

You say "the station with K1, K1 only please". Two stations come back. SK1Q and VK1AA. You pick the one you hear best. SK1 again. You hear SK1Q.

"SK1Q, 59."

If your memory is great, you could also go on to say "VK1AA 59" and then call CQ. This is not something you'd do on your first or 10th pile-up, but it's something to work toward.

The thing that took me a while to recognise is that there are idiots on the band who think that their callsign is the most important. My best advice is to ignore them. This is hard. They'll be very noisy. One trick, call while they're calling, rather than let their rhythm destroy yours. Remember, this is YOUR pile-up.

Other things to note. I've spoken in the past about the so-called standard phonetic alphabet. As you might remember, there is no such thing. This will trip you up. Don't let it bother you. Other fun stuff that happens in a pile-up, especially if it's been going for a little while, is that you notice little comments. You might inject one of your own. "HK1R Big Signal, you're 59". Or if it's a friend, K9CT, you might say: "K9CT, Hi Craig, long time no see, 59." It's the little inserts in the middle of a pile-up, in the middle of the night that make you smile and give you that shot of adrenaline to make it last longer.

I have to admit. For me, there is no stronger drug that riding a pile-up.

Of course, this is not all there is to learn about pile-ups. It's to give you some idea of what's going on and what you might do to keep it alive when it happens to you.

Feel free to get in touch with questions if you like.

I'm Onno VK6FLAB

This and other episodes are available online at http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au

Have a look or search online at the previous editions of this podcast. Jan 10, 2016

Show notes

Foundations of Amateur Radio

This is episode 236 or so of my weekly contribution to this hobby. As you may have heard me say over the past few weeks, this is now available as a podcast which you can subscribe to. It's available at http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au and you can also search for my callsign, VK6FLAB on iTunes and find it there.

I'm mentioning this because each podcast also contains a transcript, which you can use to search the content. I've been doing this podcast since May 2011 and in that time I've covered many topics.

I get wonderful feedback from you about each segment, thank you, and I also get requests for content. Often new listeners ask me if I could talk about XYZ topic, and I'm finding more and more that in fact I have talked about such a topic.

That's not to say that I won't revisit a topic if I have information to add. For example, I was in the process of researching baluns, got distracted by word-use and will revisit. As I'm doing the research I'm realising that the rabbit hole goes deep on that particular topic, so I'm not yet at a point where I can say much about it other than to think of a balun as a maths tool for feed-point impedance, that is to say, a 6 to 1 balun will transform a 300 Ohm feed-point to a 50 Ohm one, similarly a 9 to 1 will do the same for a 450 Ohm feed-point. All fine and dandy, but why would you need a 1 to 1 balun. Or what's the difference between a voltage balun and a current balun, not to mention the bandwidth, the different material types, and on it goes.

So, I'm not yet at the point where I can distil the information to a three minute segment, but I will.

I've also discussed cows and lightning in the past. If you remember, if a cow is facing the impact point of lightning, they can die from the current that flows along their body from their front legs to their rear legs. Which is why you want a single point earth in your station.

I hope that you'll take the opportunity to have a look-see across the previous editions of this segment and find something to your liking.

I'm Onno VK6FLAB.

This and previous editions can be found online at http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/ and are also available for download from iTunes and other podcast directories. Just search for my callsign.

Contesting, something for everyone ... Jan 03, 2016

Show notes

Foundations of Amateur Radio

Previously I've discussed different aspects of contesting in relation to Amateur Radio. If you're unfamiliar with the concept, contesting is an activity where you test your station and skill against other amateurs. Unlike other contests where you're all in the same physical location, say a stadium, or an online playing field, amateur radio contesting is most commonly done from the comfort of your own shack.

Of course, as is true for everything in life, there are exceptions to this. There are contests where you're not in your own environment, say on a field day, at a contest station, or some other place, but I'll ignore these for the moment.

In most organised sports, and amateur radio is no exception, there are rules for participating. It should go without saying that you're expected to abide by the rules. Disqualification, bans, even life-time exclusions and revision of results can and have happened.

Contests are planned by different people and groups and vary greatly across the globe. Amateur Radio is a global pursuit, and contesting is a global activity. It can start as simple as making a contact every day, through to staying awake for 48 hours and making as many contacts as possible across as many countries as possible as fast as possible, and everything in between.

If you think about that for a moment, you'll soon realise that with so many different people organising contests, there is likely going to be one that tickles your fancy. There are several contests every weekend and often one every day.

