Gateway to Amateur Radio

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The following is the LHS index page

Contents

Frequently asked questions

Licence-free activities

Getting licensed

First contacts

Branching out

Projects & technical

News

ACMA

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Licence-free activities It's true that you need a licence to transmit in the amateur bands, but there are many radio-related  activities that you can get involved with right now, even if you do not have a callsign. Getting involved in such activities will broaden your electronic knowledge and will make the process of getting your ticket far more enjoyable than if you relied solely on theory books for all your learning. The following are some examples of things you can do. Hear amateurs on your scanner If you live within about 100km of a major city and wish to monitor local amateur activity, a good starting point is a VHF/UHF scanner receiver that covers the 'two metre' (144 to 148 MHz) and 'seventy centimetre' (420 to 450 MHz) bands. A beginner level scanner capable of amateur band reception can be purchased new for under $300. Examples include the Uniden Bearcat 248CLT for home use and the Uniden 120XLT for portable use. Both scanners have at least 50 memory channels, are equipped with a 'search' function and can connect to an outside antenna. Unless you are in a very sparsely populated area or live at the bottom of a valley, you will be able to hear amateurs communicating through both hilltop repeater stations and simplex (direct, no repeater). Contrary to popular belief, scanners are fully legal in Australia. Just don't use them to gather information for financial or criminal gain or listen into other people's cordless phone conversations. The whip antennas supplied with scanners are normally adequate for local amateur repeaters but ineffective for all but the closest simplex signals. A good outside antenna will dramatically increase the number of people able to be heard. A quarter wavelength ground plane antenna cut for 146 MHz and mounted at roof height is cheap to buy or make and will be a substantial improvement over the supplied antenna. However those living near powerful transmitters may find the scanner is overloaded by strong unwanted signals and may need to reduce antenna height to improve reception. Find the commonly used amateur frequencies in your area by using the scanner's search function. Two metres is most popular. Set 145.225 as your lower frequency limit and 147.975 as your upper limit when searching. If in a major city you should hear at least something, but in a country area you may need to keep scanning for a while. Seventy centimetres is less used in most areas, but it includes some interesting linked repeater systems not available on two metres. Search between 438.025 and 439.975 MHz to hear local seventy centimetre activity. If your scanner has selectable channel spacings, set these to 25 kHz. 5 and 12.5 kHz channels will also work, but it will take longer to search through the band. If your scanner also covers the 10, 6 and 23cm amateur bands, don't neglect scanning these frequencies if there are repeaters nearby. Listen at various times of the day and note the callsigns you hear. If you have a WIA amateur callbook, look up their locations. This is useful if you're testing the efficiency of your receiver and antenna or the coverage of the repeater that you're monitoring. Also punch in the repeater's input frequency and see if you can hear the person talking 'direct' (ie not via the repeater). Enter the frequencies that you hear activity into the scanner's memory channels. If the scanner has its memory channels arranged in banks, a good plan is to put amateur frequencies in the first one or two banks, ambulance in another, fire in another and so forth. This allows you to select which communication services you wish to monitor simply by scanning particular banks. Radio amateurs (particularly in the large cities) use a wide variety of repeater and simplex frequencies. Scanners with no search facility and few memory channels are at a severe disadvantage here. To have any chance of hearing amateurs, buy a WIA Callbook or consult an online repeater list for the frequencies of amateur repeaters in your area. What type of communication will you hear on two metres or seventy centimetres? You will here a lot of amateurs chatting on their way to and from work on the repeaters. You will also hear club nets, broadcasts and morse practice transmissions at set times on particular frequencies. On obscure simplex frequencies small groups of amateurs with specific interests may be heard, sometimes continuing into the wee small hours. In summer months interstate signals may sometimes be heard, due to enhanced sporadic-E or tropospheric propagation. If overseas voices are heard, such good conditions are unlikely; it's far more probable that you've tuned to a repeater linked to overseas repeaters via the internet or 29 MHz FM. Hear amateurs on shortwave Moving down the