KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog

KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog

Clubs

Amateur radio in the news: Hamvention wants future at Hara, Lake County ARC, Army spending $12.7b on radios

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dayton-2016Hamvention wants a future at Hara Arena. Hara Arena should remain home to Hamvention, despite reports of other uses for the property, said participants and vendors at Friday’s opening of the 65th annual gathering of the amateur radio convention.

All I can say is that the reporters didn’t talk to me….Dan

 

 

Hamming it up on the radio not a lost art. Anyone can use a cellphone to chat with someone else in the country or, for that matter, anywhere in the world. And anyone can use the Internet for the same purpose. However, not everyone can use an amateur radio – better known as a “ham” radio – to pull off such a feat.

 

This isn’t strictly ham radio-related, but I thought you all would be interested in it. After reading this story, you won’t complain about the cost of the latest and greatest from Elecraft or FlexRadio….Dan

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The Harris Falcon III AN/PRC-158 Manpack Radio covers 30 MHz – 2.5 GHz and costs about $200,000 per unit.

Is the U.S. Army Really Spending $12.7 Billion on Radios? The U.S. government spends a lot of money on weapons. So much money, in fact, that sometimes, you see a number and think, “That can’t be right. But then again, maybe.” But it wasn’t a typo. And the Pentagon really is spending $12.7 billion on radios.

Does your club have a mission?

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I think that one of the things that contributes to the success, or lack thereof, of a non-profit organization—and that includes amateur radio clubs—is its sense of mission. A mission gives an organization a sense of purpose. In the case of an amateur radio club, it tells members what to expect and guides its officers in making decisions about the club. It also informs those who are not members or officers what to expect from the club.

Here’s one that I ran across the other day while wandering around the Internet:

The Cape Ann Amateur Radio Association mission is to:

  • Provide health and safety communication services for emergencies and disasters on Cape Ann and in other areas when requested.
  • Provide health, safety and coordination services for community events.
  • Maintain disaster and emergency readiness by conducting regular simulation drills and participating in national disaster simulations.
  • Educate and train new amateur radio operators and to maintain a well-tuned disaster team.
  • Conduct FCC testing for new licenses and those wishing to upgrade.
  • Provide educational services and demonstrations to local area schools and community organizations such as the Boy Scouts.
  • Conduct public demonstrations and educational events.
  • Assist public utilities, such as the Mass Electric Company, in finding radio frequency interferences that could potentially harm or hinder emergency communication activities.
  • Create a positive, supportive environment for our members that promotes camaraderie and fellowship.

This was on the home page of the CAARA’s website. Right up front, they tell you exactly what they are all about.

Your club’s mission statement may be quite different from the CAARA’s. For example, if the main mission of your club is to operate a repeater system, then you might want to put that first. If your club doesn’t really take part in emergency communications activities, then you may not mention that in your mission statement.

Whatever  your club’s mission, I would encourage you to carefully consider it, then write it down, and then post it to your website. It will help you focus your efforts and make good decisions about which club activities to pursue and which to let go. In the end, it will make your club a more successful club.

Amateur radio in the news: club celebrates 50 years, university club reaches out, NPOTA

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Anderson radio club celebrates 50th anniversary. Anderson County Emergency Services Deputy Director Matthew Littleton is an amateur radio operator and so is his son. And his father, James Littleton, is president of the Anderson Radio Club. Speaking at the club’s 50th anniversary celebration on Saturday, Matthew Littleton said the emergence of cellphones and the Internet have not diminished the importance of amateur radio. “In the last couple of years I’ve seen a resurgence in amateur radio because we are beginning to realize how vulnerable things are, how vulnerable systems are,” he said.

Amateur Radio Society revamps, uses radio in unconventional ways. The word radio is often associated with music and talk show chatter, but the Amateur Radio Society is exploring the lesser known side of radio — its role in facilitating communication and winning wars. The club uses radio communications to facilitate an interest for students who would like to explore the hobby of the wavelengths of possibilities that come with amateur radio.

Taking parks to the air, with the help of some hams. What do you pack when you visit a national park? A map, a water bottle and snacks, and a tube of sunscreen? Maybe some camping gear, or a kayak and a paddle? When Sean Kutzko packs for his national park trips, he brings a seven-pound backpack with a battery, a transmitter, and a 30-foot piece of wire. Using this modest equipment, he can communicate with people around the country and sometimes even other parts of the world.

