A BRIEF GUIDE TO GOOD AMATEUR RADIO OPERATING TECHNIQUES
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It is a regrettable fact that when one listens on the Amateur Bands these days, one is struck by the very poor operating practices of many operators, particularly those new to the hobby or those that have come from a CB background. That these latter operators have "seen the light" and taken the trouble to pass the exams and get an Amateur Radio Licence is very praiseworthy but why do many of them bring their CB habits with them? I suspect that, in many cases, the problem lies with their tutors, who have not taught them how to operate Amateur Radio, as opposed to CB.
In the past, the normal introduction to Amateur Radio was to be a Short Wave Listener (SWL), sometimes for many years, before getting a transmitting licence. This served as a very useful apprenticeship and enabled people to learn how things should be done long before they actually got on the air themselves. Nowadays, this seldom happens, with some operators coming on the air with no knowledge of the history of the hobby, operating techniques or band characteristics.
Hopefully, those reading this article will be able to improve their operating techniques to the level where their background is not instantly obvious to those listening. I am not trying to set myself up as one of those sanctimonious "band policemen" that abound on the bands these days, particularly on 80m. I am merely trying to offer advice. The operating techniques on HF and VHF are, and always have been, slightly different. If necessary, I will deal with each separately. Please note that I am not sexist and, in the following article, the masculine gender will be assumed to indicate both masculine and feminine. Also, I am going to consider telephony, rather than CW, operating techniques as CW operators tend to be more experienced and less prone to poor operating practices.
Before suggesting how things should be done, it is useful to consider things that are not acceptable, are not good practice, or are just plain illegal.
Undesirable CB Operating Practices
There are several examples of questionable CB practice imported into Amateur Radio. Callsigns are often said very quickly or indistinctly, if they are given at all. There often appears to be a degree of furtiveness in giving your callsign as if you are trying to hide some illegal activity. You have worked for your callsign, so be proud of it. Amateur Radio is one of the few hobbies that is permitted and controlled by international law and the law of the United Kingdom. You are required to comply with the regulations but the law also protects your right to operate a radio transmitter.
Another example of questionable CB practice is the use of "personal", which I assume is a shortened version of "personal name", and another is "operator name". To start with, personal is an adjective, not a noun and cannot therefore be limited by the definite or indefinite article. "A personal" or "the personal" is not grammatically correct, apart from being totally unnecessary, as is "operator...". I assume that on CB, this is to differentiate between the pseudonyms used and an individual's actual name. It is self evident that "M6XYZ" is not a name and "Fred" is not a callsign. All that is required is "name" as in "my name is" or "the name is". Since you are the operator and the name you give is obviously yours, it is not necessary to elaborate further. Adding the words "here", "this way" or "at this end" is also unnecessary, as it is obvious that you are operating the equipment at your current location.
While on the subject of grammar, why do so many operators use the conditional form "would" and sometimes "will" when they simply mean "is"? "The name would be Fred" implies that it would be Fred if it wasn't something else and "the transmitter will be an XYZ" implies that you are using something else but you intend to get an XYZ in the future. What the station you are working wants to know is what the situation is now, not what it will be at some time in the future.
When describing one's equipment, it is acceptable to refer to the "radio", although older amateur radio operators usually call it a "rig" or "the gear". What is not acceptable is to say "I am running 50 whiskeys" when you mean "I am running 50 watts". Neither is it correct to refer to a G5RV antenna as a "G5" or an HB9CV antenna as an "HB9".
General Good Operating Procedures and those to be avoided
It is bad practice to try to join an established QSO by saying "break" between the overs of the existing participants. It is only acceptable to join an existing QSO if you are invited to do so or if you have something useful to contribute to the discussion. It is bad practice to join a QSO to merely ask for a report, as this disrupts the ongoing conversation, apart from being bad mannered. Would you go into a pub and butt into an existing group conversation to ask if those present like your voice? I think not, so why do it on the air?
The purists say that the use of any Q-code on telephony is bad practice. I do not agree, as codes such as QRM, QSL, QSO, QTH, etc. have long been part of the amateur radio vocabulary but in recent years some Q-codes have been used in quite the wrong context. I have heard stations trying to break into an established QSO by saying "QSK" instead of "break", which is itself bad practice, as I have stated previously. "QSK" is only applicable to CW QSOs, where it means full break-in operation and not an attempt to break into an existing QSO. American police jargon, such as "ten-four", should never be used.
