Courage Center Handiham System

Welcome to Handiham World!

Recently I had a nice visit with another operator, and what do you think we talked about?

That's right - we talked about our stations! The conversation took a turn to receiver performance, and he mentioned that one of his radios has a much more sensitive but quieter receiver than the other. I wondered how he knew that, and he said that he had performed an "A-B" test. That's what today's essay is about - not receiver performance.

When we compare two pieces of equipment, we want to know which one performs the best. How many times have you heard someone make a claim on the air for one rig's superiority over another one? Or that one antenna works better than another? Whenever I hear such claims, I wonder if they are really backed up by testing. I know that most of us will never have a test lab full of instrumentation to run tests the way they are done at the ARRL product review lab, but that doesn't mean that we have no way to perform simple, but more meaningful testing.

Imagine these situations:

Scenario 1: I have two HF antennas in my back yard. One is a vertical and one is a dipole. The dipole is connected to my Icom IC-706M2G and the vertical is connected to my Icom IC-7200. I decide to see which antenna works best for DX, so I listen on 20 meters and I hear a European on 14.060 MHz. The station is easy to copy on the vertical antenna, and the S-meter reading shows S9. I listen on the dipole and the same station on 14.060 is only S5. Do I conclude that the vertical works better?

Scenario 2: I have two HF antennas in my back yard. One is a vertical and one is a dipole. I have both of them connected to an antenna switch, so that I can switch from the vertical to the dipole by turning the antenna switch. The antenna switch is connected to my Icom IC-7200 transceiver. I start my test by listening on the vertical. I hear a station on 14.060 MHz, and the S-meter reading is S9. Then, without changing anything on the radio, I flip the antenna switch to the dipole. I now have an S-meter reading of S9 + 10 dB. I quickly change the antenna switch back to the vertical and the signal drops back down to S9 again. Changing the switch once more to the dipole brings the signal back up. Do I conclude that the dipole works better?

In both situations, I was listening on one antenna and then the other, but the results in scenario 2 were different than those in scenario 1. What could have caused the difference?

Here is a basic rule about comparing two things: You must try to eliminate as many "variables" as possible so that you are really only comparing the two things you want to compare. This is how scientists and engineers perform tests related to theoretical concepts or engineering projects. To make this as simple as possible, let's make up a very basic example. Let's say we have a family argument about which sibling is taller. One brother says that he is growing faster and is taller than his brother. Of course as a parent you can easily make the two kids stand side by side and then you can easily see which one is taller. But what if one stands on his tiptoes? Or if one wears shoes and the other is barefooted? Or if one wears a hat and the other doesn't? As a parent who needs to be fair about deciding, you will have to insist that the variables of shoes, hats, and standing flat-footed are all eliminated so that the one variable you really want to measure, which kid is tallest, will not be affected by those other things.

Getting back to our scenarios about the antennas, we see that in the first situation we are using two different antennas, which is the variable we want to test, but we are also using two different radios. The difference between one radio and the other is a variable that we are not controlling, and that could account for the results we are getting instead of the choice of antenna. Perhaps the attenuator was turned on for one radio and not for the other. Maybe the antenna tuner was not activated for one radio. It could be that the run of coax between an antenna and one of the radios was defective. Do you see all these variables?

In scenario 2, we use only one radio, and we have an "A-B" antenna switch to make it easy to change from one antenna to the other, and to do so very quickly to eliminate changing band conditions or radio settings and radio performance as variables. Furthermore, we can change the switch back and forth several times to confirm our tests. Now we have performed a more scientific test, because we have eliminated as many variables as we could, at least the easy ones, so that we could really compare just the antennas.

I am convinced that there are a lot of folks out there who are simply talking baloney when they brag about how one piece of equipment is so much better than another one. As often as not, they have never performed a real A-B test and are relying on their impressions rather than empirical evidence. Building up a habit of eliminating variables and focusing on only the thing you really want to test is at the core of successful troubleshooting when you are trying to find a problem. It is essential to making sense of how things work in ham radio, as well as in so many other parts of life.

So think to yourself, "When I test my equipment, am I really testing just one thing?"

If you can answer yes, you are well on the way to solving all of your ham radio mysteries!

For Handiham World, I'm...

Patrick Tice, wa0tda@arrl.net

Welcome to Handiham World!

As we head into the longer daylight hours here in the Northern Hemisphere, band conditions will begin to favor the higher frequencies of the High-frequency (HF) spectrum and thunderstorm static and absorption will get worse with more hours of solar energy hitting the "D" layer of the ionosphere. HF radio waves are not reflected by the D layer but do lose energy as they pass through.

As explained by Wikipedia, "This is the main reason for absorption of HF radio waves, particularly at 10 MHz and below, with progressively smaller absorption as the frequency gets higher. The absorption is small at night and greatest about midday. The layer reduces greatly after sunset, a small rest remains due to galactic cosmic rays. A common example of the D layer in action is the disappearance of distant AM broadcast band stations in the daytime."

This, of course, means that amateur radio operators will have to stay up late into the night to make contacts on bands like 160 and 80 meters once the long days make those bands difficult to use for all but a few hours out of 24. That same solar energy heats the ground, causing convection and building thunderstorms that make those same bands crackle with noise all summer long. On the plus side, the conditions are still acceptable on 160 and 80, so you still have some time to collect some DX contacts. Don't wait too long though, because the days are getting longer by a few minutes each day. (Exactly how many minutes depends on your location.)

Fortunately, 20 meters is coming back to life and will improve with the upcoming season. Sunspot numbers are up. Today, we see four groups: 1045, 1051, 1052, and 1053. Higher sunspot numbers are associated with better long distance propagation conditions on the higher frequencies of the HF spectrum. 20 can be a crowded band, but soon 17, 15, 12, and 10 will open up for DX and the fun will really begin for a lot of our newly-licensed Generals. These operators have never experienced the fun of a solar maximum!

