RADIO OPERATOR'S HANDBOOK
CHALLENGES AWARDS AND CERTIFICATES PUBLIC SERVICE AND EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS OTHER CHALLENGING ACTIVITIES ROAD MAPS TO SUCCESS CHAPTER 2 THE BEGINNINGS WHERE DID THE TERM HAM COME FROM? WHAT IS A HAM RADIO STATION FREQUENCIES AND BANDS CHAPTER 3 VHF/UHF PORTABLE RADIO OPERATIONS OVERVIEW FM REPEATERS USING FM REPEATERS TWO METER BAND PLAN WHAT OTHER NON-AMATEUR SERVICES USE VHF/UHF? IRLP DIGITAL MODES – D-STAR, FUSION, AND DMR D-STAR FUSION DMR ADVANCED VHF AND UHF AWARDS AND CONTESTS CHAPTER 4 SETTING UP YOUR HF STATION THE TRANSCEIVER PLANNING AND BUILDING A STATION ACCESSORIES GROUNDING ANTENNAS STATION LAYOUT AND ASSEMBLY TOOLS SUPPRESSING RF INTERFERENCE CHAPTER 5 OPERATING TIPS SPEAKING THE LINGO – Q-SIGNALS AND OTHER ABBREVIATIONS MAKING YOUR FIRST CONTACT VHF AND REPEATERS SSB OPERATING TECHNIQUES AND TIPS QRP OPERATING CW OPERATING TECHNIQUES AND TIPS ZERO BEATING THE STATION DXING FIRST YOU HAVE TO FIND THE DX DXING WITH A PANADAPTER CW SKIMMER REVERSE BEACON NETWORK – RBN SPLIT OPERATING PORTABLE, MOBILE, AND FOREIGN OPERATIONS PORTABLE OPERATIONS MOBILING OPERATING IN ANOTHER COUNTRY WHY CAN’T I MAKE A CONTACT -- TROUBLESHOOTING FLOW CHART CHAPTER 6 RADIO WAVE PROPAGATION RADIO WAVE PROPAGATION – PART I SKIP PROPAGATION OR LINE-OF-SIGHT RADIO WAVE PROPAGATION — PART II THE IONOSPHERE THE GEOMAGNETIC FIELD PROPAGATION CONDITIONS TO WATCH OUT FOR HOW TO FIND THE PROPAGATION CONDITIONS CHAPTER 7 ANTENNAS AND ANTENNA TUNING THOSE PESKY DECIBELS RESONANCE THE TRANSMITTER AND ANTENNA ANTENNA IMPEDANCE THE ANTENNA AND THE TRANSMISSION LINE FEED LINE CHARACTERISTIC IMPEDANCE A MATCHED SYSTEM STANDING WAVE RATIO – SWR HOW LONG IS A WAVELENGTH? SWR IMPEDANCE TRANSFORMATION THE PROBLEMS WITH HIGH SWR MATCHING TO ACHIEVE MAXIMUM POWER TRANSFER CHOOSING A COAXIAL FEED LINE COAX CONNECTORS THE ATU – ANTENNA TUNER UNIT SWR – THE BOTTOM LINE BALANCED AND UNBALANCED SYSTEMS, BALUNS, AND UN-UNS BALANCED SYSTEMS UNBALANCED SYSTEMS BALUNS UN-UNS ANTENNA BALUNS AND UN-UNS – THE BOTTOM LINE CUT YOUR LOSSES CHAPTER 8 SOME PRACTICAL ANTENNAS HALF-WAVE DIPOLE G5RV OFF CENTER FED DIPOLE ONE-QUARTER WAVE VERTICAL BUDDIPOLE MAGNETIC LOOP ANTENNA RANDOM WIRE END FED HALF WAVE (EFHW) THE COUNTERPOISE SINGLE-BAND OR MULTI-BAND WHIP NEAR VERTICAL INCIDENT SKYWAVE – NVIS ANTENNAS INDOOR ANTENNAS BUILD YOUR OWN WIRE ANTENNAS YAGI ANTENNAS MORE INFORMATION CHAPTER 9 TRANSMITTERS AND OPERATING MODES CONTINUOUS WAVE – CW AMPLITUDE MODULATION – AM SINGLE SIDEBAND – SSB FREQUENCY MODULATION – FM XIT AND RIT LET’S GO DIGITAL BABY STEPS ULTIMATE SDR THE ANTENNA TUNER UNIT – ATU TRANSMITTER ADJUSTMENTS AUTOMATIC LEVEL CONTROL – ALC MICROPHONES TRANSMIT AUDIO EQUALIZATION MONITORING TRANSMITTER ADJUSTMENTS – THE BOTTOM LINE CHAPTER 10 RECEIVERS RECEIVER BLOCK DIAGRAM – THE 10,000’ VIEW TWO RECEIVER RADIOS SOFTWARE DESIGNED RADIO – THE RECEIVER RECEIVER SIGNAL PROCESSING FILTERING NOISE BLANKERS CONSIDERATIONS FOR NOISE BLANKING AND NOISE REDUCTION RF LEVEL CONTROLS – PREAMPLIFIER AND ATTENUATOR RIT AND XIT AUTOMATIC GAIN CONTROL – AGC DIVERSITY RECEPTION OTHER RECEIVER COMPONENTS DUAL VFOS RST AND THE S-METER CHAPTER 11 TRANSCEIVERS AND AMPLIFIERS TRANSCEIVERS AMPLIFIERS BUYING THE AMPLIFIER CHOOSING A VACUUM TUBE VERSUS A SOLID-STATE AMPLIFIER CHAPTER 12 SOFTWARE DEFINED RADIOS SOFTWARE DEFINED RADIOS – SDRS HOW HIGH (AND LOW) CAN YOU GO? SDR RECEIVE HARDWARE SDR SOFTWARE THE PANADAPTER CHAPTER 13 COMPUTER INTERFACES SERIAL INTERFACES RS-232 INTERFACES THE UNIVERSAL SERIAL BUS (USB) SERIAL PORT EMULATION BUILDING YOUR RS-232 CABLE VIRTUAL SERIAL PORTS DATA MODE INTERFACES SOUND CARDS BONDING TO REDUCE DIGITAL NOISE CHAPTER 14 DIGITAL MODES KEYBOARD-TO-KEYBOARD OR COMPUTER-TO-COMPUTER RADIO TELETYPE – RTTY PHASE SHIFT KEYING – PSK WEAK SIGNAL COMMUNICATIONS – WSJT THE BASICS QSO SEQUENCING SLOW MODES AND FAST MODES WSJT-X PROTOCOLS (MODES) WSJT MODE FREQUENCIES SETTING UP WSJT-X