Update metadata and transcripts through end of July 2026
Refreshed episodes/hosts/comments/series from hpr.sql, and added official HPR transcripts for the 180 episodes aired since the last sync (hpr4516-hpr4695).
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Lee Hanken
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Episode: 4575
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Title: Making First Contact
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Source: https://hub.hackerpublicradio.org/ccdn.php?filename=/eps/hpr4575/hpr4575.mp3
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Transcribed: 2026-07-31 16:14:15 (official HPR transcript)
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---
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This is Hacker Public Radio Episode 4575, for 2026-02-13
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Today's show is entitled, "Making First Contact"
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The host is Ken Fallon and the duration is 00:29:16
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The flag is Clean, and the license is CC-BY-SA
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The summary is "Ken finally makes his first contact with Kees "
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hi everybody my name is ken fallon and you're listening to another episode of hacker public
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radio wow this one has been a long time in the making ladies and gentlemen i am joined here by
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elmer and you are i am case and the call sign is papa alpha seven tango risky oscar or m5 twr
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yeah in five two in five two so um the reason that this we're actually recording after work
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and uh case is a licensed amateur radio operator here in the netherlands and my first contact with
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you was where some sort of i had some sort of aerial uh 5 8 whip thing and uh one of the guys
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said yeah go down to case he knows all about this and ever since then case has been bugging me to do
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uh to become amateur radio operator and it was actually you send me a link that the rsgb which
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is the religious society of the great britain during cold war had switched their introductory licensing
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to online for the first time yeah yeah which actually brings me to this episode because
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they also removed the need to do the when you do the technician class in the uk you're supposed to do
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go to a club and you're supposed to do your first contact and you're supposed to do the aerial and
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stuff and all the physical stuff of course that wasn't allowed during covert times so i skipped over
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that then when i got the intermediate they had put that also online and then when i had done that
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the third one also came online so i ended up not having made a contact and getting my full license
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and now i've got a dutch license due to the magic i'm haric and now i'm paranoid because i got this
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lovely radio which i bought from you or via you and i'm very scared to turn it on because if i get yeah
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get around i'll blow it up a little bit of background from my end then yeah 1990 was my first
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license in the netherlands d license on the vhf what was it 25 watts or 10 watts or whatever in fm mode
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1991 half year later i switched to f-class that was 50 megahertz yeah full license it was 15 megahertz
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and up whereby the six meter band was the only possibility to do dx-ing
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further than let's say 1500 to 2000 kilometers that lasted until the year 2000 where i took the
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advantage of the switching from z class a and b to be to become more less so to say and in one of the very
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last exams in the uk i did the cw uh uh yeah the moscow the moscow exam and hence me getting the uh the m5
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dw as i believe the one and only foreigner in a range of something like maybe 90 or left or so
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and of course i'm uh range super and you're still bugging me to do sort of motorcycle absolutely
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elementary cause yeah it would be nice it would be nice because as i said to you it would be nice
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to get an irish call sign because they're they give you the ie then a number and a three debtor
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if you don't have morse but if you do morse you have to you know it's just a subtle thing it's like
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you've got horse i see you've got horse um that's the same with the m5 right yeah
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it would be nice and it also bugs me that my license has got cw not included yeah yeah on the little
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license card yeah okay now i might not be willing to blow up uh two grand amateur radio but i am
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willing to blow these things up and these things here are both filing five or minis uhf vhf analog
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amateur radios for i was able to get two of them for the price of 35 euros
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to deliver to your house deliver to my house okay somebody somewhere has been exploited but okay fine
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um the guys on the it's probably just one chip inside yeah exactly that's that's what it is and
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that's right it's darn cheap uh the guys on the hbr um uh channel were talking about this so it was
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like a no-brainer and tech minds video i'll put a link in the show notes also a link to pictures of this
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in the show notes as well for this episode so what we're going to do is this is the plan we will open
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this up oh and we will uh make a contact and we will make my first ever contact with an actual radio
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and basically go through what would have gone through had i needed to do it back in the day okay
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sound good yeah let's open the box oh look at that so what we're looking at here are two little
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radios and by little i mean they're tiny they're like very tiny they're like remember the old
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mobile phones yeah i got those specifically so there you go have one room and drill you're gonna
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have one yeah i'll have the other here's here's the battery and the battery uh i did unpack these
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last night on charge actually it's actually made from aluminium right yeah it feels oh basically it's
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heavier okay yeah it feels nice and the battery's got a usb charger on it meaning you don't need any
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additional proprietary connector or whatever however you would i i mean i've got bars of chocolate that
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are bigger than this yeah it feels nice in them it does feel nice yeah you it's clicks together
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it's okay quite well how do you put the box in presumably
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it says bb turn them out okay um anything about the antenna on this
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it says fm 136 to 174 400 to 520 megahertz
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so i'll screw on the little tiny antenna and literally it is the width of my hand
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okay how do i turn this off that is a little bit of a question right it's now in dual band mode so we
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need to try to get rid of that i haven't i have a manual oh dear you didn't find it out first yeah