When conditions are good on 14 mHz and above, you can work great distances with low power and surprisingly simple antennas. Even that plain vanilla wire antenna that never seemed to hear much of anything on 10 meters can come to life with DX. Mobile antennas can be used to work the world. QRP, or low power operation, becomes practical for daily use. Furthermore, because the length of an antenna like a vertical or dipole is inversely proportional to the frequency at which it will be used, the return of the higher frequencies means that you can perhaps finally fit a shorter, but highly effective, antenna into limited space. A dipole for use on 3.925 mHz is around 120 feet (37m) long, whereas a dipole for use on 28.310 mHz is only about 16 and a half feet (5m). This makes balcony and attic antennas practical.

As conditions begin to pick up on the 10 meter band, Handiham members who hold Novice or Technician licenses can take advantage of SSB phone operation between 28.300 and 28.500 mHz. Since most will be Technicians whose only experience on the air will have been with 2 meter FM repeaters, it will be a fantastic change for them - and a lot of fun! Imagine not having to depend on a repeater to talk to other stations far from your own location. Imagine not having to wait for drive time to be over before you can use a repeater. Imagine being able to tune with your VFO up and down the band instead of being stuck on a single repeater frequency. Imagine making new friends around the world and collecting QSL contacts for Worked All States and DXCC.

With the additional fun comes new responsibilities. Working the HF bands is different than repeater operation in other ways that newcomers might not realize. For example, while a repeater is silent for a period of time, that means that the repeater is not in use and you can usually just throw out your callsign to look for a contact. On HF, just because you don't hear anything on a given frequency does not automatically mean that the frequency is clear. In HF operation, you may not be able to hear both sides of a QSO because of propagation conditions. If you just grab the frequency and start calling CQ, you may be informed that the frequency is already in use! On HF you have to listen even more than usual, and once you are fairly sure the frequency is probably clear, it may be prudent to ask, "Is this frequency in use?", after which you give your callsign.

Another difference between repeater operation and HF is that you can generally count on being able to complete the contact on a repeater, because the system is set up to maintain solid copy as long as both stations remain in the repeater's coverage area. On HF you can begin a QSO with excellent copy, only to find that changing band conditions suddenly cause you to lose the other station or sometimes cause other stations to "skip in" from far distances and cause QRM. Under such conditions, you have to be sure to trade essential information about yourself and your station before conditions change.

Contests are another feature of HF operation that will be new to those who have cut their teeth on repeaters. On contest weekends, the band can literally fill with stations eager to rack up points, making it either really hard to enjoy a long QSO with a friend or, to make the best of it, a fun way to make a lot of contacts and improve your operating skills. You can find out what contests are going on at any given time by visiting ARRL.org and following the "Operating Activities" link.

So to those of you who have not been on HF, let me extend a warm welcome to a whole new kind of operating. We are going to have a lot of fun in solar cycle 24!

For Handiham World, I'm...

Patrick Tice, wa0tda@arrl.net

Welcome to Handiham World!

If there is any theme that runs through publicity about amateur radio these days, it is generally one about the reliability of our communications in an emergency situation. In story after story that I see ferreted out by Google News, ham radio operators tell the press and the public about the way amateur radio operators can stay on the air to provide vital communications when cellular phones are overloaded or down altogether and other communications infrastructure has failed. The training and volunteerism of amateur radio operators are also highlights of these articles, and the very best of these stories also include some human factor - a volunteer operator who has helped the community, a team of operators who have worked in tandem with emergency personnel to provide backup communications, and sometimes even a victim who owes a debt of gratitude to amateur radio. These are themes that the ARRL has taken a leadership role in promoting, and the evidence is that the strategy has worked. More new hams than ever joined the ranks of amateur radio here in the United States last year.

Quoting from a story on ARRL's website, "A total of 30,144 new licenses were granted in 2009, an increase of almost 7.5 percent from 2008. In 2005, 16,368 new hams joined Amateur Radio's ranks; just five years later, that number had increased by almost 14,000 -- a whopping 84 percent! The ARRL VEC is one of 14 VECs who administer Amateur Radio license exams."

Of the many reasons people become interested in amateur radio, the one I have heard most often in recent years is that new hams want to earn a license so that they will have the means to help in emergencies and to be of service to the community. This, among the other themes, has been expertly promoted by ARRL in special websites, publicity releases, articles, and videos. Taking on the erroneous image of ham radio as an "outdated technology" that has been all but replaced by the internet, ARRL answers the questions of why we are relevant in the 21st Century on its Wordpress "We Do That Radio" and "emergency-radio" websites.

Well, with all of that in mind, we turn to the large cardboard envelope I received from Matt Arthur, KA0PQW, this week. Matt had told me he was sending me an article, but I was surprised and delighted to see that it read:

Honored by President Obama

Local ham radio hobbyist recognized

The story appeared in the February 18, 2010 edition of the Star-Eagle newspaper, and featured a photo of Matt, KA0PQW, in his well-equipped ham shack. In the article, staff writer Jody Wynnemer explained that when a letter arrived from the White House, Matt had learned that he had been selected to receive a President's Volunteer Service Award.

"Congratulations on receiving the President's Volunteer Service Award, and thank you for helping to address the most pressing needs in your community and our country", the letter began.

Matt was recognized for his work with the Community Emergency Response Team in Steele County, Minnesota. He recalled how he volunteered and handled communications during a flood in 2007. It had been nine hours until the National Guard could relieve him, and in the meantime he handled traffic in and out of the flood zone, passing messages to authorities in Winona.

