Questions tagged [procedure]
Use this tag for questions about specific radio procedures and practices. These are "How do I...?" questions, not about equipment or other issues.
62 questions
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What is the procedure for calling someone you think might be listening but whose call sign you don't know?
What is the procedure for calling someone you think might be listening but who's call sign you don't know?
Obviously, for someone you've already heard you could say, "last station." But what ...
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How long should I wait to claim a frequency?
Let's say you want to go on air and you don't want to invade on someone else's frequency.
How does one make sure the frequency isn't occupied before claiming it.
And how long should you take to make ...
7
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HF SSB etiquette when someone is working quick but not contesting and you're not sure they got you?
When someone is working quickly -- clearly trying to work a lot of stations -- but pretty clearly isn't contesting, what's the etiquette when they 73 you and end the contact but you're not sure they ...
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Why do operators mention the band when calling CQ on phone?
I'm a new-ish ham, licenced for about one year now.
Within that year I've heard a lot of CQ calls from other hams on phone (both HF and VHF), and it seems that a large portion of hams routinely ...
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What is proper procedure for asking for "distant" contacts on 2m FM on simplex?
As a new ham, just for fun, I'm planning to hike up to the local high point (which while not high in an absolute sense does have a commanding view of the surroundings) with my 5 watt FT-4XR and a slim ...
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Contesting dialog
I have noticed that participants in an HF exchange will often give number and a letter followed by a state, e.g. 1E Wisconsin. What does this mean?
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What is NR and a number instead of city and state after my QTH?
I have been a ham for almost 20 years, and when on CW I have always sent my call, name, RST, and full QTH. I have noticed that now many operators send NR 5280 or something similar instead of their ...
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Why aren’t emergency services using callsigns?
I’m super new to radio with nobody I know knowing it, so noob alert - plus some extraneous details in case you can comment on any of those.
I got a pair of BaoFeng BF-F8HP radios with recommended ...
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What does "THREE ALPHA in Virginia" mean?
I'm listening to the 40m band during Field Day and I keep hearing things like "You are THREE ALPHA in Virginia," or "do you hold me ONE ALPHA in Eastern Pennsylvania?", or "you are TWO ALPHA Maine."
...
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Is the NATO/ICAO or ITU figure pronunciation more common?
I know the NATO/ICAO pronunciation of modifying 3, 4, 5, and 9 to "tree", "fower", "fife", and "niner", respectively, but I just discovered the ITU figure pronunciations are vastly different.
Which ...
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If I receive an SOS signal, what is the proper response?
My 5-year old son loves sending out an SOS signal using a toy Morse code generator (wired, don't worry about false alarms for real authorities).
He has learned to send the SOS signal and was asking ...
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Amateur wanting to re-enter ham radio legally
I'm an Amateur Radio enthusiast from way back; mostly CB and 10 meters. I have a couple of hand-held Baofengs that I want to use for family communications and as a backup link in case of emergencies.
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Is it conventional to sign using the phonetic alphabet like people do in the military or aviation?
I know that most amateur operators simply sign at the beginning or end of a message, like
The weather is good, Kz1XXY
Would it also be customary to say that in ...
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How to interrupt a long discussion on HF politely?
In my city there is a local amateur radio "club". People gather every morning on 7.135 and chat. I was invited by one of the members of this club to join. Turned out that people can chat on this ...
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Why does "Ethics and Operating Procedures" suggest tuning on a dummy load?
The seminal work "Ethics and Operating Procedures for the Radio Amateur" suggests in subsection II.8.1 to perform tuning only on a dummy load.
Sometimes before transmitting it is necessary to tune (...
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