HamshackRaspberryPiLearnHowToUseRaspberryPiForAmateurRadioActivitiesAnd3DIY

Projects

IntroductionIwanttothankyouandcongratulateyoufordownloadingthebook,“HamshackRaspberryPi: LearnHowToUseRaspberryPiForAmateurRadioActivitiesAnd3DIYProjects”.

ThisbookhasactionableinformationonHamshackRaspberryPithatwillhelpyou to learn how to use Raspberry Pi for amateur radio activities andmuch,muchmore.Since you are reading this book, I’m sure you are enthusiastic about radioactivities, if not about the revolutionaryRaspberryPi. I’malso sure there’s somuchyou’veheardabout radiostations like trackingsatellites,communicatinginMorsecodeorperhapsplayingagameovertheairaswell-andyouwanttotrythemout.That’sverypossible,andyoudon’thavetospendalotofmoneytolearnallthat-and become a professional radio operator- because a cheap raspberry Picomputer and a couple of other cheap tools are all you require to begin youramateurradiojourney.Maybeyouhaven’tbeenadequatelyintroducedtothesmallcomputerknownasRaspberry Pi; that is not a reason to skip reading this book because youwillknoweverything–fromthebasics-aboutPi,beforewegettotheactualplayingwith theHamshackRaspberry Pi.Among other things, youwill learn how toinstall,configureandusethedevicetoenjoysomeofthecoolestthingsintechtoday. For about $40, youwill be able to enhance your knowledge of how tooperateradioasanamateur;youwilllearnhowtoinstalldifferentoperatingaidsliketimekeeping,logging,Morsecodepracticingandsatellitetracking.Youwillalso learn about designing antennas, essentialHamprograms like twclock andGNUradiocompanion, radioconfiguration tools andevenhow to setupyourowngroundstationwithsimplesteps!

Best of all, you’ll be able to complete the projects discussed in the book byyourself without any problems because they are so damn easy andstraightforward.Shallwebegin?Thanksagainfordownloadingthisbook.Ihopeyouenjoyit!

©Copyright2017-Allrightsreserved.The contents of this book may not be reproduced, duplicated or transmittedwithoutdirectwrittenpermissionfromtheauthor,DwightStanfield.

Under no circumstanceswill any legal responsibility or blamebe held againstthe publisher for any reparation, damages, or monetary loss due to theinformationherein,eitherdirectlyorindirectly.LegalNotice:This book is copyright protected. This is only for personal use. You cannotamend,distribute, sell, use,quoteorparaphraseanypartor thecontentwithinthisbookwithouttheconsentoftheauthor.DisclaimerNotice:

Please note the information containedwithin this document is for educationaland entertainment purposes only. Every attempt has been made to provideaccurate, up to date and reliable complete information. No warranties of anykind are expressed or implied. Readers acknowledge that the author is notengagingintherenderingoflegal,financial,medicalorprofessionaladvice.Thecontent of this book has been derived from various sources. Please consult alicensedprofessionalbeforeattemptinganytechniquesoutlinedinthisbook.Byreadingthisdocument, thereaderagrees thatundernocircumstancesare istheauthorresponsibleforanylosses,directorindirect,whichareincurredasaresultof theuseof informationcontainedwithin thisdocument, including,butnotlimitedto,—errors,omissions,orinaccuracies.

TableofContentsIntroduction

AComprehensiveBackgroundoftheRaspberryPiWhatIsIt?AShortHistoryofRaspberryPi,AndtheSetupSettingUpYourRaspberryPi

TheWi-FiSetUpFor this guide, we will connect to a Wi-Fi network with theinformationbelow:

InitialSoftwareInstallation

InstallingSambaSettingupthePrinter

TheHamRadioProgramsGpredict–ForSatelliteTracking

MoreHamRadioPrograms,AndProjectsGNURadioCompanionBuildaFlightAwarePiAwareGroundStation

RemoteHamRadioOperationViaRaspberryPiConclusion

Let’sstartfromthebeginningi.e.understandingtheRaspberryPibeforewegettothepointofdiscussingvariousotherissuessurroundingtheRaspberryPi.

AComprehensiveBackgroundoftheRaspberryPiWhatIsIt?Insimplestterms,theRaspberryPireferstoaseriesofsmallcomputers(inthecategory of single board computers) that were developed in the UK by theRaspberryFoundation tohelp teachbasic computer science invarious schoolsbothinthedevelopedanddevelopingcountries.Outofthebox,thenewdevice,which you can purchase from Raspberrypi.org, comes without the peripheraldevices(mouse,caseandkeyboard).BeforewediscussthespecificsofhowtosetupandusetheRaspberryPiasapro even as a complete beginner, we will start by going through the journeythroughtimei.e.howtheRaspberryPicameintobeing.ThisshorthistorywillhelpyoutounderstandRaspberryPiwellbeforewegettosetitup.

AShortHistoryofRaspberryPi,AndtheSetupBeforeraspberryPiwasinvented,personalcomputershadbecomeanexpensivehouseholdappliance.Manyparentshadgrownreluctantoflettingtheirkidsusethe familycomputersdue to thehighcostof themachinesand fragility.Manykids,asaresult,werenotwell-versedwithcomputers.In2006,Dr.EbenUptontogetherwithhisassociatesfromtheUniversityofCambridgerealizedthattherewasasteepdeclineinnumbersandskillsofthestudentsenrollingforcomputerscience courses.Theydecided todevelopan inexpensive computer thatwouldenableyoungpeoplefamiliarizethemselvesadequatelywithcomputerconcepts.

In 2011, the Raspberry Pi Model B was created and it sold more than twomillionunitswithinaperiodoftwoyears.Sincethen,therehasbeenanongoingimprovementindifferentmodelsofRaspberryPi.Themachineisnotonlyacomputerbutamicrocontrolleraswellwithpinsthatcan sense externally and actually control devices. The computer, among otheruses, is used for general purpose computing, learning about programming,productprototyping,controllingrobots,creatingamediacenter,securitysystemsandhomeautomation,andasaprojectplatform.

SettingUpYourRaspberryPiObviously,beforeyousetitup,youneedtopurchaseyourRaspberryPi.OnceyouhaveyourownRaspberryPi,nowyoucangoontosetitup.Luckily,settingupyourPiisprettystraightforward.

Firstofall,youhavetomakesuretheRaspberryPioperatingsystemisinstalledon theSDcard.Youcando thisusing theNOOBS(newoutofboxsoftware)programeasily.TheoperatingsystemofRaspberryPi,knownasRaspbian,anddatastoragearestoredonaMicroSDcard.ThismeansthatyoucanbeabletosetupdifferentSDcards-eachoneofthembootingaRaspberryPiindifferentconfigurations.Forinstance,bychangingtheSDCardinthePi,thedevicecouldbe a robot, drone control system, camera controller, home security system,earthquake detector, weather station, radon detector, SETI cruncher, GPS,RFIDReaderandmanymore.YouneedtonotethatthemicroSDcardspeedusuallyrangeuptoclass10(thisisthefastest).Theclassisindicatedbyanumberinacircle.TherecommendedminimumusefulclassforRaspberryPi isclass4.While theclass10cardwilloperateforalongerperiodoftime,it(thecard)tendsto‘wearout’intime.Also,aswithanycomputerdata,youhavetobackuptheSDcard.IfyoureceivedyourraspberryPipre-installedwithaNOOBSSDcard,youcanverywellskip to theWi-Fisetupsection in thebook.Otherwise,youhave tofollowthestepsbelowtodownloadandinstallNOOBSonyourSDcard:GotothissiteandclicktheNOOBSicon.Select[DownloadZip]andthenunzipthefoldercontainingthedownloadedNOOBSsystem.

Followthefilelabeled‘INSTRUCTIONS-README.txt’locatedintheunzipped

NOOBSfolder.Atthebottomofthedesktop,you’llfindthelanguageselectionwindowwhereyouwill choose the language of your country- for instance, in theUS, selectEnglish.Thiswill then lead to the display of the correspondingUSkeyboard.NowclickontheRaspbiancheckbox;clickontheinstallicon,makingsuretoclick ‘yes’ on the confirmation window. When the window labeled [OS(es)Installed]appears,justclickOK.

TheWi-FiSetUpWewill need to connect your device to the internet in order to download theprogramsinthisbook.Thefirststepistoconnectyourdevicetoamonitorandakeyboard. When you do so, login to the Raspberry Pi using these defaultRaspberryPicredentials:

Getthenetworkinformation

Forthisguide,wewillconnecttoaWi-Finetworkwiththeinformationbelow:

Each timeyou see this password andnetworkname in theguide, youhave tochangethemtothepasswordandnetworknameforyourlocalnetwork.Ifyouhavetofindthenameofyourlocalnetwork,simplyrunthecommandbelowinyourraspberryterminal:sudoiwlistwlan0scanBydoingso,youwillgetalistofallnetworksaroundyou,andsomeimportantinformation foreachnetwork.Youcanhowever look for something that lookslikeESSID:TestWifiNetworktofindyournetworkname.Configureyournetwork

Youhavetoeditafile labeledwpa_supplicant.conf. to informPi toconnect toyour Wi-Fi network automatically. To open the file in nano, just type thecommandbelow:

Scrolluptotheendofthefile,andthenincludethecodesbelowtothefilesothatyouareabletoconfigurethenetwork:

Donotforgettoreplaceitwithyourpersonalnetworknameandpassword.PressCtrl+XfollowedbyYtosaveandclosethefile.Yourdeviceshouldnowbe able to connect to your network automatically. You can run the followingcommandtocheckyournetworkconnection:

Youwillknowyouareconnectedwhentheoutputlookssomethinglikethis:

Insomeinstances,thedevicewillnotautomaticallyconnect;thismeansthatyouhavetoreboottobeabletodoso.Ifitfailstoconnectafterwaiting2-3minutes,youcouldtryrebootingthedeviceusingthecommandbelow:

DownloadYourFreeBonus–10BestHamRadioWebsites

InitialSoftwareInstallationInstallingSambaSamba isaprogram that is important to installbecauseyouwillneed to sharefileswithothercomputersonyourlocalnetwork.UsingPiasasambafileserveriseasyandwithit,you’llalsobeablestorebackupsfromothercomputers.Samba is basically the Linux implementation of CIFS (common internet filesystem) /SMB (server message block) file sharing standard used by windowscomputers and apple computers, and supported by games consoles, mediastreamersandmobileapplications.In this tutorial, I am assuming you have connected a keyboard, monitor andmousetoyourPi tosetupyourfileserver.IalsoassumeyouareusinganSDcardthatoffersareasonablestoragespacewithoutneedinganyadditionalstepstomake itaccessible.Nonetheless, ifyourequiremorestorage,youcaneasilymountalargeexternalUSBdriveandmakeaSambaentryforit.Eventhoughwe’vealreadysetuptheWi-Fi,IwouldstillrecommendyouuseawiredEthernetconnectionforfasttransferspeedsandstability–especiallyifyouarecopyingoverlargefiles(buttheprojectwillstillworkifyouusetheWi-Fi).

SettingupSambaSamba isbasicallyavailable in the standard software repositoriesofRaspbian.Wearenowgoingtoupdatetherepositoryindex,ensuretheoperatingsystemisfully updated and install Sambawith apt-get. Open the terminal and type thefollowing:

CreateyourdirectoryWearenowgoing tomakeadedicatedshareddirectoryon themicroSDharddisk.Eventhoughyoucanputitanywhere,we’llputoursattheupperleveloftherootfilesystem.

The command sets the sticky part to assist in preventing the directory fromgetting deleted accidentally and offers everyone the permissions towrite/read/executeonit.ConfigureSambatoshareyourdirectory

ConfigureSambatoshareyournewdirectory

NowedittheconfigfilesofSambatomakethefilesharevisibletothePCsonthenetwork.

Inthistutorial’sexample,you’llhavetoaddtheentrybelow:

Thissimplymeansthatanyonewillbeabletoread,writeandexecutefilesinthesharebyeitherlogginginasaSambauser(we’llsetupthatonebelow)orasaguest. If you don’t want to allow guest users, you can omit the line ‘guestok=yes’.

YoucanalsouseSambatoshareathehomedirectoryofausersothattheyareabletoaccessitfromsomewhereelseonthenetwork,orshareabiggerexternalharddiskwhichlivesatafixedmountpoint.Simplycreateanentry‘smb.conf’foranypaththatyouwant toshare,anditwillbeavailedacrossyournetworkuponrestartingSamba.CreatingauserandstartingSambaBeforeyoustart theserver,youwillhavetoset theSambapassword,whichisdifferent from your standard default raspberry password. There’s however noharm in wanting to use the same, because this is just a low-security, localnetworkproject.

Asprompted,nowsetapassword.Lastly,trytorestartSamba:

Fromthispointhenceforth,Sambawillautomaticallystarteachtimeyoupoweron your Pi. Disconnect themonitor,mouse and keyboard safely aftermakingsurethatyoucanlocatethesharednetworkfolder.LetthePirunasaheadlessfileserver.

YouwillalsobeabletolocatetheRaspberryPifileserver(whichisbydefaultnamedRASPBERRYPI)fromanydeviceonyourlocalnetwork.Ifyouleftthe

defaultsettingsastheyare,itwillshowinaWindowsnetworkgroupknownasWORKGROUP.ThenextobligationwehavebeforedownloadingtheHamprogramsissettinguptheprinter.Let’sdothatnow.

SettingupthePrinterAsyouwillrealize,youwillneedaphysicaloutputwhenyouareimplementingtheHamradioprojectsandthus,havingaprinteronstandbyisaprerequisite.

InstallingCUPSonyourPiandpermittingremoteaccessTolinkaprinterwithPi,wefirsthavetoinstallCUPS(CommonUnixPrintingSystem).Atthispoint,you’llfireupyourPithennavigatetotheterminaleitherviaSSHoronthePiitself.Youneedtoenterthecommandbelowattheterminal,tostartinstallingCUPS:

When the‘continue’promptpopsup,simply typeYand then tapenter.PleasefeelfreetograbacupofcoffeebecauseCUPSisquiteabeefyinstall.Whenthebaseinstallationcompletes,youneedtomakesomeadministrativechanges.Thefirst thingyouhave todo isaddyourself to theusergroup thatcanaccess theprinters or printer queue. The user group created by CUPS is known as‘lpadmin’.TheRaspbian’sdefaultuser(andtheuserthatweareloggedinto)is‘pi’- you can however adjust the following command if youdesire a differentusertoaccesstheprinter.Typethefollowingcommandattheterminal:

Incaseyouarewondering,theswitchlabeled‘-a’enablesyoutoaddanexistinguser (that is ‘pi’) to an existing group (that is ‘lpadmin’) as specified by theswitchlabeled‘-G.’Thelastpartofthepre-configurationprocessistoenabletheremoteeditingofCUPSconfiguration.Youcancompletetherestoftheconfigurationthroughtheweb browser on your Raspberry Pi. If you want to, you are free to use yourwindows desktop browser to finish the configuration; all you will need is totoggle a bit of value in /etc/cups/cupsd.conf.Enter the commandbelow at theterminal:

Nowlookforthissectionwithinthefile:

Nowcommentoutthelinelabeled‘Listenlocalhost:631’andreplaceitwiththe

linebelow:

Thiswill instructCUPS to start listening forallnetworking interfacecontacts,whicharedirectedtotheport631.Makesuretoscrolldownfurtherintheconfigfiletogettothesectionthatislabeled‘locations’.Inthefollowingblock,Ihaveboldedanylinesthatneedtobeaddedtotheconfig:

The‘allow@local’lineadditionenablestheaccesstoCUPSfromanycomputeronyourlocalnetwork.EachtimeyoudoanychangesintheCUPSconfigurationfile, youwill have to restart theCUPS server.Use the command below to dothat:

Onceyou restartCUPS,youshouldbeable toaccess theadministrationpanelthroughanyofyourlocalnetwork’scomputerbypointingitswebbrowseratthislink:AddaprintertoCUPS

When you navigate to this link: , youwill beabletoseetheCUPShomepage,asillustratedintheimageabove.However,areinterestedinthe‘administration’tabsoclickonit.

