Amateur Radio

[mattylad]

Heck, I'd have problems with that paper now.
I Have forgotten most of it and not used the rest of it - I gave up trying to use a radio due to the constant crud on the bands around me.
2m/70cm are dead around here, so my gear sits in a box somewhere.

These days the above paper would be considered way too hard and not used, multiple choice questions would be and the answer should be clear.
That's why we have so many idiots on the airwaves now

I'm glad they made it so I as a G7 (B) am now a full class so can use HF if I ever feel the madness to try again creep up on me.

 

[JohnW2]

Heck, I'd have problems with that paper now.

... but I suspect that the same is probably true of the great majority of people who sit, and pass, the RAE today! However, as I've said, since home-brew is now pretty rare, I'm not at all sure that that really matters.

I would obviously have to familiarise myself with the current Licence Conditions in order to answer question (1) but, if I had done that, I'm reasonably confident that, if I had to take that exam today, I would probably pass, but maybe without getting the "distinction" which I seem to recall I got back in 1963!

If I were answering 'as I would have done back then', I would, today, probably have to pause briefly in order to give them circuit diagrams using valves, rather than transistors/ICs and I would almost certainly do question (5) rather than (10). In fact, the only two of those questions which I think I might struggle with a bit today (other than giving pretty general/vague answers) are the two about aerials/radiation [(7) & (10)] - which is a bit ironic, since that is one subject still of some relevance, even to those who buy off-the-shelf commercial rigs!

Questions (4) and (8) were obviously very simple (just calculations), and shouldn't really have taken me more than 'a couple of minutes' each - but it the other questions for which my 'not succinct' style (even back then) will have enabled me to waffle on for pages

I did about 18 months preparation for the exam. I was given a copy of the RSGB "Radio Communications Handbook" (600+pages) for my 12th birthday, and religiously went through all of it several times (and I also had a copy of the ARRL equivalent book).

I Have forgotten most of it and not used the rest of it - ...

I 'used' a lot of that knowledge back then, in relation to designing and building various bits of gear.

I gave up trying to use a radio due to the constant crud on the bands around me. 2m/70cm are dead around here, so my gear sits in a box somewhere.

As I've said, I gave up when (in addition to other 'life activities') it essentially ceased to be a technological hobby and really just turned into "CB", using commercial gear. After my initial (almost 'compulsory' back then!) few months of working on 'top band', nearly all of my activity was on 2m/70cm/23cm, including a fair bit of meteor scatter and moonbounce experimentation on 2m (for which I got a temporary 'high power' {1 kW} licence). A lot of my old gear (all home-brewed, apart from a rusting HRO) in still in my cellar gather dust, but hasn't been touched for decades, and very probably would not 'work' even if I wanted it to!

These days the above paper would be considered way too hard and not used, multiple choice questions would be and the answer should be clear. That's why we have so many idiots on the airwaves now

I'm sure you're right but, as above, doubt that there is a need for much 'technological knowledge' on the part of those using commercial gear.

Kind Regards, John

 

[bernardgreen]

Slightly off topic but still about users of radio frequency comms

, doubt that there is a need for much 'technological knowledge' on the part of those using commercial gear.

Some of the people installing and/or using radio frequency comms equipment appear to have very little 'technological knowledge' about how License Exempt radio comms actually work.

 

[JohnW2]

Slightly off topic but still about users of radio frequency comms .... Some of the people installing and/or using radio frequency comms equipment appear to have very little 'technological knowledge' about how License Exempt radio comms actually work.

Sure, but certainly as far as users of such equipment are concerned (and to a large extent also installers), that's surely just a matter of having an understanding of the relevant laws/rules/regulations, rather than anything 'technological' isn't it? Being able to, for example (per my RAE paper) produce a circuit diagram for a power amplifier or frequency multiplier is surely not going to help such a user or installer, is it?

The designers and manufacturers of such equipment obviously need 'technological understanding', in order to ensure that their products are compliant with the laws/rules/regulations - but that is an entirely different matter.

Kind Regards, John

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I did about 18 months preparation for the exam. I was given a copy of the RSGB "Radio Communications Handbook" (600+pages)

I used to have a copy of that. Hard back, mid blue in colour it was - if I remember correctly.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Slightly off topic but still about users of radio frequency comms



Some of the people installing and/or using radio frequency comms equipment appear to have very little 'technological knowledge' about how License Exempt radio comms actually work.

