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| Frequently Asked Questions |
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What is ham radio?
How do I become a ham radio operator? Do I need to join the club to come to a meeting? How much is it to join the club? Are there any classes to help me get my ham radio license? How much is it to take my test to get my amateur radio license? Where do I take my license exams? What is ARES and RACES? What is Emergency Communications? What frequencies can I talk on? What is a repeater and how do they work? What is the difference between ham radio and CB? Where are the W6LIE bylaws? Where do I download an FCC Form 605? Where do I download the FCC Form 605 for a new Vanity Call Sign? What other forms do I need to submit with my Vanity Call Sign application? What is ham radio? Amateur radio, often called ham radio, is both a hobby and a service that uses various types of radio communications equipment to communicate with other radio amateurs for public service, recreation and self-training. A participant is called an amateur radio operator, or a ham.[1] Amateur radio operators have personal wireless communications with friends, family members, and even complete strangers, and often support their communities with emergency and disaster communications while increasing their personal knowledge of electronics and radio theory. An estimated six million people throughout the world are regularly involved with amateur radio.[2] The term "amateur" is not a reflection on the skills of the participants, which are often quite advanced; rather, "amateur" indicates that amateur radio communications are not allowed to be made for commercial or money-making purposes. Back to Top How do I become a ham radio operator? In the U.S. you will need to prepare for and take an examination to get your license. The exam material depends on the license level or class that you are applying for. For most budding hams it is a good idea to connect with a local Amateur Radio Club (ARC) where classes are given in theory and/or Morse code as needed to prepare you for the exam. Although you can get the study material to learn on your own it is generally much easier and faster to take a course. In the process you will meet other hams or hams to be and begin creating your own network of contacts. Back to Top Do I need to join the club to come to a meeting? The meetings are open to everyone. It is not necessary to be a member to attend. It is a requirement, however, if you'd like to vote. Back to Top How much is it to join the club? $20 for a single person and $25 for a family. Back to Top Are there any classes to help me get my ham radio license? We offer ham crams in this area. Currently, there are none scheduled, but if you would like to participate in one, contact Marie, N6ZFN at n6zfn@bak.rr.com and she will keep you appraised when the next one become available or you can keep checking back on this webpage for upcoming dates. If you are looking for an actual ham radio class, that teaches you about ham radio, we are looking into this again. While the ham cram takes about 8 hrs, versus 12 weeks for an actual class, the entire class actually provides you with the basic knowledge of ham radio. If you're interested in this class, email Marie, and she will see what she can do to get one of these classes started. You can also take practice exams online at http://www.qrz.com If you do practice online, keep in mind, not all questions come up enough, to practice all the questions that may be on the exam. Back to Top How much is it to take my test to get my amateur radio license? $14. If you pass, you can try the next higher class exam for free. If you fail, you'll need to pay another $14 to try again. You can retake it the same day, or come back on another day to try it again. Back to Top Where do I take my license exams? Well, there are several VE testing sessions in the valley. But down here in Bakersfield, the club offers testing on the 2nd Friday of every odd month at 6:30 p.m.. (Jan, March, etc.) at the Wilson Rd. Veterans Hall, 1905 Wilson Rd. And, when there is a ham cram, we have additional VE testing at the Salvation Army, at 4417 Wilson Rd at 5 p.m. Back to Top What is ARES and RACES? ARES, stands for "Amateur Radio Emergency Service" and RACES stands for "Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service". They are organizations comprised of amateur radio volunteers that help provide emergency communications during times of disaters. If you would like to get involved, you can find the applications online at the website, http://www.ares-races.net. There is a separate application for each one. Submit them to the Emergency Coordinator, Steven, N6GOD or the Section Emergency Coordinator, Marie, N6ZFN. Back to Top What is Emergency Communications? As seen on that tearful day of September 11, 2001 or when Katrina struck land in Louisianna, during disastesr, communications can fail. Whether they fail because the repeatesr are destroyed, or because they are overloaded. When that happens, ARES and/or RACES steps in and helps out the Kern County Office of Emergency Services, to ensure that they are never without good solid communications, even when their's fail. If the county's repeaters are down, won't ham radio repeaters be down also? If worse came to worse, we don't need repeates to talk. All we need is a radio, an antenna and a battery and we're on the air. All within a matter of minutes. Back to Top What frequencies can I talk on? Go to http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/regulations/Hambands_bw.pdf to see what frequencies you can talk on, with the current license class that you hold. Back to Top What is a repeater and how do they work? According to Brian Buydens - VE5RDV, using the 2 meter band is like communicating in sign language. To talk to someone you have to be able to see them. To talk to someone you can't see you need someone in the middle that can see both of you. Because the frequency of radio waves in the 2 meter band is lower than the frequency of light the 2 meter band does not act exactly like light but it is somewhat similar. You can go through walls, and the waves will bend a bit around corners but mostly good propagation depends on line of