Next, click ‘add printer’ in the administration panel. If you get a warningregarding the security certificate of the site, you can ignore it by clicking‘proceed anyway’. You’ll be prompted to enter a username as well as thepassword.

Proceedandenter theusernamedetailsaswellas thepasswordof theaccountthatyouaddedtothe‘lpadmin’groupearlieroninthetutorial.Forinstance,ifyou chose to use the raspbian install (the default), the login as well as thepasswordshouldbe‘Pi’and‘raspberry’respectively.Nowclickonlogin.Onceyou log in, youwill see all the printers available (those that are local and thenetworkedatthesametime).Choosetheprinteryouwanttoaddtothesystem.

Onceyouchoosetheprinter,you’llbegiventhechancetoeditthedescription,locationandnameoftheprinter,andalsotoenablenetworksharing.Sincetheprinterwe’reusingisalreadyanetworkprinter,wedidn’tcheckthe‘sharethisprinter’box.

Onceyoueditthenameoftheprinterandaddalocation,youwillgetaprompttochoosethespecificdriverthatyouwantforyourprinter.Whileitdiscoveredtheprinterandprinternameautomatically,CUPSdoesn’tmakeanyattempt tochoose the correct driver foryou.After installing the rightdriver, scroll downuntilyouareabletoseeamodelnumbermatchingyourown.Asanalternative,if you have a PPD file for the printer that you’ve downloaded from themanufacturer,simplyloaditwiththebuttonlabeled‘choosefile’

The final stepentails lookingovergeneralprint settingssuchas thenameandaddressofyourpreferred/defaultprinter.thedefaultpapersourceorsizeandso

forth.Itoughttodefaulttotherightpresets,eventhoughitneverhurtstocheckthough.

Onceyouclickthe‘setdefaultoptions’,you’llbeabletoseetheprinter’sdefaultadministrationpage(thisisfortheprinteryouaddedtotheCUPSsystem).

Alllookswell.Therealtest,nonetheless,isactuallygettingtoprintsomething.FireupthedefaulttexteditorofRaspbian,Leafpad,andsendamessage:

So far, if youhave included theonlyuser that has to access theprinter to the‘lpadmin’group,andyouhavealsoaddedorincludedtheonlyprinteryouwantto access the CUPS system, that should be it. If you’ve got other users oradditionalprintersyouwouldwanttoadd,justrunthroughtheindividualstepsthatwe’vejustdiscussedabovetodoso.

TheHamRadioProgramsWewillnowdiscusstheinstallationofimportantLinuxamateurradiosoftware.You can find the list of these software athttp://www.raspberryconnect.com/raspbian-packages-list/item/71-raspbian-hamradio.

Hamradiomenus(itEstablishesMenus)Let’sfirsttakeanoverviewofthisprogram:This program creates a sub-menu for the applications of Ham radio that youhave installed.Theprogramonlyappearswhenyouhave installedat leastoneapplicationwithadesktopentryfilethatcontainsthecategoryentry:HamRadio.Theprogramdoesnothaveanyadditionalhardwarerequirements.

HowtoinstallitTherearetwowaysofinstallingthesoftwarethatyoucanchoosefrom:Startbyopeningaterminalsession;onthetaskbar,clickontheterminaliconattheupperpartofthescreen.

Therearetwowaystoinstallsoftware.Chooseoneofthefollowingmethods:UsingthecommandlinetoinstallitIfyou’venotrecentlydoneanupdate,youcandosofornewandupdatedLinuxpackagescurrentlyavailablewith:

Ifanewpackageversioninstalledonyourmachineisavailable,thepackagewillbe upgradedwith the command below.We don’t have any installed packagesthatareeverremovedbythecommand.

Taptheenterkeywhenyougetapromptaskingyouifyouwanttocontinue.

Nowtypethecommandbelowtoinstalltheprogram:

Likewise,whenyouget a prompt askingyou if youwant to continue, tap theenterkey.Oncethedownloadiscomplete,youhavecompletedtheinstallation.

UsingtheaddorremovesoftwaremenuselectionOnthetaskbar,findtheRaspberryiconandclickonit.Onthedropdownmenuthatappears,clickonpreferences.ChooseaddorremovesoftwareandthenenterHamRadioMenusinthesearchboxandtapenter.ClickthehamradiomenusforKDEandGNOMEselectionsquareandclickontheApplybutton.InputthePipassword and when the download is complete, it means the installation iscompleteaswell.

NOTE:TheHamradiomenusdoesnotrequireadesktopentry.Configurationisalsonotneeded.Withregardstoitsoperating,whenaHamRadiocategoryapplicationisinstalled,theHamRadiomenusiconappears

Aldo-MorseCodeAldo is a learning tool in Morse code that provides four kinds of trainingmethodsshownasthestartupmenu.Andtheyincludethefollowing:

Blocksmethod-thisoneisusedtoidentifydifferentblocksthathaverandomcharactersthatareplayedinMorsecodeKoch-thisiswheretwocharactersareplayedattopspeeduntilyoucanpinpoint90%ofthem,thenanothercharacterisincludedandsoforth.Readfromfile–entailssendingcharactersthatareproducedfromafile.Callsign-entailsidentifyingrandomcallsignsplayedinMorsecodeSettings- setting up speed and techniques of selecting letters to besentExitprogram

The program does not have extra hardware requirements. For the installationhowever,youhavetwomethodstochoosefrom:

InstallationbythecommandlineOpenaterminalsessionbyclickingtheiconontheterminalonthetaskbarat

the topof thescreen. Ifyou’venot recentlyupdated the informationabout thenew,updatedLinuxpackagesthatareavailable,pleasedosousing:

Ifanewversionofapackage that is installedonyourmachine isavailable, itwillbeupgradedwiththecommandbelow.Youshouldnotethattherearen’tanyinstalledpackagesthatareevertakenawaybythecommand.

Inordertoinstalltheprogram,use:

Whenyougetapromptaskingyouwhetheryouwanttocontinue,taptheenterkey.Theinstallationwillbecompletewhenthedownloadingisdone.TheinstallationbyaddorremovesoftwaremenuselectionFirstclickontheicononthetaskbarsymbolizingRaspberry.Onthedropdownmenu that appears, click on preferences.Now choose add or remove softwareandinthesearchbox,enteraldoandtapenter.TherewillbeaselectionsquarelabeledMorseCodetrainingprogram;clickonit.Clickontheapplybuttonandenter thePipassword.The installationwillbecompletewhen thedownload isdone.

NOTE:For the desktop entry- type the following to be able to generate a startmenuwindowfor in the resultingeditor:

DownloadYourFreeBonus–10BestHamRadioWebsites

Type“[Ctrl]X”,”Y”thenentertosavethefilethenrestartthemenubytyping:

Fortheconfiguration,selectoption5,whichreferstothesetup,andthenselectoption one for the Keyer Setup. Press the enter key twice after which thedifferentparameterscanbeset.Onceyoucompletetheprogramsetup,option6willtakeyoutothemainmenu.Fortheoperating,simplyclickmenu-HamRadio-MorseCodeTrainingandthenchoosethecodetypeyouwanttohavegenerated.IfyouareusingaHDMIHDTVasthemonitor,youwillhearthesoundfromthespeakerofthemonitor,orthemonitor’saudiooutputjackifthemonitordoesn’thaveaspeaker.Chirp-configurationtoolforamateurradios

Chirpisbasicallyatoolmeantforrestoring,savingandmanagementofmemory,andpresetdataintheamateurradios.Itbasicallysupportsmanymanufacturersandmodels, and also offers a way to interfacewith various data sources andformats.Youcanfindthesupportedradiomodelsinthesitebelow.http://chirp.danplanet.com/projects/chirp/wiki/Supported_RadiosFor thehardware, thisprogramwill requireaUSBcable toconnectwithyourdevice.Pleaseseehereformoreinformation.

Fortheinstallation,youhavetwowaysatyourdisposaltodothat(chooseone):

InstallationbythecommandlineOpenaterminalsessionbytappingontheterminaliconatthetopofthescreen(on the task bar). If you’ve not updated the information about the new andupdatedLinuxpackagesthatareavailable,use:

If a new version of a package installed on your machine is available, thecommand belowwill be used to upgrade the package. As usual, there are nopackagesthathaveeverbeenerasedbythiscommand.

Nowinordertoinstalltheprogram,use:

Youwillreceiveapromptaskingyouwhetheryouwanttocontinue-pressenter.Youwillknowtheinstallationiscompletewhenthedownloadiscomplete.Installationbyaddorremovesoftwaremenuselection

Onyourtaskbar,simplyclickontheraspberryicon;onthedropdownmenuthatappears,chooseaddorremovesoftware,andinthesearchbox,enterchirp;nowpress enter. You will see a selection square labeled ‘configuration tool foramateurradios’clickontheapplybuttonthenenterthePipassword.Youwillknowtheinstallationiscompletewhenthedownloadingisdone.Desktopentryfile:thisoneisgeneratedautomatically.Configuration:theprogramdoesnotrequireanyinitialconfiguration.

Withregardstotheoperation,youcanusethisguide.Whenthedownloadiscomplete,youhavecompletedtheinstallation.

Fldigi-theDigitalModemProgram

TheimageabovedescribestheFldigiscreen.Fldigi is basically amodemprogram that supportsmost current digitalmodesthatareusedbyhamradioradiooperators.YoucanalsousetheprogramtodoafrequencymeasurementtestorcalibrateyoursoundcardtoWWV.ThisprogramalsohasaCWdecoder.WhenyoustartopenflarqyougetacorrectionoferrorsintransmissioncausedbythesubsequentabilitytotransmitaswekkasreceiveAutomaticRepeatRequest(ARQ)frames.ButwhatisFlarq?

Flarq (fast light automatic repeat request) is an ARQ specification based filetransfer application that has the capacity to transmit and receive ARQ dataframesthroughMultiaPskonwindowsorFldigionLinux.Flmsgontheotherhandisamanagementeditor,whichisbestsuitedforamateurradio supported standard formats ofmessage that includeMARS, ICS,HICS,NTSRadiograms,RedCross,plaintextandIARU.ItsdatafilesareASCIIthatcanbe transmitted fromonepoint toanotherviaamateur radio, the internetorotherelectroniclinks.Flwrap isa littledesktopappencapsulatingan image file, text fileorabinaryfile insideagroupof identifierblocks.Thisappiscreatedforuse to itsfullestwithfldigieventhoughyoucanalsouseitwithanydigitalmodelprogram.

Let’snowlookatthehardware.As youmayhave noticed, raspberry pi doesn’t have an audio input capabilityandsoyou’llrequireanexternalaudioadapterliketheTigertronicsSignalLinkUSB.Ifyouhaveacomputerassistedtransceiver(CAT),itmeansthatthefldigisoftware and the transceiver will be able to pass the info to and fro. In theinstancethetransceiverfrequencyisaltered,thefldigidisplaywillalsoindicateandyoucanuseittoenterthetimeandfrequencyinformationautomaticallyinthebuilt-in loggingprogram in fldigi.Acable isneeded for theCAT function(and probably the manufacturer has a cable available for you to connect thetransceiver to the computer) so you should check with your transceiver’sdistributortogetthiscable.

Nonetheless, these cables normally use RS-232 specifications. You wouldprobablyalsorequireaRS-232TOUSBadapterforthePiconnection.JustgotoAmazon.comorasimilarsiteandenterRS-232TOUSBadapterandsearch.NOTE/CAUTION:

Theprogramcreatesacompletedutycyclewithhighlevelsofmodulationwhenusedontheairusingtransmittingequipment.

Youthushavetorefer tothemanualofyourtransceiverandreducetheoutputpowerofyourtransmittertoasafelevel.Fortheinstallation,therearetwowaystochoosefrom:InstallationusingthecommandlineJust clickon the terminal icon locatedon the taskbaron topofyour screen toopenaterminalsession.Ifyouhavenotupdatedtheinfoaboutnewandupdatedpackagesoflinux,youcandosousing:

(Togettheavailablepackagesatthemoment)Inthecasethatanewpackageversioninstalledonyourmachineisavailable,thecommand below will be used to upgrade the package. There are no installedpackagesthatareevererasedbythiscommandthough.

InstallationbyaddingorremovingthesoftwaremenuselectionOnthetaskbar,clickontheRaspberryicon;onthedropdownlistthatappears,clickonpreferencesthenchooseaddorremovesoftware.Youwillseeasearchbox;enterfldigithenpressenter,thenclicktheselectionsquareslabeled:

and

Next,taponthebuttonlabeled‘apply’;youmightalsoberequestedtoenterthepipassword.Whenthedownloadfinishes,itmeanstheinstallationhasfinishedaswell.Asregards to thedesktopentryfile,youhavetonote thatFldigiandFlarqareboth bundled in this package. The desktop entry files for both of them arecreated automatically. Nonetheless, network is included along with the HamRadiocategory.Incaseyoudesiretoremovethenetworkentry,use:

Intheeditor,removenetworkthatresults;fromthelineofcategorieswiththeseresults:

Tosavethefile,press“[Ctrl]X”,”Y”andpressenter.repeatthisforthedesktopentries:

As regards to the configuration, you have to note that connecting the audiointerfaceand the transceivercontrolcable is important (ifyouareusing them)before you open fldigi. The first time the program is run, you will see some‘Fldigiconfigurationwizard’displayed.Nowtaponnext.

DownloadYourFreeBonus–10BestHamRadioWebsites

Nowenteryourcallsign,Location,Name,locatorormaidenheadlocatorEnter yourCallsign,Name,Location (QTH),Maidenhead locator and antennainfo.Taponnext.

Clickon the tab labeled‘devices’forSignaLinkUSBinterfaceand thencheckthe Port AudioBox; choose USB Audio CODEC: USB Audio (hw:1,0) forcapture; choose USB Audio CODEC: USB Audio (hw:1,0) for Playback andselectrightchanneltab.

Now click the right channel tab and choose ‘PTT tone on the right audiochannel’ before clicking on next. Click on the Hamlib tab in the transceivercontrolwindow.

ChoosetheHamlibtabandfromthedropdownmenuthatappears,chooseyourrig.Choose/dev/ttySO(underdevice-dropdownmenu).Next,settheBaudrateforyourrig.YoumayneedtoexperimentwiththefourboxeslabeledRTS+12,DTR+12, theXON/XOFFflowcontrolaswellas theRTS/CTSflowcontrolsothatyoupushtheHamlibtooperateyourrig.Nowclickonthecheckboxlabeled‘Hamlib’ and then click the ‘initialize’ button as well. Tap on next until theprogramstarts.Atthetopofthefldigiwindow,you’llfind‘configureselection’;clickonittoo.

