Amateur Radio
Amateur Radio is a world-wide hobby of radio enthusiasts and is the title of the journal of the Wireless Institute of Australia.
To be an Amateur radio operator in this country we pay licence fees in the form of a spectrum management tax and administration charges as well as pass one or more technical examinations to prove proficiency to obtain the licence, which then permits us top operate, design, build and deploy transceiving telecommunications equipment. There are several classes of licence and different levels of skills that must be acquired with examinations that must be passed in order to obtain certificates before you can obtain a licence.
Unrestricted Amateur radio operators can communication via high frequency (HF) radio with operators overseas, but we are at the mercy of the ionosphere.
Amateur radio equipment is often portable or mobile, and some Amateur Radio operators belong to organisations such as WICEN, which provide emergency communications in times of disasters. WICEN provided the emergency communications during the bush fires in the Sommerton and Gosford areas when the Telstra mobile phone network could not support the traffic!
Amateurs also provided essential communications during the earthquake in Southern California, where major cities lost their utilities for many days - my ex boss was over there with his wife and he could not ring Australia for quite a few days!
I currently hold the unrestricted amateur radio call sign VK1BRH and formerly held the restricted call signs VK1ZRH and VK2ZZB. Amateur radio is a hobby and unlike CB radio the user is required to be technically qualified, licenced and regulated. I liked operating on 1.825 MHz (160 metres) and I find it technically challenging to construct antennas that fit in suburban backyards, and my series of antenna simulations contain studies where I try to improve the basic wire antenna. I have also operated on 160m while driving - this is a challenge too!
If you want to learn more about Amateur Radio then follow the links:
Amateur Societies
- WIA Federal, - Wireless Institute of Australia, Federal page
- WIA ACT, ACT Division - Wireless Institute of Australia, (my local) ACT page
- WARS - Waverly Amateur Radio Society
- ARRL - The American Radio Relay League
- RSGB - Radio Society of Great Britain
Interesting links
- QRZ] call sign database- a place to find other amateur's details including Aust. ones
- QRZ database] - Look up a callsign
- QSL.net - a free email and web site for Amateur Radio operators - register now!
- ITU - Internation Telgraphy Union
- ACMA - Australian Communications and Media Authority (formerly SMA, formerly ACA), the regulatory and licencing body
- FCC - the US regulatory body (same name for years unlike in Australia where they love changing names of authorities)
- WICEN - Wireless Institute Civil Emergency Network
- Ham Radio - online
- GQRP] interesting items and designs for equipment and antennas
- Ham radio QRP
- AC6V - Rodney R. Dinkins, Antennas and other interesting links.
- DK0TUI - Home page of
- category:Amateur Radio
- category:Ralph Holland:Publications