Those of us who know Matt as a Handiham leader and volunteer understand what a great spokesman he is for amateur radio. To paraphrase a familiar saying about politics, all good ham radio work is local - at least that's how it begins. Local ham radio classes, local Skywarn training, local ARES exercises, local club meetings and programs - and local news stories, just like the one that features Matt. Of course ham radio is worldwide by its nature, but getting the word out about the things we can do really does begin right at home.

Congratulations to Matt, KA0PQW, on this wonderful honor!

For Handiham World, I'm...

Patrick Tice, wa0tda@arrl.net

Welcome to Handiham World!

This week has been a challenging one for the Handiham Echolink net. Jim, WB4LBM, a regular net control station, is in the process of moving and is not available to take several net sessions per week as he sometimes does. Of course this has left the net control duties to a small group of stations, and I have heard some grumbling about how the net is run and how the few net control stations really could use some more help. We have attempted to schedule regular net control stations for given days, but that has not worked. Howard, KE7KNN, our net manager has been willing to assist operators who need help learning their net control basics, but he has not been able to recruit enough qualified stations to fill net control positions through the week. Believe me, I have also gotten plenty of advice about how the net should be run. Since the net is a Handiham Radio Club activity, I think it is reasonable for club members to weigh in at the next club meeting, which will be at radio camp in May. Until then, my advice would be to "lead by example", by which I mean that if you have specific ideas about how the net should be run, you should feel free to contact Howard and arrange to take a net day, even if it is not every week. Perhaps you would like to simply be available from time to time to fill in as a net control station, which is certainly helpful. In fact, operators who are flexible like this can be very valuable to any regular net. After all, we never know when a scheduled net control station will be unable to take his or her regular session due to other commitments, equipment failure, illness, or emergency. Every net has this need for flexible operators who can step in. If you do so, you have an opportunity to showcase your ideas on how the net control station should run the net.

We have few rules, which makes stepping in to run the net relatively easy. It helps to have a preamble describing what the net is about and what your expectations as net control station are. One of the best preambles I have heard is from net control station Paul, KD0IUA. When you hear him taking the net, listen to his clear, concise preamble. When you have heard it, you certainly know which net is on the air, who is the net control station, and what the net control station expects of you as you check in. These are preamble basics that you can use to help set the tone of the net. As I said, you may have your own ideas about how to run a net and your specific preamble can reflect those ideas. Some people will find it necessary to write their preamble down so that they don't forget anything. Others will be able to rattle off their preamble from memory. The key is to figure out what works for you.

Perhaps we should consider simply having fewer net sessions each week. Yes, I know this has been brought up before and it has not been resolved. One concern that I heard is that the regular daily net format is a social gathering that is now well-established and has its own momentum. Having fewer net sessions would break that momentum and make it difficult for our members to remember to check in. When something happens every day, it just seems to be easier to maintain a regular schedule, doesn't it?

One thought that I had was that we might abandon the daytime net schedule and instead have a daily evening schedule. Matt, KA0PQW, pointed out that the repeater schedule is pretty well booked up in the evenings, so we would not be able to have a daily net at all unless we stick to the daytime schedule. The Wednesday evening net time is very good from the standpoint of working people, many of whom cannot take time from their jobs or be close to their stations during the daytime net. The Wednesday evening net allows North American stations whose operators work regular jobs to have an opportunity to check in weekly with us.

For example, our 7:30 pm Wednesday net plays out around the world at these times:

Eastern: 8:30 pm

Central: 7:30 pm

Mountain: 6:30 pm

Pacific: 5:30 pm

Hawaii: 3:30 pm

GMT: 01:30 am the next day

Tokyo: 10:30 am the next day

Middle East: 4:30 am the next day (Qatar)

Australia: 12:30 pm the next day (New South Wales)

You can see from this schedule that the Wednesday evening net offers completely different opportunities for stations around the world and here in North America to check in and share their comments. I like the idea of offering the evening net on Wednesday, which appears to be the only practical day from the standpoint of available repeater time here in the Twin Cities. We need to put our best foot forward with experienced and dedicated, preferably scheduled, net control operators on the Wednesday evening shift. This is the net that is going to earn the most listeners and participants around the world. It won't do to have a newbie running this net and making mistakes. Let's save the daily daytime net for those stations who need a little bit more practice. Yes, this will be a change from our previous philosophy of having training going on on Wednesday evenings. The way I look at it, we have the potential for many listeners in North America on various repeater systems able to tune in because they are home from work. If we have our most tightly-run net sessions on Wednesday evenings, we will earn a good reputation for ourselves. Does this make sense?

The daily daytime net happens at a time that does not really earn it a "prime time" following. Therefore, why not schedule net control operators who are newer to the hobby for daytime sessions to help us fill all of the available sessions? Furthermore, if a net control station cannot be found, why not simply start a QSO on the net frequency and make it a completely informal roundtable of Handiham Radio Club members and anyone else who simply wants to join in?

