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ICQPodcast Episode 487 – A Taste of Ham Radio Friedrichshafen

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ICQ Podcast logo.In this episode, I joined Martin Butler M1MRB, Caryn Eve Murray KD2GUT and Ed Durrant DD5LP to discuss:
  • Germany Likely to Get Full 4 Metres Band Back. The Brits on the podcast seem to love the 4-meter band. Unfortunately, I doubt that we’ll ever get access to it here in the U.S.
  • Eyeball-to-Eyeball Off-the-Air QSO Party. The Eyeball QSO Party is a weekly Zoom meeting that got started during the pandemic that continues to this day. Hams from different countries attend every week to share their opinions and activities.
  • Canada Reviewing Policy on Antennas, Towers. Although this effort isn’t specifically meant for radio amateurs, the Radio Amateurs of Canada thinks that the proposals will give hams much more latitude when it comes to putting up antenna structures.
  • Researchers Create Space ‘Wall’ to Weaken Solar Storms. Researchers believe they have developed an effective line of defence against geomagnetic storms that would protect radio communications, GPS systems, electrical grids and satellites from disruption. This is, however, all theoretical at this point, and the panel was dubious that this would work in practice.
  • YOTA Camp Region 1 – Austria July 2026. A highlight of this year’s YOTA Summer Camp is that every attendee will go home with a QMX+ they built, with the help of Hans Summers G0UPL of QRP Labs. Hans is also donating endfed antennas, power banks,  microphones, and Morse keys. I want to be like G0UPL when I grow up.
This episode’s feature is a Taste of Ham Radio Friedrichshafen.

Dayton Hamvention 2026: Day 3, Friday, May 15

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Hamvention 2026 logoI feel a little guilty. I haven’t paid for a Hamvention ticket in several years. When I worked for ARDC, I had a vendor pass. That was nice because I could park in the vendor parking lot directly behind the fairground buildings. Last year, I finagled a media badge as a member of the ICQ Podcast. This year, I was issued a speaker’s badge (more about my talk in an upcoming post).

Not having to pay for a badge is not what makes me feel guilty, though. Aside from perhaps the media badge, I certainly gave back to Hamvention in some way. They got their money’s worth.

A line of people waiting to get into Hamvention.
This is just part of the line waiting to get into Hamvention 2026 on Friday morning. Credit: W2NNN.

What does make me feel a little guilty is not having to wait in line until 9 am to get in. When you have a speaker badge or vendor badge, you can just walk right in.

This year, I arrived at the Greene County Expo Center a little before 8:00 am, parked my car, walked right up to the speaker/vendor window and picked up my badge, then walked right into the fairgrounds. How cool is that?

This worked out really well. A friend of mine wanted me to visit the HRO booth and purchase a radio for him, and since I got in early, I was able to beat the crowds. The guys behind the counter were a little miffed at first as they weren’t quite ready for customers, but they accommodated me, and I was very thankful to them for that.

Next, I stopped by the Linux in the Ham Shack booth. This has become a tradition with me, and I always enjoy saying hello to Cheryl, W5MOO; Bill, NE4RD; and in the past, Russ, K5TUX. Unfortunately, Russ is no longer with us, but it was still nice to check in with Bill and Cheryl.

After visiting with the LHS crew, I tromped around the flea market for a bit. I wasn’t looking for anything in particular, but I always like to see what people are selling.

I was kind of interested in a device that one guy was selling – a Gonset Model 3022 3-Way Code Oscillator.  I’d never seen one of these before. It’s really a multi-purpose station accessory. It can be used as a code practice oscillator, but also as a CW sidetone generator or an AM phone monitor. The guy was asking $30 for it, though, and it was still pretty early, so despite his heavy sales pitch, I passed on it. I told him that I might be by later to see if he still had it.

I found another guy who was selling ham radio coffee mugs. There were a couple of those that I found amusing, including one that read “FT8” inside the international no symbol. He also had one that read, “Education is important, but ham radio is importanter.” Since I knew that my wife would kill me if I brought home another coffee mug, I passed on those, too.

