Ham Radio Procedures

[SHGA Communications]

The club has received a recent complaint about member radio transmissions. Club policy is that we honor all traditional and mandated protocols to the best of our abilities, even during the rigors of flight. The SHGA's many licensed ham operators are considered a valuable community resource who may be called upon in time of disaster.

From http://www.hamradiocenter.com/index.php?topic=General

Ham Radio Etiquette
Friday, September 17 2004 @ 01:12 PM CDT
Contributed by: w0pm ON THE AIR ETIQUETTE
What to Say and What Not to Say On the Air

What To Say -

Identify yourself, using your callsign. Use of phonetics at times is allowable (For example, for W0PM, phonetics used might be "Whiskey Zero Papa Mike"). When coming on frequency, listen first before transmitting. Otherwise, you might accidentally interfere with a conversation already in progress on that frequency.

To announce that you are on frequency, give your callsign, and say listening, or monitoring or on frequency.

For example: "k0rfi, listening", or "k0rfi mobile, on frequency, anyone out there this evening?"

When calling another station, the usual sequence is the other station's call twice, then your callsign once, followed by "calling".

For example: "w0pm, w0pm, k0rfi calling", or "w0pm, w0pm, are you on frequency? k0rfi".

When using the repeater system, please remember to wait for the courtesy tone (a beep, babeep, bedeep, etc.) before you key up to respond.

Don't to forget to identify every 10 minutes, and at the end of your conversation. It is not necessary to identify at the beginning of a conversation, but it is considered common courtesy to do so.

To join in a conversation already in progress, just give your call sign during a pause and wait to be acknowledged. Remember, not everyone will wait for the repeater to drop out before re-keying, so be prepared to attempt to break-in several times.

What Not To Say or Do -

Hams do not use cb-like 'handles'. We only use callsigns and our real names. Phonetics are used, in order to help a person to understand our callsign (or even our name), if they're having trouble understanding it due to noise, etc. Examples of phonetics are "Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta" and so on (just like pilots use). Other words are also sometimes used for phonetics, such as "Kilowatt, London, Japan" and so on.CB '10 Codes' (such as 10-4, 10-2, 10-36, etc.) are NOT used. Many hams are also law-enforcement personnel and do not know the cb 10 Codes, and the law-enforcement 10 Codes are VERY different than cb 10 Codes. For example, in some areas, 10-36, which means "current time" on cb means "suspect armed" in law-enforcement.Some who have come from the world of 'single-sideband cb', may be used to using other terms, such as the word 'personal' to refer to one's name. Such terms as these are not usually used on ham radio.

"Q" codes or signals are not needed on vhf, and are usually not used. (Even though you will hear them).Do not join a conversation by saying "break" - this usually means that you have emergency traffic. If you DO have an emergency, then by all means, use the word "break" to break into a conversation. If it's a VERY serious emergency, then the term "break, break" is used.

Do NOT use profanity ('swear' words or anything else of that nature) or sexually explicit language - it is not wanted or welcomed by the ham community. Remember, some hams are quite young. Any language that is considered 'obscene' is against FCC Rules and Regulations and is therefore illegal. The results of disobeying these rules can be serious - a lot of embarrassment and even heavy monetary fines and loss of license for those involved.

Above all, please be courteous and polite. Amateur radio is self-policing, and the FCC does not get involved unless absolutely necessary.

[Don]

Maybe having a HAM Radio Licence should be a requirement to become a H3.

[WingNutz]

Alfa
Bravo
Charlie
Delta
Echo
Fox
Golf
Hotel
India
Juliet
Kilo
Lima
Mike
November
Oscar
Papa' (accent on second syllable)
Quebec (Pronounced Keh - beck)
Romeo
Sierra
Tango
Uniform
Victory
Whiskey
XRay
Yankee
Zulu