Upgrading and getting on HF
by N6XN
For the Tech Class operator interested in getting more involved in Ham radio, the next logical step is to upgrade to General class or higher. Upgrading to General is quite simple; a couple of weeks of casual study and one test and you're there. The test involves 35 questions taken from a pool of 484. A passing grade of 74% is all it takes. There are a couple of good web sites where you can review the entire question pool to see what is involved and you can even take practice tests, which emulate the real thing, to check your readiness. http://www.qrz.com is a great website that has lots of resources for Hams of all classes including a slick section where you can take a practice test.
Preparing for the test is pretty straight forward. I recommend the General Class Study Guide by Gordon West, WB6NOA, which is available at Ham Radio Outlet, or order online from the W5YI group or by telephone: 1-800-669-9594. It takes most people about 2 weeks to get through the study guide, and the knowledge you gain from it doesn't "keep" very long so you should plan to take your test as soon after completion as possible. SARS conducts test sessions four times a year and other clubs in the Bay Area also conduct test sessions so you should be able to find one that meets your schedule.
Putting Together a Station
This subject can be simple or complex depending on your individual circumstances. Many people are restricted in what they can do by where they live. If you are unable to erect an outdoor antenna you may be limited to operating mobile and there's nothing wrong with that; many ops do it and many are satisfied. I'll leave that to a later article and hopefully have some input from others who have done it successfully For now I'll concentrate on the home station.
In it's most basic form, a home HF station consists of a transceiver and an outdoor antenna. Some newcomers are surprised by the cost of equipment. Flipping through one of the major Ham magazines such as QST or one of the catalogs such as HRO, one sees that getting on the air with new top of the line equipment can easily run into the thousands of dollars. For a young person on a budget this can be a real turnoff but equipment is available used that can work quite well, and a simple "homebrew" antenna can be had for very little cost. Here is an actual ad from http://qth.com/ which is another resource website that has lots of information for Hams as well as a large Classified Ad section:
FOR SALE: My last Kenwood TS 430s for this year - includes the manual, mic, and power cord - cosmetically - a 9 - electronically - a 10 - makes a neat FIRST rig or back up - very user friendly - will ship to ConUSA for $325 via Fed Ex - interested? Email me, please.
As with any on-line commerce, it's "let the buyer beware". You can get stung if you're not careful but you can also get some pretty good deals. Do a little research and spend some time getting to know the seller. The Kenwood radio in the above ad could be up to 22 years old but it was a great radio in it's time and could be a good value. Tip: Always get the manual. If the seller doesn't have one, it may be available on-line. Check first. A radio without a manual can be a real frustration.
An appropriate antenna, if you are fortunate to have the room is a simple flat-top dipole, which you can build yourself for less than $20 with wire from the local hardware store. The biggest expense of a homebrew antenna is the feedline, usually coaxial cable, that will cost around a dollar per foot. A typical installation may require up to 100 feet of cable. I'll have some antenna articles in the near future but a good investment for any Ham, new or old, is a couple of manuals from the ARRL: "The Radio Amateur's Handbook" and the "ARRL Antenna Book". These two manuals contain a wealth of information that will serve you well for years. The Antenna Book has plans and diagrams for antennas of all types and sizes and many can be made at home with simple tools.
Moving up from here will be an evolution. As you listen around, and gain experience you will quickly find that you "need" additional equipment. An antenna tuner can be useful, allowing you to move around to different frequencies without making a lot of changes to your antenna. But you may find that your antenna is inadequate and you'd like something with more "punch". More elaborate antennas can be built, as you will see in the ARRL Antenna Book, or you may prefer to buy one from a commercial source. If you have the real estate you may want to put up a tower to hang the new antenna on. These, too, are readily available, finances permitting. As you gain experience you will find that not every Ham in the world will be able to hear you. There will be a strong temptation to rush out and buy a "linear amplifier" to help your signal. An amplifier can, indeed, help your signal but I urge you to optimize your antenna first. Amplifying a signal from a puny antenna is truly "putting lipstick on a pig". Resist the urge. Also be aware if you are reading this between 2007 and 2009, we are going through a transition between solar cycles and world-wide propagation is not very good. It will begin to improve shortly and by 2010 to 2012 we should be able to once again "work the world" with a 100 Watts and the simplest antennas.
Finding someone to talk to; Operating your station.
This can be a real problem for some people. As you already found out on the FM bands, it's not always easy to get to know the people you hear. Everyone seems to know everyone except you. The same thing is true on HF. As you tune around it will seem like you never hear strangers talking to one another. In truth, many of the conversations you hear are between Hams that never met until just minutes before. It's the nature of Ham Radio to sound that way. Here is an interesting article http://www.eham.net/articles/18195 entitled "How to call (and answer) CQ" that covers the very subject. How does one start a conversation on Ham Radio?
The format
You will notice as you listen around that many conversations are conducted in kind of a structured way. Until you get to know someone, the easiest way to carry on a conversation is to use this format: Don't blurt it all out at once, but cover it in a "back and forth" manner.
"KC1ABC, this is WD6XYZ. Thanks for the call. Your signal is five by nine, five by nine, here in California. My name is Ralph, Ralph. How copy? Over."
"Fine business*, Ralph. Your signals are five by seven here in Connecticut. My name is Phil, Phil and I'm running a Kenwood TS-50 to an inverted Vee antenna. I'm running 100 Watts. My location is Mystic, Mystic, on the East coast of Connecticut where the weather is cool and clear. Back to you Ralph. WD6XYZ from KC1ABC, over."
As you see, the format has now included: Signal reports, Names, Locations, weather and as the QSO continues, will move on to the length of time you've been on the air, your age, occupation, and other interests. You can keep it going as long as you have the time or until the other station indicates a desire to call it quits. After the second or third "over" people listening in will be sure that you and Phil are old friends.
So far we've covered communicating in Single Sideband on the HF bands. CW and the Digital Modes, use pretty much the same format. I'll go into detail in later articles.
*Fine Business. Ham radio jargon. Sound like an old timer.
73 for now.