Other than that, I didn’t really find anything that I wanted to buy in the flea market. Perhaps one reason is that there seemed to be fewer flea market vendors this year. There were big gaps between vendors in some of the aisles. I’m thinking that with such high gas prices this year, many sellers decided to skip Hamvention altogether.

More about Day 3 in my next blog post.

Articles: Scrappy circuits, ham radio inspires student, why measurements are important, why copper is important

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Here are some articles I found intersting. The first details a cheap way to teach kids (and adults, too!) about circuits….Dan

Scrappy circuits

Circuit components made from dollar-store items.
Circuit components made from dollar-store items.
The best dollar you can spend on a child’s STEAM education is to take them to the dollar store, buy an electronic item, and then take it apart. Learning how a handheld fan, LED light, remote control, or headphones work will help show how wind turbines, traffic lights, speakers, keyboards, and other modern devices function. The next step is to take apart a dollar store item and make it better — combine two items, replace a switch, create something new and unique. Scrappy Circuits is the perfect way to get started. I first developed Scrappy Circuits with Chris Connors and Eva Luna while working at Xraise, an education outreach program at Cornell University. What began as an exploration of DIY switches ended later as a self-made invention system sourced from a fifty-cent LED tea light. Educators can build it with their class for about $20. Anyone with access to office supplies and a dollar store can make the five Core Bricks for about $1. Here’s how to create each one.

…read more

I think that we short-change ham radio’s usefulness in getting people to pursue STEM careers…..Dan

Ham radio inspired this Scranton University student to pursue engineering

Many college students participate in sports, listen to music, or play video games in their spare time, but IEEE Student Member Gerard Piccini prefers amateur radio, also known as ham radio. He’s been involved with the two-way radio communication, which uses designated frequencies, since his uncle introduced him to it when he was a youngster. His call sign is KD2ZHK.

…read more

I’ve always been something of a measurement nerd……Dan

Why measurements are important

Practically everything you use in your everyday life works because of measurement science. Without precise measurements, your car wouldn’t run, your phone wouldn’t work, hospitals couldn’t function, and the ATM would fail. NIST is the national measurement institute of the United States. Most people in the U.S. have no idea that there is a single organization within the federal government that makes sure all measurements in the U.S. are correct and trustworthy — and that they are accepted by other governments worldwide.

…read more

Copper is one of those things that we take for granted…..Dan

Copper: Conductivity Benefits and Environmental Impact

Most circuit designers probably aren’t thinking about, much less worrying about, the metal copper. But as the electrification of the world continues, copper conductors used in applications from microchips, other components and circuit boards, to household, industrial, and automotive wiring, and critical workhorses like batteries and electric motors, points to the need to spotlight its starring role.

…read more

Inclusivity in Amateur Radio

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This is a guest post by Bud Talbot, W0RMT, and is cross-posted from https://w0rmt.net/.

ARRL logoRecently, my ARRL membership was up for renewal. I thought about it for a long time, and finally decided to renew so that I could have a (very small) voice in the way the League is operating these days. There have been many recent criticisms of the ARRL. The one that I have chosen to focus on is the League’s lack of commitment to making amateur radio more welcoming and inclusive for diverse individuals. In this aspect, I think the ARRL has been failing miserably. From photographs of a seemingly monocultural leadership and membership, to a lack of discussion about who engages in the hobby, the League is far behind the curve when it comes to understanding society and who our amateur operators are. Consequently, many places in ham radio remain unwelcoming to a large number of talented, well-meaning, and genuinely good people. 

I wrote this open letter to the ARRL from my own position of privilege and the associated power that comes with being a cis-gender, heterosexual white male in our society. I have decided that my directive in life is to use my power and privilege to advance those voices who are marginalized or who have been historically minoritized by society. I do this in my professional life, and I think it is important to do this in our hobby if we are to flourish and grow. Indeed, I believe we must make the hobby more inclusive to avoid becoming irrelevant. 

I sent the following letter (co-signed by 44 fellow amateur operators) to a group of leaders at the ARRL. Please have a read to learn my main talking points. 