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we can look at the manual or we can waste everybody's time here while we're talking about
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amateur radios so this thing is um has got a little rubber duck antenna at the top
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it's got a button that says volume on and off and when i turn that on i see the bowfine logo and it
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says four three zero and then disappears menu
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and we'll pause the recording here while we figure out how these radios work
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so we got them working we don't know how but fine i don't know how you do so um what we're going to do
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now is a qso what's what's a qso the qso is just an interaction between two radio licensed radio amateurs
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in this case and just exchange some information and we start by asking whether the frequency is
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actually free to use so no why well you can interfere others if you don't and that we should try to
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avoid them you can just change the frequency take another one which is free and do the conversation
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there so what what uh what spectrum are we using what button with all right this is to meet a bit
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so one four five five uh five two seven megahertz so that means exactly the same thing so yeah which is
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a simple simplex channel and so one four five six hundred and up are for repeaters right and for some
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other uses as well but below that up to one four five what is it two hundred or something that's for
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simplex traffic so when we talk about meters two meters we're talking about it's shorthand for a range
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of frequencies it's about how long the wavelength is that is correct and then you can also say how
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frequent the wavelengths come past is also a way of measuring it it all relates to the propagation speed
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of light so it's essentially the same thing yeah um and that also depends on the antenna that you have
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whether it can pick it up or not or whether it resonates uh better at least on the two on the
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on the two frequency bands that are in this little handle uh yeah so super short of ship optimized so you've
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got all the spectrum and then amateur radio gets a thin slice of the various different bands so you've got
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the very little bands 20 meters 40 meters yeah and we've got a tiny little sliver of all of those and
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then within a country those tiny or within a region those tiny slivers are further divided up so that
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this this part is where you're going to get more schooled this part is where you're going to get
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talky talky stuff yeah here's where our repeaters are recommended not a firm firm very firm depends on the
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country but here in the netlands at least it is an advice yeah so let's do that yeah and you're also not
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wasting time by being somewhere that somebody's not going to be so actually okay so what's next what
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what next would be that we will exchange the callsigns does it matter so say identification i will go cq which
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is a shorthand for or can i go cq talking to you and give your callsign you in example if you're just
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querying whether somebody will respond to you uh beside that like for now we've got the appointment
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here made to do the qso but you're just sending it out in the in the world so to say that radio
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signal is there anyone around basically yeah yeah exactly and then you you provide your call sign
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and then receiving stations on the other end now okay it's a guy from holland or from england or
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whatever country they probably can even see your license class they can in the meantime if they
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really quick look you up on qrz.com so they know your name already up front or at least the location
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they are where you're probably transmitting from and then you exchange the two callsigns so i know that
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you are valid licensed radio amateur and vice versa and then you can have a conversation about almost anything
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you like except uh music in the netherlands that's still not allowed although you can talk about it
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but you can't play it yeah i do hear qsrs whereby an example just a tiny little bit of music or or tiny
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little bit a low volume of music is actually playing in the background i never heard of any problems around
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that topic but what what needs to be avoided is like you are like a pilot's radio station yeah
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broadcast our station yeah that is not what they like yeah and it's supposed to be for amateur use
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and non-commercial exactly exactly so and we should also bear in mind that it's a public channel so
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everybody can listen everybody can listen in so uh be aware that there are small kids or whatever could
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be listening yeah that is of course with normal fm fm mode radios and nowadays we also use digital modes
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whereby at least you can scribble some of it and there are specific propriety uh handles where you
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program a specific code just between what uh let's say two or more handles but uh if you don't know that
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specific programming goes then you cannot decide yeah i thought that's that's sort of gray area because
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you're not supposed to encrypt anything either yeah yeah it happens yeah it happens fair enough okay
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so can i suggest you go outside i'll stay here with the recording yes sure then i'll press the b button
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i'll call qso rcq yeah then what do i do you start talking i just go is this frequency free first of all
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then that is that's the first thing you always need to ask or or just determine whether the
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frequencies you use yeah you want to know for sure you want to be certain then you ask if you can see
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yeah and then uh then there's five and nine what's this five and nine that everybody keeps talking
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about i actually wanted to take a side step and look at your transmitting lookbook what is what is
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what is that about and why should why do you need here because we are here in the netherlands we're
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here in the netherlands and there's not not it's not mandatory and it's not i don't think it's mandatory
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in the uk either but it is mandatory in ireland and i personally think it would be nice to record of
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course yes because i'm not i'm not dx-ing and dx-ing is something that you are very much into um which is
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dx-ing will be contacting this distance stations i guess the action can be described as like a a distant
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dcc entity yeah which can be okay when you start with uh with amateur radio and if the goal of of
