KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog

KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog

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Amateur radio in the news: Club donates $205 to charity, middle school student to earn licenses, Ohio club designated Special Service Club

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Radio operators tune into community needs

When the Gaston County Amateur Radio Society put out the call to help the Gazette Empty Stocking Fund, members donated $205. That happened Monday night when the group met for its annual Christmas party.

The tradition that started when Pat and Cy Rowe and other members decided to forgo the annual gift exchange at the holiday party and instead use the money to help those in need.

“The idea was to do something for someone else,” said Cy on Tuesday when he and Pat stopped by The Gazette to present the donation. “There really is a big need out there.”…..more

Guest instructor opening students’ eyes to amateur radio

COLUMBIANA — Students at the South Side Middle School in Columbiana now have an opportunity to earn their amateur Federal Communications Commission (FCC) license.

South Side Principal Jason Martin said the after school program for grades 5-8 was initiated by Wade Boley, who also serves as the school district’s resource officer.

Boley has been a ham radio operator since 1992 and said he thought students would be interested in not only learning how to get their own FCC license, but also be able to delve deeper into electronic and wireless technology….more

Southern Ohio Amateur Radio Association earns American Radio Relay League award

The Southern Ohio Amateur Radio Association, Inc., has a motto: “Dedicated to community service through amateur radio.” That dedication has been noticed by the American Radio Relay League, which recently presented a “Special Service Club” award to SOARA.

…

“The ARRL Special Service Club award is reserved for ARRL Affiliated Clubs that have met and/or exceeded the strict requirements set out by the ARRL,” Yonally said during the presentation. “One of the main requirements is a club’s dedication to public service, which is a hallmark and a mission statement component for SOARA.

…..more

Amateur radio in the news: Jonestown radio network, Girl Guides get training

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The Jonestown Radio Network: How Jim Jones Spread His Message Of Death. This article was fascinating to me. I wasn’t aware that Jim Jones’ cult used amateur radio. It says:

Shortwave radio linked Jonestown to the rest of the world. During the 1970s, ham radios had become increasingly common, and Jonestown residents used the shortwave radio to communicate with their acolytes worldwide. Ham radio operators in Jonestown sent “QSL cards” to people they had communicated with, a common practice at the time.

Girl guides receive basic training in wireless communication. Over 20 girl guides from the No. 28 Kingstown Guide Company (St Joseph’s Convent Kingstown) were given their first exposure to amateur radio (Ham Radio) and wireless communications as part of Guiding activities. Rainbow Radio League (RRL) Director, Donald De Riggs was invited by Guide Leader Oneka Morgan to share his skills in this field. De Riggs informed the young ladies that communications is essential for everyday activities. He noted that the phonetic alphabet which they learned was essential for pilots, air traffic controllers, aviation service personnel, sea captains, military and para-military organisations among others including Ham radio.

How Amateur Radio Operators Could Save Lives in an Emergency and How You Can Help. Santa Clara’s amateur radio group doesn’t get a lot of recognition, but if another major earthquake ever hits the Bay Area, the small group could be the difference between life and death. “I consider them to be an extremely valuable asset,” said Lisa Schoenthal, the City of Santa Clara’s Emergency Services Coordinator. “During times of catastrophic emergency, [HAM radios] have been the only mode of communication.”


25 or younger? Take this survey.

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The Young Amateurs Radio Club (YARC) is running a survey for hams under the age of 26. The goal of the survey is for young hams to share how they got into amateur radio and to figure out how to get more young people into the hobby. Take the survey here.

The survey asks young hams:

  • how they got interested in amateur radio
  • what bands and modes they operate
  • what parts of the hobby they enjoy
  • and how to get more young people into amateur radio.

YARC runs a Discord server where members can communicate with one another and a weekly EchoLink net. And, they recntly held a QSO Party.

Their website says, “We do cool stuff!” Check them out and see for yourself.

IARU Region 3 tackles spectrum management issues

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The 17th IARU Region 3 Regional Conference was held September 10-14, 2018 in Seoul, South Korea. Many papers were presented, but the one that caught my eye was “The evolution of spectrum management in the era of hyper-connectivity and its impact on the amateur service.” The introduction reads:

This document provides an overview of emerging global changes in the way the radio frequency spectrum may be managed in the future. While the paper uses Australian documents for source material it is highly likely that similar situations are developing in many countries. Much of the context is based upon observations at ITU-R and APG meetings over the last few years and the purpose of the document is to highlight the global challenges that may emerge in coming years with respect to current and future amateur service allocations.