With the upsurge of wifi on our shared band, I got an idea to repurpose such commercial equipment for a high speed pint to point packet radio network. I got as far as carrying out a few point to point test links and confirmed it was viable, but I simply wasn't able to drum up any interest beyond that. Back then, with dial-up, I didn't foresee the Internet quite spreading the way it has done in the intervening years, but I suppose the beauty of such a system would be it's complete independence of the commercial network, which itself was quite flaky at times.

 

[JohnW2]

I used to have a copy of that. Hard back, mid blue in colour it was - if I remember correctly.

Yes, probably. I just looked for mine, and all I've found so far is a 'second edition', dated 1968 and therefore not the one I used for the RAE. That 'newer edition' (I suspect there have been s lot more since 1968, particularly given that there is hardly mentions semiconductors (other than diodes) - just a brief explanation of 'how transistors (possibly just PNP ones) work'!) runs to about 750 pages and, indeed, is blue.

Kind Regards, John

 

[ericmark]

Some of the people installing and/or using radio frequency comms equipment appear to have very little 'technological knowledge' about how License Exempt radio comms actually work.

Not sure I know the rules to the letter, I wanted to use PMR 466 radios, and I tried to read the rules, but unclear as to if it needs a badge to show it complies.

I know mine where they arrived were tuned to wrong frequencies, seem to remember having to get a lead to connect them to PC and a program called Chirp to retune, I looked at if I was allowed to do this, but seems the rules were not same throughout the EU and so it was unclear.

However on the right frequency it is unlikely anyone will really worry and stop me using them.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Not sure I know the rules to the letter, I wanted to use PMR 466 radios, and I tried to read the rules, but unclear as to if it needs a badge to show it complies.

I have not seen many, but none I saw were marked.

 

[SUNRAY]

Not sure I know the rules to the letter, I wanted to use PMR 466 radios, and I tried to read the rules, but unclear as to if it needs a badge to show it complies.

I know mine where they arrived were tuned to wrong frequencies, seem to remember having to get a lead to connect them to PC and a program called Chirp to retune, I looked at if I was allowed to do this, but seems the rules were not same throughout the EU and so it was unclear.

However on the right frequency it is unlikely anyone will really worry and stop me using them.

The mere fact it has a socket for reprogramming means it's non compliant. At least when I read the standard some... ooh far too many years ago now.

 

[bernardgreen]

The mere fact it has a socket for reprogramming means it's non compliant.

Agree with that, but the ability to easily program the unit during manufacture reduced the cost to manufacture a wide range variants from the same hardware. It was inevitable that others would work out how to use the socket.

 

[ericmark]

Agree with that, but the ability to easily program the unit during manufacture reduced the cost to manufacture a wide range variants from the same hardware. It was inevitable that others would work out how to use the socket.

Yes the programming lead fits the mic socket. Not seen any you can't reprogram yet, in the main as USA and EU use different frequencies so same radio programmed different depending on country sold to.

It was the same with amateur radios, do you remember the links on the FT290? Mine was set for Falklands use, and their repeater, which was well out of band for UK armatures. Swapped it to UK spec on return, so I could scan just the armature band.

Today we can't do much to a radio, we never could build one from scratch, we had to buy the valves, OK yes did build a crystal set using a loo role and a bit of coal with the yellow stuff in, but even then bought the high impedance ear piece ready made.

 

[bernardgreen]

but even then bought the high impedance ear piece ready made.

DLR 5 head phones, They could also split into two and be used as a microphone in a sound powered field telephone.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Today we can't do much to a radio, we never could build one from scratch, we had to buy the valves, OK yes did build a crystal set using a loo role and a bit of coal with the yellow stuff in, but even then bought the high impedance ear piece ready made.

Yellow stuff?

I have one peizo crystal earpiece left, they don't seem to sell them any more - I find them invaluable for all sorts of things - they require so little power to drive them. One use I have for one, is to connect to a car's ABS system, should I need it - the earpieces are so sensitive they can pick up the switching click from the Hall Effect wheel sensor, as a wheel is rotated.

 

[DetlefSchmitz]

Yellow stuff?

Galena - a natural semiconductor