VK Ham Radio Licenses... A Controversial Idea
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- Опубліковано 21 кві 2023
- My own opinion, others will differ.
The stats don't lie. What do you think?
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I'm just starting to get the ball rolling on advanced, but I have only been licensed for 6 months - started as standard.
I would support having only two classes, or even 1 class - it seems to work for NZ. The learning comes after you pass the test, the only thing you really need to know is "do not lick the antenna" and where the band edges are.
The licensing fee is steep compared to other countries, currently *$313* for standard (2*94.5 tests + 37 callsign + 87 ACMA).
the charges were less before ACMA awarded the delivery contract to AMC.
I'm a VK amateur standard. I did study for the advanced license, however I never sat the exam.
I was surprised at how little difference there was between the prerequisite knowledge required in the two license classes. I would honestly say that Amateur standard is 95% of Amateur advanced, in Australia.
And, for the life of me, I cannot understand some of the privileges that are denied to foundation license/standard license holders.
Yes, I can accept, given the current level of prerequisite knowledge, that foundation license holders should not be permitted to use non commercial transmitters. In all honesty, I probably shouldn't!
But the power requirements are ridiculous. Anyone that has spent time around radios knows that
"out of band" transmissions cause all kinds of havoc whether you're at 2 watts or 2000 watts, and they must be mitigated. It is a license requirement in all classes that this condition is followed and with use of commercially made equipment, properly installed, it's not difficult to overcome.
I also find some of the bandwidth restrictions somewhat laughable. OK, I get that some of the WARC frequencies have far greater potential to interfere with non amateur services than your typical 80/40/20/10 m bands. I also accept that the use of SHF bands perhaps come with unacceptable risks for the lesser qualified. God knows, I'm not going to play with microwave frequencies as I'll probably kill myself and the next door neighbour's cat.
But why is 160m denied to both foundation and standard license holders? You'll quickly get pulled up if your harmonics are sufficient enough to be heard in other bands. And no 20m for foundation license holders? That says more about Elmer's ego than it does about common sense. The same can be said about the permitted band width on 6m.
I don't deny that many of the most senior members of the hobby have made great contributions through the years. And they should be proud of their achievements. But like it or not, in so many ways, they're the amateurs of yesteryear. Few hams use "mom's" egg beaters to wind transformers, these days, and if they were to, few have the time or inclination.
It's 2023. Whether we like it or not, the hobby has changed. The equipment has changed, and the people, the society and economy in which they live have also changed. The hobby needs to change with it and the greatest change needs to come through licensing.
You're behind the times - foundation licence holders can build and use their own transmitters and can use any emission mode these days, you only need to pass spurious emissions (-50db), and obey the power/bandwidth limits.
The process for getting licenced needs to change, and the fees are steep: it currently costs over $300 to get standard.
@@godarklight I am very behind the times. My shack is still in the cupboard following renovations 5 years ago! I keep threatening to put it all back together, but it just hasn't happened yet.
I presume that club level testing is acceptable for foundation built equipment?
Over $300 for a license upgrade seems ridiculous. I'm sure mine was less than half of that, only 8 years ago.
Hey Hayden, when we were in lockdown I decided to go for my Foundation licence. I'm not a technical person, I couldn't even solder. So I wouldn't call it easy, you need to study to pass. I then got it but found 10watts was useless (2020 bottom of cycle) so I decided to upgrade to Standard while it was all fresh. If Foundation didn't exist, I wouldn't have gone for it and then upgraded. Also people would get frustrated at my low power as it was a difficult QSO. I would make Standard more appealing to upgrade, and keep Foundation as a stepping stone. Cheers 73 Dan VK3NDG
I think foundation in Straya should be like driving with your P plates. You’re on foundation for a years, and a member of a club for a year, then automatically go up to standard.
Its because Australia has become an arse backwards backwater.
Was born here 42 years ago; and day after day, i just WTF for something simple, that makes zero sense.
One such is: we pay $6,000 for our rates/year (Central Qld): but we have to have Septic & get Tricklefeed water (pay an extra $160/ year to get 1.8lt/ min); basically offgrid, but thousands in costs.