People participate in contests for different reasons, to try their new station, to win, to get another country on their DX list, to achieve a distance record, to test their skill, to learn how to hear callsigns in noisy environments, to spend time on-air, to laugh with friends and to contribute to the hobby of amateur radio.

If you're new to our community, then contesting might be a scary proposition. You might not know what to do, or how to even start. You should know that your doubts were true for everyone you hear on air. We still haven't mastered the art of growing an amateur in utero, though I should confess that some act as if they are.

So where do you start?

The best way to do this is to set-up your station and to tune around the bands and to listen to what is going on. It will be confusing at first, but if you find a station that is making contacts that are different from normal ones, you know the one where you both exchange callsigns and a signal report, you'll begin to hear other parts of the contact. It's possible that the station is exchanging a serial number, or some other special token.

You can also go online and find many different amateur contest calendars which each will give you a way to find out what global activity is currently taking place, so you can look up the contest online and read the rules.

If all that's too hard, talk to your fellow amateur friends and go to their station and see what they do to participate in a contest.

I'm Onno VK6FLAB

This and other episodes of Foundations of Amateur Radio can be heard via podcast or download at podcasts.itmaze.com.au.

SDR diversity and Ah-Ha! Dec 27, 2015

Show notes

Foundations of Amateur Radio

In every new technology there is an ah-ha moment, the single one insight that defines for you personally what this technology is all about. No doubt this happened when Amateurs first used valves, when they started using transistors and so on. For me that moment happened during the week.

You've heard me talk about the absurd noise floor, that is, the incredible amount of local radio noise that I experience at my shack. I've been working my station portable to get away from the racket.

During the week I came across something that is likely to change that.

You've no doubt heard about diversity reception. You can use two different antennas, do some fancy phase switching and make the noise go away. Now I should clarify, at least briefly what that looks like. Imagine throwing a stone into a lake, it makes waves. If you throw two stones into the lake at the same time, the waves get bigger, but if you were to time it just right, you could throw in one stone, then the next. If you timed it just so the first stone would make a wave top whilst the other stone made a wave trough, the two would cancel each other out.

You can do the same with light, shine a torch onto a piece of cardboard with two slits cut into it. Behind the cardboard you'll see light and dark patches where the frequencies line up and cancel each other out.

Light and radio waves are part of the same spectrum, so you can do the same with radio waves. You could use this technique to cancel out, or rather filter, local noise.

So far I've not said anything particular worthy of ah-ha, but stick around.

There are devices made that you can use to create the equivalent of two slits, by changing inductance and capacitance within a specific circuit, you can align two signals from two antennas and make them cancel each other out. The way that works best is if one of the antennas is really good at hearing noise and the other is responsible for hearing the required station.

You can then mix the two signals, I don't have such a device, but I'm told there is an art to making this work, and out pops the station you care about.

In software defined radio or SDR, you can do this exact same thing. Only you don't need a circuit to do it, you can show the results in real-time and you can create a user interface that makes it really easy to try different things. The example I saw is PowerSDR, an open source project that allows you to control many different radios.

Picture a circle with a line that is attached to the centre of the circle and the end is attached to your mouse pointer. You can move the mouse anywhere in the circle and as you do this, you're controlling two parameters, the phasing angle and the gain. The gain is the length of the line, the angle is the direction in which the line is pointed.

While you're moving your mouse about, the signals from both antennas are mixed together according to the position of the mouse at the time.

The end result is a completely interactive direct feedback loop where you can see and hear the effect of the mouse location. You can move it around very simply, and immediately, continuously see the result.

The outcome of all this is that you can bring your noise floor down by 30dB or more, and hear stations that were completely inaudible within the racket.

I'd heard it being described, but seeing it in action was a show stopping moment for me and right there and then I knew that the landscape in radio has changed forever.

I'm Onno VK6FLAB

This and other episodes of Foundations of Amateur Radio can be heard via podcast or download at podcasts.itmaze.com.au.

We should stop requiring electronics to be amateurs. Dec 20, 2015

Show notes

Foundations of Amateur Radio

On a regular basis I receive emails from fellow amateurs and shortwave listeners who provide feedback and ideas about this weekly segment of Amateur Radio. It's a joy to read how they feel that my little contribution encourages them to continue in the hobby, or come back to the hobby, or to build something, or to do something, to participate, to experiment.

Yesterday I received an email from an amateur who came up with an idea that's worth sharing. The idea was pretty simple. Encourage every new entrant into our hobby to build a crystal radio. I know that this might sound like a trivial thing, even silly, but for me it makes complete sense.

