Category Archives: Ham Radio

ARRL Files Appeal of FCC BPL Rules in Federal Court

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The ARRL has taken the next step on challenging the FCC’s sloppy rule making concerning Broadband over Power Line (BPL):

NEWINGTON, CT, May 24, 2007 — The ARRL has filed a federal appeals court brief outlining its case and requesting oral arguments in its petition for review of the FCC’s broadband over power line (BPL) rules. The League has petitioned the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit to review the FCC’s October 2004 Report and Order (R&O) in ET Docket 04-37 and its 2006 Memorandum Opinion and Order. In its brief filed May 17, the ARRL contends, among other things, that the FCC’s actions in adopting rules to govern unlicensed BPL systems fundamentally alter the longstanding rights of radio spectrum licensees, including Amateur Radio operators.

Bill McArthur KC5ACR at Dayton Hamvention®

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I had previously reported that Bill McArthur KC5ACR was very active on 2M FM from the International Space Station (ISS) using the ISS callsign NA1SS. Bill took up the challenge of completing WAS and WAC (and accomplished it). The high point for me was working NA1SS on Dec 5, 2005.

Bill was at the Dayton Hamvention this year and did a presentation on his experience with ham radio on the ISS. I also had the opportunity to meet Bill later in the day and thank him for energizing the ham radio community via his ARISS radio operating. We chatted briefly and I managed to get a photo of the two of us together.

73, Bob K0NR

Regulation by Bandwidth Goes Down in Flames

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The ARRL has withdrawn the petition to the FCC which calls for “Regulation by Bandwidth” (RM-11306) in the Amateur Radio Service.

NEWINGTON, CT, Apr 27, 2007 — The ARRL has announced it’s withdrawing its controversial November 2005 Petition for Rule Making (RM-11306) calling on the FCC to establish a regulatory regime to segment bands by necessary bandwidth rather than by emission mode. The League cited “widespread misconceptions” surrounding the petition as a primary reason for deciding to remove it from FCC consideration. The ARRL left open the option of refiling the same or a similar petition in the future, however.

I think the ARRL was on the right path. The FCC rules concerning emissions are stuck in the 1950’s and need to be updated. The basic idea is that modulation formats will change over time and the key parameter that needs to be managed by band segment is the bandwidth of the transmitted signal. That way, we don’t want to go back to the FCC for rule changes everytime some new technology emerges. Makes sense to me.

Unfortunately, the controversy around automated digital stations (read: Winlink) dominated the debate. Some hams concluded that Regulation by Bandwidth was just a conspiracy to allow automated Winlink stations all over the band. I do believe that the ARRL proposal needed to be changed to have tighter restrictions on automated digital operation…we don’t want digital stations firing up randomly on top of ongoing QSOs. But the basic concept of regulating via bandwidth is sound.

73, Bob K0NR

The Great Colorado Grid Run

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The ARRL June VHF QSO Party (June 9-11) is a great opportunity to try out your gear for the VHF and higher bands. See the complete information on the contest here.

Under the theory that activity breeds more activity on the VHF bands, I am proposing a coordinated effort to activate all Colorado grids during the ARRL June VHF contest. This effort would collectively raise the scores of everyone in the Rocky Mountain region as we all have more grids to work locally. More importantly, this would be a lot of fun!

How difficult is this to pull off? There are 16 VHF grids in Colorado. If you are not familiar with the grid system, take a look at the Colorado vhf grid map on my web site.

The usual front range VHF stations would have DN70, DM79 and DM78 covered. There are a couple of rover stations already planning to head out east and hit DN80, DM89, DM88, DM87. DM77 will also be activated by one of the rovers. On the Western slope, N0KE is usually on the air from DM69. With a little encouragement, we could probably get a Grand Junction station or two on in DM58. This would still leave DM57, DM67, DM68, DN50 and DN60 open. There may be a local or two we could get on the air or maybe we need another rover to cover those grids. This idea seems to be within capture range.

I think the minimum station should be active on 2M and 6M, with decent Yagi antennas and running 100W or more. This would help facilitate QSOs across the state. Also, a good 6M opening would be a nice addition (not sure who is in charge of propagation this year 🙂 More bands would be better, of course, especially from the rare grids.

We especially need stations to participate from the western grids in Colorado (DM57, DM58, DM59, DN50) near Cortez, Delta, Grand Junction and Rangely. These can be fixed stations, portable or rovers.

If you are interested in participating in this effort and can operate from one of the more rare grids, contact Bob K0NR (bob@k0nr.com). To keep up to date on the status of this effort, monitor The Great Colorado Grid Run summary page.