The paper discusses preparations for the 2019 World Radiocommunication Conference, and what changes will be made to the Radio Regulations, specifically what will happen to our amateur radio allocations. The outlook isn’t rosy:

During the last two WRCs the proposed new amateur allocations were fiercely opposed by many administrations and the amateur service was lucky to get two small allocations following very lengthy and difficult discussions. The opposition is largely around “why do you need another band?”, “the bands you have aren’t being used”, etc. The old fall back of “emergency communications” is no longer seen as an adequate reason so we need more relevant reasons to get any new bands, and going into the future, to maintain access to our existing bands.

Basically, this boils down to “use it or lose it,” and with the use of some of the UHF and microwave bands being so low, it’s hard to see how we manage to hold on to all of our allocations. The paper does have some suggestions for how we might better make use of the bands:

  • While the advantages of narrow bandwidth applications are very important when band conditions are poor or band occupancy is high, what about the rest of the time? What about the VHF bands and above where propagation conditions are relatively favourable and stable, why limit the application bandwidth?
  • Why not consider developing modes that use more bandwidth, or at least are adaptive and can use more bandwidth when band conditions permit? Wider band modes offering better voice quality are certainly easier on the ear. Other information could also be transmitted which would enhance the communications experience. Reduced Bandwidth Digital TV is a possibility for UHF bands and above, possibly even on 6 m and 2 m. Acceptable video quality can be achieved using bandwidths of 300 kHz or less.
  • How about moving away from our reliance on internet mediated modes, or at least supplement the internet with an amateur equivalent. HAMNET in Germany and Broadband-Hamnet in the US are examples of this. Why not use some of our spectrum assets to transmit amateur-specific and non-commercial information (DX clusters, WSPR reports, etc.) instead of commercial internet services? Considering that amateurs have exclusive use of the 44.xx.xx.xx IP address range (AMPRNet) we could build an independent, though internet-linked amateur-specific network. Given the low population density in many Region 3 countries an extensive broadband network using any of the microwave bands is unlikely to be feasible, but perhaps lower frequency bands could be used for (relatively) broadband links if the application data rate is kept low enough.

All of the papers presented at this conference are available online. Other papers that look interesting are Amateur Radio for Kids and Using New Digital Modes to Improve Participation.

DELARA demos amateur radio at Cub Scout Day Camp

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Back in April, I got an email from Ed, K8MEJ. He wrote, “I was asked to help with STEM program activities by a ham who is the assistant director for our district’s cub scout day camp. I have a few other hams who are going to help me. Our day camp is June 18-22 and I’m going to set up in the Webelos area only, which means the boys will be 9-11 years old….I was wondering if you’d be willing to speak with me for a few minutes and perhaps exchange some ideas.”

Even though I haven’t really been involved with Scouts lately, I agreed to talk with Ed and we had a nice conversation. This afternoon, I received another email from Ed. He wrote, “I reached out to you a couple of months ago to talk about ideas for a ham radio demonstration we were asked to perform for our local scout district. We did that last week, and it was successful. My club asked me to write up an article for our newsletter. I figured I would pass it along since you helped me early on.”

I asked Ed for permission to post it here. Thanks, Ed!

Every summer, the Delaware District of the Simon Kenton Council, BSA holds a day camp for Cub Scouts at Camp Lazarus – right in our back yard. In years past, I reached out to the local council to inquire about radio scouting in general, and specifically volunteering to provide ham radio for JOTA or a camporee. I received no responses to my inquiries. So it was a bit surprising when the leaders of the 2018 day camp reached out to DELARA and asked if we would discuss and demonstrate ham radio for the day camp as part of the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) activities they had planned for the boys. Then we learned that the assistant camp director was a ham! El Jefe Joe, AA8TA, and I went to a day camp planning meeting in February to discuss the possibilities. I solicited volunteers in the March/April time frame and we began meeting weekly to plan the event for June.

The team consisted of Bob Dixon W8ERD, Joe Papworth K8MP, Kevin Rhodus K8KNR (a newly licensed ham), Ethan Lirtzman KE8GPY (assistant camp director and new ham), and myself Ed Jones K8MEJ. On our conference call each week, Ethan would update us as the day camp details solidified and we eventually settled on a single day focused on the Arrow of Light (AOL) Cub Scouts. These are fifth graders, generally ten years of age, that have finished their Webelo rank and have earned the Arrow of Light, the highest award in Cub Scouts. Most, if not all, of the AOL boys were committed to going on to the Boy Scouts.

