Avalon Amateur Radio Club - Amateur Radio FAQ

Isn’t amateur radio dead?

Of course it is no longer thrilling just to be able to talk to someone in a distant country by radio as most people now have telephones which often do a better job. This aspect of the hobby is certainly historical.

Amateur radio continues to provide a reserve communications service of surprisingly rugged effectiveness, available when others are not, to furnish difficult and challenging sports uniquely adapted to the severely disabled, and to develop advanced technical methods previously tried and condemned as impossible by large, well-funded government agencies. It differs from other common modes of radio communication in that it does not necessarily rely on infrastructure other than at transmitter and the receiver in many cases. It can therefore cover long distances independently, which makes it more resilient, at the cost of requiring greater skill to establish a communications path.

Amateur Radio has always trained people in practical radio work, which has come in handy before and may yet do so again.

Amateur Radio covers a very wide variety of activities which use radio communications. Contesters seek to make contacts with specific criteria as fast as possible, other amateurs like to make contacts over long distances, yet others experiment with unusual radio paths like using the Moon as a reflector, or using extremely high or low frequencies with the particular challenges these provide. Some do still use Morse code, though Morse is not a necessary part of getting a licence in the UK. Amateur radio was used recently to give some schoolchildren a chance to communicate with Tim Peake on the International Space Station. Radio Amateurs are a very diverse bunch and pursue many different aspects of the hobby.

Isn’t amateur radio elitist?

If passing an exam is ‘elitism’ then yes, it certainly is. Private radio is a powerful tool and potentially a dangerous weapon, which good governments always regulate and bad ones always fear (it was among the first things banned by Hitler). Except in special cases like CB and PMR, such regulation almost always involves some kind of qualification, to ensure that the new radio operator will not by incompetence cause a nuisance to others.

What about CB or PMR446?

These do not require licensing in the UK and are good solutions for short-range communications of up to a mile to a few miles depending on terrain and antenna locations.

PMR446, which has very low power, is generally more suited to handheld use while CB, slightly more powerful, is suited to vehicle-mounted or base-to-vehicle communication.

To avoid the need for close regulation, CB is limited to only 4W of power and has a frequency offset which makes it incompatible with most other radio equipment. It is useful for professional drivers and to farmers, but by design only rarely achieves anything which can be called long distance or ‘DX’. In urban areas it is often noisy, and for portable work CB equipment and aerials are inconveniently large. Many radio amateurs also use CB, or at least monitor it for emergency traffic, but a few regard it as merely a poor substitute for the ‘real thing’.

Why not just use PMR?

Corporate radio users must use PMR as they are not allowed to use amateur radio and find CB inadequate. PMR is designed for use by untrained personnel over moderate distances. PMR type equipment is usually more expensive than its amateur equivalent and has fewer controls to suit the limited radio expertise of its users.

Isn’t amateur radio expensive?

It used to be, but is no more. The most popular band is 2m (144MHz), for which handheld transceivers are available from Chinese makers for very low prices indeed - a good-quality dual-band (2m+70cm) set like a Baofeng UV-5R can sometimes be obtained online for less than a supermarket burner-phone.

Traditional manufacturers produce radios to very high standards which nowadays provide more and cost much less than their predecessors. It is possible to buy for perhaps five hundred pounds a single portable unit which provides a general-coverage HF receiver and will transmit on all amateur bands up to VHF and UHF, replacing a room-sized shack containing many thousands of pounds’ worth of traditional apparatus.

It is noteworthy that though setting up an amateur station may involve a significant capital cost its running costs, given the reliability and low power consumption of high-grade modern equipment, may be very small indeed.

Do I need planning permission?

If you intend to become an HF contest champion you will probably need a huge rotating aerial for which you will certainly need planning permission. Smaller aerials are less problematic. Potentially difficult neighbours are often appeased by using foldover mobile type aerials for VHF, or invisible wire structures for HF, without involving the authorities at all. Of course mobile systems in vehicles, or portable ones, are exempt.

Do I need to be physically fit?

No. Of course some aspects of amateur radio, like RAYNET and SOTA, attract the sort of person who calls the Brecon Beacons ‘soft’, but it is normally an indoor activity in an agreeable shack with no physical demands at all.

Disabled operators are notoriously formidable; they are there all the time, have little to distract them, and therefore commonly appear in the honours lists of major contests. Amateur radio is in this respect among the most inclusive of recreations.

Must I pass an exam?

