This is the class outline for week 5 of the SCARS 2018 Technician / General Class.
Week 5 Outline
Technician Chapter 5, Amateur Radio Equipment
General Chapter 2, Procedures and Practices
Instructor: Bill Lockett AE5F
Week 5 Question Pool
Today’s class will concentrate on the above listed topics, and the question pools that you can download here:
Transmitters and Receivers
- “By the end of this chapter, you’ll know your way around common radio controls and their functions.”
- “Your radio will be different, of course, so rely on the owner’s manual for complete information.”
- “…downloading user’s manuals from the manufacturer’s Web sites.”
Selecting band, frequency, and mode
Icom IC-718 HF radio. Currently (Feb 2013) sells for about $750.
Control and Function keys
RF gain, Mic (gain)
Over-modulation, over-deviation
Microphone types, plugs
Code keys
Receiver functions
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- AF gain (volume)
- RF gain
- attenuator\
- pre-amp
- AGC – autmatic gain control – fast or slow
- squelch
- band-pass filters
- IF or audio
- SSB: 2.4 kHz
- Morse code, data: 500 Hz or less
- FCC Narrow-Band Mandate
- Norman Public Schools to purchase radios
- Wikipedia:16 kHz wide signals with 5 kHz deviation is normal in this band. 8 kHz narrow signals with 2.5 kHz deviation can also be found.
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Handheld Transceivers “HTs”
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- Dual band, usually 2 m and 70 cm (440)
- often wide-band receive
- make decent mobile rig with:
- DC cord
- speaker-mic
- external (e.g., mag-mount) antenna
Digital Communications
- modem, TNC, MPC, PC sound card
- error correction <li
- CW
- RTTY
- Winlink
- PSK31 or MFSK
- packet radio
- DSTAR (new Norman repeater, W5TC)
- APRS
</li
Setting up for digital modes
Gateways
Power Supplies and Batteries
Mobile Power Wiring
Generators and Inverters
Batteries
RF Interference (RFI)
Filters
Band-pass filters can be added to equipment to block harmonics and other spurious emissions.
Overload
- Why hams “interfere with” TV or broadcast radio
- To save money, TVs not equipped with ability to reject a strong signal on a nearby frequency
- Filter can be added at TV input to correct problem
Harmonics and Spurious Emissions
Low pass filter can be added to HF rig to minimize possibility of interfering with commercial frequencies (TV, FM radio)
Noise Sources
See page 5-21 of book!
Unknown Signals
Radio Direction Finding, Fox Hunting
Guidelines
Part 15 Rules
Grounding