When in QSO, it is established practice to give the other station's callsign first, followed by your own, at the beginning and end of each over, unless you are having a conversational contact using VOX, where licence regulations require you to give callsigns at least every 15 minutes. In a normal two station simplex QSO, never just stop talking, as the other station is then not sure whether you have finished your over or not. This is even more important in a multi-station net, as not specifying who is to transmit next only leads to confusion and the possibility of "doubling". If you wish to use the word "over", this is perfectly acceptable but expressions such as "back" or "come back" are not.
If you are in an established QSO and the existing stations are taking it in turn to transmit but you want to leave early, stay until it is your turn, or until one station passes transmission to another, before signing off, as just disappearing is bad practice, apart from being discourteous.
If conditions are bad and signals are weak with plenty of interference, give your callsign several times when calling and confirm the letters of your callsign by using phonetics. If another station asks for "your suffix again", he does not want your entire callsign again, as he has presumably already received the prefix, so only send the suffix letters. Similarly, if you are asked for the "prefix again", send only your prefix. Although not mandatory, the use of the NATO phonetic alphabet is recommended in the UK Amateur Radio Licence:-
A Alpha N November
B Bravo O Oscar
C Charlie P Papa
D Delta Q Quebec
E Echo R Romeo
F Foxtrot S Sierra
G Golf T Tango
H Hotel U Uniform
I India V Victor
J Juliet W Whiskey
K Kilo X X-ray
L Lima Y Yankee
M Mike Z Zulu
One strange expression is, when reporting on the other station's signal, to say "you are giving me a 5 by 9". This is a statement relating to what the other station has said and he already knows that. When you report on another's signal, you should give him a report and he will give you a report. The other station is not giving anything to anybody, as all he is doing is radiating a signal. How that signal is received depends on factors completely outside his control. Signals are normally reported in terms of signal strength and readability. I have never heard a report of "you are sierra 9", so why do I often hear "you are radio 5", instead of "you are readability 5"? You may sometimes hear a readability report of "Q5 or Q4 etc. This is a throw-back to yester-year when readability was reported on a scale of QSA1 to QSA5, where the number represented readability in a similar manner to the currently used RST system:-
r (Readability)If a CW signal appears to be crystal controlled, the letter "x" may be appended to the rst report. If there is chirp on the signal, the letter "c" should be appended and if there are key-clicks, the letter "k" should be appended.
1 Unreadable 2 Barely readable, with only occasional words distinguishable 3 Readable with considerable difficulty 4 Readable with practically no difficulty 5 Perfectly readable s (Signal strength)
1 Faint signals, barely perceptible
2 Very weak signals
3 Weak signals
4 Fair signals
5 Fairly good signals
6 Good signals
7 Moderately strong signals
8 Strong signals
9 Extremely strong signals t (Tone quality) (CW use only)
1 Extremely rough, hissing note
2 Very rough ac note with no trace of musicality
3 Rough, low pitched ac note, but slightly musical
4 Rather rough ac note, but moderately musical
5 Fairly musical note, but with some modulation
6 Musical note, but with a trace of modulation
7 Nearly pure tone with trace of ripple modulation
8 Near perfect tone with slight trace of modulation
9 Perfect tone with no trace of ripple or modulation
The recommended method of signal reporting on the 60 metre (5MHz) band is by using the SINPO code, which is a system of reporting signals from broadcast and other stations where an accurate and repeatable subjective assessment of reception conditions is required. The SINPO code is defined in CCIR Recommendation 251, but the "RST equivalents" listed below are not part of that recommendation, being only included for use in the "5MHz Experiment". Although the normal Amateur Radio convention of reporting only readability and signal strength is sometimes considered to be inadequate, the SINPO code is not normally used by Radio Amateurs. Its use is, however, obligatory for those stations participating in the eight year "5MHz Experiment", which began in August 2002, during which propagation studies are to be carried out in conjunction with other UK amateur, military and military cadet stations. UK Amateur Radio operators who have been granted the necessary NoV, are permitted to operate on seven spot frequencies in the 5MHz band during this experiment. The RST values normally used by Radio Amateurs are shown in brackets below and are the recommended equivalents to be used when determining SINPO reports of signals on the 5MHz Band.
