En radioamatør er en person, der har telegrafi, radiofoni eller radioteknik som hobby (jævnfør ordet amatør), det kan være enten som lytteramatør (til tider kaldet dx'ere efter radioforkortelsen DX for distance, da man gerne lytter til fjerne sendere) med en radiomodtager (inkl. fx skanner) eller som både sender- og modtager-amatør enten på privatradiobåndene eller som licenseret radioamatør.
En licenseret radioamatør[1] (omfatter også licenseret kortbølgeamatør) er en person, der har bestået en prøve (kategori A, B eller D), og som derfor har lov til (licens til) at udføre radiotekniske eksperimenter på nogle dertil afsatte radiofrekvenser ved brug af alle former for radiosendere, modtagere og antennetyper.
Blandt de mange eksperimenter, radioamatører udfører, er bl.a. sammenkobling af internettet og radiokommunikation. Et af disse eksperimenter er verdensdækkende og kaldes EchoLink.
[3]
Verdens første radioamatør var dansker: Einar Dessau (1892-1988), der i starten af 1900-tallet eksperimenterede med egne konstruktioner.[4][5][6][7]
Dette på et tidspunkt, hvor Guglielmo Marconi lige havde gennemført sit banebrydende og succesfulde forsøg med transmission af radiosignaler over Atlanten i 1901.[8] I dag er der omkring 3.000.000 radioamatører kloden rundt, hvoraf en promille (3.000) findes i Danmark.
Licenserede radioamatører får efter bestået prøve tildelt et kaldesignal, som sammensættes således:[10][11]
et ITU-præfiks bestående af to tegn; højst et ciffer (Danske kaldesignaler som kan anvendes på danske adresser: OZ, og fra 1. marts 2007 også OU, OV, 5P og 5Q[1][12])
op til fire tegn (cifre eller bogstaver), hvoraf det sidste skal være et bogstav.
Et kaldesignal kan fx være OZ7EDR eller 5Q2J eller OZ50̷MHZ (ofte skrives nul som 0̷ (engelsk en:slashed zero) eller ʘ (engelsk en:dotted zero) for at undgå forveksling).
Landes mulige radioamatør kaldesignal præfiks er listet her og i disse kilder.[13]
Lytteramatører kan også få et kaldesignal, hvilket fx kan anvendes ved lytterapporter (QSL-kort) af en radiostation eller en licenseret radioamatør.[14]
Kortbølgebåndet
Et sted som udsteder lytteramatørkaldesignaler er hjemmesiden Short Wave Amateur Radio Listening - kort SWARL.[15] En liste over SWARLs lytteramatørkaldesignaler er her.[16]
Følgende frekvensbånd må en licenseret radioamatør i Danmark benytte. For så vidt angår MF og HF, der kan reflekteres af jordens ionosfære, og derfor ofte benyttes til international kommunikation, er frekvenserne koordineret globalt af ITU. Brugen af frekvenserne indenfor de enkelte amatørbånd (båndplan) er ikke reguleret af ITU, men IARU (International Amateur Radio Union) producerer en vejledende båndplan for hver af de tre ITU regioner, og de enkelte landes IARU-tilknyttede organisationer (i Danmark EDR) udarbejder på den baggrund de nationale båndplaner.[17] Man kan søge om at benytte yderligere frekvenser.
Svaret på hvorfor de efterfølgende bånd både kaldes ved deres bølgelængde i meter og frekvens i Hertz skyldes, at radiobølger i radiofoniens barndom før 1920'erne, kalder radiobølger ved deres bølgelængde i meter.[18] Mellem ca. 1923 til 1960 anbefales det at angive radiobølgers frekvens i cycles-per-second (cps). Fra 1960 angives frekvens i Hertz.[19] Som det ses angives båndene i meter og det er omkring år 2000 den mest udbredte benævnelse. Selvom et frekvensbånd benævnes et antal meter, behøver den givne bølgelængde, ikke at være indeholdt i frekvensbåndet (regn fx på 10, 20, 40 meter båndene). Skal man stille ind på en radiostation, angives den ved sin bærebølges frekvens.
Man kan møde licenseret radioamatør aktivitet uden for ovenstående bånd, da man i andre ITU-regioner (og lande) kan have allokeret større eller andre frekvensbånd:
Nogle administrationer har bemyndiget spektra for amatørbrug i dette frekvensområde.
1 Dette bånd er ikke nævnt i ITU's Table of Frequency Allocations, men individuelle administrationer kan lave allokeringer under Article 4.4 af ITU Radio Regulations. 2 HF allokeringer lavet ved 1979 World Administrative Radio Conference. Disse kaldes almindeligvis "WARC-bånd". 3 This includes a currently active footnote allocation mentioned in the ITU's Table of Frequency Allocations.
