Intro to VHF/UHF Operation Tim Guyot KB1POP 1 Agenda Getting - - PDF document

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Intro to VHF/UHF Operation Tim Guyot KB1POP 1 Agenda Getting - - PDF document

Oct 21, 2023 202 likes •352 views

RaRa Presentation 12/04/2019 Intro to VHF/UHF Operation Tim Guyot KB1POP 1 Agenda Getting Licensed Operating Opportunities Bands Making Contacts Squelch, CTCSS, DSC, etc Operating in a Net Simplex Buying a Radio

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RaRa Presentation 12/04/2019 Tim Guyot KB1POP 1

Intro to VHF/UHF Operation

Tim Guyot KB1POP

Agenda

  • Getting Licensed
  • Bands
  • Squelch, CTCSS, DSC, etc
  • Simplex
  • Repeaters
  • Keypad
  • Programming
  • Operating Opportunities
  • Making Contacts
  • Operating in a Net
  • Buying a Radio
  • What’s next?

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Getting Licensed

  • RARA License Courses
  • ARRL License Manual
  • Online Practice Resources
  • https://www.qrz.com/hamtest (Requires free sign-in)
  • https://hamstudy.org/ (Guest mode or sign in)
  • Elmers & Elmer’s Corner
  • https://rochesterham.org/learn.htm
  • 6:15pm to 6:45pm on meeting nights
  • Free testing the 3rd Saturday of most months. (See Rag or Website)

Bands – VHF / UHF

  • Technicians have access to several bands

More than what’s displayed to the right

  • The most popular bands are
  • 2 meters (144-148 MHz)
  • MOST Common
  • Good all-around performance
  • 70 centimeters (420-450 MHz)
  • Next most common
  • Good in buildings or dense areas
  • Band plans detail uses

within each band

ARRL Band Chart

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Squelch, CTCSS, DSC, PL

  • Basic squelch is a threshold below which

audio is not sent to the speaker

  • Continuous Tone Coded Squelch System

(CTCSS) also known as “Tone” or “PL” (Private Line, a trademark of Motorola) is and advanced squelch that is harder to trigger accidentally.

  • Transmitters add a “sub-audible” tone to the

transmitted audio.

  • Receivers only open the squelch if the signal is

strong enough AND if the “sub-audible” tone is detected

  • DCS is a digital signal that serves the same

purpose as CTCSS

Wikipedia Squelch

Simplex Operation

  • “Simplest” Operation
  • Each transceiver tunes to a single frequency
  • Only one transceiver is transmitting at a time
  • Power and geographic constraints

can limit distance

  • Simplex Frequency Ranges
  • 146.400 - 146.580 MHz
  • 147.420 - 147.570 MHz
  • 446.000 MHz
  • Calling Frequencies
  • 146.520 MHz
  • 446.000 MHz
  • Extended QSOs should be moved off calling freq

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Simplex Operation (cont’d)

  • Simplex “Channels”
  • 2m - 15 kHz separation (some recommend 20 or 25 kHz)
  • 70cm - 25 kHz separation
  • Most common are underlined and should be programmed in all radios
  • 146.520 should be in scan lists and is great for use while traveling

146.400 146.415 146.430 146.445 146.460 146.475 146.490 146.505 146.520 146.535 146.550 146.565 146.580 146.595 147.420 147.435 147.450 147.465 147.480 147.495 147.510 147.525 147.540 147.555 147.570 147.585 445.925 445.950 445.975 446.000 446.025 446.050 446.075

Channel Info from ARRL and hamradioschool.com

Repeaters

  • Topology and Power
  • Fixed radios, often located at high

elevations for increased coverage

  • Because they are fixed, they are

usually higher power than mobiles and certainly than HTs

  • TX/RX
  • RX is offset from TX
  • Simultaneous operation,

retransmitting what it is receiving

  • Duplexer allows a receiver and

transmitter to share single antenna

Wikipedia Repeater Diagram Hamuniverse Repeater Diagram

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Repeaters (cont’d)

  • Controller
  • Controls TX/RX behavior of one or more transceivers
  • Provides station identification
  • Can interface with non-radio devices (See below)
  • Can manipulate other transceiver settings
  • Internet Linking
  • Many major projects exist that connect radios, amateurs, and repeaters together.

