Resources & Links
The resources page....
Stuff I've either made or links off site to things that are useful to those who aren't yet hams:
RES provides training materials for the various Amateur Radio license types in Australia. The Foundation material is freely accessible and well worth it for new comers.
The Wireless Institute of Australia
WIA is the first organisation in Australia to represent the interests of wireless experimenters to government. Started in 1910. The website provides a wealth of information on how to get licensed, regulations and what is going on within the hobby. Currently providing 12 months free membership for newly minted amateurs.
AMC handles amateur radio examination services, call sign recommendations, and provides copies of the syllabus for each license level, certificates of proficiency and has a list of authorised assessors listed on their site.
This may cost you your first born and burn your house down. I threw it together quickly just so I can poke around the bands without having to sit with an entire copy of the band plan wondering where I should be listening - particularly handy for those bands where one isn't familiar. It does have some expectation that you've got a copy of the band plan (you should).
Peter is probably Australia's most popular Amateur Radio Youtuber. He's also the author of many great books available via Amazon. Buy his books, watch his videos. I'm not sure you're even a ham if you haven't seen/read/been inspired by something Peter has produced. Eventually he might even earn enough from those sales to buy some shoes!
VK Classifieds is like the FleaBay of Amateur Radio in Australia. Not as much as the other "bay", but some interesting gear pops up, sometimes at really hot prices (and usually not for long).
VKHamEd is a website that provides Amateur Operators Certificate of Proficiency exam style testing for self assessment and exam preparation. Well worth putting in the time to run through these as part of your exam prep (and perhaps a little revision after the fact).
QRZ offers a bit of everything - it's a great resource for looking up other hams, messaging, log books, etc. The XML subscription will quite likely tie into your logging program (yes, you'll probably want one), and will be incredibly handy for keeping track of your QSOs.
A QSL is an acknowledgement of receipt of a transmission. In Amateur Radio it's been something of a tradition for "QSL cards" to be sent after having a QSO with someone from some far flung land. It's usually similar to a postcard with the senders callsign, and may include pictures and information about your QSO. A more modern, and significantly less expensive option is to use the electronic version. eQSL provides the ability to generate an electronic QSL card that can be sent to confirmed QSO contacts. Various logging applications can tie directly into eQSL, and this will facilitate sending the eQSL card to the other party and vice versa.
The International Beacon Project
An interesting way to check signal propagation around various bands is to listen to beacons. If you're lucky, you may even hear one. These beacons are positioned around the world, and cycle through every 3 minutes. You'll want to listen in CW mode. For amateurs in VK (that's Australia if you haven't caught up yet) on the east coast (i.e. most of us), you're more likely to hear the ZL beacon.
Getting your head around the prefixes (ie VK for Australia, ZL for New Zealand) can be a bit of a challenge. These maps are presented by regions. There are a lot of islands and small nations close together so these help give you an idea of what is where on the planet.
If you're into digital modes, this site is invaluable for seeing where your signal is being heard. It's a great way to see what the band conditions are like. The log book will show you who heard you, and how far away from your position they are (you'll want to have your transmitting app - like WSJT-X configured with your grid location for this to be accurate). This information is really quite handy - if you're not being heard at all in Europe, but you are in North America, then you'll know to go after those contacts rather than those in Europe. Conditions can change quickly, and you may start being heard elsewhere, so it's worth keeping an eye on. Sometimes throwing out a CQ will get a response from somewhere you didn't know could hear you! It also helps you get a bit of a clue how some bands behave - I find in the mornings that FT8 on 40m can be active, but I'm barely heard more than a state away in either direction. In 12 hours, the 500-700km I'm being heard now will be 17,000km! See - I wouldn't know this without this site!
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