Operating Station Equipment

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Chapter 3

• Operating Station Equipment

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3.1 Transmitters Receivers

• Transmitter, for sending.
• Receiver, for listening.
• Transceiver, all in one (most likely).

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Rig Buttons and Knobs
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Basic Operation-Selecting Band, Frequency, and
Mode

• Band Switch
• V/U--Toggles between VHF 2m and UHF 70 cm.
• Band--Advances in a ring 50, 144, 222, 432, and
  1296 MHz.
• May have a button dedicated to each band, you
  should be so lucky.

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Frequency Selection

• VFO (Variable Frequency Oscillator) Big Knob or
  Microphone up/down buttons. May have selectable
  step sizes (TS).
• Memory channel select, rotary or up/down on
  Microphone buttons.
• Keypad direct entry.

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Mode Selection

• FM--Simplex or Duplex.
• USB--Upper Sideband
• LSB-- Lower Sideband
• CW-- Morse Code
• Data-- for RTTY or other digital modes
• May be dedicated select buttons or a single Mode
  button to pick from a ring of modes.

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Key Features

• A memory channel may record Band, Frequency,
  Mode, Power level, and CTCSS access tones if
  required.
• F--Function key first, selects an alternate
  function for the regular keys, until it times out.

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Transmitter Functions

• RF Power control, H/L, steps, continuous.
• Microphone gain, too much may give distortion
  and/or splatter on SSB and over deviation on FM.
• Speech compression, too much may cause distortion
  and/or splatter.
• Audio feedback from speaker to mic.
• RF feedback into mic can cause distortion.

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Transmitter Checkout

• Follow the equipment manual, use a dummy load for
  initial setup.
• With an antenna, check with an honest friend
  across town for a clean signal.
• Monitor ALC (automatic level control)
• What is a good reading for a clean signal?

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Going to transmit mode

• PTT (push to talk).
• VOX (voice operated transmit).

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Receiver Functions

• AF (Audio Frequency) gain/volume control.
• RF (Radio Frequency) gain control and
  Attenuator/Pre Amplifier button.
• AGC (Automatic Gain Control) slow for SSB, fast
  for CW/Data.
• SquelchQuiets noise when no signal is being
  received.

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More Receiver Functions

• Noise Blanker eliminates pulse noise.
• Notch Filtering of steady tones, may be automatic
  via DSP (Digital Signal Processing).
• RIT (Receiver Incremental Tuning) helps in nets,
  a group of stations that should be on the same
  frequency.

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Digital Data Modes

• A TNC (Terminal Node Controller) is connected
  between the radio transceiver and the computer
  terminal in a packet station.
• Audio tones from the speaker jack and to the
  microphone jack are provided by hardware in the
  TNC or Soundcard.
• No Microphone required for packet radio.

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More Digital

• A Gateway amateur radio station is used to
  connect other amateur stations to the Internet.

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3.2 Antenna Systems

• Length of a Dipole antenna in feet is 468 divided
  by the frequency in MHz.
• Note that this is an inverse relationship, the
  antenna needs to be shorter as the frequency
  increases. T9A05

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Six Meter Example

• For 50.143 MHz (Six Meters) 468/50.1439.33 feet
  or 112 inches. T9A12

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6 m Dipole example

• For 50.143 MHz (six meters) 468/50.1439.333 ft
  or 112 inches. T9A12

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Polarization

• If the radiating elements of the dipole are
  deployed parallel to the ground, then the dipole
  by definition produces horizontal polarized waves
  and the strongest signal is broadside to the
  elements.
• Called a horizontal antenna. T9A03

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Ground Plane Antenna

• Length of a Ground Plane antenna in feet is 234
  divided by frequency in MHz.
• Example For 146 MHz (Two Meters), 234/1461.6
  feet or 19.23 inches, approximately 19 inches.
  T9A11

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Polarization

• Usually a Ground Plane antenna is deployed with
  the radiating element perpendicular to the
  ground, then it produces vertical polarized waves
  and has an omni directional pattern of strength.
• Any antenna with radiating element vertical is
  called a vertical. T9A02

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Ground Plane (continued)

• An efficient and handy mobile antenna is a magnet
  mount vertical antenna. T9A09

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Portable Antennas

• A Rubber Duck antenna is not efficient because of
  its small size, but very handy on a portable.
  T9A04
• Used inside a car, it is down in strength by a
  factor of 10 to 20 times because of shielding by
  the metal of the car. T9A10

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Beam Antennas

• Adding additional parasitic elements T9A01
  (reflectors and directors) can concentrate the
  strength pattern into a beam of energy.
• Linear elements give a Yagi Beam.
• Loop elements give a Quad Beam. T9A08

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Yagi Beams