Class 4

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Class 4

• et198B

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ET 198BCommercial and Amateur (Ham) RadioFCC
license Preparation Course.

• Bill Croghan
• WB0KSW
• PG-15-6818

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Authorized Transmissions

• One way transmissions for control of model craft
• Third party transmissions under certain
  circumstances
• Brief tests
• Other communications that are not of a business
  nature.

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One way

• (1) Brief transmissions necessary to make
  adjustments to the station
• (2) Brief transmissions necessary to
  establishing two-way communications with other
  stations
• (3) Telecommand.

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More one way

• (4) Transmissions necessary to providing
  emergency communications
• (5) Transmissions necessary to assisting persons
  learning, or improving proficiency in, the
  international Morse code
• (6) Transmissions necessary to disseminate
  information bulletins.
• (7) Transmissions of telemetry

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Third Party Traffic

• Any message sent between two amateurs for someone
  else.
• -The third party may or may not be a ham.
• -The third parties may be being retransmitted
  over the radio, i.e. Phone patch.
• -Many countries do not permit third party traffic
  of any kind.

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Third Party continued

• Within the US you can freely pass third party
  traffic.
• - Not for a business.
• Foreign Third party is usually forbidden unless
• 1. The US has a third party agreement with the
  country.
• 2. It is a legitimate emergency.
• 3. The third party is eligible to be the
  control operator of the station. (In some
  countries)

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Retransmission of radio signals

• No amateur station, except an auxiliary,
  repeater, or space station, may automatically
• retransmit the radio signals of other amateur
  station.

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Retransmission of radio signals

• Repeaters
• Auxiliary
• Space Station
• Space shuttle
• National Weather Service
• Broadcast
• Emergency communications
• Other services

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Repeater

• A repeater is a device which automatically
  retransmits the signals it receives, usually on
  another frequency.
• Repeaters normally demodulate the incoming signal
  then apply them to a new transmitter.
• Linear Repeater actually translates the
  incoming RF so that the output is an accurate
  reflection of the input but on another frequency.

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Auxiliary Stations

• Primarily for linking and remote control
• An auxiliary station may transmit only on the
  1.25 m and shorter wavelength bands, except the
  219-220 MHz, 222.000-222.150 MHz, 431-433 MHz,
  and 435-438 MHz segments.
• An auxiliary station may be automatically
  controlled.
• An auxiliary station may transmit one-way
  communications.

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Space Station

• Any amateur station may be a space station. A
  holder of any class operator license may be the
  control operator of a space station, subject to
  the privileges of the class of operator license
  held by the control operator.
• A space station must be capable of effecting a
  cessation of transmissions by telecommand
  whenever such cessation is ordered by the FCC.
• more

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Space Station continued

• A space station may automatically retransmit the
  radio signals of Earth stations and other space
  stations.
• A space station may transmit one-way
  communications.
• Space telemetry transmissions may consist of
  specially coded messages intended to facilitate
  communications or related to the function of the
  spacecraft.

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Space Shuttle And National Weather Service

• (e) No station shall retransmit programs or
  signals emanating from any type of radio station
  other than an amateur station, except propagation
  and weather forecast information intended for use
  by the general public and originated from United
  States Government stations and communications,
  including incidental music, originating on United
  States Government frequencies between a space
  shuttle and its associated Earth stations.
• more.

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Space Shuttle And National Weather
Servicecontinued

• Prior approval for shuttle retransmissions must
  be obtained from the National Aeronautics and
  Space Administration. Such retransmissions must
  be for the exclusive use of amateur operators.
• more

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Space Shuttle And National Weather
Servicecontinued

• Propagation, weather forecasts, and shuttle
  retransmissions may not be conducted on a regular
  basis, but only occasionally, as an incident of
  normal amateur radio communications

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Good Operating PracticeSub element 6

• When make any transmission, always listen first.
• Calling another station
• General call - their call, this is, your
  call.
• May be repeated several times if conditions are
  bad.
• Dont over do it on the repeaters!

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Calling CQ

• CQ is a general call meaning calling anyone
• Usually used on HF, phone or CW
• On Repeaters, just ask, Is any one around? or
  announce you are monitoring.
• Call CQ by sending CQ CQ CQ, this is Your
  callsign.
• The CQ can be more specific
• more

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Calling CQContinued

• A CQ could be specific, i.e. CQ California or
  CQ slow scan or CQ contest.
• This lets people know you are interested in a
  more specific reason to talk.
• Usually after contact is made, trade names,
  locations and how well you are receiving the
  other station.
• If more than one station answers your CQ,
  acknowledge the others and call at least one of
  them.

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Respect for others

• Dont hog the frequency
• Never call over the top of others.
• Acknowledge those calling you
• Announce if you are leaving the air and will not
  be available to talk.
• QSL if requested

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Q signals

• Q signals are radio short hand, Borrowed from the
  maritime CW services.
• They are designed to save time in transmitting
  common messages.
• Q signals should be used sparingly on the voice
  bands.
• A Q signal can be a statement or a question.
• Common Q signals

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Common Q signals

• QSL I acknowledge receipt of your transmission
  (do you acknowledge receipt of my transmission?)
• Often used to describe the process of sending a
  written acknowledgement through the mail, i.e.
  QSL Card.
• QTH My location is
• Should not be used to refer to home. It would
  be wrong to say I am at my QTH. OF COURSE YOU
  ARE.
• See handout for others.