Ethan said we would have three groups, with each group having 12-16 boys, and we’d have approximately 45 minutes to spend with each group. We decided to spend approximately ten minutes with a basic discussion of what radio in general is along with examples they could relate to (cell phones, WiFi, Bluetooth, TV, etc.), what amateur radio is, the fun activities we do, what we do to earn our licenses, how hams provide public service and provide assistance during emergencies and natural disasters, and of course, invite them to Field Day! After the ten minutes of “curriculum”, we would spend the next 30 minutes demonstrating ham radio and getting the boys on-the-air.

The evening before our demonstration, Bob, Joe, Kevin, and myself setup our stations and antennas, along with my camper, in a lower activity field of Camp Lazarus. Joe launched ropes into two tall tree to hoist up an end-fed half wave (LNR Precision EF-QUAD) that is resonant on 40/20/15/10m. This is my favorite antenna to use when I go camping. We also set up a non-resonant vertical antenna (Chameleon) mostly for demonstration purposes. It’s a simple antenna to deploy, but is not very efficient on frequencies below 14MHz. Our radios consisted of my ELAD FDM-DUO for HF phone and Joe’s Yaesu FT-100 for HF CW. Kevin brought a TYT MD-380 and DMR hotspot but we didn’t have the time to demonstrate that.

Our CW activities were for demonstration purposes only. We did not intend to make CW contacts. Since the DUO is a QRP rig, I brought my Elecraft KXPA100 amplifier. I also brought a laptop so we could use the band scope and waterfall, and demonstrate some of the features of software defined radio. After getting the EFHW antenna up, Joe and Bob left to attend the pre-Field Day monthly meeting. At the meeting, Joe announced our activity the following day and asked DELARA members to monitor 40m and the W8SMK repeater, just in case. We knew the boys would quickly get bored if we couldn’t muster up some contacts. Kevin and I stayed to finish setting up and then play on the radio.

With our “100 Watts and a Wire”, we easily worked Italy, Spain, Mexico, USA, etc. and heard Russia, Guatemala, Portugal, etc. We didn’t try too hard to break through pile-ups for some of those DX stations, but we had some fun and verified we could be heard. I then stayed the night in the camper to keep an eye on things and was up early to get ready.

I had the radios set up again by 8:30am, and Bob, Kevin, and Joe arrived between 8:30-9:00 to get setup and organize the handouts that Bob brought. At 9am we checked in to a local group that meets on or about 3.807 to say hey and let them know we’d be on the air with the scouts. At 9:45 the boys had hiked down from the upper camp and the first group began congregating around our section of the field. At 10:00am the show began.

Dr. Bob did an outstanding job with the initial ten minutes of curriculum, and even brought along a stack of QSL cards that the boys could have as a souvenir. That was very classy. As Joe K8MP would say “every club needs a Bob!” Incidentally, we discovered on the Saturday of Field Day that Bob had convinced at least one scout to attend Field Day and operate the GOTA station. After Bob’s kick-off, I then asked the boys to raise their hand if they’d like to talk to someone on the radio and I think every boy but perhaps one wanted a turn on the microphone.

I called CQ on the designated scouting frequencies but got no return calls. The boys started fidgeting, playing with wires, etc. so Joe did some morse code demonstration while I spun the dial looking for some contacts on SSB. The boys were particularly impressed at Bob’s ability to translate code for them near real-time. I eventually heard a station calling CQ on 14.295. The operator was N4WQB, Eric from Merritt Island, Florida. I answered his call and explained what we were doing and asked him if he would like to talk to a couple of scouts. It was a good thing he was ready for a rag chew, because he talked to each boy at least once for the next 30 minutes. Some boys came back for a second turn at the mic. I am always impressed at the kindness of hams and how interested they are in getting kids interested in radio. Eric was fun, patient, and engaged with the boys.

At 10:45 the next group of AOL scouts arrived and we repeated the curriculum and demonstration. Joe demonstrated morse code while I hunted for a station. This time we heard AC6AA, Joe Oliver, calling from the mountains of Arizona. He, too, spoke to every boy at least once, and some multiple times. Joe answered all their questions and told them he was first licensed in 1947. Kids being very direct at that age, one boy asked “how old are you?!” and he replied that he was 80-something years old. Their eyes got really big, figuring they might be talking to Moses or something. One boy asked him if they had scorpions there and he replied back with “no, but we had some tarantulas on the driveway”. Again, their eyes got really big. Joe from AZ was a great sport and seemed to really enjoy talking to the boys. I signed off, but said we’d be back in approximately ten minutes for the next group of boys. However, I couldn’t really sign off because station after station called me saying they had been listening, wanted to say hi to the boys, and thanked us for our efforts to show these kids amateur radio.