Ex: Your local repeater can be connected over the Internet to a repeater in Colorado

  • Here are some of the largest:
  • Internet Radio Linking Project (IRLP)
  • EchoLink
  • AllStarLink
  • On repeaters that support these protocols, you control them with DTMF

Keypad

  • Dual Tone Multi Frequency
  • When pressed while transmitting, the keypad on most radios will transmit

DTMF allowing you to send signals to the repeater

  • Possible repeater responses:
  • Establish IRLP/EchoLink/Allstar link with another radio or repeater
  • Read the weather
  • Administrative functions
  • Control
  • When used while not transmitting the keypad can change a variety of

settings, or to program the radio for frequency and tone.

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Programming

  • Key Programming Items
  • Receive Frequency
  • This is where you radio is listening
  • Offset & Shift
  • This is the difference between the RX and TX frequency
  • Ex: +5MHz, or -600kHz
  • In many radios this is set automatically when you select a receive frequency in the

repeater section of the band plan

  • Transmit Frequency
  • This is where your radio will transmit (and a repeater listens) in duplex mode.
  • In many radios this is set automatically when you select a receive frequency in the

repeater section of the band plan

Programming (cont’d)

  • Key Programming Items
  • Squelch Mode
  • “None” – Actually means basic squelch threshold
  • Tone – Transmit tone, required by many repeaters
  • Tone Squelch – Transmit tone AND require tone to be received for squelch to open
  • Tone or DSC Value
  • In our area, this is generally 100.0Hz or 110.9Hz

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Programming (cont’d)

  • Programming you radio via the keypad can be

tedious and error-prone. Using programming software makes the process easier.

  • Hardware
  • Programming cables are generally

brand and sometimes radio specific

  • Serial, or more common today; USB
  • If you have a serial programming cable, but no serial

port, you can buy a USB-to-serial adapter. The cheapest ones may not work. Look for FTDI chipset

DX Engineering Product Image

Programming (cont’d)

  • Recommended Cables:
  • Baofeng: BTECH PC03 FTDI

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Programming (cont’d)

  • CHIRP https://chirp.danplanet.com/projects/chirp/wiki/Home

Programming (cont’d)

  • VX-7 Commander

http://www.kc8unj.com/vx7.html

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Programming (cont’d)

  • FT-8900 Programmer https://www.rtsystemsinc.com/Articles.asp?ID=386

Programming (cont’d)

  • What to program!?
  • RARA has a CSV of Rochester Area Repeaters

https://rochesterham.org/learn_links.htm Works with CHIRP and other programming software

  • Other websites good for searching geographic regions

https://repeaterbook.com https://radioreference.com

  • Calling and Simplex frequencies from earlier slide
  • Many programming software packages can import directly from on-

line databases like those above.

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Operating Opportunities

  • Radio Check
  • Simply tune to a calling frequency or repeater, identify, and ask for a signal

report

  • Drive-Time Nets
  • Repeaters are busy with chatter during common commute times.
  • Rag Chew
  • At any time of day, you can probably find someone listening ready to talk

about the weather or what they had for lunch.

  • Volunteer!!
  • A great way to gain experience, and typically doesn’t require special training

Making Contacts

  • 1. Announce yourself. Tune to a repeater or calling frequency and

identify “KB1POP Monitoring”

  • If you’re using a repeater, you should hear a squelch tail, a good indicator you are

reaching the repeater (ARRL Repeater Operation)

  • 2. It’s uncommon to call CQ on a repeaters, but explicitly asking for

communication may help raise someone From Gary KN4AQ: “CQ Anyone Around? This is KN4AQ Kilo November 4 Alpha Quebec. My name is Gary, I’m a new ham in Cary, and I’m looking for a

  • contact. KN4AQ standing by.”
  • 3. If someone responds, it should be in the form “Hello KB1POP, this is

KC2WHR”

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Making Contacts

  • 4. Consider thanking them for responding and asking them something
  • simple. “Hello KC2WHR, thanks for responding. Where are you

located?”

