AMATEUR RADIO WORLD MAP

Simple As Simplex

Simple As Simplex

After an amateur has made a contact on a repeater, it is proper to move the conversation to a simplex frequency if possible. A repeater is not meant to be a soapbox. Others who may need to use the repeater will not appreciate you tying up the repeater unnecessarily. The easiest way to determine if you are able to communicate with the other station on simplex is to listen to the repeater input frequency (on reverse). This is the frequency the other station uses to transmit to the repeater, and if you hear his or her signals there you should be able to use simplex. Many amateur radios include a reverse feature. With a push of a button an amateur can listen on a normal transmit frequency. This is a very useful feature for checking to see if you can operate simplex with the another station.

If you want to perform an on-the-air test of a pair of handheld radios, you should select an unoccupied simplex frequency. This way tests can be performed without interfering with repeater users.

The function of a repeater is to provide communications between stations that can't otherwise communicate because of terrain, equipment limitations, or both. Therefore, stations that are able to communicate without a repeater should not use one. This way, the repeater is available for stations that need it. Another plus to using simplex rather than a repeater is that communication on simplex offers a degree of privacy impossible to achieve on a repeater. On simplex you can usually have extensive conversations without interruption.

Remember to select a frequency designated for FM simplex operation or you may interfere with stations operating in other modes without realizing it. Each band has a designated national FM simplex calling frequency, which is the center for most simplex operation.

THE RADIO AMATEUR IS:

CONSIDERATE . . .

Never knowingly operates in such a way as to lessen the pleasure of others.

LOYAL . . .

Offers loyalty, encouragement and support to other amateurs, local clubs, and the ARRL, through which Amateur Radio in Malaysia is represented nationally and internationally.

PROGRESSIVE . . .

With knowledge abreast of science, a well-built and efficient station and operation above reproach.

FRIENDLY . . .

Slow and patient operating when requested; friendly advise and counsel to the beginner; kindly assistance, cooperation and consideration for the interest of others. These are the hallmarks of the amateur spirit.

BALANCED . . .

Radio is an avocation, never interfering with duties owed to family, job, school, or community.

PATRIOTIC . . .

Station and skill always ready for service to country and community.

Basic Emergency Communication Practices

Basic Emergency Communication Practices

The following basic guidelines are a starting point towards being a good emergency communicator:

• Listen before transmitting.
• Use standard ITU phonetics.
• Use 24-hour time format.
• Accuracy is the first priority, rather than speed.
• Be clear and concise by not using unnecessary words.
• Talk across the FACE of the microphone.
• Transmit messages exactly.
• Always transmit FACTS rather than hearsay.
• Stay alert -- take breaks when needed.
• Always know your location.
• Avoid using Q-signals or 10-codes in voice transmissions.
• Speak slowly and clearly, with little emotion in your voice.
• Use tactical call signs whenever possible.
• No wisecracks or jokes on an emergency net.
• Never transmit the names of deceased individuals over a voice channel.
• Read every message before transmitting it. If you have questions about what is being communicated, get clarification from the originating party. A good message will never require the recipient to ask for additional information.

Pro word Dictionary for Emergency Communication

Pro word Dictionary for Emergency Communication

To facilitate efficient communications, the following procedural words, or "pro-words", were developed for use in emergencies, and by other communicators, such as air traffic controllers.

• AFFIRMATIVE means "Yes" or "I agree" or "Permission granted."
• BREAK means you have emergency traffic that must be passed immediately.
• CHECK BREAK means you are pausing to verify that the receiving station has copied your message. An appropriate response from the receiving station would be "COPY."
• CLEAR or OUT means your transmission is completed and no answer is required or expected.
• CLOSE means you are shutting down your station and can no longer be contacted.
• COPY THAT or ROGER means you have received the transmission satisfactorily.
• CORRECT means you acknowledge what was transmitted as correct.
• CORRECTION means an error has been made and the transmission will continue with the last word correctly transmitted.
• DECIMAL indicates a decimal point.
• DISREGARD means an error has been made in the transmission that is in progress and you are to completely ignore this transmission.
• FIGURES means that the following words are to be copied as numbers.
• I SPELL means you will spell the following word(s) phonetically.
• NEGATIVE means "No" or "I disagree" or "Permission denied."
• OUT or CLEAR means your transmission is completed and no answer is required or expected.
• OVER means you are finished with your transmission and the other station is expected to reply.
• ROGER or COPY THAT means you have received the transmission satisfactorily.
• SAY AGAIN means you want the last message to be repeated. You may include a modifier to have part of a message repeated, as in the following examples:
• "Say again ALL AFTER __________"
• "Say again ALL BEFORE _________"
• "Say again WORD AFTER _________"
• "Say again WORD BEFORE ________"
• STANDBY or WAIT means you are not yet ready to copy. You may include a time modifier, such as "Standby one."
• THIS IS means the transmission is from the station whose call sign follows.
• WAIT or STANDBY means you are not yet ready to copy. You may include a time modifier, such as "Standby one."

