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The new course is ready and has been rolled out. Training dates are not set at this time but will be based on "demand". If you are interested in upgrading to General class sometime after 7/1/2007 email N6XN . Minimum class size will be 5 serious Techs but will be limited to 12 due to number of available seats. You can also take the course on-line on your own schedule. You will need to set aside about 20 hours to complete the course, 2 hour sessions are recommended but configure it to fit your own schedule. Find a test session where you can take the test, then do the self-study in the two weeks prior to that. Don't try to do it early as this information won't keep. The new Gordon West study guides are available now from the W5YI group. Order online W5YI group or by telephone: 1-800-669-9594 Study guides are also in stock at HRO either in-store or on-line.
General Band Allocations
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 New Band/Frequency chart An adobe acrobat version is available at the ARRL
Diagram: Superhet Receiver
Let's talk about your accent When you get on HF you may notice things are a little different from what you are used to on the "repeater bands". What you say and the way you say it will play a large part in getting people to talk to you. Learn the protocol: When calling a station, give his call first and then yours. Speak clearly and slowly and keep your transmissions short when calling. Use plain English: You have a name, not a "personal" or a "handle". You have a location, not a "home-20". If you have spent a lot of time on the eleven meter band you probably have a lot more "expressions". Try to leave them behind and switch back to normal conversational language.
If you seem to have a weak signal
almost everywhere, resist the urge to install a kilowatt amplifier.
There are thousands of Hams worldwide who have worked the world on 5
Watts or less. The one thing you can do to improve your signal
more than anything else is concentrate on getting up the best antenna
and feedline you can. Get as much loss out of your antenna system
as you can. Remember, one dB of loss will rob you of 20% of your power.
Don't fall for the hype and buy miniature or "stealth" antennas unless
you have no alternatives. Nothing works like a full size antenna
and your feedline should always be either twin-lead, ladder line, or
3/8" or bigger coaxial cable. Small diameter cables are relatively
cheap but have high losses. |
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| Data Modes, sometimes referred to as "Digital Modes"
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Learning CW, sometimes referred to as
Morse Code. Yes, it is still used even though it is no longer a necessary skill to get your license. If you listen to the lower frequencies of the HF bands you will hear many many stations on CW, many of them working DX (distant stations). And some of these stations operate at 20 words per minute and above. No, CW is far from dead but finding the right way to learn CW can be very difficult. Many, if not most study guides, attempt to teach you the code visually, which you are then required to "translate" into sounds. This has always been a way to get started, five wpm used to be good enough to get you your license. But what can you do with five wpm? You won't hear many stations on the air communicating at five wpm, and if you're going to improve you need to practice, right? It seems that the problem is in the method we have used to learn. The visual/audible method is guaranteed to stall you at plateaus which can be very frustrating. The first plateau is around five wpm then you'll usually reach another around twelve wpm and yet another somewhere just below twenty wpm. This can be frustrating if you are tracking your progress. I suspect more than a few hams have given up because they just couldn't get over the plateaus. Way back in the dark ages, the military taught recruits to copy CW at very high speeds in a short period of time. There was no visual translation required; it started out as audio and stayed that way. The method used was the "Koch" method. People who learned this method learn the same way an exchange student learns a foreign language; by using it. Reading and writing it come later. To learn more about the Koch method and get started in
learning CW the "right" way go to: Don't write dots and dashes! |
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International Operations Third Party Traffic and Reciprocal Operations Excerpted from the ARRL: http://arrl.org/FandES/field/regulations/io/#foreign Amateurs sometimes visit other countries and naturally want to operate their amateur stations. The three types of reciprocal operating authority are: 1) a CEPT license. European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations. Covers most of Europe. 2) an IARP International Amateur Radio Permit. Covers most of the Americas including some Caribbean countries. 