Radios are the same- barely makes any sense for what we get for the outlay. Much of Australian living is the same
Foundation license in the UK, with a few differences, have virtually the same privileges as the full license. The one main difference is that UK foundation is limited to 10W. So privileges are based on power level not spectrum. Guess what, most foundation licenses disregard the 10W limit because there is no way to police it and most never progress through the licensing system and stay at Foundation for the rest of their life and likely use the 100W available from most HF transceivers. For this reason I think just have two licenses not 3. But, the UK foundation is probably a little too easy. In the UK, I think that privileges by spectrum access rather than power level would have been better. You cannot license by power level alone, its like having motorways with a speed limit but no police or speed cameras.😊
Hayden touched on an issue that was/is(less so now) relevant in VK. Let me tell a story that happened to me.
2009 i think it was, I obtained my Foundation license, I found it easy and I did it in a weekend course with a few like mined people. (1 was an QANTAS pilot). I paid over $200 at the time, licenses were $70 a pop and all the exams and vanity call fees pushed the amount to over $200 as I recall.
After a month or so to see my license listed on the ACMA site, i got on air, being pretty keen as mustard. Onto 40m with my shiny second hand IC-718, gave a call .....nothing.. a few more calls nothing.. no worries.. I then got myself a cuppa and kept the radio on that frequency as I drank my tea. About 15 minutes later a bloke gave a call and before i could answer a 2 letter call advanced replied to him. So i sat back listened for a minute. What happened next effected my Ham life for a decade.
After answering this blokes call, the 2 letter ham then said, and I remember it clearly, " You just missed a F call giving a call, no way i'm gonna talk to a @###% F call". They then had a yarn about how bad F calls were and how they got too much privilege. I was stunned and devastated! So much so, for 10 years or so I never used my radio again until 2020, when they brought in 3 letter calls for F calls. I changed my call ASAP after that and the ham world has been MUCH better and fairer for me since.
I assumed that was how all older hams viewed F calls and I nearly gave away my license. Inaction mainly was the reason i kept it. I just turned off anything ham for years.
Wow, I'm sorry to hear you had that experience. I got licenced 6 months ago and was going to use WSPR to do some antenna tests, but I found a group talking on 40m and everyone was over S9. I figured I'd say hello. I was given a warm welcome as I was new and have spent way too much time on 40m because I made friends with that group.
My favourite thing to do on air is welcome new people in the same way.
I’m sorry you had such an experience. We need to be better as a ham community, and I think we’re slowly making progress
I have heard plenty of that, also, it's very disheartening, but that's not Amateur Radio, it's people themselves, in Amateur Radio, and yes, a lot of older hams, in Australia, not sure if other countries, but a lot of hams seem to get some sort of power trip, about being in Amateur Radio. There is a lot of criticism, but not healthy criticism, there are a lot of opinions with little science to back them up. There is an aversion to maths, when math can give a much broader understanding. Go to any club and mention complex math, silence. I don't know it either. Or a small understanding, but do not know why, you can be criticised for wanting to learn it, it's very important. In Australia, there is far too much negativity within the Amateur radio people, and it's not getting us anywhere, in fact it's dragging us into irrelevance. Yes it's a hobby, a great one, It's fun to learn, anything, and Amateur Radio takes in a great range of vocations. I just wish there were not so many grumpy old men, and I can not see any reason for that, except they really know little about Amateur Radio, but think they know it all. A lot are on some sort of power trip.
Those same so and so's are likely ones currently on WIA working committee for the ACMA changes, F calls are nobodies as far as they seem to beconcerned
As a new comer to Ham radio I have found the process difficult to get information on how, where and what to do in order to get a licence. Then to find the foundation licence is over restrictive, I
would say there should be only two classes of licence standard allowing power up to 100 watts and a advance for over 100 to 1500 watt. This way those starting can get to experience the full rang of ham radio and then as they grow and learn more can get the real benefit of the greater power. the starting costs put on a new comer to ham radio is high enough as is.
I don't know if its just my area here in Arkansas in the states but when i got my first license ( Technician ) everyone was really cool to me and encouraged me to go ahead and get my General...Our General and Amateur Extra should be one ticket, the Amateur Extra just gives you a little more bandwidth and goes into antenna theory and electical principles fairly deep but it could easily be lumped into the General ticket...I feel for you guys prices on your tickets, ours are $15 per test..73
In Spain we used to have three license classes (EA, EB and EC), but since some years ago we only have the highest license, whis is EA and gives you access to all regulaed bands and frequencies.
I did Foundation, Standard and Advanced all last year and in the space of 5 months.
I think its fine the way it is.
My intention was always to get the Advance License in a short time.
Maybe I'm different. I didn't just want to get the license, I wanted to learn the content and really know it (i.e. achieve 95+% in the exams).
