My Radio Shack

Q- Codes

The Amateur Radio Q-Code

Signal	Question	Answer, Advice or Order
QRG	Will you indicate my exact frequency in kilocycles?	Your frequency is ... kc.
QRH	Does my frequency vary?	Your frequency varies.
QRI	How is the tone of my transmission?	The tone of your transmission is ... 1. Good. 2. Variable. 3. Bad.
QRJ	Are you receiving me badly? Are my signals weak?	I cannot receive you. Your signals are too weak.
QRK	What is the legibility of my signals (1 to 5)?	The legibility of your signals is ... (1 to 5).
QRL *	Are you busy?	I am busy (or busy with....). Please do not interfere.
QRM *	Are you being interfered with?	I am being interfered with.
QRN *	Are you troubled by static?	I am troubled by static.
QRO *	Must I increase power?	Increase power.
QRP *	Must I decrease power?	Decrease power.
QRQ *	Must I send faster?	Send faster ... (words per min.).
QRS *	Must I send more slowly?	Transmit more slowly ... (w.p.m.).
QRT *	Must I stop transmission?	Stop transmission.
QRU *	Have you anything for me?	I have nothing for you.
QRV *	Are you ready?	I am ready.
QRW	Must I advise ... that you are calling him on ... kc?	Please advise ... that I am calling him on ... kc.
QRX *	When will you call again?	I will call you again at ... hours (on ... kc.).
QRZ *	By whom am I being called?	You are being called by ...
QSA	What is the strength of my signals (1 to 5)?	The strength of your signals is ... (1 to 5).
QSB *	Does the strength of my signals vary?	The strength of your signals varies.
QSD	Is my keying correct? Are my signals distinct?	Your keying is incorrect; your signals are bad.
QSG	Must I transmit ... telegrams (or one telegram) at a time?	Transmit ... telegrams (or one telegram) at a time.
QSK *	Shall I continue the transmission of all my traffic?	I can hear you between my signals. Continue: I shall interrupt you if necessary.
QSL *	Can you acknowledge receipt?	I am acknowledging receipt.
QSM	Shall I repeat the last telegram I sent you?	Repeat the last telegram you sent me.
QSO *	Can you communicate with ... directly (or through...)?	I can communicate with ... direct (or through...).
QSP	Will you relay to ...?	I will relay to ... free of charge.
QSV	Shall I send a series of VVV....?	Send a series of VVV.
QSX	Will you listen for ... (call sign) on ... kcs?	I am listening for ... on ... kcs.
QSY *	Shall I change to ... kilocycles without changing the type of wave?	Change to ... kc. without changing type of wave.
QSZ	Shall I send each word or group twice?	Send each word or group twice.
QTA	Shall I cancel nr ... as if it had not been sent?	Cancel nr ... as if it had not been sent.
QTB	Do you agree with my word count?	I do not agree with your word count; I shall repeat the first letter of each word and the first figure of each number.
QTC	How many telegrams have you to send?	I have ... telegrams for you or for ....
QTH *	What is your position (location)?	My position (location) is ....
QTR	What is the exact time?	The exact time is ....
QST *		General call preceeding a message address to all amateurs and A.R.R.L. Members. This is in effect "CQ ARRL".
QRRR		Official A.R.R.L. "land SOS." A distress call for emergency use only.

HAM RADIO SHACK

HAM RADIO

Amateur Radio is a scientific hobby. Amateur Radio is popularly known as Ham Radio. You can establish your own radio station and talk to friends all over the world

ham radio operator is a radio enthusiast who by virtue of his fascination towards wireless communication technology enables himself to establish his own two way radio station and communicate around the world for sheer joy, thrill and excitement involved in successfully establishing radio contacts around the world.

According to the Indian Wireless Telegraph Rules 1978, Amateur Radio service means a service of self training communication and technical investigations carried on by amateurs, that is, persons duly authorised under these rules interested in radio techniques solely with a personal aim and without pecuniary interest.

Ham Radio started with Marconi. All the present wireless systems like radio, television, cell phones and other wireless communication is possible because of his amateur experiment.

The hobby can be as simple as talking on local-area repeaters with those in the same town, to building a satellite or experimenting with new forms of telecommunications. Ham Radio operators can talk to those on the other side of the earth with nothing more than a simple short wave transceiver (transmitter + receiver) and a simple dipole antenna..

How to become a Ham

In India any citizen with an interest in the subject can become a Ham. In fact, anybody above 12 years can become a ham radio operator after passing a qualifying examination. In India Amateur Station Operator's Certicifate (ASOC) examination is conducted by the Wireless Planning and Coordination (WPC) Wing of Ministry of Communications, at any of the Monitoring Stations around the country.

Passing the ASOC examination entitles the candidate to get a communication licence and a call-sign. Call-sign is a set of letters which uniquely identifies each ham operator in the world.

There are two operating liceence

ASOC examination has two parts:

Part I :- is the written examination comprising of Basic Electronics (Radio Theory and Practice), National and International radio rules and regulations as applicable to the operation of an amateur radio station.

These examinations are very simple and mostly objective type questions will be asked.

ASOC Syllabus

OPERATOR CERTIFICATE (ASOC) LICENCE SYLLABUS FOR AMATEUR RADIO STATION EXAMINATION IN INDIA

PART - 1: WRITTEN TEST

SECTION - A : RADIO THEORY AND PRACTICE.