3) A reciprocal permit from a country which does not participate in either of these two multilateral agreements. Always follow all of the communications rules of the country visited. To operate under CEPT and IARP, the amateur must be a licensee in the country of citizenship. Canada is an exception to the above. The US and Canada have an automatic reciprocal operating agreement. US amateurs must carry proof of their US citizenship and their valid US license. Identification for US amateurs is the US call separated by a stroke and the appropriate Canadian prefix identifier (e.g. N1KB/VE3). In all other instances, or as specified by the national licensing body, the prefix goes before the call sign. For further information on US/Canadian operation, visit the RAC website. Operation in the US by Foreign Amateurs Foreign amateurs who wish to operate in the US and are not US licensees or citizens may do so in one of three ways: 1. If the country of which you are a citizen and an amateur licensee has entered into a multilateral operating agreement with the US, CEPT or IARP, no additional permit is required; simply bring your CEPT or IARP documentation with you when you visit the US. Identify your station by the US call district identifier, such as W3/G1ABC. Use "W" and the number of the FCC call letter district in which you are operating followed by a slash and your home call sign (plus any other CEPT or IARP requirements.) Amateurs must be a citizen of the country in which they are licensed. The above is not intended for permanent operating status, merely short visits. 2 If the country of which you are a citizen and an amateur licensee has entered into a bilateral Reciprocating Operating Agreement with the US, the FCC allows foreign amateurs to operate with no permit. Simply carry your foreign amateur license and proof of your citizenship in that country. Identify using "W" and the number of the FCC call letter district in which you are operating followed by a slash and your non-US call sign, e.g. W3/G1ABC. As with (1.) above, amateurs must be a citizen of the country in which they are licensed. The above is not intended for permanent operating status, merely short visits. 3. If the country of which you are a citizen and an amateur licensee is not named in the list of countries that have such agreements with the US, then no operating agreement is in effect between the US and that country and no operation is possible in the US based on your home license. Note that it is not necessary to be a citizen of the US to obtain an amateur license. An amateur visiting from one of the countries that do not have agreements with the US is free to seek a US call sign in the same way as any other citizen. Once licensed however, no additional reciprocal operating authority may be used. Operation Outside the US by FCC Licensed Amateurs US amateurs and citizens may operate under a multilateral agreement (CEPT of IARP) very easily. Countries which have entered into a Reciprocal Operating Agreement with the US, but are not part of CEPT or IARP arrangements require that a permit be obtained. Even if a reciprocal agreement does not exist, it may still be possible to obtain a permit from the foreign govenment. The ARRL website from which this information was excerpted goes into much more detail. This information is intended as an overview toward the element-3 question pool. If you are planning to travel to a foreign country visit the ARRL site shown at the top of this article for additional details. Third Party Traffic What is a "Third Party"? When two amateurs are in communication they constitute "Party-1" and "Party-2". Which one is which it matters not however if a third person gets involved in the conversation, whether by being present in the shack of one of the operators, or by being on the telephone with one of the operators, or even in a face-to-face situation at a later time, he or she becomes the "Third Party". It is important to note that additional amateurs can join in the conversation over the air but their involvement still does not constitute a third-party. The Third Party can be anyone, licensed or not however if licensed, certain provisions can be made in respect to passing traffic. What constitutes "Traffic"? Consider a message to the individual or group, no matter how insignificant to be traffic. "Hello, how are you?" is considered "traffic". Occasionally, DX stations may ask you to pass a third-party message to a friend or relative in the States. This is alright as long as the US has signed an official third-party traffic agreement with that particular country, or the third party is a licensed amateur. The traffic must be non-commercial and of a personal, unimportant nature. During an emergency, the US State Department will often work out a special temporary agreement with the country involved, but in normal times, never handle traffic without first making sure it is legally permitted. Here is a current list of countries with which the US has signed formal agreements for third party traffic: For purposes of element-3 study it is not necessary to commit any of the following to memory.
*Since 1970 there has been an informal agreement between the US and UK permitting Pitcairn Island Amateurs and US Amateurs to exchange messages concerning medical emergencies, urgent need for equipment or supplies, and private or personal matters of island residents.
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