Suppose, for example, it is a Thursday and time for the daily net, but there is no net control station. Anyone listening on that frequency would then be free to call "CQ Handiham roundtable" and simply start a conversation with anyone who wants to join them. In a roundtable situation the stations checking in don't have a net control station to report to. Instead, stations typically check in when they want to and then remember the order of the stations checking in and the conversation is simply passed around the circle from one station to another. So let's say that I am listening on frequency and there is obviously no net control station. I might decide to put out a call like this: "CQ Handiham roundtable". Jerry, N0VOE, comes back to me and we start talking. During a break in the conversation, Ken, KB3LLA, throws out his callsign. If Ken throws his callsign out just as I have finished speaking, Jerry might then acknowledge Ken and finish what he has to say before then turning the conversation over to Ken, KB3LLA, for his comments. Now we have established a three-station roundtable. The order is as follows:

1. Pat, WA0TDA

2. Jerry, N0VOE

3. Ken, KB3LLA

When Ken, KB3LLA, finishes speaking, he turns the conversation over to me like this: "WA0TDA, this is KB3LLA". I then say what I want to say, which is probably going to be related to what Jerry has mentioned and any topic that Ken has brought up. When I am finished with my comments I am ready to turn the conversation over to Jerry by saying, "N0VOE this is WA0TDA". Jerry then takes his turn as the conversation develops on whatever topic is being discussed and he turns the conversation over to Ken when he is finished talking. Thus, the round table proceeds in this same order with three stations until someone else enters the conversation by giving their callsign during a break. The thing to remember in Echolink operations and repeater operations is that it will be necessary to leave enough time for more stations to join the roundtable. You may have to discipline yourself by counting mentally until you learn to leave enough break time in the conversation before you take your turn. If a fourth, fifth, and sixth station join the conversation you may think this can become confusing. Well, all you have to remember in the roundtable is the station that comes before you in the conversation and the station that comes after you. The station that comes before you should always turn the conversation over to you. The station that comes after you will expect you to turn the conversation over to them. So it really isn't rocket science, but it does take a little bit of practice.

So I would like to propose the concept of a Handiham roundtable to take the place of the daily net when a net control station is not available. In some ways, a roundtable can be even more fun than a regular net session. In a roundtable, one thing that you have to expect is that it may take a while for the conversation to come around to a point where you can check in with the group. For stations with little time to spare during lunch hour, it may be difficult to wait around for the right time to get in. On the other hand, a short-time station can still check into a roundtable to say hello and state that they cannot remain in the group conversation. In those cases, the short time station simply checks in with the group and right back out again and does not take a place in the rotation.

Some roundtables will run quite smoothly while others will be plagued by operators who can't keep the order straight or who talk far too long, monopolizing the conversation. Believe me, this goes with the territory and you simply have to expect a few bumps in the road like these when you participate in a roundtable. On the positive side, the roundtable situation is friendly, informal, and often more fun than a controlled net. A controlled net may be able to check in far more stations, but this is done at the expense of interesting and meaningful conversation. There is nothing wrong with this; it is simply a trade-off that we have to understand and learn to live with.

So what do you think?

For Handiham World, I'm...

Patrick Tice, wa0tda@arrl.net

Welcome to Handiham World!

An EchoLink contact inspires some thoughts about radio clubs and your own expectations.

I had an interesting conversation last night on Echolink. While chatting with one of my friends, we got onto the topic of radio club projects. I'm going to paraphrase this, but I think we concluded that both of us had been in a number of different radio clubs and that whenever a club took on a project, the results were often less than satisfactory and the process of getting the project underway and completed was complicated by difficult to reconcile opinions on how things should be done and what the club goals should be.

Of course this is a common problem in any organization, but perhaps more so in a radio club where members have joined voluntarily and are not compensated or even required to stay focused on any particular aspect of club business. We all know that radio clubs have different purposes. Most of the clubs I have belonged to have been "social clubs" that have been formed simply to bring together amateur radio operators who share a broad common interest in ham radio. In that kind of club, you can expect several members to be interested in technology and building equipment, a few to be dedicated to particular modes of operation like Morse code or PSK-31, and a more or less general commitment to being helpful to one's community as volunteer or emergency communicators.

In the social club, projects still need to be completed. The problem is that the club members have different ideas about what club goals should be, and this may make it difficult to get enough people on board as project volunteers. If, for example, the club has several members who are interested in Echolink communication, these club members may suggest that it would be a good idea to have a club program explaining Echolink, and perhaps even Echolink-enabling the club's repeater system.

Details, details.

Like all good ideas, the devil is in the details. Who will put on the club program, and will there be Internet access available for the presentation? Even if there is Internet access at the club's meeting location, will Echolink work through the firewall? Then there is the audience. Some of the members of the social club will not be computer users. It is simply a fact of demographics that many amateur radio operators are older and did not use personal computers in their work lives before retiring. Some will have learned computing and gotten online, while others have not. Almost anyone in the club who is in their "working years" will be familiar with personal computers in the workplace and generally have one or more of them at home, including in the ham shack. Teens and college kids will have grown up with personal computers and portable communications devices and will use them effortlessly.

All of this means that your audience at the club meeting will be pretty diverse, computing-wise. When you think about it, the Echolink presenter has the challenge of talking with at least three audiences: non-computer users, computer users at some intermediate level of understanding, and expert computer users. You can see that right off the bat starting a club project that will ultimately get the club repeater Echolink-enabled is going to be quite a challenge even at the first step of explaining what Echolink is all about. And this, mind you, is just the beginning. No one has even talked about building the Echolink infrastructure to make this happen on the club's repeater! You can see that there will be quite a challenge for the few Echolink aficionados in the club to bring the entire club "on board" with their project.

It's like herding cats!

No matter what the project, a small group of organizers within the club will face similar problems. Organizing a ham fest, planning a field day event, preparing for and publicizing Technician classes, you name it -- the list is endless. In a given club, there may be a core of a half dozen really dedicated participants who are willing to put in extra time and effort -- and sometimes even their own money -- into getting projects like these off the ground. I guess where I am going with this is that we really have to have reasonable expectations of amateur radio clubs that exist primarily for social purposes rather than a single dedicated goal. If a club is dedicated to DX, that club is going to attract like-minded members who will be focused on that particular goal of keeping up with DX news, working DX and verifying contacts through Logbook of the World and QSL cards, organizing and promoting DX-related on the air activities, and so on. All of the club members are interested in the same thing.

