Six years in the making, after much prodding from fellow amateurs, the transcripts of the weekly podcast "Foundations of Amateur Radio" are now available as a series of eBook volumes on Amazon to bring together the over 300 different episodes covering topics about our amazing hobby. Short discussions about hundreds of different topics outlining the thousand different hobbies that amateur radio represents. Starting in the wonderful hobby of Amateur or HAM Radio can be daunting. Using low power with little experience is challenging but can be very rewarding. Originally published as a weekly podcast, each volume contains a year of edited audio podcast transcripts, each article looks at a different aspect of the hobby, how you as a beginner might fit in and get the very best from the hobby. In these pages I outline many of the amazing attributes and activities that a beginning or aspiring amateur can discover with the base level license - in Australia the "Foundation" or "F-call" license. My aim is to inspire and encourage new entrants into our community and to rekindle the fire for old hams, to explore and experience all that we have to offer without fear of failure. I share my own journey through this experience and explain what I've learned along the way about the hobby, the community, the science and technology. In Volume 1 you'll be able to follow my initial journey through the community, what to buy when you start, how to participate in the community, things to practice, what the first steps look like once you have a license, playing in radio contests, encouragement and sharing. The chapter index for Volume 1 is: Dedication Preface Acknowledgements Australian (and other) Expressions Foreword Welcome Your F-call can do more than you think. This is step 1 of the hobby Be Brave Buying your Kit 7130 DX net and phonetics Welcome to the hobby. This is a community Real License What to buy and how much to spend? Practice makes Perfect Education of your community The nature of this hobby Participation is a Promise made Repeating History Contests Share your Hobby Around There is room for experimentation in this hobby. You have a license, now what? Ask around, QRP is not futile How did you get into Amateur Radio? Antennas Encourage F-calls Whom have you inspired lately? Same Old Story Setup Remote once in a While The spark of curiosity. Public Relations Faith and Generosity Being Inventive What have you shared lately? Experience More Power Tuning your transceiver 1950s style Tolerance Propagation and Solar Flux What do you want to do with your radio? Troubleshooting CW Pileup Operating Envelope Surprise Don't reinvent the wheel, ask an Amateur QSL cards in 2 minutes Foundation License DXCC Anyone can contribute. Crimping and Soldering Go outside "your" band once in a while. How well do you know your radio really? What does Amateur Radio mean for you? What is the DXCC Thinking about handhelds for travel. If you plan to fail, you will. Single Points of Failure Afterword About the Author Amateur radio is a thousand hobbies rolled into one. I hope you find your way. Search for my callsign (VK6FLAB) on your local Amazon store or click one of the links to have a look inside. Volume 1: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0785GQKXL Volume 2: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077XQJ3FS Volume 3: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077XSD8M6 Volume 4: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077YL4Y9K Volume 5: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0785JFG7W Volume 6: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0785JZBK4 de Onno VK6FLAB
