eHam Reviews – www.eham.net/reviews/ - very useful customer reviews of all types of amateur radio equipment of all vintages. This is of particular importance if you are just getting started and want to know how well a piece of equipment has stood up to use before you buy used. New equipment gets reviews fairly quickly too so you can check and see what first impressions are like equipment after the user has had a month or so to try it out.

Rig Pics - http://www.rigpix.com/index.shtml - photos and some specifications on a variety of ham radio gear

 
Equipment Manuals 

Boat Anchor Manuals - http://bama.sbc.edu/ - a variety of manuals for older ham radio gear including test equipment.

Ham Radio India - http://www.hamradioindia.com/html/kwdman.htm  -  A very nice collection of Kenwood manuals  

XE1BEF manuals - http://members.fortunecity.com/xe1bef/icom-manuals.htm - A collection of Icom Manuals

mods.dk - http://www.mods.dk/view.php?ListManuals=icom  -  a site with manuals for a variety of brands, also modifications

Alinco manuals - http://www.alinco.com/pdf.files/ 

CQHAM Manuals - http://www.cqham.ru/sch_eng.html  -  Russian site with manuals for a variety of equipment

AC6V manuals - http://www.ac6v.com/manuals.htm  -  manuals of a variety of equipment plus links to other commercial and none commercial sites.

The British Columbia Amateur Radio Resource  -  http://www.hamradio.bc.ca/manuals.html

 
Computerized Morse Code Tutors

G4FON – www.g4fon.net/  -  excellent free Morse training software. Hard to beat.

NuMorse Pro – www.nu-ware.com/Features.htm   -  a very good commercial Morse training software package from England. There are several versions of NuMorse but my experience is that the NuMorse “Pro” package is the most flexible though for some it may be a bit of a learning curve at first. Lots of capabilities to explore and worth the extra effort.

MRX Morse Tutor - http://www.mrx.com.au/  -  (also internet communications using Morse, etc). A very flexible training package. It can be used unregistered but if paid for and registered offers more bells and whistles.

Learn CW On Line - http://www.lcwo.net/

Amateur Radio Software Links

HK3SGP  links - http://www.qsl.net/hk3sgp/ 

Packet Radio Software - http://members.fortunecity.com/xe1bef/packetsoftware.htm

Setting up a packet radio system, setting levels etc. -

http://www.febo.com/packet/layer-one/transmit.html

Amateur Radio Software on a Brazilian site - http://www.feirinhadigital.com.br/rbr/HAM/LINKS/SOFTWARE.HTM 

AC6V Grand bonanza of links to a huge variety of amateur radio software - http://www.ac6v.com/  

 Health Effects Of Radio Frequency Radiation

Radio Frequency Radiation should not be confused with nuclear radiation. The effects are quite different. Nuclear radiation is called ionizing radiation and can be used to disrupt the multiplication of cancerous cells and it can also cause genetic damage to cells, sort of a double edge sword that must be handled carefully. X-Ray radiation falls into the same category and there are differences between soft radiation and hard radiation in the amount of tissue damage. Soft X-rays are generated by equipment utilizing lower beam voltages whereas hard radiation is generated by X-Ray equipment utilizing very high voltages in beam generation. There is a difference, too, as to ability to penetrate substances. Hard X-Rays are used to examine machinery for cracks.

When we speak of radio frequency radiation we are talking about non ionizing electromagnetic radiation. Generally the effects of RF radiation we are concerned with is that it causes tissue heating. Microwave ovens have a magnetron that generates RF at 2.45 GHz and the oven's whole reason for being is to heat materials.

Diathermy machines are similar to a radio transmitter but without the modulation. It has pads to connect it to parts of the body. When I was a boy electric diathermy was used in a nearby hospital for deep warming of body parts that had been damaged in accidents (bruises, sprains and strains). Today ultrasonic sound energy is often used to accomplish the same thing.  In electric diathermy many different frequencies are used depending on what the technology is being used for.

There are still some concerns with RF radiation as to whether it can cause cells to become cancerous. Millions of dollars worth of testing has been done without significant major conclusions being drawn. The only item I ran into which seemed to be solid as far as tissue damage is concerned was to do with some old Motorola cell phones. They had an antenna with a cover on the tip. If you knocked the cover off the tip you could get a bare antenna end against your skin. The thought was that small RF burns may have been damaging cells by direct contact. It sounds reasonable. If you ever have a hand held radio of any kind,including a cell phone, make sure that the antenna is properly covered.