If you are new to VHF contests, check out “How to Work a VHF Contest” at http://www.k0nr.com/rwitte/vhf_contest.html

73, Bob K0NR

QRP Power Levels Redefined

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After decades of QRP power levels being defined by a simple “RF output” standard, the QRP Amateur Radio Club International adopted a new QRP power level standard. This new standard takes into account the total power consumed in the ham shack at the time of the QRP contact. This is thought to provide a “purer” approach to the ethics of low power operating.

It is not clear if other QRP organizations or the ARRL will adopt this new method. I expect this approach to be hotly debated on QRZ.com and eham.net…unless they check the date on the QRPARCI announcement.

73, Bob K0NR

Announcing the 2010 (56th Annual) Poisson d’Avril Contest

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56th Annual Poisson d’Avril Contest
0000 – 2359Z April 1, 2010

I. DESCRIPTION AND OBJECTIVE:

Since K1DG has won this contest every year since its inception, and is expected to win for at least the next three years, we are announcing the 2010 rules in 2007 to give everyone a chance to install the necessary hardware and software to compete.

II. BANDS/MODES:

All bands, all modes. If we get new bands or modes between now and 2010, they will count. There will be two types of competition in the 2010 event: Traditional and Modern. Detailed descriptions are included below. Please note that the Modern category does not require the actual transmission of a radio signal (it is permitted, but optional).

See complete rules at http://www.freewebs.com/poissondavril/2010rules.htm

73, Bob K0NR

Colorado QSO Party Announced

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The Pikes Peak Radio Amateur Association has announced the date and rules for the Colorado QSO Party. The contest runs from 1200 UTC 15 July, 2007 until 0400 UTC 16 July 2007. For Colorado, this is 6AM to 10PM MDT on Sunday July 15th.

This should be a fun event on the ham bands from 160 Meters to 10 Meters (excluding WARC bands) and the VHF bands of 6 Meters, 2 Meters, and 70 cm. Operating categories include Single Operator, Multioperator, Mobile and Schools. The contest exchange is Signal Report and County (3-letter abbreviation). Stations outside of Colorado send Signal Report and State, Province or DXCC prefix.
Complete rules are available here.
73, Bob K0NR

ARRL: Always Getting Bashed

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Jeff, KE9V, had a great post on his blog “Gutless ARRL Bashers“. Jeff basically says it is easy to criticize a large organization such as the ARRL but it takes real work to contribute and make it better. I agree completely.

I see the ARRL in the same way I see the US government….I don’t like everything it does but it is the only one we have, so we better try to make it work.

I don’t see any other amateur radio organization that has a credible voice with the FCC.

73, Bob K0NR

Donate for Microwave Antennas for ISS

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The ARISS-Europe team is working to establish L-band and S-band antennas on the Columbus module, which will be added to the International Space Station.

From the ARISS-Europe web site:

With the Columbus module being located at some considerable distance from the other two ARISS stations, this will permit parallel operations on the new bands at the same time as the existing operations. The availability of these new frequencies will enable us to establish wideband and video operations for the first time. This facility will provide ATV facilities for School contacts and, additionally, continuous transponder operation.

The only problem is that ARISS-Europe still needs additional funds to pay for the antennas. They are asking for donations from radio amateurs worldwide. See http://www.ariss-eu.org/columbus.htm Time is running out, so if you can donate to this cause, do it now.

73, Bob K0NR

FCC Fines CB Shop for Selling "10 Meter Ham Rigs"

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From the ARRL web site:

FCC fines shop selling non-certified CB transceivers as ham gear (Mar 6, 2007) — In a Forfeiture Order released March 2, the FCC has affirmed a $7000 fine it levied on Ben Metzger of Titusville, Florida, doing business as 1 Stop Communications / 1 Stop CB Shop, for marketing non-certified Citizens Band transceivers.

The 1 Stop CB Shop is just one of many companies selling radios on the internet that are 10-Meter ham transceivers that just happen to be set up for 40-channels of operation. A quick snip of a wire or component and these rigs just happen to land right on the Citizen Band channels. Oh, did I mention that these radios run a lot more output power than the 4W that is legal on CB?

Well, the FCC apparently takes a dim view of this. The FCC’s Forfeiture Order makes for interesting reading. It seems than a FCC agents bought a Connex CX 3300HP amateur transceiver that Mr. Metzger modified for them (in less than 15 minutes) to operate on CB frequencies. This sort of messed up his argument that he was just selling a ham transceiver, which does not require FCC certification.