No. Short-wave listening does not require licensing or qualification but provides as much technical challenge as required, very low operating costs, news from the horse’s mouth, genuine ‘world music’ and the opportunity to investigate some truly mysterious things.

To transmit on amateur radio frequencies you do have to pass an exam, but the UK has three stages of amateur licensing specifically designed to make entry easier. You may stay at Foundation level if you wish. If you wish to do more or use more power you can progress to a Intermediate or Full.

PMR and CB radio also do not require qualification, but are very limited in range and performance as a result. They can provide a worthwhile and economical introduction to radio practice. There is no reason not to use either to develop the confidence necessary to go further.

Why do radio amateurs call often one another by their callsigns?

Probably because they are short, unique and quite easy to remember. In our club, for example, there are at least two people with the same name, but only ever one with any given callsign. The habit is an old one, as evidenced by the number of bits of apparatus, often aerials, named with callsigns (like the G5RV).

The use of callsigns also discloses exactly where and when one was licensed. Occasionally amateurs apply to the authorities to retain an old callsign, perhaps inherited from a relative, which defeats this.

Who are ‘the authorities’?

At the moment in the UK amateur radio is controlled by the Office of Communications (Ofcom), who issue licences to all radio transmitter users, not just amateurs, who are not statutorily exempt. In the past the job has been done by various government departments including the Department of Trade and Industry, the Home Office and the Post Office. Most amateurs old enough to remember any of its predecessors tend to agree that Ofcom is the best yet.

The Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB) is not an official governing body but is recognised by the government in respect of examination content, etc.

Ofcom’s official document ‘Amateur radio licence: guidance for licencees’ is here: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0026/82637/amateur_radio_licence_guidance_for_licensees.pdf

Must I join the RSGB?

As a club we feel that for a number of reasons (which we are happy to discuss) it is right for us to be affiliated to the RSGB. Many of our members are not in the RSGB personally, though many others see it as an important part of the administrative infrastructure of amateur radio in the UK and are regular members. From the individual’s point of view, it’s entirely optional. The RSGB’s website is [here]. Club members who are not members of the RSGB can enter some RSGB contests when the club is affiliated if they wish, though it is a good idea to confirm this and any conditions with the specific Contest Rules.

Do I need my own computer?

No. Some amateurs find computers essential, others avoid them entirely. Trainees will from time to time need to read websites somehow. Those already fond of computers will find that amateur radio provides a number of unique opportunities to apply them. Those tired of them may go into the field with a small simple radio and and deal with nothing more digital than that for some time.

Do I need a smartphone?

No. If you have one, you will find that it already supports amateur radio in a variety of interesting ways. If not, you will not miss it. An ordinary mobile phone is sometimes useful in setting up experimental radio systems.

What does ‘ham radio’ mean, and why do amateurs get excited about it?

According to tradition the sequence HAM was once used in a radio code (similar to the Q-code) to refer to ‘radio station - amateur’. Because of this it was later used by unqualified journalists to refer loosely and incorrectly to the hobby as a whole and even to its individual members. Radio amateurs divide into two roughly equal groups: those who accept this presumptuous familiarity and even cherish it, and those who regard it as a cultural atrocity.

A close parallel is the abbreviation ‘Sci-Fi’ for ‘science fiction’, coined by journalists in the 1950s to rhyme with ‘hi-fi’. Some SF enthusiasts use it themselves; others draw blasters.

Is amateur radio exclusively male?

No. Its primary division is not by gender but by tendency. The two tendencies are ‘builders’ and ‘talkers’. The ‘talker’ obtains a reliable radio and antenna, installed if necessary by a contractor, and immediately sets about making contacts. The ‘builder’ meanwhile retires to the shed, emerging later with something which sends a bolt of energy coded into a callsign ricocheting off the ionosphere all the way to China, declares it to be in need of adjustment, and returns to the shed.

To suggest that these tendencies in any way reflect stereotypically gendered behaviours would be regarded by modern amateurs as varying from quaint to risibly absurd.

Will amateur radio get my kids off their screens?

To be brutally frank, it depends on how far gone they are. Try it. If nothing else, it will at only very modest cost provide them with an unusual set of achievements for their social-media profiles.

Is there a lot of paperwork in this?

No.

It used to be the case some decades ago that radio amateurs were required to keep a log of all of their operations. For various reasons such as road safety this requirement has progressively been dropped.

At present for ordinary operations no logging is required, though many amateurs continue to maintain logs as these provide valuable records of contacts made and of changing technical provisions, and can also be compelling evidence in cases of operational difficulty. Amateurs carrying out unusual operations (e.g. full licensees operating in the 5MHz military band) may still be required by Ofcom to maintain logs ‘from time to time’.