On the drop downwindow, click onMisc and then onCPU; confirm that theslowCPUboxisleftuncheckedifyouknowyouareusingaRaspberryPithatiseither700MHzorfasterthanthat.Afterthatclickonthe‘NBEMS’tab-ifyouwish for the incomingmessages to be displayed on a flmsg form, ensure youcheckthe‘openwithflmsg’checkbox.IfyouwouldwantacopytobeputinabrowserHTMLformataswell,clickonthecheckboxlabeled‘openinbrowser’.Now move to the taskbar and click on the terminal icon to open a terminalsession.Youcanenterthecommandbelowtofindthelocationofflmsg:

As you can see from the image above, go ahead and key in the line-/usr/bin/flmsg-which does not contain /doc/ in the flmsg:window. Click onesave and close then click on the ‘x’ in the upper right corner to restart theprogram.Youwillneed toclickon thebutton labeled ‘yes’aswell toconfirmquit.After that, choose fldigi through themenusystem in the taskbarat the topofyourscreen(raspberryicon),FldigiandHamRadio.Asregardstotheoperating,thedigitalbrandsincludethefollowing:

Youcangetthefulllistalongwiththemodeshere:

Gpredict–ForSatelliteTrackingGpredict is an application for real-time orbit prediction and satellite tracking.Thisapplicationcantracknumerousnumberofsatellitesandshowtheirpositionandrelateddataintables,lists,mapsandifcoursepolarplots.

The app can also be able to make predictions of a satellite’s time for futurepassesandoffersyoualltheinformationaboutallpasses.Gpredicthasbeenseenasbeingauniquesatellite trackingprogrambecause itenables you to assemble the satellites in terms of visualizationsmodules, andyou can configure each one of them (the modules) independently from theothers,thusofferingyouunlimitedflexibilitywithregardstothelookandfeelofthe modules. Naturally, Gpredict also allows you to track satellitescomparativelytovariousobserverlocationsallatthesametime.Theinstallationandusage

Starttheterminalwindowandtypethefollowingcommand:

YourRaspberrydevicewillthendownloadandinstallthesoftwareforyouandtakeyoubacktothecommandpromptwhenitcompletes.Tostartupthesoftware,justtypethefollowingfromyourterminalwindow:

Withthat,thesoftwarenowstartsup;youhavetoperformabitofconfigurationtolettheprogramtoknowyourcurrentlocation(Copenhagen-isthedefault).

Clickeditorpreferencesandchoosethegroundstationstab.Thenpressaddnewandproceed toaddyour locationdetails,altitude, longitudeand latitude.Onceyousavethat,youcannowdeletethesamplelocationofCopenhagenandturnyourownintothedefault.

Whilestillinpreferences,youcanchooseyourscreenlayout.Ifyouhavealargemonitor, then the optimum is table, Map, Polar and a wide single sat (youhoweverhave thefreedomtoplayaroundandsee theone thatsuitsyoubest).Youmayhavetorestarttheprogramforthechangestotakeeffect.

Aboutnow,itmightbeagoodideatocheckthatyou’vegotthelatestsatellitedata,which the program can download for you. SelectEdit/UpdateTLE fromnetworkandthengiveitamomentfortheupdatetofinish.Lastly, you will want to configure the satellites that you are tracking. Thesoftwarewilldefault to theamateur radiomodule. Justclickon theoptionsorshortcutsonthemodule–atthetoprightareaofthemainwindow,rightbeneaththemainwindowscontrol:close,maximizeandminimize.Justclickonthatandthenconfigure.Onceyoudoallthat,youcannowselectthesatellitesyouwanttotrack.WhileFancube-1 or evenAO-73 is not being displayed under those names, you cansearchforitandincludeit-itisbelievedtobe2013-066Bthough.Ipersonally

includedothersatelliteslikeISS,VO-52,FO-29andSO-50.Yourchoicemaybedifferent.

At this point, you should be able to see the location of all your satellites asplottedonthescreen.Ifyouwantmoredetailsaboutaspecificsatellite,simplyhighlightitinthelistatthebottomandrightclicktochoose‘futurepasses’or‘shownextpass.’IcansaythatG-predictdoesworkwellonthePi.Eventhoughitdoesn’tappeartomaxtheprocessoroutreallywell,atleastitisquicktostartupandshutdown-ifyouwanttoengageyourselfwithsomethingelse.Twclock-worldclock

Asahamoperator,theclockprogramwillprovetobeveryhelpful.ApartfromdisplayingGMTand local time, it isable todisplay thecurrent timeofall themajorcitiesaroundtheglobe.ItalsohasanalarmtoinformyouwhenthetimeforastationIDarrives.

Asyouwillrealize,youcansettheIDalarmtoapreferreddelayofsecondsandminutes.Thealarmwillinformyouthatit’stimetoIDorallofthewaysbelow:

BeepthePC’sspeakerBlinkthealarmbuttonSendacallinCWtoyouusingpulseaudioviayoursoundcard

You could feed the CW audio to your rig to allow transmission of the ID isautomatically.TheCWisproducedusingcodefromqrq.

You will also find an auto reset choice. This choice starts the next time outautomaticallywithoutanyactionfromyou,theuser.So, youneed to connect your soundcard’soutput to the ‘audio-in’ pinof yourrig’saccessoryjacksothatitistransmitted.

Essentially,thisprogramisessentiallyaclockthatistailoredforthehamradiooperators,thosewhowanttoknowthetimeinsomeotherplaceintheworld,orjustaboutanyonewhohashadenoughofthesamelookoftheordinaryclock.Theprogramshowsthecurrentdateandtimeindifferentcitiesaroundtheworldatthesametime.TheinstallationTheinstallationprocessissimple,anditusestheCLI(commandlineinterface).BeginbyupdatingtherepositoryindexonyourRaspberryPibyusing:

NowsearchfortheRaspberryPirepositoryindexforthetwclockprogramsvia:

Next,installtheprogram:

Whenthatisdone,starttwclock.Inthegraphicuserinterfaceofyourcomputer,open the top left application menu and choose accessories, twclock. You canopen twoprogramsof twclockat thesame time-oneof themset to local timeandtheotheronetoGMTtime.Uninstallingitisalsosimple:

Sofar,youhaveprettymuchenoughprogramstogetyoustartedwithamateurradioactivities.However,sinceyouhavetobereallygoodat this,Iwilladdacouplemore,underthenextchapterinwhichwewilllookatfullHamprojects.

DownloadYourFreeBonus–10BestHamRadioWebsites

MoreHamRadioPrograms,AndProjectsGNURadioCompanion

GNU Radio is basically a free software development toolkit that essentiallyoffersblockstoimplementsoftwareradios.Youcanuseitwithreadilyavailablecheap external RF hardware to build software defined radios or in anenvironment resembling a simulation without any hardware. This software ismainlyusedbycommercialandacademicenvironments,andhobbyistsaswelltosupportreal-worldradiosystemsandwirelesscommunicationsresearch.The applications of GNU radio aremainly written with Python programminglanguage, and the supplied performance-critical path of signal processing isusually implemented in C++ with, where available, processor floating point

extensions. This means that the developer is capable of implementing radiosystems, which are real time and high throughput in a rapid-applicationdevelopmentenvironmentthatissimpletouse.EventhoughGNUisnotprimarilyasimulationtool,itsupportsdevelopmentofsignalprocessingalgorithmswithpre-recordedorgenerateddata-whichavoidsthe necessity of having actual RF hardware. The package also contains agraphicaltoolknownasgnuradio-companion,whichcreatessignalflowgraphsandgeneratesflow-graphsourcecodeaswell.Wealsohavemanydifferenttoolsandautilityprogramincluded.

WhydoyouneedGNU?GNURadiodoesallthesignalprocessing;youcanwriteapplicationswithittogetdataoutorevenpushdataintothedigitalstreams,whichisthentransmittedvia hardware. A GNU radio contains channel codes, filters, synchronizationelements, vocoders, demodulators, equalizers and other elements (we usuallyrefer to these as blocks in the GNU jargon) that are usually located in radiosystems. More importantly, it also has a way of connecting blocks and canmanagethewaydatausuallypassesfromoneblocktoanother.Itisactuallyveryeasy to extend a GNU Radio: if you get a particular missing block, you cancreateitandadditquickly.Movingon;GRC(GNURadiocompanion) is agraphicaluser interface that isused in thedevelopmentofGNURadioapplications.Asyoucanseein theimagesabove,youcanusesome inexpensiveSDRUSBdongles (>$20)suchas theNooElecR820TSDR&DVB-TNESDRMini(moreonthislater).

Youcanusetheprocessbelowtoinstallitusingthecommandlineinterface:UpdatetheraspberryPirepositoryindexusing:

NowmakeasearchintheRaspberryPirepositoryindexforGpredictprogramswith:

Installgnuradiowith:

Next,installgr-osmosdrwith:

Installgr-air-modeswith:

NowstartGRC-Inyourdesktop’sGUI,selectprograming,GRC(afteropeningthetopleftapplication).Makea withaSDR.Plug in the device below to the Pi: (you can findmore details about it fromNooElec).

IpersonallyusedaUSBhubforthedevicebecauseitistoolargeandwouldthusblocktherestoftheUSBports.

Nowdrag the (in sources) to the leftworkwindow.Drag theWXGUIWaterfallsink(ininstruments,WX)totheleftworkwindow.NowwirethesourceoutputofosmacomtoWXGUIWaterfallSink.InthevariableandIDsame_rate,alterthevalueto2MS/sIn the source output of osmacom to the WX GUI Waterfall sink, alter thefrequencytothevalues:146E6.

Inthetopiconmenu,choose‘generatetheflowgraph.’Savethefileinthefilemenu.Finally,chooseexecutetheflowgraphinthetopiconmenu.

Thesetup

It always seemsquite amazing tomewhat ahumbleUSBTVdongle cando-considering you can pick up one for about £10 togetherwith the open sourceSDRsoftware.Asyoucanseeinthepictureabove,itisverysimpletoplugoneof them inoneof theUSBports,with the suppliedantenna fixed.PleasevisitthispageformoreinformationaboutRTL-SDR.Nowthatwearere-purposingaTVtunerwhichtheLinuxkernelsupports,andwhichitwouldotherwiseclaimandfortelevisionreception,wehavetofirstofall make the kernel to stop doing so. We will edit the ‘

’ file and proceed to add the followinglinebelow:

InstallSoftware(RTL-SDR)andtheGNURadiosupportasfollows:

Youwillalsorequiresettingupanewudevrulesothatyouareabletoaccessthedeviceasanon-rootuser-youhoweverfirsthavetoascertaintheUSBID.Makesurethetunerispluggedinandthentypethefollowing:$lsusb

Thisshouldgiveyouthefollowing:

Now you need to create the file with thefollowingline:

At this point, you can restart Udev; nonetheless, since you also had a kernelmoduleblacklisted,youprobablyshouldconsiderrebootingastheeasiestway.Thetest

You can run the FTT application to get a modest spectrum display, which isofferedaspartofthegr-osmocomsoftware.

IfyouthenlookattheCPUload,youcanseethatyou’vegotalotofcapacitytospare,withjustasinglecoreatabout70%utilization.

Thegr-air-modesOvertherecentpast,somuchhasbeenwrittenabouthowtousetheRTL-SDRhardwarealongwith the software, togetpositionand theheading information from the .Whilemanywriters state that they triedusingaRaspberryPiModelB (anda laptop)- thishasn’tproventohaveenoughprocessingpowerandtheresult isusuallybufferunderruns.

Acouplemoredependenciesareneeded,inordertobuildgr-air-modes.

Havinginstalledtheseones,thesourcescanbeclonedfromGitHubasfollows:$gitcloneGithub

Tothencreateandinstall:

Youcannowusethefollowingtoruntheapplication:

And with only a small antenna and a significant number of miles from theclosestairport,youwillstillmanagetoreceivenoshortageofoutput.

Onceagain,nottomention,withalotofheadroomtospare:

BuildaFlightAwarePiAwareGroundStationYoucanconstructandactually runyourADS-Bgroundstationwhichyoucaninstallanywhereandactuallyreceivedatainrealtimeonyourcomputerdirectlyfromairplanes.Yourgroundstationwillbeable to runFlightAware’sPiAwaresoftwaretobeabletotrackanyflightsthatarewithina100-300mileradius(thisisthelineofsight-therangedependsontheantennainstallation)andwillfeeddatatoFlightAwareautomatically.YoucantrackflightsoffyourPiAwaregadgetdirectlyorthroughFlightAware.com.

NOTE: As a token of appreciation from FlightAware, you will receive thefollowingforsendingADS-Bdata:

Live data through flightaware.com- this is subject to a delay ofstandarddataprocessingofuptotwominutes.Anaccess to livedata (that isup-to-the-second) that is receivedbythe local device (this is accessiblewith a local network connectionfromthestatspage).Data from the local device highlighted on the track logs ofFlightAware.Detailedsiteperformancestatistics.Afreeenterpriseaccountforjust$89.95permonth

Gettingstarted

Theprocessisquickandveryeasy.Withtheinstructionsbelow,you’llfindtheprocessshort- itactually takesabout2hours tocomplete theproject- thepartsthemselvescostabout$100.Apart from your Pi, and other essentials we’ve already discussed like an SDcard,youwillneedthefollowing:

receiverwilltransformthe1090MHzradiosignaltoaformthatyourcomputercanactuallyunderstandTIP:ifyouareselectingbetweentheProStickPlusandFlightAwareProStick,remember that the Plus contains an on-board filter which works very well inplacesthatcontainalotofradionoise-likeurbanenvironments.1090MHzAntenna

Tostart,youcanbuyanindoorantenna.IfyouareusingtheFlightAwareUSBadapter,ensuretheantennacontainsanSMAconnector.If you are using a telescopingmast antenna,make sure to break it down to aquarterwavelengthof1090MHz-6.9cm-sothatyoumaximizereception.

DownloadYourFreeBonus–10BestHamRadioWebsites

InstallPiAwareonyourSDcardIwillnowshowyouhowtoinstallthesoftwareonyourSDcardifyouareusingawindowsorMacOS;however,Ihavetoremindyoutoensureyouselecttherightdrivetoinstalltheimage.

1. WindowsDownloadthePiAwaresoftwareonRaspbianLinuxZIPwhosesizeis310MBthensavethefileonyourcomputer.Byclickingthelink, itdownloadsthefileintoyourcomputer’sdownloadfolderautomatically.

Next, visit https://etcher.io/ to download the SD card writer (which is about80MB)insizeandfollowthedirectionstoinstalltheprogram.YoucanfindtheinfoaboutyourwindowsOSunderControlPanel>allcontrolpanelitems>system.Toseeallthecontrolpaneloptions,viewthecontrolpanelwithlittleicons.

Next,openEtcher.YoumayhavetorunEtcherasadministrator.Todoso,rightclick\runasadministrator\

ChoosethePiAwarezipfile

Choose the correct carefully. This process usuallyoverwritesanydatathat’sonthedrivesobecarefulwithittoensureyoudon’tlosedataaccidentally.Forinstance,youcanconsiderejectingtheexternalharddrives as well as any other storage devices to eliminate any likelihood ofoverwritingthedatabyaccident.

On‘mycomputer’screen,confirmthedrive.Inthepicturebelow,theremovabledisk(F)isthemicroSDcard:

Whenyouaresurethatthecorrectdriveisselected,click‘flash!’

OncethePiAwarehasbeeninstalled,EtchershouldactuallyautomaticallyejectyourSDcardautomatically;otherwise,youshouldmanuallyejectyourSDcardthenremoveitfromyourcomputerifthisdoesn’thappen.

2. MacOSX

StartbydownloadingPiAwareonRaspbianZIP,whichis310MBslarge.Savethefileonyourcomputer.LikeImentionedearlier, thefilewilldownloadintoyour‘downloads’folderonceyouclickonthelink.Next,visithttps://etcher.io/ todownload theSDcardwriter,which isabout80MBinsizeandwhilefollowingthedirectionsindicated,installtheprogram.

