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OPERATING PROCEDURES

FOR

A NEWLY LICENCED HAM RADIO OPERATOR

Onceyougetyourlicenceandthecall-sign,itistimeforyoutostarttransmission.Radiowavesarenowadaysa

preciouscommodityandsothehamshouldnotmisusethemforhisownends.Itisthedutyofthehamtoknowthe

correctoperatingprocedure.Ifanewlylicencedhamradiooperatorisignorantaboutthecorrectoperating

procedures,hemaycreatenuisanceintheband.AhamshouldalsobeawareabouttheInternationalCode

devisedbyPaul M.Segal.

CODES FOR A HAM RADIO OPERATOR

Thehamisconsiderate. He/Shenever knowinglyuses thea ir (radiowaves) in sucha

wayastolessenthepleasureofothers.

Thehamis loyal.He/Sheoffershis/her loyality,encouragementandsupporttohis/her

fel lowhams,his/her localclubs.

The ham is p rogress ive . He/Shekee ps h is /her s ta t ion (rad io equ ipment) abreast o f

scie nce.It iswell-builtandefficient.His/He rop eratingpracticeisabov ereproac h.

The ham is fr iend ly . S low and pa t ien t send ing when requested , fr iend ly adv ice and

counce l to the beg inner , k ind ly ass is tance , co-opera t ion and cons idera tion fo r the

interestsofother;thesearethemarkofthehamspirit.

Thehamisbalanced.Radio is h is/her hobby. He/Shenever a l lows i t to in ter ferewith

a ny o f hi s/ he r d uti e s he / s he o we s to hi s/ he r ho m e, hi s/ he r j o b, hi s/ he r s c ho o l o r

community-andlastlyhis/herknowledgeandhis/herradiostationarealwaysreadyfor

theserviceofhis/hercountryandhis/hercommunity.

CALLINGANOTHERSTATIONINRADIOTELEPHONY

Ac a ll mayb e g ivento ano the rs ta tio n e ithe r in vo ice o r us ing the Mors e c o de . Butb e fo re g iv ing a

ca ll, i t isthedutyofthehamtocheck whetherthefrequency heisgoingtouse isalrea dy inuseby

o the r ha m /s o r no t. E v en tho ug h a p a rti cul a r fre q ue nc y s e e ms to b e i d le , i t m a y no t b e s o

Because, there mays ti l l be a hamsend ing h is message whose s igna ls a re in sk ip wi th us (see

questions&answersrelatedtoradiowav e p ropagation)andanotherhamatadifferent locationis

l isteningtohim.Givingatransmissionint he samefrequencyinsuchasituationwil l interferewith

theongoingcommunication.So,pr ior toourtransmission, i t shouldbeascertainedbysendingthe

message-" Is the f requency in use?". Thisshouldberepeatedtwomore t imesand i f noreplyhas

been rece ived , then wecan o ccupy the f requency. Afte r occupy ing a frequency, we can g ive a

'GeneralCall ' or a 'DirectionalCall ' . A 'GeneralCall ' isacall giventoal l thestations.Thismeans

thatyouwillreplytoanybodyfromanypartoftheworld.Themessagesoundslike-"CQCQCQthis

isVictorUniformTwo.(yourcallsignsiff ix inphonetics)call ingCQon20metreandstandingby"

The 'CQ' messagemaybe repeated fo r th ree t imebe fore g iv ing the ' s tand ing by ' message. A

you ' s tand by ' , l i s ten care fu lly fo r any poss ib le rep ly . If no rep ly is rece ived , you can con tinue

givingyourCQcall. Thereisalsoa 'DirectionalCall ' whichisdirectedtoapart icularcountryora

pa rticularstation.Acall directedtoapa rticularcountry is l ike-"CQJa pa nCQJa pa nCQJap anthis

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is Victor UniformTwo." . Thismea nsthatyouwi l l rep ly to stations f romJapanonly. Ac al l may

directed to apa rticularstationalso .Inthisc ase ,inpla ce oftheco untryname,the 'ca ll-sign' ofthe

stationisput.Apersonwiththetruehamspir i t doesnotadherestr ict lytohisdirectionalcall , and

assuchshouldnotdenyreplytoahamfromanothercountryreplyingtohisdirectionalcall ( inthe

above examp le ) unti l and unless he i s in rea l emergency . Too much o f fo rma li ti es should be

avoidedas i t mayd ishear tenanother fe l lowham,a lso i t is against thecodedevisedbyPaul M.

Sega l !

Afte r es ta b lishi ng contac t and o ffe ring the ini tia lg re e ting s, a s ig na l re po rtsho uld be g iven to the

o the r s ta tion. Your name (Hand le ) and loca tion (QTH) shou ld then be spe l led out c lea rl y inphonet ics . If the o ther ham f indsd i f ficul ty in copy ing your vo ice s igna l d ue to po or p ropagat ion

co ndit ionorduetothedifferenceinpronunciation,youshouldnot loose patienceandthemess ag e

shouldbe repe atedif requested .Youcanalsog ivetheweatherrep ort(WXrepo rt) withmentioning

ofthetemperatureindegreesCentigrade.Afterthis,discussionregardingtheantennasystemand

equipment(ca l led-"Workingcondit ion") begins. Beforec losing theconversat ionwith a par t icu la

stat ion, 73message(meaning 'Best o f Regards' ) shouldbeconveyedto thehamandh is family

and indicat ionshouldbeg ivenwhether youarec losingdown(goingQRT)your stat ion, youare

changing your f requency (QSYing) or you are st i ll occupying the f requency. T hiswi l l he lp othe

stationstofol lowyouincasetheywanttomakeacontactwithyou.If theconversationtakeslong

time,boththestationsshouldmentiontheircall-signattenminutesinterval.