One other major concern of people has been to do with RF Radiation and pacemakers.  The first pacemakers were somewhat sensitive to external RF energy and could falsely trigger and cause problems. Modern implanted pacemakers have lots of protection in the form of filters on their input and output leads.

Document on RF effects on implants:  ldsradio.ca/pdf/Pacemakers_and_radio_transmitters.pdf

Health Canada Safety Code 6 (RF Exposure Limits):  http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ewh-semt/pubs/radiation/99ehd-dhm237/index_e.html

RSS-102- Radio Frequency Exposure Compliance of Radio Frequency Apparatus
http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/smt-gst.nsf/eng/sf01904.html

Radio Amateurs Canada Information on RF Safety:  http://www.rac.ca/regulatory/rfe.htm

HF Rig Control Software

TRX Software for computer controlling your HF Transceiver. Commercial product -  http://www.trx-manager.com/

HAM Radio Deluxe - a free or by donation software suite for controlling your HF transceiver -  http://hrd.ham-radio.ch/default.htm

Supercontrol - http://www.supercontrol.de/  - Commercial Transceiver control software (Yaesu products)

Logger32  -  http://www.logger32.net/   -  a very good free transceiver control package with logging capability.

Electronic Projects and Info

Sam's projects -  http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/samschem.htm#schahv2a

Scope probes -  http://www.elexp.com/t_probe.htm

Sam's schematics (drawings done with characters) -  http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/samschem.htm#schahv2a 

Peter Parker's Radio Projects - http://home.alphalink.com.au/~parkerp/project.htm

Electronic Cct. "Beans" Collection -  http://www.interq.or.jp/japan/se-inoue/e_ckt.htm

The Electric Wave - Electronic Ccts -  http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Lab/5185/electronics.html 

Washington Ed. Cct Archives -  http://www.ee.washington.edu/circuit_archive/circuits/

UK Cct Exchange -  http://www.zen22142.zen.co.uk/schematics.htm

Ian Purdie's Tutorials and links to more circuits -  http://my.integritynet.com.au/purdic/ar_links.htm

Operational Amplifier Ccts and trng info -  http://www.uoguelph.ca/~antoon/gadgets/741/741.html

ARRL Quick Reference -  http://www.arrl.org/news/files/HandyReference.pdf

Norwich Connecticut (ARRL) Project Page - http://www.rason.org/Projects/projects.html
      Very good project page.

Electronic parts and kits -  http://www.danscloseoutsandspecialdeals.com/

Digi Key - http://www.digikey.com/  -  good source of electronic parts with fast next day delivery (Minnesota)

Mouser Electronics -  http://www.mouser.com/  -   - another good source of electronic parts (Texas and California)

Call Sign Data Bases  

RAC Call Sign Data Base -  www.rac.ca/callbook/ – Type in a call sign and get info on the owner of that call or type in a name and get the call sign. Note that when you first start out you start with what is called a three letter call sign. After five years or so you can apply for a two letter call sign and there is a small fee for the paperwork by Industry Canada. I had a call sign – VE7XDH and later switched to VA7DH. I also cancelled my first call sign. The VE7 prefix is for BC and a few years ago Industry Canada found they were running out of call signs under that so opened up the VA7 prefix. The other provinces have other prefixes and you will learn about those as you study for your exams. See RIC (Radio Information Circulars) 2 for details at:

These are the documents you will need to understand and commit to heart, especially :

Note: If there are any useful links that you feel would be an asset to this web site for helping members to get their amateur radio certification send it/them along. If there is information you think would benefit the rest of us who already have our certification then pass that along too. I have 20 megs of memory to play with here, “not gigabytes” so that’s the reality. I’m no professional proof reader and so I’m sure that there are some errors in all of this so tell me about them too especially if they are particularly annoying.

Marine VHF channel frequencies and usage
http://vancouver-webpages.com/peter/marine.txt

ARRL -  http://www.arrl.org/  -  American radio Relay League , similar to the RAC in Canada but a much bigger organization.
 
