Ham Glossary 2

Backscatter

Form of ionosphere propagation via the E and F layers allowing
stations to hear other stations within the skip
zones.

Balun

A simple transformer used to change an unbalanced input
to a balanced output.

Band

A range of frequencies.

Bandwidth

Frequency needed for particular type of emission.

Bank

Memory bank

BCI

(BroadCast Interference)

BFO

(Beat Frequency Oscillator)

BNC

(Bayonet Neill-Concelman)
A type of antenna connector

BPF

(BandPass Filter)

Busy lockout

Inhibits transmit on a frequency in use

Call sign

Sequence of letter and numbers used to identify amateur
radio operators and issued by the FCC.

CAP (Civil Air Patrol)

Volunteer affiliate of the United States Air Force.

Carrier

An unmodulated transmitted signal.

Carrier frequency offset (=Carrier Shift)

Distance between mark and space of the carrier for RTTY or
similar communications.

CBR (Cross Band Repeater)

A repeater which receive incoming signal and re-transmit it in
different bands— e.g. receives 144 MHz bands and re-transmits
430(440) MHz bands.

CCW

(Counter ClockWise)

CH

(CHannel)
Sequence of memory positions where frequency and related
information is stored.

CI-V

Icom computer Control Interface allows multiple radio control
simultaneously.

Conversion

Number of IF circuits in the receiver.

CPU

(Central Processing Unit)

CQ

Radio communications term used to call others.

CTCSS

(Continuous Tone Coded Squelch System)
Adds a continuous sub-audible low frequency tone to the
transmitted carrier. Receivers set for the same low frequency
tone can decode signal.

CW

1) Carrier Wave
2) ClockWise

CW filter

Used to narrow IF passband to improve reception in crowded
band conditions.