The answers to questions G2D02, G2D04, and G2D11 were all changed, making them more readable and sensible.
This section is really just a bunch of miscellaneous questions relating to operating an amateur radio station.
The FCC’s Amateur Auxiliary is a group of amateur volunteers who are formally enlisted to monitor the airwaves for rules violations. (G2D01) Hams that are ARRL Official Observers are part of the Amateur Auxiliary. To become a member, you must take and pass a test.
The objectives of the Amateur Auxiliary are to encourage self regulation and compliance with the rules by radio amateurs. (G2D02) Direction finding used to locate stations violating FCC Rules is one of the skills learned during “hidden transmitter hunts” that are of help to the Amateur Auxiliary. (G2D03)
It is permissible to communicate with amateur stations in countries outside the areas administered by the Federal Communications Commission when the contact is with amateurs in any country except those whose administrations have notified the ITU that they object to such communications. (G2D05) That’s a long way of telling you not to talk to hams where the governments don’t want their hams talking to foreigners. In practice, if a country has in place such a restriction, they probably don’t have many licensed hams.
There are three questions on using directional antennas. A directional antenna would be the best HF antenna to use for minimizing interference. (G2D11) The reason for this is that you can point the antenna away from a device you are interfering with.
Most communications take place on the “short path,” that is the most direct path between two stations. At times, however, propagation may favor the long path. A directional antenna is pointed 180 degrees from its short-path heading when making a “long-path” contact with another station. (G2D06)
To figure where to point a directional antenna you’d use an azimuthal projection map. An azimuthal projection map is a map that shows true bearings and distances from a particular location. (G2D04)
When I got my license, you had to log every transmission you made, even if you were just calling CQ. Nowadays, there’s no need to keep a log, except in some very specific instances, but even though it’s not required, it still might be a good idea. One reason many amateurs keep a log even though the FCC doesn’t require it is to help with a reply if the FCC requests information. (G2D08)
All of these choices are correct when talking about what information is traditionally contained in a station log (G2D09):
- Date and time of contact
- Band and/or frequency of the contact
- Call sign of station contacted and the signal report given
One of the situations that does require that you log certain information is when you are operating in the 60-meter band. When operating in the 60 meter band, the FCC rules require that, if you are using other than a dipole antenna, you must keep a record of the gain of your antenna. (G2D07)
QRP operation refers to low power transmit operation. (G2D10)