Category Archives: Ham Radio

Radio Hams are Not First Responders

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It happened again. A disaster hits — this time a series of storms in the southeast— and the amateur radio community rises to the occasion to supply emergency communications. See
Tornadoes and Thunderstorms Keep Radio Amateurs Busy in Midwest, Southeast.

I’ve noticed that there is a tendency for some members of the amateur radio community to characterize this activity as a being a “first responder”. (Most recently: Amateur Radio Newsline, 6 May 2011)  This may make for a more exciting story about how amateur radio operators assist during a disaster, but I think it is just sloppy terminology. Here’s one definition of a first responder from dictionary.com:

first responder
–noun
a person who is certified to provide medical care in emergencies before more highly trained medical personnel arrive on the scene.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Adminstration (NHTSA) has a 342-page standard that describes the training required to be a First Responder.  Similarly, the wikipedia entry for Certified First Responder describes the skills necessary to be considered a First Responder. Most hams won’t even come close to meeting this level of training, unless they happen to have it for reasons other than ham radio.

Why does this matter? By telling radio hams they are “first responders”, it puts entirely the wrong emphasis on the Emergency Communications (EmComm) role. The EmComm role is, well, uh, providing emergency communications… in support of First Responders (Fire, Police, EMS)  and agencies that support First Responders (Red Cross, Salvation Army, etc.). Where hams can really make a difference is making sure effective communications are established when disaster occurs. The “I am a first responder” mindset can lead to some behavior that makes some radio amateurs look silly. The folks over at hamsexy.com have made a hobby out of ridiculing the so-called whackers that try to make ham radio into a lights-n-siren kind of operation. An even more serious issue is having radio hams engaging in dangerous activity without proper training.

Now, should radio hams get training on skills such as CPR and First Aid? Absolutely. Actually, everyone should have that training…you might find yourself in the situation of saving someone’s life. But don’t confuse that with being a trained First Responder.

That’s my opinion, what do you think?

– 73, Bob K0NR

P.S. I fully appreciate the role that ham radio volunteers play in providing emergency communications during disasters. It is real, important work.

Ham Radio Comes to TWiT Network

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Leo Laporte first caught my attention when he hosted the cable TV show, The Screen Savers, on ZDTV. He has a great way of talking about technology topics, using his own personal knowledge and leveraging his team of bright techies. Recently, he has been focused on creating the TWiT Network, named for the flagship netcast, This Week in Tech. (TWiT calls the shows netcasts, not podcasts.) Leo saw the opportunity that came with the technology shift to streaming audio and video over the internet as an alternative to conventional radio and TV broadcasting.

There are a number of ham radio podcasts out available, although many have struggled to stay current. The phenomenon of podfading is very real, since it is a real challenge to produce interesting content week after week, month after month. See my previous posts on ham radio podcasts here and here.

The TWiT network has been expanding, moving from audio to video technology. Loic Le Meur shot a very interesting video of Leo touring his new studio which is still under construction. This gives a good idea of where Leo is headed with TWiT.

I often wondered whether TWiT would try doing a ham radio netcast. According to this press release, the answer is YES.  Leo has tapped Bob Heil, well-known ham radio dude and founder of Heil Sound to lead HamNation. Leo recently interviewed Bob on the Triangulation show. (Watch this video, really good.) Bob Heil is an excellent choice for HamNation—he has the passion and knowledge of a real ham radio enthusiast. His first guest is scheduled to be legendary Joe Walsh, ham radio operator (WB6ACU) and screaming guitar player for the Eagles.

This could be a really good thing for the amateur radio hobby, so I wish them well.

– 73, Bob K0NR

The Incomplete List of Ham Radio iPhone Apps

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It was time to upgrade my Verizon Wireless phone, so I decided to move to a smartphone. After pondering whether to go with Android or Apple, I finally settled on the iPhone 4. I still miss the The Real Keyboard on my old LG EnV3, as it is nearly impossible to type on a shrunken touchscreen. But then there’s those apps…

I have been trying out some of the ham radio related applications on the iPhone, so I thought I’d report out what I have found.

