Ham Radio Basics for Beginners ➡ ua-cam.com/play/PLSuX83ay4OujyZs-bRSLYV6D4O6GGBIP6.html Etiquette explained ➡ua-cam.com/video/znBHl3enqIg/v-deo.html Beginners Guide ➡ ua-cam.com/users/livevM8bsYMZlu0?si=fP5X1cl_-h0KhU10 More Mic Fright Tips ➡ ua-cam.com/video/KfcsJKZASdc/v-deo.html
These are all excellent tips! In broadcasting class, we often put s smiley face on the mic and imagined it as our "friend" and not a piece of electronic gear. That helped many shy freshmen. It's also generally much easier to speak into a mic alone (even though your voice may travel thousands of miles), than it is to give a speech from a podium with a live audience. How do you get to Carnegie Hall? PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!
ive been listening airband this last days, as the first and only thing im actually doing with the radio i have because i am still not allowed to transmit (i dont have ham license, im planning on do the exam but i still didnt)
I found that my gateway to using the PTT was local 2meter nets. Then when I discovered contesting I found my passion in the hobby. Rag chewing is lowest priory...
Hayden, great video, thank you! POTA was my “gateway” to confidence. As stated, a rather short interaction, and rare “rag chewing”. Your statement “Listen, listen, listen” is key, also. My wife, new technician, has MASSIVE mic fright. As always, well done. KQ4IXD
When I was starting, way back 2 years or so ago, I liked to watch Callum's (DX Commander) videos and live streams (and of course yours too Hayden) and I'd then try and emulate him on air. Saw an interesting one of Cal's about 160 meter nets recently ha ha
I do my transmitting from my home with a desk mic. I find this most simple, after many years of transmitting on CB, and still venturing into those areas a little.
I wrote an article for my club’s newsletter about this topic from the perspective of a not-quite-new-ham-but-new-enough. Many points I covered you matched in this video. Great job on making content. I know it’s not easy to be a UA-camr. The powertip I want to share is this: when checking into a net on a repeater, push the PTT after someone with a memorable voice, accent or callsign checks in. That way you will know when your turn is next by the memorable trait of the ham before you. (This can also be a good way to find an Elmer). Cheers!
SOTA with its brief structured QSOs and everyone's focus on making the activation work is a great environment for honing mic skills and the calling procedure.
Excellent content Hayden! Plenty of great tips for new operators and some good advice in there for many of us more experienced amateurs as well. Cheers
I wish you and UA-cam were around when I was first getting on the air in 2002! Everything you suggest is 100% great advice. Thanks for putting out consistently excellent videos, Hayden! 73
Great video. I was the same and still am. I remember calling CQ but it was QC QC done guy came back to me as I made him giggle. I still fall of the wagon now when in air. Lol 73
thanks for the video! it can help so many people to start im planning on get the license soon, yours and some other channels are helping me and many others to dive into this interesting (and incredibly big and complex) hobby well, in general, thanks for the content, its really helpful. 73
@@HamRadioDX well, I'm really into anything related to informatics and communications, ive always loved the idea of being independent by this i mean, not depending in third parties to chat and interact with stuff i love having a self hosted irc server or matrix, my own dns, my own cloud... and having a radio is a way of not depending on the ISP to communicate with others also the fact of that i love tinkering, it's what i always do and ham radio is a really interesting hobby years ago (i probably was less than 12 years old, but not sure) my parents ("Santa") gifted me a baofeng i had asked for (one of the worse ones, not even with a screen, but honestly it was more than enough for me) i used that a lot to talk with my parents, also i got a friend into buying one of those and i also had the absolute luck of being tuned with the radio of some police (crazy, not only it wasn't encrypted digital but somehow they were using a default frequently baked in those basic baofeng radios) i think it was traffic well, more on the present, not only as a way of not depending on the ISP but just that given i know about it and I like to mess around, some months ago i dividend to check out about it and i started dipping my toes a little, looking for channels and amazed to discover how big of a world this was tldr and talking about the present, last 2-3 months... at first i was just curious, the same way i just out of curiosity learned about a bunch of informatics, maths and physics well, I just wanted to learn a bit about radio, it was also something on that nerdy field but I just decided to dive into the rabbit hole, the moment i discovered how big this was, the fact of having global, national and regional communities, a bunch of people into it, a bunch of activity and things to do, and a bunch of passion and people-driven infrastructure to help people to connect with others... i was just amazed and instantly wanted to dive, by seeing how cool of a global community it was and how much there is to learn and explore
@@HamRadioDX oh freaking youtube, i had answered with a bigass message but apparently, yt removed it you might be able to see it somewhere, maybe flagged as spam * edited because of typo, i wrote span instead of spam
I've been talking on radios for quite a bit now (just became a ham) and you're going to mess up. I do it all the time and will most likely continue to do so. Don't sweat it and don't worry about the old school gate keepers. :)
Hayden, Thanks for this video, Mike fright is a VERY real thing that affects everyone at some point in time in their Ham radio "career", wether it's one of your first times on the radio or you've just moved to HF after having used VHF/UHF, where more people could hear you make mistakes. To be fair, everyone messes up, there is no shame in that, we're only human, I've heard some shocking instances of this over the air, unless you're some sort of an @R$ehole to pull another person up about it, no-one really cares. One bit of advice, and this might sound very strange, but practice using the mike/HT with the radio turned off, no pressure to get it right, no-one is listening, just use your normal voice as you would speak to anyone, until you have the confidence/ are comfortable to turn the radio on and put a call out.
