0:00

Foundations of amateur radio.

0:02

One of the basic aspects of

0:04

being human and growing up is

0:07

the process of learning. From a

0:09

young age we explore our environment,

0:11

play with others, have fun, fall

0:13

over and bruise our knees, get

0:15

up and try again. The playing

0:17

aspect of this is often discussed

0:20

as a way to keep things

0:22

interesting. We add a competition

0:24

element as an added incentive.

0:27

so much so that we

0:29

formulate it into global competitions

0:32

and call it sport. As a

0:34

species, it might surprise you

0:36

that we spend about 1%

0:38

of all gross domestic product

0:40

on sport, compared to science, which

0:42

is about 2% of global

0:45

GDP. To give you some

0:47

context, agriculture accounts for about

0:49

4%, manufacturing is 15%. Industry

0:52

is about 26% and services

0:54

account for roughly 62%. If

0:56

you notice that this is

0:58

more than 100% take it up

1:01

with the World Bank. I'm a

1:03

radio amateur, not an economist. Over

1:05

the years I've explored different aspects

1:08

of our chosen hobby of amateur

1:10

radio. Time and again

1:12

I return to experimentation,

1:14

learning and having fun. Now

1:16

I absolutely concede that my idea

1:19

of fun and yours might not

1:21

match. My GDP side quest is

1:23

likely evidence of this, but in

1:26

my opinion, this embodies the range

1:28

of how we as a disparate

1:30

community interact and exchange ideas, across

1:33

the ionosphere and closer to home,

1:35

using what we can all agree

1:37

on is pretty close to magic.

1:39

So what is my point? Fair question.

1:41

Having fun and learning. If

1:44

you've ever had the opportunity to

1:46

listen to aviation radio, and I'd

1:48

encourage you to. The YouTube channel

1:51

Vass Aviation is a great place

1:53

to start, comes with maps, explanations

1:55

and subtitles. You'll discover that

1:58

the complex domain of

2:00

aviation... communication is a dynamic

2:02

environment where miscommunication matters and often

2:04

has severe consequences. It's not all

2:06

incidents and accidents though. If you

2:08

look for air traffic control legend

2:10

Kennedy Steve you'll come across some

2:13

of the funniest exchanges captured on

2:15

ATC frequencies all the while staying

2:17

professional. So how does this relate

2:19

to amateur radio and you? Well,

2:21

at the moment we have a

2:23

few types of exchanges where we

2:25

can practice our skills. The most

2:28

obvious one is a thing we

2:30

call contesting. A scored and rule-bound

2:32

activity where you are expected to

2:34

exchange information and are declared the

2:36

winner in a category. It's a

2:38

little like sport and some have

2:41

attempted to rephrase amateur radio contesting

2:43

into a field that they're calling

2:45

radio sport. I have mixed feelings

2:47

about this because there isn't much

2:49

in the way of spectator activity

2:51

associated with this. Another exchange is

2:54

calling for DX contacts, sharing an

2:56

exchange across distance, attempting to contact

2:58

as many countries as possible, with

3:00

the prize being membership into the

3:02

fabled DXCC, the Century Club that

3:04

acknowledges your prowess in making contact

3:06

with 100 countries. The most common

3:09

exchange is the net or discussion

3:11

group. It can be formal, like

3:13

the weekly F-trip I've been hosting

3:15

since 2011. or it can be

3:17

ad hoc one amateur chatting to

3:19

another sparking spontaneous discussion among several

3:22

stations on frequency. We also do

3:24

things like radio direction finding. Someone

3:26

sets up a transmitter and everyone

3:28

playing tries to find the source

3:30

as quickly as possible. First one

3:32

to find it wins. It may

3:35

be wonder if there are other

3:37

things we might come up with.

3:39

Has anyone played chess across H.

3:41

F? Or if you want to

3:43

involve a larger group, what about

3:45

playing bingo or a game of

3:47

trivia? Anyone considered an MM-O-R-R-P-G or

3:50

massively multiplayer online role-playing game? The

3:52

point being we can

3:54

play play games,

3:56

have fun in an

3:58

in an environment

4:00

where there are

4:03

many factors affecting

4:05

your ability to

4:07

communicate, to so we

4:09

can all get better at keying

4:11

the microphone and getting the

4:13

message to the intended recipient. to the

4:15

While we're having fun, nobody fun,

4:17

this needs to be a

4:19

voice needs to be a voice An An FT8

4:21

could well be be into transmitting

4:23

chess moves, chess and nobody said

4:25

that you have to do FT8

4:27

on the same frequency frequency that

4:30

is using. using. So what games can

4:32

you come up with with learn

4:34

from? from? I'm on it. Victor Kilo, 6. Foxtrod, Leimar, Alpha

4:36

Bravo.