Here are a few utilities that I found. These apps doing something relatively simple:

CallBook (Author: Dog Park Software, Cost: $1.99) Simple ham radio callbook lookup that accesses the WM7D database (or QRZ and Ham Call databases if you are a subscriber).

Maidenhead Converter (Author: Donald Hays, Cost: Free) Handy app that displays your grid locator, uses maps and does lat/lon to grid locator conversions.

Q Codes Reference (Author: fiddlemeragged, Cost: Free) This app displays the definition of the common Q Signals (QRZ, QSL, QTH, …)

UTC Time (Author: Michael Wells, Cost: Free) A simple app that displays UTC time and local time.

Sunspot (Author: Jeff Smith, Cost: Free) A simple app that displays solar data from WWV.

Ham I Am (Author: Storke Brothers, Cost: Free) A handy app that covers some basic amateur radio reference material (Phonetic alphabet, Q Signals, Ham Jargon, Morse Code, RST System, etc.) Although I find the name to be silly, I like the app!

There are a few repeater directory apps out there:

QSL.FM Mobile (Author: Robert Abraham, Cost: $2.99) Geolocation repeater directory and call sign lookup.

iHAM Repeater Database (Author: Garry Gerossie, Cost: $4.99) Geolocation repeater directory. This seems to work a lot better than the QSL.FM app.

If you are an EchoLink user, then you’ll want this app:

EchoLink (Author: Synergenics, Cost: Free) The EchoLink app for the iPhone.

There are quite a few APRS apps out there. I have tried these:

iBCNU (Author: Luceon, Cost: $1.99) The first APRS app I was able to get running. It just turned on and worked. It integrates the aprs.fi mapping into the app, so it is easy to use. I recommend this one for most casual APRS users.

OpenAPRS (Author: Gregory Carter, Cost: $3.99) This APRS app integrates into the openaprs.net server. A bit more complicated to set up but looks to be more flexible, too. You might want to check out openaprs.net before buying this app.

PocketPacket (Author: Koomasi, Cost: $4.99) another APRS app. Seems to work fine but I find the previous 2 apps more useful. Note: This app can function as a packet modem connected to a transceiver (no internet required).

Ham Tracker (Author: Kram, Cost: $2.99) APRS app, works OK, uses external maps such as Google and aprs.fi. “Share” feature allows you to send an SMS or email with your location information.

Satellite tracking is another useful app for a smartphone:

ISS Lite (Author: Craig Vosburgh, Cost: Free) A free satellite tracking app for just the International Space Station

ProSat Satellite Tracker (Author: Craig Vosburgh, Cost: $9.99) This app is by the same author as ISS Lite, but is the full-featured “pro” version. Although it is a pricey compared to other apps, I recommend it.

Well, that’s what I have found so far. Any other suggestions?

– 73, Bob K0NR

This is an older posting, see my updated list here

Check the Box on Another Technician License Class

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We wrapped up another 2-day Technician License Class today. The original class roster was 24 but we had a number of people drop out due to a variety of issues (illness, unexpected family activities, etc.). Today, 16 people took the Technician Exam and 13 passed (81% success rate). We also had 2 people that already have their Tech license pass the General Exam.

The instructor team is Stu W0STU, Paul AA0K, Joyce K0JWW and me. We continue to be quite pleased with the 2-day format as a good balance between getting the student to pass the exam and equipping them with enough knowledge to get started in the hobby. We continue to tweak the course content but the general approach remains the same.

The next class is scheduled for October 15 and 22.

73, Bob K0NR

The HF Bands Are Back

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First, I need to admit that I am an HF slacker. My first love in ham radio has always been VHF and higher and I have always treated HF as something secondary. I am not sure why but if I figure it out, I will let you know.

Lately, my HF antenna (a powerful device that I refer to as The Dipole) has been laying on the ground. It seems the support rope broke months ago and I never found a reason to put the antenna back up. Like I said, I am an HF slacker.