radio spectrum are the high frequency or 'shortwave' bands. It is here that international broadcasters, outback and coastal, some CB and amateur stations can be heard. The high frequency spectrum extends from 3 to 30 MHz. Frequencies below about 6 MHz find most use at night, except for very local communication. Frequencies in the 6 – 12 megahertz range provide reliable medium-distance communications (100 to 3000 km) during the day and international communications during the hours of darkness. Frequencies between 12 and 30 MHz provide long-distance interstate and international communication during the day, and sometimes into the night, depending on radio propagation conditions. An el-cheapo receiver covering the shortwave bands can be made to receive amateurs, but results are not as good as a full communications receiver. When looking for a receiver, check that it covers at least the following frequency segments: 80 metres: 3.500 – 3.800 MHz 40 metres: 7.000 – 7.300 MHz 20 metres: 14.000 – 14.350 MHz There are also amateur bands at 1.8, 10, 18, 21, 24 and 28 MHz, but the three bands mentioned are fairly active and provide a good mix of local, interstate and international activity throughout the day. Be particularly wary when looking at those small multiband shortwave receivers typically sold to travellers; these may only cover the international broadcast bands and miss most amateur frequencies altogether. Other things to look for in a receiver are ease of tuning, frequency stability and the presence of a beat frequency oscillator. Amateur stations are typically weaker than broadcast stations and you will need a good tuning mechanism to easily tune them in. Because nearly all will be using single sideband voice, CW morse or digital modes, a beat frequency oscillator is required. This can either be internal to the receiver or added on as an external unit (see Peter Parker's Projects Page). Single sideband is more efficient than the AM mode used by international broadcasters. For this reason it is dominant on the amateur bands. However it requires precise setting of the tuning knob or BFO control for it to be intelligible, and takes some practice to tune in. Even a few metres of wire indoors will work as an HF receiver.   However best results are obtained if an outdoor antenna is used. Beginners start with a random wire (5 to 20 metres long, at least gutter height) and move to antennas for specific bands if their interest develops towards gaining their amateur licence. Shortwave antenna kits are commercially available, or constructors can buy the wire and egg insulators separately from suppliers such as Dick Smith Electronics. Experimentation with different types of antennas and (on HF) home-made antenna coupling units (aka antenna tuners or transmatches) may prove worthwhile and reduce the work involved in setting up an antenna system usable for transmitting as well as receiving.   Tuning across several HF bands will provide a feel for the types of activity typical on each band.  80 metres finds most use for local and medium distance communication in the evening. Many clubs hold nets and broadcasts on this band. Distances of up to 1000 kilometres or so can readily be heard on a simple receiver. New Zealand stations are weak but may sometimes be readable. In the evenings Americans can sometimes be heard on the 'DX window' near 3.8 MHz. There are probably more home-built transmitters built for 80 metres than on most other amateur bands combined. Some amateurs operate 80 metres from their cars, but due to the size of antenna required for high efficiency, mobile signals are invariably weak. During the day 80 metres is very inactive. 40 metres or 7 MHz is good for daytime communication up to about 1000 kilometres. This increases to about 3000 kilometres in the hours before sunset. Unlike 80 metres, you will frequently hear activity on 40 metres throughout the day provided you're in south-east Australia. The pace of operating is relaxed, and conversations can be an hour or more in length. Most local SSB activity is in the 7.050 to 7.150 MHz range. Mobile stations do well on 40 metres, at least for medium distances. During the evening more distant stations can be heard, but interference levels tend to build up. However if your receiver is selective enough to tune between the shortwave stations that share the band with the amateurs, it is possible to hear Americans above 7.150 MHz between the broadcast stations. 20 metres is known as the 'DX band'. If your receiver is sufficiently sensitive, selective and stable, amateurs from around the world can be heard on 14 MHz. Generally speaking, overseas signals tend to be stronger on 20 than 40 or 80, because of the better characteristics of the band and the widespread use of rotatable beam antennas. Compared to 80 and 40 metres, much 20 metre operation is at a faster pace, verging on the competitive. You will rarely hear lengthy technical discussions on 14 MHz. International contests and DX hunting are a major part of the 20 metre scene. You will sometimes hear 'DX nets', which assist amateurs to work stations in a particularly rare country or island. Amateurs make contact and exchange 'QSL cards' to confirm the contact and qualify for award certificates. Mobile stations can do well on 20m, with Europeans, Japanese and Americans often being contacted from Australian mobile operators. 