RSGB -  http://www.rsgb.org.uk/  -  Radio Society of Great Britain

VA3RJ - YL Clubs and Organizations - http://www.qsl.net/va3rj/yl_org.html

YL RADIO (Western Canada YL Amateur Radio Web Site) - http://www.qsl.net/ylradio/worldwide.html

CQ-100 - http://www.qsonet.com/programs.html -  A virtual ham radio world on the internet. It allows you to hone your skills without being on a real radio where you may feel you could be embarrassed in front of millions of listeners. You can virtually chat with one or more hams via voice or Morse code on the net. The catch is that you must already be a certified HAM before you can join up. All you need is a 70% pass to become certified. You can then join this group and practice your Morse with someone until you are ready to take the test. Once you have past your Morse you have access to HF, a whole new world. If you are living in a condo or an apartment you can just keep using CQ-100 until you have a radio and screwdriver antenna mounted on it or a house out in the suburbs where you can put up antennas and do the real thing. Meanwhile a good substitute. A second catch is that there is a fee for use of  $32 a year after a 9 month trial period (try before you buy sort of thing). I know hams who regularly use the program even though they have a real radio with a real antenna. The trouble with a real world is that it has periods when the sun isn't too active and we don't get good conditions for transmission. With CQ-100 you can depend upon a system which is pretty decent all of the time and there's people using it everywhere so always someone to chat with any time of day or night. If you can't sleep you can find someone to shoot the breeze with.

World Time Server:   www.worldtimeserver.com/current_time_in_CA-BC.aspx  –   Time around the world up-to-the-minute

Radio Refrerence:   http://www.radioreference.com/ - multiple interesting radio links

Another Amateur Radio Reference (very good UK site):
 http://www.arar93.dsl.pipex.com/mds975/Content/amateur_radio_information.html

Clallam County Amateur Radio Club -  http://www.olyham.com/html/repeaters.html

Has listings of NW Washington State plus SW BC including southern Vancouver Island

Abbotsford Radio Club - http://www.ve7rva.ca/

The Abbotsford club repeater on Sumas Mtn does a good job of illuminating the Fraser Valley and much od southern Vancouver Island.

Island Trunk System - http://www.islandtrunksystem.org/

A group of amateur radio repeaters that make a communications backbone for Vancouver Island Stretching from Victoria to the north end of the Island.

BC Amateur Radio Co-ordination Council - http://www.bcarcc.org/

A group made up from members of amateur clubs around the province tasked with co-ordination of repeater frequencies given out so repeaters are not conflicting with each other. You can find repeater listings for all of the province here.

Repeater Co-ordination Councils Across Canada - http://www.rac.ca/opsinfo/coordina.htm

Frequency co-ordination councils in all provinces and territories.

As you get toward the end of your studies and are feeling confident that you are ready to write your exam you can start to consider what you want as a call sign. If you look at the cover of the Ron Kolody manual you will see a map of Canada with all the provinces, territories, and ocean marked on it. There are groups of prefix call letters for each of those and in the case of the provinces there are now two sets of prefixes. All prefixes begin with  VA, VE,  or VY. In the case of the provinces they count from East to West starting with VE1 and VA1 in Prince Edward Island and end up with VA7 and VE7 in British Columbia. After that there doesn't appear like there was a sense of order, maybe something to do with when the rest of the country joined Confederation. The boaters who spend much of their time cruising beyond the boundaries of our country can have a special VE0 call sign. It should not normally be used while tied up at the shore where you live. 

When you start out as a ham you will usually get a three letter suffix. After you have been a ham for five years you can apply for a two letter call sign. Mine is VA7DH. The only other way you can get a two letter call sign is to inherit one from a deceased relative.

Use the call sign data base links for looking up call signs to determine if the call sign you want is already in use. When submitting your application form for certification you will be asked for three possible call signs you would be interested in. You write them down in order of importance to you, number one in importance on top. There are certain call signs Industry Canada will not accept just because they may be offensive so be careful what you ask for.

 If you think that you may have a desire to go into Morse code you may wish to consider the characters that make up your call sign. Try them out and see what they sound like to you and will sound like to others. Ask yourself if the call sign is easily read. If it's hard to read on air then you are giving yourself a penalty when it comes to contesting.  Something to consider because you may get interested in that in the future. Not a big deal though, in the future you can pay for an additional call sign if you wish.