Imagine that, building a receiver and understanding how it actually works. I know I've never actually done that and I suspect I'm not alone.

So, here's a thing. Next time you're looking for a project to do, for a thing to make, for some soldering practice, try making a crystal radio. There's opportunity to make it work for CW and SSB - think of it as an upgrade - and from an electronics perspective, this can be as complex or simple as you like.

Dovetail that with the notion of harmonics, how resonant circuits work and you're well on the way to making your first transceiver.

So, the real takeaway from this idea, not only the idea you can build a crystal radio, but that there are electronics project to be found that enhance your understanding of how radio works and are easy to build.

Now I should hasten to add, that I'm not advocating that we all become electronics experts. I know this isn't going to sit well with everyone, but let me say it again. I'm not advocating that we all become electronics experts. I know that the Standard and Advanced licenses in Australia require a fair bit of electronics, but I have to say that I think this is unhelpful.

It's taken me a long time to get to this point, so before you sharpen your pitchfork and heat up the tar and feathers, hear me out.

In Computing, which is a topic I know a lot about, having been intimate with it for nearly 45 years, there's a similar analogy. The notion that you need to know about memory, registers, about CPU clock cycles and a stack, accumulator and all manner of esoteric detail. I know all of this because 45 years ago, that defined what computing consists of. It stands me in good stead today, it makes it possible for me to conceptualise a super computer with little effort, but it's not required for someone coming into the field, learning to program and make the tools useful. It helps, but it's not required. We abstract things more and more in computing and we do the same in amateur radio.

If you think back, a spark-gap transmitter, valve based radios, transistor based radios, integrated circuit based radios and now software defined radios went through the same progression. Today an amateur doesn't learn how to build a spark-gap transmitter, though if you did, it would help your understanding of high-voltage electronics, harmonics and all manner of flow on. It's not required. A similar thing is true for building a valve based radio and over time the same will be true for transistors, integrated circuits and software.

You might think of this as a dumbing down, and to be fair, I thought the same thing for many years.

In reality, it's not dumbing down at all, it's focusing on what's important, on what makes progress, on what grows a field.

There will be always room for people who understand the difference between an NPN and a PNP transistor, but it's not required to be an amateur, even if today's amateur education system still requires it.

So what I'm saying is that, you should build a circuit, build a radio, go on to build a transceiver. You should understand what goes on under the hood because it helps you understand the implications of things when you make changes. Just like a racing car driver has no understanding of the chemistry of the fuel that is put in his car, there should be no need for you to be forced to do electronics, but it can be loads of fun and you might surprise yourself and learn something.

I'm going back to my Morse, another one of those skills which is immensely helpful, but no longer required.

I'm Onno VK6FLAB

Picking better language to talk about our hobby ... Dec 13, 2015

Show notes

Foundations of Amateur Radio

Today I started doing some research on Baluns. It was prompted by a message from a fellow amateur who asked about how they work and what they do and what the difference was between a 1:1, a 1:4 and a 1:9 balun.

While doing that, I thought I'd look up what the definition was of a balun. It says right here on Google - so it must be true - that it's a type of electrical transformer used to connect an unbalanced circuit to a balanced one. I clicked on the link that said "Translations, word origin and more definitions", which showed me a history of the use of the word balun and I was hooked. The explanation of a balun will have to wait for another day.

I started looking at the use of the word going back to the 1800's, based on Google's Ngram Viewer. Looks like it was used a bit between 1800 and 1910, but steadily declining in use, until it started picking up in popularity around 1930. Today the word balun is more popular than the phrase "radio amateur", but less popular than either "amateur radio" or "ham radio".

Radio Amateur hit its peak in 1950 and Amateur Radio in 1990, when electronics also hit its peak. Ham radio hit its peak around 2000.

All of these terms pale into insignificance when compared with either the word Software or Hardware. Hardware being about 200 times more popular than any of the radio terms, but software being 700 times more popular.

So, what does this have to do with us, more specifically, what does this mean for you?

Well, if you want this amazing hobby to relate to the people around you, there might be a benefit to use language that is increasing in popularity, while still related to us, it might pull us along with the tide.

So, "Software Defined Radio" is on the rise, SDR likely means something else in 1985 when it hits peak popularity, but use is increasing.

Interestingly, Icom makes more noise in literature than Yeasu, by about 9 times. The ARRL makes more noise than the RSGB and WIA put together and balanced is 8 times more popular than unbalanced, though I won't vouch for that relating only to amateur radio.

