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The Hogs of Entropy 0011
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/\__^__/\ present... /\__^__/\
BUUUURP BUUUURP
The Beef on Ham
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<<-HoE->>
By, Jeager
Release Date: 09/10/94
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Hey, you Turkey! Listen up!:
Amateur Radio:
What it is,
what you can do with it,
and how to get into it.
Hello all, I have received a great deal of e-mail on the subject
of Amateur "Ham" Radio and many people wanted to have a quick into on
what the heck "Ham" was. To save time (and hard disk space), I'm going to
post this little article on the HoE line of wonderful, great, fun-loving,
superior documents that will be SO meaningful that the world will never be
the same again. Oh, and hopefully this will answer some of your questions,
too.
Ham...(besides a great snack)...What it is:
Amatuer Radio is a way to communicate! By talking, tapping a morse
code key, typing at a keyboard(something most of you can handle I think),
or even looking into a video camera, you can communicate with people two
blocks away or some where in Europe!! Too easy you say? There must be a
catch, right? Well, kinda. You need a liscense to talk on the Ham Bands.
But, AH-HA!, you will find out (if you don't hit the Esc or Control C key)
the fact is that the liscense is really easy to get! Yeah HOH!
The Ham Bands are divided you into three parts: HF, VHF, and UHF.
(Got that now?)
When you get the basic, no-morse-code-required-to-operate
liscense, you get FULL prividleges on the VHF and UHF (Local) bands, but
you get no prividleges on the HF (worldwide) bands. When you pick up
your 5 words-per-minute (wpm) code test, you get some prividleges on the
HF bands. More about this later. (Oh yeah: even though you might not
have the HF bands, you can still talk to people worldwide. More about that
later, too. Also later, more about how to kill small animals.)
What you can do with it:
There are many ways to communicate over the Amatuer Bands. Here
are just a few of the most interesting:
(Basic information: the signal that you transmit when you
do nothing to it (like not speaking into the microphone or
when you don't hit the morse code key) is the carrier. You
modulate the carrier with your voice or your morse code
signal. Now was that hard? You catching it already!)
Morse Code/CW: This is communication via the ol' morse
code. It is very easy to learn with some
software for your machine and some spare
time. I like this mode because it is much
easier to hear a beep than a voice in poor
band conditions. Alot of people still use
this mode on HF.
AM and SSB: This are the two most commonly used voice modes
on HF today. Remember what I said about modulation
and carriers? AM is when you modulate the top and
bottom of the carrier. (If you looked at it on an
oscilloscope (sp), you will see a bar in the middle
with two sine waves, one on the top and one on the
bottom. SSB (Single SIde Band) is similar. Instead
of modulating both the top and bottom, it modulates
just one of the two (Upper Side Band or Lower Side
Band) side bands.
FM: Just typical FM. You probably listen to it every day on 93.3mhz or
103.9mhz. The sound quality is great, and it is the most common
mode on VHF and UHF.
Packet: This is the mode you want to try!! It's like doing BBSing
over the radio! Imagine: getting your e-mail without a
phoneline! Full and FREE access to the INTERNET!!!! (yes,
it's one of the perks offered to us by the US Goverment...
Imagine that.) Talking to people all over the world
REAL TIME through node hopping. (I have been talking to
people in Britan alot lately.) AND THIS IS ON VHF!!!
ATV: Yes, you can send full color and full motion broadcast quality
pictures over the airwaves. Well, shit. What else is there to
say about it?
Now some of the rules:
- No talking about politics
* Get all the jokes out now:
* "POTATOE!"
* It wouldn't be wise to threaten anyone's life or safety
either.
- No talking about religion
* It's not a place for political or religious debates!
- No jamming people's signals
* A mean thing to do, anyway.
- You must identify every 10 minutes and at the end of every QSO
(conversation)
* Needed for security
- You must have a liscense
* Key.
- No cursing (You can't imagine how fucking hard that is for me.)
* You know what a curse is, poop head!
And, finally, the liscensing process....
Step 1
- Go to Radio Shack and buy either the book NO CODE PLUS (Gordon
West) or NOW YOUR TALKING (ARRL). They cost $10 and $20, respectively.
The difference is that N.Y.T. tells you much more on how to build antennas,
which radios to buy, and things like that, while N.C.P. tells you more
about the test questions themselves. I recommend the former (N.C.P), since
that is what helped me ace my two tests.
Step 2
- Read the book. There are 300 multiple choice questions in the
first part which you must know. They are really, really easy, and you
will breeze through that section. The first test consists of 30 questions
picked from the pool. The second part consists of 275 questions and the
second test is 25 questions. That's about it.
Step 3
- Take the test. They are given at many different locations. Look
in the back of your study manual for phone numbers or these locations.
(To Philadelphia people: the most popular site to take this test is at the
Franklin Institude. The test is given on the first Thursday of every
month. If you are going to be there, be there between 6:00 and 6:30pm.
The volunteers lock the doors to the room a 6:30 SHARP! Call the club
station anytime at (215) 448-1139. Bring $5.75 for the test taking fee.
(I think that is the cost now. Call the number I gave you to make sure.)
Step 4
- Tell me, that would be nice.
Step 5
- Wait for your liscense. During the mean time, I'll try to get you
set up with some used equiptment so you can listen to the way people
operate on the air. You can't transmit until you get your call letters
from the FCC (That took about two months for me, but now the wait time
is down).
Okay, there is a HELL of alot more, like antenna design and disaster
communications that you can get into, that I didn't tell you about. Make
sure you check your local radio club, too. (You know hat number I told you
about before? (Philly People again: Call that number to join PhilMont
Mobile Radio Club. That's the club I belong to. They run the test
sessions and also have a station down at the Franklin Institute. It's
a good club!)
Have fun and peace! :-)
J Jeager
e N N3RCS
a 3 Internet: XTL00014@DUVM.OCS.DREXEL.EDU
g R Packet: N3RCS@KE3CZ.#EPA.PA.USA.
e C or gimme E-Mail on Mogel-Land
r S
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