A webpage dedicated to my hobby
Welcome to my website on amateur radio or 'hamradio'. It is a world-wide spread hobby and service in which licensed amateur radio operators (often called 'hams') make use of different forms of communications equipment.
Although amateur radio operators get involved for many reasons, they all have in common a knowledge of radio technology and operating principles, and have to pass examinations for the license to operate on radio frequencies known as 'Amateur Bands'. These bands are radio frequencies reserved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for use by ham radio operators. Roughly 6 percent of the entire radio spectrum has been assigned to amateur radio, from Long Wave (LW) 135,7 kHz to Extreme High Frequency (EHF) 250 GHz.
However, not all hams are allowed on all amateur bands since there are restrictions in maximum power and operation mode, depending on the obtained 'degree' in qualification. The most restricting degree in Belgium is an ON3-call-sign, the highest is an ON4- or equivalent callsign. For the latter, the operator has to pass the HARC (Harmonized Amateur Radio Examination Certificate) examination, which allows him (or her) to use all of the frequencies available for radio amateurism, with a maximum output of 1500W (average) depending on the band used.
As you can read in the 'History' tab above, I started with radio communication in the late 1970s and was active untill 2003. At that time, the hobby was left aside for various reasons but after my retirement in 2023 I decided to pick it up again (see the History tab on top of this page).
So this site was not updated for about 20 years, but now it will gradually be updated with the new hardware and software that is available nowadays. In any case, by browsing this website you will get an idea what radio amateurism (often referred to as 'ham radio') is about, together with lots of practical info.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: the previous version of this site can be reached by clicking on the 'Old website' above. The extra tabs 'ATV', 'CW' and 'Meteosat' that you will find there still hold some interesting information about some of the aspects of the hobby and in the tab 'Digimodes' you can find how to use quite special modes as there are packet radio, APRS, WACARS, AIRNAV,... using an ordinary soundcard and an old PC running Windows 98 (SE). The home-build cables and hardware descirbed is still actual today when using newer software or newer software versions.