The meaning of "break"

The meaning of "break"

The word "Break" has four different and very specific meanings in amateur radio. Break should never be used when you simply want to join a conversation in progress. Use your callsign for that.

1. The first use of the word break is separate parts of one message, such as separating the address from the text, during the same transmission. E.g., "VE6XXX, this is VE6YYY, message from EOC to Foothills. BREAK. Ambulance will arrive at 14:55. BREAK. Over."

2. The second use of the word break is to terminate a message with one station and start a message to another during the same transmission. E.g., "VE6XXX, message received. BREAK. VE6YYY, has the helicopter arrived?"

3. The third use of break is to interupt an ongoing conversation with traffic of a higher priority. The frequency should be released immediately to the station calling break. E.g.,
"VE6YYY this is VE6XXX, what was the final score?"
"BREAK."
VE6YYY should then transmit "Station calling break go ahead," and wait with the score until later. VE6YYY must not simply say "I acknowledge the break," then finish his/her conversation before relinquishing the frequency.

4. The fourth and most critical use of break is when someone calls "break break" or "break emergency". This indicates emergency traffic. All other stations must release the frequency immediately and stand by to assist if necessary. E.g.,
"VE6YYY this is VE6XXX, go ahead with your results."
"BREAK BREAK."
VE6YYY should then transmit "Station calling break break go ahead, VE6YYY standing by.

Using repeaters

Using repeaters

Repeaters are meant to be used for communicating with two or more stations that are not close enough to each other to be properly heard by all stations on a simplex frequency. Peak repeater times in cities are normally during rush hour. During this time more stations are on during a very short time frame, so your transmissions should be kept shorter to allow everyone a chance to speak.

1. Listen on the frequency for more than a few seconds before initiating a call. The repeater may be busy with someone momentarily standing by.
2. If the repeater is not busy and you wish to establish a conversation use the phrase "VE6ZYX monitoring." After releasing the PTT anyone wishing to speak with you will come back with their callsign. If no one comes back to your call you, do not continue repeating your callsign. This is redundant and very annoying. There may be many people monitoring who don't wish to speak with you at this time. You may try your call again later in case someone else comes on to monitor that may wish to speak with you.
3. Identify yourself at the beginning and end of a contact, and every 30 minutes during a contact. Remember to use full callsigns, partial callsigns are illegal.
4. In general, give mobile stations priority over base stations, especially during rush hour. The mobile station may be asking for directions or reporting traffic congestion.
5. Wait for a "squelch-tail" or "go-ahead tone" after each transmission. This allows time for another person to join in the conversation as well as allowing for the repeater "time-out timer" to be reset.
6. If you want to join an established conversation don't use the word "Break", which has specific meanings (see the meaning of "break" above). To enter a conversation insert your full callsign between transmissions. This will then be acknowledged by those using the repeater.
7. A repeater that is in use during a public service event or during an emergency situation should not be accessed while this is in progress. If necessary, contact net control or designate for permission to call for your station and move them to another frequency. Keeping the repeater frequency clear during these events can make the difference during life threatening situations.
8. Profane or obscene language is not permitted, and will not be tolerated by Industry Canada and other radio amateurs.
9. 0n voice repeaters voice procedures should be used. This also applies to all voice frequencies within our amateur bands. The use of "Q" codes (e.g., QSL, QSO, QTH, QRT, etc.) should be reserved for CW conversations and CW nets. It is much easier to say what you really mean in the first place.
10. When checking into voice nets don't use the word "Break" unless you have higher priority or emergency traffic. Also don't use check, recheck, contact, etc. All that is required for getting the net controller's attention is a simple transmission of your callsign. Net control now knows immediately who you are.
11. Never check into a net and then leave without first notifying net control of your intentions. Net control may have traffic for you at a later time. It is most frustrating when net control calls you and you've left the frequency.
12. Repeaters with mail box facilities having subscribers should not have priority over traffic to access their mailbox. Try to access your mailbox when the repeater is not in use.
13. Last but not least, let us have fun on our amateur radio repeaters. They can become very useful during emergencies, as well as bringing much enjoyment to new amateurs traveling through our cities.

