Foundations of Amateur Radio

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Where do you start with this Amateur thing?

Posted: 29 Oct 2016 10:00 AM PDT


Foundations of Amateur Radio Being on air and getting on air are part of
the journey that you undertake when becoming a Radio Amateur, but what
happens before all that, what do you need to get your foot in the door as
it were? If you're listening to this via a radio, you're already on the
journey, but if you've downloaded this as a podcast, you're not far behind
and your journey towards becoming a Radio Amateur is just around the
corner. Let's start with a few things before I start with the journey
itself. First of all, every country is slightly different, so while I can
give you specific examples, they'll be valid for only a few people. In
becoming a Radio Amateur you'll have to undertake some learning, pass a
test and get a license. This license is specific to you and for most, if
not all Amateurs, the license itself is for life. That means that if you
have already passed an Amateur License Test in your past, you're likely
still a Licensed Amateur today. Being a Licensed Amateur, or having a
License, doesn't actually mean that you can operate your own station, for
that to happen, you need a callsign and the requirements for a callsign are
that you have a license. It's like learning to drive. Once you've passed
your driving test you're able to drive a car, but you need a current
drivers' license to actually get behind the wheel. In most cases there are
different levels of license. Going back to the car analogy, you can drive a
car, a moped or a truck, but not with the same license. In Amateur Radio
there are several different types of licenses. For example in Australia
there are three, in increasing level of responsibility, a Foundation
License, a Standard License and an Advanced License. In the United States
there are also three, The Technician License, the General License and the
Amateur Extra License. In the United Kingdom there are also three, the
Foundation License, the Intermediate License and the Full License. Germany
has two types and calls them Class E and Class A. In essence the idea is
that with more learning comes more responsibility and a change of license.
To muddy the waters a little, as time passes and Amateur Radio evolves,
license types change and merge, new ones are introduced and old ones
vanish. For example, to my knowledge there are no countries requiring
Morse Code as a skill for an Amateur License. That wasn't always the case
and until 2003 the World Radio-communication Conference essentially left it
to individual countries to decide if Morse Code was a requirement for
specific privileges. As an aside, Citizen Band or CB, where anyone can
walk into a shop, buy a CB radio and use it without passing a test and
getting a license is fundamentally different in that the license is linked
specifically to the radio itself. There is still a license, and to operate,
the license needs to be current, but it's intrinsic to the radio itself.
Amateur Radio has the license linked to the person, rather than the radio.
Now that you know a little about the landscape, the next step on your
journey towards becoming an Amateur is a little less nebulous. It's
probably a good place to start at the beginning and work your way through
that and as time goes on and your confidence and experience improves, to
add to the learning and do the next thing as it occurs to you. I should
point out that there are Amateurs who believe that it should be your goal
to get the highest level of responsibility, but my perspective on this is
quite different. This is a hobby, your hobby. If you want more
responsibility, then go do some learning and pass a test. If you're happy
to do what you're doing, then do that. Don't let anyone tell you that you
must increase your learning, just because they tell you to or that it's the
done thing. For me, I've set a personal goal to work a hundred countries
using 5 Watts and every contact I make counts towards that. If you've been
listening for a while you might have noticed that I've not...
This posting includes a media file:
http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/founda...teur-radio.mp3