What is Amateur Radio (Ham Radio)? Amateur radio is an amazing hobby that links licenced operators locally and around the world via radio waves and other modes.
Licenced operators (in Australia at least) have access to the most frequency assignments, second only to the defence force.
The hobby has a wide variety of interests both in its use and construction (if one desires), such as, radio, antennas, electronics, beacons, repeaters, satellites, testing equipment, integration of computers, software, making ones own gear like
electronic boxes to perform certain tasks, constructing antennas and many other items required to get on air. Once on air, some like to call
anyone for a chat (QSO), or contact others using digital modes via computer, or compete in radio contests to see how many persons and countries
one can contact during a defined time period. Some like setting up portable on a hill top using batteries, radio and a wire antenna thrown over a tree.
Disaster emergency communications provided by hams assist authorities in times of need. There is something within the hobby that would take your interest for sure.
Joining a club is a quick way to learn the ropes.
Hopefully this 'ham talk' will help understand some of the jargon and information contained in this website.
1. Interests. 2. Some Terminology. 3. Contesting terms and meanings.
| INTEREST | EXPLANATION |
|---|---|
GENERAL INTEREST AREAS |
|
| Antennas | Erection and construction. LF / MF / HF / VHF / UHF / Satellite |
| APRS | Amateur Packet Reporting System is a digital communication system utilized by amateur radio operators to exchange messages and track locations utilizing GPS |
| ATV | Amateur TV - Send and receive live TV pictures |
| Communication Modes | Phone, CW, Digital |
| Computers | Computers used for digital communications and logging and other uses within the station. |
| Contesting | Operators seek to contact as many other amateur radio stations as possible in a given period of time and exchange information. |
| Echo Link | Connection to repeaters via the internet |
| EME comms | Earth-moon-Earth communications. Communicate overseas via the moon. |
| Field Day | Setting up portable and running communications from solar or battery power. Mostly in contests. |
| Fox Hunting | Operators try to find a hidden beacon using a handheld radio and small beam antenna. |
| Homebrew | Making your own projects to enhance your hobby |
| LF | Communicate on low frequencies - Amateur bands around 135.7Khz and 472Khz |
| MF/HF | Communicate on HF around the world - Amateur bands between 1.8MHz - 30MHz |
| QRP | Operating at 5 watts or less |
| SATELLITES | Communicate via Satellites |
| SOTA / POTA | Communicate from Summits or Parks or actively work these stations from home. |
| Space Station | Receive SSTV pictures or arrange schedules for a chat with a group of students |
| VHF and above | Communicate on amateur bands above 50 MHz |
| WICEN | Wireless Institute Civil Emergency Network. Supporting sporting groups and activation in times of disaster. |
| WSPR | Weak signal propagation reporting |
| OPERATING |
Have you: |
| APRS | Used APRS? |
| ATV | Used Amateur TV? |
| Awards | Earned awards for operating in certain award programs or contests? |
| Contesting | Operated in a contest? |
| CW | Operated in morse code - Carrier Wave? |
| Digital | Operated in digital modes - FT8/4, SSTV, RTTY, PSK, Packet, AMTOR, ROS, C4FM to name a few? |
| Echo Link | Connected to a repeater using Echo Link? |
| Fox Hunting | Participated in a fox hunt? |
| Multi-op station | Setup a SO2R or Multi-op station complete with stubs or band pass filters, logging software and control software and hardware? |
| Phone | Operated in Phone - AM, FM, SSB? |
| QRP | Operated at 5 watts or less? |
| Repeater | Used a repeater? |
| Satellite | Worked via a satellite or contacted the space station or saved pictures from the space station? |
| SOTA / POTA | Operated portable to activate summits or parks? |
| Station setup | Installed a radio, VSWR meter, Linear, Tuner, rotators and antennas? |
| WICEN | Been involved in WICEN support? |
| HOME BREWING |
Have you: |
| ATV Projects | Built your own ATV equipment? |
| BALUN | Built your own BALUN? |
| Beam - HF | Made a HF beam? |
| Beam - Satellite | Made a circular polarised satellite antenna? |
| Beam - UHF/VHF | Made a VHF or UHF beam? |
| Dipole or Verticals | Made a dipole or vertical antenna? |
| Electronic projects | Built other electronic equipment to enhance your hobby? |
| Interface - Antenna switch | Built an automatic antenna interface that uses band data codes from a radio? |
| Interface - Audio | Built an audio interface for older radios to transfer audio back and forth between a radio and a PC? |
| Interface - Voice Keyer | Built a voice keyer? |
| Power Supply | Built your own power supply? |
| Radio construction | Built your own transceiver? |
| Repeaters | Built a repeater system, tuned cavities, and setup antennas? |
| Traps | Built your own antenna traps? |
| Tuner | Built your own antenna tuner? |
| TERM | COMMON TERMS EXPLAINED |
| QTH | My location |
| Grid square | The whole world is divided up into 2 degree Longitude by 1 degree Latitude blocks. Example Grid square: QG62. Example Sub Square: QG62mn. Example Extended Square: QG62mn40 |
| CQ | Means calling all stations |
| DX | Long distance communication. Outside of your country mostly. |
| Zones |
The world is divided up into different zones for use with Amateur Radio. There are 3 main zones. 1. CQ zone. 2. International Telecommunications Union Zone. 3. Regions 1 through 3. |
| ACMA | Australian Communications and Media Authority |
| Callsign | Callsign formats in Australia are 2x3 like VK1ABC allocated to any licence grade, 2x2 like VK1AB reserved for Advanced licences, and 2x1 like VK1A contest callsign allocated to Advanced licences for use in contests. Each callsign is unique to all individuals and clubs etc. |