Back to my training in broadcast radio we were told your mic is 1 person not 10s 100s or 1000s of people that has stuck with me i always focus on talking to one person were possible ,another one is if you use a boom mic put a smiley face over it and think your talking to that . Local nets are great for getting used of basic chat
The pace, or rate, at which many/most operators speak is off-putting for me, perhaps it's my hearing not being great, but trying to hear a call that took exactly .02 seconds and included a callsign, the weather, location, what they want and then trying to beat the 10 other operators that are closer and responding with a better signal than mine means I lose EVERY time.
Tell yourself there are people listening and they WANT to hear you! I keep a collection of 3x5 cards with my prompts/scripts written on them and keep them nearby in case I'm feeling a little tired, lazy, or tongue-tied.
Simplest answer to mike fright is just to remember that NO ONE on the air has any GREATER right to be there than anyone else, we ALL have access via our respective licences. Be polite, but TAKE NO SHIT from the wankers that think they OWN the airwaves. Or just go American CB'er style and buy a 5,000w AMP and sit on Ch19 AM all day slinging crap at passersby. We came from apes a few years back, many radio users around the world haven't progressed much beyond those roots. It's only radio for damn sake, it's not universe changing in anyway.
Ham Radio Basics for Beginners ➡ ua-cam.com/play/PLSuX83ay4OujyZs-bRSLYV6D4O6GGBIP6.html
Etiquette explained ➡ua-cam.com/video/znBHl3enqIg/v-deo.html
Beginners Guide ➡ ua-cam.com/users/livevM8bsYMZlu0?si=fP5X1cl_-h0KhU10
More Mic Fright Tips ➡ ua-cam.com/video/KfcsJKZASdc/v-deo.html
These are all excellent tips! In broadcasting class, we often put s smiley face on the mic and imagined it as our "friend" and not a piece of electronic gear. That helped many shy freshmen. It's also generally much easier to speak into a mic alone (even though your voice may travel thousands of miles), than it is to give a speech from a podium with a live audience. How do you get to Carnegie Hall? PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!
Great ideas mate!
I’m an airline pilot, and even after 40 years of talking on the radio, I still mess up sometimes…
ive been listening airband this last days, as the first and only thing im actually doing with the radio i have because i am still not allowed to transmit (i dont have ham license, im planning on do the exam but i still didnt)
I found that my gateway to using the PTT was local 2meter nets. Then when I discovered contesting I found my passion in the hobby. Rag chewing is lowest priory...
Hayden, great video, thank you! POTA was my “gateway” to confidence. As stated, a rather short interaction, and rare “rag chewing”. Your statement “Listen, listen, listen” is key, also. My wife, new technician, has MASSIVE mic fright. As always, well done. KQ4IXD
Thank you. Great to hear your wife is a new tech too!
When I was starting, way back 2 years or so ago, I liked to watch Callum's (DX Commander) videos and live streams (and of course yours too Hayden) and I'd then try and emulate him on air. Saw an interesting one of Cal's about 160 meter nets recently ha ha
Thanks! More live streams coming soon from here
I do my transmitting from my home with a desk mic.
I find this most simple, after many years of transmitting on CB, and still venturing into those areas a little.
I wrote an article for my club’s newsletter about this topic from the perspective of a not-quite-new-ham-but-new-enough. Many points I covered you matched in this video. Great job on making content. I know it’s not easy to be a UA-camr. The powertip I want to share is this: when checking into a net on a repeater, push the PTT after someone with a memorable voice, accent or callsign checks in. That way you will know when your turn is next by the memorable trait of the ham before you. (This can also be a good way to find an Elmer). Cheers!
That's also a great tip! Thanks for the comment mate
SOTA with its brief structured QSOs and everyone's focus on making the activation work is a great environment for honing mic skills and the calling procedure.
Excellent content Hayden!
Plenty of great tips for new operators and some good advice in there for many of us more experienced amateurs as well.
Cheers
I think this is one of the reasons modes like FT8 are popular. My own experience 50 years ago was similar.
I wish you and UA-cam were around when I was first getting on the air in 2002! Everything you suggest is 100% great advice. Thanks for putting out consistently excellent videos, Hayden! 73
Glad to help! Thank you
Worthwhile video. Good points.
Thanks!
Great video. I was the same and still am. I remember calling CQ but it was QC QC done guy came back to me as I made him giggle.
I still fall of the wagon now when in air. Lol
73
I've been there and done that exact thing lol
Great tips Hayden. Im ok on CB and private channels but HAM etiquette and remembering the alphabet is different. :)
thanks for the video! it can help so many people to start
im planning on get the license soon, yours and some other channels are helping me and many others to dive into this interesting (and incredibly big and complex) hobby
well, in general, thanks for the content, its really helpful. 73
Thanks! Great to hear that it’s helpful! What drew you to ham radio?