Here’s my idea of having fun on HF: fire up my Yaesu FT-847, belching a mighty 100 Watts into some kind of simple antenna. Get on 20 Meters SSB and higher and work DX stations all over the world. Actually, I don’t like 20 Meters that much because it always seems to be filled with signals. I really, really like it when 15 Meters opens up because the band is big enough to allow lots of signals without that bloated feeling.

This is exactly what happened last weekend for the CQ WPX Contest. I was only able to operate about 4 hours, with the goal of having fun and working some DX. The propagation on 20 Meters and higher was excellent! It’s amazing what a few sunspots can do for propagation. The contest format is pretty cool, too, as everyone works everyone but with an emphasis on picking up callsign prefixes and countries. I made 100 QSOs, mostly on 15 Meters, with all continents and many different countries. That was a blast.

After I loaded my log into Logbook of the World, I got the instant gratification of seeing 27 of those QSOs confirmed this week. Not a bad percentage…with the emphasis on confirmed this week. I am really liking this.

The HF bands are back!

73, Bob K0NR

 

NIST Time

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The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recently launched a survey of time/frequency users. See the ARRL announcement here. This is a pretty simple survey asking about how you use WWV, WWVH, time.gov, etc. If you use these services, you should probably fill out the survey.

Along the way, I realized that NIST offers a time widget that can be embedded into a web site. It looks to be very handy and well done, so here it is:

I don’t know if I’ll keep this around or not, but I wanted to see if it would work 🙂

– 73, Bob K0NR

The Universal Reason

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As previously reported, I’ve been tuning up my APRS gear and have several stations (usually) on the air: K0NR home station, K0NR-1 Trout Creek Pass digi, K0NR-5 smartphone and K0NR-7 VX-8GR handheld.

Someone asked me “What’s the purpose of this APRS stuff, anyway?”

I wasn’t sure what to say, so I answered with…

The Universal Purpose of Amateur Radio:

To Have Fun Messing Around with Radios.

73, Bob K0NR

Yes, Band Plans Do Matter

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There was an interesting exchange on the AMSAT-BB email list last week. Dave KB5WIA noted a strange signal on the AO-51 satellite:

I just thought I'd relay a bit of QRM I observed on AO-51 on this
morning's 3/16/2011 1322z pass. The bird was totally quiet (just a
nice carrier) for the first 5 minutes of the pass, but then it sounded
like a repeater was getting into the sat uplink:

3/16  1327z:  "Connected, KD7xxx repeater."
3/16  1328z:  "KD7xxx repeater disconnected."
3/16  1328z:  "hey Stacy did I see you at the corner there by Wendys?"
3/16  1330z:  "...repeater in Middleton, Idaho."

I obscured the KD7 call sign to protect the guilty innocent. A little searching on the internet by some of the AMSAT folks revealed that there was an EchoLink station that matched the KD7 call sign.

Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK wrote (again, I obscured the call signs):

And there is an Echolink system (KD7xxx-R).

What may be more interesting, after some Google searches,
is a series of references I saw where the KC0xxx-L system
had been linked to the KD7xxx-R system.
On http://www.echolink.org/logins.jsp now (1839 UTC), I saw
this for KC0xxx-L:

KC0xxx-L        Clay Cntr,KS 145.920 (1)        ON      01:27   367513

In the station description, it shows 145.920 along with the QTH
in Kansas.  This may be the system that's causing the QRM on
AO-51, and the other system is just linked to KC0xxx-L at that
time.

So it turns out that the KD7 call sign heard was linked to the KC0 EchoLink station which was operating on the uplink frequency of AO-51. George, KA3HSW, sent the KC0 operator an email and reported back that the KC0 station “has graciously changed frequencies.”

What can we learn from this?

  • Check the VHF band plans for your area before getting on the air. Be extra careful when setting up stations such as EchoLink or similar system that transmits frequently.
  • Be aware that there are amateur radio modes that you can interfere with even though you don’t hear anything on frequency. In the case of the AO-51 interference, the satellite hears the uplink frequency over a wide geography but never transmits on that frequency. The downlink is on the 70 cm band.
  • Note that the first call sign associated with the interference (KD7xxx) was not at fault. It would have been easy to jump on his case and chew him out for transmitting on the satellite uplink frequency. Showing good judgment, the satellite guys investigated further.
  • The issue was resolved by a polite (I assume) email to the offending radio amateur and he agreed to change the frequency of the EchoLink station. Nicely done.

