KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog

KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog

Kids

Media Hits: Route 66, high-altitude balloons, SkyWarn

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Amateur radio operators show off hobby in Springfield. SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Springfield’s amateur radio operators aimed to show Saturday why their hobby could be a lifeline in an emergency. The Southwest Missouri Amateur Radio Club gathered at Route 66 Roadside Park Saturday and got a set of call letters from the Federal Communications Commission, as did clubs in dozens of other cities along Route 66. Thousands of amateur radio operators looked to contact them as part of a “Route 66 On The Air” event.

Twin Valley physics students chase balloon in the name of science. ELVERSON, PA. Science projects can prove more fun when they unfold unexpectedly. But Matt Martini really wanted one Sept. 29 to work as planned. Martini, four other Twin Valley High School physics students and a teacher were chasing a high-altitude balloon across southeastern Pennsylvania. As their school van crossed the Susquehanna River into Lancaster County, a transmitted altitude reading said the balloon was about 30,000 feet lower than it was supposed to be if it were to burst near Morgantown.

Ham radio volunteers behind weather warning system. TAUNTON — It was late afternoon, and a set of thunderstorms was working its way from Vermont into Western Massachusetts. One particular cell was dropping precipitation from high in the atmosphere, and forecasters feared dangerous hail along the Deerfield River. The National Weather Service made the call: severe thunderstorm warning. In a corner of the agency’s office, Rob Macedo picked up his amateur radio and began his efforts to roust the agency’s army of weather spotters.

K2BSA/8 operating from NOAC

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This just in…

bsa-order-of-the-arrowBoy Scouts of America’s National Order of the Arrow Conference Special Event Amateur Radio Station, K2BSA/8, is coming to Michigan State University August 3 to August 7, 2015 in East Lansing Michigan.

 The National Order of the Arrow Conference (NOAC) is the premier event for the Order of the Arrow (OA), (Scouting’s Honor Society) and is the second largest national gathering of Scouts.   15,000 Arrowmen will gather from across the nation at Michigan State University in East Lansing Michigan Aug 3rd to the 8th to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Order of the Arrow.

To celebrate this unique event the Michigan State University Amateur Radio Club, (MSUARC) W8MSU will be sponsoring a special event Amateur Radio station, K2BSA/8.  The station will be located close to the exhibitor’s tents and will be operating on 20 and 40 M, the local repeater (442.900 + 77) and IRLP node (7930) in addition to Echolink (289654).  The station will be manned by ham radio operators from across the nation Monday through Friday 9-12 and 1- 5 EDT.  This event is supported by ICOM radio.

If you are one of the lucky ones attending NOAC, stop by and guest operate or if you can’t make it in person, please listen and contact us on the airwaves.  We are attempting to have contacts from all 50 states in addition to as many Scouts, Scouters and Brother Arrowmen, past and present, as we can.  There will be a special K2BSA/8 NOAC QSL card email available. Don’t miss out on this once in a lifetime QSL.

Our goal is to get as many Scouts on the air as possible locally and at a distance and share the exciting world of Radio Scouting with them.  We’ll share how they can integrate Amateur Radio into their outings, high adventure treks and Merit Badge advancement for fun, education and safety.

For additional information contact Fred Donkin, KA7MMM, [email protected] or Don Kunst W3LNE, [email protected].

From my Twitter feed: Exploding DMMs, videos for kids, weather sat images

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hackaday's avatarhackaday @hackaday
Exploding Multimeter Battle Royale wp.me/pk3lN-FTz

 

freetronics's avatarFreetronics @freetronics
Harnessing discarded VFDs for Arduino-powered clocks – freetronics.com.au/blogs/news/369… #Arduino

 

make's avatarMake: @make
@adafruit introduces super fun video series for kids to learn electronics (w/ Adabot)! ow.ly/Pn62a pic.twitter.com/y7Mku9AkfO

 

DIYEngineering's avatarDIY Engineering @DIYEngineering
NOAA Satellite Signals with a PVC QFH Antenna and Laptop – This instructable covers everything you’ll need to get … ow.ly/31bLCg<

From my Twitter feed: Scouting, Arduino, prototypes

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ke5wma's avatarPaul Griffith @ke5wma
Radio Scouting Mentoring Brochure k2bsa.net/mentoring-broc… via @K2BSA_Scouting

 

socketwench's avatarSocketwench @socketwench
First the SkyPi, and now an Arduino shield based rig. #hamradio is about to get interesting again. g7kse.co.uk/kanga-sudden-a…

 

caulktel's avatarJoel KB6QVI @caulktel
Proto Advantage – @NT7S @la3pna proto-advantage.com/store/

Amateur radio in the news: Ham radio day in Huntsville, odd radio blackout

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If you want to talk to someone, it’s likely you reach for a cell phone, tablet, or computer. A group of people who gathered in Huntsville Saturday use radios. Amateur, or Ham, radio experts and enthusiasts came to Gigaparts in Huntsville to network, talk technology, and shop. They tell us Madison County has the largest per-capita population of ham radio operators in the country.