Transistors hit their peak in 1967, capacitors did so a decade earlier, resistors even earlier in 1952.

I think this means that we need to spend some time investigating the language we use to communicate about our hobby and use it wisely to increase awareness about the things we think are amazing.

GPS is a term on the rise, antenna is pretty stable since 1965, emergency response is on the increase, communication is at an all-time-high, steadily increasing from 1900 on-wards.

Radio is staying pretty stable, but hit its peak in 1950. Television is on the decline and the Internet is more popular than either.

So, pick some words, look at the Google Ngram Viewer [https://books.google.com/ngrams] and learn some things about the words you might use to communicate about this wonderful hobby.

Can you guess, what's more popular, a dipole, a vertical or a Yagi?

I'm Onno VK6FLAB

Radios are not quite appliances ... Dec 06, 2015

Show notes

Foundations of Amateur Radio

Today we have a world where radios are more and more like appliances. We can buy them at a store, ship them to our location, open the box, plug in the radio to an antenna and start operating.

I said, "like" an appliance, because a transceiver is not like a toaster in all aspects and it's those little gaps between the toaster as an appliance and a transceiver as an appliance that I want to highlight.

I was with a farmer recently who had a CB radio in his troopie, or if you're not familiar with that, a Toyota Land Cruiser, this one had 400.000km on the clock and was just getting run in. According to the farmer, the CB had never worked right. He joked that it was often easier to yell across the paddock than to use the radio. On a farm there are lots of things happening, during harvesting, heavy equipment is moving everywhere and communications are vital.

I was with a friend and the first thing that we noticed about this CB is that it was a UHF CB, that is, it was using 70cm, or 470-odd MHz. The antenna however was a HF CB antenna, 27 MHz. As a radio amateur you know that this is never going to work well. In fact it's amazing that there was any contact using this particular CB at all.

Another thing we noticed was that the connector between the radio and the antenna was loose, so it's entirely possible that the actual communication was happening around the connector on the back of the radio, rather than the antenna on the bull-bar.

You might be listening to this and shaking your head. If you're uncharitable, you might even scoff at those silly CB'ers. I think that's both unhelpful and wrong.

Precisely this is the difference between a toaster as an appliance and a transceiver as an appliance. It means that any radio training, any license at all, even a foundation call, is sufficient to learn enough to be able to diagnose such issues.

You might think that this means that I think CB'ers are stupid. Far from it. I think this means that radios are not appliances and that there is ample opportunity for the skills we take for granted as amateurs to propagate through the community.

If you're a CB'er yourself and you're not a radio amateur. Perhaps you might consider spending a weekend and getting your introduction to Amateur Radio. You are likely to learn lots of things you've never heard or understood, or more likely have been told incorrectly.

If learning how to use your transceiver, be it CB, HF club or otherwise, is important to you, have a look at Amateur Radio. I think it's important.

I'm Onno VK6FLAB

Fieldstrength and Chickens Nov 29, 2015

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Foundations of Amateur Radio

Yesterday during dinner I heard an interesting story. Apparently there was a farmer who had a chicken coop that he kept warm at night by using a 240 Volt light bulb hooked up to the chicken wire surrounding his chickens. The farmer's property was in the vicinity of a local AM broadcast transmitter. They only found him because the people in the shadow of the chicken coop had bad reception.

I'm sitting at the dining table, listening to this tale and wondering, could it be true? My gut feeling was no, but surrounded by food and friends it was hard to put my finger on precisely where this doesn't add up.

A little digging revealed that the transmitter in question was the local ABC 6WF transmitter at Hamersley.

So, what do we know about this transmitter?

First of all, it's a 50 kW AM transmitter. I must confess, I have operated this station. Imagine that, 50 kW AM, with an introductory Foundation License.

Anyway, back to the 6WF transmitter. It's located on a block of land, roughly 500 meters wide, 1000 meters long. Thanks to the ACMA we have a map that shows a contour line where the field strength of this transmitter is 1 Volt per meter. That means that there is 1 Volt difference between two points a meter apart. This contour varies in distance from the antenna from 2.1 km to 1.8 km. So in a sort-of-circle around this transmitter there is a circle of points at which you can step 1 m further away and measure a field strength decrease of 1 Volt.

We also know that electric fields decrease by the inverse square of the distance, or said in another way, if you double the distance, you decrease the field strength by 4, if you increase distance by 3, you decrease strength by 9.

Of course, the opposite is also true.

If you halve the distance, from 2 km to 1 km, you increase the field strength to 4 V/m. If you have it again to 500 m, the field strength becomes 16 V/m.