So check the band plan for your area and follow it. And proceed with caution when interference does occur. It was a rookie error to put an EchoLink station in the satellite sub band and it was quickly resolved.

For more information on 2 Meter band usage, see this Choose your 2 Meter Frequency Wisely.

– 73, Bob K0NR

Reading the Fine Print in Part 97

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The ARRL just filed a Petition for Rule Making with the FCC concerning a specific modulation format called TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access). This issue has been simmering in the community of repeater operators but I suspect that most hams have no idea what this is about. It so happens that the land mobile industry (most notably, Motorola) has developed a very efficient and cost-effective digital standard called DMR (Digital Mobile Radio). Motorola markets this technology under the name MOTOTRBO.

As often happens, some radio amateurs deployed this new Part 90 radio technology on the ham bands. Along the way, people started looking carefully at the emission designator that Motorola was using for MOTOTRBO and began to question whether it was allowed under Part 97. I won’t go into the gory details as it makes my head hurt :-). My brief look at this concluded that there is definitely an issue here but I am not completely convinced that DMR is illegal under Part 97. If you want to dig into this, read the petition in detail with a copy of Part 97 and a few aspirin in hand.

The ARRL probably did the right thing by requesting a very focused rule change which should remove any ambiguity from Part 97. (I know this will disappoint the arm-chair lawyers who make a so-called life out of debating these issues to death.) The ARRL also asked for an immediate temporary waiver from the FCC to allow for DMR operation while the rule making proceeds…another good move.

It is unfortunate that the FCC amateur rules were written in a way that (potentially) disallowed the use of the latest land mobile radio system. This is exactly what we don’t want to have happen in the Amateur Radio Service, as it should be a place for easy adoption of new technology. Future FCC rule making should keep this in mind, always erring on the side of flexibility.

– 73, Bob K0NR

Update on 25 Mar 2011:

The ARRL reports that the FCC is seeking comments on this petition, now designated RM-11625. Comments can be filed electronically here.

How Not to Elmer

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Just this past week, I read the following exchange on one of the many ham radio email lists I subscribe to:

Greetings Group,
I have a rat shack universal DC adapter for my charger. It is rated at 12 volt 500 mA. On the bottom of the [radio brand] charger it specifies 450 mA. My question here, is will it be ok to use the RS adapter without causing damage to the [radio brand] charger cradle?

One person replied with this:

500 ma is the maximum the dc adapter will put out. 450 is the minimum that the charger wants to have available. 450<500.  with 10% to spare.

Not to pick on you, [name], but is there any requirement these days to have a basic knowledge of electricity and/or radios to get a ham license?

The good news is that the second ham provided a helpful answer. The bad news is that he felt it necessary to slam the questioner due to his limited knowledge. (Actually, I didn’t think the question was that naive.) Fortunately, a large number of subscribers jumped in and assisted the questioner and chastised the grumpus.

The truth is that it doesn’t take that much effort and knowledge to get a ham radio Technician license. I think of it as a beginner’s permit. The license exam attempts to enforce a basic set of knowledge required to get on the air. After that, it is up to us to Elmer these newbies as they learn more. When someone asks a question, no matter how basic, that is a good thing — an opportunity for learning.

After all, I really like new ham radio operators —- I used to be one!

73, Bob K0NR

IWCE 2011

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This week I attended the International Wireless Communications Expo, a wireless radio conference centered on land mobile radio (LMR). While not an amateur radio event, it was three fun days totally immersed in radio technology. Being a professional show, not a hobby event, the emphasis was on modern and emerging technology in the industry. No boat anchor radios here.

Amateur radio often adopts and adapts technology from the LMR industry, especially for mobile operating on frequencies above 50 MHz. I guess we could call VHF FM amateur land mobile.

