ham radio operators worldwide. by the numbers!

Country	Number of amateur radio operators	% population	Year of Report	Source
United States	822,768	0.251	2019	[3]
Japan	435,581	0.343	2015	[4]
Thailand	176,278	0.275	2006	[5]
China	145,000	0.010	2018	[6]
Germany	94,491	0.11	2016	[7]
Canada	69,183	0.201	2011	[3]
Republic of China	68,692	0.296	1999	[5]
Spain	58,700	0.127	1999	[5]
United Kingdom	58,426	0.094	2000	[5]
South Korea	42,632	0.082	2012	[8]
Russia	38,000	0.026	1993	[5]
Brazil	32,053	0.016	1997	[5]
Italy	30,000	0.049	1993	[5]
Indonesia	27,815	0.011	1997	[5]
France	14,160	0.02	2013	[5]
Ukraine	17,265	0.037	2000	[5]
Argentina	16,889	0.042	1999	[5]
Poland	16,000	0.041	2000	[5]
Australia	15,328	0.067	2000	[5]
India	15,679	0.001	2000	[5]
Malaysia	10,509	0.0004	2016	[5]
Denmark	8,668	0.156	2012	[9]
Slovenia	6,500	0.317	2000	[5]
South Africa	6,000	0.012	1994	[5]
Austria	5,967	0.068	2016	[10]
Norway	5,302	0.106	2000	[5]
Finland	5,000	0.090	2016	[11]
Romania	3,527	0.018	2017	[12]
Ireland	1,836	0.040	2017	[13]

phonetic alphabet

Using The International Phonetic Alphabet

Eliminating confusion and demonstrating excellence in operating technique.
​

Almost from the time the telephone was invented people have had a need to unambiguously understand one another under less than ideal conditions. It’s one thing to talk face to face yet quite another to understand each other over weak, noisy and otherwise challenging conditions. Telephone spelling alphabets were developed to improve understanding when communicating under difficult conditions. Because of this I want to make the case that as trained Radio Amateurs we all need to use standardized spelling alphabets and in particular the International (NATO) phonetic alphabet.
Prior to World War II many nations used their own versions of spelling alphabets. Starting in 1941 the United States Army and Navy standardized an alphabet across all branches and that became known as the “Able Baker” Phonetic Alphabet. As militaries found the need to ally themselves with other militaries and organizations across the world it became clear that International standardization was needed.
Skipping ahead to the point of this discussion is that the International (NATO) Phonetic Alphabet is now the accepted standardized alphabet used by English speaking radio communications professionals in Aviation, Military, EMCOMM and others. Certainly we, as Amateur Radio operators working under less than ideal communications conditions, need this as much as anyone.
The 26 Code words in the NATO alphabet are as follows:
Alfa, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf, Hotel, India, Juliett, Kilo, Lima, Mike, November,
Oscar, Papa, Quebec, Romeo, Sierra, Tango, Uniform, Victor, Whiskey, X-ray, Yankee, Zulu.
Using these words under challenging conditions helps the operator get the message when only hearing partial words because the operator knows what to expect. If an operator hears a partial word, like “…ay” the trained operator will likely assume X-ray was the intended word when an improperly trained operator may have used Norway for the letter “N”. This nonstandard phrasing adds confusion, can cause delays for repeats and may cause inaccurate transcription of the intended message. These issues are greatly minimized when using standard phraseology.
Contest operators should be the quickest to adopt this use as it can expedite the contest exchange. However, I hear many casual contesters using non-standard phraseology which most often causes delays and repeats in crowded band conditions. No one wants delays when running rate is King!
When working DX stations, the accent of the operator can make some words hard to understand. But when using the standardized alphabet, a DL station that pronounces Whiskey as “Viskey” is easily understood. In aviation a pilot with a tail number N3656Y will always hear Yankee, never Yokahama regardless of the county he is operating. It’s this consistency that minimizes misunderstandings due to accents or conditions.

join us!

The Club meets every Thursday for coffee at 9:30 am at 5868 & Cessna St., Oliver, B.C. on the East side of the airport. 

hf band conditions today

coax loss information. video

http://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/ham-college-49-coax-loss-demo.645063/

Reminder...... MEETING TONIGHT@7PM

just a little reminder that our monthly club meetings are held @ 7PM SECOND MONDAY OF THE MONTH... THATS TONIGHT..  drop ins always welcome..

Lets keep the antenna and shack warm!! Record cold on the way

Saturday Morning
light snow
High:	low:
-3°C	-4°C
light winds

Saturday Afternoon
light snow: 1cm
High:	low:
-3°C	-5°C
light winds

Saturday Night
light snow: 2cm
High:	low:
-7°C	-11°C
light winds

Sunday Morning
light snow
High:	low:
-12°C	-12°C
calm

Sunday Afternoon
light snow: 1cm
High:	low:
-13°C	-14°C
calm

Sunday Night
mod snow: 7cm
High:	low:
-15°C	-18°C
calm

Monday Morning
light snow: 1cm
High:	low:
-15°C	-17°C
light winds

Monday Afternoon
snow shwrs
High:	low:
-14°C	-17°C
light winds

Monday Night
clear
High:	low:
-18°C	-19°C
light winds

Tuesday Morning
some clouds
High:	low:
-13°C	-17°C
light winds

Tuesday Afternoon
some clouds
High:	low:
-12°C	-15°C
light winds

Tuesday Night
some clouds
High:	low:
-15°C	-15°C