It is good to see the FCC go after these guys. On the other hand, it seems that the manufacturers (Cobra, Connex, Galaxy, etc.) are just as blameworthy. Take a look at any of these 10-meter mobile radios on the The 1 Stop CB Shop web site. They are clearly not intended for the ham market. How do I know? The roger beep and echo control are the main tipoffs!!!!

73, Bob K0NR

2006 ARRL September VHF Contest Results

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The ARRL has published the results for the 2006 September VHF QSO Party. I didn’t really pay any attention because I didn’t remember working the contest. However, it turns out that I once again dominated the QRP category in the Rocky Mountain region. Well, “dominated” means that I was the highest score (65) of two entries.

I went back and checked my log book….it seems that I must have pulled out the FT-817 and went out on the back deck and worked a few stations.

Single Operator Portable Scores for Colorado:
Call Score QSOs Mult
K0NR 65 11 5
K0JJW 6 2 2

K0JJW is my wife, who also made a couple of contacts that weekend. Thanks, hon, for the competition 🙂

The September contest generally has very light activity in my area, so looking forward to the June contest and some good 50 MHz conditions.

73, Bob K0NR

ARRL Launches Emergency Radio Campaign

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From the ARRL Web Site:

NEWINGTON, CT, Jan 30, 2007 — “Ham Radio . . . Getting the message through for your family and community” is the theme of the League’s 2007 public relations campaign. The “Emergency Radio” Web site debuted this week. ARRL Media and Public Relations Manager Allen Pitts, W1AGP, says the 2007 emergency communications initiative pick up the momentum ARRL public information officers started during the just-ended “Hello” campaign.

I think the Hello Radio campaign was well done from the point of view of having a simple, on-target message and decent media content to back it up. Unfortunately, the only place I heard about Hello Radio was via the amateur radio community. Did it ever make it into the mainstream media? I don’t know. This is a practical challenge of any advertising campaign…getting enough exposure to reach the target audience.

Now we have the Emergency Radio campaign. It also appears to be well done, based on the initial web site. It is a good message that should appeal to a segment of potential hams. But will it have the reach?

73, Bob K0NR

K0NR – ARRL January VHF Sweepstakes

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For the last four years, I have operated a backpack portable QRP station in the ARRL January VHF Sweepstakes. I am not sure how I got hooked on this but the basic idea is to hike up to the summit of Mt Herman (~9000 feet in elevation, grid locator DM79mb) and operate for the afternoon. The contest goes all weekend but I am not signed up for a mountaintop camp out in January. So for me this contest becomes a hike-the-mountain-then-make-some-contacts event.

The first three years, the weather was amazingly good. It was so sunny and warm that I worried about sunscreen more than about having sufficient clothing. Last year, we had serious snow on the trail but it was still a reasonable hike. See my ARRL Soapbox comments here.

But Colorado has experienced record snow fall this year….and it is not melting any time soon. When I woke up on the morning of the contest, it was once again snowing at my house. My good sense said “Bob, you are not going up the mountain today.” The other part of my brain (the one that likes a good challenge), said “This has now reached the status of Official Challenge to be Overcome.”

My wife Joyce (K0JJW) and I loaded up The Big SUV and headed to the trailhead. A US Forest Service road that is not maintained (read: not plowed) in the winter is the only way to get to the trailhead. We carefully drove up the road and got within 1/4 mile of the trailhead. The road was blocked by various vehicles that had gotten stuck. We found a place to park that did not block the road, grabbed the snowshoes and started our climb.

We slogged our way up the trail through heavy snow and eventually arrived at the summit. It was not that bad of a climb, but the snowshoes were essential and the deep snow slowed us down. We arrived at the summit around 1 PM, one hour after the contest started.

At the top, I had about 25 QSOs before the cold started to get to me. It was difficult to operate the radio in the snowy conditions….and it was pretty dang cold. I did not bother to assemble the 2M yagi antenna, operating just off the vertical whip antennas. At first, I thought I was going to just work my own grid (bummer). As the afternoon progressed, I picked up 4 adjacent grids on various bands, so I was feeling OK about that. (Not rare DX but at least I got outside my grid.)

More information on VHF contests can be found here: How to Work a VHF Contest

73, Bob K0NR

The PJ4/K0NR Story

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I finally got around to putting together the PJ4/K0NR DXpedition story on my web site.

My wife (Joyce K0JJW) and I were looking for a great place for an island vacation and someone recommended Bonaire as a quiet little island with world class diving and snorkeling. We checked into it further and confirmed that this was a great place to spend 2 weeks just hanging out.

See the rest of the article here.

Morse Code Testing: Irrelevant

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I promised myself that I wasn’t going to write anything else about the FCC’s decision to eliminate the Morse Code testing requirement for amateur radio licenses. The issue has been debated for decades, all of the arguments have been made and I am quite weary of the topic.