Nowopenetcher;youmayhavetoruntheprogramasadministrator(usecontrol+openapplication)

Nowselect thePiAwarezip file andcarefullychoose the rightMicroSDcardUSBdrivecarefullyasyouruntheriskofoverwritingimportantdata.Toavoidoverwriting the data accidentally, simply remove any connected external harddrives.Onthe‘finder’screen,confirmthedrive.Asyoucanseeintheimagebelow,themicroSDcardisshownas‘NONAME’.

Youwill need administrative privileges on the computer- if a prompt appears,signintoanadministrativeaccount.Whenyouaresuretherightdriveisselected,press‘Flash!’Once PiAware is installed, Etcher should eject the SD card automatically;otherwise,youcanmanuallyejectthecardandremoveitfromyourcomputer.

StartyourPiAwaredeviceSlidetheSDcardcontainingPiAwareintoyourPi.

YoucanalsoputthecaseonthePi-thisisoptionalthough.PlugtheUSBSDRADS-BreceiverintoyourPi.

PlugtheantennacableintotheUSBSDRADS-Bdongletightly.

IfyouarenotusingWi-Fi,plugtheinternetcable(Ethernet)in(otherwise,youcanskipthispart).PlugthepowerintoyourPi.

MakesureyouseeasolidredLEDandalsoablinkinggreenLEDonyourPiaswellgreenandyellowLEDsnexttotheEthernetjack.

GetPiAwareclientonFlightAware.comGive PiAware 4-5 minutes to start, and then you can link your FlightAwareaccountwiththePiAwaredeviceinordertogetallthebenefits.

Whenyourdevicebeginsrunning,dothefollowing:Look up the IP address in your router admin and then go to the assigned IPaddresson thesamenetwork inabrowser. If thedevicehasnotbeenclaimed,youwillgetadisplayofthelinktoclaimPiAwaredevice.AlternativelyvisitFlightAware.comtogetyourPiAwareclient.Ifafterfiveminutesyourdevicehasnotbeendisplayedasclaimed,youcantryto restart thedevice; if thatdoesnotwork,youcan reconfirm the accuracyofWi-Fisettings(ifyouareusingWi-Fi).

ViewyourADS-Bstatistics

Visithttps://uk.flightaware.com/adsb/statstoseeyourADS-Bstats.FlightAware will start to process your data as immediately and display yourstatisticsin30minutes.Clickon thegear icon situated to the rightof theSitename toconfigureyour

antennaheightandlocationonyourstatisticspage.Multilateration,whichisalsoknownasMLAT,worksbypinpointingtheaircraftlocationbyknowingthesitelocationsthatgotmessagesfromtheaircraft.The stats page of FlightAware also tells you about your device’s local IP andoffersalinkfordirectconnection.ThisiswhereyoucangetalinktoSkyView-this is aweb portal for observing flights that the receiver is gettingmessagesfromonamap.

Congratulations!Don’tforgetthatthesignalsfromtheaircraftarenotmadetogothroughobjects;thismeansthatyoushouldensuretheantennaislocatedin‘lineofsight’tothesky without any obstructions. As you may realize, the most optimuminstallations,whichareusually installedonaroofoutdoors,containarangeofover400km/250mi.Nowthatyouaredone,PiAwareisyourstoenjoy,andsoisFlightAware,whichcomeswith extra features that are exclusively reserved for feeders ofADS-Blikeyou.

RemoteHamRadioOperationViaRaspberryPiIn this project, you’ll learn how to use your Raspberry Pi to set up a remoteoperationonyourhamradio.Inthiscase,youwilluseyourWi-Finetwork,andVPNtomakethispossible.

WhythisisimportantIf youare apersonwho travels a lot andwant to still continueusingyour rigevenwhen you are away, thiswill prove important.Also, if you are a personwhowantstosetupyourradioaswellastheantennaawayfromwhereyoulivee.g. you are an apartmentdweller andhaveparentsor friendswho stay in thebooniesandwouldallowyoutoerectanantenna.

Youwillrequirethefollowingtocompletethisproject:

NOTE:Inthispost,we’llfocusonradiocontrolandnetworkedaudiobutnotsomuchaboutsettinguptheVPN.

ThebasicsForthisproject,wewantourraspberrytoremaina‘headless’remoteserver.Thismeanswe don’t need a keyboard or screen.You thus have to be able to SSHfromyourclientintoit.Thisissimple.Youcansetupprivate/publickeyssothatyoudon’thavetotypeapasswordeachtimeyoulogin.Justfollowthelinktosetthatup.

BuildaPulseAudio6.0onyourPi

Youhavetousethe inordertopipetheaudiooverthenetwork.PulseAudio2.0occurs in theRaspberryPi repositories.Youfirstneedtoinstallsomebuilddependencies:

Thereisalibjson-cdependencyyoucanbuildyourself:

Thecleanpulsefilesthatyoumayneedtoinstall:

(You need to note that this may break the other installed packages such aspygame).

Next,acquirethePulseAudiosourcecode;compileit.Youcanusecheckinstallsothatyoucanremovethebuiltpackageeasilylateron.

After that,youhavetobuild the init.dscript inorder togetpulseaudiotostartautomaticallyinsystemmode-whilethisisnotrecommended,itmakesalotofsenseonPi.ProceedtoReboottostartPulseAudioorsimplyenter:

TheconfigurationofPulseAudiotopasssoundthroughthenetworkOnPi,simplyeditthefile/etc/pulse/system.pa,uncommentorincludealineinorder to turn on themodule-native-protocol-tcp, to allow the local network tocommunicatewithit.

You may also find it great to in itbecauseitproduced10secondslagsatfirst.SimplyplugintheradiointoyourPiandthenproceedtorestartPulseAudiowiththefollowing:

ConfigurePulseAudioontheclient

PulseAudiorunsonabasisof‘per-user’onUbuntu;notinsystemmode.Inthiscasetherefore,wecanturnoffandonthemoduleswithscriptsandthat’swhatyou’lldo.Createascriptandputinitcommandslikeso:

YouneedtoadjustyourPi’shostname(orsimplydirectlytypeitsIPaddressin).Youalsohavetoadjustthesecondloopbackmodulesource.ItissettotheUSBmicrophone;butthemicrophoneofyourlaptopwillcertainlybedifferent.Nowusethecommandbelowtoobtainalistofsourcesonyourcomputerandpickthenameoftheoneyoudesire.

Makeyourscriptexecutablebykeyinginthefollowing:

In this script, youcanalso enablenetworking,butyoumight also find it veryconvenienttoapplythepaperfsprogramandselecttheoptionbelow:

Lastly, you’vegot to set up authentication.PulseAudiomakesuseof a sharedsecret that’s referred to as cookie for authentication. Simply copy the cookiefrom the Pi at in thehomedirectory.Itwillnowauthenticate.

Onyourclient,restartPulseAudiousing:

Now run the above script; if everything goes onwell, youwill now hear thesoundfromyourlaptop’sradio.Youalsohavetomakeacoupleofadjustmentswithin thepavucontrol program.Make sure to turn the radiodown squelch sothatthereissomethingthatcomesthrough.Next,clickontheplaybacktabandthenclickshowallstreamsandensuretheloopbackfromPiisplayingongadgetyouwantittoplayon.Thisiswhatitshouldlooklike:

You can run pavucontrol for the Raspberry Pi as well from your client asfollows:

YoucanthenadjustthePiconnectionsifyoufinditnecessary.You should ensure you set your device toDATAmode (or FM-D) if you areusinganIC-7100,orinawaythatyourUSBaudiogetsintothetransmitter.Youcan now do digitalmodes and voice through your network- how cool is that!Take a look at the image below that shows running fldigi on a laptop that isreceivingaudiointhissetup:

Remember thatat thispoint,youareona localnetworkandsoyou’llhave tocreatetheVPNtogooutsideyourhouseviatheinternet.

ControltheradiofromfarIfyouonlywanttoconductdigitalmodesthroughfldigi,youprobablyaregoodtogoatthispoint.YoucanrunflrigonPiandfldigiontheclient,andthey’llbeabletoconnectandkeyuptheradioandthingslikethat.Butwhatifyouwanttodovoiceaswell,whatdoyoudo?Ifyouareaprogrammingnerd,youcanwriteyourownsmallcontrollerforIC-7100 in a language like Python. You’ll find it simple, and will allow you toswitch the radio on and off, switch the DATA mode on and off, access thedifferentmemorychannelsandkeyuptheradio.Thisisagoodstartbutyoucanmakeitalotmoresophisticatedwithtime.Youwillparticularlyneedtobeableto key in the frequency you want or scan down or up the bands for HF;something thatshouldnotbe toodifficult toadd.Youcanfeel free touse it ifyouwantbutdonotexpectalot;ifyouwanttoimproveit,goahead!

Wehaveotherprogramsoutthereofferingtheabilitytocontrolaradioviathenetwork.TroubleshootingI personally went through quite a number of iterations and found numerousproblemsasItriedtofigureitallout.IconductedthePulseRadioconfigurationsonPiatfirstbuteventuallyrealizedthatitwasmoreflexibletoperformitonalaptop. I tried so much to get downsampling to work to reduce the needed

bandwidth.ThisiscrucialfortheslowWi-FinetworksbutparticularlyimportantwhenaccessingyourlocalnetworkremotelyviaVPNthroughtheinternet.Ididplay a lot with resampling methods and reduced it to 11025 sample rate. Itworkedwellandsoundedfineforsometimeeventhoughkeptfadingoutafterevery twominutes.Youcanchangeyour tunnelsource tobe the following(todownsample):

Thisbasicallyusesaround60KiB/soverthenetworkand200KiB/satdefault.You can change the sampling methods on Pi andadjustthe .Insomeresamplingconditions,itispossibleforPulseAudiotousethePi’sCPUexcessively.Themainproblemhowever,isthatthereareafewdelaysecondsastheaudiomovesacrosstheinternet.YoucanthenunloadeachofthePAmodulesontoyourPCusingthefollowingcommand(thisisapplicableifyouareplayingaroundwithdifferentsettings).

You can use the pacmd list-modules tomake a list of all the loadedmoduleswhere32isthemodule’sindextoupload.Youcandothisabunchasyoutweakyourscriptandrerunit.ConnecttotheLANsecurelywithaVPNAVPNenablesyoutoconnecttoyourlocalnetworkovertheinternetremotely.AndyoucanconfigureyourPitomakethisconnectionpossible.

You can conveniently set up a ‘road warrior’ OpenVPN on yourWRT-basedrouter. This in turn will allow you to connect to you home LAN anytimesecurelyfromanywhere.Youwillfindthisusefulespeciallyifyouwanttoprintthings from far away, avoid surveillance while on public or other untrustednetworksortalktoyourinternaldevices.ThisstepusuallyentailssecuringyourWRT-compatible router, then using ROM that has OpenVPN server such asOpenWRTorDDWRTtoflashitthencreatingsomeprivateorpublickeysandthenproceedingtoconfiguretheclientsandserver.Thisisnotentirelydifficult,butcantakeyouquitesometimetoget itworkingasaresultofthenumerous

instructions that are a bit different -which are present online. The GUI-basedconfig in current DDWRT buildsmakes it very simple. To knowmore aboutbuilding some RSA Keys and flash your router, please visit this guide andperhapsalsothisguideaswell.

Congratulations!Ihopethisprojectworksforyouasitwasveryincredibleformetofigureout.

DownloadYourFreeBonus–10BestHamRadioWebsites

ConclusionWehavecometotheendofthebook.Thankyouforreadingandcongratulationsforreadinguntiltheend.

Thenumerousfacetsofamateurradiohavemanagedtoattractpractitionerswithmany different interests worldwide. Many amateurs start with a simplefascinationofradiocommunicationsbutwithtimefindthemselvescombiningitwithotherdeep-seatedinterestsoftheirowntomakethepursuitoftheirhobbyfulfilling.Regardlessofwhetheryouwanttopursuethefocalamateurareassuchasradiopropagation study, technical experimentation, radio contesting, public servicecommunicationorcomputernetworking,havinganunderstanding,andskillsonamateurradioaresuretochangeyourlife,andbroadenyourperspectiveonsomuchthatyouhadneverimagined.Thebookcouldnothavepossiblycoveredeverythingyouneedtoknowintheworldofamateurradio;butyouhaveafootingnow.Domoreresearchandtrytomoreexploreprojectsyoucandotobecomeabetterpractitioner,withPi.Ifyoufoundthebookvaluable,canyourecommendittoothers?OnewaytodothatistopostareviewonAmazon.

ClickheretoleaveareviewforthisbookonAmazon!

Thankyouandgoodluck!

DownloadYourFreeBonus–10BestHamRadioWebsites

HamRadioActivitiesTheCompleteAmateurRadioContesting

ManualTips&TechniquesinaHamRadio

Contest

IntroductionI want to thank you and congratulate you for downloading the book, “HamRadio Activities: The Complete Amateur Radio Contesting Manual - Tips &TechniquesinaHamRadioContest”.Thisbookistheultimateamateurradio-contestingmanual.

“Ham” that is the name given to those who operate ham radios. Ham radiocontest,ontheotherhand,areadifferentballgamealtogether.In this guide, we shall be discussing how although the contest aspect of hamradio operation intimidates many, at the heart of the contest is the need forconnectionandfun.Thisguideshallequipyouwiththerequisiteknowledgeyouneedtoparticipateinhamradiocontestswithskillandconfidence.Afterlearningthedifferenttypesofcontests,howtheyworkandtheirrules,thesoftwareandhardwaretouse,youwill start building up your QSO count and adding interestingDX contacts toyourlistofcontacts.Let’sbegin.

Thanksagainfordownloadingthisbook.Ihopeyouenjoyit!

Copyright2018by___________-Allrightsreserved.This document is geared towards providing exact and reliable information inregardstothetopicandissuecovered.Thepublicationissoldwiththeideathatthe publisher is not required to render accounting, officially permitted, orotherwise, qualified services. If advice is necessary, legal or professional, apracticedindividualintheprofessionshouldbeordered.

-FromaDeclarationofPrincipleswhichwasacceptedandapprovedequallybyaCommitteeof theAmericanBarAssociation and aCommitteeofPublishersandAssociations.In no way is it legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of thisdocument in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of thispublicationisstrictlyprohibitedandanystorageofthisdocumentisnotallowedunlesswithwrittenpermissionfromthepublisher.Allrightsreserved.The informationprovidedherein is stated tobe truthful and consistent, in thatanyliability,intermsofinattentionorotherwise,byanyusageorabuseofanypolicies, processes, or directions contained within is the solitary and utterresponsibility of the recipient reader. Under no circumstances will any legalresponsibility or blame be held against the publisher for any reparation,damages, or monetary loss due to the information herein, either directly orindirectly.Respectiveauthorsownallcopyrightsnotheldbythepublisher.

The information herein is offered for informational purposes solely, and isuniversal as so.Thepresentationof the information iswithout contractor anytypeofguaranteeassurance.Thetrademarksthatareusedarewithoutanyconsent,andthepublicationofthetrademark is without permission or backing by the trademark owner. Alltrademarksandbrandswithinthisbookareforclarifyingpurposesonlyandaretheownedbytheownersthemselves,notaffiliatedwiththisdocument.

TableofContentsIntroduction

HamRadiosBasics:UnderstandingAmateurRadioAboutPropagationAboutDX-Ing,Contests,andAwards

Contesting101:ACulturalHistoryofAmateurRadioContesting

AboutContestsBriefHistoryofAmateurRadioContesting

GettingStarted:GettingYourHamRadioLicense

AboutFCCLicensingLicensing:AboutFrequencyPrivilegesLicenseClassesandtheirVariousTransmissionPrivilegesAboutTheLicenseExamination

HowtoPreparefortheLicenseExamAmateurRadioCompetitionEquipmentMaking Your First QSO: A Simple, Ham Radio Contest Guide toMakingContacts

TheMainAmateurRadioContestsandTheirRulesARRLDXContestCQWorldWideDXContestARRL“FieldDay”

ContestingTipsandTechniquesforBetterAmateurRadioContestingConclusion

Togetstarted,weshallgoallthewaybackasawaytohelpyouunderstandhamradiosandtheirhistory.