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Common Q signals continued

• Distinctive Ham radio Q signals
• QST An announcement of interest to all Ham
  Radio Operators
• QRRR OLD, OBSOLETE, DO NOT USE
• This was an abortive attempt to give hams there
  own SOS message. It was the only Q signal with 4
  characters. Cooler heads prevailed and we now
  use SOS like everyone else.
• Be aware of QRRR just in case you hear it.

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Signal Reception Reports

• A number method of indicating the Signal
  Readability, Signal Strength and Tone of the
  signal you are receiving.
• Known as the RST system, the Tone is only given
  for CW.
• Readability is given as 1 through 5
• Signal Strength is given as 1 through 9
• Tone is given as 1 through 9
• more

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Signal Reception Reportscontinued

• A signal report might have something after it.
• c in CW indicates the signal is Chirping,
  i.e. changing tone. s indicates splattering,
  both problems need to be fixed.
• Plus 20,plus 30 etc. Indicates a strong
  signal strength on the receivers meter.
• See the handout for specific meanings.
• An ideal report would be 599 for CW and 59 for
  voice.

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Other Phrases

• Full Quieting a signal strong enough to
  completely eliminate the background noise.
• 73 73s Best wishes. Kind of like the Yours
  truly at the end of a communication.
• 88 88s Love and kisses as above
• DX Distance stations, usually foreign

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Phonetic Alphabet

• International Telecommunications union phonetic
  alphabet.
• Also recognized by international Maritime and
  Aeronautical authorities, US Military and some
  domestic police agencies.
• Common words that can be spoken by most people
  despite language differences.
• Words easily discernable through interference.

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Phonetic Alphabetcontinued

• FCC only recognized the ITU phonetic alphabet as
  correct for station identification.
• If you use personal phonetics for fun, but sure
  that you use the ITU for real.
• Examples WB0KSW
• Wild Bill Nothing, Kind Sweet William for my
  callsign Should properly be
• Whiskey Bravo Zero Kilo Sierra Whiskey
• N7HRO, as N7Ham Radio Operator should be
• November seven, Hotel Romeo Oscar

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Good operating practicessub element T6b

• Occupied bandwidth for emission types
• emission The signal from the station.
• emission Types the method of describing the
  various means of transmission, i.e. voice, RTTY
  CW, TV, Packet etc.
• Letter Number combinations used by the FCC

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97.307 Emission standards.

• No amateur station transmission shall occupy
  more bandwidth than necessary for the information
  rate and emission type being transmitted, in
  accordance with good amateur practice.
• Emissions resulting from modulation must be
  confined to the band or segment available to the
  control operator. Emissions outside the necessary
  bandwidth must not cause splatter or keyclick
  interference to operations on adjacent
  frequencies.

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Bandwidth of a SSB signal

• An amateur Single Sideband signal usually
  occupies between 2 and 3 KHz.
• The audio frequency of the microphone usually
  determines the bandwidth..
• Signals on HF are limited to no more than the
  bandwidth of an SSB signal.
• RTTY, Packet, Slow Scan TV and experimental modes
  must all be less than 3 KHz wide.

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Bandwidth of an Amateur Radio FM signal

• The usual bandwidth of an Amateur Radio FM signal
  is between 10 and 20 KHz.
• Newer Narrowband equipment will be less.
• The term Narrow band is applied to the newer
  narrow modes, but the current mode was known as
  narrow band when it was implemented 30 years
  ago.

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Amateur Fast Scan TV

• Amateur fast scan TV (real time) has a bandwidth
  of about 6 MHz.
• Fast Scan can only be run at UHF Amateur
  frequencies and above.
• The 6 MHz signal is compatible with conventional
  analog commercial TV.
• Other TV modes are possible.

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Band Plans

• Voluntary guidelines established beyond the FCC
  requirements to for using different modes.
• Examples include the Satellite sub bands, DX
  windows, Repeater in/out configurations,
  Repeater frequency spacing, QRP sections.
• Non-FCC band plans are voluntary, but are
  considered good amateur practice.

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FCC Band Plans

• The FCC specifies parts of the band for CW only
  and other parts for phone.
• CW can be used on any amateur frequency.
• The FCC defines what parts of the bands can be
  used for repeaters.
• Bandwidth limitations can establish a band plan.

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CW operating practices

• A CW call should be made at the speeds you are
  able to copy.
• Procedural codes
• DE means this is
• K means over
• To call CQ, send CQ three times, then DE, then
  your call sign three times.

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CW operating practicescontinued

• To answer a CQ,
• Send the other stations call sign twice, then
  DE, then your call twice, then K
• Listen to see if the party is answering you.
• If conditions are poor, repeat things more often.
• Use Q signals to speed communications
• Use abbreviations if common. Why give your name
  as Bartholomew when you could use Bart.