sight, ie. seeing the other radio. To communicate with a radio that is too far away you need something in the middle. This something is called a repeater. So how does a repeater work? The repeater listens for the signal from your radio and re-broadcasts it. Then every radio within range of the repeater can hear your signal. But how is the repeater able to listen to your signal while at the same time re-broadcasting it? And what if a radio were close enough to hear you? Would it hear you AND the repeater? Would it get confused? And why does this paragraph have so many questions? It has so many questions because it is time to explain how repeaters work in detail. The truth is that a repeater listens on one frequency and broadcasts on another. When using a repeater you have to set your radio to transmit on one frequency and listen on another. Everyone else using the repeater does the same thing. (By the way, just for the technically picky the mode I am describing is 2 meter FM radio, but this detail isn't really that important so just ignore it. Actually it's probably too late since you have read this. Oh well...) So, the other radios are not listening to your radio, they are listening to the repeater. You TRANSMIT on the frequency the repeater uses for LISTENING and you LISTEN on the frequency the repeater uses for TRANSMITTING. Confused yet? Here's an example. Imagine a repeater that transmits at 146.640 MHz and listens at 146.040 MHz. (Actually I don't have to imagine this repeater because it is one of the repeaters in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.) So I would set my radio to transmit at 146.040 MHz and listen at 146.640 MHz (the opposite of the repeater). I transmit at 146.040. The repeater listens at 146.040 MHz. It re-broadcasts my signal at 146.640 (the signal my radio listens to). Of course, I don't hear it because I am transmitting but if other radios in the area are set up like mine they will hear the signal. Later when one of them transmits it will do so on the 146.040 MHz, the repeater will hear the signal and re-broadcast it at 146.640 MHz and I will hear it on my radio. This may sound complicated but it really isn't. Most 2M radios have a way to set them up so they change frequencies automatically when you go from transmitting to receiving. The difference in frequencies is called the offset. Once you set your radio to the right frequency and offset you are ready to talk to a repeater (except for reading the rest of this article, reading the next article on repeater etiquette, and passing the exam for the BASIC qualification etc.) If you listen to a repeater you may notice that there are two ways of communicating. You can talk to other people using the repeater, or you can communicating with the repeater itself. Why would you want to communicate with a repeater? Often repeaters have many different capabilities. For example, some repeaters can access telephone lines and phone people. Some repeaters (sometimes the same ones) can access the internet using IRLP. Most repeaters can access other repeaters. You can control what a repeater can do by sending the appropriate commands. You use your radio to send the commands. 2M radio typically have a keyboard with numbers that looks like a telephone. In fact, if you push the buttons while transmitting they will make a sound just like the one your telephone makes. There is a good reason for this. Your radio works somewhat like a telephone. To dial a number you can't just say it into the telephone. Instead you have to push the buttons and make the beeps. 2M radios work the same way. For example, suppose you wanted to use the repeater to connect to the internet using IRLP. First you would have to issue the commands to turn on that function of the repeater. You would do this by pressing the right combination of numbers on your radio and sending the right command. This is like dialing the telephone. Then you could use IRLP. Once you are done you can send the command to turn off IRLP, again using your touch-tones. Another thing you can do with some repeaters is use them to dial telephones. If a repeater has a Phone patch you can use that repeater to phone people. First you would press the right combination of numbers to turn on the phone patch. Then you would press the numbers for the telephone number. Once you are done the conversation you would send the right combination of numbers to turn off the phone patch. You may feel I am being a bit vague by using the term "the right combination". You are right. I am being vague. What? Oh, you want to know why I am being vague. Well, ok, I'll tell you. The plain truth is I can't tell you the right combination. For each repeater it is different so it would not do you much good anyway unless you were using the same repeater I use. Another thing to remember is when you use a repeater you are actually borrowing the use of it. Repeaters are often owned by big-hearted groups of people who want to make ham radio better. Usually, they won't mind you using the repeater, but you should ask them first, and if it is ok they will tell you the access codes and show you how to use the repeater. Some repeaters are private and you should not use them. So, its always a good idea to check first. Also, you may want to ask if there are ways you can help. Back to Top What is the difference between ham radio and CB? CB radios have a very limited number of frequencies that you can use. With few frequencies they can be very busy. With ham radio, the potential number of frequencies is almost infinite within a specific range. Also, with ham radio, you need an FCC issued license. And you don't use any ten codes on ham radio!!! Back to Top Where are the W6LIE bylaws? You can find the bylaws at http://w6lie.org/bylaws.pdf. You must have adobe acrobat reader to view the bylaws. Back to Top Where do I download an FCC Form 605? You can download it at http://www.w6lie.org/605main.pdf Back to Top Where do I download the FCC Form 605 for a new Vanity Call Sign? You can download it at http://w6lie.org/605d.pdf Back to Top What other forms do I need to submit with my Vanity Call Sign application? You need the FCC form 159. You can download it at http://w6lie.org/159.pdf Back to Top |
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