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The DOs and DON'Ts ofHand held Radios
Time and time again I see people making the same mistakes when using hand held radios. Usually the individualhas had the radio literally thrust into their hands, and have had zero training with how to use a transceiver.Back around 2008 when I got my foundation amateur radio license, I began my on-air time with a handheld radio.The following are some tips that I had to learn the hard way...
DON'T walk aimlessly about when transmitting.
(This applies to mobile/cordless phones too)
You don't always know what path the radiosignal will take between you and the receiver.Wandering about can cause your signal tofade in and out as you move. (On amateur radiowe call this "QSB" or fading.)If you must keep moving, do so, but don't justpace in a circle out of habit.
Received signal w.r.t Time
Time
Signal strength
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DO hold the antenna as verticaland as high as you can.
"Rubber ducky" antennas radiate most of their signalin a direction perpendicular to the antenna. At the tipis typically a "null" or absence of significant radiation.Antennas work best when they are oriented the sameway, and when placed within eachother's radiationpatterns. Unless the station you're trying to reach isdirectly above or below you, you will do better if bothof you keep your antennas approximately vertical (aslight tilt is okay).And of course, all antennas perform better at height,so if you can get it higher, do so.
Line-of-sight path
Radiation Pattern
Worst case; tip of one antennapointed at other antenna. Will perform poorest.
Line-of-sight path
Radiation Pattern
Better; antennas now radiating in the rightdirection, but they are cross-polarised.
"Vertical" polarised signal
"Horizontal" polarised signal
Line-of-sight path
Radiation Pattern
Best; antennas radiate towards eachother,and with the correct polarity.
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Hand-held radios are NOT mobile phones!
Talk INTO the set when transmitting. You willfind the microphone is usually at the front of the setin the centre, not at the end of the set as they are ina telephone handset. This is also true of hand-heldmicrophones (connected to base or mobile radios).
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DON'T eat the microphone!
If you are hungry, try some fruit, plastic will not doyour digestive system any good! Speaking too closeto the microphone will cause distortion in the signal,making it hard for the other end to hear what youare saying.The span of your hand is usually a good start forworking out how far to position the microphone.
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Press the PUSH-to-TALK BEFORE you start talking,release the PUSH-to-TALK AFTER you finish talking.
No one will hear you speaking until the transmitter is active, and they won't hear youwhen it shuts down. If you're late pressing the PTT, the transceiver will cut off thestart of your transmission. If you're early releasing the PTT, the transceiver will cutoff the end of your transmission.With some transceivers and repeater systems, there can be a delay of up to a secondbefore transmitting actually begins. It doesn't hurt to wait a moment before you start.VOX (voice activated transmission) is a notable exception; you will need to adjust it sothat the threshold triggers just as you start speaking (but not too low that it falselytriggers on background noise), and set the delay so that it doesn't cut off your speech.VOX is therefore best used in a quiet environment where the transmitter has minimallatency.
-- Stuart Longland (VK4MSL)