A few highlights from the show:

  • A large portion of LMR is Public Safety Radio: fire, police, ambulance, so emergency communications was inherent in many of the conference sessions.
  • There was quite a bit of analog FM equipment on display but LMR is clearly shifting to digital, with formats like APCO Project 25 leading the way. The FCC requirement to go narrowband by January 1, 2013.
  • Several vendors are familiar names in the amateur radio industry:  Kenwood, Vertex (Yaesu), ICOM and Alinco. Of course, Motorola had a major presence at the show.  I noticed that ICOM had a stack of amateur D-STAR equipment on display.
  • Historically, LMR radios covered only one band (VHF low, VHF high, UHF, 800 MHz), which matched the tendency for each organization to deploy channels in only one band. With an emphasis on interoperability, more organizations are finding the need to operate on multiple bands and the manufacturers are responding with multiband radios (see Motorola APX™ 7000, for example).
  • A number of radio manufacturers from China were present, generally with lower cost radios (Hytera, Kirisun).
  • The FCC recently announced that the frequency range known as Block D (two sections: 758–763 MHz and 788–793 MHz), dedicated to public safety broadband use, will use the LTE air interface standard. LTE is the dominate 4G mobile phone standard, just starting to be deployed. The conference had many sessions on the challenges of getting funding and actually making this work.
  • Since Block D will use LTE, it opens up the potential for public safety networks that also use commercial networks (e.g., Verizon) for extended coverage. These hybrid systems provide for tight control over the primary network while leveraging the infrastructure investments from commercial providers.
  • Quite a few sessions on the integration of IP-based networks into radio systems. The general trend is that the local “air interface” may be a specific radio technology (P25, LTE, …) but the network is always IP-based.

I was struck by the forward march of technology in the LMR industry. In the ham radio world, we often see strong opposition to adopting anything new. And we’re supposed to be the experimenters!

– 73, Bob K0NR

This Spewed Out of the Internet #18

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Lots of stuff spewing forth that needs to be reported.

ARISSat-1 was supposed to be launched from the International Space Station this week, but it has been postponed. I have this vision of one of the astronauts rolling down the window on the station and chucking the satellite overboard. It probably doesn’t really work like that. 🙂

Astronaut Doug Wheelock KF5BOC will attend the Dayton Hamvention. as the guest of ARRL and AMSAT. Wheelock made a great video that highlighted his amateur radio activity on the ISS.

The ARRL reports that there is a Spectrum Management Bill being developed in the House Energy and Commerce Committee. H.R. 607 would reallocate existing amateur radio spectrum of 420-440 MHz  for other uses. It seems silly for Congress to put a specific frequency range into a bill as they are in no position to understand the impact.

One of our local Scouts, Jake W0JAK, is the star of a YouTube video on how to solder.

I just re-discovered the excellent ham radio videos by Randy K7AGE. These are great tutorials on various topics, so check them out here:  http://www.youtube.com/user/K7AGE

When I wasn’t looking Amateur Radio Newsline disappeared from my podcast feed. Apparently, they had to change servers to solve a technical problem. If you are missing ARN, go resubscribe using iTunes or other podcast software.

73, Bob K0NR

How Many Online Logbooks Do We Need?

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I recently commented on the ARRL Log Book of the World when they turned on support for the VUCC Award. This was a long time in coming and is a great addition to the program.

About a week later, I was poking around my qrz.com page and found that there are 32 QSOs sitting there waiting for me to confirm them. What? QSOs on qrz.com? It seems that they have added a “logbook” feature which supports keeping a log of radio contacts and verifying these contacts with other radio amateurs. I participated in the ARRL January VHF Sweepstakes and some of the contest participants uploaded their log to qrz.com, which caused these QSOs to show up in my logbook.

So now there are at least 3 online amateur logbooks available: eQSL, LoTW and qrz.com. So far, I have only paid attention to LoTW, uploading all of my contacts made since 2002. I have ignored eQSL since these contacts do not count towards ARRL awards. Yes, that does mean I am old school and think that DXCC, VUCC and WAS from the ARRL are the real deal and anything else is an imitation. CQ Amateur Radio is accepting eQSL confirmations and has a decent awards program, but I haven’t focused on any of those yet.