Amateur radio in the news: HS club, Frequency pilot, HOA opposition

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Eye on Education: Bishop Ryan HS Competes in School Roundup. For the first time, Bishop Ryan school is getting competitive with their ham radio, entering into the “School Club Roundup” competition. “The idea here is to talk to high schools, middle schools and universities all over the world on it the same week,” said Joe Ferrara, a Bishop Ryan teacher.

Frequency pilot show ordered. The CW’s first official pilot orders for this development season include a reimagining of the New Line Cinema film Frequency. But whereas that 2000 film starred Jim Caviezel as a homicide detective who communicates with his long-dead firefighter father (Dennis Quaid) via a ham radio, the CW’s redo follows a female police detective who discovers she is able to speak via ham radio with her estranged father — who died 20 years prior and also was a detective. As they forge a new relationship while working together on an unresolved murder case, unintended consequences of the “butterfly effect” wreak havoc in the present day.

HOA trade group fights bill that would ease ham radio restriction. In a disaster, it is often the only dependable means of two-way communication, but an organization that supports homeowner associations across the United States is opposing a bill that would prevent HOAs from banning amateur radio operation. Community Association Institute, whose 1,100 Illinois chapter members include association managers, board members, and unit owners, says the Amateur Radio Parity Act is “unnecessary” because the Federal Communications Commission has said it will not get involved with HOA rules that, says the FCC, are “contractual agreements between private parties.”

It’s certainly not a slam dunk for the Amateur Radio Parity Act….Dan

Getting  youngsters into ham radio…again

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A couple of days ago, I got an e-mail from Bruce, N7RR. It covered a lot of ground, including the lack of copyediting in our question pools and getting youngsters involved in amateur radio.

Personally, I’m actually getting less interested in working with younger kids, although I do fully support those who are working with them. The big reason for this is that I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m just not very good at working with kids. I’ve tried twice to set up an amateur radio club at local middle schools, but was spectacularly unsuccessful both times.

Part of the reason I was unsuccessful is that I wasn’t able to get much support from the schools or other hams. For example, last school year, our local school district set up a middle school STEM program. I sent the powers that be an e-mail asking if the school might be interested in making an amateur radio club part of the program. Not only did I not get a positive response, when I asked the members of our ham radio club if any of them would be willing to help me with this school club, I didn’t get a single volunteer. I can’t do things like this by myself.

Having said that, I have had teenagers and college students (I live in Ann Arbor, MI, home of the University of Michigan) in my classes, and many now have ham licenses. I do Elmer these young people as much as I can (or as much as they want), and many are now active amateur radio operators.

These young people are “makers” and hackers, and I think focusing on this group of people is going to be more successful than just trying to attract random kids from a middle school population. To this end, I’m going to be teaching some electronics–not amateur radio–classes at the local library. They just opened up a hacker space there, and I think this should be a lot of fun. I just taught a class on how to use a digital multimeter, and two of the five who attended, already had an amateur radio connection. I think that with a little push, I could turn those two into hams.

Finally on this topic, Bob, K0NR, a fellow blogger and ham radio instructor, has an interesting viewpoint. About half of his students are between 30 and 54, and he says, “This age range is more equipped and ready to be ham radio operators [than younger kids] and are still young enough to be around for a while.” The situation he describes in his blog post is pretty much what I’ve experienced in my classes, although I think that my demographic skews a bit younger than Bob’s, but not by much. I certainly think this idea is something worth pursuing.

We really need more data. I think I’ll e-mail the ARRL and see if I can get them interested in setting up some kind of study.

Hamfest Report: Findlay, OH, September 13, 2015

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findlay-radio-clubYesterday, four of us, including Rick, KA8BMA; Tom, KC8YHM; Tom, W8TAM; and yours truly drove down together to the Findlay Radio Club’s annual hamfest. Well, Rick drove, actually. The rest of us just rode with him. :)

This is usually a pretty good hamfest, as Findlay is in a good location. It attracts folks from the Cleveland area, Southeast Michigan, Indiana, and southern Ohio.

