Dan Keller's Amateur and Scanner Radio Site

Call sign KG6OIE

Why amateur and scanner radios?

Why this web site?
  • To share what I've learned about using radios

  • To share the quick-reference cards I've helped to develop.
    The manufacturers ought to provide these! Better yet, the manufacturers should employ user interface design experts when they design these products. The cards are my remedy for the neanderthal user interfaces on these powerful but absurdly hard-to-use devices.

    For the tasks most commonly done with each radio, the quick-ref cards show the button-press sequences (and remedies for errors). Unless you use the radio a lot, it's hard to remember how. Print these on 3x5 cards and carry them with the radio if, like mine, your memory of how to operate these miserable monsters is Swiss cheese.

My Radios

Ham (receive and transmit)

Yaesu VX-7R (3 bands, 5 watts)

This is the most popular radio among San Francisco NERTs.

VX-7R User's Manual

Quick-ref cards (Microsoft Word)

  1. Contents
  2. Features
  3. Set the Power Level
  4. Tune with the Knob (VFO)
  5. Set the Squelch
  6. Select Bands
  7. Tune to a Specific Frequency
  8. Tune to a Repeater Frequency
  9. Store a Frequency in Memory
  10. Tune from Memory (MR)
  11. Override the Simplex/Repeater Mode
  12. Scan the Stored Frequencies
  13. Light the Display Backlight

Scanner (receive only)

Uniden BCD396T (digital, trunking)

    BCD396T User's Manual

    The easiest way to program and operate this radio is with a PC and the ARC396 software by BuTel.

    Quick-ref cards

    1. Contents
    2. Features
    3. Search a search range
    4. Create a new system on the keypad
    5. Store a frequency to scan using the keypad
    6. Store a frequency to scan using the PC
    7. Backup the radio's memory onto the PC
    8. Listen for Close Calls
    9. Listen for ham activity
    10. Download frequencies and talkgroup data from radioreference.com and install as a new system
    11. Listen to a particular agency (trunked)

Glossaries

Scanner Radio Glossary

Ham Radio Glossary

Some SF Bay Area repeaters (MS Excel format)

SF PD codes (formatted for quick-ref)