At 11:30 the last group of boys came by and we repeated our show once again. We called CQ on the same frequency (14.216) and this time one of the gentlemen had hung around waiting for us to get back on the air. This time it was Doug calling from the PA Emergency Operations Agency using their call of KB3NIA. Sadly, I forgot to make note of his personal call sign. Doug spoke to every boy at least once and answered all their questions. They asked him about his role with the PA EMA and he described his activities there and with MARS and his past careers in commercial broadcast radio and television. He was great and the scouts enjoyed their time with him as well.

With the last group over, it was lunch time. The scouts offered us sandwiches and chips and we had a nice lunch. The scouts had some free time and the weather was cooperative, so we stuck around for a bit. About four scouts came back and asked if they could get on the air again. This time, for reasons I can’t even remember, I got on my HT and called out on the W8SMK repeater and Dave, WB2CWJ, one of our club members, answered. He had been monitoring the frequency in case we called. The boys took turns talking to Dave and I think they liked holding a “walkie talkie” in their hand and talking to someone they didn’t know. Dave, like the other hams, was awesome with the boys and they liked talking to him.

The day camp directors have already asked if we can come back next year, possibly for the entire group of kids (first through fifth graders), and for several days. The theme for next year’s camp is “Around the World”, a great fit for hams. We have some thoughts already for how we can make next year better, including making handouts for Field Day that the kids can bring home to their parents (assuming day camp is before Field Day). Huge thanks to K8MP, W8ERD, K8KNR, KE8GPY, and all the hams who talked to the boys on-the-air. It was a hugely rewarding experience for me. If you would like to help out next year, please let me know and I will add you to the list of those interested.

Ham radio in the news: Ham honored for service, building kits build tech skills, nerd knows what he’s doing?

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Well-known volunteer lends his ham radio skills to Sumter.

In public, he is known as Harold Lloyd. On the radio waves, his call sign is W4OE. For more than a decade, the Village of Glenbrook resident has donated his knowledge of being a ham radio operator to Sumter County Emergency Management. “I’ve enjoyed being able to provide a service to the community,” Lloyd said. In February, the members of emergency management recognized Lloyd for his work with Skywarn, a program of the National Weather Service in which ham radio operators relay information about severe weather in their particular area. While he is stepping away from working with Skywarn, he will continue to assist emergency management.

Ham kids build, learn tech skills. Hamvention kids walked away from the fairgrounds May 18 with their own wireless Tesla speakers and digital clocks — built with their own hands. The amateur radio convention’s Youth Tech area, sponsored by Dayton Amateur Radio Association (DARA), provided a space for youth ages 9-18 to build their own technology kits. “The idea here is to teach kids skills such as soddering, which has been pretty much lost by recent generations — kids don’t grow up knowing how to do that anymore,” Jeff Ullery, Chairman of the Youth Tech Committee, said. “So it teaches them skills on how to soder and at the same time they get to build some kits that teach different principles.”

This guy may know what he’s doing tower-wise, but you still have to get a permit. This is going to end badly for the guy and for amateur radio….Dan

‘I’m a nerd, I know what I’m doing’. A Rochester man could face fines if he doesn’t submit plans for a building permit and ask for a zoning variance for his amateur radio tower.City officials say Dan Knutson hasn’t submitted plans for a building permit nor provided specifications for the about 58-foot tower holding multiple radio antennas on the roof of his home.Knutson contends the tower is structurally sound. It’s secured with aircraft cables and guy wires to control its fall should it collapse — which Knutson said would only happen if wind speeds were more than 100 miles per hour. “Everything’s better than it needs to be,” Knutson said. “I’m a nerd, I know what I’m doing.”

CQScotland provides free kits for kids

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On May 20, 2018, a program called CQScotland is inviting parents and school-age children to Braehead Arena, Glasgow to build an electronic kit free of charge. The website says:

You will be welcome to visit the dedicated Kit Construction Area to build your free kit together. Help will be on hand so you should leave with a fully working project. This event is part of the Scottish Electronics and Radio Convention 2018.

For an event that’s coming up so quickly, details on the Scottish Electronics and Radio Convention is kind of sketchy, but it appears to be some kind of hamfest.

Whatever the venue, this is a program that I could really get behind. We hams gripe and moan about not attracting kids into the hobby, but we rarely do anything about it. Sponsoring an event like this in conjunction with your local hamfest seems like a positive way to get both kids and their parents interested in electronics, and quite possibly, amateur radio.