Since this is not the case in the social club, our expectations should not be that the club can necessarily do justice to every single interest group's project goals. Now, I am not saying that simply because you might be in a minority interest group within your social amateur radio club that you should not pursue your agenda and attempt to bring the rest of the club along with you on a club project. What I am saying is that you should expect that you will meet some resistance along the way and should not be disappointed or discouraged when a project seems to run into roadblocks, delays, and misunderstandings. Remember, the various interests within a broad-based social club will sometimes be quite different, and some members may see your project as not really good or bad, but not really benefiting them personally and therefore not worth supporting. Others may become interested in your project through your efforts at educating them through a club program or programs. Some may not be interested even after you have given your program presentation your best shot, but they may still see some benefit in not standing in the way of your project, simply because they know that there are benefits to a club that supports a variety of different interests.

Moving on without feeling guilty.

Okay, you have been a member of your radio club for a year or more, and you still feel that the club isn't really going anywhere, at least as far as your interests are concerned. You have tried volunteering and putting on presentations, but there simply isn't a lot of interest in your project area. Furthermore, there seems to be little interest from the other members in forwarding other projects. Perhaps the time has come for you to say goodbye to a club that has simply not met your needs. There is no shame -- and should be none -- in leaving a club that doesn't provide a satisfying experience for you. On the other hand, before you make a decision to leave, you really have to ask yourself whether you have been open-minded toward other club members' ideas and whether you have made a genuine effort to educate other club members about your area of interest and your project. No one should have the expectation that club projects, especially ones requiring investment of club funds, will gain quick acceptance and universal approval.

Yes, it is all about finding the right club for you and having reasonable expectations. Doing some research on the ARRL Big Club List can be a good place to start if you are looking for an amateur radio club, whether it be a general interest social organization or one that has a specific interest area. Since the ARRL list can be sorted geographically, you can find a club close to you. If a local radio club sponsors a repeater system, listening on the club repeater can give you some insight into that club's interests and sense of purpose.

Club websites are a good place to research more in-depth about each club's specific mission. I don't know about you, but I am always wary of club websites that have not been updated and whose recent newsletter information is several years old. Websites with mission statements and up-to-date resources about club nets and meetings are an indication that you are looking at a club that "gets things done", so you might want to put that club down on your list for a visit during a regular membership meeting.

Should you belong to more than one radio club?

Well, perhaps. You may decide to belong to a special-purpose club that shares your amateur radio interests. You may also enjoy belonging to a social club where expectations are entirely different. Matching your interests and goals to the radio club as you do your research can make your experience in the club a pleasant one. After all, amateur radio is a hobby activity as well as a communications service. You are not in it for frustration and aggravation -- you are in it for fun, and finding the right club and having reasonable expectations will go a long way to making sure that you and everyone else in the club will have a great ham radio experience.

For Handiham World, I'm...

Patrick Tice, wa0tda@arrl.net

Welcome to Handiham World! See you in May

That's what Dr. Dave Justis, KN0S, writes. Just look at Dr. Dave standing by that big snowman. You would never guess that he lives in Virginia, and that the snowfall there has been most unusual for that southern State!

Dave is planning to be at Minnesota Radio Camp at Camp Courage, May 21 through 28, 2010. A long-time Handiham volunteer, Dr. Dave is a veteran of many radio camp sessions at locations in California and Minnesota. The return to Camp Courage, which is a big change for us, actually brings the Handiham program closer to its roots.

Dr. Dave remembers when the first radio camp sessions, then called "convocations", were held at Camp Courage. For the past 20 years Minnesota Radio Camp has been at Courage North, deep in the pines of Northern Minnesota, near the headwaters of the Mississippi River. Camp Courage, founded in 1955, is just an hour west of the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area, in southern Minnesota.

The new location will provide campers like Dr. Dave excellent accommodations and much more convenient transportation options.

Find out more about camp or download an application on handiham.org - Just follow the radio camp application link.

For Handiham World, I'm...

Patrick Tice, wa0tda@arrl.net

Welcome to Handiham World!

Heard on the air this morning:

"Nothing like an emergency to find out what works and what doesn't."

I had turned on my 2 meter rig, which was tuned to my club's repeater, and I soon learned that a widespread data outage had occurred in northeastern Minnesota when a fiber optic line was damaged. A bit of web research filled in the story a bit more. The outage began yesterday, January 26, when Qwest fiber optic cables were damaged at a site outside Duluth, Minnesota. A steam pipe in a manhole burst, and the hot gas damaged the fiber optic line. The stations I heard on the repeater were being ported into the Twin Cities via Echolink, thanks to our repeater's continuous connection to a wide area repeater network serving the area around western Lake Superior, the LSAC, or Lake Superior Amateur Coalition, system of linked repeaters. The stations were discussing what areas might still not have data service, even though it was now Wednesday, January 27. Of course a data outage meant that internet and 9-11 phone service were down. What was the response of a local TV station in the area? Why, to proudly announce that they posted outages and service status reports... on the internet!

By gluing my ear to the radio, I learned from the repeater conversation that the LSAC repeaters kept working throughout the emergency. A fire at an auto body shop happened during the outage, but had been put out safely.

Well, all of this puts me in mind of some basic truths about emergencies:

1. You never know when they will happen. They are by their nature unexpected in a given moment, even though we understand intellectually that emergencies will happen.
2. You never know what kind of damage may result or what other problems may be set in motion because of the original failure. There is often collateral damage extending outward along unpredictable paths.
3. You never know exactly where they will happen. Oh, we may be able to say with some feeling of confidence that our basement ham shack will not flood from a burst dam, because we are on a hill and there is no dam for hundreds of miles, but just as we turn the key in the lock and leave for a week's vacation a water pipe bursts and we come home to a flood of our own.
4. The media may not report the incident correctly.