You can see what is going to happen…the amateur population will split across these different logbooks and it will be difficult to transfer “credit” between them. You’ll have a mishmash of confirmed QSOs that include the good old paper variety and several different electronic logbooks.

I am not sure what to do about this but I’ll probably just focus on LoTW. What do you think?

73, Bob K0NR

VHF Distance From Pikes Peak?

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I recently received this question via email from Dave N0MUA:

Bob, I ran across your pictures mountain topping on Colorado peaks, thought if anyone could answer this it would be you and your group.  We run on 146.52 here in Coffeyville KS.  and a group of us have brought up the question how far east can a mobile atop Pikes Peak be heard on 146.52 FM? The mobile would be mine running a Icom V8000 into a Tokyo HI power amp at 375 watts  LMR 400 coax to a Cushcraft 13B2 beam pointing to the east.

This is one of those how far will my signal go? questions that always gets my attention. Other folks may find this interesting, so I decided to spend some time on the topic and post it here. I am assuming we are talking about tropospheric propagation and not something more exotic such as meteor scatter or sporadic-e skip.

The (incorrect) conventional wisdom is that VHF propagation is “line of sight”, extending a bit beyond the optical horizon. From Wikipedia, we find that the distance to the optical horizon can be approximated by:

d = √(1.5 h)

where d is the distance to horizon in miles, h is the height of the observer above ground in feet

Pikes Peak reaches to 14,110 feet above sea level. The elevation of the surrounding area varies but since Dave is asking about propagation into Kansas, let’s use a typical elevation of eastern Colorado (4500 feet). This gives us an optical horizon equal to the square root of (1.5 x 9610) = 120 miles. Yes, this is an approximation, so feel free to knock yourself out with a more precise calculation.

It is interesting to note that there is a community 30 miles west of the Kansas border called Firstview, CO that is supposed to provide the first opportunity to see Pikes Peak when traveling from the east on Highway 40. Firstview is about 135 miles east of Pikes Peak, so the 120 mile calculation is in the right ballpark.

The ARRL web site says that the radio horizon is about 15% longer than the optical horizon, so that means our line-of-sight radio horizon is about 1.15 x 120 = 138 miles. I’ve operated from the summit of Pikes during the ARRL June VHF QSO Party and the Colorado 14er Event and working stations on 2 Meters at this distance is not difficult. To be more specific, I worked the Mt Sunflower crew (highest point in Kansas, 160 miles) from Pikes Peak on 2 Meter FM using a 25 Watt mobile and a not-very-well-positioned 1/4-wave antenna on the SUV fender.

I pulled up the distance records for the Colorado 14er Event and found that the best DX using 2 Meter FM is when Phil N0KE on Mount Bross worked Larry N0LL in Smith Center, KS at a distance of 375 Miles! Clearly, we are well beyond line of sight for this radio contact. N0LL has a very capable VHF station on his end and I believe N0KE was using a decent Yagi antenna and was running some power(~200W?). Still, this contact was on FM which is not that great for weak signal work. While Pikes is on the Front Range of the Rockies, Mount Bross (14, 172 feet) sits back some distance, about 60 miles west of Pikes Peak. (I have also worked N0LL from Pikes using 50W and a single 2M9 yagi on SSB with no problem during VHF contests.)

Also during the Colorado 14er Event, Phil N0KE (and Jeff N0XDW) on Mount Bross worked W7XU in Parker, SD on 2 Meter CW at a distance of 551 miles.  Keep in mind that as the signal strength fades, SSB has a serious advantage over FM and CW is even better! So for squeaking out the marginal contacts, CW is the way to go.

Dave asked about working Pikes Peak from Coffeyville, KS using 2 Meter FM. I had to look up where Coffeyville is and discovered that it is way the heck over on the east side of Kansas, maybe 50 miles from Missouri. I estimate that Coffeyville is 525 miles from Pikes Peak. To get back to Dave’s question, making a contact from Pikes to Coffeyville on 146.52 MHz FM is not likely. Maybe if we got some exceptional tropospheric propagation…but I think even then it would be unlikely to complete the contact using FM.