To power a 240 V lamp, we'd need to get within 100 meters or so of the transmitter. Of course, the block is 500 m wide, the closest you can get without going onto the property is about 250 m, where the field strength is about 64 V/m.

So, unless the farmer had a chicken coop on the transmission site itself, this is unlikely to have happened.

Before you ask, how can an f-call operate a 50 kW AM transmitter, on 720 kHz, easy, get invited to talk about Amateur Radio with Gillian O'Shaughnessy on ABC breakfast radio. Did you know, her grand-dad was an amateur?

Anyway, if you know the farmer in question, or if you're sure it's happened, I'd love to hear about it.

I'm Onno VK6FLAB

Change one thing at a time ... Nov 22, 2015

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Foundations of Amateur Radio

Whenever I go out to play radio, which is whenever I actually want to operate, I try new things. For example I've experimented with different clocks, to keep track of what time I made a contact, I've experimented with different ways of logging, with different locations, different antennas, with different bands, times of day, methods of calling CQ, methods of making a contact with a DX station, different methods of looking at propagation, different distances from interference.

As I said, every time I try something else different.

One thing I do, that might not seem obvious. I try to only change one thing. The reason I do that, is so I have a better understanding on what the change actually did. Of course this isn't entirely possible, you often cannot park in exactly the same spot, at the same time with the same propagation, but if you go out often enough, things start coming together.

So, for a clock, I use a $20 digital watch that has two time-zones. I set it to show local and UTC at the same time. For logging I use a spiral notepad. I write the date on a new page, the location, the radio, the antenna, the maidenhead locator and anything new I'm trialling.

When I listen up and down the band, I'll write down each callsign I hear, their frequency and a signal report. If I manage to make contact, which as a QRP station can be a rewarding challenge, I'll add the time, their signal report and some other information they share, like their name and location. I'll also add two exclamation marks in the margin, so I know that I need to log this contact in my logging software.

I tried using my phone, but logging software is not that good, a computer runs out of battery before you make your first contact, or just goes to sleep when you get a signal report and nothing beats looking at your wrist for seeing what time it is right now.

Antenna wise, I'm still fooling around with my mono-band verticals, it's been over a year now and while frustrating, I'm still learning about what they do and don't do. I ask most amateurs I come across about their opinion and have been given lots of great and some dud information along the way.

All in all, most of my activity is about learning. Every now and then I manage a DX contact and that's very rewarding.

Meanwhile, the hunt for Morse continues.

I'm Onno VK6FLAB

How to get started in a contest Nov 15, 2015

Show notes

Foundations of Amateur Radio

There are times when you'll find yourself being encouraged to participate in a contest. You might receive an email, a Facebook encouragement, or even hear an item on the local news about a contest.

Where do you start if that's what you're interested in?

Well, first things first. You need to find out when this contest is exactly. The reason this is important is because you might go though all the preparation, only to find yourself sitting at a family BBQ listening to your favourite family member sharing the story about the dog and the lake, rather than being in the contest.

Once you've determined that you are in fact able to participate in the contest, put it in your diary. This seems obvious, but I can guarantee you that there will come a day when you're happily sitting in the sun having lunch when that sinking feeling appears and you realise that the contest you were going to play in started 8 hours ago.

Now that you've got the basics out of the way, what's next?

Find the contest website, most contests have one, in fact I can't think of one that doesn't, and look at what the aims and objectives of the contest are. Download a copy of the rules and see if there are things that exclude you from operating. The contest might be on bands you're not allowed on, or modes you're not licensed for, so make sure that you're actually allowed to participate.

Then read the rules of the contest for understanding. Most contests define who is allowed to contact whom at what time, on what frequency and how often. The rules will outline how points are calculated and how the log needs to be submitted. Other things you'll find are the deadline for log submission, the exclusions, power requirements, bonus points for low power operation, things like operating more than one radio, or having more than one operator.

Terms you'll come across are SO2R, or Single Operator Two Radios. Or Multi-Multi which means Multiple Operators with Multiple Radios, or Multi-Single, meaning Multiple Operators, One Radio and all manner of special classes as defined by the contest manager.

Previously I've talked about getting logging software together, setting up your station and testing it, but those things all need to be covered off. Make sure your computer doesn't need a Windows Update in the middle of the contest, get enough sleep before the festivities and plan for some recovery time after the contest.

This of course doesn't cover all of what you need, but it's a really good start.

Get on air and make some noise.

I'm Onno VK6FLAB

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