Foundations of Amateur Radio

Whenever I go out to play radio, which is whenever I actually want to operate, I try new things. For example I've experimented with different clocks, to keep track of what time I made a contact, I've experimented with different ways of logging, with different locations, different antennas, with different bands, times of day, methods of calling CQ, methods of making a contact with a DX station, different methods of looking at propagation, different distances from interference.

As I said, every time I try something else different.

One thing I do, that might not seem obvious. I try to only change one thing. The reason I do that, is so I have a better understanding on what the change actually did. Of course this isn't entirely possible, you often cannot park in exactly the same spot, at the same time with the same propagation, but if you go out often enough, things start coming together.

So, for a clock, I use a $20 digital watch that has two time-zones. I set it to show local and UTC at the same time. For logging I use a spiral notepad. I write the date on a new page, the location, the radio, the antenna, the maidenhead locator and anything new I'm trialling.

When I listen up and down the band, I'll write down each callsign I hear, their frequency and a signal report. If I manage to make contact, which as a QRP station can be a rewarding challenge, I'll add the time, their signal report and some other information they share, like their name and location. I'll also add two exclamation marks in the margin, so I know that I need to log this contact in my logging software.

I tried using my phone, but logging software is not that good, a computer runs out of battery before you make your first contact, or just goes to sleep when you get a signal report and nothing beats looking at your wrist for seeing what time it is right now.

Antenna wise, I'm still fooling around with my mono-band verticals, it's been over a year now and while frustrating, I'm still learning about what they do and don't do. I ask most amateurs I come across about their opinion and have been given lots of great and some dud information along the way.

All in all, most of my activity is about learning. Every now and then I manage a DX contact and that's very rewarding.

Meanwhile, the hunt for Morse continues.

I'm Onno VK6FLAB