I did Foundation because it was a fast track to getting up and running and more importantly getting practical experience. eg building antennas, getting SWR right, Choosing, getting and laying out the coax etc. Learning Software FT8, Grid tracker Flrig , QRZ and logging sites and so on. International contracts on FT8 40m is easy.
I did Standard because of wanting 20m and increased power. My G90 kind of maxs out at 16W FT8 and 20W SSB on 20m works for DX
I did Advance... well mostly because I didn't want to loose momentum and to gain access to all the HF bands on my G90 (except 60m obviously) . And like I said my end goal was to learn it all.
i think the large increase in Foundation licenses and then not moving on to Standard is because they are mostly after VHF/UHF. An upgraded UHF CB kind of but without all the bad language and manners.... Making the Foundation harder by moving it up to Standard level will just loose people doing it at all. At least there is an opening to get them to go further and into HF.
I found Standard relatively easy. Mostly because the multimedia self study material and the sample Exam programs/apps where much closer aligned to the questions in the exam.
Going straight from Foundation to Advance would have been frustrating. That said , other than building an antenna for 20m I didn't do that much with it before moving on.
Advanced was much harder for me. Only books and guides (some from other countries) to self learn from. And the sample exams where not aligned to the exam. ie you did really need to know the content.
Side note. I did the sample Irish exam. That was much easier than the Australian Advanced. Even failing to answer any of their regulation questions I passed the sample. the pass mark from memory is 60% and they only have 60? questions to cover everything. So there is only a few actual advanced questions in it.
Vk6MIK
From Foundation to Advanced, in a few month, wow, impressive. I'm still chipping away at getting advanced, after 3+ years. 😕
The self study material, tell me about that. I've got Ron Bertrand's (VK2DQ) book, 'Radio Theory Handbook', second edition. A gook investment. And also a few Radio and Electronics School, courses. You have any recommendations?
VK6AWK
@@Lampoonlongtails The Radio Theory Handbook is great but does cover stuff that isn't in the Advanced Exam (to my knowledge). I did both the RES multimedia foundation and standard courses along the way.
For advanced the "Ham College" manuals can be had for $40 and I studied that material the most but it is missing a few things. It's best feature is the advanced parts are highlighted in boxed section in amongst the standard material.
I used the VKHamEd site for practice questions as well as the android 'HAM Exam' app. None really match the actual exams closely.
After that I used parts of the Irish Radio Transmitters society study guide and the South African Radio League study guide.
The Irish one for the theory side is the best guide I found. Short and precise, clear and to the point. The Irish use HAREC and Australia is moving to it for Advanced hence it's relevance. If I had to make my own guide I'd Australianise that one.
On advanced I got 94% in the theory and 100% on the regs, but if your just out to pass then what I did is overkill.
Best of luck. VK6MIK
@@moozoowizard
Cheers!
@@Lampoonlongtails just to clarify "None really match the actual exams closely". I only ever saw the one advanced exam... The one I did. None of the questions in that where an exact match to any sample exam or questions that I recall. This wasn't the case with the standard and foundation. So I'm guessing about the other advanced exams. The advance syllabus changes might be the reason. I believe there was also an IP dispute about the question bank. So that might be another reason. My biggest gripe was that the people giving the exam don't have a study guide that 100% covers exactly what's in the exam. So your left to interpret the syllabus yourself. One question I got wrong was not covered in any of the materials I studied. And while technically within the vague wording of the syllabus it wasn't something a ham would have ever come. Well unless they also build electric cars... VK6MIK
@@moozoowizard
So, its a, 'left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing', situation. Or worse (deliberate Obfuscation).
I'm also using a copy of the Advanced Syllabus, v1.6.4, and the AOCPA based HAREC syllabus, as study guides. I'll have to see how that goes.
