OPERATING PROCEDURES

FOR
A NEWLY LICENCED HAM RADIO OPERATOR
Onceyougetyourlicenceandthecall-sign,itistimeforyoutostarttransmission.Radiowavesarenowadaysa
preciouscommodityandsothehamshouldnotmisusethemforhisownends.Itisthedutyofthehamtoknowthe
correctoperatingprocedure.Ifanewlylicencedhamradiooperatorisignorantaboutthecorrectoperating
procedures,hemaycreatenuisanceintheband.AhamshouldalsobeawareabouttheInternati onal Code
devi sedbyPaul M.Segal .
CODES FOR A HAM RADIO OPERATOR
The ham i sconsi derate. He/ She never knowi ngl y uses the ai r (radi o waves) i n such a
wayastol essenthepl easureofothers.
Theham i sl oyal . He/ Sheoffers hi s/ herl oyal i ty, encouragementand supportto hi s/ her
fel l owhams,hi s/ herl ocal cl ubs.
The ham i s progressi ve. He/ She keeps hi s/ her stati on (radi o equi pment) abreast of
sci ence.Iti swel l -bui l tandeffi ci ent.Hi s/ Heroperati ngpracti cei sabovereproach.
The ham i s fri endl y. Sl ow and pati ent sendi ng when requested, fri endl y advi ce and
councel to the begi nner, ki ndl y assi stance, co-operati on and consi derati on for the
i nterestsofother;thesearethemarkofthehamspi ri t.
The ham i s bal anced. Radi o i s hi s/ her hobby. He/ She never al l ows i t to i nterfere wi th
any of hi s/ her duti es he/ she owes to hi s/ her home, hi s/ her j ob, hi s/ her school or
communi ty-andl astl y hi s/ herknowl edge andhi s/ her radi ostati on are al waysready for
theservi ceofhi s/ hercountryandhi s/ hercommuni ty.
CALLINGANOTHERSTATIONINRADIOTELEPHONY
Acal l maybe gi vento anotherstati on ei theri n voi ceor usi ngthe Morsecode. Butbefore gi vi nga
cal l ,i t i sthedutyof thehamtocheck whetherthefrequency hei sgoi ngto usei sal readyi n useby
other ham/ s or not. Even though a parti cul ar frequency seems to be i dl e, i t may not be so.
Because, there may sti l l be a ham sendi ng hi s message whose si gnal s are i n ski p wi th us (see
questi ons &answers rel atedto radi owave propagati on)and anotherham ata di fferentl ocati on i s
l i steni ng to hi m. Gi vi ng a transmi ssi on i n the same frequency i n such a si tuati on wi l l i nterfere wi th
the ongoi ngcommuni cati on. So, pri orto ourtransmi ssi on, i t shoul dbe ascertai ned bysendi ng the
message-" Is the frequency i n use?" . Thi s shoul d be repeated two more ti mes and i f no repl y has
been recei ved, then we can occupy the frequency. After occupyi ng a frequency, we can gi ve a
' General Cal l ' or a' Di recti onal Cal l ' . A' General Cal l ' i s a cal l gi ven to al l the stati ons.Thi s means
thatyouwi l l repl ytoanybodyfromanypartoftheworl d.Themessagesoundsl i ke-" CQCQCQthi s
i s Vi ctor Uni formTwo. (your cal l si gn si ffi x i n phoneti cs)cal l i ng CQ on 20 metreand standi ng by" .
The ' CQ' message may be repeated for three ti me before gi vi ng the ' standi ng by' message. As
you ' stand by' , l i sten careful l y for any possi bl e repl y. If no repl y i s recei ved, you can conti nue
gi vi ng your CQcal l . There i s al soa ' Di recti onal Cal l ' whi ch i s di rected toa parti cul ar country or a
parti cul arstati on. Acal l di rected toaparti cul arcountry i sl i ke-" CQJapan CQJapanCQ Japanthi s
i s Vi ctor Uni form Two ." . Thi s means that you wi l l repl y to stati ons from Japan onl y. A cal l may
di rectedto aparti cul ar stati onal so. Inthi s case,i npl ace ofthe countryname, the' cal l -si gn' ofthe
stati on i s put. A person wi th the true ham spi ri tdoes not adhere stri ctl y to hi s di recti onal cal l , and
as suchshoul d not denyrepl y to aham from anothercountry repl yi ng tohi s di recti onal cal l (i n the
above exampl e) unti l and unl ess he i s i n real emergency. Too much of formal i ti es shoul d be
avoi ded as i t may di shearten another fel l ow ham, al so i t i s agai nst the code devi sed by Paul M.
Segal !
After establ i shi ng contact and offeri ng the i ni ti al greeti ngs, a si gnal report shoul d be gi ven to the
other stati on. Your name (Handl e) and l ocati on (QTH) shoul d then be spel l ed out cl earl y i n
phoneti cs. If the other ham fi nds di ffi cul ty i n copyi ng your voi ce si gnal due to poor propagati on
condi ti onorduetothedi fferencei npronunci ati on,youshoul dnotl oosepati enceandthemessage
shoul dbe repeatedi frequested. Youcanal so gi vetheweather report(WXreport) wi thmenti oni ng
ofthe temperaturei n degreesCenti grade. Afterthi s, di scussi onregardi ng theantenna systemand
equi pment (cal l ed-" Worki ng condi ti on" ) begi ns. Before cl osi ng the conversati on wi th a parti cul ar
stati on, 73 message (meani ng ' Best of Regards' ) shoul d be conveyed to the ham and hi s fami l y
and i ndi cati on shoul d be gi ven whe ther you are cl osi ng down (goi ng QRT) your stati on, you are
changi ng your frequency (QSYi ng) or you are sti l l occupyi ng the frequency. Thi s wi l l hel p other
stati ons to fol l ow you i ncase they want to make a contact wi th you.If the conversati on takes l ong
ti me,boththestati onsshoul dmenti onthei rcal l -si gnattenmi nutesi nterval .