S - Signal strength (QSA)
1 Barely audible (S2 or below) 2 Poor (S3 or S4) 3 Fair (S5 or S6) 4 Good (S7 or S8) 5 Excellent (S9 or above) I - Interference from other signals (QRM) 1 Extreme (S9 or above)
2 Severe (S7 or S8)
3 Moderate (S5 or S6)
4 Slight (S3 or S4)
5 Nil (S2 or below) N - Noise, static etc. (QRN)
1 Extreme (S9 or above)
2 Severe (S7 or S8)
3 Moderate (S5 or S6)
4 Slight (S3 or S4)
5 Nil (S2 or below) P - Propagation effects (QSB and multipath) *
1 Extreme (QSB > 6 S-points or extremely Auroral)
2 Severe (QSB of 6 S-points or strong multipath)
3 Moderate (QSB of 4 S-points or medium multipath)
4 Slight (QSB of 2 S-points or slight multipath)
5 Nil (No QSB or multipath) O - Overall rating (QRK)
1 Barely audible (Extremely difficult to read)
2 Poor (Poor readability, quality unassessable)
3 Fair (Fairly good readability and quality)
4 Good (Good readability and quality)
5 Excellent (Excellent readability and quality)
* Note that when assessing the "Propagation" parameter, the most predominant effect from fading (QSB) and Doppler/multipath (phase distortion or auroral effects) is used to determine the "P" value.
Still on the subject of signal reporting, it is far better to say a signal is "weak" rather than to use expressions such as "in the back of the box" or "quiet". However, when reporting the reception of an AM or FM signal with an obviously strong carrier but with low modulation (or deviation), it is useful to report a strong signal with low or quiet recovered audio. A strong signal should be reported as such and not described as being "in the front of the box". When using FM, the degree of receiver noise quieting is a more meaningful indication of received signal strength than the reading on an S-meter. This is because once an incoming signal is strong enough to fully suppress the receiver noise, further increases in signal strength will not result in an increase in recovered audio. Obviously, when using a repeater, it is meaningless to report on a station's strength as you are receiving the repeater, not the other station directly.
Also, why ask for a "radio check" when what you actually want is a report? In military and some commercial operating environments, requesting a radio check is normal operating procedure when a readability/signal strength report is required but this is not best amateur radio practice where a radio check is something carried out to ascertain the correct or incorrect operation of the equipment by using test gear or on-air reports.
If a signal has obvious deficiencies such as over or under modulation, excessive or insufficient deviation, excessive compression or clipping, audio distortion, key clicks, chirp, frequency drift, excessive background noise from fans or other room noise, excessive width (spread), badly adjusted VOX, or any other problems that should not be present, report these but be constructive and very tactful. If a station is not told about problems with his signal, he is not going to take steps to remedy them but, human nature being what it is, many operators with many years experience, do not take kindly to having their short-comings pointed out by an obvious newcomer to the hobby.
Similarly, it is very important to ensure that your signal is beyond reproach before making critical comments about somebody else's signal. If another station reports that you have problems, do not be offended and, above all, do not ignore his comments or attribute the problems to deficiencies in his equipment. Investigate the alleged problem and correct it. If necessary, ask for advice, either from the station reporting the problem or from another station.
Never cause any form of jamming or deliberate interference to other stations. Never use bad or offensive language on the air. Some people seem to find it funny or clever to cause these types of problems on VHF repeaters. Apart from being illegal and incredibly stupid, eventually the culprits will be discovered and could loose their licences, assuming they have one. Even if the offender does not loose his licence, once the "locals" learn of his identity, they are unlikely to react well. It takes a long time to establish a good reputation but only a few minutes to destroy one.
Establishing Initial Contact
There are several ways to establish an initial contact. Probably the most common is to "call CQ". A variation on this theme is to "listen through" when using a repeater. Both procedures are used when a given station cannot hear any particular station he wishes to contact but is desirous of having a QSO. In both cases, it is essential to ascertain that the proposed operating frequency is not already in use by any other station. This can be done by monitoring the frequency for several minutes prior to calling or by asking "is this frequency in use please". Assuming the frequency is unoccupied, a CQ can be initiated.
A CQ call should take the general form of "CQ CQ CQ this is <your callsign> <your callsign> listening on the frequency for a call". Alternatively, when using a repeater, the general form should be "this is <your callsign> listening through <repeater's callsign> for a call".
When replying to a CQ, or its equivalent, and the signals are strong, the general form is "<his callsign> this is <your callsign>". If signals are weak, or there is QRM, callsigns should be repeated several times with phonetics being used if necessary.