👋
There are 4 license classes in the Philippines: Foundation, Technician, General and "Advance." (They don't like to end words with Ds. Signs on shop doors say "Sorry, we're close.") 9-11 year old kids with an affidavit of parental permission can take the rules & regulations exam element and gain privileges on 2 meters, 100W maximum. Foundation licenses are also given to those who test for Technician, pass the rules & regs element but fail one or both of the other two exam elements (basic electricity & electronics, amateur radio practice) as a sort of consolation prize. If you pass Technician you're supposed to be allowed to take the General exam immediately after you get your score for Tech. General's harder but not really that difficult, with elements including signals, frequencies & emissions; circuit components; and operating procedures which build on the elements in the Tech exam. Techs have privileges on 60, 40, 15, 10, 2 and .7 meters which is nice as they aren't limited so VHF/UHF and using a local repeater, they can operate on enough HF bands to let them do stuff. Generals get privileges on almost all bands and can use up to a kilowatt PEP and "state of the art" on VHF/UHF. There's not that much of a gap in privileges between General and Advance: phone privileges on slightly wider portions of the bands, access to LF bands and another 500W PEP on HF. Advance licensees can also be trustees of their club's shack and repeaters and are eligible for lifetime licenses after 10 years. Advance is also the only class with a code test requirement but only 5WPM. Passing score is 70% with at least 50% correct in every individual element, and for Advance 5 consecutive words plus 2/3 of all words copied correctly in the 25 word code test element. Personally I don't see any point in upgrading from General to Advance because their privileges are so close. Generals can do almost everything that Advances can and if you're running 1,000 watts another 500 isn't going to make any practical difference. Unless you're hankering to be the big cheese in a club or have a DU callsign, or just get your Advance class because it's there, why bother?
Technicians also get 200 watts PEP on HF and 100 on VHF/UHF here, unlike your Foundation class which limits you to only 10 watts on HF which IMO is stupid since the majority of HF rigs are 100 watt ones. DX stations who want to work a VK foundation may have to use a WebSDR in Australia to be able to hear him. There would be such a temptation to turn up your power so you can be heard. (Technician is actually the beginner's license class, practically speaking: I think they may even have eliminated the Foundation license for 9 through 11 year olds and have gone to 12 as the minimum age requirement as I've been told that the NTC doesn't give Foundation-only examinations anymore: 12 year olds (and above) can take the Tech exam and get a regular license.)
Nice video! Man… I swear I’ll live to see the day the ham radio dx channel posting a video doing DX. I mean, there’s that vk to us published 2 months ago… but I swear I’ll live to watch you doing DX another time
73
Go back and search a bit deeper. There is plenty there.
An introductory licence remains a good thing but I do think 2 levels may be enough 😊
Canada has two and a half classes. The only privilege advanced has that basic doesn't is non-commercial sets and permitted 30MHz or less (which Hons and code have too). Basic's subclasses are bare Basic (restriction: no 30 MHz or less), Basic with honours (which you get for exceeding, I believe, 80% of the answers correct on the test) and Basic with Morse Code (if you don't achieve Hons, you have to do code or advanced to get your ≤30MHz). All I believe are limited to a quarter kilowatt.
@2.25 exactly, I'm a foundation, I hear nightly on 40 the 163 dx net, s9+ signals, because most yanks run over a kilowatt and they cant hear me, even the ones running barefoot, 100 watts, s5, they cant hear me, 15m Europe, Germany and UK have been coming in lately, zero noise floor, they are s5 or more, again, they cant hear me.
My story is repeated several fold by other f-calls, a few of us talk on local 2m repeater, we all have same gripe... whats the point, whats the point of bothering with ham radio when our coverage is so restricted we do better on CB, without the horrid fees.
What also gets my goat up is the WIA working committee members are ACMA yes-men, they had a chance to help fix this with recent proposals, WIA decided no F calls and standards are quite fine at their existing power levels to experience the fun and joy of ham radio, then NEXT PARAGRAPH they are complaining full calls need more than 400watts to get above the noise floor and compete with DXing, so need higher power, but foundations 10 watts is good enough, ohhh the hypocrisy... so most of us who read that in our local club concluded WIA working com, are full calls, looking after full calls and screw the rest os us.
Thats leeds me to, like WTAF is this crud we have to pay AMC for call sign recommendations, we know whats free, ACMA's register says they are free, we put a backup call on the app, and pay amc for that? like W T A F F ... talk about rip offs.
Then, there is the examiners cant tell you how well you did let alone grade you, no, off to AMC again and waiting well over a month to know if I passed, (I did flying colours) then but if I had known THIS is how long it takes to get a licence in Australia, I wouldnt have bothered, the rest of the world is instant, but Australia, is so paper fixated and backwater, we have be the laughing stock of the ham radio world.
I am going to stop now or I'll be here all night.
I went from F-call to Std, but have yet to undertake Advanced. I keep telling myself I’ll get to it someday ;-). I do recall though that I upgraded from Foundation within 9-12 months. Perhaps a way forward is keep the current VK classes (with maybe a little tweaking to create consistency between the levels) and imposing a 5 year time limit on F-calls??