HamRadiosBasics:UnderstandingAmateurRadioAlsocalledamateur radio,Hamradio is theuseofselect radiofrequencies forcommunication. The communication can be private, emergency, non-commercial,orevenforexperimentationpurposes.Theterm“amateur”(asinAmateurRadio)referstopersonsinterestedinradiotechnology for personal reasons (without any monetary interests) and todifferentiatehamradiobroadcastingfromcommercialbroadcasting,professionaltwo-way radio (such as those used by taxis, aviation, andmarine), and publicsafetycommunicationsuchasthoseusedbythepoliceandfiremarshals.Ontheone hand, radio sport (also called contesting), is the competitive aspect ofamateurradiowhereamateurradiooperators(hams)competeagainsteachother.An amateur radio operator is a person who uses radio equipment within anamateur radio station that has designated radio frequencies that have beenassigned to an amateur radio service to engage other hams (amateur radiooperators)intwo-waypersonalcommunications.

Totransmitonaspecificradiofrequency,amateurradiooperatorsoughttopassanexaminationadministeredbyagovernmental authority, anexamination thattests their grasp of applicable regulations, radio theory, electronics, and radiooperation.Uponpassingtheexam,thehamsgetanamateurradiolicense.Onecomponentofthelicensegrantedafterpassingtheregulatoryexamisacallsignthathamsuseforidentifyingthemselveswhenevertheyarecommunicatingwithotherhams.AccordingtotheInternationalAmateurRadioUnion,theyareover2.6millionamateurradiooperatorsspreadaroundtheworld.Inahamradiocontest,hams, in teamsoras individuals,useanamateur radiostation(anditsassignedfrequencies)tocontact,andexchangeinformationwithasmanyotheramateurradiostations(otherhams)withinaspecifiedtime.Eachhamradiocontesthasitsownrulesthatdefinetheradiobands,themodeofcommunicationused, aswell as the kindof information exchangedduring thecontact.Thecontactscontactedthroughoutthesaidsessionmakeupascorethatdeterminestherankingofeachoftheparticipatingstation.

As we have hinted at many times, hams use specific radio frequencies forcommunication. Because of the variety of frequencies, hams can use manyfrequencybandsontheradiospectrum.IntheU.S.,theFederalCommunicationsCommission (FCC) is responsible for allocating frequencies for amateur radiouse.

For specificity purposes, hams can operate above theAMbroadcast band andgigahertzrangewithmanyhamsoperatinginthefrequencyrangeofAMradioband(1.6MHz)toslightlyabovethecitizenbandof27MHz.Tolistenintoanamateurradiocommunication,non-hamscanuseradioscannersandreceivers.In the day, the best frequencies for long-distance communications are 15-27MHz.Atnight,thebestfrequencyrangesforcommunicationare1.6-15MHz.From a historical perspective, bandswithin this range arewhatwe call short-waveband(short-waveradio)andasyoucanguess,theyaredifferentfromthefrequenciesusedbymostmodernTVandradiostations.

Short-wave frequencies operate from a line-of-sight. Because of this, andbecause short waves bounce off the ionosphere from the transmitter to theantenna of the receiver, they have a limitation of 40-50miles (the higher thefrequency,theshorterthewavelength).Otherthanusingvoice,somehamradiooperatorschoosetouseMorsecode.Asyoumayknow,Morsecodesignalsaremorereliableandcangetthroughwhenvoicetransmissionsfail.IfyouchoosetointegratetheMorsecodeelementintoyourhamradiolearningexperience,youwillhavetolearnMorsecode.Aswe indicated earlier, Ham radio broadcast are different from normal radiobroadcast. One of the key differences is that although ham radios can indeedbroadcastinalldirections(asanormalradiostationsdowhenaDJbroadcastsatransmission tomany tuned in listeners), ham radio communications are oftentwo-waycommunicationswithother individualhamsor inaroundtablesettingofhamsinagroup.Because of the short-range nature of the short wave, roundtable hamcommunications may be in the same town, state, country, continent, or evenconsist of amixtureofhamsdrawn fromdifferent countriesdependingon thetimeofdayandthefrequencyinuse.

At predetermined frequencies and times, hams also engage in networks callednetswhere they exchange third-party information andmessages. For instance,whenthereareemergencies,hamsexchangespecificinformationsuchashealthandwelfareinformation.Whenitcomestotheequipmentusedbyhams,hamsuseavarietyofequipmentsome of which include radios and antennas with some hams choosing to useradioteletype(RTTY)thateliminatetheuseofteletypewithcomputerscreens.Inaddition tousingradios,hamsalsouse telegraphequipment,cameras, laser,

computers, and in the case of hams that offer professional services—such asthosewhoofferemergencycommunication—theirownsatellites.To the casual onlooker, the radios used by hamsmay seemvery basic.Whiletheyare,theyalsouseverysophisticatedtechnologies(thisshouldnotdissuadeyoufromengaginginthehamcontestsorbeingahamenthusiast).Infact,manyenthusiasts have varied background with some being experts in the field oftechnologywhileothersknownexttonothing.Thinkofoperatingahamradiointhesamewayyouthinkofcomputers:manycanuseitbutveryfewknowabouthowitworks.

Somehams—especiallythosewithatechnologybackground—choosetocreatetheirownhamradiostationsusingequipmenttheydesignthemselves.However,manyhamschoose tocreatehamstationsusing factory-builtequipment that isreadilyavailableonlineandatstorescountrywide.“Homebrewing”isthenamegiven to theprocesssettingupahamstationand isoneof themostenjoyableaspectsofthehobby.

AboutPropagationPropagationisoneofthemostimportantconceptsinhamradios.Thetermreferstotheprocessofthetravelofradiowavesthroughtheairastheybouncefromsafetosurfaceastheymaketheirwaytoaradioantenna.Hamsareconstantlymonitoringtheatmosphereforatmosphericconditionssuchas storms, solar flares and other conditions thatmay affect the propagation ortransmission of radio signals from receiver to antenna simply because theweather can affect the effectiveness of transmissions. This makes having theright equipment (especially an antenna because it’s responsible for receivingradiosignals)arequisite.Aradioantennacanbecomplexorsimple;itcanbeamassivetoweroritcanbesomethingassimpleasawireattachedtothecircuitryofaradio.

While voice, Morse, and in the modern age, digital operations—most hamstations inexistence todaycombinecomputersand radioequipment—andhamstationsare themostcommonlyused typesofhamradiosandcommunication,from an operational perspective,most hams start out usingVHFFM, battery-operated handheld transceivers that receive on one frequency and transmit onanother.TousetheseFMrepeaters,hamenthusiastshavetojoinlocalradioclubsthatsetupandsupportthembyborrowingantennaspacefromTVstationtowers(withpermission of course) can re-broadcast received signals further thus extendingtherange.For this purpose, theFM repeaters receive a signal at a time and immediatelyrebroadcastittoanotherfrequencythatismorepowerfulthanwhatisavailableto thehand-held radio.Thishas theeffectofextending thesignal rangeof thehand-heldradio.ManydevelopedcountrieshavethousandsofFMrepeatersandwhenever you travel—or any ham radio enthusiast travels—you can find arepeatertouseforcommunication.Mostoftheavailablerepeatersusecommontransmitandreceivefrequencypairsinformallyassignedbygroupsofhamssothatanyofthefrequenciesinusedoesnot encroach on the frequency of another repeater and thus cause unwantedinterference.

Otherthanhand-heldtransceiversandFMrepeaters,hamradioenthusiastsalsouse amateur radio satellites. In this case, ham radio enthusiasts use a satelliteoverheadtocommunicatethroughtheirhand-heldradios.Thisisveryeffective

because as youmay know, natural weather occurrences such as hurricanes ortornadoes tend to disrupt cellphone and telephone communication. In suchinstances, ham radios come in handy for emergencies. One British satelliterepeaterhasanuplink(receiver)at145.975MHZandasimultaneousdownlink(rebroadcast)at435.070MHZ.

“Chewingtherag”Aswediscussedearlier,fromacontestperspective,thepurposeofahamradiocontest is to contact as many people as possible. The communications mostcommonintheseconversationshasageneralreferenceterm,“chewingtherag.”When enthusiasts “chew the rag,” the contacts they speak to become“ragchews,” a term used to refer to a contact or the actual communicationbetween hams. A ragchew—a contact or an actual conversation over theairwaves—can be between you and someone who lives down the street orsomeonewholivesacrossthecontinentandisusingadvancedtechnology.Earlier on, we alsomentioned, in passing, nets. A net, short of network, is apredefined meeting of hams on a specific frequency dedicated to specificpurposes. For instance, a net is a network that relays subject or topic specificmessagebetweenoperators.Asanexample,wehaveemergencynetsthatmeetwiththesolepurposeofpracticingpreparednessforactualemergencies.Wealsohave technical service nets thatwork as forums for hamoperation advice andhelphamsworkthroughthetechnicaldetailsofbeinghamoperators.

AboutDX-Ing,Contests,andAwardsMeaning distance, DX is a very common term used by many ham radioenthusiasts.ThetermDX-ingmeansthepracticeofattemptingcontactwiththepersonfarthestawayfromyou.Forinstance,ifyourantennahasafrequencyof50miles,DX-ingwouldbeattemptingtoestablishcontactwithanotherhamata50-mileradius.Whenitcomestocontestandtheirawards,thehamworldisexcitingtothebrimwithmanycontestsinexistence.Mostofthesecontestsrevolvearoundspecificcompetition(suchasDX-ing)orcontactingasmanypeopleaspossiblewithinagiventime.Alatersectionofthisguideshallcovercontestsandtheirrules.

AprecursortolicensingInthissection,wehavegottenbasicinformationofhamradios,theculture,andabitof thehistory.Weshallhaveadetailedstudyof thehistoryofhamradiocontesting.Fornowthough,beforewecanmoveontothenextsection(wherewe’lldiscusstheculturalhistoryofhamradiocontesting),weneedtotalkabitaboutcontestingandthelicenserequirements.To become a ham radio operator, i.e. to be eligible to transmit on an amateurradio frequency,youneeda license.This license iseasy toenough(well,easyenough).

Thetest,administeredintheU.S.bylocalvolunteers,coversamateurradiorulesand regulations as well as electronic theory. Because amateur radios have avibrant community, youwill find tonsof studymaterial andguides.Thegreatthingaboutthislicenseisthatitdoesnothaveanagerestriction(anyonecansitforthetest:evenchildren).Othercountriesandjurisdictionswillhavetheirownlicensing bodies despite the fact that many countries share the same hamfrequenciesasthoseusedintheUnitedStates.The license has classes with each license class allowing operations withinspecificbands.Higherlicenseclassesallowtheuseofmorefrequencybands.IntheU.S.,theFCChasrecentlyrelaxedtheMorsecoderequirementstomakeiteasierforhamenthusiaststogetanamateurradiooperator’slicense.Whileweshallhaveasectiondedicated to licensing, thecurrentFCClicensingplanwillsee you get an amateur radio license if you ace a 35-questions writtenexamination.Organized in1914byH.P.Maxim tohelp relay radiomessages, theAmericanRadioRelayLeague (ARRL) iswithout a doubt responsible for helpingmany

enthusiasts get into amateur radio by publishing many study materials andpublications. In theU.S., local volunteerswho aremembers of amateur radioclubsareresponsibleforadministeringtheamateurradiotest.Beforewediscusshamradioequipment,letusdiscusshamradiocontests:

Contesting101:ACulturalHistoryofAmateurRadioContestingAsimpliedearlier,radiosport(alsocalledcontesting)isthecompetitivesideofamateur radio. The general aim of the contest is to contact and communicatewithasmanyamateurradiostationsaspossiblewithinagiventime.Thatsaid,contesting,moresotherulesandnatureofanamateurradiocontest,changesfromcompetitiontocompetitionwiththemostdefiningelementsbeingthe amateur bands used, the mode of communication, and the informationexchanged during a ragchew. As also indicated earlier, the contacts madecontribute to a score that the sponsors publish in a magazine or onlinepublication.

Historically, contesting started developing in the 1920s and 30s from otheramateur radio activities.As communication between amateur radio enthusiastsgrewandexpanded,competitionsformedtomotivatehamenthusiaststocontactas many amateur radio stations as possible in and outside their countries ofresidence.Thecontestalsoformedasawaytoprovidehamsanopportunitytopracticeandhighlighttheirmessagehandlingabilitiesasusedforemergencyorevenroutinecommunications over extended distances. From these contests grew a widenumber of contest and today, many amateur radio enthusiasts pursue it as asportingactivity.Radio enthusiast magazines, radio societies, and radio clubs are the primarybenefactorsofamateurradiocontests.Becausesponsorsaretheorganizersofthecompetitions,theyareresponsibleforpublishingtherulesoftheevent.Theyarealso responsible for collecting anyoperational logs fromdifferent stations thatareparticipatingintheevent,crosscheckingthecorrectnessofthedatainordertogenerateascoreforeachofthestations,andpublishingtheresultinareadilyaccessibleplatformsuchasamagazine,website,orsocietyjournal.Mostofthecompetitions—withtheexceptionsofspecificcontestforshortwavelisteners—arebetweenstationsthathaveamateurradiolicenses,andbecauseofthis,sincemostoftheradiofrequenciesusedinthesecompetitionsprohibittheuseofradiofrequenciesforeconomicinterests,thesecompetitionsareinformalandtherearenoprofessionalamateurradiocontestorcontesters.Assuch,when

you participate in amateur radio competitions, do not expect cash rewards;instead,youwillreceivetrophies,certificates,andperhapsplaques.Themostbasiccontestiswhereduringacontest,eachcontesttriestoestablishtwo-way communicationwith other licensedhamson specific frequencies andexchangedefinedinformationspecifictothenatureofthecontest.

Inmostof thesecontests, the informationexchangedvaries (itsdeterminedbytheorganizingbody).For instance, theragchewexchangebetweenhamscouldbesignalreports,thelocationofthestation,theR-S-Tsystem,theMaidenheadgrid locator, the geographical location of the station, age of the operator, or aserialnumber.Foreachcontactmade,theamateurradiooperatormustproperlyreceivethecallsign,auniquedesignationforatransmitterstationassignedbytheFCC(oranyothergovernmentagency)orinformallyadoptedbyindividualsororganizations.Heorshemustalsoreceiveandrecordinalogspecificinformationdefinedintherulesofexchange(theinformationrequiredtobeexchanged),andarecordofthe time of the contact as well as the frequency used to make contact andexchangetheinformation.Theorganizingpartythentakesthelogandusesthecontactstotabulateascorefor each ham based on the score formula defined by that contest. The mostcommonformulaisonethatassignsanumberofeachcontactandamultiplierdependingontheragcheworinformationexchanged.In contests held inNorthAmerica on theVHFamateur radio bands, themostcommonlyusedformulaisonethatassignsanewmultiplierforindividual(new)Maidenheadgridlocatorandthus,thecompetitionwinneristheonethatmakesmostcontactswithotherstationsinmostlocations.

Basedontherulesofaparticularcontest,individualmultipliersmaycountonlyonceduringthecontestoronceoneachradioirrespectiveoftheradiobandthatfistearnedthemultiplier.Becauseofthis,thecontestcanaffixaspecificamountof points for each contact or depending on other factors such as theweather,geography and if the communication crossed boundaries such as political orcontinental.Othercontestsawardpointsdependingon thepointsbetween twostations(theStew Top Band Distance Challenge is a great example of such a contest). InEurope, most amateur radio contests held on the microwave and VHF awardhams1pointforeachkilometerofdistance,andtherefore,thefurtherthecontactstation,thehigherthepoints.

