— Competing with Ham Radio
Just like playing a sport or exercising, hams like engaging in challenging activities to build their skills and station capabilities. Called radiosport, these encourage continuous improvement of both the operator and the station. Competition provides training and that pays off for public service or in emergencies! Here are a few of the most popular radiosport activities:
DX: In the world of ham radio, DX stands for distance, and the allure of making contacts ever more distant from one’s home station has always been part of ham radio. Hams compete on the shortwave bands to contact faraway stations and to log contacts with every country. They especially enjoy the thrill of contacting exotic locations, such as “DXpeditions” to uninhabited islands and remote territories. On higher frequencies, even the microwave bands, hams guide their signals along weather systems and ionospheric features, even bouncing signals off the moon, to make contacts far beyond the “radio horizon.” When conditions are right and the band is full of faraway stations, succumbing to the lure of DX is easy.
Contests: Contests are ham radio’s version of a contact sport. The point is to make as many contacts as possible during the contest period— sometimes thousands — by exchanging short messages. These exchanges are related to the purpose of the contest: to contact a specific area, use a certain band, find a special station, or just contact the most stations.
Awards: Thousands of awards are available for various operating accomplishments, such as contacting different countries or states. There are award programs for contacting islands, summits, parks and trails, counties — almost any type of station or location. Awards are great incentives for improving your station and your operating skills.
Special-event stations: These temporary stations are on the air for a short time to commemorate or celebrate an event or location, often with a special or collectible call sign. Each December, for example, the Marconi Cape Cod Radio Club sets up a special temporary station at the location of Marconi’s Wellfleet transatlantic operations. Find out more on the club’s Facebook page, KM1CC - Marconi Cape Cod Radio Club (www.facebook.com/KM1CC).
If you enjoy the thrill of the chase and the feel of a good workout, go to Chapter 11 to find out more about all these activities.
Communicating through Ham Radio Contacts
If you were to tune a radio across the ham bands, what would you hear hams doing? They’re talking to other hams, of course. These chats, called contacts, consist of everything from simple conversations to on-the-air meetings to contesting (discussed later in this chapter). I discuss contacts in depth in Chapter 8.
Though you make contacts for different purposes, most contacts follow the same structure:
1 You make a call to someone or respond to someone else’s call by transmitting your call sign over the air.
2 You and the other operator exchange names, information about where you’re located, and the quality of your signals for an understanding of conditions between your stations.
3 If the purpose of the contact is to chat, proceed to chat.You might talk about how you constructed your station, what you do for a living, your family, and your job, for example.
Except for the fact that you and the other ham take turns transmitting, and except that this information is converted to radio waves that bounce off the ionosphere or are retransmitted by powerful relay stations, making a contact is just like talking to someone you meet at a party or convention. You can hold the conversation by voice, by keyboard (using a computer connected to the radios), or by Morse code. The average contact satisfies a desire to meet another ham and see where your radio signal can be heard.
Ragchews
By far the most common type of activity for hams is casual conversation, called chewing the rag. Such contacts are ragchews. Ragchews take place via voice or keyboards or Morse code across continents or across town. You don’t have to know another ham to have a great ragchew; ham radio is a friendly hobby with little class snobbery or distinctions. Just make contact, and start talking! Find out more about ragchews in Chapters 8 and 9.
Nets
Nets (an abbreviation of networks) are organized on-the-air meetings scheduled for hams who have a shared interest or purpose. Your club or public service team probably has a regular net on a weekly basis. These are great practice for new hams! Here are some of the types of nets you can find:
Public service: Under normal circumstances, these nets meet for training and practice. When disasters or other emergencies strike, hams organize using these nets to provide crucial communications into and around the stricken areas until normal services are restored. The nets are also used to provide non-emergency assistance to public events, like parades or foot races.
Technical specialties: These nets are like radio call-in programs; stations call in with specific questions or problems. The net control station may help, but more frequently, one of the listening stations contributes the answer. Many technical-assistance
