WEBVTT - TechStuff Hams It Up 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:03.040 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve cameray. 0:00:03.200 --> 0:00:08.920 It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology with 0:00:09.080 --> 0:00:18.040 tech Stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hello again, everyone, 0:00:18.120 --> 0:00:21.159 Welcome to tech stuff. My name is Chris Poulette, and 0:00:21.200 --> 0:00:23.560 I am the tech editor here at how stuff works 0:00:23.600 --> 0:00:26.720 dot com. And sitting across from me in a completely 0:00:26.720 --> 0:00:29.280 different location than he was last time. We're in studio 0:00:29.480 --> 0:00:32.720 C one or X four or something. His senior writer, 0:00:32.840 --> 0:00:37.640 Jonathan Strickland. Hey, there, that's right, the studio A the 0:00:37.680 --> 0:00:42.400 old the old bird, the old lady. She's a she's 0:00:42.440 --> 0:00:45.400 going undergoing a bit of a of a of a renovation, 0:00:46.040 --> 0:00:49.639 complete tear down and reconstruction phase, and it is going 0:00:49.640 --> 0:00:52.519 to be bigger and badder than ever once, uh, the 0:00:52.720 --> 0:00:57.160 six week period is up. We are recording this on 0:00:57.360 --> 0:01:01.000 week one of that six week period. Of course, this 0:01:01.040 --> 0:01:04.080 will this will publish much later so or maybe not 0:01:04.200 --> 0:01:07.200 much later, but later and uh and we'll be well 0:01:07.240 --> 0:01:10.200 on our way to returning to our studio space. But 0:01:10.319 --> 0:01:12.760 in the meantime, we are in an empty office. And 0:01:12.920 --> 0:01:14.920 I heard there would be turbo lasers on the new one. 0:01:15.160 --> 0:01:19.280 I hope I on lasers, because those end up completely 0:01:19.319 --> 0:01:22.720 disabling a ship without actually causing it damage. Well, you know, 0:01:22.840 --> 0:01:24.520 we do what we can fit in the budget at 0:01:24.520 --> 0:01:28.720 any rate. So we are currently in a tiny, unused 0:01:28.760 --> 0:01:32.959 office that is getting increasingly warm as we go. So 0:01:33.000 --> 0:01:35.440 why don't we just jump right into this week's topic, 0:01:35.760 --> 0:01:39.200 which happens to be a highly requested topic. In fact, 0:01:39.240 --> 0:01:41.760 let me run through this really quickly. We have received 0:01:41.760 --> 0:01:49.160 requests from listeners such as Robert Art, Karen, Josh, David, Joe, Patrick, Steve, 0:01:49.680 --> 0:01:54.040 and our good friend Humble Floyd the Trucker. Uh, this 0:01:54.120 --> 0:01:58.240 is uh, this topic is ham radio or amateur radio. 0:01:58.680 --> 0:02:00.200 This this is what we got a lot of us 0:02:00.200 --> 0:02:03.000 for this after we did CB radio quite a while ago. 0:02:03.680 --> 0:02:06.200 And uh, you know, we have a lot of a 0:02:06.200 --> 0:02:08.800 lot of different topics on our list that we go through, 0:02:08.919 --> 0:02:10.960 and this was just one that's been there for a 0:02:10.960 --> 0:02:13.200 while and and Chris said, you know what, we really 0:02:13.200 --> 0:02:17.880 need to tackle this, and I agreed, alright, So, uh 0:02:18.200 --> 0:02:20.239 it seems like it's all in fun, you know, and 0:02:20.560 --> 0:02:24.160 mostly well you know what I was getting to that. 0:02:25.080 --> 0:02:28.440 I'm sorry, Um, no, it seems like it's all in 0:02:28.440 --> 0:02:30.440 good fun. I mean, as a portion of the radio 0:02:30.480 --> 0:02:35.560 spectrum dedicated to people getting on there and meeting people 0:02:35.560 --> 0:02:39.079 from all over the world as a spectrum that allows 0:02:39.120 --> 0:02:42.000 you to talk and the signals carry for a long distance. 