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Patrick Cornish, KCØJNQ was licensed on January 18th, 2001 as a result of his interest in Amateur Radio. This interest developed during the preparation of this High School Senior Class Project. This project, including this report, which got a well deserved B+ grade, also included the assembly of a 440 mHz repeater. A very ambitious project, indeed. Marion, KAØRID was the 'Elmer' on this project. Read and enjoy this very comprehensive overview of Amateur Radio. And, point any aspiring hams to this web page to see where 'Ham Radio' came from and what is currently going on.  Floyd, WØYQX

Amateur Radios Sweep the Nation

Today there are over 750,000 amateur radios in the United States (West. Technician Class 2). The Federal Communication Commission (FCC) is in charge of the licensing in the United States. They are also in charge of the rules that amateurs must follow in order to keep their licenses. Many changes have occurred since the original ham radio came out in 1912. Ham radios are used for both entertainment communications, as well as, to serve the public. To completely understand the value of the invention of the ham radio, the history of ham radios, how to earn a license, and the rules of the licensee must be fully examined.

Amateur radio really began in 1899. When Guglielmo Marconi sent a wireless signal across the English Channel. In 1901 he sent a signal across the Atlantic Ocean, sparking wireless radio in America. It wasn’t until 1912 that amateur radio began with The Radio Act of 1912. It mandated the first federal licensing of radio stations and banished amateurs to the shorter wavelengths of less than 200 meters (West. Technician Class 2). In 1914 the Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL) was founded by H.P. Maxim. The ARRL started a magazine called QST, which is published on a regular basis today. Between 1914 and 1917 the number of amateurs increased from 1,200 to over 6,000 (Continelli). During World War I amateurs were called to dismantle their equipment and were called to arms. After the war the Navy tried to get all privileges of wireless communication but the ARRL came to the rescue with their "Blue Card" appeal which got amateurs back on the air in November of 1919 (Continelli).

A breakthrough occurred in 1923 for amateur radios. The MacMillian Arctic Expedition was the first to carry two way radios. Over the next ten years, dozens of Arctic and Antarctic expeditions used amateur radio as their primary method of communication (Continelli).

The Communications Act of 1934 created the Federal Communications Commission. Amateur radio licenses were reorganized into classes A, B, and C. In 1941 when the U.S. entered World War II all amateur activity was suspended. After the war the military left the High Frequency bands in stages, all except for 160-meters, which was left for LORAN Radio Navigation system. Nothing special happened to amateur radio until 1951 when the FCC dropped the letter designations and gave them names (West. Technician Class 3). The new classes were named Advanced, General, and Conditional, replacing the class A, class B, and class C respectively. There were three new added classes-the Amateur Extra, Novice, and Technician (Continelli). The Technician was for experimentation only, not for communication. It had privileges above 220 megahertz. Novices were only given CW, which is Continuous Wave or Morse code on High Frequency bands and limited output power. They were allowed to use Phone on 145 to 147 megahertz. It was a one-year non-renewable license (Continelli).

During the years 1956 through the 1960’s there were two technical revolutions. One was transistors, which found their way into radios. However most equipment is still one hundred percent tubes (Continelli). The other was Single Side Band, also referred to as SSB, which is catching up with Amplitude Modulation, commonly referred to as AM, in terms of popularity. By the 1960’s SSB pulled ahead of AM (Continelli).

Orbiting Satellite Carrying Amateur Radio, commonly referred to as OSCAR, was sent into orbit in 1961. Amateurs copy its signal on 144 megahertz (MHz). Its signal is "…. .." translated as "Hi" (Continelli). Oscar is a satellite that amateurs use to communicate with other Hams.

Many famous people have been Hams. One of the most famous was Barry Goldwater. Barry Goldwater ran for the 1964 presidential election, but was defeated by Lyndon B. Johnson. He would have been the first president to be a licensed Ham. Herbert Hoover died at the age of 90. He was very active in amateur radio. His son Herbert Hoover Junior became President of the ARRL (Continelli).

The 1970’s brought on few changes except for new bandwidths and license changes. One major improvement was WARC-79 . WARC-79 was the World Administrative Radio Conference, which took place in Geneva. The United States lost no bands however the nation gained three new ones, which were 10, 18, 24 MHz. During 1983 a revolution occurred in which Owen Garriott was the first amateur to operate on board the space shuttle (Continelli).