SIGNALREPORTINRADIOTELEPHONY

Whenon-the-air co ntactbetweenamateurradio stationsisestablished ,bo ththestationsexchange

signal repor ts. Thisg ives the ideaabouthowstrongly thehamradiostat ionsarereceiv ingeach

other.Fortelephony(voice),Readabil i tyandSignalstrengthscaleisdevised.

Readab ili ty Sca le Signa lStre ng thSca le

Q1Hardlyperceptible;

unreadableR1

Unintelligible; barely

perceptible

Q2Weak;readablenow

andthen R2Weaksignals;barely

readable

Q3Fairlygood;readable

butwithdifficultyR3

Weaksignals;butcan

becopied

Q4 Good;readable R4 Fairsignals

Q5Verygood;perfectly

readableR5 Fairlygoodsignals

R6 Goodsignals

R7Moderatelystrong

signals

R8 Strongsignals

O O R9Extremelystrong

signals

A59(5 and 9) re po rt is the bestre po rt in ra d io te lepho ny . Yousho uld be ho ne s tin g iv ing a s igna

report. Don ' t g ive a good report jus t to p lease your fr iend ! There may be some prob lem in the

antennasystemof your f r iend 'sstat iondueto whichyouarereceiv ingh impoor ly. Under sucha

s itua ti o n, g iv ing a fa ls e re p o rt wi ll m is g uid e y o ur fri end a nd y o ur fri e nd m a y no t b e a b le to

detect/rectifythefaultinhissystem.

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SIGNALREPORTINGINRADIOTELEGRAPHY(MORSECODE)

In radio te legraphycontact usingMorseCode, theRST(Readabi l i ty , Signal StrengthandTone)

systemof repor t ing is fo l lowed.ThissystemwasdevisedbyW2BSR,NewYork. Throughout the

world , Morse code is s ti l l used very a f fec t iona te ly by thousandso f ham rad io ope ra to rs . They

makeconversationasf luentlyastheydoinvoiceusingMorsecode.InfactMorseCodehasmany

ad vantage sove rvoic ecommunicationincertainsituationsaswell justfor thecheer joyinvo lved in

th is a r t o f communica t ion which we have d iscussed in the chapter on Morse code learn ing . In

Morse code a lso , e i ther genera l CQca l l o r d i rec tiona l ca l l can be g iven . The c a l l ing fo rmat is

g ivenbelow.

GENERALCALLINRADIOTELEGRAPHY(MORSECODE)

CQCQCQDEVU2XYZVU2XYZVU2XYZARPSEK

DIRECTIONALCALLINRADIOTELEGRAPHY(MORSECODE)

CQ/VU2ABCCQ/VU2ABCCQ/VU2ABCDEVU2XYZVU2XYZVU2XYZARKN

InMorseco de, longwordsareusual ly avoid ed andhenceonly theabb reviated formof thewordsaresent. Therearecer ta in In ternat ional ly acceptedMorseCodeabbreviat ionswhichyoushould

remember andusedur ingcommunicat ion. 'AR' is synonymousto saying 'over ' in vo ice(Avoice

message should be ended with the word 'over to ..' ) . 'K' is the inv i ta tion to transmi t which is

synonymous to say ing 'go ahead ' in vo ice communica t ion . A messageendedwi th KN ind ica te

thatthemessagewasdirectedtoapart icularstationonly.Duringanongoingcommunicationalso

themessageshouldbeendedwith 'KN' whichprovides the in format ion to theother stat ions tha

communica t ion was a l ready in p rogress be tween two s ta t ions. Each sen tence o f the message

shouldbesepa ratedby 'BT' . Givenbelow isa typ ica l Morsecodemessag e.

VU2XYZDEVU2ABCBTTNXFERCALLBTURRSTRSTIS579BTMYNAMEIS..ESQTHIS

BTOK?ARVU2XYZDEVU2ABCKN

Whenyouf inallycloseyourconversationwithapart icularstation, indicationshouldbegiven, i .e.

themess ag eshouldbeende dwith'VA'(meaning'ove randoutwith).Atyp ical clos ingmessa ge

may look l ike-.VU2ABCD EVU2XYZVA.Thisme ansthatVU2XYZisnowfree tocommunicate

withotherstations.

THERSTSYSTEM

Rea dab ili ty Signa lStreng th T one

1-Unreadable 1-Faint,signalsbarely

1-Extremelyrough

hissingnote

2-Barely

readable,

occasionalwords

distinguishable

2-Veryweaksignals

2-Very rough AC

note, no trace of

musicality

3-Readablewith

considerable

difficulty3-Weaksignals

3-Rough. Low-

pitched AC note,

slightlymusical

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4-Readablewith

practicallyno

difficulty4-Fairsignals

4-RatherroughAC

note, moderately

musical

5-Perfectlyreadable 5-Fairlygoodsignals 5-Musicallymodulatednote

6-Goodsignals

6-Modulatednote,

slight trace of

whistle

7-Moderatelystrongsignals

7-Near DC note,

smoothripple

8-Strongsignals

8-Good DC note,

justtrace ofripp le

OsANDEEPbARUAH 9-Extremelystrongsignals 9-PurestDCnote

PagemaintainedbySandeepBaruah,Ex-VU2MSY(VU2MUE)