Where do you start with this Amateur thing?

Foundations of Amateur Radio

Being on air and getting on air are part of the journey that you undertake when becoming a Radio Amateur, but what happens before all that, what do you need to get your foot in the door as it were?

If you're listening to this via a radio, you're already on the journey, but if you've downloaded this as a podcast, you're not far behind and your journey towards becoming a Radio Amateur is just around the corner.

Let's start with a few things before I start with the journey itself. First of all, every country is slightly different, so while I can give you specific examples, they'll be valid for only a few people.

In becoming a Radio Amateur you'll have to undertake some learning, pass a test and get a license. This license is specific to you and for most, if not all Amateurs, the license itself is for life. That means that if you have already passed an Amateur License Test in your past, you're likely still a Licensed Amateur today.

Being a Licensed Amateur, or having a License, doesn't actually mean that you can operate your own station, for that to happen, you need a callsign and the requirements for a callsign are that you have a license. It's like learning to drive. Once you've passed your driving test you're able to drive a car, but you need a current drivers' license to actually get behind the wheel.

In most cases there are different levels of license. Going back to the car analogy, you can drive a car, a moped or a truck, but not with the same license.

In Amateur Radio there are several different types of licenses. For example in Australia there are three, in increasing level of responsibility, a Foundation License, a Standard License and an Advanced License. In the United States there are also three, The Technician License, the General License and the Amateur Extra License. In the United Kingdom there are also three, the Foundation License, the Intermediate License and the Full License. Germany has two types and calls them Class E and Class A.

In essence the idea is that with more learning comes more responsibility and a change of license. To muddy the waters a little, as time passes and Amateur Radio evolves, license types change and merge, new ones are introduced and old ones vanish.

For example, to my knowledge there are no countries requiring Morse Code as a skill for an Amateur License. That wasn't always the case and until 2003 the World Radio-communication Conference essentially left it to individual countries to decide if Morse Code was a requirement for specific privileges.

As an aside, Citizen Band or CB, where anyone can walk into a shop, buy a CB radio and use it without passing a test and getting a license is fundamentally different in that the license is linked specifically to the radio itself. There is still a license, and to operate, the license needs to be current, but it's intrinsic to the radio itself.

Amateur Radio has the license linked to the person, rather than the radio.

Now that you know a little about the landscape, the next step on your journey towards becoming an Amateur is a little less nebulous. It's probably a good place to start at the beginning and work your way through that and as time goes on and your confidence and experience improves, to add to the learning and do the next thing as it occurs to you.

I should point out that there are Amateurs who believe that it should be your goal to get the highest level of responsibility, but my perspective on this is quite different. This is a hobby, your hobby. If you want more responsibility, then go do some learning and pass a test. If you're happy to do what you're doing, then do that. Don't let anyone tell you that you must increase your learning, just because they tell you to or that it's the done thing.

For me, I've set a personal goal to work a hundred countries using 5 Watts and every contact I make counts towards that. If you've been listening for a while you might have noticed that I've not bragged about any remote contacts and that's because I've hardly been out and about on-air using my own callsign. Too many other things to do and I'm in no hurry while I'm learning and having fun.

So, what's next?

The simplest is to find yourself a local Amateur and get them to point you to the local training group, but if you're not able to do that, contact your National Amateur Radio Association and ask them who provides training for you.

You're likely to find a local website with information, or you might listen to the local Amateur Radio News Broadcast where the local training organisation tells you about upcoming courses.

The first level of license is likely to be pretty simple, think a weekend of listening and playing with radios, followed by a written and practical test. If you have issues with travel or learning, you're likely to find that there are ways to help you get on air, so don't give up, just because you can't drive to the big smoke, don't have a local training organisation or are hopeless at doing tests.

Amateur Radio takes all types and you too can find a hobby of your liking.

I'm Onno VK6FLAB