Friday, July 23, 2010

Lesson 35: Technician Class Exam Prep T0C

Here is the last and final lesson in the Technician Class Exam Prep!  Lesson 35 covers the T0C questions from the exam question pool and RF hazards.  The ultimate theme to this lesson is you need to be aware that your signal produces RF radiation and there is a limit where RF exposure can become unhealthy.  The levels of RF which you and others can be safely exposed to varies by frequencies.  Human bodies, like antennas can resonate at certain frequencies which means RF at 80m will have different exposure limits than RF at 6m.  Be aware and be careful.

I hope this course was an aide in your attempt to get your Technician License.  Use it as you see fit.

Until the next course...

73,
Andy
KE4GKP 


Thursday, July 22, 2010

Lesson 34: Technician Class Exam Prep T0B

Hi again!  Here is the 34th lesson in the Technician Class Exam prep course.  This lesson covers the T0B questions from the exam pool and antenna installation.  Like the previous lesson, lesson 34 deals primarily with safety.  Three of the big antenna risks in Amateur Radio are falling off an antenna tower, an antenna hitting power lines, and lightning strikes.  If you can remember the general themes of avoiding power lines all together, wearing a harness and safety equipment to avoid falling off an antenna tower, and making sure your antenna and tower have a good ground to protect from lightning, you should do fine on this section. 

Only one lesson left in this series!

73,
Andy
KE4GKP


Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Lesson 33: Technician Class Exam Prep T0A

Hello!  Here is lesson 33 covering the T0A questions of the exam pool and AC power circuits.  Despite the title for this section, it primarily deals with electronic safety.  This whole T0 sub-element deals with Amateur Radio safe practices.  This is important because Amateur Radio, unlike hobbies like butterfly catching or stamp collecting, may actually kill you.  The ways which you may be hurt or injured may not be that obvious.  This sub-element is the FCC's way of making sure you've done the proper research in how to operate safely without causing harm to yourself or others. 

We're on the home stretch!  Only two lessons left!

73,
Andy
KE4GKP


Sunday, July 18, 2010

Lesson 32: Technician Class Exam Prep T9B

Hello again!  This is lesson 32 which covers the T9B section of the exam question pool and feedlines.  Unless you are already familiar with radio communications, feedlines may come across as a bit obscure.  There are some common themes.  For instance: you always want to make sure your feedline impedance matches your transmitter's output impedance; coaxial cable is the most commonly used type of feedline even though it may not be the best performer; and never let moisture get into coax.  There are few other items you will want to memorize.

-The most commonly used feedline impedance is 50 ohms.
-Type N feedline connectors are best for UHF.
-PL-259 feedline connectors are best for HF.
-The feedline with the lowest loss at VHF and UHF frequencies is air-insulated hard line.

Until lesson 33...

73,
Andy
KE4GKP


Thursday, July 15, 2010

Lesson 31: Technician Class Exam Prep T9A

Here is lesson 31 and the T9A questions from the exam question pool.  The T9A questions deal with antennas.  You may have the best transceiver on the market, but if you have a bad antenna the quality of the transceiver won't mean a thing.  You will want to familiarize yourself with some basic antenna principles before you try to get on the air.  You at least need to know the basic principles for building a dipole antenna.  The exam question review will help, but they really don't go into the detail you need.  A good book is Basic Antennas: Understanding Practical Antennas and Design published by the ARRL.  It breaks down the basic theory and gives some good project ideas. 

There are two formulas you will need to know for the exam.  The first is to find the length of a quarter wave vertical antenna in inches.  The formula for this is:

Length(in) = 12(234/freq(MHz))

The other is to find the length of a half wave dipole in inches.  The formula for that one is:

Length(in) = 12(468/freq(MHz)

For once, these formulas come in handy for everyday Ham use, unlike some of the others.

Until next time...

73,
Andy
KE4GKP


Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Lesson 30: Technician Class Exam Prep T8D

Welcome back!  Here is lesson 30 which covers the T8D questions from the exam pool and non-voice communications, essentially data modes.  Operating with the various digital modes can be very interesting.  There are a lot of different modes and more are being developed all the time.  I was able to find a decent link which includes a brief description of the various modes, to include sound samples. 

As always please feel free to leave any questions, comments or suggestions in the comments box.  Until lesson 31...

73,
Andy
KE4GKP


Monday, July 12, 2010

Lesson 29: Technician Class Exam Prep T8C

Here is lesson 29 of the Technician Class exam prep course.  This lesson goes over the T8C section of questions form the exam pool covering operating activities.  There is a lot to do in Amateur Radio and many different ways to do it.  There are contest which test your skill as an operator.  You can link into the Internet to increase your range.  You can even use the Amateur frequencies for remote control models.  This section of the exam deals with these various activities.  If you go to the ARRL link and go to On the Air, you'll find a lot of information on the various activities you can do.

As always, please leave any questions, comments, and/or suggestion you may have in the comments box.