LDS Hams
http://www.ldshams.com

Emergency and Welfare Rolls of  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints 
President  Gordon B. Hinckley,    May 13, 1999
http://www.lawac.org/speech/pre%20sept%2004%20speeches/hinckley99.htm

Mercury NW
http://www.mercurynorthwest.org/index.php

- A Group, mostly, if not all, made up of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints from around the NW of the USA (Washington and Oregon plus some Canadians from BC and Alberta). The main purpose of the group is to provide radio communications training to assist in disaster relief and general emergency communications. Some weekend courses are periodically provided and a regular weekly HF net is run on 3.965 MHz, Monday evenings 9 PM / 21:00 PST. New members are welcome. A good antenna system is helpful. It's suggested that members in the general area install an NVIS (Near Vertical Incidence Skywave) antenna, sometimes called a cloud warmer.

Antennas designed for DX (long distance) don't work well for local emergency communications on HF because the main transmission lobes are at a shallow launch angle. The signals go out and bounce off the ionosphere at a distance and then hit the ground a long way off. The space between the transmitting antenna and where those signals come to earth is often a big dead zone.

An NVIS antenna shoots most of its signal straight up. Some of the signal manages to reflect off the ionosphere back down with an umbrella coverage of around 300 mile radius. I have found that my full wave 80m horizontal loop which is located about 36 feet above the ground actually gives me more coverage than 300 miles but it's a question of diminishing returns. Signals from Salt Lk City, Waterton Lk in SW Alberta, etc, have a hard time competing with atmospheric noise. I am located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island (SW corner of British Columbia Canada).

W2IK - Some exciting Ham radio stories: 
http://www.hometown.aol.com/haminfo/bearradio.html

Municipal Emergency Frequencies
(Simplex and Repeaters)
 and Emergency Plans

Programmed Frequencies for Emergency Communications, Whatcom and Skagit Counties
http://wcraces.org/downloads/WhatcomFrequencies.pdf

Vector (Vancouver Emergency Community Telecommunications Organization)
http://www.vector.comm.sfu.ca/PEP.html

Saanich Peninsula Emergency Measures Organization
http://www.pemo.ca/PEMO%20Communications%20Plan.pdf

WARA (West Coast Amateur Radio Association) Emergency Communications Team
- Associated with the Canadian Red Cross
http://www.ve7vic.ca/content/view/27/47/

 CRERCC  (Capital Region Emergency Radio Coordinators Committee)
http://www.ve7ed.com/documents/104.html

BC Aviation Frequencies
http://www.canairradio.com/bc.html

Scan BC - Scanner Frequencies
http://www.scanbc.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

Vancouver Island Scanner reference
http://www.members.shaw.ca/bcscanner/index.htm

Links to scanner info for US, Canada, Mexico, and beyond
http://www.fordyce.org/scanning/links.html#BC

Greater Victoria Frequencies

http://www.members.shaw.ca/bcscanner/Victoria%20Frequencies.htm

National Scanner Frequencies  http://www.nationalradiodata.com/

Scanner Manuals

 Radio Shack Manuals and specs for their Realistic line of scanners.
http://support.radioshack.com/support_electronics/2849.htm

More scanner manuals on line
http://www.usascan.com/files/manuals.html

Radio gear can be either borrowed or used to get going. No need to spend lavishly unless you have deep pockets, and especially if you don’t really know what you want yet.

Here are several places you can go to to find used and new equipment.

West Coast Amateur Radio Association - Victoria
Vernon Swap n Shop
HARC (Halifax Amateur Radio Club)
LSR (Lake Simcoe Repeater Association)
Manitoba Repeater Association
Ontario Swap n Shop
Newfoundland Swap n Shop
Amateur Radio Swap & Shop Canada

If you know of a Canadian HAM radio swap-n-shop that you think should be listed here then send me a note. Thanks in advance. 73

Burnaby Radio  (Hastings st, Burnaby)
Com-West    (Man St  Vancouver)
Durham Radio (Whitby Ontario)
Elkel Radio (Quebec)
Radioworld (Toronto)
NTFC (Calgary)
Maple Leaf Communications   Everett, Ontario

HAM Radio Outlet (HRO)  Several locations in the US
HAM City   Located in Culver City