0:02:44.200 --> 0:02:47.200 But it's but as Jonathan pointed out, it's not necessarily 0:02:47.240 --> 0:02:49.920 all for fun. Here in the United States. Part of 0:02:49.919 --> 0:02:54.440 the reason that the Federal Communications Commission grants these licenses 0:02:54.800 --> 0:02:58.639 is so that people can use these frequencies to broadcast 0:02:59.040 --> 0:03:02.280 emergency messages. Is in the event of something going horribly 0:03:02.320 --> 0:03:06.480 horribly wrong, right, you know, normal communication methods may be interrupted, 0:03:06.600 --> 0:03:10.320 but often you can find someone with a radio transceiver 0:03:11.320 --> 0:03:14.400 who is able to continue to communicate with the outside 0:03:14.400 --> 0:03:17.600 world or possibly with people just across town to trying 0:03:17.680 --> 0:03:21.120 to coordinate efforts in case of need for like an 0:03:21.120 --> 0:03:26.399 emergency rescue or rerouting traffic, that kind of thing. And uh, 0:03:27.400 --> 0:03:30.639 there are several ways that that amateur radio differs from 0:03:30.919 --> 0:03:34.800 citizens band radio or CB radio, and one was one 0:03:34.840 --> 0:03:38.600 that Chris mentioned just now, which were licenses. You must 0:03:38.640 --> 0:03:41.480 have a license in order to operate within the amateur 0:03:41.600 --> 0:03:45.280 radio frequencies. And there are many of the frequencies. They're 0:03:45.280 --> 0:03:49.600 they're in bands, and they are throughout the radio frequency spectrum. Uh, 0:03:49.640 --> 0:03:53.000 and it's different from country to country. Not every country 0:03:53.160 --> 0:03:57.320 uses the exact same bands too, you know, they don't 0:03:57.360 --> 0:03:59.560 group everything together in the same bands that we do 0:03:59.600 --> 0:04:02.040 in the United States, which is a good thing in 0:04:02.080 --> 0:04:06.760 a way because it keeps people from talking over one another. Yeah, 0:04:06.760 --> 0:04:09.720 the interference is cut down a little bit. And however, 0:04:09.760 --> 0:04:14.600 that does mean that on certain frequencies, you theoretically should 0:04:14.600 --> 0:04:18.279 be unable to contact people in the In countries that 0:04:18.279 --> 0:04:20.600 are working on a different frequency, they shouldn't be on 0:04:20.680 --> 0:04:24.599 that one. Uh And the whole radio spectrum is is 0:04:24.600 --> 0:04:27.480 pretty wide. You know, it's not a tiny little thing. 0:04:27.640 --> 0:04:33.160 It's um, I actually downloaded a little Yeah, I don't 0:04:33.160 --> 0:04:37.000 know the thing here about the radio spectrum. And yeah, 0:04:37.040 --> 0:04:40.960 he's saying, wow, because it's pretty huge. Um. In fact, 0:04:41.080 --> 0:04:45.840 at I can't even read it because it's shrunk everything down. 0:04:46.240 --> 0:04:48.680 But yeah, from about Jonathan's going to hold this his 0:04:48.760 --> 0:04:50.839 computer up to the microphone so that you all can 0:04:50.960 --> 0:04:55.120 hear whatever. Everyone take a look. Everyone, don't don't crowd. 0:04:55.680 --> 0:05:00.200 Uh No, But from about nine killer hurts. Uh to, 0:05:00.640 --> 0:05:03.000 let's see how what does it go up to all 0:05:03.040 --> 0:05:08.800 the way to scroll down into their right three hundred 0:05:08.839 --> 0:05:11.400 giga hurts. Nine kill hurts the three hundred gig hurts. 0:05:11.400 --> 0:05:16.039 That's the full spectrum there, and large sections, large chunks 0:05:16.080 --> 0:05:21.480 of that spectrum are dedicated to specific um UH services 0:05:21.640 --> 0:05:26.159 or UM like emergency services have certain sections allocate to 0:05:26.200 --> 0:05:27.920 them and no one else is allowed to broadcast in 0:05:27.960 --> 0:05:31.560 those television, AM radio, FM, radio, these kind of things 0:05:31.960 --> 0:05:35.279 have dedicated spectrums, right, and then outside of that, you 0:05:35.360 --> 0:05:38.159 have a few spectrums that are set aside specifically for 0:05:38.200 --> 0:05:44.320 amateur radio. And UH. We mentioned the licenses. It's interesting 0:05:44.480 --> 0:05:48.960 you can only access certain certain bands depending on what 0:05:49.080 --> 0:05:52.359 your license is. You can't, you know, just because you 0:05:52.360 --> 0:05:54.200 get a license to work in amateur radio, at least 0:05:54.200 --> 0:05:56.719 in the United States, if you get a license to 0:05:56.760 --> 0:06:00.360 work amateur radio, that does not automatically mean that you 0:06:00.400 --> 0:06:05.279 can access the entire radio frequency set aside for amateur radio. 