Amateur radio fans celebrate “original social network.” MAYS LANDING – William McCord clicked the receiver on his ham radio and sent a greeting out into the ether. This time only static replied. But sometimes he reaches people across South Jersey or even across the Atlantic Ocean. McCord, of Middle Township, and Bob Webb, of Northfield, gave a presentation on amateur radio to children Saturday at the Jersey Shore Children’s Museum in the Hamilton Mall. The Southern Counties Amateur Radio Association is a regular presenter at the nonprofit museum.

Neighborhood with unusual blackout wants answers. SAVOY — People in this neighborhood are no longer dealing with a mysterious technology problem. Key fobs, garage door openers, and other devices for more than 20 houses weren’t working for about a week. Those work now, but the people there still don’t know what was causing the problem. Kathi Gorrell uses the internet to work from home, but the interference made that drop out, too. She says everything started working again Wednesday night for her and everyone else in the neighborhood. The problem is solved, but the mystery isn’t. Still, Gorrell says she’d rather have it that way. As to what actually happened, ham radio expert Ben Fisher has been trying to help with that. He’s been tracking down signals with his equipment and says it was probably coming from an electronic device in someone’s house.

Operating Notes: Kid’s Day, junk, special event stations

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Sunday, January 4, 2015 was ARRL Kid’s Day. I know that was like three months ago, but it was such a good experience that I wanted to make note of it.

I got down to the museum about 1:30 pm, and the first station I worked was K3NEM at the National Electronics Museum. He had a bunch of kids ready to go, and I wrangled some at the HOM to talk to them, and we just had a blast. We pointed our beams at one another, and we had a 59+ QSO both ways, and it just worked out great. We were in contact for about two hours.

I had planned on trying to operate digital voice, but that’s OK. Working Kid’s Day was a lot more fun.

The importance of junk

On the way to the museum this morning, I talked to Ed, KD8OQG, on the University of Michigan repeater, W8UM (145.23 MHz). Ed has been working with the RTL SDR dongles. His latest project involves hooking one up to a Raspberry Pi.

We talked about that for a while, but then he mentioned that another project that he was working on was cleaning some of the junk out of his basement so that his son could move down there. He noted that some of the stuff was quite old, but he was excited to discover it anyway. The reason for this is that in the meantime he’s actually learned how to use some of this stuff.

I’ve written in the past about the importance of junk in amateur radio, but this discussion put a whole new spin on it. Not only is it important to have junk that you know about and know how you can use it, but also just random stuff. At some point, as you learn more, you may discover a cool, new use for something in that junk box (closet?).

European special event stations on CW

When I fired up the rig, I found it tuned to 15m phone, right where we left it last week. Since propagation seemed pretty good to Europe, I left it right there and worked a DL and HB before switching to the CW portion of the band.

There, I worked a couple of special event stations:

  • DL65DARC. This special event station is commemorating the 65th year of the Deutscher Amateur-Radio Club (DARC), the German version of our ARRL.
  • R120RC. Here’s what’s on R120RC’s QRZ.Com page:

    On May 7, 1895 a Russian physicist and electrical engineer Alexander Popov presented a device that received signals from the Hertz spark vibrator at a meeting of the Russian Physical and Chemical Society in St. Petersburg.This experiment demonstrated the possibility of transmitting messages over a distance without wires. In Russia and some other countries, May 7 is celebrated as the “Day of Radio”. In connection with the 120th anniversary of this event the SRR (Soyuz Radiolyubitelei Rossii) organizes and conducts the Activity Days “120 Years of Radio.”

    I’m always amazed at  how much progress we’ve made technologically in the last 100 – 120 years.

Amateur radio in the news: 5-yo gets ham license, ham is big in wine, science center gets ham station

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Colton, KE5CRD, is only five years old!
Colton, KE5CRD, is only five years old!

5-year-old passes ham radio exam (with video). Ham radio can be a hobby for some and a mission for others. It’s something Ragdale has been doing for the last three years, and it’s a hobby his 5-year-old son, Colton, has been watching. That was until Colton was old enough to read. At just 5 years old, Colton passed the test the FCC requires for anyone to operate the radios. That makes Colton among the youngest operators around.

A lot of people are shaking their heads over this, but why get so excited about it? The kid passed the test, after all…..Dan

 

Muns the word among ham radio operators, and also when it comes to wine. Few friends of Ed Muns would describe him as a ham. A soft-spoken, genial man, Muns is best known for the wines that bear his name–wines that he and his business and life partner Mary Lindsay donate in abundance to various events throughout the year. But to amateur radio operators all over the globe, Muns is a formidable figure.