Amateur radio operators in American no longer had to know Morse code to get licensed as of 1991. The licenses were restructured again by reducing the number of licenses from six to three. Those three licenses were Technician, General, and Extra (West. Technician Class 5). Technician is an entry level with no code requirements. General is in the middle, which allows High Frequency entry level plus requires a five word per minute code test. Extra class is the top ranked license. It has all the previous privileges and a fifty-question required test that goes deep into technical, electrical, and mathematical problems. The Extra also requires a five word per minute codes test.

Technician class operators have Very High Frequency (VHF) and Ultra High Frequency (UHF) privileges. They have all types of emissions including CW, Phone, RTTY, Packet, and SSB. The initials CW stand for Morse code. The term Phone stands for using a microphone to communicate, which is the most common way of communications. Radioteletype is RTTY, which encompasses the use of a teleprinter to send a typed message to a certain type of modem. It then goes to a transmitter and finally over the airwaves. Packet is essentially the same as RTTY except it is more modern. It uses a computer and a special modem that is different from RTTY. SSB is Single Sideband, which is a type of voice operation on amateur radios (Wolfgang et. al. 6-0).

Technician is a class of amateur radio. Technicians can operate on bands six meters, two meters, one and one fourth meters, 70 centimeters, 33 centimeters, and 23 centimeters (West. Technician Class 179). The meters and centimeters indicate how long a radio wave takes to complete a cycle. A cycle is exactly one wavelength. Waves travel in Hertz (Hz) so one wavelength is only one hertz (West. No-Code 96). Band measurements describe the distance of the cycle. For example a six-meter radio wavelength will cover approximately six meters per cycle.

Table 1

Technician Class Band Plan

Band	Frequency
6 meters	50-54 MHz/CW 50.1-54 MHz/Ph
2 meters	144-148 MHz/CW 144.1-148 MHz/All
1.25 meters	222-225 MHz/All
70 centimeters	420-450 MHz/All
33 centimeters	902-928 MHz/All
23 centimeters	1240-1300 MHz/All

 

Source: West, Gordon. Technician Class. Lincolnwood, Ill: Master Publishing, Inc., 2000. table 179.

In the General class the emissions privileges are the same as the Technician class. The only major difference is the bands that they can operate on. General licensees have the following privileges: 160 meters, 80 meters, 40 meters, 30 meters, 20 meters, 17 meters, 15 meters, 12 meters, and ten meters. These bands are referred to as High Frequency bands.

General Class Band Plan

Band	Frequency
160 meters	1800-2000 kHz/All
80 meters	3525-3750 kHz/CW 3850-4000 kHz/Ph
40 meters	7025-7150 kHz/CW 7225-7300 kHz/Ph
30 meters	10.1-10.15 MHz/CW
20 meters	14.025-14.15 MHz/CW 14.225-14.35 MHz/Ph
17 meters	18.068-18.11 MHz/CW 18.11-18.168 MHz/Ph
15 meters	21.025-21.2 MHz/CW 21.3-21.45 MHz/Ph
12 meters	24.89-24.99 MHz/CW 24.93-24.99 MHz/Ph
10 meters	28.0-29.7 MHz/CW 28.3-29.7 MHz/Ph
6 meters	50-54 MHz/CW 50.1-54 MHz/Ph
2 meters	144-148 MHz/CW 144.1-148 MHz/Ph
1.25 meters	222-225 MHz/All
70 centimeters	420-450 MHz/All
33 centimeters	902-928 MHz/All
23 centimeters	1240-1300 MHz/All

 

Source: West, Gordon. Technician Class. Lincolnwood, Ill: Master Publishing, Inc., 2000. table 179.

The Extra Class has the same privileges as General. The only difference is that one the written examination contains more technical questions. The questions go more in depth on the electric principles. There are 50 question on the Extra examination compared to the 35 questions on the General and Technician test.

High Frequency bands are considered world bands. These bands use the Ionosphere to skip a signal back to Earth. These skips are over thousands of miles. A person in Denver, Colorado can communicate with someone in Russia. This is how a skip works. It sends a signal out and it hits the layers on the Ionosphere and skips back to Earth. Sam Gardner has talked from his home in South Bend, Indiana to Antarctica. He as also talked from Garden City to China and Russia (Gardner, Sam. Ham Operator).

The amateur radio service is just that, a public service. Hams as they call themselves, provide assistance in emergencies. While a Ham is on the air, they are always on the look out for a Mayday call on phone or SOS, if operating on CW. They are authorized to do everything in their power to help out when an emergency message goes out. Ham operators also help out during natural disasters such as floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, and hurricanes. They give assistance when there is a chemical or a man-made disaster, such as terrorist attacks. The Sandhill Amateur Radio Club (SHARC) has their emergency equipment in the basement of the Garden City Law Enforcement Center (Gardner).