To:  ARRL President Rick Roderick K5UR; ARRL CEO David Minster NA2AA; ARRL Rocky Mountain Division Director Jeff Ryan K0RM; ARRL Colorado Section Manager Amanda Alden K1DDN

From: Dr. Robert (Bud) Talbot W0RMT

Dear Mr. Roderick, Mr. Minster, Mr. Ryan, and Ms. Alden-

I wanted to write about my choice to renew my American Radio Relay League (ARRL) membership for 2024. After much thought, I decided to renew and support the League, if only for the opportunity to use my voice to prompt for progressive change and growth within the ARRL. 

I am representative of the perceived dominant demographic of the ARRL. As a 50-some year old white male scientist and former physics teacher, I represent what the “traditional” ARRL member looks like – quite literally, as I even wear glasses. Over the years of teaching, research, and working with students who represent our country, I have decided that my prime directive in my career and in amateur radio is to use my position of power and privilege to elevate those voices who are marginalized and minoritized in our society. Accordingly, I firmly believe that the future of amateur radio (and the ARRL) needs to be one of inclusivity, equity, and belonging for folks in our diverse world.

We should all be working to give voice to those who are underrepresented in our hobby (e.g., LGBTQIA+ folks and BIPOC individuals), and in doing so we will be working to create a more inclusive place. All too often, the response to such positions by amateur operators is “the hobby is open to anyone who wants to participate.” This is not helpful, nor is it true. By foregrounding and giving voice to older white males who are predominately heteronormative, and who often promote very conservative social and political thought, we are creating a space that is unwelcoming (and even hostile) to a large part of our population. 

I know first hand that there are many amateur radio operators who are not heteronormative, cis-gendered, middle aged white men and who are doing amazing things in the hobby. But we do not often hear about them in popular social media, in ham clubs, or in the pages of QST. And they often don’t feel safe promoting their activity or themselves because of their underrepresented status. When they listen to the repeater, a talkgroup, or an HF QSO and hear people sexualizing women, using homophobic slurs, promoting violence, or discussing deporting immigrants, they turn the radio off. And this happens every single day.

A shining example of an amateur operator working to create a more inclusive and diverse space in the hobby is that of Jesse Alexander, WB2IFS and his work to engage BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ students in amateur radio through the  “Exploring the Electromagnetic Spectrum” project sponsored by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) Office of Diversity & Inclusion (ODI) and Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC). I want to thank the ARRL for highlighting and promoting this project. We need to support the development and expansion of more inclusive projects like this, and highlight their successes in social media and QST. When people see more of these opportunities, they can begin to see amateur radio as a place where they belong. 

Another safe place that has been created for amateur radio is on Mastodon, the decentralized, federated social network where a thriving group of diverse ham radio operators enjoy developing and sharing their passion for the hobby. This corner of the internet is amazingly active with amateur operators engaged in so many aspects of our hobby. But many stay within this space because they are actively marginalized in clubs, on repeaters, or in the pages of QST. I know of LGBTQIA+ folks on Mastodon who feel unwelcome on HF ragchews and local repeaters. Just recently, one amateur operator shared a screenshot from WSJT-X where another station had answered their CQ call and entered a homophobic slur in their reply. 

We can, and must, do better if our hobby and the ARRL are to survive and be relevant in today’s society. The League needs to promote inclusivity and equity while unequivocally calling out harassment, extremism, racism, homophobia, and sexism. A published position statement on equitable and inclusive amateur radio made by the League would be a good first step. A larger commitment to this work would be in elevating diverse voices and identities by electing and appointing diverse amateur operators to positions of leadership within the League. When people literally see and hear folks in leadership positions who look and act like themselves, they feel a sense of belonging. 

Racist, sexist, ableist, and extremist injustices should be denounced by the League and by all amateur operators, while working to promote and build a safe, inclusive environment. As the honorable Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stated, “The time is always right to do what is right.” And for amateur radio, that time is now. If we fail to take a stance and grow, our hobby will wither and become increasingly irrelevant.