0:06:05.680 --> 0:06:08.680 Up there are three sets of our three different levels 0:06:08.680 --> 0:06:12.560 of licenses in the United States. There's the Technician Class license, 0:06:13.160 --> 0:06:16.400 which is the the base license, and the way you 0:06:16.440 --> 0:06:18.720 get that is you have to answer a thirty five 0:06:18.920 --> 0:06:22.920 question multiple choice examination. You have to pass this examination, 0:06:22.920 --> 0:06:28.919 and the examination focuses on things like the operating practices, regulations, 0:06:29.560 --> 0:06:32.719 electronics theory, like what you know like our our podcast 0:06:32.720 --> 0:06:35.359 that we covered basic electronics theory. Yeah, you have to 0:06:35.360 --> 0:06:36.840 have a good grounding in that in order to be 0:06:36.880 --> 0:06:41.040 an amateur radio. Didn't mean it that way, you know. 0:06:41.080 --> 0:06:44.040 All right, Well it's so warm in here, I almost 0:06:44.160 --> 0:06:50.080 let loose with an actual curse word. Um, that's Josh's job. Yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:06:50.200 --> 0:06:53.039 and they don't beat him. Have you noticed I get 0:06:53.080 --> 0:06:57.159 beat for saying taken the out of but he doesn't anyway, 0:06:57.440 --> 0:07:02.559 Sorry for the beep, Hey Liz, how you doing so so? Anyway? Yeah, 0:07:02.600 --> 0:07:06.080 that you have to. The exam covers the regulations, operating 0:07:06.400 --> 0:07:10.840 operating practices, electronics theory, that kind of stuff. Also information 0:07:10.920 --> 0:07:14.000 on VHF and UHF signals, which are talking about, you know, 0:07:14.120 --> 0:07:17.679 ultra high frequency and very high frequency radio signals. Now, 0:07:17.800 --> 0:07:20.600 those high frequency radio signals also happened to be the 0:07:20.640 --> 0:07:24.960 ones that don't travel that far comparatively speaking, you can 0:07:25.040 --> 0:07:27.840 use those to communicate with someone who's in the same 0:07:27.880 --> 0:07:30.200 town that you are in. But here's the thing about 0:07:30.240 --> 0:07:33.960 radio frequencies. It's kind of interesting. Uh, when you talk 0:07:34.000 --> 0:07:35.840 about you have to you have to keep in mind 0:07:35.880 --> 0:07:39.080 there are two different measurements that are going when you're 0:07:39.080 --> 0:07:43.880 talking about radio frequencies, the measurement in uh in hurts, 0:07:44.240 --> 0:07:47.440 which is the number of waves per second, right, and 0:07:47.480 --> 0:07:51.040 then the length of the wave, which is inversely proportional. 0:07:51.520 --> 0:07:54.400 You know, the shorter the wave, the more you're going 0:07:54.440 --> 0:07:57.920 to get going through in a second because they're all 0:07:57.920 --> 0:08:00.960 traveling at the same speed. You know, I always have 0:08:01.000 --> 0:08:05.520 a problem with wavelength and amplitudes. Alright, So alright, radio 0:08:05.960 --> 0:08:08.120 travels we're talking about we're talking about the speed of 0:08:08.200 --> 0:08:15.080 light year essentially, right, Electromagnetic radiation we're talking about we're 0:08:15.080 --> 0:08:18.200 talking everything is moving at the same speed. If you 0:08:18.240 --> 0:08:21.160 have a really long wavelength, you're going to get fewer 0:08:21.720 --> 0:08:24.240 repetitions within a second than if you have a very 0:08:24.240 --> 0:08:26.800 short wavelength because they're both traveling at the same speed. 0:08:27.680 --> 0:08:32.520 All right, So these high frequency radio waves are happen 0:08:32.559 --> 0:08:36.400 to be very very short and um and so they 0:08:36.520 --> 0:08:38.360 don't travel that far. And the reason they don't travel 0:08:38.360 --> 0:08:42.080 that far is because the long waves have the benefit 0:08:42.080 --> 0:08:47.160 of being reflected by the ionosphere and the sphere is 0:08:47.600 --> 0:08:51.040 way the heck up there, but it tends to that's 0:08:51.120 --> 0:08:54.319 that's a technical term. That's stuff from the science lab. 0:08:54.320 --> 0:08:56.880 That's why I'm not going that far into detail. But 0:08:57.120 --> 0:09:01.400 the ionosphere can reflect long radio waves and UH and 0:09:01.440 --> 0:09:04.400 depending on the time of day, UH, it