Step 3

Practice

Morse, how people talk on the radio, and simulated contacts to lose your nerves before you go on the air.

Have a go

Morse: radio’s oldest language

It’s no longer required for the licence, but it’s still alive because it gets through where voice can’t. Type something and listen to it, or put your ear to the test.

Translator

Speed 15 wpm

Koch trainer

The method telegraphists learn with: you hear letters at real speed, start with two, and a new one unlocks once you’ve mastered the previous ones. Answer with your keyboard or by tapping the letter.

Tip: 15 minutes a day is worth more than two hours on a Sunday. Don’t count dots and dashes: learn the sound of each letter.

Talk like a radio amateur

Spelling, Q codes and slang

Spell your name

On the radio, “B” and “P” sound the same. That’s why the international phonetic alphabet is used.

What you’ll hear

The first thing you’ll do once licensed

Repeaters and digital voice

A handheld reaches a few kilometres. A repeater, installed on a hilltop, receives your signal on one frequency and retransmits it at the same time on another with much wider coverage: with a pocket handheld you can talk across your whole province. Almost every radio club runs one.

🔁 How to use one

Offset: you listen on the output frequency and transmit on another. On 2 m you transmit 600 kHz lower; on 70 cm, 7.6 MHz lower. Your radio does it for you once you set the offset (−).
Tone (CTCSS): many repeaters only open if your radio sends a specific sub-audible tone (for example 77.0 Hz). It is listed for each repeater.
To call in: listen for a while, then just give your callsign and say you are listening: “EA4XYZ listening”. If someone answers, off you go.
Etiquette: leave a pause of a couple of seconds between overs (in case someone has an emergency), don’t hog it, move to a direct (simplex) frequency for long chats, and identify every 10 minutes.

Repeater output frequency (MHz)

💻 Digital voice and the internet

Many repeaters are digital and linked over the internet: you talk on a handheld in Madrid and you’re heard in Buenos Aires. There are three systems, which don’t talk to each other:

DMR (the most widespread in Spain, affordable radios): you pick a talkgroup. On the BrandMeister network, 214 is Spain (Spain’s country code), 91 is worldwide and 9990 is a “parrot” that plays your audio back so you can test.
C4FM / Fusion (Yaesu) and D-STAR (Icom): similar, each with its own rooms.
EchoLink: links ordinary FM repeaters over the internet. With a licence you can use its phone app.
APRS on 144.800 MHz: your radio sends its position and short messages that appear on maps such as aprs.fi.

To find the repeaters near you, ask your radio club (the information changes often) or check URE’s lists and each network’s groups. All of this needs a licence to transmit; listening is free.

Simulator

Make your first contact

Every newcomer’s fear: “what do I say?”. Here you practise complete contacts with virtual stations, with no pressure: your first chat, a contest, a nature park, an emergency net or the Space Station. At the end you get your QSL card.