Dictionary of Ham Radio Terms

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A

Amplitude : the height of a wave from the average or median position.

Amsat : The name for amateur radio satellite organizations world-wide, but in particular the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation

AMTOR : A specialised form of RTTY protocol. An acronym for AMateur Teleprinting Over Radio.

ARRL : The American Amateur Radio League - the national ham radio association for the USA

APRS : Automatic Position Reporting System.

ATV : Amateur Television - "moving picture" ham TV transmissions.

B

Balun : A passive electronic device that converts between balanced and unbalanced electrical signals using some form of electromagnetic coupling.

Band : the portions of the Electromagnetic Spectrum that are allocated to ham radio operators

Boat Anchor : A slang term used to describe obsolete ham radio gear - often applied to old transceivers

BPSK : (Biphase Shift Keying). A digital modulation method for transmitting data.

C

Callsign A unique identifier for each radio amteur throughout the world

CNDX : Abbreviation for Conditions

Coaxial Cable : Cable that has a central conductor and an outer shield as the second conductor. Known as coaxial because the cable is cylindrical and the conductors share the same central axis.

CW Abbreviations Used by CW operators to reduce the length of transmissions by shortening words or phrases to a 2 or three letter code

D

Dipole : An antenna with two sides, usually of equal length.

Dish : A highly directional antenna, parabolic in shape. Often used at microwave frequencies.

DTMF Dual Tone Multi Frequency - the allocation of a unique tone to each button on an appliance (made up of two frequencies - high and low) that allows a computer to recognize the tone.

Dummy Load : An artificila antenna that does not radiate. used when alligning transceivers.

DXCC : DX Century Club

DX : Distance

E

Electromagnetic Waves : The waves emmitted by an antenna, having two dimensions, electric and magnetic.

F

Feedline : The wire of cable that jouns a transmitter or receiver to an antenna

Frequency: the number of complete waves that pass a reference point per second. Expressed in Hertz (Hz)

G

Gain : How much more effective an antenna is as a radiator than a half wave dipole

GMT : Greenwich Mean Time - the time at Gereenwich UK

H

Hertz : Hz - The unit of measure for frequency.

HF : High Frequency. Frequencies in the range 3MHz to 30MHz

I

IRLP Internet Radio Linking Project. A method of linking cross-world linking of repeaters so that very basic equipment can be used to communicate with hams in other countries.

J

JOTA : Jamboree On The Air - an annual event in which scouts worldwide can communicate with each other and radio amateurs using ham radio equipment.

K

Kilohertz : one thousand Hertz (Hz) or one thousand cycles per second.

L

LPDA : Log Periodic Dipole Array. A multiband Antenna

M

Morse Code The code used by CW operators instead of voice communications

N

O

OM : abbreviation meaning Old Man

OSCAR : Orbiting Satellite Carrying Amateur Radio

OCF : Off Centre Fed Dipole. A dipole that has sides of unequal length. These are multiband wire antennas

P

Period : the time it taks in seconds for a complete wave to pass a reference point.

Phonetic Alphabet Specific, easily identfiable, non-confusable words are used instead of the letters of the alphabet.

PSK : Phase Shift Keying - a digital mode.

Q

Q Code Three letter codes used instead of sentences or phrases.

QRM : Man made noise. Can be used to indicate noise interfering with an amateur station or an amateur station interfering with other spectrum users.

QRN : Electromagnetic noise from natural sources interfering with amateur transmissions

QSL : Confirmation of receipt of transmission