The point is that we just never know. Understanding this does require some knowledge of probabilities, and that in turn helps us to manage the risk.

Take this communications outage, for example. Looking at the three basic truths, we see that it was completely unexpected, happening at a rather inconvenient time. It was the result of another infrastructure problem altogether, since the fiber optic cables would have been just fine if a steam pipe hadn't burst nearby. Thus, the steam pipe failure constituted the first emergency, and collateral damage to wide area communications quickly followed. There are steam pipes and cables running underground all around the world. Since the underground conduits place these two systems together, and probably also close to high voltage electrical distribution wiring, you can see that a catastrophic failure might well spread to other systems.

Who knew that a steam pipe failure would kill the internet? And 9-11 emergency service? And who could predict exactly where the conjunction of these various types of infrastructure would experience the failure?

Then there is the media. How many times have you listened to a story that has turned out ultimately to have been reported incorrectly? We know when the weatherman is wrong because we can tell when the rain falls and the sun shines, but what about when the media say things that are just not true? The reporters are well-meaning but often no not understand the technology or infrastructure that they are reporting about. This can lead to some rather silly stories making it out onto the air.

Where does amateur radio fit into the picture?

It is obvious to those of us in amateur radio: We provide a communications system that is redundant and separated from other communications infrastructure. There is nothing like redundancy to overcome the first three basic truths of when and where emergencies will happen and what collateral damage may result. Repeater systems can be located at different sites with overlapping coverage. The failure of internet connectivity will not bring down any individual repeater. A repeater that does go down will leave the others up and running. Individual operators will still have their own mobile and fixed stations. Compare that to a system where stream pipes, high voltage power lines, and fiber optic data cables all run in close proximity!

One problem area remains media coverage and perception of amateur radio. In story after story, I keep reading about the "old technology" of amateur radio being pressed into service in one emergency or another. To me, this is like saying that the telephone is old technology. Everyone knows that the phone system incorporates new, cutting-edge technology. The same is true of amateur radio, but somehow the media never seem to understand this. Furthermore, once a perception gets out there, it is hard to erase it. We know that amateur radio is cutting-edge in its new technology, and incorporates digital systems throughout. My suggestion is that you never miss an opportunity to let people know how modern and up to date ham radio is. We have to chip away at the perception that our activity is old-fashioned, a pastime of yesteryear.

Even so, we will be out there - waiting and ready for the next communications emergency.

For Handiham World, I'm...

Patrick Tice, wa0tda@arrl.net

Welcome to Handiham World!

Net or not?

We have been urging our readers and listeners to monitor 14.305 MHz for activity before we begin a new Handiham HF net on that frequency. I have heard some stations on 14.305 in the early afternoon Minnesota time. Lyle, K0LR, suggests that an afternoon time might find the band conditions being "short", meaning that we could possibly get more stations checking in from the United States. If we were to look at evenings, I think the band has been dead as often as not, so we cannot wait until it is too late in the day. During the morning hours the band is open, but the skip is longer. As I write this at 09:30 local time, I hear a Spanish-speaking station on 14.305.

As important as band conditions is the question of when our members can get on board with the net! It does not matter if conditions are perfect if everyone is working at their jobs or otherwise busy and can't get on the air. The original net schedule was set up for 9:30 in the morning Minnesota time, but most of us are busy at that hour. I'm not saying that we should keep the morning hour schedule, but nothing kills a net like bad timing! Before we decide to just keep the 9:30 morning hour but shift frequency from 14.265 to 14.305, let me know your thoughts. One successful Friday evening schedule we used to keep was on 17 meters, and I can't call it a net, because the informal gathering started by Alan, K2WS, was a "non-net get together", as Alan always reminded us. After all, the unofficial rule is that nets do not belong on 17 meters, at least not formal nets.

20 meters is different and nets are all right, even scheduled formal nets. Can we narrow it down to daytime or evening? And what day? Monday? Friday? Saturday or Sunday? Remember, we want to pull in working folks, so scheduling it in the middle of the work day may not be the best idea.

One of our repeater hosts, Chris, KG0BP, mused that we might not really need a daily Echolink net if net control stations are too hard to find. So what about that? Do we add a few HF nets and pare down the daily Echolink schedule?

Also at this time we are asking for HF net control volunteers. You will need at least a General Class license and an HF station with a 20 meter antenna.

George, N0SBU, has pointed out that once nets are suspended for the summer as many clubs do with their nets, it is usually pretty difficult to get those nets going again. The lesson to be learned from that is to keep your nets running! Taking time off or reducing your net schedule means that you may never get those times and frequencies back again. George would also like to see the Wednesday night Echolink net be used more often for training purposes, maybe every Wednesday night.

A couple of you thought that having the Echolink nets every other day, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, then on Saturday would be enough activity to keep things running.

Every net needs to have a critical mass of users. This is a basic truth: If you don't have enough regular participants checking in, you will not keep your net running. That means paying attention to having the net on at a time when you can get people away from whatever they are doing and to the radio. Band conditions, in the case of HF at least, have to be suitable. If band conditions are not right, you may have few check-ins no matter how convenient you make the time and day.

Another concern is that we have competent net control stations. Every time a net is poorly run, we lose some stations who either give up while waiting to check in or simply get annoyed by the poor operating practices they encounter on the net. Every net has this challenge, too, not just ours. I have heard some terrible operating on HF nets whose participants were long-time license holders and whose net control station held a higher class of license.

As we continue with our planning for nets, keep these handy net control practices in mind:

• Begin your net with a preamble explaining the purpose of the net, who may check in, and anything else about how the net will be conducted. This is the time to tell participants if the net is formal or informal and whether you need to be a net member to check in. The end of the preamble is the place to tell stations how to check in, namely, "Check in with your callsign only", or other appropriate instructions.
  