Then I came across the Long Delayed Echoes blog, where Jeff KE9V made his 2007 New Years predictions, which included this:

Having thrown the gates wide open by eliminating the Morse code requirement for all amateur testing we learn that there’s nobody out there waiting to join the party. I predict no significant increase of new licensees in 2007.

This really struck me as likely and it made me realize something important: eliminating the Morse Code testing requirement is not good or bad….it is irrelevant. I seriously doubt there are thousands of potential hams just waiting to get their license, if and only if the FCC removes this hurdle. At the same time, this 5 Word Per Minute requirement is not much of a barrier to keeping out the undesirables. (There are plenty of LIDs that have their Extra Class license, even when the requirement was 20 WPM.) This change is not going to add significant numbers of radio amateurs, nor will it ruin the amateur radio service. It just doesn’t matter.

The fact that much of the ham community is vehemently in favor of or against this change is an indication that we are focused on the wrong question. We have lost perspective on the basis and purpose of the amateur radio service and how it fits into the 21st century. Ham radio is about tinkering with new technology, exploring the magic of radio, performing public service and having a whole bunch of fun. Let’s focus on that, rather than licensing requirements.

73, Bob K0NR

P.S. In case you wonder, I received my Extra class license when it required 20 wpm code. Big deal.

Counterfeit ICOM Handheld Radios

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ICOM has issued a notice on its web site that counterfeit versions of their basic VHF handheld radio, the IC-V8, are showing up at various locations on the internet. ICOM says that “Some of them look almost identical to genuine ICOM products. It has been reported recently that these products are also being sold through internet shopping sites at very low price.”

Apparently, these radios are showing up on eBay and a product review has been published warning potential buyers of these radios. This product review describes how to tell whether the radio is a fake. (I am not able to verify the accuracy of this information.)

I don’t recall a “knock off” of a popular ham rig before. Certainly, many items in the mainstream consumer electronics market have had cheap copies made, but the ham market is relatively small and doesn’t usually attract this kind of attention. Also, this radio can probably be used for land mobile applications (not necessarily legally, see your local government radio law.)

Buyer beware.

73, Bob K0NR

FCC Drops Morse Code

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Washington, D.C. – Today, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted a Report and Order and Order on Reconsideration (Order) that modifies the rules for the Amateur Radio Service by revising the examination requirements for obtaining a General Class or Amateur Extra Class amateur radio operator license and revising the operating privileges for Technician Class licensees. In addition, the Order resolves a petition filed by the American Radio Relay League, Inc. (ARRL) for partial reconsideration of an FCC Order on amateur service rules released on October 10, 2006.

The current amateur service operator license structure contains three classes of amateur radio operator licenses: Technician Class, General Class, and Amateur Extra Class. General Class and Amateur Extra Class licensees are permitted to operate in Amateur bands below 30 MHz, while the introductory Technician Class licensees are only permitted to operate in bands above 30 MHz. Prior to today’s action, the FCC, in accordance with international radio regulations, required applicants for General Class and Amateur Extra Class operator licenses to pass a five words-per-minute Morse code examination. Today’s Order eliminates that requirement for General and Amateur Extra licensees. This change reflects revisions to international radio regulations made at the International Telecommunication Union’s 2003 World Radio Conference (WRC-03), which authorized each country to determine whether to require that individuals demonstrate Morse code proficiency in order to qualify for an amateur radio license with transmitting privileges on frequencies below 30 MHz. This change eliminates an unnecessary regulatory burden that may discourage current amateur radio operators from advancing their skills and participating more fully in the benefits of amateur radio.

Today’s Order also revises the operating privileges for Technician Class licensees by eliminating a disparity in the operating privileges for the Technician Class and Technician Plus Class licensees. Technician Class licensees are authorized operating privileges on all amateur frequencies above 30 MHz. The Technician Plus Class license, which is an operator license class that existed prior the FCC’s simplification of the amateur license structure in 1999 and was grandfathered after that time, authorized operating privileges on all amateur frequencies above 30 MHz, as well as frequency segments in four HF bands (below 30 MHz) after the successful completion of a Morse code examination. With today’s elimination of the Morse code exam requirements, the FCC concluded that the disparity between the operating privileges of Technician Class licensees and Technician Plus Class licensees should not be retained.

OK, there you have it…the waiting is over….the FCC has ruled. Is this the end of ham radio? Will the ham bands be overrun with poor operating practices? Will CW operation fade into the night, never to be heard again?