The log is simple and ready-made log books are easily obtainable. The amateur’s log book, like that of a pilot, tends to become a personally important document.

Apart from the paperwork inevitable in learning and exams there is none at all once you have passed the exam and provided you keep your details updated on Ofcom’s website at least once every five years.

Is amateur radio egalitarian?

Unusually so. It is one of the few circumstances in which commoners (such as radio engineers) routinely criticise kings (such as the late King Hussein of Jordan, JY1KH).

What is not allowed?

The various acts of Parliament regulating radio can be consulted for fine detail, but in general your licence, a multi-page document, will set out what is allowed, and anything else is not.

Traditionally radio amateurs intepret the regulations liberally, and quite often talk about things other than their station or signal, chatting at length about things related to radio only in that they, radio people, are interested in them, but always draw the line at Politics, Sex and Religion, because discussing any of these on air will be certain to upset someone within radio range, sooner or later. This self-censorship dates from distant antiquity and appears to have no statutory origin.

What are ‘scanners’, and are they involved in this?

A scanner is an automatic radio receiver which tunes itself rapidly over a band of frequencies, stopping only when a signal is found which is strong enough to open the squelch. This has the effect of combing the band for active transmitters. Scanners are used mostly by aviation enthusiasts to find the air traffic control frequency for the airfield they are watching. Their radio performance is usually very poor as high sensitivity is expensive, and unnecessary for this short-range function.

A few scanners are sufficiently sensitive to be useful for monitoring amateur frequencies; if one is available, it can cover several bands at once given a suitable antenna such as a discone and possibly a masthead preamplifier. Such scanners are often disproportionately expensive and are not usually bought in preference to a transceiver.

Scanners were briefly controversial in the 20th century because most were able to receive certain police transmissions; this is no longer possible owing to the longstanding use of encryption.

Can I use Army surplus gear?

There is a long tradition of modifying Service equipment to work on amateur frequencies, to investigate which a web browser is essential. Some sets like the RAF ‘Lancaster Bomber Set’ (T1154/R1155) have always been popular with amateurs, while others like the Army ‘31 Set’ (AN/PRC-300) are shunned (in the author’s opinion, rightly).

Is short-wave listening respectable?

Extremely; it might even be called genteel, though it is in theory not really allowed at all (once upon a time one had to buy a radio licence, like a TV licence, which allowed one to listen only to BBC broadcasts; when it was abolished, this stipulation apparently remained, but there has never been a case).

What is the thing between radio amateurs and BT?

BT employs a vast number of skilled and dedicated engineers who think nothing of turning out in a Land-Rover in any sort of conditions to scale a tower and give a bolshie microwave dish a thorough spannerwhacking. Naturally some radio amateurs regard this sort of thing as a challenge impossible to refuse.

Do radio amateurs use satellites?

There is an international organisation called AMSAT dedicated to this task, which has been in existence for many years and has successfully built and launched a number of amateur radio satellites.

Satellites are given special allocations in ITU band plans and working them requires practice and sometimes special equipment, as their rapid motion makes them difficult both to track and to tune.

Though the ISS is not an amateur radio satellite it occasionally contains a radio amateur, like Tim Peake GB1ISS.

Is there really a knob called ‘squelch’?

Only on FM receivers. If there is no signal at all, this type of receiver makes a loud and tiresome noise, up with which only the Army is prepared to put. The squelch control is turned up until it suddenly cuts off this racket. The radio will then remain silent until it receives a signal strong enough to make it work correctly, which will then be heard at normal volume. This is called ‘opening the squelch’. Squelching the receiver also saves the power which would have been wasted making the offensive noise. A few FM receivers have automatic squelch, which sometimes works quite well.

Is amateur radio child-friendly?

Very much so. Our treasurer is a Scout and Cadet leader, and we will eagerly welcome (and indeed sometimes subsidise) juniors. We do need parents or legal guardians to accompany minors to Club activities and events.

Do you have proper insurance?

All clubs affiliated to the RSGB are covered by its master insurance scheme, for details of which readers are referred to the RSGB itself.

Do I have to learn all that jargon?

No. A minimum amount of technical stuff is needed for exam purposes. Apart from that there is a common procedure for establishing radio contacts, having done which many talk as though on the telephone.

Those concerned about total efficiency will of course want to know pro-words and NATO phonetics, but we find that most people like that have already learned them.