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AMATEUR RADIO
IN THE
Efforts
are always being made to encourage pupils in local schools to take up the club’s
offer of tuition to qualify for a Novices Amateur Radio Transmitting licence.
Mobile phones and the Internet now of course present enormous competition to
Amateur Radio, with their greater ease of communication. But once the Amateur
Radio equipment has been bought, you can freely stay ‘on air’ for unlimited
time, and it provides a far greater challenge to both young and old to make
contacts over long distance communication, due to problems of atmospheric
interference, and overcrowding of the Amateur bands at times. Contacting someone
many miles this way is something to be proud of, and is why a system of sending
post cards confirming contacts was involved many years ago, know as QSL
cards.
The
Internet has virtually no controls, apart for the possible threat of civil
actions such as libel, and infringement of copyright, whereas use of the
airwaves is strictly controlled in every country throughout the world. This
especially applies in countries whose governments impose severe restrictions on
freedom of speech. Special licences are granted by the relevant authorities, for
use of the airwaves to all the Public Services, Radio and TV stations, Taxis and
Buses etc. In most countries special licences are also granted to members of the
public for personal use, subject to various conditions. In this country these
primarily fall into two main categories, use of the 27 Megacycles Citizens Band,
and a variety of licences for Amateur Radio. There are restrictions in place for
both of these categories. In general one should not interfere with other users,
advertise, use foul language, cause offence by discussing Politics or Religion,
or pass on third part messages, that would compete with other services such as
the telephone, etc.
Radio
Amateurs are also obliged to study the principles of Radio Propagation, and
regulations relating to the relevant licence, and pass a test, which used to
include Morse, depending on the type of licence. By International agreement,
most countries such as ours, have now abandoned the necessity to pass a Morse
test, although some Amateurs still use Morse because of its ability to be
understood, even through considerable atmospheric interference. They are also
bound by rules, where they must periodically identify themselves with an
individual Callsign, which in the
Radio
Amateurs sometimes known as HAMS, can apply for three different licences. The
initial entry is by the Foundation Licence involving a course of study of 12
hours, and after assessments the test consists of an examination of 45 minutes.
Successful candidates are now allocated a M3 or M6 call sign and permitted to
operate on certain HF and most VHF bands using a transmitting power of 10 W.
This includes the use if repeaters such as the one located on the Ridge
providing clear contacts for a larger area around
In the
past those who did not wish to learn Morse, were restricted to the higher
frequency bands, suitable mainly for local contacts. Use of these bands have now
been vastly improved by the use of Repeaters, similar to those used by Mobile
Phones. The three maintained by the Hastings Repeater Group, which is part of
our club, provide possible clear contacts within a radius of 70 miles of
BEGINNERS
GUIDE TO ELECTRONICS AN RADIO
See
details of an interesting alternative completely harmless form of foxhunting,
popular among Radio Amateurs by going to FOXHUNTING
Gordon
Sweet M3YXH gordonsweet2000@yahoo.co.uk
Visit the Radio Society of
Publicity http://www.g4cus.freeserve.co.uk/ Official site http://www.herc.uk.net/
Registered with
Please note the club has nothing whatsoever
to do with any site attempting to market or trade under its name.
Local
Radio Amateurs' Emergency Network http://www.hastings-raynet.info/index2.html