HOME PAGE AMATEUR RADIO IN THE
Efforts are always being made to
encourage pupils in local schools to take up the club’s offer of tuition to
qualify for a Novices Amateur Radio Transmitting licence. Mobile phones and the
Internet now of course present enormous competition to Amateur Radio, with
their greater ease of communication. But once the Amateur Radio equipment has
been bought, you can freely stay ‘on air’ for unlimited time, and it provides a
far greater challenge to both young and old to make contacts over long distance
communication, due to problems of atmospheric interference, and overcrowding of
the Amateur bands at times. Contacting someone many miles this way is something
to be proud of, and is why a system of sending post cards confirming contacts
was involved many years ago, know as QSL cards.
The Internet has virtually no
controls, apart for the possible threat of civil actions such as libel, and
infringement of copyright, whereas use of the airwaves is strictly controlled
in every country throughout the world. This especially applies in countries
whose governments impose severe restrictions on freedom of speech. Special
licences are granted by the relevant authorities, for use of the airwaves to
all the Public Services, Radio and TV stations, Taxis and Buses etc. In most
countries special licences are also granted to members of the public for
personal use, subject to various conditions. In this country these primarily
fall into two main categories, use of the 27 Megacycles Citizens Band, and a
variety of licences for Amateur Radio. There are restrictions in place for both
of these categories. In general one should not interfere with other users,
advertise, use foul language, cause offence by discussing Politics or Religion,
or pass on third part messages, that would compete with other services such as
the telephone, etc.
Radio Amateurs are also obliged to
study the principles of Radio Propagation, and regulations relating to the
relevant licence, and pass a test, which used to include Morse, depending on
the type of licence. By International agreement, most countries such as ours,
have now abandoned the necessity to pass a Morse test, although Amateurs some
still use Morse because of its ability to be understood, even through
considerable atmospheric interference. They are also bound by rules, where they
must periodically identify themselves with an individual Callsign, which in the
Radio Amateurs sometimes known as
HAMS, can apply for three different licences. The initial entry is by the
Foundation Licence involving a course of study of 12 hours, and after
assessments the test consists of an examination of 45 minutes. Successful
candidates are now allocated a M3 call sign and permitted to operate on certain
HF and most VHF bands using a transmitting power of 10 W. This includes the use
if repeaters such as the one located on the Ridge providing clear contacts for
a larger area around
In the past those who do not wish to
learn Morse, were restricted to the higher frequency bands, suitable mainly for
local contacts. Use of these bands have now been vastly improved by the use of
Repeaters, similar to those used by Mobile Phones. The three maintained by the
Hastings Repeater Group, which is part of our club, provide possible clear
contacts within a radius of 70 miles of
See details of an interesting
alternative completely harmless form of foxhunting, popular among Radio
Amateurs by going to FOXHUNTING
Gordon Sweet gordonsweet2000@yahoo.co.uk Visit the
Radio Society of
Local Radio Amateurs'
Emergency Network http://www.hastings-raynet.info/index2.html
Science and Technology
Education through Links with Amateur Radio
http://stelaruk.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/