Hams also participate in Hamfests. Hamfests are when amateurs get together and go over new rules and regulations. They also have flea markets where they sell equipment (Cornish, Pete. Ham Operator).

There are certificates and awards Hams can win. For example, there is Worked All States (WAS) and Worked All Continents (WAC) along with a few others. Worked All States require that an amateur worked or has had contacts in all 50 states, which includes documentation usually a QSL card. A QSL card is a form of business card that amateurs have made and traded with other hams. They usually include the station’s call sign and a picture of them and their station. QSL cards are coveted and traded just as Pokemon or baseball cards. The other coveted award is Worked All Continents. A ham has to contact all seven continents. They also must have documentation.

There are few rules, but the rules are important ones. FCC rules are very strict about station identification. An amateur must transmit his call sign every ten minutes and at the end of every transmission (Wolfgang et. al. 2-16). Amateurs cannot transmit music or one way transmissions at any time unless it is an emergency or for radio controlled cars. Third party communications are strictly watched. A person is classified as a third party when he or she is not a licensed amateur. The licensee or control operator of the station must be right at the control point of the radio during all the third party transmissions. The control point is classified as the on or off switch of the radio. A person may only engage in third party communication with another country that has a third party agreement with the United States. Those countries are mostly Central and South American countries. Very few European countries have a third party agreement with the United States.

Another rule is that there are to be no business communications whatsoever over the air waves. A person cannot use a repeater autopatch to call and order pizza for dinner. This is considered a business transmission. However, there are exceptions, these include when a person’s car breaks down. The victim can use the radio to call for a tow truck. One can use an amateur radio to call a business for help only in emergencies. Amateurs may not cause malicious interference to other communications of any type, amateur or non-amateur. Malicious interference is considered harmful interference. For instance another ham is on the air and someone else doesn’t like that ham. That person causes interference to the others signal; that is malicious interference. Amateurs may not transmit false or deceptive signals such as distress signals that are false. A person may not transmit a false mayday signal, for example.

To ensure the rules of amateur radio are followed a person seeking a license in ham radio must take the oath as shown below. The oath was originally written by Paul M. Segal, in 1928.

The Amateur’s Code is as follows:

The Radio Amateur is:

CONSIDERATE… never knowingly operates in such a way as to lessen the pleasure of others.

LOYAL… offers loyalty, encouragement and support to other amateurs, local clubs, and the American Radio Relay League, through which Amateur Radio which Amateur Radio in the United States is represented nationally and internationally.

PROGRESSIVE… with knowledge abreast of science, a well-built and efficient station and operation above reproach.

FRIENDLY… slow and patient operating when requested; friendly advice and counsel to the beginner; kindly assistance, cooperation and consideration for the interest of others. These are the hallmarks of the amateur spirit.

BALANCED… radio is an avocation, never interfering with duties owed to family, job, school, or community.

PATRIOTIC… station and skill always ready for service to country and community (Wolfgang et. al. 2-21).

Understanding Ham radio includes knowing the history, how to earn a license, and how to keep the license by following the rules of the Ham radio. Amateur radio has been around since 1912, but with roots tracing back to as early as 1899. The licenses have changed over the years several times. The licenses have gone from letter designations to names. Technician class has VHF and UHF privileges only whereas a General and Extra class has high frequency and UHF. There are several rules to follow, including stating station identification. No business transactions may be made over the airwaves. Third party communication has strict rules in the United States. Third party communications may only be made with countries that are in agreement with the United States. Even though Ham radios have been around since the beginning of the century, the adaptation to new technology has made it a form of communication still used in today’s society.

 

Works Cited

Continelli, Bill. Homepage. 28 Nov. 2000. <http://hudson-loop.org/timeline.html>

Cornish, Pete. Personal Interview. 12 Dec. 2000.

Gardner, Sam. WØOAG Personal Interview. 4 Dec. 2000

West, Gordon. Technician Class. Lincolnwood, Ill: Master Publishing, Inc., 2000

West, Gordon. Technician No-Code Plus. Lincolnwood, Ill: Master Publishing, Inc., 1997

Wolfgang, Larry D, Jim Kearman, and Joel P. Kleinman. Now You’re Talking, All You Need To Get Your First Ham Radio License. Mewington, CT: The American Radio Relay League, 1993

© Patrick Cornish 2001

Patrick Cornish, age 18, currently lives with his parents in 
Holcomb, Kansas
E-mail cornish@pld.com

Updated Thursday, September 27, 2001 11:27 AM

 
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