  • 5. You can continue in a Q&A form as long as you desire. The QSO is

typically ended with something like this. “I’ve got to get going, it was nice talking to you. 73, KB1POP from KC2WHR”

  • 6. In the example above, the other operator ended the QSO. You can

either stay listening for new contacts with “KB1POP Listening” or you can indicate you are signing off as well with “KB1POP Clear”

Operating in a Net (Info)

  • Nets have “Net Control”. When operating in a net, control will let you

know when it’s your turn, or there may be cases were you can ask net for permission to transmit.

  • Nets for public service events usually involve the assignment of

tactical callsigns to volunteers. Ex: Safety Vehicle 1, or Bridge 4

  • When participating in a public service net, it’s important to limit your

traffic to keep the channel open for others.

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Operating in a Net (Example)

  • 1. “Net Control from Safety Vehicle 1”
  • 2. <Wait for net control to respond> “Go ahead Safety 1”
  • 3. “I’m at the intersection of Rt 114 and Chase road where there is a

participant that needs transport, but we cannot carry them. Can you dispatch another vehicle?”

  • 4. “Safety 1, I’m sending another vehicle. Please stay with the

participant until it arrives”

  • 5. “Understood, will stay until vehicle arrives. KB1POP monitoring”

Operating Notes

  • Common, (And commonly misused) Terms
  • Over and Out are never used together.
  • Over
  • "This is the end of my transmission to you and a response is necessary. Go ahead:

transmit."

  • Out
  • "This is the end of my transmission to you and no answer is required or expected.“
  • Stating you have Emergency or Priority Traffic lets others know you need to

be allowed to transmit

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What radio should I buy?

  • Features to look for
  • Important
  • CTCSS Capable
  • Power – 5Watts in HT, 25Watts in Mobile
  • Nice to have
  • Computer Programmable
  • Keypad
  • Dual (or more) Band
  • 50+ memory slots
  • Mobile or HT
  • Handhelds are a very popular starting point
  • Most public service events require a mobile

What radio should I buy? (cont’d)

  • Brand
  • To an extent, you get what you pay for. (See article by Ev Tupis, W2EV in the

December 2019 Rag)

  • Higher end radios will tend to have better:
  • RX Audio
  • TX Audio
  • RX Rejection
  • Battery Life
  • Top Brands:
  • Kenwood
  • Yaesu
  • Icom
  • Alinco
  • Popular cheap brands:
  • BaoFeng
  • Wouxun
  • TYT
  • Retevis
  • BTech

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What’s Next?

  • Advanced Operation Examples
  • EME (Earth-Moon-Earth) / Moonbounce
  • Satellite
  • ISS (International Space Station)
  • Balloons
  • Microwave (Technically above VHF, but lots of similarities
  • Digital
  • SSTV (Slow Scan TV)
  • APRS (Automatic Packet Reporting System)
  • Other modes (AM, SSB)
  • Rochester VHF Group focuses on advanced VHF operations

Citations – In order of appearance

  • ARRL Band Chart

http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Regulatory/Band%20Chart/Band%20Chart%20- %2011X17%20Color.pdf

  • Squelch Diagrams

https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squelch

  • Simplex Frequencies

https://hamradioschool.com/what-frequency-do-i-use-on-2-meters/ https://hamradioschool.com/what-frequency-do-i-use-on-70-centimeters/

  • Repeater Diagram

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Repeater_Talk_around_channel.png

  • Repeater w/ Duplexer Diagram

http://www.hamuniverse.com/repeater.html

  • Programming Cable

https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/rtp-usb-57b

  • ARRL Repeater and Simplex Operation

https://www.arrl.org/files/file/Technology/tis/info/pdf/repeater1.pdf 27 28