But you never know what might happen on VHF. That’s what makes it fun.

73, Bob K0NR

Congratulations: 285 TechConnect Radio Club

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Today, I had the privilege of presenting the Technical Service Award (ARRL Colorado Section) to the 285 TechConnect Radio Club. I have to tell you…this club is an excellent example of how to advance the hobby of ham radio. They have figured out that providing technical education is a great way to attract members and assist the local amateur radio community.

Here’s a photo of me handing Bill N0CU, club president, the award:

Bob K0NR presents award to Bill N0CU, President of the NA0TC club

At the meeting, Bill also did an excellent presentation on grounding issues in amateur radio stations. This is a complicated topic that Bill handled very well.

Presentation on station grounding by Bill N0CU

Here’s the announcement of the award:

We are pleased to announce that the 2010 Technical Service Award from the ARRL Colorado Section has been awarded to the 285 TechConnect Radio Club ( http://www.na0tc.org/ ). In past years, this award has been presented to individuals that have provided exceptional technical service to the amateur radio community. This year the award goes to the entire TechConnect club for their collective contribution to the Colorado amateur radio community. In particular, the club sponsored the all day “2010 Fall TechFest”, with a great line up of technical and operating presentations (http://www.na0tc.org/TechFest_2010_Workshop_Materials.htm ). The club also sponsors the TechNet that meets at 7 PM local on Tuesday nights on the Colorado Repeater Association 147.225 MHz repeater. These activities have made an important contribution to technical education in the Colorado section.

Our thanks and congratulations goes to the entire club with special thanks to Steve Finch, AI0W, Technical Specialist, Colorado Section for his personal leadership and contribution to this effort.

Jeff Ryan, K0RM
Section Manager, ARRL Colorado Section
http://www.k0rm.net/

Bob Witte, K0NR
Technical Coordinator, ARRL Colorado Section
http://www.k0nr.com/ts.html

VHF Sweepstakes on Mount Herman

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For the 2011 ARRL January VHF Sweepstakes, I repeated the tradition of doing a winter assault on Mount Herman (DM79) on Saturday afternoon. As in past years, Joyce (K0JJW) joined me on the hike, but we also had some other folks along to make for quite a party on the summit this year.

James, Stu and Bob at the trailhead

Stu (W0STU) and I operated independent “Single Operator – Portable” stations from the summit. Stu conned convinced James (KD0MFO) to join him on this trek. We had hoped to get “Alpha Goat” Steve (WG0AT) to go with us, but he made some excuse about needing to prepare for an upcoming trip to Dominica (J7). (Instead of slogging through the snow, Steve wants to go to the Caribbean? Probably a good choice. See Steve”s video of his previous trip up Mt Herman here.) Dan (N0OLD) also hiked up a little later in the day to join us on the summit.

Bob K0NR setting up the Arrow II Yagi Antenna on the camera tripod

Trail conditions were good, with not much snow on the trail. There were definitely some icy spots such that we enjoyed the extra grippers attached to our boots. The weather forecast was a bit marginal, so we were prepared to deal with a snowstorm moving in on us. As I told Stu, the philosophy is “We’ll have a good hike and we might also have some fun working the radios.” In the end, the weather remained solid with only a few snow flakes and temperatures just above freezing. Dan and James built a small campfire (in an established fire ring) that really warmed us up.

Bob K0NR Operating the FT-817

My primary radio was the Yaesu FT-817, driving an ARROW II yagi on 2 Meters and 70 cm and a wire dipole in the trees for 6 Meters. I also had several handheld FM rigs along including one on 222 MHz. Overall, I made 83 contacts with 15 grids for a total score of 1725.

Group photo on the summit: Dan N0OLD, Bob K0NR, James KD0MFO, Joyce K0JJW and Stu W0STU

This may have been the most fun yet for the January VHF Sweepstakes. Of course, any day in the mountains playing with radios is a good day.

73, Bob K0NR

Logbook of the World – What Next?