First, a story

Back in 2008, I ran for Great Lakes Division Vice Director. The elections take place in the fall, and the Findlay Hamfest is a prime place to do some campaigning. I thought I had the election in the bag, so I got lazy and didn’t drive down to Findlay that year.

Well, when the votes were counted, I found out that I had lost by 13 votes! Boy, did I ever kick myself for not going to the Findlay Hamfest. I still think that if I had gone in 2008, I would have won that election. I certainly could have convinced 14 hams there to vote for me.

Even though I’m no longer interested in being an ARRL board member, I try to make it a point to go to Findlay. I think that I’ve only missed one since then. The 2015 edition of the Findlay Hamfest was a good one. I didn’t buy a lot, but had a lot of fun.

Bargain keys

bencher-by-1We left the Ann Arbor area just after 6:30 am, and got to Findlay just after 8:00 am. I made all of my purchases within 15 minutes of arriving. My first purchase was an aluminum chassis for a buck, then I found a guy selling a couple of Bencher BY-1 paddles (see right) for only $45 apiece.

I bought one of them, and mentioned to the guy that he probably could get more for them, if he wanted to. I then wandered inside to see what some of the dealers had to offer.

It hit me, though, that I should probably go back there and grab that second one before he raised the price. So, within about five minutes of buying the first one, I purchased the second one as well.

Why, you might ask, do I want two BY-1s? Well, I buy keys like this in order to pass them on to newcomers to CW. I’ve perhaps bought and sold a dozen paddles to guys who have gotten interested in CW, but aren’t sure about buying a new paddle, and yet are uncertain about buying a used one. I resell the paddles for exactly what I paid for them, and they  know that if they buy it from me, they’re getting a decent paddle. I think that I already have takers for both of the BY-1s I bought yesterday.

A couple near-misses

I almost bought a couple of other items, but resisted the urge. One guy had an Autek antenna analyzer for $65; another had a Hallicrafters S-120 that he wanted $30 for.

The Autek was a pretty good deal, but the vendor packed up before I had a chance to get back to him. That’s OK, though. He lives near me, and if he still has it, I can get it from him. The Hallicrafters was a radio that I had as a kid. It would have been fun to have, but honestly, I’d probably hardly ever use it, even if it was working.

Study guides on sale

One notable event was that the Findlay Hamfest marked the first time that my study guides were on sale at a hamfest. Bill, N8ET, of Kanga US, purchased some of my study guides and was selling them along with all the other books he was selling on Sunday. I didn’t get a sales report, but when I stopped to say hello, Bill did say that he’d sold some copies. Thanks again to Bill and the folks who bought my books.

Meeting and greeting

I get to meet a lot of great hams as a result of my blog and my study guides. Findlay was no exception. One of the guys that I got to meet face-to-face for the first time was Dave Sumner, K1zz, ARRL CEO. We’ve swapped e-mail in the past, but this was the first time I got to shake his hand.

A light lesson

Just before I left, I got to looking at the lighted magnifiers being sold by EAE Sales. EAE Sales is at nearly every hamfest around these parts, and he carries just about every kind of soldering tool that you can imagine. When I asked, the proprietor gave me a five-minute crash course on how to choose a magnifying light. That will be the subject of a future blog post.

Overall, all four of us had a blast. Rich bought a National NC-98, the receiver he used as a Novice, and Tom snagged a Viking Matchbox with an SWR meter for only $100. It was well worth the drive, and I look forward to doing it again next year.

Improve your club’s website

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Essex Ham is a group dedicated to supporting amateur radio in Essex, U.K. Their website  says:

It’s our mission to help people in Essex (and beyond) discover what amateur radio has to offer, and to support the various local clubs and groups. We want to see amateur radio grow here in Essex, and here are our three guiding aims:

  1. Explaining Amateur Radio and encouraging people to get involved.
  2. Offering help and advice to new radio amateurs.
  3. Supporting the various amateur radio activities in Essex.

From what I can tell, it’s an “uber club” in Essex.

They recently published a guide called, “Improving Your Club’s Website.” The guide cover six topics that you should consider when setting up or reviewing your club website:

  1. Who’s the audience for the website?
  2. Do you welcome newcomers?
  3. Understand your site statistics.
  4. Is your site up-to-date?
  5. Is the design of your site helping or hurting?
  6. What kind of content should your site include?

