GOOD AMATEUR PRACTICE BY DARYL STOUT, WX4QZ
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Most of us think "good amateur practice" involves our conduct on the
air...and it does. But, it also includes making sure your equipment is
in good working order before getting on the air. This includes things
like:

1) Making sure you're on the right frequency, repeater, reflector, etc.
It's easy to bump the button and change things...whether with your hand
or the computer mouse. I heard of one ham who did his "net preamble
spiel", but didn't get any contacts (he usually got a pile-up). Then, he
looked at his rig, and embarrassingly saw that he was on 20 meters
instead of 2 meters!!

2) If you have sound card applications, make sure that you're not doing
things like installing software, or running other audio applications at
the same time. Windows is notorious for stealing the sound card
interface, so when you key up, nothing happens...it's as if you had the
mute box checked. Before using things like Echolink or DV Tools (D-Star),
I always test the sound card, to make sure everything is connected...and
that includes the microphone and speakers.

3) Make sure your rig is plugged in...otherwise turning on the power
switch is useless. Yes, I know that sounds like a DUH! moment, but I've
known stations who have unplugged their gear to protect from lightning
damage, and forgot to plug it back in afterwards. Along this line, after storms, make sure your antennas are hooked back up. Otherwise, you could
end up frying the finals in your radio.
--- SBBSecho 3.20-Win32
* Origin: The Thunderbolt BBS - Little Rock, Arkansas (316:36/9)