73 de W0RMT 

Robert (Bud) M. Talbot III, PhD, ARRL Member 

Co-signatories: Chuck McManis, AI6ZR; Mark Smith, N6MTS, ARRL Life Member; John Duksta, N1DUK; Tom Cuchta, PhD, KE8QZC, ARRL Member; Evan Heisman, KC2IHX, ARRL Member; Vance Martin, N3VEM, Former ARRL Member; Ian Nicholson, KD0ROB; Matthew Burton-Kelly, PhD, W1CDN, ARRL Member; Mark P. Snyder, M.D., Ed.M., AE4WX; Adam Shea, NA9R; Steve Clower, AC9XS, Former ARRL Member; Pete Ezzo, KO4IAA; Darrell “Dick” Johnson, KA6HUM; David Croyle, N6XE, ARRL Member; Denis Kieft, KI7KLT, Former ARRL Member; James Elliott, KK7FMM; Robert Davidson, PhD, WA7IUT, ARRL Member; Radostin Rusev, KZ2FUR, LZ2CFW; Toshen Golias, KE0FHS; Caleb Smith, KZ0P, Former ARRL Member; Lionel Lenoir, KJ7OFH, ARRL Member; Benjamin Becker, KE8TDE; Devin Berg, PhD, N9DRB; Brendan O’Connor, K3QB, ARRL Volunteer Counsel, Trustee, Narwhal Amateur Radio Society; Edward L. Platt, Ph.D., KC1DYK, ARRL Member; Gregory Godsey, K5CVD; Christopher J., M0YNG, admin of mastodon.radio; Ian Renton, 2E0UXV; Chris Anderson, N6CTA, ARRL Member; James Wilson, KC8JC, ARRL Member; Scott Clitheroe, VE3QBZ, RAC Maple Leaf Operator Member; Joe Kopera, KC1SRI; Ethan Schoonover, W7ZOO, Co-founder Cascadia Radio; James Wells, KJ7ARR; Jeff Rizzo, AJ6IY; Patrick Baker, KJ7LFP; Eric Rucker, KD8KXK; Keith Elliott, W6KME, ARRL Member; Jeff Highsmith, WJ3FF; Jim Carson, WT8P, ARRL Member; Mike White, N9UXC; Mark Ingalls KF7AZY; Ariana Rydzkowski, VA3NYA; Evelyn Jacobson, WB0VHF, ARRL Life member, Gold level Diamond Club member, W0MR/Mining ARC trustee

I received the following response from ARRL CEO David Minster. To date, I have not received responses from any of the other recipients of my letter. 

Bud

Thanks for your thoughtful email.

Speaking as CEO, there’s three things I’d like to respond to your letter with:

  •  ARRL does not make political statements as a matter of policy.  Clearly the organization does not participate in any communications that could be interpreted as supporting hate or bias of ANY type, and as long as I am CEO, never will.
  • I am, as far as I can tell, the only CEO who has ever written about Diversity and Inclusion within ARRL and amateur radio.  And I was mercilessly beaten for doing so via numerous emails.  Notably the one thread shared by respondents was: don’t write about things that are not directly related to amateur radio.
  • Finally, our HQ staff is diverse.  We have people from all backgrounds including LGBTQ.  I was challenged, angrily, about why I hired a transgender manager.  I told the gentleman that I didn’t hire her – I RECRUITED her!

 Bud, I believe that the way ARRL conducts itself is very much aligned with what you’d expect from us as an organization.  And although I have pushed the line out a bit with my editorial columns, we really stay away from making statements for the sake of making statements as a matter of policy.

Very 73.

 David, NA2AA

So it would seem that the League views developing welcoming and inclusive environments as “political” and will make no such statement. And it seems that they are a bit defensive about this (“the staff is diverse”). Notably, there was no response to my suggestion that the League elevate diverse voices by appointing diverse folks to leadership positions. That non-response speaks volumes, I think.

The work of making spaces welcoming and inclusive is only seen as political if one politicizes it because they disagree with the position or are threatened by the potential outcomes. Human dignity is not political. I see dignity as Kant wrote about it. Dignity is afforded to every individual based on their rational autonomy. But I suspect that a philosophical treatise on dignity will do very little to advance this position within the League. 