 

Raven Hill Discovery Center’s Ham Radio Station up and running. Raven Hill Discovery Center’s Ham Radio Station is operational and the first class of technicians has received ham radio licenses with help from members of the Top Of Michigan Amateur Radio Club (TOMARC) in Gaylord. Raven Hill Discovery Center, 4737 Fuller Road in East Jordan, is known for its exceptional indoor and outdoor hands-on science, history and art activities and explorations. It is located on 157 acres of natural beauty in Charlevoix County.

 

Radio amateurs get practical thank you for Tour de France backup. A voluntary radio communications team which played a key role in ensuring the Tour de France ran safely and smoothly through the Yorkshire Dales has been ‘rewarded’ with thousands of pounds worth of equipment. Members of RAYNET (The Radio Amateurs’ Emergency Network) provided a back-up communications system across the Day 1 and Day 2 routes in North Yorkshire where the use of alternative technologies such as mobile phone networks were difficult, impossible or likely to overload with the arrival of more than one million spectators. During the Grand Depart of the Tour de France last July, RAYNET volunteers operated radios in many key locations, including Kidstones Pass, Grinton Moor and Blubberhouses Moor and engineered four hilltop repeater sites to link control rooms in Skipton, Richmond, Harrogate and York with a main control in Wakefield.

Get an early start on JOTA 2015

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Apparently, participation in the Boy Scouts’ Jamboree on the Air/Jamboree on the Internet (JOTA/JOTI) was down in 2014, so organizers are trying to get an early start on JOTA/JOTI 2015. I know that last year WA2HOM did not participate.

Here’s a message that I received via the ScoutRadio Yahoo Group:

jota-joti-2015

Start Planning for JOTA 2015

It’s never too early to get started. Here’s some handy links.

Here are a few links to information available on the web to help in your planning activities. The talking point are designed to help you bridge the gap between amateur radio and Scouting when talking with Council or District staff and volunteers. The program ideas, planning, and calendar are great resources to get you started building your plan, while event tips will give you insight into how it all works.

This is just a starting point for your planning. Get started now.

As I’ve done in the past, I’d be happy to make WA2HOM available for JOTA 2015. If you’re involved with Boy Scouts, and are interested in doing this, please let me know.

Amateur radio in the news: WA6ERA Citizen of the Year, Kid’s Day at the Science Factory,

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WA6ERAUnselfishly Coming to the Service of the Community. When the Lake Arrowhead Communities Chamber of Commerce holds its annual awards gala on Feb. 28, there will be four honorees: the Outstanding Citizen of the Year, the Outstanding Volunteer of the Year, the Outstanding Business of the Year and a Lifetime Achievement Award. The Outstanding Citizen of the Year for 2014 is a humble man, one who is a driving force behind the Central Mountain Section of the San Bernardino County Emergency Communications Service but who also prefers to stay in the background. Tracy Lenocker, WA6ERA, the Mountain Division chief, has had his amateur radio license since he was 14 years old. When he joined the Forest Service’s off-highway vehicle (OHV) program, he became active in amateur radio because communication out on the dirt trails was difficult, even with Forest Service radios.

Wi-fi the old way. “Joel from Las Vegas, you’re on with Liam Riley.” That’s not really how it went, but Joel and Liam, a 7-year-old Corvallis resident, did enjoy a brief conversation Saturday morning over the airwaves of the Valley Radio Club of Oregon’s amateur radio station, which operates from a corner of the computer room at the Science Factory children’s museum in Eugene.

Antique radio collection on display. Art Hoch’s passion for radio will be on display at the McPherson Museum through March 30. “When I was a little kid, before television, we had an old radio by the window,” Hoch said. “It had to be there because the antenna needed to be outside. I spent more than my share of time listening to old radio programs.” The display includes 30 radios of different sizes, ages and types. Hoch said the most common are tube radios. These used vacuum tubes, which were a common component of electronics until the development of transistors in the mid-1900s.

Amateur radio in the news: WW1USA; kids “ham it up;” Dr. Bob Heil, K9EID

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World War I Museum and amateur radio operators team up for marathon broadcast. Radio was emerging as new technology a century ago when World War I erupted across Europe. The events collided again this weekend at the Liberty Memorial in Kansas City. Dozens of amateur radio operators teamed with the National World War I Museum to operate a special event radio station for 31 hours.

Radio enthusiasts ‘ham’ it up in Mill Creek’s new club. The Mill Creek Ham Radio Club has one student who already has qualified for a license. Local enthusiasts are helping by sharing their knowledge of the field. This club at Mill Creek Elementary School currently has 16 members. The club will prepare students to successfully take the technician class licensing exam and earn their own ham radio license and call sign, club sponsor Jackie Smith said.

Bob Heil (K9EID), BMOC. What hasn’t Bob Heil done? He’s practically the Chuck Norris of audio … Over the weekend Bob was receiving an honorary Doctor of Music and Technology from the University of Missouri at St. Louis. Heil was saluted for his lengthy and innovative contributions to broadcast, live, studio and amateur radio audio technology. He spoke at the school commencement.