According to David, MM0HQD, the two kits they offer are:

  • AM Radio Kit. This particular kit looks like it costs £17 ($24). That seems a bit pricey, but a quick search for “AM radio kit” on eBay yielded a bunch of less expensive options, including this kit from China for less than $5!
  • Morse Code Sender. David notes, “In German but Google translates well.”  This kit is only 5€ ($6) and looks like a nice, easy kit to build. This site has all the plans for this kit, too, and you might be able to duplicate it for the same price or less yourself.

So, here are some questions for you:

  • Would a program like this be of interest to you or your club?
  • Could you get your club to offer this program in conjunction with its hamfest?
  • Do you know of any projects that would be suitable for this program?
  • What are some things that would be important for a program like this to succeed? (For example, one of the things that comes to my mind is that enough soldering irons and basic tools would have to be available for participants to use.)

I like this program so much I’ve even come up with a snappy logo like the CQScotland logo:

 

What can you do with third graders?

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Last week, a reader emailed me:

Hey Dan!

Hope this finds you well. I am seeking ideas about introducing third graders to ham radio. My daughter is into soldering and has an interest in radio with me. This came up and her teacher invited me to spend some time with her class toward the end of the school year.

I can’t decide what to do or how to do it. Our club president has offered a Morse practice key. Any ideas on how to intro the hobby and maybe hook some young minds without boring them?

Many thanks.

I replied:

Boy, third graders are really tough. I don’t think that they really get the idea of radio at that age yet. Soldering little kits might be a good activity, but I wonder if kids that young—on average—can safely handle soldering irons. Teaching kids to send their names in Morse Code is something that I’ve had success with.

One thing that was successful was something that I did in conjunction with a librarian at a local elementary school. She had second graders read a book titled Mr. Crumb’s Secret. The book teaches kids how to research topics using a variety of means, including the library and the internet. In this case, the kids are researching their neighbor Mr. Crumb’s new hobby, which happens to be ham radio. At the end of the class, I was invited in and gave a little talk about ham radio and gave them a little demonstration by talking to someone over a local repeater.

Part of that demo—if you have enough time—is to get kids to send their names in Morse Code.

Not having kids myself, I’m at a loss to suggest anything else. Do any of  you have some ideas?

 

From the trade magazines: Telephone museum teaches kids about electricity, how to use a VNA, noise cancellation

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Telephone Museum Inspires Young Engineers to Take Things Apart. WALTHAM, MA—A city long known for mechanical timepieces now has a museum dedicated to electrical devices. The Telephone Museum opened here in November 2017. EE Times visited the museum on Feb. 22, 2018. Here, aspiring engineers can not only see historical telephones but learn about electricity, measurements, and how to fix their broken mobile phones.

Learn the ABCs of VNAs. This primer gives an in-depth overview of the vector network analyzer (VNA), explaining its functionality, types of measurements that can be performed, and more. This is perhaps more than most hams will need, but it’s interesting nonetheless.

What’s the Difference Between Passive and Active Noise Cancellation? Increased use of smartphones and other devices for music playback gives more weight to features like noise cancellation. So how can system developers determine the best noise-cancellation option to differentiate their products and still appeal to discerning consumers?

Amateur radio in the news: HS students compete, storm spotters brave elements, Hamcation highlights PR emcomm

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Berthoud High students go ‘ham’ with amateur radio competition – In the school’s first year competing, 90 students signed up to participate. Sequestered behind a room divider in the corner of the Berthoud High School library, a group of students, teachers and adult volunteers leaned over a radio. “CQ, CQ, this is high school station Whiskey Zero Bravo Hotel Sierra,” Sergey Eggers, a junior at Berthoud High School, said into the radio microphone. “Standing by for a call from anywhere.”

Storm Spotters brave elements to get a first look at severe weather. Tornado sirens might send most Iowans scrambling for their basements, but they send Chuck Wagoner out to his pickup truck. Wagoner, along with his colleagues in Newton’s ham radio club, the Amateur Radio Association of Newton have been assisting emergency management personnel in Jasper County for years, heading out to track and monitor deadly storms. In April, the association will sponsor a free class designed to teach residents more about storm spotting, and how to recognize dangerous weather events. “It just gives you a good idea of what to look for in a storm and not be terrified, because it may not be as bad as it seems,” Wagoner said. During the class, participants will learn how to spot funnel clouds, the best way to contact emergency officials and how to accurately measure wind speed.

Orlando HamCation event: Ham radios offered lifeline to Puerto Rico after Maria. For decades, ham radio operators have been vital during disasters, when all other communications fail. How to handle disasters was one of the topics that radio operators discussed. Those at the event heard from the man who led the amateur radio effort to help Puerto Rico immediately after Hurricane Maria in September.