It's taking me longer, than expected, but I am making progress to Advanced (from Foundation).
I'll agree 100% with it. Two licence classes only would work ok. Biggest issue between Foundation and Standard I found was having to memorise the bloody regs not the technical content.
I found the standard license challenging if you don't have any hands on experience. But you can't get hands on experience without a license? I'm very much a learning by doing so going for the foundation license, which the process is currently convoluted, and filled with fee's for fee's sake. Would be nice if the barrier to entry was slightly more reduced in that regard. I agree that the foundation license has limited power, but the lack of 20m doesn't seem to make sense?
Agreed
Hands on experience can be gained sans a licence. Building non transmitting equipment does not need a licence. This is how we used to do it. A problem today is people want to memorize the Q&A, pass the exams, then appliance opperate.
I believe everyone worldwide should be allowed to put out 5000 watts. this would make it more fun.
Having started as a foundation licensed operator and learning as I went I can see why there's a license stage system.
Foundation licensed operators are given a little taste of what they can accomplish with their privilege's and if they would like to upgrade there is the option.
I have all respect for a foundation call on hf and will answer regardless of there license class.
The problem is getting the balance right i got 100% on the UK Foundation licence . When i took the Intermediate licence i just crawled over the pass mark . I have spoken to Full UK licence holders who have taken the old RAE exam , to obtain a Full licence , while admitting that the could not pass the current Intermediate exam . I am aware of the need for regulation but knowing the velocity factor of coax cable will soon be forgotten when those Full licence holders pick up their certificate's !
I don't think they'll change but Foundation makes it easy to get a foot in the door.
I got the RES Standard kit to upgrade. Need to start studying soon, I need atleast 100w.
i have been a F CALL for a long time now and have really enjoyed the low power restrictions on the F licence i have learnt how to maximize my signal and how to cut out unwanted noise into the shack built heaps of different types of antennas and honestly used under 10 watts of power even in contests its a great hobby and so many different facets to explore .it would be great if the whole licence procedure could be simplified as you guys suggest. cheers greg
With only 2 levels. If I was at the first level and looking at a big jump to the next I most likely wouldn't have never upgraded because the jump looked to big. I was able to knock out the first two levels on my first test, and with a few years under my belt I just finished the third and final level. Breaking them down in smaller steps made it doable. There after the second level there isn't a real need to upgrade you can do it all with that level. The third only get some frequency spaces and being able to test others at all levels. It is more of a personal goal the way I see it. I do like Canada's first level with honors if you get above a score!
Just got my foundation licence, the thing that really urks me was the length of time it takes to come through. It was almost 2 months by the time the AMC and ACMA got there act together and got stuff done. I took my Dad less time 37 years ago to do it.
ACMA is taking away the AMC ability to look after amateur radio
Newbie presently based in Australia but I have dual AUS/USA citizenship… if I’m likely going to be in Australia next few years better to go AUS license route aiming for Standard or go FCC route aiming for General with “visitor” privileges here in AUS..?
Went from Foundation to Advanced with little study.
Knowing, not guessing, the basics at Foundation level gets you a good basis to get into the hobby.
Learning the rest can be done by joining a club and doing an appropriate course.
Some learn theory by reading, Some by doing (me) so, perhaps a combination of theory and practical should be needed for advancement.
Alternatively, have a pool of questions aimed at advanced level and make Standard 50%, Advanced 70%. Just one exam. An opportunity to save a few dollars?
Some will get the right questions, some not. Same as it is now.
Then, just a regs exam to get 70%.
This is being discussed by ofcom and the Rsgb in the uk. Theres talk of returning to the A and B licence structure, even bringing back the city and guilds exam. Not expecting any news or results until early 2024. To those ive spoken to, its said the technical aspect of the need to know how to assemble and repair is being looked at. All hearsay at the moment but changes are on the horizon. So dont shoot the messenger.
2 levels sounds right to me. 1 only level such as in France is overwhelming, they must be losing a lot of potential operators because of that. Greetings from PU2POD.
For myself it was important to continue study through the assistance of my club once I had my standard (novice) at the time to gain my limited (now advanced) as the difference was minimal. Morse was the hurdle back then for most gaining full call. Morse proficiency is something these days I would love to master. Agreed that the class system has to be changed simplified and the current power levels for advanced operators should be in line with USA Europe. Or our hobby use will decline even more and the band plan swallowed up and sold off with merging technology.