73,
Andy
KE4GKP


Sunday, July 11, 2010

Lesson 28: Technician Class Exam Prep T8B

Hello!  Here is lesson 28 which covers the T8B questions from the exam pool and satellite operation.  This is one of the funner sections, in my opinion.  It's technical, but not too technical and most of the questions are easily understood.  I added a link to AMSAT (The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation) which has about everything you will ever need to know about Amateur Satellites. 

Hope you enjoy the lesson.  Until next time...

73,
Andy
KE4GKP


Saturday, July 10, 2010

Lesson 27: Technician Class Exam Prep T8A

Hello once again!  Here is lesson 27, the latest lesson in the Technician Class License prep course.  This lesson covers the T8A questions for the exam question pool dealing with modulation modes and bandwidth.  Bandwidth is the space a radio signal occupies in the radio spectrum and is measured in Hz.  Different modes take up different amounts of space.  There are a few bandwidths you will need to memorize for the exam.  They are:

Single Sideband Voice Signal is 3 kHz.
VHF Repeater FM Voice Signal is between 5 and 15 kHz.
Fast Scan TV on 70 cm is about 6 MHz.
CW is 150 Hz.

If you can remember that CW has the smallest bandwidth, that will help with a few other question on the exam.

If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, as always please leave them in the comments box.  Until next time...

73,
Andy
KE4GKP


Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Lesson 26: Technician Class Exam Prep T7D

Here is lesson 27 covering the T7D questions form the question pool dealing with Basic Repair and Testing.  Despite the title, there really isn't too much on basic repair in this section.  This lesson primarily goes over soldering and the use of ammeters, voltmeters, and ohmmeters.  The stuff to remember for this section is:

-Ammeters measure current (amps) and need to be connected in series with the circuit.
-Voltmeters measure EMF (voltage) and need to be connected in parallel withe the circuit.
-Ohmmeters measure resistance (ohms).

As always, please leave any questions, comments or suggestions in the comments box.

73,
Andy
KE4GKP


Monday, July 5, 2010

Lesson 25: Technician Class Exam Prep T7C

Hello!  Here is lesson 25 covering the T7C questions dealing with antenna measurements and troubleshooting.  This is a fairly simple lesson.  The two main topics deal with Standing Wave Ratio (SWR) and not to let moisture into your coaxial cable.  Generally speaking, SWR measures how well a signal from a transmitter is matched to a transmission line.  An SWR meter will provide you with a ratio of how much of the signal you're trying to transmit is being reflected back at the transmitter through the feedline.  A 1:1 ratio is perfect.  Unfortunately, a 1:1 is a little impossible to get.  However, you can come very close.  A high SWR may not only mean that your signal is doing nothing but heating your feedline, but the reflected power could potentially damage you equipment.  I found a nice and basic overview of coaxial cable and SWR which you can find the link to in the Ham Links box.

Until next time...

73,
Andy
KE4GKP


Sunday, July 4, 2010

Lesson 24: Technician Class Exam Prep T7B

Welcome back!  This is lesson 24 covering the T7B section of the question pool and common receiver and transmitter problems.  One of the goals of the questions on the exam is to ensure that every Amateur operator has at least a vague understanding of what is meant by meeting the standards of good Amateur practice.  If your station is malfunctioning, you may be hurting more than just yourself.  Your station could be impacting the ability of other Hams to communicate and may even create problems for your non-Ham neighbors.  You will encounter problems and knowing how to deal with those problems is an important part of becoming a good Amateur operator.

As always, please leave any questions, comments, or suggestions in the comments box.  Until lesson 24...

73,
Andy
KE4GKP


Saturday, July 3, 2010

Lesson 23: Technician Class Exam Prep T7A

Hello once again.  This is lesson 23.  It deals with the T7A questions from the pool covering station radios.  Despite the fact that this sounds like a fun subject, in regards to the exam it is not.  This is probably the most obscure section of the question pool.  This section asks you to recognize specific types of circuits by functional components which is a bit of a pain.  Unless you are already an electrical engineer, you are going to experience the same feeling I did when I saw these questions...a sense of dread.  On the bright side, you will probably only see one question from this section on the exam.  Until lesson 24...

73,
Andy
KE4GKP


Friday, July 2, 2010

Lesson 22: Technician Class Exam Prep T6D

Here is lesson 22 and the T6D questions from the question pool.  TheT6D questions cover component functions.  This lesson is a fairly simple one and provides a good review of the lessons in the T6 sub-element of the exam pool.  If you have any comments, suggestions, or questions please feel free to leave them in the comments box.  Until lesson 23...

73,
Andy
KE4GKP


Thursday, July 1, 2010

Lesson 21: Technician Class Exam Prep T6C

Welcome back!  Here is the 21st lesson in the Technician Class Exam course series.  This one is one of my favorites.  This lesson deals with schematic symbols.  Schematic diagrams are the blueprints for electronic circuits and details how the components are interconnected.  Every electronic component has a symbol which is universally recognized.  If you ever do anything with building or experimenting with electronics, you will become very familiar with schematic diagrams. 

As always, please leave any questions, comments or suggestions.  Until lesson 22...

73,
Andy
KE4GKP