Explain the Volunteer Monitor Program, aim long-path beams, call CQ on HF, and know logs, contest ID and QRP.
Syllabus: Volunteer Monitor Program; HF operations
Compendium articles on the ideas in this lesson, beyond what the exam asks.
Practise the 11 pool questions for this group. Answers are shuffled, and every one comes with a one-line "why".
The Volunteer Monitor Program enlists amateurs to monitor the airwaves for rules violations. Its aim is self-regulation: encourage operators to follow the rules. (Not exams, not repeater coordination, not emergency comms.)
To find a stuck carrier on a repeater input, monitors compare beam headings from their own homes. Where the headings cross is the source.
RememberVM: volunteers watching for violations. Find a carrier by crossing beam headings.
An azimuthal projection map is centred on your station and shows true bearings and distances from it.
For a long-path contact, point the beam 180° from the short-path heading.
RememberLong path = short-path heading plus or minus 180°.
Spell call signs with the NATO phonetic alphabet: Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta... (Able Baker, Adam Boy and America Boston are other alphabets.) Reports go first so each station can operate according to conditions.
Remember"CQ CQ CQ, this is" call sign, pause. Phonetics: Alpha, Bravo, Charlie.
Memory hookQRP: P for Power, kept low.