Questions without notice mister speaker:. I want to have a ham set on my 25 foot yacht. soon Ill be stepping the 35 foot aluminium mast and I'm wondering if I can have a ham antenna and coax installed now for when I get the licence and radio gear ?????
Sure you can. Just make sure you install an antenna for the band(s) you want to operate on. Sounds like a bit of a project!
@@HamRadioDX Oops sounds like I need to know a bit about bands. Can I install just the coax up the mast and the base and fit the appropriate arial when I know what I want????? Thanks.
I've been licensed since 1995 and back then there was 5 classes of licence! The licence level I went for back then was known as the novice limited and we only had limited access to 2m and 70cm. For years I was happy with that because my interests was only on those two bands. In 2003 the Morse requirement was dropped and of those 5 tiers it became 2 as three tiers became one and the novice & novice limited became the other. Then in 2005 the restructuring to the current system was introduced. So for me when the 2003 change was implemented on January 1st 2004 I gained the privilege of the novice licence and that was limited section of 80m limited section of 15m and all of 10m with still the limit on 2m & 70cm. Then when the 2005 change came into effect my licence tier became the Standard giving me access to 80m, 40m, 20m, 15m, 10m, limited 6m (52-54) 2m, 70cm, 23cm, 13cm & 6cm. So with all of that for me there was no incentive to upgrade to the Advanced licence because all that gave me was some LF & WARC bands and several other microwave frequencies that I'd possibly never use! However I figure that by the time I clock up 30 years (2025) in the hobby I should make the effort to upgrade! (maybe!)
I like the Foundation license as it is. My wife isn't an enthusiast but is happy to use it to communicate with me when I'm out bush. She was easily able to get the Foundation license to use to communicate to me on useful bands in a useful way. While I'm going to go get my Advanced. If she'd needed harder theory it just wouldn't have happened.
That's great to hear mate!
@@HamRadioDX for her it was as simple as going to our local club for a one day workshop which got her through. This makes Foundation a great “family member/associate” license. 2m, 70cm and the HF frequencies are all useful to non experimenters at low power.
My next step with the family is that I plan to record a Foundation license for kids video series with my daughters.
David when you’re out bush what bands do you use? I’m in a similar situation. My other half is a botanist and I’d like to stay in touch. Would 2m using digital or repeaters or something be ok? Our home base is an apartment so not ideal to set up an HF rig. And would Foundation be ok for both of us in this situation? Sorry for all the questions :)
@@andrewkemp70 Using 2m FM mostly, but there's a lot of places you can't get a signal out of. But often can get 2m FM coverage in places where mobile phone doesn't work. Soon looking to start playing with HF from a portable QRP unit and interested to see if I can make a small mobile loop.
@@DavidFindlayQLD thanks! I was thinking 2m as well. The mobile HF sounds interesting.
I've looked into my foundation licence for years (on & off!) I've been put off so many times due to the elitist & how they treat new bees. I've been on the receiving end of this numerous times when enquiring about the hobby, especially as I am only licenced for my radio club on our frequencies only. Never, just never accidently transmit on anything else! I know I've mentioned this before with you & you say, "Go for it" but a lot of the technical stuff is very over whelming, especially the electrical (I just want to talk & learn as I go!!!) for my foundation. My mobile HF radio is 100w which only works sometimes in the outback, so how is 10w going to be any good?? That has also turned me off from even looking to purchase a base. As I live in the country, there just isn't a radio club near by for me to attend & get help, but then again, I'm not really into clubs anyway. I've also dabbled in SDR, Satellite stuff & GNSS mapping & of course the old 27 mhz CB & UHF and HF radio when I was kid in scouts, it all just seems to fit together, I just don't get all the technical stuff. Once again, thankyou for the info though!!
If you want to learn anything you go to school, you go somewhere to learn, learn properly, you need other people in classes for feed back, teachers, to teach, you need to talk to other people learning, to learn better, you need to learn well enough to explain things. This happens just about everywhere except Amateur Radio, (in Australia) you have to learn your self, if you can't, you're stupid. Very few in Amateur radio, like sharing knowledge they have learned, from others, mind you, If it was not for UA-cam and math videos and the wonderful selfless work that people like Ham Radio DX do there would be no one in Amateur radio, these days, you need to be able to relax and learn, and with mostly young people these days with family, there is never much time to learn your self, it would be excellent if classes were assailable around the country, and to learn properly.