| VK, VL, VJ | VK, VL, VJ, AX and VI = Australian previxes. All countries have special prefixes allocated to them. EG New Zealand = ZL or ZM |
| VK4 | The 4 indicates the state. 4 = QLD, 3 = VIC, 2 = NSW etc, in alignment with our postcodes |
| IOTA | Islands on the Air. Continents and islands surrounded by water have an IOTA number. VK = OC-001 |
| Station | A radio station owned by a club, group or single operator |
| Operator | A person licenced to use ham radio equipement |
| QSL | A post card sent between operators with contact information contained there-on. |
| eQSL/LOTW | Websites hosting the passing of QSL cards electronically between stations. |
| Repeater | Normally two radio's, one receives your radio transmission and the second re-transmits the same information on a different frequency. Used to extend the range of HF, VHF and UHF transmissions. |
| Shack | A term used for the room where operators keep and use all their radio equipment. |
| WIA | Wireless Institue of Australia - The governing body of Amateur Radio in Australia |
| SSB | Voice - using the Microphone. Single side band = USB or LSB (Upper or Lower) |
| CW | Morse Code. (carrier wave) |
| Continents | OC = Oceania. NA = North America. SA = South America. EU = Europe. AS = Asia. AF = Africa |
| TERM | CONTESTING TERMS EXPLAINED |
| Contesting | Contesting usually involves a competition to see who can contact the most stations in a set period of time on certain bands and within specific rules. The Cabrillo log is submitted to the manager at the end of the contest. |
| Sprint | The name given to short contests of 1 to 2 hours in duration. |
| Marathon | The name given to very long contest periods normally over a week or more. |
| Operator | A person licenced to use ham radio equipment. |
| Station | A radio station owned by a club, group or single operator. |
| Portable | A station operating away from the licenced premises. |
| Rover | A portable station that operates from more than one location. |
| Entrant | A licenced operator who enters a contest and submits a log. |
| Calling CQ | Calling for contacts in a contest: CQ Contest in SSB or CQ TEST in CW is suggested. |
| Category | There are normally many categories to choose from in a contest. Select one to compete in. |
| Exchange | Information that must be exchanged during a contact (QSO). Refer to rules of the contest. |
| Serial Nr. | The sequential number of the contact in the contest starting at 001. |
| Mult | Short for multiplier. Extra points added to a score for making a specific type of contact. |
| Dupes | Duplicates are working a station that has been worked before and cannot be contacted again for points. |
| Points | Points assigned to a valid contact. |
| Claimed Score | The score claimed before log checking. It is a guide only as scores will change after log checking. |
| Penalty | QSO points removed during the log checking process due to logging errors. |
| DQ | Disqualification due to rules violation. |
| Modes | Common modes for contests can include: SSB, CW, Digital, RTTY, PSK31, PSK63, FT8, FT4. |
| Power | QRP = up to 5 watts, Low = 5 to 100 watts, High = above 100 watts. |
| QTH | Station location. |
| Assisted | An overlay category meaning the use of spotting information from external means (cluster networks) that give real-time data on frequencies and callsigns of stations is actively used in the contest. |
| Clusters | An international networked system of sending spotted callsigns to logging programs. |
| Log | A text file containing user information, category entered and a list of QSOs obtained during the contest. |
| Cabrillo | An international format text file generated by logging programs suitable for computer processing of logs. |
| Checklog | A station submitting a Checklog is not noted in the results and the log is used for log checking only. |
| Unique | A callsign that does not appear in any other submitted log. |
| Robot | The software that processes electronically submitted logs, normally in Cabrillo V3.0 format. |
| Golden Log | A log containing no QSO errors. |
| Deadline | The last day for log submission. |
| ADIF | Amateur Data Interchange Format. ADIF is an open standard for exchange of data between ham radio software packages available from different vendors. Not used for contest submission! Commonly used by Log Book of the World (LOTW) and eQSL. |
| Grid square | The whole world is divided up into 2 degree Longitude by 1 degree Latitude blocks. Example Grid square: QG62. Example Sub Square: QG62mn. Example Extended Square: QG62mn40. |
| Zones | The world is divided up into different zones for use with Amateur Radio. There are 3 main zones: 1. CQ zone. 2. International Telecommunications Union Zone. 3. Regions 1 through 3. |
| IOTA | Islands on the Air. Continents and islands surrounded by water have an IOTA number. VK = OC-001. |
| SO | Single Operator. |
| MO | Multi Operator. |
| MM | Multi-Multi - meaning multiple operator, multi radios. |
| M2 | Multi Operator, 2 Radios. |
| M1 | Multi Operator, 1 Radio. |
| MS | Multi Single - meaning as above, multi op, single radio. |
| HP | High power - 100 watts and above. |
| LP | Low power - between 5 watts and 100 watts. |
| QRP | Low power 5 Watts or less. |
| AB | All bands. |
| SB | Single Band. |
| SOAB HP | Single Op, All Band, High Power (combining examples above). |
| SO1V | Single operator 1 VFO (VFO = 1 radio tuning dial) A VFO changes the frequency displayed on the radio. |
| SO2V | Single operator 2 VFO's. |
| SO2R | Single operator 2 radios. |
| vklogchecker dot com | vklogchecker (Est 2017) is a log checking site used by operators to upload cabrillo logs from Australian contests. Cross checking logs is done for the managers and produces results and statistics. Supports most WIA contests. |