can reflect 0:09:04.559 --> 0:09:08.320 certain wavelengths better than others. It does change throughout the 0:09:08.400 --> 0:09:13.400 day and the night UM and also other radio other 0:09:13.440 --> 0:09:18.160 electromagnetic UM interference can can affect it as well, things 0:09:18.200 --> 0:09:23.200 like the Aurora borealis. That's actually electromagnetic UH phenomenon there, 0:09:23.240 --> 0:09:27.080 it's not just pretty lights, So that can also reflect 0:09:27.160 --> 0:09:30.600 radio waves. Well, if you're using really long radio waves 0:09:30.800 --> 0:09:33.240 that and they bounce off the onmosphere, you can actually 0:09:33.320 --> 0:09:37.520 transmit messages all the way across the world. So you 0:09:37.600 --> 0:09:40.000 and I could use a Ham radio operating on these 0:09:40.120 --> 0:09:44.720 very long radio frequencies to talk to people in Australia. However, 0:09:45.679 --> 0:09:48.559 we would have to have a higher class license than 0:09:48.600 --> 0:09:51.200 just the basic because the technician class license does not 0:09:51.280 --> 0:09:55.480 give you access to those radio waves. So the next 0:09:55.559 --> 0:09:59.040 level up would be the general class license. Now that 0:09:59.160 --> 0:10:03.800 gives you a larger UH range of frequencies that you 0:10:03.840 --> 0:10:05.760 can use, including the really big ones, so you can 0:10:05.760 --> 0:10:07.400 start talking to people who are on the other side 0:10:07.400 --> 0:10:09.880 of the world and UH and you have to pass 0:10:09.960 --> 0:10:13.320 another thirty five question examination and it gets a little 0:10:13.360 --> 0:10:15.760 more specific. It's a little more advanced, so you have 0:10:15.840 --> 0:10:20.600 to have a better understanding of electronic theory as opposed 0:10:20.600 --> 0:10:24.480 to a grounding UM, as well as operating procedures and 0:10:24.520 --> 0:10:26.840 all that kind of stuff. And then the third and 0:10:26.920 --> 0:10:30.320 final level in the United States is the Amateur Extra 0:10:30.440 --> 0:10:33.640 Class license UM. And the reason you would want this 0:10:33.720 --> 0:10:37.360 is because at certain and certain bands or radio traffic 0:10:37.400 --> 0:10:40.440 is pretty heavy because that's where everyone's operating. So you 0:10:40.760 --> 0:10:43.760 if you wanted to get the Amateur Extra Class license, 0:10:43.760 --> 0:10:47.600 you would have access to the most elite bands of 0:10:47.679 --> 0:10:50.440 frequencies where you could, uh, there's not as much traffic. 0:10:50.480 --> 0:10:53.040 You can you're more likely to be able to get 0:10:53.040 --> 0:10:55.320 your messages through, and you can even use it for 0:10:55.840 --> 0:10:59.960 experiments like things like Earth to Moon to Earth transmissions 0:11:00.280 --> 0:11:03.240 where you're actually bouncing you know, you're aiming your radio 0:11:03.280 --> 0:11:04.760 signals up at the moon to bounce off and come 0:11:04.800 --> 0:11:08.560 back down. That's pretty cool. It is pretty cool. And UM, 0:11:08.760 --> 0:11:11.000 that is different than the other two. Instead of having 0:11:11.000 --> 0:11:14.040 to answer a thirty five multiple choice question, you have 0:11:14.080 --> 0:11:18.559 to answer a fifty U fifty multiple choice question examination 0:11:18.679 --> 0:11:22.920 and past that. Uh. And there's something that's interesting recently 0:11:23.040 --> 0:11:27.200 about all three of the examinations that has changed just 0:11:27.240 --> 0:11:30.960 over the last few years. Yes, yes, there's one thing 0:11:31.000 --> 0:11:33.040 you no longer need to know in order to become 0:11:33.040 --> 0:11:37.480 an amateur radio specialist or a user relates specialist is 0:11:37.600 --> 0:11:40.520 the wrong term entirely, but an amateur radio operator. You 0:11:40.640 --> 0:11:43.640 know what that is, right, Hit me with it, baby, 0:11:44.120 --> 0:11:48.040 Morse code. Yes, you no longer need to know Morse 0:11:48.080 --> 0:11:50.760 code in order to become an amateur radio operator, a 0:11:50.800 --> 0:11:53.800 licensed amateur radio operator. And I used to be that 0:11:53.800 --> 0:11:55.840 that