I won’t go into any of these topics in any more detail, but I would encourage you to download it and evaluate your club’s website. Several months ago, our club president asked if I would be willing to take over the ARROW website, but I was too committed at the time to do that. I have since become “un-committed” and will probably do it. You can be sure that I’ll be reading this guide.

Media Hits: Hams gear up for Pope, clubs needed in India, ham accused of interference

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Amateur Radio Operators Plan To Celebrate Papal Visit With Special Stations On Air. PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — When Pope Francis arrives in the United States at the end of next month, a group of amateur radio operators from across the region will be activating special stations to mark the historic occasion.
Ron Sigismonti, a Chester County ham operator whose radio call sign is N3RS, is recruiting ham operators from the Frankford Radio Club in southeastern Pennsylvania, south Jersey and Delaware to take part.

Need for HAM radio clubs in every part of state. Patna: Bihar State Disaster Management Authority (BSDMA) vice-chairman Anil Kumar Sinha on Sunday said HAM radio clubs should be established in every part of the state for disaster risk reduction. Addressing the participants at the five-day training programme at Madan Mohan HAM Radio Club at G P Sinha Centre for Disaster Management and Rural Development, Sinha encouraged the trainees to obtain licence from the government of India and set up HAM radio club for serving the mankind during disaster when all communication network collapses.

Now this is a bizarre story…Dan

Amateur radio operator accused of blocking broadcasts. It took a probe that spanned two years and a stealth visit to the Cincinnati area, but a Federal Communications Commission enforcement official says his bureau caught a Union Township amateur radio operator intentionally interfering with the transmissions of his broadcasting buddies. The man identified and now facing a proposed $8,000 FCC fine is Daniel R. Hicks, who earlier had volunteered in the search to find the culprit accused of using someone else’s call sign to broadcast interference that evolved from being a nuisance into an obscene and racist affront.

Media Hits: Friedrichshaufen, radio giveaway, Sen. Wicker thanks hams

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ham-radio-freidrichshafenFor authentic Maker culture, try this annual world meeting of ham radio hobbyists. The last weekend of June, more than 17,000 people from around the world gathered in Friedrichshafen, Germany, to tune into a seemingly outmoded technology: the radio. With 198 exhibitors from 38 countries, Ham Radio 2015 was the 40th gathering of the world’s amateur radio operators in this vacation city on Lake Constance.

Join the club, get a radio. The Hidden Valleys Amateur Radio Club wants to hear more new ham radio operators on the air. To promote ham radio, HVARC is giving away ham radios to any member who has recently gotten his or her amateur radio license. All ages are welcome.  The radio is a BaoFeng UV5R, a club favorite, and will come ready to use pre-programmed with local repeater frequencies.

It will be interesting to see if this program works…..Dan

Senator Wicker thanks ham radio operators for life-saving role during Katrina. When Hurricane Katrina knocked out communication services on the Coast, amateur radio operators provided many people with their only contact to the outside world. On Friday, U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker came to South Mississippi to personally thank the operators who played a critical role during the disaster.

Start an amateur radio virtuous circle

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On the Ham Radio Instructor’s Group this morning, we’ve been discussing the classes that we are going to be offering in the fall. About his Tech class, Bob, K0NR, noted, “Currently have about 30 students signed up…we keep thinking we’ll run out of interested people but they keep coming.”

I’ve noticed the same thing here, too. I keep thinking that we’ll run out of interested people, but I have no problem at all filling my classes. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that the more people that have taken my class, the more people there are that want to take it.

Of course, this makes perfect sense. If there are more people out there who have amateur radio licenses, there are more people out there talking about amateur radio and actually doing amateur radio. And, the more people out there talking about and doing amateur radio, the more likely it is that other people will become interested in amateur radio and get their licenses as well.

It’s an amateur radio “virtuous circle.”

What does this tell you? Well, if you’re in a place where amateur radio seems to be dying out, or belong to a club that is slowly fading away, start a class! I think every club should hold classes at least once a year, even if that first class has only one or two students. Those first few students are the start of your virtuous circle.

Don’t know how to organize a class? I can help you there. Start by reading my blog post, “Teaching a one-day class.” Then, get a copy of my free Tech study guide. If you need more help, e-mail me, and I’ll do what I can to help you.