ELEMENTARY ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM :
Elementary theory of electricity: Conductors and insulators, units. Ohm's Law, resistance, capacitance, inductance in series and parallel, conductance, power and energy, permanent magnets and electromagnets and their use in radio work, self and mutual inductance: types of inductors used in receiving and transmitting circuit.

ELEMENTARY THEORY OF ALTERNATING CURRENTS:
Sinusoidal alternating currents-peak, instantaneous, RMS, average values, phase, resistance, Impedance. Circuits containing resistance, inductance, capacitance-power factor resonance in series and parallel circuits, coupled circuits, transformers for audio and radio frequencies.
THERMIONIC VALVES:
Construction of valves thermionic emission, characteristic curves, diodes, triodes and multielectrode valves: use of valves as rectifier, oscillator, amplifier, detectors and frequency changers, Power packs, stabilisation and smoothing elementary theory and construction of semiconductor devices, diodes and transistors.
RADIO RECEIVERS:
Principles and operation of Tuned radio Frequency and superheterodyne receivers, CW reception: Receiver characteristics. Sensitivity, selectivity, fidelity: adjacent channel and image interference: AVC and squelch circuit Signal to noise ratio, TRANSMITTER:principles and operation of low power transmitter, crystal oscillator ,stability of oscillators. RADIO PROPAGATION: Wave Length, frequency, nature and propagation of radio waves: ground and sky waves, skip distance, fading. AERIALS: Common types of transmitting and receiving aerials.FREQUENCY MEASUREMENT: Measurement of frequency and use of simple frequency meters.
( NOTE : For Advanced Grade separate question paper will be given which includes topics on Satellite communication along with above said syllabus and all the 8 questions have to be answered.)

SECTION - B : RULES AND REGULATION.

(a) . Knowledge of (i) The indian wireless Telegraph Rules 1973 & (ii). The indian wireless Telegraph Rules 1978.
(b) . Knowledge of international Radio Regulations as relating to the operationa of amateur station with particular emphasis on the Following.
1. Designation of Emission
2. Nomenclature of the Frequency & Wavelength
3. Measurement against Interference
4. Frequency allocation to amateur Service
5. Interference and Tests
6. Identification of stations
7. Distress and Urgency transmissions
8. Amateur Staion
9. Phonetic Alphabet and figure code
(c) Standard frequency and time signals services in the world .
(d) The following Q codes:
QRA,QRG,QRH,QRI,QRK,QRL,QRM,QRN,QRQ,QRS,QRT, QRU,QRV,QRW,QRX,QRZ,QSA,QSB,QSLQSQ,QSU,QSV,
QSW,QSX,QSY,QSZ,QTC,QTH,QTR and QUM
(e) The following abbrevations:
AA,AB,AR,AC,C,CFM,CL,CQ,DE,L,NIL,OK,R,TU,VA,WA,WB
(All the above details of syllabus are common for both Grade I and Grade II)


(Note: The above pattern may change, please read the instructions on the question paper in the examination.)
PS. If you are a B.E/B.Tech graduate in Electronics and Communication (E&C only) from any government approved institution, you are excempted from the Section A of the written examination.

PART - II MORSE CODE

RESTRICTED GRADE

(a) SECTION-1: Morse reception (Speed 5 Words Per Minute)
The test piece will be consist of plain language passage of 125 letters. Five letters counting as one word. Candidates are required to receive for 5 consecutive minutes at a speed of 5 words per minute international morse code signals from an audio oscillator keyed either manually or automatically. A short practice piece may be sent at the prescribed speed before the start of the actual test. The test may be written in ink or pencil but must be legible. Bad handwriting and over-wirting will render a candidate liable to disqualification. More than 5 errors will disqualify a candidate in a stretch of 60 characters.
(b) SECTION-2 : Morse Transmission (Speed 5 Words Per Minute)
The test piece will consists of a plain language passage of 125 letters, 5 letters counting as one word.
Candidates are required to send on an ordinary key for 6 consecutive minutes at the minimum speed of 5 words per minute. A short practice piece may be allowed before the actual test. Candidate will not be allowed more than one attempt in the test. Efforts should be made to correct all errors. However more than 5 errors will disqualify a candidate. The accuracy of signalling, correct formation of characters and the correctness of spacing shall be taken into account.
NOTE: A candidate is required to pass both in Part 1 and Part II. In the case of candidates qualifying in part I only the licence shall be restricted to radio telephone operations only (Restricted Grade).

FOR GENERAL GRADE

Morse sending and receiving speed is 12 WPM*. The test piece will consist of plain language passage of 300 characters which may comprise of alphabets, numbers, and punctuation (Full stop, comma, semi-colon, break sign, hyphen and question mark) marks. The average words shall contain 5 characters and each numbers and punctuation will be counted as 2 characters. Other conditions are same as in grade II. A candidate is require to pass in Part I(Written) and Part II (Morse) simultaneously in order to qualify for these grades.
* There is an amendment for reducing the speed of morse code for Grade I and advanced grades, I will update this information soon.


The Syllabus is covered in the Books :
1. "ABC OF AMATEUR RADIO" , By Rajesh Verma-VU2RVM, EFY Publications
2. "HAM RADIO" , By A. Ponnuswamy & P Parthiban,
Available with : Karthik Publishers,
16, Pachaipatti Main Road, Salem Town, Salem-636 001
Tamil Nadu