Many clubs run foundation courses, so you're not on your own (unless you live in the sticks, but there are still online options)
I’m in agreement on no need for 3 licenses classes here in the USA.
Honestly, it was incredibly hard to even get a foot in the door for the VK-foundation. Too many gatekeepers trying actively to keep people out (which is exactly what this video is, a gatekeeper video), plus the AMC being incredibly unhelpful. We tried for a year (being members of WIA and our local club, with zero people willing to give info HOW... until you mentioned Fred's course a month ago). Now, with license, on to Advanced. Just two (Standard/advanced) isn't the answer, it's gatekeeping - it's stopping new people starting the hobby. The idiots who don't care are going to be transmitting everywhere without even trying for a licence so making foundation harder won't stop them. For the hobby to succeed, and for new members to replace the old guard advanced who are dropping as they pass on, the bloody gatekeepers need to stop blocking and instead start doing what Fred did, and make it accessible.
10 watts for f call 12 watts for cb 🤔 tell me what cb'ers use 12 watt ! . I the f call should us same part of 6 meters as the standard call to create more activitie there for the standards. Then thay tried to help us with letting us do the USA version but then Oh No No No you can't do that. 🥺😒 What the.
I'm an 'F' Call wanting to upgrade. The Advanced licence test looks easier than the Standard licence test. I really don't know what all the hoo-haa is. I can operate 110w commercial UHF & VHF radios without any training or "licencing" (cause they're company radios on company frequencies) whatsoever, and mess around with the wiring, antennas, etc in my "leased" vehicle, but damn don't mess with HAM 😀. Some HAM radios won't do below 15 watts for 'F' Call. I do agree with VK7HH, there needs to be a genuine holistic approach to HAM licensing in Australia.
Yep, I've held a ROCP Maritime since the 80's bee using high power HF since, on all the HF bands, but how dare I expect to use 20metres or a measly 100w on ham radio .... they talk about for safety? check out the exposure safe limits for 100w, at 14Mhz 100 watt safe exposure uncontrolled is 1.9 metres distance.
Dont make the mistake that the US made in removing technicial standards from license classes. It is the worse thing that happened to us. We have 1. TECH , 2 GENERAL, 3 EXTRA, AND I DONT KNOW A SINGLE GENERAL OR ABOVE that can use a solid state device to replace a relay in a low voltage switching circuit.
Ham radio as become a joke you might as well scrap the license and let anybody grab a radio and talk crap, why well because that what it sounds like to me in the uk .
I think that two license classes are too much. It is legacy rubbish.
Lets look at the reasons for testing.
Technical knowledge testing - This is needs to be reduced to the absolute basics. In the past the only way into ham radio was to build your own equipment. Now most hams (of all levels) have very poor technical skills. Most are not capable of building their own equipment and almost as many could not repair their equipment. Even those who can are mostly black box operators.
There is no need for operators to know what a class A amplifier is anymore than there is a need for them to know morse code. Technical questions should test things like the relationship between volts, amps, ohms and watts. The focus should be on safety. Frequency, wavelength, gain and attenuation.
Safety is the prime thing that should be tested.
Safety of your self.
Safety of the public.
Where to find the information on how to operate safely.
And the last part is simple regulations.
The bands, the power limits, and the reasons for the rules, not that they are set in stone.
Interference - what to do if it happens, how to respond to it and how to reduce it and stop it.
And all of this doesn't even need to be a test. It can be a simple INDUCTION to ham radio.
The testing can be open book and completed online. Answer the 30 or so questions, with something like a 90% pass mark. No trick questions. Pay your $25 and you receive your certificate which you can print out. And it's not like callsigns could be chosen and allocated online too. For a hobby that claims to technologically forward looking the attitudes are 19th century.
The old timers will come up with no end of excuses, like how to prevent testing fraud. Who gives a shit?
They still think nazis are going to use ham radio to send secrets to the commies and national security is easily breached through ham radio. No, if you cheat, who cares? you're only going to hurt yourself or do something stupid and get caught and if you do, well the license gets pulled and you have to do the induction again. At something $25 a pop, stupid is going to start costing you.
And an induction is a great way to get basic education into people. Give them a paragraph of education explaining the question being asked. Ask the question with multiple choice for the answer. Then move on to the next question.
At the end, make sure they know which questions they got wrong or right. They fail, they can always try again. But each time the pool of questions changes so they might need to learn to read the instructions and understand them... which is exactly what you want. Even if they don't know the answer, knowing where to find the answer is more important.
