ARLA/CLUSTER: "Foundations of Amateur Radio" atinge o episodio 150

[João Costa > CT1FBF]

Foundations of Amateur Radio #150



*Learning on 2m FM*Last week during *F-troop* something very interesting
happened. If you're not familiar with F-troop, it's a weekly net for new
and returning amateurs and every Saturday we welcome callers to the one
hour net to discuss anything and everything amateur radio. It's been going
for about seven or so years, about as long as I have been making this
weekly contribution to the hobby.

Normally there's a host, often it's me, but not always, handing the
microphone to the next person who then in turn hands the microphone back
and the host passes it on to the next caller. This is helpful for new
amateurs who then only need to remember two callsigns, their own and that
of the host.

It's a safe place where people can ask questions and hopefully find an
answer, make a mistake, say the wrong callsign, have their roger-beep
turned on, be off frequency, all the typical things you do when you're
learning or when you've dusted off an old radio after having been away from
the hobby for a while.

Last week we had a surprise visitor, a special event station, VI4GAMES,
operated by Reg VK2MNM who in the midst of the Commonwealth Games was
having little success on HF and decided to join in on our net.

After saying hello and calling in other stations I started handing the
microphone to each caller, encouraging them to make contact with VI4GAMES
so they could each claim a contact, end up in the log and get a QSO card
for their trouble.

Sitting on the side was hard, but at the same time it was extremely
rewarding.

I witnessed stations calling a special event station for the first time in
their life, dealing with strange callsigns, interruptions, distortions and
delays, misheard phonetics, incorrect procedures, you name it, I heard it
all.

There were some who just made the contact and moved on, handing the
microphone back to the host and others who started a whole discussion about
their life, their station and their joy in making the contact.

There were stations just saying their callsign without phonetics, or saying
it once, or fast, stomping on the other station, all the things that happen
in real life when you're trying to make a contact using HF and SSB.

Just to re-iterate, this was on 2m FM, connected via IRLP, Echolink and
Allstar to repeaters across the globe, with callers in Australia, New
Zealand and the United States.

It was eye-opening for me.

In the past I've attempted to make contest examples, to make DX contact
simulations and tried to get people to change frequency and check back in.
As serendipity would have it, this was by far the most learning I've ever
seen in the 7 years of this net and I'd encourage anyone to try this at
home.

Some of the direct take-away tips from this are that using phonetics on 2m
FM is not stupid and sometimes it's even required.

Repeating your callsign to a new station is not a waste of airtime, since
you have no insight whatsoever as to the state of their receiver. You don't
know if they have a poor antenna, or if they're connected via the internet,
if the link is not optimal or the volume not set correctly.

Waiting until the carrier drops on the repeater is a must for many
repeaters and keying and talking at the same time is a recipe for being
misunderstood. Key your microphone, wait a heartbeat and then start talking.

Leaving gaps between overs allows other players onto the field and you
should see that as an opportunity, not a burden.

I'm sure there were other things that were learned on that random Saturday
and who knew that you could learn that much from 2m FM, special event
stations and some patience.

I'm *Onno VK6FLAB*

To listen to the podcast, visit the website:
http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/foundations/ and scroll to the bottom for the
latest episode. You can also use your podcast tool of choice and search for
my callsign, VK6FLAB, or you can read the book, look for my callsign on
your local Amazon store, or visit my author page:
http://amazon.com/author/owh

If you'd like to participate in discussion about the podcast or about
amateur radio, you can visit the Facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/foundations.itmaze

Feel free to get in touch directly via email: onno  itmaze.com.au, or follow
on twitter: @vk6flab (http://twitter.com/vk6flab/)

If you'd like to join the weekly net for new and returning amateurs, check
out the details at http://ftroop.vk6.net.
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