WEBVTT NOTE Operating Activities: Hunting, Contesting, and Linking 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.360 Radio direction finding. 2 00:00:02.360 --> 00:00:10.372 Question. Which of the following methods is used to locate sources of noise interference or jamming? 3 00:00:11.272 --> 00:00:14.952 Answer. Radio direction finding. 4 00:00:15.552 --> 00:00:21.152 Question. Which of these items would be useful for a hidden transmitter hunt? 5 00:00:22.052 --> 00:00:25.452 Answer. A directional antenna. 6 00:00:26.052 --> 00:00:41.318 The method is the same whether the target is a deliberately hidden transmitter in a park or a failing power-line insulator interfering with your receiver: take bearings from several places and triangulate. 7 00:00:41.318 --> 00:00:48.169 A directional antenna is the essential tool because it tells you where, not just how strong. 8 00:00:48.169 --> 00:01:00.605 In practice you also want an attenuator, close to the source everything reads full scale, and without attenuation the bearing disappears exactly when you need it most. 9 00:01:00.605 --> 00:01:12.892 This is the most useful amateur skill for a real problem: when something is interfering with you, direction finding is how you find it rather than guess. Contesting. 10 00:01:12.892 --> 00:01:21.692 Question. What operating activity involves contacting as many stations as possible during a specified period? 11 00:01:22.592 --> 00:01:25.472 Answer. Contesting. 12 00:01:26.072 --> 00:01:33.327 Question. Which of the following is good practice when contacting another station in a contest? 13 00:01:34.227 --> 00:01:42.096 Answer. Sending only the minimum information needed for proper identification and the contest exchange. 14 00:01:42.696 --> 00:02:01.104 Contest style is terse to the point of curtness, and that is correct rather than rude: with a thousand stations calling, every extra word costs someone else a contact. Call sign, exchange, acknowledgement, next. 15 00:02:01.104 --> 00:02:11.660 Grid locator, a letter-number designator assigned to a geographic location, is the exchange in most VHF and UHF contests. 16 00:02:11.660 --> 00:02:24.223 Maidenhead grid squares like EN82 cover about 1° by 2°, and a six-character version narrows it further. It is also the position format FT8 uses. 17 00:02:24.223 --> 00:02:38.966 Internet linking. Three systems that connect radio to the internet, and the pool distinguishes them. VoIP, a method of delivering voice communications over the internet using digital techniques. 18 00:02:38.966 --> 00:02:53.025 The underlying technology, not an amateur system. IRLP, the Internet Radio Linking Project, a technique to connect amateur radio systems, such as repeaters, via the internet using VoIP. 19 00:02:53.025 --> 00:03:05.640 Access is by using DTMF signals: you key in a node number from your radio and the repeater connects to a distant one. Note what IRLP is not: it is radio at both ends. 20 00:03:05.640 --> 00:03:17.191 Every participant is on the air through a repeater somewhere. EchoLink, enables an amateur station to transmit through a repeater without using a radio. 21 00:03:17.191 --> 00:03:24.334 It permits connection from a computer or phone, which is the significant difference from IRLP. 22 00:03:24.334 --> 00:03:34.898 Because a non-radio connection needs verifying, EchoLink requires that you register your call sign and provide proof of licence before use. 23 00:03:34.898 --> 00:03:48.425 The system enforces what the rules require: only licensed amateurs on amateur frequencies. Gateway, an amateur radio station that connects other amateur stations to the internet. 24 00:03:48.425 --> 00:04:01.572 The generic term for the station at the boundary. Check yourself. A neighbour's device is interfering with 2 metres. What technique finds it, and what equipment do you need? 25 00:04:01.572 --> 00:04:08.715 What is the difference between IRLP and EchoLink? Why must you register before using EchoLink? 26 00:04:14.715 --> 00:04:27.780 Radio direction finding, with a directional antenna, and an attenuator, so bearings stay usable as you close in. IRLP links radio systems to each other over the internet. 27 00:04:27.780 --> 00:04:41.230 EchoLink also permits a station to transmit through a repeater without using a radio, from a computer or phone. Because a non-radio connection cannot be verified over the air. 28 00:04:41.230 --> 00:04:48.915 Registration with proof of licence is how the system keeps unlicensed users off amateur frequencies.