@@HamRadioDX well, I'm really into anything related to informatics and communications, ive always loved the idea of being independent
by this i mean, not depending in third parties to chat and interact with stuff
i love having a self hosted irc server or matrix, my own dns, my own cloud...
and having a radio is a way of not depending on the ISP to communicate with others
also the fact of that i love tinkering, it's what i always do and ham radio is a really interesting hobby
years ago (i probably was less than 12 years old, but not sure) my parents ("Santa") gifted me a baofeng i had asked for (one of the worse ones, not even with a screen, but honestly it was more than enough for me)
i used that a lot to talk with my parents, also i got a friend into buying one of those and i also had the absolute luck of being tuned with the radio of some police (crazy, not only it wasn't encrypted digital but somehow they were using a default frequently baked in those basic baofeng radios)
i think it was traffic
well, more on the present, not only as a way of not depending on the ISP but just that given i know about it and I like to mess around, some months ago i dividend to check out about it and i started dipping my toes a little, looking for channels and amazed to discover how big of a world this was
tldr and talking about the present, last 2-3 months...
at first i was just curious, the same way i just out of curiosity learned about a bunch of informatics, maths and physics
well, I just wanted to learn a bit about radio, it was also something on that nerdy field
but I just decided to dive into the rabbit hole, the moment i discovered how big this was, the fact of having global, national and regional communities, a bunch of people into it, a bunch of activity and things to do, and a bunch of passion and people-driven infrastructure to help people to connect with others... i was just amazed and instantly wanted to dive, by seeing how cool of a global community it was and how much there is to learn and explore
@@HamRadioDX oh freaking youtube, i had answered with a bigass message but apparently, yt removed it
you might be able to see it somewhere, maybe flagged as spam
* edited because of typo, i wrote span instead of spam
Hi wonderful and helpful video, please how can I record myself over the transceiver?
I had horrible mic fright when I got my license. Now I'm obnoxious.
Haha
I've been talking on radios for quite a bit now (just became a ham) and you're going to mess up. I do it all the time and will most likely continue to do so. Don't sweat it and don't worry about the old school gate keepers. :)
Great advice!
Hayden,
Thanks for this video,
Mike fright is a VERY real thing that affects everyone at some point in time in their Ham radio "career", wether it's one of your first times on the radio or you've just moved to HF after having used VHF/UHF, where more people could hear you make mistakes.
To be fair, everyone messes up, there is no shame in that, we're only human, I've heard some shocking instances of this over the air, unless you're some sort of an @R$ehole to pull another person up about it, no-one really cares.
One bit of advice, and this might sound very strange, but practice using the mike/HT with the radio turned off, no pressure to get it right, no-one is listening, just use your normal voice as you would speak to anyone, until you have the confidence/ are comfortable to turn the radio on and put a call out.
Well put mate!
My advice is to smile while you are speaking into the mic. This make you sound happier.
Back to my training in broadcast radio we were told your mic is 1 person not 10s 100s or 1000s of people that has stuck with me i always focus on talking to one person were possible ,another one is if you use a boom mic put a smiley face over it and think your talking to that . Local nets are great for getting used of basic chat
I'm in the process of getting my Advanced ACMA certification and am curious about which band to start on? Any advice would be great.
The pace, or rate, at which many/most operators speak is off-putting for me, perhaps it's my hearing not being great, but trying to hear a call that took exactly .02 seconds and included a callsign, the weather, location, what they want and then trying to beat the 10 other operators that are closer and responding with a better signal than mine means I lose EVERY time.
Just imagine the other guy naked? lol
Love that thumbnail!
Thanks!
Pro Tips!
Thanks TO
I never had this fear until I watched this video now I’ll never key another mic as long as I live. Lol Just kidding this is a good helpful video. 👍
Hi Hayden, champion video🎉. Be safe. David VK2AAW
What radio setup are you using at min 7:43?
That is an Icom IC-705
Tell yourself there are people listening and they WANT to hear you!
I keep a collection of 3x5 cards with my prompts/scripts written on them and keep them nearby in case I'm feeling a little tired, lazy, or tongue-tied.
Great tips!
Sad hams almost made me quit ham radio altogether. Some people are ignorant.
Massive great video wish I could give 10 likes
Thanks! Share it around to whoever you think it can help.
At the very least find a net, wait for a check-in call, throw your callsign. out and end it with “in and out”.
Simplest answer to mike fright is just to remember that NO ONE on the air has any GREATER right to be there than anyone else, we ALL have access via our respective licences. Be polite, but TAKE NO SHIT from the wankers that think they OWN the airwaves. Or just go American CB'er style and buy a 5,000w AMP and sit on Ch19 AM all day slinging crap at passersby. We came from apes a few years back, many radio users around the world haven't progressed much beyond those roots. It's only radio for damn sake, it's not universe changing in anyway.
Remember, it's amateur radio, not professional radio!
Sorry, could you repeat that last bit? A truck went past. 🙂
Lol