SIGNALREPORTINRADIOTELEPHONY
Whenon-the-ai rcontactbetweenamateurradi o stati onsi sestabl i shed,boththestati onsexchange
si gnal reports. Thi s gi ves the i dea about how strongl y the ham radi o stati ons are recei vi ng each
other.Fortel ephony(voi ce),Readabi l i tyandSi gnal strengthscal ei sdevi sed.
Readabi l i tyScal e Si gnal StrengthScal e
Q1
Hardlyperceptible;
unreadable
R1
Unintelligible; barely
perceptible
Q2
Weak;readablenow
andthen
R2
Weaksignals;barely
readable
Q3
Fairlygood;readable
butwithdifficulty
R3
Weaksignals;butcan
becopied
Q4 Good;readable R4 Fairsignals
Q5
Verygood;perfectly
readable
R5 Fairlygoodsignals
R6 Goodsignals
R7
Moderatelystrong
signals
R8 Strongsignals
O O R9
Extremelystrong
signals
A 59(5 and9) report i sthe bestreport i n radi otel ephony. Youshoul d be honesti n gi vi nga si gnal
report. Don' t gi ve a good report j ust to pl ease your fri end! There may be some probl em i n the
antenna system of your fri end' s stati on due to whi ch you are recei vi ng hi m poorl y. Under such a
si tuati on, gi vi ng a fal se report wi l l mi sgui de your fri end and your fri end may not be abl e to
detect/ recti fythefaul ti nhi ssystem.
SIGNALREPORTINGINRADIOTELEGRAPHY(MORSECODE)
In radi o tel egraphy contact usi ng Morse Code, the RST (Readabi l i ty, Si gnal Strength and Tone)
system of reporti ng i s fol l owed. Thi s system was devi sed by W2BSR, New York. Throughout the
worl d, Morse code i s sti l l used very affecti onatel y by thousands of ham radi o operators. They
makeconversati onas fl uentl yastheydo i nvoi ceusi ngMorse code.InfactMorse Codehasmany
advantagesovervoi cecommuni cati oni ncertai nsi tuati onsaswel l j ustforthecheerj oyi nvol vedi n
thi s art of communi cati on whi ch we have di scussed i n the chapter on Morse code l earni ng. In
Morse code al so, ei ther general CQ cal l or di recti onal cal l can be gi ven. The cal l i ng format i s
gi venbel ow.
GENERALCALLINRADIOTELEGRAPHY(MORSECODE)
CQCQCQDEVU2XYZVU2XYZVU2XYZARPSEK
DIRECTIONALCALLINRADIOTELEGRAPHY(MORSECODE)
CQ/ VU2ABCCQ/ VU2ABCCQ/ VU2ABCDEVU2XYZVU2XYZVU2XYZARKN
In Morse code,l ong words are usual l yavoi ded and hence onl ythe abbrevi ated form ofthe words
are sent. There are certai n Internati onal l y accepted Morse Code abbrevi ati ons whi ch you shoul d
remember and use duri ng communi cati on. ' AR' i s synonymous to sayi ng ' over' i n voi ce (A voi ce
message shoul d be ended wi th the word ' over to ..' ). ' K' i s the i nvi tati on to transmi t whi ch i s
synonymous to sayi ng ' go ahead' i n voi ce communi cati on. A message ended wi th KN i ndi cates
thatthe messagewas di rectedto aparti cul arstati on onl y.Duri ng anongoi ng communi cati onal so,
the message shoul d be ended wi th ' KN' whi ch provi des the i nformati on to the other stati ons that
communi cati on was al ready i n progress between two stati ons. Each sentence of the message
shoul dbeseparatedby' BT' .Gi venbel owi satypi cal Morsecodemessage.
VU2XYZDE VU2ABCBTTNXFER CALLBTURRST RSTIS579BT MYNAMEIS..ES QTHIS
BTOK?ARVU2XYZDEVU2ABCKN
When you fi nal l y cl ose your conversati on wi th a parti cul ar stati on, i ndi cati on shoul d be gi ven, i .e.
themessageshoul dbeendedwi th' VA' (meani ng' overandoutwi th).Atypi cal cl osi ngmessage
mayl ook l i ke-.VU2ABC DEVU2XYZ VA.Thi s meansthat VU2XYZi s nowfree tocommuni cate
wi thotherstati ons.
THERSTSYSTEM
Readabi l i ty Si gnal Strength Tone
1-Unreadable 1-Faint,signalsbarely
1-Extremely rough
hissingnote
2-Barely
readable,
occasionalwords
distinguishable
2-Veryweaksignals
2-Very rough AC
note, no trace of
musicality
3-Readablewith
considerable
difficulty
3-Weaksignals
3-Rough. Low-
pitched AC note,
slightlymusical
4-Readablewith
practicallyno
difficulty
4-Fairsignals
4-RatherroughAC
note, moderately
musical
5-Perfectlyreadable 5-Fairlygoodsignals 5-Musicallymodulatednote
6-Goodsignals
6-Modulated note,
slight trace of
whistle
7-Moderatelystrongsignals
7-Near DC note,
smoothripple
8-Strongsignals
8-Good DC note,
justtraceofripple
OsANDEEPbARUAH 9-Extremelystrongsignals 9-PurestDCnote
Pagemai ntai nedbySandeepBaruah,Ex-VU2MSY(VU2MUE)