Afterreceivingthelogs,thecontestorganizerscheckthemforaccuracy.Atthispoint, they are free to deduct points, multiplier, and even credits if they noteerrors in thecontact logsfor individualcontacts(QSO).Asyoucanguess, theresultofthescorewilllargelydependonthescoringformulaused.Somescorescanbesmallnumberswhileotherscanbelargenumbers.Most of ham radio contests in America and Europe have different entrycategories. Each category has an individual winner with some contestssegmenting winners by geography such as countries, Canadian provinces,continents,andU.S.States.Ofthesecategories,themostcommonisthesingleoperatorcategoryanditsmanyvariants.

In the single operator category, one ham operates an amateur radio stationthroughout the contest. The single operator category further divides intosubdivisionsdependingon thehighest poweroutput. Inone suchdivision, theQRP category, single operator amateur radio stationsmust operate the stationwith no more than 5 watts of output power. The high power category of thesingleoperatorcategoryallowshamstorunstationsthattransmitwithasmuchpoweroutputasallowedintheirlicenses.Ifyouwanttogetintohamradioasateam,youwillhavetogetintothemulti-operator category. This category allows hams to team up to operate a singleamateurradiostation.Someofthecontestsinthiscategoryaskhamstouseoneorseveralradiotransmittersusedsimultaneously.

AboutContestsFrom a contest perspective, different benefactors sponsor a variety ofcompetitionseachyearwithmanyofthem(thesponsors)creatingeventswhosepurposesistopromoteinterestinhamradioasahobbyandrequisiteskill.Weekendsarethemostcommoncontestdays.Somecontests,however,alsouselocalweeknightevenings.Somecompetitionsareshortwhileothersareaslongas48hourslong(forasinglesession).

As hinted at earlier, each contest will define the stations eligible forparticipation,thefrequenciesofoperation,thecommunicationmodeshamscanemploy, thefrequenciesof theamateurradio theyshouldcontact,and the timewithinwhichtomakecontactnottomentiontheinformationexchangewitheachcontactstation.Fromthis,it’scleartoseethattherulesofengagementdependon,andchangefrom competition to competition. Some competitions will (and do indeed)restrict the contacts to specific standards such as continent and country(geographical).Forinstance,theEuropeanHFChampionshiphasasoleaim:tofostercompetitionbetweenamateurradiostationsinEurope.Somecontestsallowamateurradiostationsworldwidetoparticipateandcontacteachotherforpoints.OnesuchcontestistheCQWorldWideDXContest thatallows stations to contact other stations located anywhere on the planet. Thecompetitionattractsthousandsofcompetitionamateurradiostationseachyear.Likewise, the amateur radio scene is full of regional contests that allowparticipation from stations spread across the world with the only restrictionbeing the stations contacted by individual ham radio stations. An example ofsuch a competition is the Japan International DX Competition. In thecompetition, Japanbased amateur radio stations canonly contact ham stationsoutsideJapanandviceversa.

Mostoftheavailablecontestsusemultiple(orone)amateurradiobandstoallowstationsinthecompetitiontomaketwo-waycontacts.Onvariousoccasions,wehavementionedHF-basedcompetitions.Thesecompetitionsuseeither(assingleormultiple bands) of the following bands; 160meter,80meter, 40meter, 20meter,15meter,and10meter.VHFbasedcontestusebandsover50MHz.Insomecontests,amateurradiostationscantransmitonallHFandVHFbandswith points awarded for multipliers and contacts on individual bands. Othercontests may allow contacts on all bands but restrict the type of contact—

perhaps to one contactwith individual station irrespective of band, or place alimitonthemultipliertopercontestinsteadofperband.Amateur radio contests are available for amateur radio enthusiasts from alllifestyles.SomeofthesecontestsrestrictthemselvestoCWemissions(meaningthey us Morse code as their default mode of communication) while othersrestrict their communication to spoken communication (meaning they usetelephony).OthercontestsusedigitalemissionmodessuchasPSK31orRTTY.

Themost common thing in popular contests across the board is that most ofthem hold the contest on two separate weekends whether they dedicate oneweekend toCWand theother to telephony.For instance, theCQWorldWideWPXContestholdsthephone-onlycontestonaweekendinMarchandtheCW-onlycontestonaweekendinMay.Contestthatrestrictcontacttosingleradiofrequencybandsoftenletcompetingamateur radio station use different emissions modes. Most VHF contestsnormallyallowmost(orany)emissionmodeevensomedigitalmodesdesignedto work on specific bands. Because content rules vary, some hams choose tospecializeandparticipateinconteststhatrestricttheuseofcertainmodes.Because of the nature of contest (the fact that each contest has specific rules)somecontestscan lastup to48hours.Themostcommonof suchcontestsarethose on theHF bands and contests open toworldwide participation. Inmostinstances,theselarge(andworldwide)contestsstartat0000UTConaSaturdaymorningto2359UTCSunday.Asyoucanimagine,smaller(especiallyregionalones)contestareshorterindurationwithconteststhatlast4-24hoursbeingthemostcommon.Becauseofthedurationoflargercontests,someofthememployaconceptcalled“off time”where a station can operate for a portion of the time available.AnexampleofthisistheARRLNovemberSweepstake.Althoughthecontestis30hours long, individualamateur radiostationcannotbeonair formore than24hours.Theeffectofthe“offtime”isthatitforcescompetingstationstochoosewhen to be online making contacts and logging them as well as when to beoffline(oroffair).Thiselementaddsstrategytothecompetition.

Intheearly1930s,amateurradiocontestscouldhappenonmultipleweekends.Althoughonlya smallnumberofcontesthaveheldon to this tradition (calledcumulativecontests), they limit themselves toMicrowave frequencybands.Toreplacethesetypesofcontest,nowadays,themostpopulartypesofcontestsareshort “sprint” contest that last a few hours. Some contests such as the North

AmericanSprintContestincreasetheexcitementanddifficultyofthecontestbyrequiringoperatorstochangefrequenciesaftermakingindividualcontacts.Asyougetstartedinamateurradiocontests,youwillbelookingforconteststhatallow newly licensed hams to compete.One such competition is theMaine 2Meter FM Simplex Challenge. This challenge allows newly licensed hams toparticipate in contests; it does so by offering entry categories for those withhandheldradios(orfullyequippedconteststations)andrestrictingcontactstoasingularVHFband.

Becausewehaveavarietyofcontest,theyattractmanycontestantsandamateurradio stations.Because each contest defines its rules, thenature of the contestdetermines the strategies implemented by competing amateur radio stations toscorethemostpointsandmultipliers.Becauseeachcontesthasspecificsponsorswhodefinerulesofthecontest,therelacksaninternationalauthorityorgovernanceorganizationforamateurradioasasport.Assuch,thereisnotuniformityofcontestrules.However,mostofthecontestsappealtoallparticipantstoadheretoamateurradioregulationsoftheirindividualstatesorcountries.

BriefHistoryofAmateurRadioContestingAmateurradiocontestingtracesbacktothe1920duringtheTrans-AtlanticTestwhere radio operators made the first attempted to use short wave radiofrequenciestoestablishlongdistancecommunicationacrosstheAtlanticOcean.In1923, radiooperators established the first two-waycommunicationbetweenEurope and North America. At that point, the tests become an annual eventwhere many other stations started establishing two-way contacts over evengreaterdistances.In 1927, the American Radio relay League, a principle facilitator of theaforementioned tests, put forth anew formula for the annual event andat thatpoint, started encouraging amateur radio stations to make as many two-waycontactswithotherstationsinasmanycountriesastheycould.

1929sawthefirstamateurradiocontestdubbedtheInternationalRelayParty,acontest thatwas an immediate hit (and success). From 1927-1935, theARRLsponsored the event and in 1936, changed the name of the event to ARRLInternationalDXContest,anamethateventtodate,representsoneofthemostvibrantamateurradiocontestsintheworld.BecauseofthegrowinginterestgeneratedbythepopularityDXcommunicationthrough participation in International Relay Parties, the ARRL proposed andthenadoptedaneventformatfornon-internationalcontacts.In 1930, ARRL started the first ARRL All-Sections Sweepstakes Contest, acontestthatrequiredarobustexchangeofinformationforallcontactsmadefromtwo-way contacts, a formula adopted from the National Traffic System (itsmessageheaderstructure).Becauseoftherobustnessoftheinformationexchange,thecompetitiongrewinpopularitywithmanyoperatorsusingitasawaytogaugetheiroperatingskillsand the robustnessof their stations.Theeventbecameaprimaryattraction forthose with amateur radio competition in their minds and in 1962, the ARRLsponsoredeventtookonthenameARRLNovemberSweepstakes.

Fielddayoperatingeventsaresomeofthemostimportantdevelopmentsinearlyamateurradiocontesting,withoneoftheearliestorganizedfielddayeventheldin1930inGreatBritain,andeventlatermirroredbymanysmallfielddayeventsheldacrossEuropeandNorthAmerica.InJuly1933,ARRLorganizedthefirstARRLInternationalFieldDay,aneventtheleaguepopularizedthroughtheOST,

theirgrowingmembershipjournal.ARRLpromotedfielddayeventsasanopportunityforamateurradioenthusiaststo test their emergency and disaster preparedness where they would have tooperate from portable locations. Since then, field day events continue to bepopularmainly because even though they use the same operating and scoringstructuresusedbyotheramateurradiocontest,theyaddinanelementofdisasteroremergencypreparedness.

Most modern day amateur radio contests draw heavily on the custom of DXcommunications, communication readiness, and traffic handling. Since the1920s, as interest in ham radio activities has grown, so has the amateur radiocontest.In the1930, radio societies in countries such asSpain,Canada,Australia, andPoland took sponsorship or amateur radio contests. In specific, the 1934, theARRLsponsoredacontesteventrestrictedtothe10-meteramateurradioband.As 1937dawned, countries such asZealand,Brazil,Hungary, France, Ireland,Germany,andGreatBritainsayaninfluxofsponsoredcontests.ThefirsteverVHFcontestheldwasin1948,acontestdubbedtheARRLVHFsweepstake.Ontheotherhand,theRTTYsocietyofSouthernCaliforniawasthefirsttoorganizethefirstRTTYcontestin1957.TheNationalContestJournal,apublication that started circulating in the United States in 1973, was the firstpublicationspecificallydedicatedtothesportofamateurradio.Intermsofinternationalcontests,theIARUHFWorldChampionship,aneventsponsored by the Amateur radio Union and previously called the IARURadiosportChampionship(anamechangedin1986),startedin1977.

In 1986, as amateur radio become popular as a sport, CQ amateur radioMagazine started the Contest Half of Fame. As timewent by and the sport’spopularitygrew, itspopularityworldwidegrewand tensof thousandsofhamsstartedconnectingtheirhamradios,conventions,journals,andwebsites.Becausethesportdoesnothaveaworldwideorganizingauthorityorbody, thesportlacksaworldrankingsystemandassuch—andbecausecontesterscannotcomparethemselvestootherhams—thechallengesfacedbycompetitorsdependonlocality,proximity toamateurradiocommunities,andmost importantly, theradiopropagationrulesofthelocation.July1990wasanexcitingmonthbecauseinthismonth,theworldwitnessedthefirst ever “face to face” championship known as World Radiosport Team

Championship, an event held in SeattleWashington, an event whose purposewas to overcome some of the challenges presented by previous amateur radiocompetitions.The contest saw the participation of top hams from around the globe andrequired them to participate in the competition from a single location. In theevent,22 teamsof2persons represented fifteencountrieswith some from theSovietUnionandtheEasternbloc.

In1996,SanFranciscoCaliforniaplayedhosttoanotherWRTCevent;in2000,Bled,Sloveniaplayedhost; in2002,Helsinki,Finland took themantle;and in2006,Florianópolis,Brazilplayedhost to theWRTC.Theversionof theeventthat most hams consider the “world championship” took place in 2010 inMoscowRussia.LearnmoreaboutcurrentWRTCeventsfromtheresourcelinkbelow:http://www.wrtc2018.de/index.php/en/For a more detailed history of how the technology has developed from thebeginningtoitspresentstates,readthevaluableandinsightfulresourcebelow:

http://w2pa.net/HRH/Nowthatwehaveafairerunderstandingofhamradiocontest,thenextthingweneedtolookatishowtogetstarted:

GettingStarted:GettingYourHamRadioLicenseThe last twosectionsclearlyoutlined theneedforahamradio license.As theprevioussectionsimplied,althoughthelicensingtestissimple,atfirstglance,itmayseemconfusingandchaotic.Thissectionoftheguideshallwalkyouthroughtheprocessofgettingyourhamradio license because without it, you cannot participate in amateur radiocontests.Evenwhenyourreasonsforinvolvingyourselfinhamradioactivitiesmaynotbecontestrelated,youstillneedalicenseifyouintendtouseyourhamradiotosendtwo-waymessages.

AboutFCCLicensingAs impliedearlier in thisguide,asaUS resident,youcangetyourhamradiolicensefromtheFederalCommunicationsCommission(FCC),thefederalbodygoverningthehamradioorAmateurRadioService.The FCC has three license offerings: (1) the technician license class, (2) thegeneral license class, and (3) the extra license class. The first class, thetechnicianlicenseclass,istheintroductorylicense.Beforeyoucanearnanyoftheotherlicenses,youmustearnit.

The main difference among the license classes is the transmit frequencyprivileges.When the FCC issues a license in any of the classes, it gives thelicense holder the privilege of transmitting on specific range of frequenciesallocatedtoamateurradioservice.Thefurtheryouclimbupthelicenseclasses,the broader the frequencies on which you can transmit with the extra licenseclassallowinga licenseholder fulluseofall frequenciesdedicated toamateurradioservices.

Licensing:AboutFrequencyPrivilegesAs you can probably note from the above discussions, the different licenseclasses offer different transmission frequencies. Each of the licenses andfrequencies dictates the type of on air-operations you can conduct. It is,therefore,veryimportant tounderstandthevariouslicenseclassesbecausethatunderstandingwillhelpgetyouofftoagreatstartasahamradioenthusiast.Beforewecandelveintothevariouslicensesclassesandwhateachallowsyoutotransmit,weneedtobacktrackabitandcoverbasicradioconceptsthatwillhelp you understand the differences in license classes and their in-built on airoperation.

AboutFrequencyBandsAfrequencybandisacontiguousrangeofradiofrequencies.Simplyput,radiosignals,whicharewhatyourhamradiosendsoutandreceives,utilizemagneticandelectricfieldstohopfromantennatoantenna.Thefrequencyis therateatwhichasignaltravelsbackandforth.Licensees of the technician class license use radio frequencies expressed inmillions of back and forth cycles per second (or in some cases, hundreds ofmillions of cycles per second). The unit ofmeasuring the cycle per second ishertzand thatofmillionsofcycles/second ismegahertz (MHz), somethingwehavementionedinpassingmanytimesinthisguide.

To simplify this concept even further, consider a signal thatwiggles from144MHzto148MHzonafrequencyband.Fromanontechnicalperspective,yourFMradiohasacommercialfrequencybandof88MHzto108MHz;youcanuseyour tuner to access any of the radio stations transmitting within thesefrequencies.Just as the FCC has allocated specific frequency bands to commercial FMradios, ithasallocatedsuchfrequencybandstoAmateurRadioServices; thesefrequencies arewhatwe call hambands; each frequencybandwithin thehambandwillhaveadifferentpropagationortravelingcharacteristic.