Another method of establishing contact is to call a station who has just completed a QSO. Never check your equipment or antenna tuning by whistling or radiating a carrier on top of an existing QSO. It should be noted that whoever initiated the first QSO, now "owns" the frequency. If you want to contact the other station, it is polite practice to give a quick call and ask that station to QSY to another clear frequency that is sufficiently removed from the current frequency to not cause any adjacent channel interference. The general form is the same as that used to reply to a CQ call.
As stated earlier in this article, calling into an established QSO or net is often regarded as bad practice, unless you are well known to the existing stations. If you are invited to join, always respect the QSO or net control procedures being used and always try to add something to the discussion. Never just call in for a report. If there is a "net controller", he will decide when it is your turn to transmit and to whom you should pass transmission when you have finished your over. A good maxim is "when in Rome, do as the Romans do".
Ending a contact
If you wish to leave a simple two person QSO, a multiple QSO or a net, simply inform the other stations of you intention, wish them "good evening/night etc.", as appropriate, and leave the frequency. A word of warning when wishing somebody "73", which means "best wishes". You should never say "best 73" as this means "best best wishes" and "73s" is a double plural, "best 73s" meaning "best best wisheses".
HF QSOs involving just two stations
This type of QSO usually starts by one station answering a CQ call from another or is pre-arranged to occur at an agreed time and on an agreed frequency. If the stations have not met before, it is normal custom and practice to first exchange reports, names, QTHs, brief descriptions of equipment and often details of the prevailing weather conditions and then proceed to talk about any other subjects that may arise. If subjects of mutual interest arise, these QSOs can be quite protracted but otherwise they can be over after the initial pleasantries. Overs should not be excessively long. Sometimes VOX is used, in which case the QSO is similar to a telephone conversation, with very short overs.
Long distance or international QSOs (DX) often only consist of an exchange of names, QTHs and reports. This is because there is often a language problem and/or stations are only interested in amassing a large number of contacts in a limited time. This is especially true if the other station is operating from a rare location or is part of a DX-pedition. These stations often operate "split frequency", where they transmit on one frequency but listen on another. If you wish to try and contact one of these stations, ascertain where the DX station is listening and call at the appropriate time. Do not call on the DX station's frequency. The DX station will usually say something like "up 5kHz" or "listening 5 to 10 up" to indicate where he expects answering stations to call.
VHF QSOs involving just two stations
The basic form of these QSOs is similar to that used on HF, except VOX and split frequency working are almost never used.
HF QSOs involving more than two stations
This type of QSO usually results from a third station joining a two station QSO, or may arise if more than one station answers a CQ call and the station calling CQ chooses to invite all calling stations to join the QSO. The general form of a multi-way QSO is similar to the two station QSO, except the participating stations take it in mutually agreed turns to transmit, unless VOX is being used.
VHF QSOs involving more than two stations
Again, the basic form of these QSOs is similar to that used on HF, except VOX is almost never used.
HF and VHF Nets
A net, by definition, is a multi-way QSO but differs from the type described above in that all participants are usually known to each other. Nets normally occur on pre-arranged frequencies and at regular times. Consequently, it is not normally necessary to exchange names, QTHs etc. but reports are usually exchanged. Subsequently, the subjects discussed can be many and varied. Unless VOX is being used, it is essential to keep overs as short as possible, consistent with answering any questions and discussing any points raised by all other stations. If there are many stations in a net, it is often necessary to make notes such that nothing gets forgotten. All too often, many established nets consist of people exchanging reports and then discussing their health or, more often, their ill-health. Apart from being extremely boring, it does seem to be a strange way of passing the time! It is far better for a net to discuss a large number of varied subjects, ranging from the highly technical to the banal and trivial.
Nets usually have a net controller, who ensures no station gets ignored and an established order of transmitting is adhered to. There are two main ways of achieving this. One is for the net controller to invite each station to "have an over" and then pass transmission back to him. The controller then invites the next station to transmit, and so on. This procedure is mandatory in the military and it is no surprise that military amateur radio club nets employ the same procedure. This type of control is also the recommended procedure for nets on the 5MHz (60m) band.
