What Use Is An F-call?

What use is an F-call? An experience on a local mailing list this week made me consciously consider for the first time that I am a member of a community in Amateur Radio. Now this might sound completely obvious to you, but consider this, Amateur Radio as we know it today has been around for over 100 years. I've just downloaded the first Annual Official Wireless Blue Book, updated to May of 1909. It's a call book. You'd recognise it instantly. In it's 19 pages it lists call-signs, locations and transmission power, even allocated wavelengths in the United States and Canada. It also contains a hand-written list of updates and annotations as well as sponsorship announcements for Modern Electrics and the Electro Importing Company with a list of Wireless goods that will "make you sit up and take notice." I've been playing and working with computers for several decades. My first computer was a Commodore VIC 20, in 1982 I was the first person in my class to own their own computer. That's nearly three deca

What use is an F-call? This week I'd like to share with you an experience I had on air a couple of days ago. I was tuned to 7.093 and I called CQ DX at about 4pm in the afternoon. I'd been listening on all bands for most of the afternoon and finally was beginning to hear some movement on 40 meters. There had been contests happening on all manner of frequencies, near and far, but for some reason or another, I wasn't getting through. There were a couple of hams having a chin wag a little further up the dial, but they seemed too engrossed to have a chat with someone else, so I dialled up the VK calling frequency and called for CQ DX. The call I got back was: "What are you doing calling CQ DX on this frequency at this time of the day?" - at first I was confused, it sounded like I'd trod on someone's toes, so I asked, "Sorry, is this frequency in use?" - I got an unclear answer and then: "What were you expecting in the way of DX?" to which I replied: "Something outside of Perth

What use is an F-call? Over the past few weeks I've been encouraging you to listen to the news, to get on-air and participate. It's easy enough for me to say, but I can understand that it might not be so simple for you to actually achieve. Imagine for a moment that you have at least got the pre-requisites, that is, you have a license, you have a radio, antenna, power-supply, it's all plugged in and when you move the dial, you can hear stations. I realise that this assumes a whole lot of things which might not yet be true, but bear with me, I'm trying to make a point. Imagine if you will, that you have your microphone in your hand - or on your desk, and your finger is hovering over the magic Push To Talk button. Now what? What do you say? Whom do you say it to? How will you know it worked? The simplest way to start is to jump in and get your feet wet, but I know that might be a little daunting for you, so instead, why not tune to a station and see what's happening? Last week I was introduced to the 7130

What use is an F-call? Firstly I should thank all those f-calls that contributed to the call-back last week. If you know of any f-calls that are not listening to the broadcast, tell them about it and who knows what might happen. When I started this hobby I did what I am beginning to suspect many newcomers to the field did. I asked around what things to do and who to talk to, then I made my first purchases. I've now spent some of my hard-earned money and to-date I'm very happy about what I bought, but along the way I learnt a few things that I think might be helpful. My biggest frustration in going out to get my kit was this phenomenon that seemed to plague me where-ever I went. "Why can I not just buy a standard kit with radio, power-supply and antenna?" All in one box, all from one supplier, all shipped to my door, point and click-style. My limited experience to date tells me that you can in fact do that - it's called a hand-held all-in-one transceiver and it is all that. Of course there are t

What use is an F-call? Last week I discussed the idea that having an f-call is like having a key to the front-door, or like the first step towards gaining a pilot license. You may think while you're listening to me talk that I've been in Amateur Radio for years and that I have all the HAM experience in the world. The opposite is true. While I have a long history in broadcast radio, that is, I'm not afraid to open my mouth in front of a microphone, and I'm not afraid to participate in public fora, I am as fresh as a newborn in the Amateur Radio field. You might think that your skills, the ones you have as prior experience before you got your license are not sufficient to be able to actually contribute to this hobby. You may have the belief that there are others more qualified than you who may scoff at your technique or knowledge. As I said last week, learning to fly, going solo, is something that every pilot from Cessna to Space Shuttle needs to do. Every Amateur you hear on the radio has been through th

What use is an F-call? When I was learning to fly an aeroplane my instructor at the time told me that every pilot has to do something called "Going Solo", that's flying on your own for the first time. It's not the end of instruction, it's one in the path towards becoming a pilot. He also told me that this was true for pilots flying Cessna's, Boeing 747's and Space-Shuttles. The same is true for your f-call. The time you've spent learning how Amateur Radio works, where things are written down, basic etiquette and procedure are all designed to prepare you for the wider world of Amateur Radio. Your f-call license is the first step in the process of mastering this technical hobby. Think of your f-call as the keys to the front door. It's what allows you to participate at what ever level you'd like to. You can of course go on to get extra licenses, just like in flying, going solo is only step one on the way to the moon. The joy is in the process of discovering your niche in the path along the way. So,

What use is an F-call? Last week I was talking to an amateur in Esperance from Fremantle on 21MHz and he was bemoaning the notion that he needed to upgrade his license because with 10 Watts you couldn't do much. Little did he know that the week before I was sitting in exactly the same spot with my puny little f-license as he thought of it and I was talking to Portland, Oregon. I was listening on 7.146 and a CQ came out from a call-sign I didn't recognise and I answered and sure enough an answer came back and then I found he was talking long-path to South Africa and here I was with my puny little 10 Watts talking to him. He was pumping out 400 Watts and he was amazed that I was doing this off batteries with no amplifiers no anything and hand-made antennas. You know he couldn't quite believe that you didn't have to spend thousands of dollars to make that kind of distance. So your f-call can do more than you think. You just have to figure out how to make it do that. That's the challenge, not more power. Use

What use is an F-call? This podcast started life in 2011 when I was asked to record a story I shared during the production of the weekly amateur radio news in Western Australia. I'd been a licensed radio amateur, or ham, for a few months and found myself surrounded by people who perceived the basic Australian foundation amateur licence wasn't worth anything. What use is an F-call? is my response to that sentiment. It's produced weekly. In 2015 after long deliberation it was renamed to Foundations of Amateur Radio so people outside Australia might also enjoy the experience. Although most of the items stand alone, I'd recommend that you start at the beginning in 2011 and listen in sequence. Enjoy. I'm Onno VK6FLAB