03-03-2022, 06:35 AM
Jason
Welcome to the forum. An interesting intro, to say the least. Now for the bad news - but don't stop reading. From what I can see, that is actually a 27MHz CB transceiver and thus it is likely that your Dad was an "Out of Band-er" / "pirate" operator back then - not he was alone in doing that. He just wasn't licensed by the predecessor of today's ACMA. The equipment he used back then is not going to be particularly useful going forward.
You can take a different approach as thes days we have a Foundation Licence level, which is an introductory point in the Australian Amateur Service. A bit of study from a book called the Foundation Licence Manual, an assessment under the auspices of the Australian Maritime College (seems silly but true), the issuing of a callsign upon payment of a licence fee, gathering the right equipment and antenna and you are on-air on one (-or more) of the allowed HF bands or VHF and UHF bands.
These days we have electronic QSL cards as well as paper ones, use different modes of operating - voice, morse, digital - which uses computers to make exchanges under human control - and so many things are different to back then. I was first licensed in 1967 so I was around back at that time, still operating now and still getting a thrill from it. Hopefully it does the same for you. We are coming to a sunspot peak around 2025/2026 so radio propagation should be enhanced - making it a good time to get licensed and active on amateur radio.
Visit your local newsagents and see if they stock "Amateur Radio" magazine published every two months by the WIA - Wireless Institute of Australia - the last issue was Jan/Feb 2022.
You can get a bit more info on current technologies, transceivers, antennas etc from there.
FL manual : https://www.wia.org.au/members/bookshop/...php?id=113
It explains what bands you can use as well, but probably one of the higher HF bands like 21MHz will provide increasing DX access (Google "DX" if you need to).
What you do and what band you use will be determined more by what antennas you erect than what radio you use.
That probably a good starting point but this forum has lots of members who can answer your questions as you proceed along your path. Don't be a stranger.
73 Doug VK4ADC ( and forum admin )
Welcome to the forum. An interesting intro, to say the least. Now for the bad news - but don't stop reading. From what I can see, that is actually a 27MHz CB transceiver and thus it is likely that your Dad was an "Out of Band-er" / "pirate" operator back then - not he was alone in doing that. He just wasn't licensed by the predecessor of today's ACMA. The equipment he used back then is not going to be particularly useful going forward.
You can take a different approach as thes days we have a Foundation Licence level, which is an introductory point in the Australian Amateur Service. A bit of study from a book called the Foundation Licence Manual, an assessment under the auspices of the Australian Maritime College (seems silly but true), the issuing of a callsign upon payment of a licence fee, gathering the right equipment and antenna and you are on-air on one (-or more) of the allowed HF bands or VHF and UHF bands.
These days we have electronic QSL cards as well as paper ones, use different modes of operating - voice, morse, digital - which uses computers to make exchanges under human control - and so many things are different to back then. I was first licensed in 1967 so I was around back at that time, still operating now and still getting a thrill from it. Hopefully it does the same for you. We are coming to a sunspot peak around 2025/2026 so radio propagation should be enhanced - making it a good time to get licensed and active on amateur radio.
Visit your local newsagents and see if they stock "Amateur Radio" magazine published every two months by the WIA - Wireless Institute of Australia - the last issue was Jan/Feb 2022.
You can get a bit more info on current technologies, transceivers, antennas etc from there.
FL manual : https://www.wia.org.au/members/bookshop/...php?id=113
It explains what bands you can use as well, but probably one of the higher HF bands like 21MHz will provide increasing DX access (Google "DX" if you need to).
What you do and what band you use will be determined more by what antennas you erect than what radio you use.
That probably a good starting point but this forum has lots of members who can answer your questions as you proceed along your path. Don't be a stranger.
73 Doug VK4ADC ( and forum admin )
Doug VK4ADC @ QG62LG51
http://www.vk4adc.com
This Forum is only going to be as interesting as the posts it contains.
If you have a comment or question, post it as it may trigger or answer the query in someone else's mind.
http://www.vk4adc.com
This Forum is only going to be as interesting as the posts it contains.
If you have a comment or question, post it as it may trigger or answer the query in someone else's mind.