Repeater Etiquette

Repeater Etiquette and N3KZ Network Policies

Newcomers to the hobby, and old-timers alike who have never used repeaters before may take some time to read over the information contained below and visit some of the linked sites for information on repeater operating guidelines. We hope that this information will be constructive to help everyone enjoy repeater operation.

Basic Repeater Etiquette

Starting a QSO via a directed call. There are two main ways by which a QSO can begin, one is via a directed call and one is via monitoring. A directed call is where one amateur calls another amateur individually, such as "N3XYZ from K3ABC". In such a case, K3ABC is looking for one particular individual, N3XYZ. It generally is not an invitation for anyone other than N3XYZ to return the call. If N3XYZ doesn't answer the call, K3ABC may just clear off by saying "K3ABC clear", or may clear and listen for other calls by saying "K3ABC clear and listening". The "and listening" or "and monitoring" implies they are interested in hanging around to QSO with anyone else who might be listening at that time. "Listening" and "monitoring" don't mean you are listening to somebody else's conversation, they mean you are listening for other people who may want to call you to start a new QSO. Likewise, just saying your call by itself with nothing following it is meaningless. If you were to say "N3XYZ", people listening wouldn't know if that means you were monitoring for calls, whether you were testing, or whether they missed the callsign of a party you were calling. Be concise, but be complete.

Starting a QSO via a monitoring call. If the repeater is not in use, simply stating your callsign followed by "listening" or "monitoring" implies that you are listening to the repeater and are interested in having a QSO with anyone else. Calling CQ on a repeater is generally not common, a simple "N3XYZ listening" will suffice. There is no need to repeat the "listening" message over and over again as you might do when calling CQ on HF. Once every few minutes should be more than sufficient, and if someone hasn't answered after a few tries, it probably means there is nobody around. If someone is listening and wants to QSO, they will answer back. Avoid things like "is anybody out there" or "is there anybody around on frequency"; it sounds like a bad sci-fi movie.

Joining a QSO in progress. If there is a conversation taking place which you would like to join, simply state your callsign when one user unkeys. This is the reason for having a courtesy tone: to allow other users to break into the conversation. One of the stations in QSO, usually the station that was about to begin his transmission, will invite you to join, either before making his own transmission or afterwards. Don't interrupt a QSO unless you have something to add to the topic at hand. Interrupting a conversion is no more polite on a repeater than it is in person.

Interrupting a QSO to make a call. If you need to make a directed call to another amateur but there is already another QSO going on, break into the conversation during the courtesy tone interval by saying "Call please, N3XYZ". One of the stations will allow you to make your call. If the station you are calling returns your call, you should quickly pass traffic to them and relinquish the frequency to the stations who were already in QSO; don't get into a full QSO in the middle of someone else's conversation. If you need to speak with the party you call for a significant length of time (say, more than 15 seconds), ask them to either wait until the current QSO has cleared, or ask them to move to another repeater or simplex channel to continue the conversation.

Roundtables and "Turning it Over". When more than two amateurs are in a QSO, it is often referred to as a "roundtable" discussion. Such a QSO's usually go in order from amateur A to amateur B to amateur C ... and eventually back to amateur A again to complete the roundtable. To keep everyone on the same page, when any one amateur is done making a transmission, they "turn it over" to the next station in sequence (or out of sequence, if so desired). Without turning it over to a particular station when there are multiple stations in the QSO, nobody knows who is supposed to go next, and there ends up either being dead silence or several stations talking at once. At the end of a transmission, turn it over to the next station by naming them or giving their callsign, such as "...and that's that. Go ahead Joe." or "....and that's that. Go ahead XYZ." If it's been close to 10 minutes, it's a good time to identify at the same time as well, such as "...and that's that. N3XYZ, go ahead Joe."