was one of the requirements you had to learn 0:11:55.840 --> 0:11:59.160 Morse code. Morse code was one of the the most 0:11:59.679 --> 0:12:03.160 probably the most popular way of transmitting information via ham 0:12:03.280 --> 0:12:06.680 radio for many years, and the reason for that is 0:12:06.720 --> 0:12:11.280 that at certain signals, the quality of the radio transmission 0:12:11.440 --> 0:12:14.600 is fairly low. So it's hard to transmit information like 0:12:14.800 --> 0:12:18.800 voice info at least on the older radios, the lower 0:12:18.840 --> 0:12:22.479 powered radios, and under certain like I said, certain radio frequencies. 0:12:23.240 --> 0:12:25.920 So if you were to try and transmit voice over 0:12:25.960 --> 0:12:29.479 those signals, it would just kind of come in staticky 0:12:29.679 --> 0:12:32.800 and and unintelligible. But you use something like a series 0:12:32.880 --> 0:12:37.320 of of dots and dashes beefs, those would go and 0:12:37.360 --> 0:12:40.280 transmit much more effectively. And so that was, you know, 0:12:40.320 --> 0:12:42.199 and it was also kind of a carryover from the 0:12:42.720 --> 0:12:46.040 telegraph days, so you went from telegraph to radio and 0:12:46.080 --> 0:12:49.439 it just made sense because the the fidelity wasn't there 0:12:49.679 --> 0:12:52.640 for voice yet, and it kind of stuck for a 0:12:52.679 --> 0:12:55.520 long time. It's still one of the more popular methods 0:12:55.520 --> 0:12:59.800 of transmitting data over ham radio, but it's not the 0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:04.400 top one anymore. Voices taken over right now. Ham radio. Uh. 0:13:04.840 --> 0:13:06.800 You may wonder where the term came from. It actually 0:13:06.880 --> 0:13:11.160 comes from telegraph, because there was a book by G. M. Dodge, 0:13:11.520 --> 0:13:15.520 Uh that's just realized how funny that is, um called 0:13:15.520 --> 0:13:20.280 The Telegraph Instructor, And in it, uh, the author identifies 0:13:20.320 --> 0:13:25.559 a ham as uh, someone who's a really bad telegraph operator. Um. 0:13:25.720 --> 0:13:28.439 And in the days when everybody was sharing a frequency, 0:13:28.800 --> 0:13:33.040 some people would come in more um intensely than others, 0:13:33.040 --> 0:13:34.760 and they would be able to talk over everyone else 0:13:34.760 --> 0:13:37.800 because they had a stronger signal. Well, Um, those people 0:13:37.840 --> 0:13:40.319 were identified as hands because they were basically stepping all 0:13:40.360 --> 0:13:45.720 over everyone else's conversations. And the people those people, um 0:13:45.960 --> 0:13:49.360 were you know, the type of people who were taking 0:13:49.400 --> 0:13:52.160 that as a badge of honor and not not that 0:13:52.200 --> 0:13:54.680 they were taking their behavior as a badge of honor. 0:13:54.720 --> 0:13:58.240 But they thought uh uh, they sort of basically lashed 0:13:58.280 --> 0:14:00.600 onto the term and said, yeah, you know, we're amateurs. 0:14:00.600 --> 0:14:03.680 Were you know, d I why radio operators were gonna 0:14:04.040 --> 0:14:06.600 you know, this is what we're calling ourselves. And it 0:14:06.640 --> 0:14:09.400 basically doesn't have that meaning now, but it did at 0:14:09.440 --> 0:14:12.160 one time. Yeah, it sounds like it was actually pretty 0:14:12.200 --> 0:14:17.040 pretty uh similar to the theatrical use of the word 0:14:17.080 --> 0:14:19.520 ham you know, that would be someone who steps all 0:14:19.520 --> 0:14:23.240 over everybody else in an attempt to get all the attention. 0:14:23.640 --> 0:14:25.600 I could think of someone on this podcast who fits 0:14:25.640 --> 0:14:31.120 that description. Boy, are my ears burning for some reason. Uh. 0:14:31.160 --> 0:14:33.520 And you know I mentioned earlier about the the really 0:14:33.560 --> 0:14:37.240 long radio waves being bouncing off the honosphere. I meant 0:14:37.240 --> 0:14:39.360 to mention this too. I'm sorry that I didn't, but 0:14:39.480 --> 0:14:43.760 that the shorter waves, uh, they are either absorbed or 0:14:43.920 --> 0:14:48.120 they actually passed through the ionosphere and go out into spapace. 