A short talk (quasi-lecture, it went overtime...) done by me for my Uni society, introducing what amateur radio is about, with some fun and interesting figures in order to help audience to gain slight insight into the wonderful hobby. It also shows some other types of radio in order to let people know what exactly radio transmissions are for. Some information are simplified in order to cater normal, general audience. Some pictures are collected from the Internet, please message me if you think your intellectual property is unrightfully used and is causing you trouble. I will try my best to remove it in the best ability as I could.

1. Have you used one?

2. Have you used one?

3. Amateur Radio
(… briefly)

4. Ridiculous Statistics
• Every 1 mobile phone user, there are
2.12121×10-4 ham radio operators.

5. Ridiculous Statistics (cont.)
• Even Tony Hancock is having a great
time with Hams radio!

6. • Even Tony Hancock is having a great
time with Hams radio!
…. yet still too busy logging details of the very
British weather!

7. What is Amateur Radio?
• Amateur radio (also called ham radio) is
the use of designated radio
frequency spectra for purposes of private
recreation, non-commercial exchange of
messages, wireless experimentation, self-
training, and emergency communication.
• The term "amateur" is used to specify
persons interested in radio technique
solely with a personal aim and without
direct monetary or other similar reward,
and to differentiate it from commercial
broadcasting, public safety (such as police
and fire), or professional two-way
radio services (such as maritime, aviation,
taxis, etc.).
Shamelessly copied
from Wikipedia,
happy days for
Turnitin!

8. I’m very, extremely & immensely
interested…
Find a Radio Club
(Google is your best friend
as always)
Take a Radio Course
(Licence dependent)
Exams!
…. Revision nightmare
You’re now Licensed!
Start chit-chatting… but
know your limits though.
C’mon… but still,
It isn’t end of the world!
But there are always re-
sits, and it can be outside
August!
Progression 
Move on to the next level

9. Callsigns
• Unique designations to reveal the identity of the radio
operator. Military and aviation follow another set of
rules.
Prefix tells the country of origin.
G, GD, GI… ; M - United Kingdom
F – France
DJ, DK, DP – Germany
R, RA, RK, RN … - Russia
JA, JE-JS – Japan
and the list goes on…
In the UK, the letter after ‘Golf‘ or
‘Mike’ gives hint of the region.
G, M – England
GU, MU – Guernsey
GD, MD – Isle of Man
GJ, MJ – Jersey
GI, MI – Northern Ireland
GM, MM – Scotland
GW, MW – Wales
We append a ‘suffix’ behind the callsign to describe the condition of
transmission.
/M – Using handheld radio (logging is difficult, signal varies with position.)
/P – Out of station, but you have a rather fixed antenna (i.e. in a car)
/MM – In a marine vessel.

10. How?
1. Microphone
2. Controller
3. Radio transmitter
4. Amplifier
5. Duplexer
6. Antenna
7. RF Amplifier
8. Mixer/Oscillator
9. Filter
10. Demodulation
11. AF Amplifier
12. Controller
13. Speaker

11. How? (cont.)
• Use of radio etiquettes:
• “CQ” calls
• Q-Codes (later)
• Identifier:
Callsign (in alphabets),
readback frequency, signal
feedback…
• Lengthy, breathless talks
• Logging Transmission
(Freq, callsign, report, mode,
signal report, remarks…)
• Radio jamming, wrong
frequency (discussed later)

12. How? (cont.)
• Operating Procedure
• “CQ CQ CQ This is G1ABC.
Calling CQ and standing by.”
• “CQ this is G2DEF, should we
QSY to 144.575?”
• “Is this frequency in use?”
• “Frequency clear.”
• “Good morning, G2DEF, this
is G1ABC. Your signal report
is 5 and 9. My name is Victor,
V-I-C-T-O-R, and QTH is in L-
O-N-D-O-N. My equipment is
a Yaesu DX-9000. I will see
how you copy, so G1ABC
back to G2DEF.”

13. Figure shows a list of Q-Codes
used to simplify transmission.
Only a handful is used normally,
or people will end up looking
endlessly!

14. Transmission Mode/Type
TV / car radio
• FM Radio
• AM Radio
• DAB Radio
• Analogue Television
• Digital Television
Hams…
• LF/MF/HF/VHF/UHF/SHF
(aka microwave)
• SSB (side-bands)
• FM (Freq modulation)
• PM (Pulse modulation)
• CW (continuous wave,
mostly used in number
stations &
beacons/repeater)
• Slow/Fast Scan
Television

17. Types of radio users
Amateur Radio
Operators
(human)
Licensee of Ofcom
CB Radios
(Civilian Band Radio)
Does not require any
form of licence, i.e.
Walkie-Talkies.
RAYNET
Emergency network
.... Just in case mobile
network goes down, it’s
Ham radio’s job to send
SOS.
International Space
Station
MW Transmission, line of
sight, limited regions only.
Repeater/Beacons
(Robots…)
Receive and re-send radio
signal at an off-shift
frequency. Morse-code
identification.
Number Stations
(Mysterious robots?)
Russian UVB-76
“The Pip”
British “Lincolnshire
Poacher”
“OTH” – Over-The-
Horizon Radar
DUGA-3
Russian Woodpecker
The famous noise
ever, even radios
were built with a filter
from it…

19. DUGA – 3 radar is known to Ham
radio operators as the Woodpecker
due to its distinctive voice. It is
widely complained due to its wide-
spread interference, even to its own
glorious motherland “Radio
Moscow”!
Power said to be 40 Megawatts
(compared to mobile phone e.r.p
400mW).
Range enough to reach East Coast
America.

20. Astronaut in Ham Radio – Expedition 24

21. Any ideas?

22. Know your limits!
• You cannot occupy all the frequency
bandwidths…
• Police/(or military designated) frequencies
• Air Traffic Control

23. Lots of colourful boxes of frequencies…

24. You don’t want to interfere with the Air Traffic Control
frequency either…

25. Thank you and 73s.