• Call for stations in this order:
  
  • Stations with emergency or priority traffic
  • Mobile stations
  • Portable stations
  • Stations on "short time"
  • Stations with announcements of interest to the net
  • General check-ins (and limit the crowd by geography, type of technology used to check in, callsign area, or whatever.) Example: "I will now take check-ins from stations outside North America." or "I will now take check-ins from repeaters only."
    
• Be sure you have firm control of the net. Do not allow stations to simply give their callsigns and then start rambling on about the weather, their computer problems, and how their dog has fleas. Make it clear that stations checking in must give their callsigns and be recognized before the net control allows them to have their say! Do not let stations grab the air and take over. Net control stations should do the controlling.
  
• You can make the net more interesting if you have a net topic. Sometimes the net will enjoy discussing a topic introduced by one of the stations checking in.
  
• Don't forget to call often for stations throughout the net time. Always allow enough time for emergency check ins to get your attention. You never know when the system may need to pass emergency traffic.
  
• Be patient but firm, and always polite. Insist that everyone use their callsigns. This will help everyone keep track of who is on the air.
  
• When the net winds down, thank the participants and the repeater and system owners, and mention when the net will be on again, then sign off.

For Handiham World, I'm...

Patrick Tice, wa0tda@arrl.net

Welcome to Handiham World!

Sadly, the big news today is the earthquake disaster in Haiti. I wanted to get this right up front, as the Salvation Army net is active on 14.265 MHz, which is the regular Handiham 20 meter net frequency. As always, all Handiham activity on the frequency will cease whenever the Salvation Army is running emergency nets. We will soon be choosing a new 20 meter net frequency and time anyway, so that we will not run into any conflicts with the Salvation Army net. More about new net frequency proposals later.

The earthquake disaster in Haiti is unparalleled in our lifetime. We are told from the news reports that nothing of this magnitude has occurred on the island since the 1770s. I will be providing you with some amateur radio links later on in this edition, because amateur radio is often the most reliable form of communication at times when widespread disaster causes communications infrastructure failure. Unfortunately, this earthquake struck near Port-au-Prince, the largest city in Haiti and one with a very high population density. Many of the buildings in Haiti are constructed of concrete that is not reinforced in the way modern building codes would require in first world countries. Haiti, the poorest Third World country in the Western Hemisphere, already suffers from poor utility services and overcrowding. You can imagine the effect of a magnitude 7 earthquake in such a place. Unreinforced concrete buildings came tumbling down, trapping people. Because the earthquake came late in the afternoon on a winter day, there would be little daylight remaining to assess the disaster and begin recovery efforts. Because of this, it is expected that much more information will be available now that the sun has risen on a new day in Port-au-Prince.

It was in the mid-1970s that my friend Don Newcomb, W0DN, and I decided on the spur of the moment to take a short trip to Haiti, a place that I had never been. I was living in the Caribbean at the time, and Don was visiting me. Since I was teaching school and had a break, the short trip to Port-au-Prince would be fun. Also, Don could speak French. That would certainly prove to be valuable in French speaking Haiti. A year later, Don and I would form the antenna company known as Butternut Electronics, but of course that is another story!

Even the plane ride to a Third World country can be memorable. The old airplane that carried us to Port-au-Prince leaked oil from the engines, and I remember watching the streaks of oil trail across the wing that I could see through the window. As is traditional, everyone cheered and clapped when we landed safely. Neither of us brought along any ham radio equipment on the trip, as we didn't want to deal with import or customs problems.

Our short visit was mainly in Port-au-Prince and the surrounding area. I do still remember the concrete buildings, most of which do not exceed three or four stories in height. Nonetheless, I am glad that I did not know about the unreinforced construction and the possibility of earthquakes while I was visiting. Had I known, I guess I would have been pretty nervous! In fact, we had a wonderful short visit, typical tourist stuff, and I bought an oil painting showing a Haitian market scene from a street vendor. I still have that painting on my wall today. Of course as a tourist I had to see the presidential palace. This morning, watching the scene of devastation on television, the collapsed presidential palace brought back that same sick feeling that I recall watching the video of the World Trade Center towers falling on 9/11. I had seen both places and was struck by how fragile even seemingly iconic buildings can be, toppled by disasters that we seem unprepared to deal with and that are more or less unpredictable. My heart goes out to the people of Haiti.

That is why as amateur radio operators we should always be ready for an emergency. Monday morning quarterbacking does no good when communications infrastructure fails and we need to make way for emergency communications traffic. The next emergency could come anywhere at any time. Will you be ready?

For Handiham World, I'm...

Patrick Tice, wa0tda@arrl.net

Welcome to Handiham World!

This week is a busy one with back to back meetings all day Wednesday and Thursday, so that accounts for this late (and shorter) edition of your weekly Handiham World. I hope you all had a pleasant holiday season and are ready to get back into the routine of getting on the air every day.

I did want to let you know that Santa was good to me this year, because a brand-new Icom IC-7200 was under the tree on Christmas morning. I plan to learn a bit more about the 7200, then I'll write a more thorough review from the our particular Handiham perspective. The best points about the rig so far:

• Front-firing speaker
• Easy to use numeric keypad
• Built-in speech for blind users, no extra module needed
• USB interface on the back panel
• Easy to read display
• Great receiver

So how's that for starters? I'll put together some more detailed thoughts later on, but I have to say that the new IC-7200 is really a step up from the IC-706 Mark 2 G that I had been using for HF. And I'm thrilled that manufacturers are finally including voice frequency readout that doesn't cost extra!

Now, stay tuned for two new year's resolutions. That means you!

For Handiham World, I'm...