0:14:49.000 --> 0:14:50.960 So that's the thing is these radio waves aren't It's 0:14:50.960 --> 0:14:53.840 not that they you know, peter out. It's that's not 0:14:53.880 --> 0:14:56.000 the case. It's not that that's why they're not getting 0:14:56.040 --> 0:14:58.480 to the other side of the world. It's because instead 0:14:58.480 --> 0:15:01.600 of bouncing around the atmosphere and back down to the Earth. 0:15:01.640 --> 0:15:04.600 To the Earth, they actually passed through the atmosphere and 0:15:04.680 --> 0:15:08.200 keep on going. So people who are in that that 0:15:08.320 --> 0:15:14.120 first class of amateur radio operators are technically sending signals 0:15:14.160 --> 0:15:17.760 out into the ether towards aliens who will eventually come 0:15:17.840 --> 0:15:20.880 and either ask us where all the cool Ham operators 0:15:20.880 --> 0:15:23.920 are or they will eat us. I'm thinking the ladder 0:15:24.520 --> 0:15:29.800 me too. So um speaking of never mind, Uh wow, 0:15:29.840 --> 0:15:31.520 I don't know where you were going now I'm not 0:15:31.560 --> 0:15:34.440 sure either, all right. Um. So one of the really 0:15:34.480 --> 0:15:36.920 cool things about this is the fact that it is 0:15:37.080 --> 0:15:40.920 very a very d i y sort of hobby. I mean, 0:15:41.240 --> 0:15:45.800 you can, you know, take your license test, get your license, 0:15:45.840 --> 0:15:48.400 go ahead and buy a radio, or you can build 0:15:48.400 --> 0:15:51.080 one yourself. Yeah. This is another way that this is 0:15:51.120 --> 0:15:54.200 different from CB radios that you know, with CB radios, 0:15:54.280 --> 0:15:58.080 you you can't build your own siss has been radio. Uh, 0:15:58.360 --> 0:16:02.920 you have to purchase a licensed one. Um, although we 0:16:02.920 --> 0:16:05.320 did get that one email about how you can you 0:16:05.360 --> 0:16:08.680 can kind of get around that, but in general you're 0:16:08.680 --> 0:16:12.080 supposed to to buy a licensed radio for CB radio 0:16:12.120 --> 0:16:16.560 as opposed to Now that's different for amateur radios. The 0:16:17.120 --> 0:16:21.240 amateur radio operators can create take up the hobby of 0:16:21.320 --> 0:16:25.440 building their own radios and then using them to transmit 0:16:25.480 --> 0:16:30.240 and receive information, and which I guess explains why you 0:16:30.280 --> 0:16:33.680 need the electronics theory in the test. Yes, and they 0:16:33.720 --> 0:16:36.520 can be much more powerful than CB radios could. I 0:16:36.520 --> 0:16:39.920 think CBR radios were limited to some crazy thing like 0:16:39.960 --> 0:16:46.160 five watts. But amateur radio so that's pretty big difference 0:16:46.200 --> 0:16:49.280 there and now. And amateur radios come in all shapes 0:16:49.320 --> 0:16:51.120 and sizes. You can find some that are a little 0:16:51.160 --> 0:16:54.640 handheld devices that you might tune to a repeater so 0:16:54.680 --> 0:16:56.640 that you send your signal to the repeater and the 0:16:56.640 --> 0:17:01.280 repeater receives signals through one frequency and transmits them through 0:17:01.360 --> 0:17:05.679 another and then essentially, well you know, it kind of 0:17:05.680 --> 0:17:09.960 boosts your signal UM or you could, uh, you could 0:17:10.000 --> 0:17:14.280 have an amateur radio that's huge. I remember reading one 0:17:14.320 --> 0:17:16.320 thing saying that it could take up half an attic 0:17:16.880 --> 0:17:21.199 where you've got this enormous amateur radio station UM in 0:17:21.320 --> 0:17:26.560 order to to transmit received signals and UM and every 0:17:26.560 --> 0:17:31.080 single amateur radio operator gets a call sign, and unlike 0:17:31.080 --> 0:17:34.760 CB radio where you can pick your handle, these are 0:17:34.920 --> 0:17:38.040 call signs that are assigned to you and It all 0:17:38.080 --> 0:17:40.680 depends on where you live, what country you're in. You 0:17:40.720 --> 0:17:44.320 know how each country has its own method of assigning 0:17:44.359 --> 0:17:48.040 these call signs. In the United States, the call sign 0:17:48.160 --> 0:17:51.640 has a prefix in a suffix. The prefix is all 