AboutOperatingModeTheAMandFMbandsonyourcarorhomeradioare twodifferentoperatingmodes: the amplitude modulation (AM) and the frequency modulation (FM).Thesetwomodesaredifferentinthattheyusedifferentencodingmechanismstotransmitinformationintoradiosignals.

LearnmoreaboutAMandFMoperatingmodefromthefollowingresource:https://www.diffen.com/difference/AM_vs_FM

HamradiosuseAMandFMmodesaswellasothermodessuchasMorsecodeand computer-generated digital packets among many other digital modes. Inessence,amodeisthesystemusedtotransmitinformationtoandfromaradiowave.Now that you understand this, let us look at license classes and the variousthingseachlicenseclassallowsyoutodo:

LicenseClassesandtheirVariousTransmissionPrivilegesEarlier,weintroducedthreelicenseclasses:(1)Thegenerallicenseclass

(2)Thetechnicianlicenseclass(3)TheextralicenseclassAswegothroughthelicenseclasses,usetheUSAmateurRadioBandsChartasareference:

TechnicianlicenseAsimpliedearlier,thisistheentry-levellicense.Onceyougetthislicense,youimmediatelygainaccess toamateur radio frequencybandsofup to30millioncycles/second and higher, radio frequencies normally regarded as VHF (VeryHigh Frequency), UHF (Ultra High Frequencies) and higher microwavefrequencies.Withaccesstothesebands,youcanusethemforvoicemodessuchasFMandAMandevenfordigitalmodessuchasMorsecode.Normally,VHFfrequencies(andotherhighfrequencies)travelfurtherthanline-of-sight and are thus what we call locally propagating signals. On thesefrequencies, if you have a powerful antenna placed on a high mast, you cantransmitandreceivesignalsovermanymileswiththedistancedependingontheterrain of the area.Aswe also implied earlier,many areas have repeaters thatallowfortheextensionoftherangeofcommunication.

With a technician license class, you can participate in local nets or on airmeetings that involve several hams and in caseswhere the hams you connectwithareusingrepeaters,youcancommunicatewithhamsindifferentstates(ofcourse depending on the terrain and your equipment range). To increase thedistanceofcommunication,somehamsusetheirVHFandUHFprivilegesandsatelliterepeatersorbitingearth.Atechnicianclasslicenselimitsyourprivilegesonhighfrequencybands(bandsinHF,3 to30MHz).Asyouknow, there isadifference inpropagationof thedifferent frequencies. For instance, HF frequencies will propagate differentlyfromVHForUHF.Ontheirpart,highfrequenciescanreflecton the ionosphere,a layerofearth’satmosphere, and thus travel further, even around the globe. The technicianlicenseallowsyoutotransmitvoiceonaHFbandof10-meterbandandMorsecode on 4HF bands. Essentially, this means that with this license, you can

contactotherhamsindifferentcountriesacrosstheworld.

GeneralLicenseAsstatedearlier, toearn this license,youneed toearn the technicianone; thislicensesimplyexpandstheprivilegesofthetechnicianlicensebyallowingyouaccesstoadditionaloperatingmodesandhigherfrequencybands.Whenyouearn this license,youcanoperateonallamateurbandsallocated toamateurradioservicesbytheFCC.YoucanusevoicemodesonallallowedHFbands (7 HF bands), which allows you to make voice contacts over greaterdistances—again, using the ionospheric skip propagation—and can also useMorse code and other digitalmodes in 8HF bands that propagate around theworld.

ExtraLicenseThislicenseexpandstheprivilegesofthegeneralclass.Itallowstheuseofextraclass exclusive band segments and essentially, gives you access higherfrequencieswhosepropagationexceedsthelocalarea.Becausethisclassoffersmore communication possibilities, it requires more skills and technicalknowhow.For the remainder of this section, we shall restrict our discussion to thetechnician class licensebecause although it’s an entry level license, it offers atonoffrequenciesandcommunicationcapabilities.

AboutTheLicenseExaminationToearnanyofthethreelicenses,youhavetopassanexamination.Eachoftheclasseshasanexaminationthattestsyourgraspofamateurradiorules,operatingprocedures,regulations,andothertechnicaltopics.Thequestions foreach licensecomefromapoolofexamquestionswitheachquestion revised every 4 years. The questions for the latest technician classlicensecomefromaquestionspoolcreatedinJuly1,2014andthatwillremainvaliduntilJune30,2018.Thequestionsareoftensimpleandthepublicdomainforthedevelopmentofstudyguidesandmaterial.

The current entry-level class license has a pool of 426 multiple questions.However,theexamitselfhas35questionsselectedfromthepoolandwhereafterreadingthequestions,youchooseoptionA,B,C,orDasthecorrectanswertothequestions.Topass the technicianexam,youmustscoreapassrateof74%(orgetright26outofthe35questions).In modern day, these exams do not require a demonstrated ability tocommunicateinMorsecodeandthus,togetalicense—whicheverlicenseclass—allyouhavetodoispassthemultiple-choicequestionexam.TheNationalConferenceofVolunteerExaminerCoordinators (NCVEC) is thebody responsible for formulating the questions pool and their volunteerexaminers(VEs)aretheonesresponsibleforadministeringtheexamacrosstheUnitedStates.ThesevolunteerVEsarehamenthusiastscertifiedandsanctionedbytheFCC.

WhereToFindAnExaminationSessionIfyouliveinapopulatedlocalitythathasavibranthamradiocommunity,youwillfindseveralexamsessionsheldeachmonthathamradioeventsofheldbyhamradioclubs.Ifyouliveinadenselypopulatedareathatlacksavibranthamradio community, you may have to travel a short distance to attend anexamination.UsethefollowingresourcestosearchforscheduledVEexams:

http://www.arrl.org/find-an-amateur-radio-license-exam-sessionhttp://www.w5yi.org/exam_locations_ama.phpMost VE administered exams allow walk ins; however, some will require anadvanceregistration.

WhatToBringToTheExamRoomWhen going to sit for the exam, you will need to carry with you, a driver’slicense(oranyotherstateissuedphotoIDsuchasyoursocialsecuritycard—ifyouhaveone—studentID,birthcertificate,utilitybill,andthelikes).Youwillalsoneedtocarrymoney($15)forthefeepayment,acalculator,andpencils.

HowtoPreparefortheLicenseExamHowyoupreparefortheexamwilldeterminehowgreatyoumanage.Here,youhave various options: you can memorize enough questions to pass the exam,which isnotagreatstrategybecauseeven thoughyoumayace theexam,youwill not have a clear or firm understanding of the concepts and radioterminologies.Learningandunderstandingthehamradioandtheconceptsbehinditisthebeststudystrategybecauseitallowsyoutounderstandwhattheexamquestionsareaskingofyou,whichwillallowyoutofigureouttherightanswers.

To study for the exam (and learnmore about ham radios), you can use studyguidesorattendaclassofferedbyhamradioclubs.Youcanfindstudyguidesontheresourcesbelow:http://www.kb6nu.com/study-guides/https://hamstudy.org/http://www.aclog.com/aprs/study.php

AmateurRadioCompetitionEquipmentNowthatyouhaveyour technicianclass license, togetstarted, theother thingyouneedtodo(ifyouhavenot)istosetupyourequipmentandstation.Atthemostbasiclevel,youwillneedahamradiothatcantransmitandreceivesignalsusingthevariousmodes.Inthissection,weshalldiscussthevariousequipmentyouneedtoparticipateinhamradiocontests.Weshallstartwiththebasics:

TransceiversTo get started immediately, this guide recommends that you get an FMtransceiver. Because the technician class offers you access to VHF and UHFfrequenciesandrepeatersonwhichisthemostpopularvoicemode,FM,youcanuse an FM transceiver to send noise-free voice messages in a trouble freemanner.Most available handheld transceivers are FM only, so are most of thetransceivers in cars—mobile operations—or the ones used to create a basestation.Mostofthesetransceiversrestrictthemselvesto1-3VHF-UHFamateurbands.

Anotheroptionhereisamultimodetransceiver.Thesetypesoftransceiversareabitpriceybutoffercomplexoperationsandcapabilities.TotransmitvoiceoverHF bands, you will need a transceiver that has a single sidebandmode. Thismodeisveryspecialinthatitoptimizesuseofpowerandisthemostpopularforlong distance communications onHF bands aswell as over-the-horizon voicetransmission.A multimode transceiver is ideal for when you upgrade your license to thegeneralclasslicensebecausethelicenseexpandsthephonemodeprivilegesontheHFbands.Further, the transceiver (amultimode transceiver)allowsyou tocommunicate inMorsecodeaswellasattachacomputer for transmissionsondigitalmodes.Now that you have your technician class license, get a radio. The mostcommonlyusedtransceiversarethehandheldHTs.

Commonly called HTs or handy-talkies by most hams, you can start out bybuyingaFMHT thatoffers2-meterbandonVHFand70-centimeterbandon

UHF. These are the most commonly used handheld transceivers since mostavailablerepeatersusethesefrequencyranges.Withthatsaid,somepartsoftheUnitedStatesusethe1.25-meterbandforrepeateroperations.WhileyoucanstartwiththemostbasicHT(whichtransceiveryoustartoutwithshalldependonyour levelofknowledgeandexpertise), youhavemany radiochoiceswithmanyradiosofferingvariousinclusionsandfeatures.Forstarters—especiallyifyouarerelativelynewtohamradios—goforaHTradiothatdoesnot appear too complicated (they are easier to manipulate and are not asexpensive). IfyouareunsureofwhichHTtobuytogetstarted, joinacluborseekthementorshipofanElmer(anexperiencedhamradiooperator).

Learnmoreaboutbuyingtransceiversfromthefollowingresources:http://rsgbhttp://rsgbIn closing this transceiver section though,wehave tomention that purchasingradios is perhaps themost costly aspect of settingup an amateur radio stationprimarilybecausetheradioisverycentraltohamradioactivities.Thisthereforemeansthatchoosingtherighttransceiver/radioisveryimportant(whichiswhythis guide suggests that if you are unsure of which radio to buy, to seekassistancefromanElmer).

Nowthatyouhavechosenaradio,youalsoneedtopaysomeattentiontofilters.A filter allowsyou fulluseof adesired radio signalwhile reducing the signalstrengthofothersignalsinyourlocality.Now that you’re setting up your amateur radio station, youwill need a goodfilterbecauseaneffectiveonemakeshamradiooperationsandcommunicationseasier.Whetheryouneed tobuyafilterwilldependon the typeof transceiveryou choose to use since radios offer cascading filters that follow one anotherwhileothersprovideextrafilters.In addition to a transceiver, you may need one or any of the following(dependingonyourchosentransceiver).

PowerSupplyIfyouopttostartoutonahandheldtransceiver,oneyoucanuseonUHF(FMorVHF,youwillneedrechargeablebatteries(readthedevicemanualtoknowthetypeofpowersupplyyouneedforyourhandheldtransceiver).Ifyoudecidethatyou’llsetupthetransceiverataspecificareaofyourhome,

youshallneedtoinvestinaDCpowersupplywhosevoltageshalldependonthevoltage needs of your transceiver (most handheld transceivers have a voltagerequirementof13.8voltsandyoumayneedtobuyanadapter.Ifyouhaveabasestation—apermanentormobileone—youwillneedapowersupply of no less than 13.8 volts (check the device manual for voltagespecifications).Somebasestationswillcomeequippedwitha230voltspowersupply inbuilt.Most transceiverswillhaveamanual tellingyou themaximumvoltageforindividualdevicessothatthepowersupplyyougetisadequate.

The types of power supplies in themarket are switched-mode and linear. Thelinear type has a bulky design that uses two transformers to change the inputvoltage of 230 volts into 13.8 DC power for use by the base station. Linearpowersuppliesareheavyandlarge.Theswitched-modeonesarevastlydifferentinthattheydirectlyconverttheACvoltageintoDCandthenfilterit.TheHighvoltageDCissubsequentlyfedintoapoweroscillator,whichusuallyswitchesitonoroffatafrequencyof20to50kHz with the result being a pulsating DC converted to 13.8 volts by atransformer. Switched mode power supplies are smaller, lighter, and cheaperthan linear power supplies. However, even though these power supplies aresmaller and cheaper, takenote that in some instances, theymay interferewithsignalstransmittedoveryourradio.Toensurezerosignalinterference,chooseaswitched-modepowersupplythathasa lowradiofrequencyinterference(RFI)featureoronethathasaknobyoucanusetoadjustinterferencewhenyounoteit.

CoaxAcoaxshallhelpyouconnectyourantennaandtransceiver.Sincemostradioshavea50Ohmunbalancedoutput,youwillneeda50-Ohmcoax.Beforeyoubuyacoax,youshouldgiveproperthoughttothequalityofthecoaxyouintendtobuyanditscharacteristiclosses.Inthisregard,notethatthehigherthe frequency, the greater the coax loss. For operating on lower HF bands, a5mm RG58 coax will suffice.When you move to the higher high frequencybandsof24-28MHzor144-430MHz,youwillneedabettercoax.ThemostcommonlyusedcoaxistheRG213becauseotherthanofferinglowerlosses,it’salsolessflexibleandthicker.

AntennasandAntennaAnalyser/SWRmeterThe antenna you choose to use for your base station can be directional or

omnidirectional.Directionalantennasbeamconcentratedsignalsinonedirectionwhileomnidirectionalonesradiatethesignaloutequally.Ifyouhaveamobiletransceiver, you’ll note that it uses whip antennas you can interchange fordifferentbands.MostmoderntransceivershaveinbuiltSWRmetersthathelpwiththesettingupof an antenna. Additionally, many external antennas units have inbuilt SWRmetersthatmakefindingmatcheseasier.

Ifyouareassemblingabasestationinacar,youwillneedanSWRmetersoyoucancorrectlysetuptheantenna.Thesamecaseappliestoahomebasestation;whenchoosingwhichonetobuy,considerthebandsyouwillbetransmittingon.Furthertothis,ifyouwillbeexperimentingwithdifferenttypesofantennas,youwillneedananalyser,whichalthoughnotcheap,willbeveryessentialandoffermore information—such as faults in cables, measure of the cable electricallength,andagraphicaldisplayoftheSWRcurve—thananSWRevercould.Thefirstantennayousetupshouldbeahalf-wavedipoleantenna.To learn more about setting up your first antenna, read the content on theinvaluableresourcebelow:

http://rsgb.org/main/get-started-in-amateur-radio/antennas/your-first-antenna-the-half-wave-dipole/

LogBookSince youwill be participating in amateur radio contest, andwhile it is not anecessity,youwillneedalogbookwhereyoucanlogyourcontacts.Themostinexpensive way to keep a log is to have a paper log. However, for contestpurposes(whichisthepurposeofthisguide),it’simportanttohaveacomputerlog.Fortunately,there’replentyofsoftware(forbothMacandPCs)withsomebeingpaidandsomefree.While a paper log is easy to keep, an electronic one is ideal for competitionsbecause it automatically logs all you contacts and the ragchew exchangebetweenyouandtheotherstation.Toaddtothis,mostoftheavailableloggingsoftwarealsoprint labelsforyourQSLcards, trackyourprogress towardsanygoals (if you’re in a contest), and also upload the log or information to theARRL’slogbook.Tolearnmoreaboutloggingsoftware,seethecontentontheresourcesbelow:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_amateur_radio_software

http://www.w1wc.com/software/https://www.dxzone.com/5-free-ham-radio-logbook-programs/

Tolearnmoreabouttheequipmentyouneedforhamradiocompetition,aswellasthevariousloggingsoftwareavailable,readpage5-15ofthisfreecontestingmanual:http://k4ro.net/w4phs/W4PHS_Guide_to_Ham_Radio_Contests.pdf

Making Your First QSO: A Simple, Ham RadioContestGuidetoMakingContactsNow that you’ve set up your base station and you’re ready to start contactingother station,you’re ready tomakeyour first contact (your firstQSO).Beforemakingyourfirston-airradiocontact,thisbookrecommendsthatyoulistenintoafewconversations.Ifyou’reinthevicinityofarepeater,monitoritandthentune it to the ragchew exchange between the other hams to note the type ofconversation going on, the language used, and such.Most ragchew exchangeswillusecommonlanguagewithafewhamradiospecifictermsthrowninthere.Theeasiestwaytolearnthelingoisbylookingovertheresourcebelowthathasalistofcommonhamradioterms:

http://www.hamradioschool.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/common_ham_radio_terms.pdfAfterlisteninginforawhileandwhenyoufeelreadytomakeyourfirstcontact,usetheknowledgeyouusedfromyourexamstudyguidetomakethefirston-aircontactbypushing-to-talkandusingyournewcallsign—assignedtoyouafterpassingyourtechnicianlicensetest.Whileyour firstQSOcanbedaunting—not tomention theanxiety thatcomeswith contacting experiencedhamswhenyour just a newt—youcan arrange totestthewatersbyarrangingyourfirstQSOwithafriend,perhapsonefromtheclub,oranElmerifyouhaveone.Thiswillmaketheprospectlessstressfulandinsteadfillitwithfun.In addition, this guide recommends that you get started bymaking your firstQSOon a 2mFM instead of aHFSSBbecause the latter can be noisier andpronetointerference.

