Foundations of Amateur Radio

When I came across amateur radio nearly a decade ago I did a course, passed my test and got licensed. At that point I didn't have any equipment, didn't know about any, hadn't touched anything, other than the radio in the classroom, and had no idea about what to buy and how to choose.

So, instead I asked the friend who introduced me to the hobby, Meg, at the time VK6LUX, what radio to get. I asked her what was the second radio she ever got because I figured that I'd get very disappointed with the first one in short order. She explained that there were plenty of brands to choose from and that each had their own champions. Just like the perennial choice between Ford and Chevrolet, Apple vs Microsoft, Tea vs Coffee, you'd end up with one radio and be told by someone in a different camp that you chose the wrong one.

Her advice, which is just as solid today as it was a decade ago, was to buy something that people you knew had, so whilst you're learning there'd be someone nearby who could help. As a result I bought a Yaesu FT-857d for precisely that reason. I still have it and it has a sister, another FT-857d, bought when I needed to broadcast the local news when one of the local volunteers went on holiday.

For most beginners their journey is similar. They buy their first radio and generally that sets the tone for what comes next.

In the decade that I've been around amateur radio I've had the opportunity to play with about 30 or so different radios. For some that playing consisted of picking up the microphone and making a QSO, a contact, and not much else. For others it consisted of sitting with the radio for a full contest, 48 hours, with sporadic sleep, dealing with pile-ups where there wasn't time to breathe, but plenty of stuff to learn about filtering.

Then there were the radios that came to my shack for a visit, those at various clubs and plenty of outings where I was able to sit down and figure out how stuff works.

On the surface that's all fine and dandy. A radio is a radio, you pick up the microphone and hit go, off to the races. Then you need to figure out how to set the volume, change frequency, change bands, read what the mode is and how to change it, tune the thing, set up a filter, change the pre-amp, operate split.

For some radios this was easy, consisting of a channel button and a microphone push to talk, for others there were no buttons, just a big Ethernet socket, then there were the radios with a hundred buttons, some so small that you missed them on first glance. I've used solid-state radios, valve radios, software defined radios and virtual radios, each with their quirks and idiosyncrasies.

Every time I operate a new radio I learn something about that radio, but I also learn something about my own radio. I can begin to hear differences, observe how easy or hard it is to do something, a missing feature on my own radio, or the one I happen to be operating at the time.

In my travels I've seen plenty of radio amateurs who only have a passing understanding of their own radio, let alone any other radio.

I completely respect that this might be enough for you, but I'd like to point out that this might be a missed opportunity.

I remember vividly sitting in the middle of a bush-camp with my own radio powered by a battery connected to a hap-hazard dipole antenna strung between two trees attempting to hear a station discussing her global circumnavigation by sailing boat and being frustrated with my ability to make it work.

A friend who was sitting nearby asked if they could have a go and within seconds he was able to use the filters and offsets to make the station pop out of the noise. It's with the image of Kim VK6TQ in mind, the person who knew my radio better than I did, that I'd like to urge you to play with any radio you come across, no matter how trivial or different.

One day it will mean the difference between making a contact or not.

I'm Onno VK6FLAB