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doing the hobby is like okay i want to work as many possible countries or entities then any new country is
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actually a dx for you yes but for me it is like the the very few remaining are all way past 15 000
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kilometers from from where i reside with my with my amateur radio station and yeah you need specific
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conditions provided by mother nature number one politics yeah politics as well but with regards to
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neighbors you mean no no with regard they might be there the it wouldn't happen oh yeah yeah look at
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p5 like like north korea i mean the only way to contact that country is probably via if in the future
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like it happened in the past is with the vn mission yeah and then for the vn mission at the time the only
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way to to one of the ways to talk back to their home country was via the amateur radio yeah un mission yeah
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so they're yeah exactly so yeah unless something funny happens so to say or something totally
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unexpected with with regards to north korean uh north korea um yeah that will be one of the countries
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you've also that i just can't work you also chase chasing dx is something that you've done you've done
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different modes morse codes yeah yeah well all the different yeah there's in the in the united states
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there's a award program uh dxc award program and you basically start with um contacting at least 100
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countries or 100 entities so to say you get all the digital or the paper confirmations or a paper
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confirmation being a qsl card yeah yeah yeah qsl card those cards need to be checked by a field checker from
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the dxc desk most countries have got one person assigned within the amateur radio community
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to do their field checks and then the list will be sent to the usa to the desk and if they approve
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your application then you get a nice award and that you have contacted and confirmed a conversation with
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at least 100 countries but that's just the start next you can also do exactly the same
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on all frequency bands that you are allowed on but you can also start and they've got the program as
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well to do an example in single sideband mode in frequency mode or am mode or cw mode
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so yeah that is rather a life a challenge for life yeah i think that's the right wording here
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uh you probably be never ever complete uh you can never complete admission and some of us now are
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at the stage whereby yeah most of the entities are being confirmed are confirmed and there's just
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nothing new anymore no and then you need to take another look at the hobby you're like okay yeah
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yeah yeah i'm going to do next there are many side steps like you can get all kinds of certificates
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etc etc but the dx hunting so so working that specific entity which cannot on a normal circumstances
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not be reached during the day or night or whatever period of time of the day and then you make the qso
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after five years of waiting and trying and desperately sending emails like i can be please be on the
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frequency in that time at that time of the day we should have at least one percent chance and if then
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the qso completes then you're just happy days yeah of course and i've got several with whereby
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we had to attempt so many qsrs yeah and one of the countries and a qso is sorry just in case
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a qso is just a conversation conversation yeah yeah yeah and so we're going to be having a qso now here
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exactly yeah of course that's very short distance well the vhf radio it'll be the longest distance
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i've ever done yeah yeah yeah exactly exactly but at least it will be in the car my my main uh
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last adventures uh with amateur radio was the 60 meter band 605 uh five megahertz and um the
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the band before that one which i wanted to have completed was the one with 60 meter band
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which is uh with our tiny gardens in the netherlands quite a mission to get accomplished yeah yeah and
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that took me over three years in summer time during the summer months trying out antennas
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up to the very moment where all of a sudden it all came together and then it was like in a half year's
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time i did excellent excellent excellent good stuff and uh because of you i have this hobby now which
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has been very useful um and i know you're interested in dx but for other people listening it's it's like
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when somebody says oh you're in it you know you're you're going to a party at something and you go you're
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in it and you're talking to somebody who's who's doing you know databases for ibm or you're talking
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to somebody who's doing cobalt there's so many different facets of the hobby yeah yeah but the
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good thing about it is once you get your uh once you get your full license uh all how to's and all
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discussions are based on that level of assumption if you're having a conversation with somebody who's got
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a full license you you don't need to start explaining how yeah you you can assume that they know the speed
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of light you can assume that they know what uh when you when you go for the exam for the license right
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you need to have basic knowledge of electronics in example but also about antenna also about propagation
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safety safety safety uh so yeah it's just nice nice common knowledge as well yes it's nothing and only
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anything that i've come up on the course that hasn't i haven't found interesting or yeah or in fact
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useful later on particularly what we do here and work okay should we do this thing
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is it so super okay i'll press pause
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okay
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papa alpha seven kilo echo november go ahead over
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yeah papa alpha seven
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thank you
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what's your call sign again over
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okay okay papa alpha seven
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tango whiskey alpha this is papa alpha seven kilo echo november you're coming in loud and clear these
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are very nice little hand cells and let's say
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back to you
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back to you or do you say over
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yeah okay papa alpha seven kilo echo november this is papa alpha seven
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tango whiskey oscar
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yeah yeah
