What is Amateur Radio?


Amateur Radio is a hobby through which you can become a trained and skilled communicator. You can become knowledgeable about basic electronics and radio propagation. You can learn and advance the art of radio by trying, doing, and experimenting. You can earn "wallpaper" (awards) by participating in contests. And you can make many new friends around the world.

But most importantly you can have a lot of FUN!

Amateur Radio is a service that is often called upon to provide communications where everything else fails. When phones, cell phones, commercial radio, and TV all fail, we're there to get the message through.

I've been licensed for over 30 years. This site is intended to chronicle what I have learned during that time and what I continue to learn on a daily basis. It is also intended to be a resource to assist those who may be interested in becoming a "ham" or those who could use a little help along the way.

So c'mon!

Go to my bookstore, get yourself a copy of The ARRL Ham Radio License Manual, and join in on the fun!


73,
David, K6dch

Follow me on Twitter...

  • I upgraded my Ham license so I have a new FCC callsign: AH6TD. My Twitter name shall change from K6dch to AH6TD. #hamr #hamradio 2010-07-08
  • Aloha Dear Followers...I'm changing my twitter name. What used to be K6dch will now by AH6TD. Please update your records! Thanks! 2010-07-08
  • Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on, or by imbeciles who really mean it. --Mark Twain 2010-06-17
  • More updates...

Posting tweet...

The Delta Charlie Hotel has moved…

Hi All!

Well, this is it.  The Delta Charlie Hotel is officially closed.

Actually it’s moved.

Please update your links and bookmarks.  Point them to http://ah6td.com.

I recently upgraded my FCC issued license, and received a new call sign in the process (AH6TD).  I won’t hold on to the old call sign’s web URL, just in the wildly odd chance that someone else gets K6DCH from the FCC.

So eventually this site will be taken down and the domain name returned to the registrar.  But not to worry, all the content that was K6DCH.com is now alive and well at AH6TD.com.  Plus all my new content is going up over there as well.

So, again, change your bookmarks and your links, and I’ll see you at http://ah6td.com.

All the best,

(fmr) Delta Charlie Hotel Management

K6dch’s Weekly Twitter Updates for 2010-07-11

Aloha Dear Followers…I’m changing my twitter name. What used to be K6dch will now by AH6TD. Please update your records! Thanks! # I upgraded my Ham license so I have a new FCC callsign: AH6TD. My Twitter name shall change from K6dch to AH6TD. #hamr #hamradio #

K6dch’s Weekly Twitter Updates for 2010-06-20

Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on, or by imbeciles who really mean it. –Mark Twain #

I’ve Passed The Test

After more than 30 years as a general class Ham Radio Operator, I finally decided about 6 months ago to set aside some time and make the personal commitment to go for the ultimate upgrade — get the Amateur Extra Class license upgrade. Yesterday afternoon I successfully completed this goal.

With many thanks to the Volunteer Examiners of the Kauai Amateur Radio Club for hosting the testing session and for proctoring the test, I took the 50 question test and ..read more

K6dch’s Weekly Twitter Updates for 2010-06-13

FINALLY passed my Amateur Extra test today! Wooo-hoooo! Getting a new call sign soon. Glad that’s accomplished! Took lots of prep. #

Workin’ on the Grey Line…

For anyone who doesn’t know, the grey line is a band around the Earth that separates the daylight from darkness.

This grey line is of particular interest to us radio operators.  Radio propagation along the grey line is very efficient.  One major reason for this is that the D layer in the atmosphere, which absorbs HF signals, disappears rapidly on the sunset side of the grey line, and it has not yet built up on the sunrise side.

Ham radio operators (and ..read more

K6dch’s Weekly Twitter Updates for 2010-04-04

Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm. - Winston Churchill #

Shielding Less Important Than Twisting

In the modern ham shack, with computers, rig control software, logging software, digital mode software, firmware update software, and myriad other utilities, it is for all practical purposes mandatory to have your rig connected to your computer via an RS-232 or serial cable.

As you may imagine, this opens up a world of possibilities, including opening up avenues for hum, noise, and RFI.

I labored for a month or more to discover why when I transmitted, my computer desktop would alternate from ..read more

K6dch’s Weekly Twitter Updates for 2010-01-17

The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits. — Albert Einstein # Commandment Number One for any truly civilized society is this: Let people be different. -David Grayson # In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice, but in practice there is. –Unknown #

Assignment of Radio Spectrum Understandably Explained

I stumbled upon this page over at dxing.com and thought it to be a very cool and useful tool…rather than have a million color coded squares, just break up the low frequency, medium frequency and high frequency (HF) spectrum up into a number of bands and provide a high level explanation of what one may find there.

I’ve placed it here because, yes I think you will appreciate it, but mainly so I can refer back to it when I find ..read more

 
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