IDing and Who's Who? By FCC regulations, you must always identify at 10 minute intervals and at the end of a transmission. If you are making a test transmission or calling another party, this is a one-way transmission. Since it has no "length" as there is no QSO taking place, you should identify each time you make a call or a test transmission. When identifying yourself and another party (or parties), or when making a directed call, your callsign goes LAST. "N3XYZ, K3ABC" means that K3ABC is calling N3XYZ, not the other way around. There is no need to identify each time you make a transmission, only once every 10 minutes. You do not need to identify the station with whom you are speaking, only your own callsign, but it is generally polite to remember the call of the other station. Avoid phonetics on FM unless there is a reason for using them, such as the other station misunderstanding your callsign. When phonetics are needed, stick to the standard phonetic alphabet.

Demonstrations. From time to time, an amateur may want to demonstrate the capabilities of amateur radio to another non-amateur. The typical way to do this is to ask for a "demo" such as "N3XYZ for a demonstration." Anyone who is listening to the repeater can answer them back. Usually telling the calling party your name, callsign, and location is what they are looking for, not a lengthy conversation. Someone doing a demo may ask for stations in a particular area to show the range of amateur radio communications, such as if the calling station is in the Poconos they may ask for any stations in south Jersey or Harrisburg areas, which is more interesting than demonstrating that they can talk to someone in the same town as they are in.

Signal Reports. If you are unsure how well you are making it into the repeater, DO NOT kerchunk the repeater. Any time you key up the repeater, you should identify, even if you are just testing to see if you are making the machine. "N3XYZ test" is sufficient. Do not use the repeater as a "target" for tuning or aiming antennas, checking your transmitter power, etc. Use a dummy load where appropriate, or test on a simplex frequency. If you need someone to verify that you are making the repeater OK, ask for a signal report such as "N3XYZ, can someone give me a signal report?" "Radio check" is a term most often used on CB, "signal report" is what most amateurs ask for.

Language. Aside from some of the techno-syncracies inherent in amateur vernacular, use plain conversational English. The kind of English that would be suitable for prime-time television, not R rated movies. Avoid starting or encouraging conflicts on the air. If a topic of conversation starts to draw strong debate, change the subject. Avoid "radio-ese" lingo whenever possible. CB has its own language style and so does amateur radio, but the two are not the same. Amateurs have "names", not "personals". Although many new hams have graduated from the CB ranks, let's try to keep CB lingo off the amateur bands. When visiting a new repeater, take some time to monitor before jumping in to get a feel for the type of traffic and operating mannerisms of that particular system. Some repeaters are very free-wheeling in that there are people jumping in and out of conversations constantly. Others primarily have directed calls on them and discourage ragchewing. Others are member-exclusive repeaters. Listen before you talk, when in Rome do as the Romans do.

Emergencies. If there is a QSO going on, break into a conversation with the word "Break" or "Break for priortity traffic." DO NOT USE THE WORD BREAK TO JOIN IN A QSO UNLESS THERE IS AN EMERGENCY! All stations should give immediate priority any station with emergency traffic.

Malicious Interference. If there is malicious interference, such as kerchunking, touch-tones, rude comments, etc. DO NOT ACKNOWLEDGE IT! Continue the QSO in a normal fashion. If the interference gets to the level where it is impossible to carry on the QSO, simply end the QSO as you normally would.

Power. Use the minimum power necessary to complete a QSO. However, the minimum power necessary doesn't just mean you are barely tickling the repeater receiver squelch. If someone says that you are noisy, increase power or relocate or take whatever measures you can to improve your signal. Continuing to make transmissions after being told your signal is noisy is inconsiderate to those listening. The amateur radio manufacturers continue to come up with newer, smaller handheld radios, many with power levels well under a watt. Many new amateurs start out with a handheld radio as their "first rig". Although convenient, they aren't the most effective radios in terms of performance. Without a good external antenna, operating a handheld radio indoors or inside a car is going to result in a lot of bad signal reports.

The following hyperlinks provide general information on good repeater operating practices. We thank those groups/individuals for providing this information.

http://www.qsl.net/w2li/OperatingPractices.htm - The Tri County Radio Association W2LI

http://rtpnet.org/~rars/rptrgide.htm - Raleigh Amateur Radio Society, very nicely done