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maybe it's one kind of menu setting in the little uh but uh the audio is very good um
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very crisp uh nice mid and high pitch so um yeah this is not bad at all i wonder how much how much
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how much output power how much rf is actually transmitted by the little radio whether it will be like
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a few on the billy watts or maybe even a few watts but uh sounds very good indeed uh papa alpha seven kilo echo november this is papa alpha seven
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tango whiskey oscar listening to
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tango whiskey alpha is papa alpha seven kilo echo november
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um yeah it sounds good here i think uh i think we can call this
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done i did have one question should you um
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should i be doing this in dutch or uh in english over back to you papa alpha seven
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kilo echo november back to you yeah it's papa alpha seven kilo echo november this papa alpha
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seven tango whiskey oscar w o returning um in english or dutch it doesn't really matter right
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i mean as long as we can identify our call signs and we did which using the international spelling
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alphabet alphabet the nato alphabet it's all fine okay though then we call it an end uh papa alpha
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seven kilo echo november thanks for the qso and see you back upstairs in a few minutes from papa
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alpha seven tango whiskey oscar papa alpha seven tango whiskey oscar closing your station cheers
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so we're picking this up again so now i've got my logbook not everybody has to do this but it's also
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no harm what you're doing it so i actually know that exactly the same time yeah so uh i'm filling
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out the days the start time in utc oh utc so that would be 13 at the moment 13 28 and the frequency
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that we were on 145 525 and it was fm frequency modulation power we don't know it was high power so i
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assume they've got something like in the book station called was pa 7 it doesn't matter if
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called or worked
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t w o report was five and nine and received was five and nine
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first contact contact
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for
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i'll fill in the number when i get it
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they don't specify the rf power i'll uh i'll fill that i'll find out and put it in the show notes
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for this episode look it's not in there the technical specifications with the output power is
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lovely i think it's uh usually around five lots
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so what happens now what would you what would happen normally if you were at home and doing this
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all right then i lock it in my electronic electronic logbook and yet
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that that lookbook i can manually upload to the dcc desk in the states yeah and or to clublog in germany yeah
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and then the qso will be hopefully uploaded by you as well yeah and then we got the confirmation yeah that
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indeed both parties uh both stations entered the same date frequency mode etc etc and then the qso is
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being confirmed in a digital from a digital perspective and then count for the netherlands as
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your first dcc you just work now your first country your first entity or country and next
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uh if one like then one likes then uh we can exchange qso card which is a postcard sized
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card uh often decorated uh however you want it to be with your call sign and the flag of the country
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or or i have one of yours here which i'll put a photo in the show notes yeah sure and on the back of
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that card or on the front depending on the back uh you write the qso data so the date of the day the
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time the frequency used the mode used power used maybe some remarks and uh that will be exchanged uh
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in uh can be exchanged two ways one is uh direct over the mail yeah or via the snail snail mail system
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and the other way is via the qsl bureau which is a collective uh postal system for qsl cards amongst
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countries or better to say amongst amateur radio unions within the country so it goes but then it
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takes a long time in general like all the year is nothing somebody's going to germany so they'll bring
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a bag to germany so you can probably imagine that if you send the qsl card to a distance uh dxcc uh it
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can take up to many years before this even sent yeah but it's once it's it's not two euros to send a card
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even to europe exactly so if you wait for 11 of them you can send 20 kilos of a box for that price
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yeah you can probably also imagine that if you make your first qso like you did now you're very
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eager to get the qso card yeah you can probably also imagine that if you were the thousand pa
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yeah you're not really interested more in the cards yeah but if you still want to because of some
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certificate or or or whatever award program is maybe maybe maybe used by yourself then you can
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still request it by sending a card via bureau which will take ages general but the cards will be there
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yeah the losses are minimal fortunately the other way is that you log in into club log one of the
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electronic systems and you can directly request a qsl card being sent over the post you pay a few
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dollars like two or three dollars just for the purchase costs and then you can expect your card
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much quicker being at your own okay case we're hitting uh half an hour on that i think that was
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uh absolutely excellent thank you for taking the time most welcome i'd like to be not sure i'm gonna
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thank you for the fact that uh you got me into this thing in the first place but uh it's been uh it's been
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a lot of hard work uh very rewarding and um i messed up my first qso but you know how you did we got there
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in the end of course um thanks case and tune in everybody tomorrow for another exciting episode of hacker public radio
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You have been listening to the Hacker Public Radio podcast, at hackerpublicradio.org.
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Today's show was contributed by a HPR listener like yourself.
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If you ever thought of recording a podcast, then visit the HPR site to find out how easy it really is.
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Hosting for HPR has been kindly provided by anhonesthost.com, the Internet Archive, rsync.net, and the HPR Community Content Delivery Network.
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Unless otherwise stated, today's show is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) license.
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