Of course, many inferences can be drawn from this limited response. But I will assert that if the ARRL does not embrace and welcome all of the creative, diverse, and active amateur operators into the hobby by foregrounding their work, we all suffer from the technical debt due to the lack of inclusion. And our hobby is at risk of becoming completely fractured and irrelevant.

Let’s keep this conversation going. I know that I will do so! Please feel free to reach me on Mastodon @[email protected] 

David Mills, W3HCF, developer of NTP, SK

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David Mills, W3CHF, recently passed. He was widely recognized as the fellow who invented/developed the network time protocol, or NTP, which keeps all of the computers on the internet in sync. He was also a radio amateur. This is something that I was unaware of.

His New York Times obiturary says,

Throughout his life, Dr. Mills was an ardent ham radio operator; as a teenager he was in touch with Navy Seabees working in Antarctica and patched them through to their families in the United States.

His two-story clapboard house in Newark had an enormous antenna array on its roof. On his university website, he joked that “in emergencies, the rooftop antenna can be converted into helicopter rotor blades and lift the house to safety.”

I never had the pleasure of working W3HCF, but I imagine it would have been a very interesting contact.

W9ZN SK

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Bill Crane, W9ZN, passed on October 26, 2023 . He was 84. You could often hear his booming signal on the CW bands, and I was fortunate to work him many times. He was a great operator and had a very distinctive way of calling CQ call. His call often included his attention-getting BENS BEST BENT WIRE routine (see YouTube video below).

He was an audio engineer at WGN in Chicago for many years and worked right up until his death. See the video above. He was also a DJ in the 1960s and 1970s. His nickname was “Butterball,” leading me to think that he was a big guy, but as you can see from the video, he was a compact, wiry fellow.

There are two remembrances on amateur radio websites that I could find:

BENS BEST BENT WIRE

73, Bill

ICQ Podcast Episode 391 – Kick Start Ham Radio for 2023

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In this episode, I join Martin Butler M1MRB, Caryn Eve Murray KD2GUT and Ed Durrant DD5LP to discuss the latest Amateur / Ham Radio news. Topics we discuss in this episode include:

Day 1 at Hamvention 2022

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Day 1 at the 2022 Dayton (Xenia) Hamvention is winding down, and I just have to blog about it. It’s been so much fun that even if I had to go home today, I’d say that the trip was worth it.

Now, you might be asking, “Doesn’t Hamvention start on Friday?” Yes, it does, but I’m here representing ARDC, so I have an exhibitor badge. That let me get in today. Exhibitor hours on Thursday are from 8 am to 8 pm.

I got there a little after 8 am and went to get my exhibitor badge. That went smoothly enough, and be 8:30 am, I carted the ARDC swag over to our booth (Booth 1302, by the way). At this early hour, it doesn’t look like Hamvention yet. Below is a photo I took at around 9 am showing how empty it was. The Yaesu folks were hard at it, but it looks like the rest of the vendors slept in.

Sorry for this photo being a little blurry. I should have checked it and taken another.

For the next hour and a half or so, I just hung out and schmoozed with other hams that I know, including Jim K8JK and George K9TRV. I was waiting for the weather to clear up a little. I brought my KX3 with me and wanted to do a little operating, but it was foggy and damp, and even though it was forecast to clear up, it was looking like rain to me.

About 10:45 am,, the sun broke through for a bit, so I decided to give it a go. I found the tallest tree in the flea market to throw my 66-ft. doublet up into and set up the rig on one folding chair while I sat on the other.

Yours truly working CW in the Hamvention flea market.

40 meters was in great shape, and over the course of a couple hours, I made about a dozen contacts, including some SSB contacts with a couple of multiple-operator POTA stations, whose operators were on their way to Xenia. One notable contact was a 30-minute QSO with a station in Columbus. We were both 599. Columbus is about 60 miles from Xenia, so I guess it was some weird short skip.

Just before I decided to pack it in, a passerby suggested that I try 10 meters. I heard a couple of stations on 10, including one DX station whose call I never got, but none of them could hear me. I packed up after a couple of hours, and just in time, too. As I was coiling up my antenna, the folks whose flea market space I was using drove up.