Beforeyouget started—this applieswhether you’re contactingother hams forfunorareinacontest—youneedtomakesureyourradioisontherightmode,you have the right amount of power, and that themicrophone gain is correct.Makesure,also, thatyou’reusing thecorrectantenna thatmatchesyourneedsandradio.Here,youcanuseanATUorfeedthelinedirectlyintoyourradio.Forthelatter,ensurethattheantennahasalowSWR.IfyouintendtomakeaphoneorvoiceQSO,youwillhaveto(1)callCQor(2)

answersomeonewhoisactuallycallingCQ.WhatdoesCQmean?Well,aCQisageneralcalltargetedatnooneinparticularandisthetraditionalhamradiowayof reaching out to new ham radio contacts. Obviously, before you make orreceive aCQcall, youneed to find a frequencynot inuseby another station,which isusuallynoteasyespecially ifyou live inahamradiovibrant localitywherethere’scrowdingontheHFbands.

AboutFindingAnOpenFrequencyFindinganopen frequency isaprocess.The first thingyouneed todo is tuneyourantennatunertoascloseas1:1asyoucanandthenchecktoseeifsomeoneisusingthefrequency.Nothearingsomethingisnotanindicatorofafrequencynotinuse.Someonecouldbeusingafrequency,saynothing,butstillhearyou.To check if a frequency is in use, send “QRL” (a term used to ask if thefrequency is in use or if the ham on the other side is busy) and if you’re onvoice,simplystate,“Thisis(insertyourcallsignhere).Isthisfrequencybusy?”Dependingonthereplyyouget,eithermoveonorusethefrequencyifyoudon’theararesponse.

Thekeyideahereistolistenbeforetalkingortransmitting.TocallCQ,usethe3X3method.Inthe3X3method,youcallCQthreetimesintheformatbelow:

Whenyouusethisformula,astationmaycomebacktoyouandsay:

NOTE:It’simportanttopointoutherethattheinformationalexchangewillvaryfromcontesttocontest.Somecontactswillcomebacktoyouwithyourreport,name,andQTHwhileotherswillnot.Forcompetitionpurposes,itsimportanttonotethekindofinformationneededintheexchangesothatifastationdoesnotofferthatinformation,youcanaskquestionstogetit.Other than takingnoteof theaboveas it relates tocompetition,whatyou talkabout with your new contact will vary. For instance, you can exchangeinformationaboutyourstations,onwhateverelseyouwant.

Thepointofnotehere is thatyoushouldconductyourselfwithdecorum,as ifanyone in the world is tuning into your conversation, which is not a toofarfetched notion because in the real sense, anyone could be listening in. Assuch,avoidconversationsaroundhottopicthatdrawouttheworstinpeople—politics and religion are prime examples of topics to avoid or terminatewhentheystartturningintoarguments.Insomeinstances,especiallyifyou’veestablishedaQSOcontactwithastationoperatedbyanon-Englishspeakingperson,theotherhamwillwishyoua“73”andmoveon.73isaQcodeforbestwishesandinthiscase,itsimplymeanstheperson operating the station is non-English speaking and is wishing you wellbecauseheorshedoesnotwanttogettonguetied.73isalsoanidealwaytoendaconversation.

ChecktheresourcebelowforafulllistofQRcodes:http://www.amateur-radio-wiki.net/index.php?title=Codes_and_AlphabetsPleasenotethatforcontest,youneedtounderstandthecontestrulessoyoucanknowwhichinformationtoexchangewhenyoumakeyourQSO.After making your first QSO and accustoming to operating your ham radio,using repeaters and radio bands, and contacting other hams directly withoutusing repeaters (called talking to other ham simplex), you can then considerupgrading tosomething thathasahigherpoweroutput than thehandheld.Themoreyouimmerseyourselfinthehamuniverse,thefasterandbetteryourskillsshallgrow,andthemoreeffectiveyoushallbewhencompeting.Youwillalsohaveatonoffun.

Nowthatyouknowasmuchasthenextham,theotherthingweshalltalkaboutarethevarioustypesofcontests,theirrules,andpastwinners.

TheMainAmateurRadioContestsandTheirRulesNow that you’re immersing yourself in the ham universe—not to mentiongetting better at making contacts and operating your station (practice makesperfect)—youwill be looking to get into the excitingworld of amateur radiocontesting.The great thing about amateur radio is that it has a vibrant community andbecause of this, youwill never lack a contest to participate in; in fact, at anygivenmoment,youmayfindacontestunderwayinalmostanypartoftheworld.

In this section of the guide,we shall discuss themain amateur radio contestsheldduringtheyear,whentheyhappen,theirrules,andpastwinners.

ARRLDXContestThe purpose/mission of this contest it to encourage stations to enhance theirknowledgeofDXpropagationonHFandMFbandsandimprovetheiroperatingskills.Thecontestalsoseeks to improvehamsandstationcapabilitiesbecausethe completion seeks to haveDX stations only contactW/VE stations.W/VEstationsarestationsoperatingintheUnitedStatesandtheDistrictofColumbia(minusHawaiiandAlaska),andmostCanadianterritoriesandprovincesexceptthoseonSableandSt.PaulIsland.ThecontestdefinesDXstationsasanynon-W/VEstationincludingthoseintheUSandterritoriessuchasthePacificandCaribbean.ItdefinesDXCCentitiesasthosedefinedbytheARRLDXCClist.Thecontestdemandsanelectronic logsubmittedbyemailoramemorydevice.Itdefinesanautomatedmulti-channeldecoder—suchasCWskimmer—asadevicethatrevealsinformationaboutthefrequency and identity of the contest station without the direct control andparticipationofoperatingham.

Thecontesthappenson:CW:the3rdfullweekendinFebruary(forinstance,February17-18,2018)Phone:The1stfullweekendinMarch(forexample,March3-4,2018)The entry categories for the contest are single operator, single operatorunlimited,singleoperatorsingleband,andmultioperator.

Therequiredinformationalexchangebetweencontactsandstationshastobe:W/VEstationssendsignalreportsandprovinceorstatewhileDXstationssendsignalreportsaswellasanumbershowingtransmitteroutputpower.Whenitcomestoscoring,pointsforcontacts(QSO)arethreeforW/VEstationsper DX QSO and three for W/VE QSO. For the multipliers, for the W/VEstations, the points dependon the sumofDXCCentities per band (except forthose located in U.S. and Canada) while for DX stations, the contest scoringrulesstatesthis:

The final score is a sum total of the QSO pointsmultiplied by a total of themultipliers.

To learnmore about this contest, the general rules of engagement, aswell aspreviousandupcomingevents,checkouttheresourcesbelow:ArrlRulesforarrlcontestsRulesforarrlcontestsbelow30-MHz

Rulesforarrlcontestsabove50-mhzYoucanseerecordsofpastwinnersfromtheresourcebelow:http://www.arrl.org/contest-records

CQWorldWideDXContestHeldonthelastfullweekendofOctoberfortheSSBandthelastfullweekendofNovemberfortheCW,theaimofthiscontestisforamateurhamenthusiaststocontactasmanystationsastheycaninallCQzonesandcountries(orasmanyastheycan).The contest allows the use of 6 bands: 1.8, 3.5, 7, 14, 21 and 28 MHz andencouragescontestants toobserve theestablishedbands.For theexchange, theSSBcontestaskscontestantstoexchangeRSreportandtheCQzonenumberofthe station contacted; for theCWcontest, contestantsmust exchange theRSTreportandtheCQzone.

When it comes to scoring, the final score is the total contact (QSO) pointsmultipliedbysumofzoneandlocation/countrymultipliers.ToearnQSOpoints,contesterscanonlycontactastationonceoneachbandandnormallydependonthelocationofthestationcontacted.For contacting a station in a different continent, hams earn 3 points. Forcontacting a station within the same continental bounds, but in a differentcountry,astationearns1pointwiththeexceptionbeingtheawardof2pointsforcontacting stations in different countries within the Northern Americanboundaries.ContactingstationswithinthesamecountrydoesnotearnyouQSOpointsbutcountaszoneandcountrymultipliercredit.The contest has two types of multipliers. The first one is an application of amultiplierof1foreachcontactmadeoneachbandfordifferentCQzones.Thesecondisacountrymultiplierof1fordifferentstationscontactedfromdifferentcountriesoneachband.The contest allows the following entry categories; single operators, singleoperatorassisted,QRPassisted,classicoperator,rookie,andmulti-operators.

Youcanlearnmoreaboutthiscontest,rulesandregulations,futurecontestdates,aswellaspastwinnersfromtheresourcesbelow:https://www.cqww.com/rules.htmhttps://www.cqwpx.com/https://www.cqwpx.com/score_db.htm

ARRL“FieldDay”Held on the lastweekend in June, the objective of this contest is for amateurradio stations to contact as many amateur radio stations on all amateur radiobands excluding those on the 12, 17, 30 and z60-meter bands. The secondaryaimisforhamstolearnhowtooperatetheirstationsinnon-optimalconditions.The competition is open to all participants in countries within in the IARUregion2 and all areas coveredby theARRL/RAC fieldorganization.You cancontactotherstationsoutsidetheseareasforcredit.

Youcanlearnmoreaboutthisfielddayeventfromthefollowingresource:http://www.arrl.org/field-dayToknowwhich contest is happeningwhen—not tomention the rules for eachcontest—usetheresourcebelow:http://www.contestcalendar.com//contestcal.html

The following resource also has a free guide that outlines various aspects ofcontestingandrules:http://k4ro.net/w4phs/W4PHS_Guide_to_Ham_Radio_Contests.pdfIn closing this section, it’s important to point out that competitions you canengageinaremany;eachwillhaveadifferentsetofrules.Readasummaryofthe rules for the content you intend to enter and then download a completeversionoftherulessoyoucanassessthem.Inadditiontofollowingcontestspecificrules,takenoteandadheretoFCCrulesaswellasgoodoperatingpracticeandhamradioetiquette.

Contesting Tips and Techniques for Better AmateurRadioContestingTipstohelpyouimproveyourhamradioexpertisearemany.Inthissection,weshall discuss specific tips that applied, shall help youwinmore contests (andenjoythemmore).

LookOverTheContestDetailsBeforehandThisisperhapsthemostimportanttipinthisbook.Youdon’twanttogointoacontestblind,whichiswhyyoushouldlookoverthecontestdetails,rules,times,and other such things before you go about entering into a contest. The mostimportantthingtocheckisthetimeofthecontest—giventhatthehavedifferenttimezones,synchronizethetimeofthecontestwithyourtimezone—aswellastherulesofthecontest.Youalsoneedtounderstandtheinformationyouneedtosubmitonthelogbecausetheychangefromcontesttocontest.Italsoagoodideatolookoverpastcontestwinnerstounderstandthetopscoresforthepreviousyear.Thiswillgiveyouanideaofthescorestoaimforasyouparticipateinthecompetitionaswellasthescoresthatcountascredible.

TestYourEquipmentThisis justasimportantasthetipabove.Becausecompetitionsarefierce,youshould test your equipment before entering into a competition to make sureeverythingisinproperworkingorder.Particularly,checkouttheantennasystem(andifneedbe,installanewoneorimproveuponyourcurrentone).Checktheantennaforcorrosion—antennasleftoutsidehaveatendencytowearandbecauseof it, lose theireffectiveness—andespeciallycheck the jointsandconnections.

Toearnmorepointsincontests:

AlwaysGoForMultipliersFirstWhile QSO points are important, those that add to the multiplier count havemoreweight.Becauseofthis,asyoucompete,specificallyseekout,andcontactmultiplierstations(ofcoursedependingon thecontest rules)beforecontactingother types of stations. Some loggers such as the N1MM will highlightmultipliers in red from the spotting list andhave a separate screen that showsmultipliersavailableonaband.

BeMindfulOfWhereYouTuneWhencheckingthroughyourspottinglistofstations,takecarenottogooutsidethefrequenciesdefinedbythecontestrulesandyourlicensedfrequencyrange.For instance, if you’re competing in the general class ticket, take care not tocontact stations in the extra class region and if youhave an extra class ticket,takecarenottogooutsidetheU.S.frequencybands.Asageneralclassoperator,toavoidextraandadvancedregionsthatareonthelowerendof thebands,startat the lowest, legallyacceptablefrequencyin thisclassbandandthenworkyourwayuptowardsthehigherfrequencies.

WorkAsManyStationsInSimilarDirectionsIfyou’reusingadirectionalantenna,aneffectivestrategyistopointtheantennain one direction that showsmultiple stations, work down the spotting list (ofcoursethestationsyoucontactshalldependonthecontestrules)andcontactasmanystationsaspossible.Oncedonewiththatblockofstations,swingtheantennainanotherdirectionandrepeattheprocess.Forinstance,ifyoupointyourantennatowardsChina,workall the stations in that region, then swing it towards Europe, and repeat theprocess.

WorkThroughSearchingAndPouncingIf you implement the tip above, you should have a healthy list of contacts towork through.Whenyour list dries up, don’t spendmost of your time callingCQ.Instead,search,pounce,andthenwhenyouhaveahealthylist,runagain.

BreaksAreImportantAs we indicated earlier, some contests can last as long as 48 hours. Whileparticipatinginsuchcontests,it’simportanttotakeoccasionalrefreshingbreaks.Beingtootiredwillnothelpyouwinacontest;instead,itwilltakethefunoutofcontesting.

ConclusionWehavecometotheendofthebook.Thankyouforreadingandcongratulationsforreadinguntiltheend.Fromeverythingwehavediscussed in thisguide,youcansee thathamradiosarefun(andaveryusefulskilltohave)andengagingincontestisbutafunwaytoenhanceyouramateurradioknowledgeandexpertise.

Once you work through the formative parts of your entry into the wonderfulworld of amateur radio,work yourway into contesting as away to challengeyourselfandenhanceyouroperationalandtechnicalknowledgeaswellasyourabilitytomakecontactsindifferentsituationsandscenarios.Ifyoufoundthebookvaluable,canyourecommendittoothers?OnewaytodothatistopostareviewonAmazon.ClickheretoleaveareviewforthisbookonAmazon!

Thankyouandgoodluck!