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ARRL’s Logbook of the World has gotten mixed reviews from the ham community. KB6NU asks Is it more trouble than its worth?, while VE3OIJ says he will probably never use it. On the other hand, K2DBK says you really should use it. The biggest beef seems to be around the level of security (and hassle) built into the logbook system. Someone said “LoTW has more security than my online bank.” Probably true.

I have been loading my ham radio log data into the Logbook of the World for QSOs back to 2002. Although I’ve seen quite a few QSL matches via LoTW, it has not provided any real benefit to me.

Last week, that changed. The ARRL turned on support for the VUCC award. Lately, I have been on the air for most of the VHF contests and not much else. So when I logged into the LoTW web page, I found that I have 123 grids confirmed on 6 Meters, which would qualify me for 50 MHz VUCC. (Actually, I had already qualified for this award years ago, the hard way, with paper QSLs.)

I am still working towards 144 MHz VUCC and have been working on getting QSL cards for these contacts. To be honest, I have turned into a QSL Slacker. I manage to respond to every request for a QSL …eventually, but I have been a slacker on pursuing QSLs that I need for awards. You know the reasons: it takes time, it costs postage, it is a hassle.

The answer is obvious: we need to confirm QSLs electronically. Push a button, upload your log and receive the instant gratification of a confirmed QSO. Life is too short to mess around with cards. Not that I don’t like getting The Real Thing in QSL cards…there is nothing like receiving a well-designed card and holding it in your hands.

The challenge is also obvious… the ARRL needs to turn on support for more awards (way beyond DXCC, WAS and VUCC) with the goal of providing a benefit back to the users of LoTW. Otherwise, the number of people bothering to submit logs will remain low, limiting the success of LoTW.

73, Bob K0NR

Freedom of Speech?

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There are many email lists devoted to amateur radio topics, in particular on Yahoo Groups. These email forums are a great way to learn and exchange information. Usually these lists are created to hit a particular topic of interest. Over time, people stray off into other areas and start posting topics that are not appropriate for the forum. Eventually, the moderator steps in and shuts down the off-topic conversation.

What can happen next is the off-topic posters claim their right of “freedom of speech” is being violated. “This is America, and we have freedom of speech.”  (Kind of an odd statement since the internet is worldwide, not just a US concern, but I’ll set that aside.) This just happened a few days ago on an email list I use.

It has become all too common to hear people claiming “rights” that don’t really exist. US citizens might want to read the US Constitution once in a while, so they know what it actually says about freedom of speech:

First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The US Constitution basically says that Congress cannot establish laws that abridge (limit) the freedom of speech. The amendment focuses on what the government is allowed to do to restrict the citizens. It does not mean that a citizen has the right to have their speech published in the local newspaper, sent through an email list, or posted on another person’s web site, etc. Newspapers, web site owners and moderators of email lists make decisions every day on what type of “speech” they are going to allow in their communication forum.

73, Bob K0NR

Announcing: Amateur Radio Technician Class – April 2 & 9

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Ham Radio Two-Day License Class

Monument, Colorado

Saturday April 2 and Saturday April 9 (8 AM to 5 PM) 2011

Location: Tri-Lakes Monument Fire Station 1
Sponsored by the Tri-Lakes Monument Fire Radio Association

The Technician license is your gateway to the world-wide excitement of Amateur Radio …

  • Earn your ham radio Technician class radio privileges
  • Pass your FCC amateur radio license exam right in class on the second day
  • Multiple-choice exam, No Morse Code Required
  • Live equipment demonstrations
  • Learn to operate on the ham bands, 10 Meters and higher
  • Learn to use the many VHF/UHF FM repeaters in Colorado
  • Find out how to participate in emergency communications

There is no cost for the class (donations accepted)

However, students must have the required study guide:

Gordon West Technician Class guide, 7th Edition $20.95
And pay the FCC Exam Fee: $15.00

Advance registration is required (no later than March 25th, earlier is better!)

To register for the class, contact: Bob Witte KØNR

Email: bob@k0nr.com

For more information on amateur (ham) radio visit www.arrl.org
 or www.wedothat-radio.org