Ham Radio FOR DUMmIES ‰ by Ward Silver Ham Radio FOR DUMmIES ‰ Ham Radio FOR DUMmIES ‰ by Ward Silver Ham Radio For Dummies® Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc. 111 River Street Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774 Copyright © 2004 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published simultaneously in Canada No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as per­ mitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600. 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Library of Congress Control Number: 2004101969 ISBN: 0-7645-5987-7 Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 1B/QV/QU/QU/IN About the Author Ward Silver NØAX has been a licensed ham since 1972 at the age of 17. Ward’s experiences in ham radio contributed greatly to a 20-year career in broadcast­ ing and as an electrical engineer and programmer, developing instrumentation and medical electronics. In 2000, he turned to teaching and writing as a second career. He is currently adjunct faculty with Seattle University’s Electrical and Computer Engineering department, concentrating on laboratory instruction. You can find his monthly columns and articles in QST magazine and in the biweekly e-mail newsletter, “The Contester’s Rate Sheet.” He is the author of the ARRL’s online course, “Antenna Design and Construction.” His ham radio interests include multi-operator and low-power (QRP) contesting, DX-ing, and antenna design. He is the author of “NØAX’s Radio Puzzler” (a collection of quizzes and puzzles), and co-author (with K7LXC) of “HF Tribander Performance - Test Methods & Results” and “HF Vertical Performance - Test Methods & Results.” He is the winner of the 2003 Bill Orr Technical Writing Award. Dedication This book is dedicated to my all-ham family — my wife Nancy W7FIR and sons Webster KD7FYX and Lowell KD7DQO — who frequently see little of Dad except the back of his head as he hammers away at the keyboard creating another arti­ cle or chapter. And dedicated as well to my own ham radio Elmers: Bill KJ7PC, Randy WB9FSL, Jerry WAØACF, and Danny K7SS who helped me turn “Can I?” into “I did!” Thanks, one and all! Author’s Acknowledgments I would like to gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the American Radio Relay League for providing a number of excellent graphics and for its exten­ sive Web site that provides so much value to many hams around the world. I also thank the administrators of eHam.net, QRZ.com, and AC6V.com Web portals for providing many useful links and extensive archives. All these orga­ nizations and the creators of the many other Web sites referenced in this book exemplify the best of ham spirit. Also supporting me in many ways were the members of the Western Washington DX Club W7DX, the Vashon-Maury Island Radio Club W7VMI, and many great friends all over the world that share a deep friendship and appre­ ciation of the magic of radio; you know who you are. Thank you and Very 73.