Printed References

Computers are great, but for some things, there’s nothing like paper… Here’s a list of references that I have printed at my station:

• Page 1‒3 of my Radio Frequency List found on the Radio Programming page under the “Refs” section. On that page, I’ve got the repeaters that I use the most circled with some hand written notes.

• The radio “Reference Guides” for the three kinds of radios I have at my stations from the Radio Programming page. These are single page print outs that show me how to setup a frequency, repeater offset, and tone in the VFO in case I need to work a repeater I don’t have programmed. This is the kind of stuff that’s important to know but really easy to forget.

• Page 2‒3 of the nets page using the PDF output command. I also hand wrote the channel numbers for quick cross reference.

• A paper copy of the Sunshine Coast Emergency Communications page filed in my emergency binder.

• I also have my Grid Square taped to my desk. A Grid square is a series alternating pairs of letters and digits like CN89. The more characters are listed, the more precise the location, which is a good way of giving your location to any desired level of resolution and keep any level of privacy you like. At my latitude:

  • 4 characters covers an area of about 16,000 km²

  • 6 characters covers an area of about 28 km²

  • 8 characters covers an area of about 0.2 km²

  • 10 characters pretty much pin points my house.