What use is an F-call?

In the past I've mentioned that we're not alone on the bands. We as a community, Hams, or Radio Amateurs have radio spectrum we can use, specific ranges of frequencies that are available to our exclusive or shared use.

Radio being radio means that we're also able to be heard by other radio users. Those users come from all walks of life. Not only do we have diversity within our own little community, the listeners beyond our license add a whole new range of variety.

We sometimes refer to them as short wave listeners, but that's not all and it's not particularly accurate either. We have of course our share of CB listeners, sometimes disparagingly referred to as Chicken Band, there are members of HF clubs and associations, people with scanners, and many other individuals and groups that are able to hear our transmissions.

Some of those people might one day feel welcome enough to join in the party that Amateur Radio represents. They'll feel part of the community because they've been listening for years.

So my first point for today is that you should be mindful of your audience. Being less than complementary to other listeners, disparaging of mere SWL'ers, or CB'ers is not an inclusive activity and should be frowned on just as much as abuse of F-calls.

Secondly, our extended audience has lessons learned, skills acquired and has its own eco-system around their activities. If Amateurs reach out to those communities, you might find a whole range of new hams, just itching to join in.

If you are part of our extended family. Hello. Welcome, good to have you with us. If you'd like to talk to us, or if you'd like to learn more about how this magic of radio works behind the scenes, or how you might improve your own station, don't be afraid to ask. Find a group of Amateurs, a club, or contact your local training arm. If all that fails and you're not sure where to go, drop me a line.

You can send email to my callsign @ wia.org.au, so that's vk6flab@wia.org.au

I'm Onno VK6FLAB.