^adventurersclub.dk: Einar Dessau Citat: "...1909 Først radioamatør, der indfangede en transmission, på en selvbygget radio, sammen med Ernst Nyrop. Signalet var Strauss-operetten Karneval i Venedig...", backup
^March 18, 2013, infostory.com: First Broadcast by Ham Radio Operator Citat: "...Today in 1909, Einar Dessau of Denmark used a shortwave transmitter to converse with a government radio post about six miles away in what is believed to have been the first broadcast by a ‘ham’ radio operator...", backup
^calisphere.org: Image / Receiver for first amateur radio in the world by Einar Dessau Citat: "...Poulsen Valdimar. Photo. No. 1." "Receiver for first amateur radio in the world, using galena chrystal and graphite point. On right, experimental model (1909). Attempting to make four lead vacuum tube for transmitting." Caption by Douglas Perham, part of a series of pictures from an exhibition regarding "the first amateur station in the world, by Einar Dessau, in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1907...", backup, billed backup
^nobelprize.org: Guglielmo Marconi: The Nobel Prize in Physics 1909 Citat: "...on an historic day in December 1901, determined to prove that wireless waves were not affected by the curvature of the Earth, he used his system for transmitting the first wireless signals across the Atlantic between Poldhu, Cornwall, and St. John’s, Newfoundland, a distance of 2100 miles...", backup
^worldradiohistory.com: Broadcast listening in the pioneer days of radio on the short waves, 1923 1945 Jerome S. Berg Citat: "...It is hard to believe today that, until around 1920, virtually all transmitting, by everyone and for all purposes, both short range and long range, was in the frequencies below approximately 1500 kc., or the area that we think of today as the long- and medium- wave bands. This was partly the case because shorter waves were difficult to produce without tubes, which were still in their infancy. It was widely believed that these low frequencies were the only ones of value, and that higher frequency channels, to the extent they could be reached at all, were either worthless for communication purposes or the lairs of technological dragons....The belief that long distance required long wavelengths (that is, low frequencies) was one of the great scientific mistakes of radio's infancy...In addition to having to obtain licenses - a constraint to which they adapted only slowly - the amateurs were, with some exceptions, restricted to the range below 200 meters (that is, above 1500 kc.), bands that were largely unexplored and thought to be of little value. The navy attributed most interference to the amateurs, and was happy to see them on the road to a hoped - for extinction. From the amateurs' point of view, their development of the shortwave spectrum began less as a love affair than a shotgun marriage. However, all that would change...It took several years before experimenters ventured above 2-3 mc. and started to understand such things as shortwave propagation and directionality. The short waves, as they were called, were surrounded with mystery...Also in 1928 Radio News publisher Hugo Gernsback began shortwave broadcasting on 9700 kc. from his station, WRNY, New York, using the call W2XAL. "A reader in New South Wales, Aus- tralia," reported Gernsback, "writes us that while he was writing his letter he was listening to WRNY's short-wave transmitter, 2XAL, on a three-tube set; and had to turn down the volume, otherwise he would wake up his family. All this at a distance of some 10,000 miles! Yet 2XAL ...uses less than 500 watts; a quite negligible amount of power. "6...The 1930s were the golden age of shortwave broadcasting...Shortwave also facilitated communication with people in remote areas. Amateur radio became a basic ingredient of all expeditions...", backup
^edr.dk: OZ 05/2007: LytteramatørenArkiveret 21. juli 2017 hos Wayback Machine Citat: "...Åbning af nye kaldesignaler i Danmark/Grønland og Færøerne., efter ansøgning kan der nu i Danmark (OZ) søges om OU-OV-5P og 5Q og for Grønland OX-XP og for Færøerne OY-OW, så nu bliver der nok af nye kaldesignaler at lytte til, SWL manageren har endnu ikke hørt de nye Call. De nye call kan blive udstedt fra første marts 2007, så det skulle ikke være en Aprilsspøg..."
^wimo.com: SWL - Discover the world of shortwaves, backup Citat: "...Not only licensed radio amateurs exchange QSL cards among themselves for their two-way radio connections. Shortwave listeners who are not involved in the radio communication also participate in the radio operation as passive participants by sending reception reports to listened stations via QSL card...The BCL is a broadcast listener who, in addition to long and medium wave, is mainly on short wave..."
^swarl.org: SWL Call Signs Citat: "...If you would like to receive your unique Call Sign, just drop an email to us and we will issue one to you. There is no cost for this service, The email address is Call.Signs@swarl.org Alternatively, you can fill in the application form online, right from this site. Check this form here...." , Hovedside: https://swarl.org/
^earlyradiohistory.us: Kilohertz to Meters Conversion Charts Citat: "...The general public, used to wavelengths, had to be coaxed into making the transition to frequencies, and it was a good fifteen years before you stopped seeing references to wavelengths in the U.S. (In Europe, where mediumwave stations are assigned in 9 khz steps, they still are commonly reported by wavelength). In 1923 many publications started to print conversion charts like the two listed above, with explanations about this newfangled frequency concept. However, there was one area of inconsistency, which explains why I've included two slightly different charts...", backup