As a standard, i am generally happy with that class, but it needs tweaking. all of 6m for a start. at least 200w pep to reflect how hard the call is compared to full call. Inclusion in any possible new bands like 60m/4m/8m ect.
To be honest 30W for FM is a bit of a joke too. It’s not even a standard power output from most mobiles, you’re either running at 20/25W and the next level is 50.
Upgrade and get all of 6m rather than expecting something for nothing.
@@vk3wl in general, i agree with you. but 6m is a strange case. When novices became standards, we got all of 80/40/20/15/10/2 and 70. but only half of 6. why???? give all of something, or not at all. What's the point of 52mhz, no one is even there to hear your calls. "upgrade" is what all the full calls say in response to this, the problem is, that don't solve the problem and misses the point. so i upgrade, and go to 50.110 and 50.313 with the rest of the FT8 zombies, there is still 52 and 53mhz, not being used. That's the problem
@@HamRadioDX i agree, they need to stop separating modes by power. if they give 100w, it should be 100w all mode, 400w = 400w all mode. not everyone can or wants to do 400 on FM, but it should be there if needed. add to this a country the size of Australia, and 10w for F call and 30w for standard is not going to cut it unless you have a repeater every 70km. i did my novice in 96 and if it was not for the maths component i think AOCP was doable. i guess what i am saying is, i found not that much difference from novice to advanced, at least not as much as foundation is to standard. a few weeks ago, i was looking at an old 80's cb radio book. in that book it talk about AM and SSB, showing the upper and lower 3khz and 6khz for AM, as well as lots on dipoles and such. now if that's what cbers needed to know 30+ years ago, how much more so for a foundation call?
A controversial idea because you're talking about licensing without considering what the need is for a particular class of license. The purpose of a transmitting license is to ensure you don't interfere with other users of the EM spectrum and you don't dangerously irradiate those around you, including yourself. So clearly, if you had a license for transmitting, say, less than 10 watts up to UHF then the testing for the license could be quite simple (a real entry level license), up to 100 watts a little more involved, and 1KW would be a full on technical test. It's pretty simple. Don't know why we can't get this right.
In radio frequencies outside microwaves, there is no chance of "dangerous irradiation"...
Whatever you do, do NOT follow examples from Canada.
Why?
@@HamRadioDX They don't let you build transmitters. And personally I think the entry level should allow at least some HF privileges. www.rac.ca/requirements/
That’s interesting, I didn’t know that.
@@HamRadioDX Tough question. First off, our federal govt. cannot decide who will be the ministry in charge of radio communications. 50yrs ago it was simple. But it keeps changing who is *in charge*, therefore you cannot get a decent, direct, and correct answer from them.
The current exams are online, with answers. One does not need to know anything about radio, electronics, or the laws governing amateur radio. All you need to do is memorize the answers to this farce of an exam. Simple A/B/C/D is the format.
I thought Australia's 4 letter suffix was brilliant. Here you have no idea who holds what level of license. The reason I mention that is, there are "hams" who hold what is called a "basic with honours" license. They operate beyond what they are legally allowed to do.
In Canada we do not have "sub bands". I can operate phone if I chose from the bottom of every band to the top. This excludes 30m. If you have the Advanced ticket, you are permitted to transmit up to 2250w PEP. BUT..there is nothing stopping the basic from doing the same thing. Their call signs are the same, which I believe is incorrect.
There is no enforcement here. A bunch of typical CBers recently got their tickets, and all they did was bride the examiner. The govt. does not even oversee the exams anymore.
I know this to be true, and spoke directly with ISED, ( the governing body---at least this week) and they said they were aware of the situation. But they said there was nothing they could do. I was told that amateur radio is self policing.
So why does our govt. "oversee" amateur radio at all?
The hobby has been so dumbed down here, it is a absolute joke..
VE3IIM/VE6PG
Side note: The F licence was the brainchild of former WIA president Michael Owen VK3KI (sk). The WIA Board adopted it as policy and successfully lobied ACMA. I am reliably advised that the Board decision was not unanimous. One director, since resigned and became a founding member of RASA and office holder, was implacibly opposed to the F licence.
Retain F with a small lift in the standard. Get rid of S, and retain A. The worst thing ACMA did was remove call signs that differentiated licence class. Too many F and S licencees opperating illegally out of their frequency allocation.