0:17:51.680 --> 0:17:57.440 based upon where you live. UM that the it's usually 0:17:57.440 --> 0:17:59.159 a letter and then a number or a couple of 0:17:59.240 --> 0:18:04.640 letters in the number UM And some states get multiple 0:18:04.880 --> 0:18:07.840 call signs. I assume that means that that those are 0:18:08.359 --> 0:18:11.280 just have more amateur radio operators in them. It would 0:18:11.320 --> 0:18:14.119 make sense. So can you guess which two states have 0:18:14.359 --> 0:18:19.119 the have multiple call sign prefixes? Which too? There are 0:18:19.160 --> 0:18:23.959 two states in the Union that have multiple call sign prefixes. 0:18:24.119 --> 0:18:26.400 I find a guess. I would think California in Texas. 0:18:26.880 --> 0:18:34.000 You are so wrongly Alaska and Hawaii. Oh well, you 0:18:34.000 --> 0:18:37.840 know when you say that, it makes sense now you think, yeah, 0:18:36.280 --> 0:18:39.399 that area. But these are the two that are the 0:18:39.400 --> 0:18:42.480 most isolated from the rest of the nation. So there 0:18:42.480 --> 0:18:47.280 you go. And yeah, So Alaska's call sign prefixes are 0:18:47.440 --> 0:18:50.200 A L. Actually there's quite a few that's A L 0:18:50.440 --> 0:18:54.600 zero through seven, k L zero through seven, in L 0:18:54.760 --> 0:18:58.400 zero through seven, w L zero through seven, And Hawaii's 0:18:58.400 --> 0:19:01.760 are A H six through seven, k H six through seven, 0:19:01.920 --> 0:19:07.320 n H six or seven and w H six through seven. Yep, yeah, 0:19:07.400 --> 0:19:10.520 it's kind of interesting. And so yeah, the the that 0:19:11.000 --> 0:19:13.080 if you if you hear the beginning of a call sign, 0:19:13.119 --> 0:19:16.160 you know where they are operating out of. And here's 0:19:16.160 --> 0:19:20.400 another interesting thing is that most countries allow amateur radio 0:19:20.440 --> 0:19:24.080 operators to operate within their borders even if they're not 0:19:24.520 --> 0:19:27.360 from that country. So let's say that you get your 0:19:27.400 --> 0:19:30.560 license in one country and you travel to another now, 0:19:30.560 --> 0:19:33.080 and so in some countries they'll let you go ahead 0:19:33.080 --> 0:19:36.959 and operate, you know, as if you held a license there. 0:19:36.960 --> 0:19:40.800 Others may require you to actually pass an examination, a 0:19:40.840 --> 0:19:44.600 local examination before you're allowed to use your your radio skills. 0:19:45.480 --> 0:19:48.960 But what do you do about your call sign? Because 0:19:48.960 --> 0:19:52.399 your call sign identifies where you are, right, we just 0:19:52.440 --> 0:19:56.160 talked about that. Well you said where we're from. Well, 0:19:56.200 --> 0:19:57.920 it's not just where you're from, it's where you it's 0:19:57.920 --> 0:20:01.919 where you're transmitting from. So what what you have to 0:20:01.960 --> 0:20:06.480 do is you have a U addendum to your call sign. 0:20:06.840 --> 0:20:09.760 You keep your regular call sign and then you add 0:20:10.200 --> 0:20:13.879 a little slash and then you give the prefix for 0:20:14.040 --> 0:20:16.919 the area that you are currently in, and that indicates 0:20:17.400 --> 0:20:20.600 that you are you know, you're from this one region, 0:20:20.640 --> 0:20:23.680 but you're actually broadcasting from another region for the time 0:20:23.680 --> 0:20:28.040 being while you are in transit. That's that's good to 0:20:28.119 --> 0:20:31.480 know because. UM. Another thing that I thought was pretty 0:20:31.520 --> 0:20:34.440 cool about HAM radio as I was doing my research, 0:20:34.480 --> 0:20:37.639 and I had always wondered seeing the license plates of 0:20:37.720 --> 0:20:42.040 cars that had their HAM radio UH call sign listed 0:20:42.040 --> 0:20:45.159 on the license plate like they do in some places, UM, 0:20:45.200 --> 0:20:49.280 which was you know these were not Just because there 0:20:49.320 --> 0:20:51.800 are some radios that take up half of an attic 0:20:52.119 --> 0:20:54.679 doesn't mean that all HAM radios are like that. No, 0:20:54.840 --> 0:20:57.640 some are very portable, yes, and and and there are 0:20:57.640 --> 0:20:59.560 some people who use them in cars. So I would 0:20:59.600 --> 0:21:03.440 assume that if you're doing if you're traveling with your radio, 0:21:03.520 --> 0:21:08.000 you're going to have to make that you know, you 0:21:08.000 --> 0:21:10.040 would have to change that whenever you would move into 0:21:10.080 --> 0:21:13.760 a new region. Now most most of the UM, most 0:21:13.760 --> 0:21:16.159 of the regions are pretty big. Actually, I can think 0:21:16.200 --> 0:21:20.479 of two reasons why Alaska and Hawaii would have those multiples. One, 0:21:20.560 --> 0:21:23.920 Hawaii is made up of series of islands, so probably 0:21:23.960 --> 0:21:28.119 each island has its own. But Alaska is enormous, so 0:21:28.200 --> 0:21:30.119 that would also make sense, so that it may not 0:21:30.200 --> 0:21:33.840 even be the remote uh, nature of these two states, 0:21:33.880 --> 0:21:36.880 but also just the fact that one is not a 0:21:36.960 --> 0:21:39.160 single land mass and the other one is a freaking 0:21:39.400 --> 0:21:43.359 huge land mass. But at any rate, the I didn't 0:21:43.400 --> 0:21:47.280 understand that that that extension you have on there, well, 0:21:47.320 --> 0:21:49.520 it's the one for the inside of a bear. I've 0:21:49.520 --> 0:21:52.919 been eaten. I think I'm still in Alaska, might be 0:21:52.960 --> 0:21:56.080 in Canada by now, who knows. Um. But yeah, the way, 0:21:56.160 --> 0:21:58.480 the way, the way you would say it is you 0:21:58.480 --> 0:22:00.880 would give your normal all sign, and then you would 0:22:00.880 --> 0:22:04.000 say portable, which it indicates that you are on the move, 0:22:04.040 --> 0:22:06.080 and then you would give the prefix for whatever region 0:22:06.119 --> 0:22:09.240 you were in. And like I said, most, uh, most 0:22:09.280 --> 0:22:12.640 of these call signs cover a fairly large area. So 0:22:12.720 --> 0:22:14.960 it's not like if you went from one state to 0:22:15.000 --> 0:22:17.119 another you would necessarily have to change. You might have 0:22:17.160 --> 0:22:19.919 to go two or three states before you are in 0:22:20.000 --> 0:22:23.560 a new call sign area. And this is the kind 0:22:23.560 --> 0:22:25.880 of stuff you need to know before you take your exam. 0:22:26.280 --> 0:22:29.360 Um and there are it's funny, they're actually a lot 0:22:29.440 --> 0:22:32.840 of ham radio operators are are really really passionate about 0:22:32.840 --> 0:22:35.359 this hobby. That's not a funny part. I mean, it's 0:22:35.560 --> 0:22:38.560 it's that makes sense. But yeah, they're very passionate about it, 0:22:38.640 --> 0:22:42.840 and they're very eager to share their knowledge. And so 0:22:43.040 --> 0:22:45.960 if you run to a an amateur radio operator or 0:22:46.000 --> 0:22:49.520 ham radio operator and uh, and they are willing to 0:22:49.560 --> 0:22:53.119 impart that knowledge to you. UH. The common term for 0:22:53.160 --> 0:22:55.120 them is do you happen to know this? I don't 0:22:55.160 --> 0:22:59.240 know this one Elmer's I saw that and had wonder, 0:22:59.400 --> 0:23:01.560 I have no idea someone's going to write in and 0:23:01.640 --> 0:23:04.240 explain to us why they are called that. I don't know. 0:23:04.840 --> 0:23:07.840 That's interesting though. Yeah, I was like, huh, I bet 0:23:07.880 --> 0:23:09.840 there's a reason for that. I'm sure there's a story 0:23:09.880 --> 0:23:11.480 behind it, but I couldn't find it. While I was 0:23:11.520 --> 0:23:14.040 looking for I was looking at like all the technical 0:23:14.040 --> 0:23:16.040 specs and then so by the time I reached that point, 0:23:16.080 --> 0:23:17.880 I was like, look, too late. I gotta go around 0:23:17.920 --> 0:23:21.320 the horn now. UM. Yeah, if you're if you're wondering, 0:23:21.359 --> 0:23:24.119 there are several organizations. I mean there there is the 0:23:24.160 --> 0:23:29.000 International Amateur Radio Union, which is a very large organization, 0:23:29.040 --> 0:23:31.679 and then here in the United States, the American Relay 0:23:31.760 --> 0:23:35.320 Radio League can also clue you in. Um, if you're 0:23:35.359 --> 0:23:38.199