20 metres is also good for long-distance communication within Australia, for instance between western and eastern Australia, and hosts the Travellers Net for amateurs driving across Australia. The above are not the only amateur bands available. The 10 MHz 30 metre band is well-used by mobile stations, who find it works when 7 MHz cuts out, but distances are insufficient for 14 MHz. 18, 21, 24 and 28 MHz can support international communication. However these bands are more severely affected by sunspot activity than 14 MHz. 28 MHz also includes FM voice activity above 29 MHz, with repeaters being available in some parts of Australia. 1.8 MHz finds AM activity during the day in some areas. It is quite possible to construct fairly simple receivers for one or more of the amateur bands.   1.8, 3.5 and 7 MHz are the easiest bands to build receivers for.   One's first homemade receiver may not be as good as a factory job, but the reward of hearing overseas amateurs on a homemade receiver makes these projects highly recommended. Start off with a simple direct conversion or regenerative set, and build a superhet later as your expertise develops. If you live in an area where there is significant AM activity on 160 metres (eg Sydney and Melbourne), it may also be worthwhile to convert an AM broadcast receiver to receive 1.8 MHz amateur transmissions. Further information on constructional activities is available in the Projects and Technical section or on Peter Parker's Projects Page. Voice communication isn't the only common mode on the HF amateur bands.  If you have a good HF communications receiver and reasonably modern computer, you can download software that allows worldwide reception of modes such as colour slow-scan television, PSK-31 (a popular keyboard-to-keyboard chat mode), morse code, radio teletype and packet radio. With the latest software no special decoder box is required – simply plug your soundcard input to the receiver's headphone socket. See the Branching Out section for details of more facets that make their presence felt on the various amateur bands. Below the broadcast band What about frequencies below the AM broadcast band? Interest in low frequencies is growing and some countries have amateur bands in this part of the spectrum and/or permit operation from specially-licensed experimental stations. Many have built receivers, converters and antennas to receive test transmissions from stations in Australia and New Zealand. There are many non-directional beacons (or NDBs) below the AM broadcast band. These operate between 200 and 450 kHz and are scattered throughout Australia. The beacons identify in Morse and provide an excellent means for experimenters to test their receivers and antennas. For more information, see VK2ZTO's Low Frequency Radio Experiments page. Broadband Wireless Networking ('Wi-Fi') A fast-growing activity is linking computers via high-speed wireless data networks. Most off-the-shelf systems operate in the 2.4 GHz UHF band. Though intended for short-range links, the range can be extended through the use of high-gain directional antennas and use of line-of-sight paths. The 2.4 GHz spectrum is also allocated to radio amateurs. An amateur licence gives you the ability to use higher-powered equipment and achieve longer distances. In a 21st century variant of radio scanning, enthusiasts equipped with laptops and home-made antennas are intercepting data communications. By perching themselves up on a hill overlooking city buildings, they can monitor all types of data from inter-office wireless networks. For more information, see the Melbourne Wireless page. Constructing antennas An activity enjoyed by many is experimenting with antennas. Particularly on the VHF/UHF bands you can get amazing results with a properly constructed antenna made from a few pieces of metal. The amateur bands are ideal frequencies on which to do listening tests as operators' locations are known (through the Callbook) and it is easy to identify input frequencies where amateurs are operating through a repeater. The longer transmissions that amateurs generally make (compared to CB or commercial radio users) also assist make antenna adjustments during the course of an on-air conversation. Information on the various types of antennas available is provided in books such as the ARRL Antenna Handbook or elsewhere on the web. Foxhunting This is the art of finding hidden radio transmitters by searching for them with receivers and directional antennas. Foxhunting may be conducted either on foot or in vehicles - this depends on the distances involved. Regular foxhunts are held in some cities by local radio clubs or foxhunting groups. You may go on your own or be part