You may have come across ham radio in any number of ways. Did you browse a ham radio website, see a social media post about ham radio, or watch a YouTube video? Maybe you have a teacher, friend, or relative who enjoys ham radio. You could have seen hams on your newsfeed providing communication after natural disasters like hurricanes or during wildfires. Maybe you saw them helping out with a parade or race or you encountered a Field Day setup, ham radio’s nation-wide “open house.” Maybe you saw someone operating in a park or on a mountain-top trail. Wherever you find it, ham radio has room for an amazing number of activities and lots of hams just like you!
The traditional image of ham radio is of a room full of vacuum tube radios, flicking needles, Morse code keys, and enormous microphones, but today’s hams have many more options to try. Ham radio has been changing rapidly! Although the traditional shortwave bands are certainly crowded with ham signals hopping around the planet, hams use the Internet, lasers, and microwave transmitters and traveling to unusual places high and low to make contact, even to and from the International Space Station and bouncing signals off the moon!
Simply stated, ham radio provides the broadest and most powerful wireless communications capability available to any private citizen anywhere in the world. Because the world’s citizens are craving ever-closer contact and hands-on experiences with technology of all sorts, ham radio is attracting attention from people like you. The hobby has never had more to offer and shows no sign of slowing its expansion into new wireless technologies. (Did I say wireless? Think extreme wireless!)
About This Book
Ham Radio For Dummies, 4th Edition, is meant to get you started in ham radio and answer some of your many questions. If you’ve just become interested in ham radio, you’ll find plenty of information here on what the hobby is all about. I will explain how to go about joining the fun by discovering the basics and getting a license. Many resources on ham radio’s technical and operating specialties are available, but this book introduces them briefly so you can get up to speed as quickly as possible. It is true that a ham radio license is really a license to learn!
Some readers have asked for more license exam study information. That would make this a very thick book! There are plenty of great study guides out there, both online and in print, for all three license classes so I don’t overlap with them. Material is available with lots of background information or in question-and-answer formats. There are flash cards, too! Just do an online search for “ham radio exam study guide” and you’ll find lots of choices.
If you’ve already received your license, congratulations! This book helps you change from a listener to a doer. Any new hobby, particularly a technical one, can be intimidating to newcomers. By keeping Ham Radio For Dummies handy in your station, you’ll be able to quickly understand what you receive on the airwaves. I cover the basics of getting equipment connected properly and the fundamentals of on-the-air behavior. Use this book as your bookshelf ham radio mentor, and soon, you’ll be making contacts with confidence.
You can read this book in any order. Feel free to browse and flip through the pages to any section that catches your interest. The sidebars and icons are there to support the main story of each chapter, but you can skip them and come back to them later.
The book has five parts. Parts 1 and 2 are for readers who are getting interested in ham radio and preparing to get a license. Parts 3 and 4 explain how to set up a station, get on the air, and make contact with other hams. Part 5 is the Part of Tens (familiar to all For Dummies readers), which presents some tips and suggestions for you to get the most out of ham radio. In the online website for this book there is an extensive glossary and a handy supplement to help you with some of the basic math ham radio uses.
Within this book, you may note that some web addresses break across two lines of text. If you’re reading this book in print and want to visit one of these web pages, simply enter the address exactly as it’s noted in the text, pretending that the line break doesn’t exist. If you’re reading this book as an e-book, you’ve got it easy; just click the web address to be taken directly to the web page.
My Assumptions about You
In writing this book, I made some assumptions about you. You don’t have to know a single thing about ham radio or its technology to enjoy Ham Radio For Dummies, 4th Edition, and you definitely don’t need to be an electronics expert to enjoy this book.
But I ask two things of you:
You have an interest in ham radio.
You can get online.
Due to the broad nature of ham radio, I couldn’t include everything in this book. (Also, if I’d done that, you wouldn’t be able to lift it.) But I steer you in the direction of additional resources, that will help you get more out of this book with current information and more explanations.
Icons Used in This Book
While you’re reading, you’ll notice icons that point out special information. Here are the icons I use and what they mean.
Beyond the Book
In addition to what you’re reading right now, this book also offers free access-anywhere information at www.dummies.com. This includes two appendixes: a comprehensive glossary and some tutorials on “radio math” that are part of ham radio. There is a long list of short entries and tips on topics like tuning, troubleshooting, ways to operate, suggestions for building gear, and many more. You can access these at www.dummies.com/go/hamradiofd4e.
The website also includes a handy Cheat Sheet that includes a summary of your Technician (and soon-to-be General) class license privileges, common Q-signals and repeater channel info, a list of Go Kit gear, and some handy online resources for you. Just search for Ham Radio For Dummies Cheat Sheet in the Search box.
Where to Go from Here
If you’re not yet a ham, I highly recommend you find your most comfortable chair and read Parts 1 and 2 to discover the basics about ham radio and solidify your interest. If you’re a licensed ham, browse through Parts