A second method of net control is where the controller sets the "running order" and each station has his over and then passes transmission to the next station. This procedure continues until all stations, including the controller, have had their turn. Should existing stations leave the net or new stations join, the controller removes or inserts them in the running order, as appropriate. This is the form of net control that I (Tony) have employed for the last 35 years when running the Billingshurst and District Net (the BADNET), which is the de facto Horsham Club Net. There are often eight or nine stations involved and the net can last for well over two hours. Subjects discussed are many and varied but almost never include health issues. The net takes place every Sunday Morning, and Christmas morning, at 10.00 hours (clock time) on a nominal frequency of 3722kHz.
QSOs through repeaters
QSOs through VHF and UHF repeaters follow similar forms to those employed on simplex channels, except overs are always short because most repeaters have "time-out" periods to prevent lengthy overs. If the time-out period is exceeded, the repeater will cease to provide talk-through until the transmitting station "drops carrier" after completing his over and the repeater is reset. Frequency modulation is always used and most repeaters now require CTCSS tones to activate them, although a few still employ 1750Hz tone activation. Some repeaters are connected to EchoLink servers which enable potentially world-wide communication using low powered, hand-held, equipment. This form of "QSO" is technically clever but is it really "Amateur Radio"? That is up to each individual to decide but I have yet to be convinced.
Remember, you are only communicating with the repeater, which may only be a few miles distant, even though the other station may be hundreds of miles away. It is therefore meaningless to think of "working DX" via repeaters. Also, the strength of the signal being received is that of the repeater and bears no relation to the strength of the distant station. Indeed, the whole point of repeaters is to enable communication between stations who cannot otherwise hear one another at all. This may sound obvious but one often hears comments from people who have obviously not grasped these points.
One of the original ideas behind repeaters was to allow mobile stations to communicate over otherwise impossible distances or topographical situations. Priority should always be given to mobile stations over fixed stations when using repeaters.
28MHz (10m) FM repeaters exist, where the main use is to enable low power stations to communicate over thousands of miles but generally, the previous comments still apply.
Contest Operating
Contest operating is somewhat different to normal operating and is not to everybody's liking. Contest operators have to be a little aggressive but should never be ill-mannered. Contacts normally consist of a combined report and serial number and sometimes additional information such as Club name, depending on the contest. Never prolong a contest QSO by giving information such as name, QTH, weather conditions etc. It is becoming more and more common to always give reports of "5 and 9". This is very questionable but is becoming established custom and practice. Ridiculous statements such as "you are 59002, please repeat all as you are weak and buried in QRM" are often heard. It is extremely difficult to put a meaningful description of contest operating procedures into words. The best advice I can give is to listen and learn from experienced operators during an actual contest.
Duplex and Cross-band QSOs
In normal QSOs, all stations use the same frequency. This is known as simplex operation. When stations in a QSO, simultaneously use different frequencies in a given band and the conversation is similar to that used over a telephone, the technique is known as duplex operation. If the two frequencies are on two different bands, the operation is known as cross-band duplex.
Digital Modes of Communication
Digital modes include RTTY, Amtor, SSTV, PSK, QRSS and several more esoteric systems that each have their own operating procedures and protocols. Since this article is aimed at the newcomer to the hobby, it is not relevant to deal with this subject in any depth. An operator who is active on these modes is not really likely to be an inexperienced newcomer.
Final Comments
I hope I have not appeared too patronising but hope the above notes will be helpful to many of the newly licenced operators coming onto the Amateur Bands. Try to listen to experienced operators and attempt to emulate them. A good operator will never mistake nervousness or inexperience for endemic bad operating. Never be shy or embarrassed to ask for advice and, above all, get on the air and operate. You will feel awkward at first and you will make a few mistakes but persevere and you will be surprised how quickly good operating will become second nature. I (Tony) have held an amateur transmitting licence for 50 years and I can still remember putting out my first CQ. The feeling of "Oh God, what do I do now" when somebody replied was a little daunting but I soon got over it.
Amateur Radio is a broad church and there are almost certainly facets which appeal and some that don't. If you don't like a particular activity, such as contest operating or rag-chewing, don't get involved, but never try to spoil the enjoyment of those who do by causing deliberate interference or by making unsolicited comments.
If you are reading this article, you have probably already studied the huge amount of information available elsewhere on this web-site. If not, please browse the other pages, which can be accessed by selecting the various navigation buttons on the left of your screen. In particular, I would suggest you study those pages dealing with the history and traditions of the hobby which dates back over one hundred years. I may be old fashioned and I believe in history and tradition but that does not mean that I am against change and innovation, provided it is for the better. Just because something is old, it is not necessarily bad but, equally, not all new things are good.
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