On Sun, 14 Oct 2018 08:50:13 +0000, Spike
wrote:
Stephen Thomas Cole, the PP, just after gaining his UK Full licence by
'acing' all three exams, appeared on a UK Amateur group asking which
sideband he should use on 40m. That’s all you need to know about him and
and his ability with radio.

For what it's worth, I don't know which sideband to use on 40m. That's
because I don't operate much on 40m and don't have such details
memorized. I use a wall chart with the appropriate modes,
frequencies, sub-bands, and dedicated frequencies listed. Oddly, I
was able to pass the US extra-class license without knowing or
studying any of this. I believe I posted the story previously, but
it's interesting enough to repeat again.

I don't recall what year, but at the time, the FCC decided to drop the
US Morse Code requirements. Since the technician class license
consisted of the exact same technical questions as the general class
license (element 3), it was decided that one could upgrade from
technician to general without taking any additional tests and by
simply paying a nominal processing fee.

I arrived at the scheduled VEC exam session and presented my
collection of expired licenses and forms as proof that I passed the
technician class exam. Since I didn't need to pass an exam, I hadn't
studied. I was then informed that I could take the extra class exam
(element 4). If I failed, I would still get the general class
license. Seemed like a reasonable thing to do. So, I took the extra
class exam, totally and completely unprepared. I didn't even bring a
calculator.

Except for some creative wording in many of the questions, the
technical parts were quite familiar and easy. However, element 4 also
included some questions that required operating experience, such as
band edges for the extra class only sub-bands, and similar questions.
I did my best by guessing and was certain that I had failed the exam.
Amazingly, I passed.

So, if anyone asks if it is possible to pass the US extra class exam
without knowing much about HF operating standards, I would answer that
it might be possible.

From my warped perspective, the ham license is NOT a demonstration of
competence. It's simply the minimum one is expected to know so that
they can operate a ham transmitter without breaking any rules,
becoming a nuisance, or otherwise making a mess of the frequencies.
One learns ham radio AFTER obtaining a license, not before.


--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

In article ,
says...

So, if anyone asks if it is possible to pass the US extra class exam
without knowing much about HF operating standards, I would answer that
it might be possible.

From my warped perspective, the ham license is NOT a demonstration of
competence. It's simply the minimum one is expected to know so that
they can operate a ham transmitter without breaking any rules,
becoming a nuisance, or otherwise making a mess of the frequencies.
One learns ham radio AFTER obtaining a license, not before.




Now with the questions and answers being published,anyone with a good
memory can get an Extra class license without actually knowing anything.
My wife got her Technician class just so she could talk to me on the
repeaters . She hardly knew which end of the mic to talk into.

Even back around 1972 when I was 22 I passed the First Class Phone and
had never seen a TV transmitter or really how it worked. Knew very
little about the broadcast radio either. I did know enough to do well
on the 2nd class which I really wanted,but it was only a dollar more to
take the First Class.

I almost don't see what any of the test for anything are worth now days.
I know licensed electricians that I would not let change a battey in a
one cell flashlight. Plumbers that I hate to even see hook up the
garden hose.

I do agree that it is best to get a ham license and much of the learning
comes after.

With all the digital modes and menues and computer problems now it is
almost a wonder many hams can even get that to work.

On Sun, 14 Oct 2018, Jeff Liebermann wrote:

On Sun, 14 Oct 2018 08:50:13 +0000, Spike
wrote:
Stephen Thomas Cole, the PP, just after gaining his UK Full licence by
'acing' all three exams, appeared on a UK Amateur group asking which
sideband he should use on 40m. That?s all you need to know about him and
and his ability with radio.

For what it's worth, I don't know which sideband to use on 40m. That's
because I don't operate much on 40m and don't have such details
memorized. I use a wall chart with the appropriate modes,
frequencies, sub-bands, and dedicated frequencies listed. Oddly, I
was able to pass the US extra-class license without knowing or
studying any of this. I believe I posted the story previously, but
it's interesting enough to repeat again.

There was a time when SSB transceiver used mixing schemes so it would
always be the "right" sideband when you switched bands. Even rigs that
had a lsb/usb switch would sometimes color code so you knew which sideband
was "right" for each band.

I suspect more recent rigs, with synthesizers and computers, they surely
default to the "right" sideband when you switch bands.

As I recall, when I was a kid, I knew from reading which sideband got used
on which band, SSB was hardly knew then but it was still "new" enough that
it got talked about in the magazines. But with an SP-600 and a tuneable
BFO, I had to tune the BFO both sides of zerobeat to figure out which
worked for which sideband, no convenient crystal controlled BFO marked
"lsb/usb".

If there was a question on the tests about this sort of thing, it would
likely show some frequencies and you'd have to figure out after
heterodyning which sideband you were on.

Michael

On Sun, 14 Oct 2018 18:50:34 +0100, Brian Morrison
wrote:

On Sun, 14 Oct 2018 10:42:24 -0700
Jeff Liebermann wrote:

For what it's worth, I don't know which sideband to use on 40m.

For data modes it's just about all USB, and has been for some time.
But it's easy to see why people can get confused and wonder what they
set up incorrectly.
No need to beat anyone up about it, just explain if you're asked.

I don't think I'm beating up on anyone, but if an explanation is
required, I can do that.

It might help to understand why some bands use LSB while others USB.
In the early daze of sideband radio, the common IF frequency was 9MHz.
The radios had only one sideband filter. With one filter, it was
cheaper and easier to mix and up convert in the transmitter. So, to
save the cost of adding a second filter, the bands below 9MHz were
designated as LSB and the band above 9MHz became USB. Eventually,
radios were built with two sideband filters, and this was no longer
important. As usual, the legacy technology remained in place to haunt
the survivors to this day.

The problem repeated itself with the rise of the digital modes. People
wanted mult-band radios, but didn't want two filters in the radio.
So, someone flipped a coin and decided that everything should be USB
when using digital modes. For example, with JT65A, it's USB on all
bands:
http://hflink.com/jt65/
I'm not quite sure if that's also the case with other digital modes.
For example, PSK31 (BPSK) doesn't care if you use USB or LSB, but by
convention, USB is preferred.

For marine radio HF communications, it's all USB.




--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

On Sun, 14 Oct 2018, Jeff Liebermann wrote:

On Sun, 14 Oct 2018 18:50:34 +0100, Brian Morrison
wrote:

On Sun, 14 Oct 2018 10:42:24 -0700
Jeff Liebermann wrote:

For what it's worth, I don't know which sideband to use on 40m.

For data modes it's just about all USB, and has been for some time.
But it's easy to see why people can get confused and wonder what they
set up incorrectly.
No need to beat anyone up about it, just explain if you're asked.

I don't think I'm beating up on anyone, but if an explanation is
required, I can do that.

It might help to understand why some bands use LSB while others USB.
In the early daze of sideband radio, the common IF frequency was 9MHz.
The radios had only one sideband filter. With one filter, it was
cheaper and easier to mix and up convert in the transmitter. So, to
save the cost of adding a second filter, the bands below 9MHz were
designated as LSB and the band above 9MHz became USB. Eventually,
radios were built with two sideband filters, and this was no longer
important. As usual, the legacy technology remained in place to haunt
the survivors to this day.

Actually with filter rigs, they used only one filter. Military rigs might
use two filters, obviously especially if they did ISB, and there must have
been some ham rigs, high end, that used two filters, but generally it was
one, and the BFO crystal was switched.


There's more to this story, but I can't remember at the moment.

Michael