After a bit of lunch, I did a quick turn around the flea market. Not many were set up yet, so I didn’t see anything really exotic. After the flea market, I went schmoozing again. My first stop was the Mississippi Valley Amateur Radio Association’s emergency communications bus. This club got a grant from ARDC, and they done a great job outfitting the bus with both HF and VHF/UHF gear.

My final stop before heading off to dinner was with Russ K5TUX, Cheryl W5MOO, and Bill NE4RD at the Linux in the Ham Shack booth. These people were hard at work setting up their booth, so I didn’t bother them for too long, but I wanted to touch base with them, as there so graciously had ARDC on their podcast.

After that, it was off to dinner with Jeff, KE9V. Jeff is also a ham radio blogger (although I can’t seem to find his blog just now), and we’ve known each other for quite a while. After dinner, Jeff Tweeted, “Just had dinner with @kb6nu — we solved a lot of problems but so much laughter that it couldn’t be recorded and taken seriously. Thanks Dan, enjoyed that a lot!” Well, Jeff, I enjoyed it a lot, too, especially because you paid! Next year, dinner’s on me.

Now, it’s off to bed to get ready for tomorrow’s adventures.

ICQ Podcast Episode 355 – Portable Operations Challenge 2021

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In this episode, I joined Martin, M1MRB, Leslie Butterfield, G0CIB, and Edmund Spicer, M0MNG. We discussed:

This episode’s feature is the Portable Operations Challenge 2021.

YOTA Month a Success in the Americas

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Audrey, KM4BUN operates SSB during a shift as K8O from the McElroy home near Atlanta, GA, USA

December YOTA Month 2020, a worldwide special event celebrating youth in amateur radio, was a great success in the Americas! 24 operators under the age of 25 used special event callsigns to promote youth in amateur radio here in the Americas.

In the U.S., four 1×1 special event callsigns were used: K8Y, K8O, K8T, and K8A (Y O T A). Twenty-four youth operators across the U.S. rotated these calls throughout the month of December. They made 14,699 QSOs using SSB, CW, digital modes, and satellites. This is an 11.3% increase in QSOs from their total in 2019 (12,487). Some operators used the callsigns during contests such as CWops CWTs, FT Roundup, and the RAC Winter contest.

We asked the U.S. operators for their favorite aspect of YOTA Month. Michael, W3MLJ said, “My favorite part of YOTA month was running 5 radios at once. They were all on digital modes. Running the big FT8 pileups was very fun and to see the rate of the contacts being logged was really cool.”  Calin, K8MTJ commented, “In general I liked making a bunch of QSOs in a short period of time.  In particular, I had a really nice conversation with KC9CUK, Erich, on 40M.  I also got a kick out of working ZR1ADI, South Africa, on 20M FT8.”

Calin, K8MTJ enjoyed his time using the K8O callsign on FT8 from his station in Columbus, OH, USA.

Youth from the Americas enthusiastically spread the word about youth in amateur radio and made 14,699 QSOs in the process.  The event was a great prelude for the first ever camp to be hosted in the western hemisphere, which is still planned for July 11-16, 2021.

Bryant Rascoll, KG5HVO, who coordinated the efforts of the twenty-four operators and the logs for the USA stations, said, “Using lessons from YOTA Month 2019 made organizing more streamlined and flexible for our operators this year.” As part of his responsibilities, Bryant also managed Logbook of the World accounts for the US stations, the QRZ.com pages for all the callsigns, maintained an operator schedule, worked with YOTA month manager Tomi, HA8RT, and reported in to the YOTA camp committee in the Americas.

Globally, over 137,000 contacts were logged using 46 callsigns, all operated by hams under the age of 26.  That total surpassed last year’s record number of 129,029. The USA placed second, behind Croatia, in the total number of contacts made during the event.  Over 2,100 operators (both youth and adults) requested and received an award based on the number of YOTA contacts made as of January 19.

Awards that have not yet been claimed can be downloaded from events.ham-yota.com. Additional statistics are also available there. All YOTA Month QSL cards should be requested by OQRS.  More information about YOTA in the Americas can be found at YouthOnTheAir.org.