I dunno. Get over it. Turn the radio on. Work somebody (on whatever mode you prefer) and have some ham radio fun.

It is not clear when this change takes effect, so look for more information to follow.

73, Bob K0NR

Satellite Operation from Bonaire PJ4/K0NR

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As mentioned in a previous post, I was in Bonaire on vacation, so I took along some ham radio gear and did a PJ4/K0NR Mini-DXpedition. Well, maybe it is more like a Micro-DXpedition.

Everything had to be transported via airline, so the radio gear needed to be compact, which included HF and satellite gear.

The satellite station consisted of:

The first problem I ran into was that AO-51 was configured in a rather, uh, interesting mode of SSB uplink (146 MHz) and FM downlink (435 MHz). My little HT can’t do SSB, so I was locked out of AO-51 for that week. In the second week of my trip, AO-51 was configured for 2.4 GHz uplink and 435 MHz downlink. OK, so I wouldn’t be using AO-51.

Fortunately, another VHF/UHF FM satellite, SO-50 was available. In fact, it was really available. I had not been on the satellites for quite a while and my experience was that the FM birds were usually jammed with activity. The first time SO-50 came over I didn’t hear a thing. I wondered whether I had the satellite tracking software set correctly. Daylight savings time had just changed but Bonaire does not change time, so I thought my PC might be off by an hour. I fiddled with the software until I convinced myself that I had the tracking software configured properly.

I finally figured out that the SO-50 was just not used much. Of course, Bonaire is in the southern Caribbean, near South America, so US stations were only workable for a few minutes of a pass. But still, SO-50 was very quiet. Then I realized that I normally rely on a signal on the downlink for me to adjust for doppler shift and point the antenna. Without a signal, this became more difficult. (My HT doesn’t let me tweak the downlink frequency while transmitting.)

The next thing that happened was that I transmitted on the 2M uplink and heard terrible interference on the downlink frequency. It sounded like a local broadcast station was mixing with my uplink signal and showing up on the downlink frequency. Uh, oh, this was really bad since it completely wiped out my ability to listen on the downlink. There were several broadcast stations on the island, including Radio Netherland, but I did not verify the source of the interference. Clearly, my poor little HT receiver couldn’t handle it.

The interference problem was solved by finding a good spot on the island that didn’t have the problem. Presumably, this was far enough away from the source of the interference to eliminate the problem.

I made a few skeds via email and finally got going on SO-50, using the callsign PJ4/K0NR. Bonaire falls under the CEPT licensing system, so I was able to operate without any special application or permission.

It was fun activating PJ4. Thanks to the radio amateurs that took the time to work me in Bonaire. QSL to my home call.

73, Bob K0NR

Use MP3 Player for Portable Logging

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In the past few weeks, I’ve refocused on portable satellite operations using a station consisting of a dualband handheld radio and the Arrow II antenna. One of the challenges with this kind of operation has been the logging. Sometimes I’d have someone jot down the information on paper as I worked the various stations. This can be fast and furious so it is easy to miss important information. Other times, I’ve used a small cassette tape recorder to record the audio from the contacts.

I recently came across a nice upgrade to the audio tape recorder. Creative Labs produces a very small MP3 player called the Zen Nano Plus that has a built-in microphone and recording feature. I just clip this device onto my shirt as I work the satellites, making comments about callsigns, grids, UTC, etc. into the microphone. Since I work the satellites full duplex, the downlink audio goes to my headphones and are not heard by the Nano Plus. I make it a point to repeat any important logging information. The Nano Plus does have a line input, so you could run the audio from the receiver into the MP3 player and capture the downlink audio. This has the disadvantage of shutting off the microphone, so I have not used this approach.

There are multiple versions of the Zen Nano. The “Plus” version has the built-in microphone, which is essential for logging. Of course, the Nano Plus can be used for listening to music or other audio programs. It also has a built-in FM tuner. The Nano Plus is a remarkable device, available for less than $50 on the web.

This type of audio logging may have other ham radio applications such as logging mobile operation.

For more information on working the FM birds, see the AMSAT web page. (Look for information on SO-50 and AO-51.)

73, Bob K0NR

PJ4/K0NR Mini-Dxpedition to Bonaire

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PJ4/K0NR NETHERLANDS ANTILLES. Bob K0NR will be active as PJ4/K0NR from Bonaire (IOTA SA-006) from Oct 28 to Nov 9th, SSB and PSK31 on 30M through 6M. Also active on FM OSCAR satellites (Grid FK52). QSL to home call.

The AO-51 schedule has it configured for modes that I cannot work portable, so I will be focused on SO-50. Send me an email if you want to schedule a contact.