of a team with other participants. Apart from the excitement of the hunt itself, those who like building small receivers and directional antennas will enjoy foxhunting for the technical challenge of constructing equipment that is rugged, reliable and does not give false readings. A hand-held VHF/UHF scanner receiver may be used initially, but as you get closer to the fox transmitter, hand-held 'snoop loops' built around a small yagi antenna and simple crystal set-type receiver come into their own. A variant of foxhunting is Amateur Radio Direction Finding (ARDF). This is a rapidly growing international sport and calls for a degree of physical fitness not possessed by many amateurs! The Australian contact for ARDF is Jack Bramham VK3WWW, who is the WIA ARDF National Co-ordinator. Click here to find out about the foxhunting scene in Melbourne. Contesting Obviously, without your own callsign, you cannot operate a station on your own, but there is nothing to stop you being on the air provided that one or more amateurs are present. Such activities range from two or three people operating for a few hours to a large-scale portable station established by your local radio club.  The biggest contest is the Remembrance Day Contest held each August.  Other contests include John Moyle Field Day (March), Oceania DX Contest (October) and VHF/UHF Spring and Summer Field Days (November and January). If there is no local club nearby, you may wish to enter the listening section of a contest. Such an exercise will make you conversant with using a logbook and boost knowledge about operating procedure. WIA Membership is not a prerequisite for entering any Australian contest - simply make up a summary sheet as per the rules, attach this to your log, and post this to the relevant contest manager. Details of major Australian and international contests are available through the WIA Web Page. Decoding signals from weather satellites One radio interest that has a small but enthusiastic following is decoding weather maps from satellites.  It's done by connecting a special receiver to a computer and watching the displayed images.  A considerable amount of information on this has been published in back issues of Radio and Communications magazine (sometimes available at hamfests). Dick Smith Electronics currenty have a Weather Satellite Receiver available in kit form. Building low power transmitters Some transmitters do not require a licence to use.  These include the very low power wireless microphones that transmit on the FM broadcast band.  The simplest use a single transistor, but better types use between 3 and 5 transistors.   The quality of transmission can be very good and ranges of up to several hundred metres can be achieved.   Wireless microphones are commonly available as kits (eg DSE K-5006).  Also look out at hamfests for the Talking Electronics books that included many designs for wireless microphones or 'bugs'. AM transmitters are another possibility for the builder.  Circuits for these abound in the old '101 Projects' type books.  Also some electronic sets include AM radio transmitters as a project.  Because of the large antenna required for efficient operation, these projects are fun to build but generally provide poorer results than FM transmitters. Note that with both AM and FM transmitters use of excessive power and large antennas can cause the radiated power to exceed regulations. This makes you a pirate broadcaster! Also television interference can result if you live in an area where VHF channels 3, 4 and 5 are used. However if you pick a clear frequency and don't use excessive power, these transmitters can be a lot of fun. Doing low power tests on CB Low power transceivers are now available quite cheaply off the shelf. These include the smaller UHF CB hand-held transceivers that have a power output of around 500 milliwatts. Normal distances obtainable are up to a few kilometres. However this can be increased (to 50km or more) by using repeaters or operating from hilltops or tall buildings. UHF CB also lends itself to antenna construction and experimentation, as high gains are possible with a compact antenna. Many people got their start in radio by operating the older 27 MHz AM CB handhelds. These sets only put out 1 watt and may have had two or three crystal-controlled channels. Channel 11 is a good channel to have as it is the AM call channel.  8 is often used by truck drivers, and often good for quick signal reports.  14 was commonly supplied in many handhelds. Some amazing distances were covered given the right conditions or a hill-top location. The radios are still occasionally available second-hand, but 27 MHz AM activity today is almost extinct, having largely been replaced by UHF. You will also find very cheap toy walkie-talkies, mostly operating on 27.145 MHz. These cannot communicate with standard CB transceivers and are nowhere near as good as the newer UHF radios. Further information on scanning, shortwave listening and CB radio can be found on the Australian Radio Resource Page .