Patrick Tice, wa0tda@arrl.net

Welcome to Handiham World!

As you know, this is your last issue of the Handiham World for 2009. I'm supposed to be on vacation, but I'm sneaking one final e-letter in. The audio for our year-end print edition follows the audio from this short holiday week newsletter. Today's test HTML editing program is Open Office Writer, which saves documents in HTML format. Last week's edition was done with Microsoft Expression Web, and I ran into publishing problems when The list server would not pass the HTML code. Thus far, I have not been able to determine exactly what caused this problem. Although last week's edition was published on time on Wednesday, the listserv never actually sent out the mailing. I had to reformat into plain text and send again on Thursday, which of course meant that you did not receive your weekly e-letter on time unless you read it online or subscribe to the podcast, both of which were available as usual last Wednesday. I have been using Microsoft Expression Web for the final HTML “cleanup” for well over a year, so I'm not sure exactly what the problem is. Clearly, something in the HTML was non-compliant with the Freelists.org system that does our mailings. This may come down to something as simple as a single unacceptable character, but whatever it was turned out to be enough to jam up the system, for which I apologize. There is no evidence that Microsoft Expression Web added any characters that were noncompliant, but in order to get this newsletter out on time, I don't want to take any chances.

In your mailbox this week, if you are on our postal mailing list, you will receive a print edition of our annual year end Handiham World newsletter. Inside the four-page print edition is an annual giving envelope. You may use this envelope to support the Handiham system so that we can continue our good work into the coming year. Sometimes Handiham members will set the envelope aside because it is a postage-paid envelope. Then they will use the envelope to order study materials or pay their membership dues. Unfortunately,, this is not a good idea because instead of saving postage on your membership renewal or study material order, anything in the envelope will be processed as a donation. The reason is that the bar code on the envelope directs it to a processing center for donations, not to the Handiham office. The bar code also assures that donations placed inside the envelope are credited to the Handiham program. If you can support us with a gift, which is tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law, we would really, really appreciate it.

For Handiham World, I'm...

Patrick Tice, wa0tda@arrl.net

.wa0tda { font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; } .style2 { margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; } .style3 { font-size: large; font-weight: bold; } .style4 { font-size: large; } .node{clear:both;}.node .content{clear:both;padding-left:1em;}.content{margin:0 0 .5em 0;}.image-attach-body{float:right;margin-left:1em;}.node .links{padding:1em 0 1em 0.2em;} .style9 { margin-left: 3px; margin-right: 3px; } .style10 { font-family: Arial; } .style11 { text-align: center; } .style12 { margin-top: 0px; } .style13 { text-align: left; }

Welcome to Handiham World!

A few little changes...

Well, we have made it almost to the end of another year of publishing your weekly e-letter and podcast. Since I am taking a week of vacation between the holidays, this is your last weekly e-letter for the year of 2009. When we meet again in 2010, we are looking toward an exciting new decade in amateur radio. Just think about it -- the next sunspot cycle, Cycle 24, is underway and sunspot activity should begin to climb in earnest in 2010. The 10 m band, which has languished in the seemingly endless solar minimum, will start showing signs of life again. It will be possible to work amazing amounts of DX with low power and small antennas. Even Handiham members living in apartments and condominiums will find that DX is within reach.

As the decade moves forward, we will learn about new technologies. Ham radio is about innovation and experimentation in communications, so I think that's a safe bet! I believe we will see advancements in accessibility for people with disabilities, partly because of software development and partly because of the now-assumed handshaking between amateur radio equipment and computers. Could it also be possible that manufacturers will build accessibility features right in instead of having users buy and install extra modules?

Amateur Radio education is going to be quite different in the next decade. You can see the change coming as we can access more and better online courses, and instructional materials in multimedia formats that are delivered in new and better ways. I feel confident that we are on the right track at Handihams when we stopped reading instruction manuals and instead began offering audio training based on a more practical method of simply teaching our members how to use their radio equipment. In the same way, we have stopped reading licensing manuals and instead teach online in a way that makes sense to our members with disabilities. No one is suggesting that books are going away, but they will be in new digital formats, available as digital downloads on portable electronic devices. The jury is out on whether these digital books will be accessible to readers who are blind or have reading disabilities and require audio readout of the text. Although it is easy to do with today's technology, there is some fear among publishers that users will get a free audio book when they have only paid for a print version. Thus, some of our biggest hurdles remain social and political rather than technological!

Legal disputes over content management rights and patents could also cloud the future of accessibility. If software is found to violate a patent and must be withdrawn or changed, accessibility features within the software might be affected. This is a complicated area where technology and the law intersect and where breaking new ground is more likely to be the norm than the exception. I can only hope that accessibility does not go on the back burner in favor of time being spent to resolve other pressing issues in software design.

Still, I remain optimistic. In the natural tug-of-war between rapidly evolving technology and the legal system, there is enormous pressure to make content more easily accessible in spite of the efforts of those who simply can't change with the times and learn to work with the new technology.

In the world of amateur radio software, rig control will become an expected feature and manufacturers will have to meet these expectations. If accessibility is built-in from the get go, we will not have a problem. On the other hand, if inaccessible features are placed on the software's front end interface just to create a "pretty" screen, we may be in for an uphill climb. It is not, mind you, that we are insisting that software interfaces need to be bland and uninspiring. It is just that the functions of the software need to be accessible to people who must access computers by voice dictation or through screen readers. Traditional menu bar features really should be retained if at all possible. If a program presents a front-end interface designed for users without disabilities, that is only acceptable if there is an accessible alternative. I would like to hear from some of our readers and listeners who are knowledgeable about software. Specifically, what features must be designed into the software to make it accessible? Frankly, if we do not put our expectations on the table, we should not be surprised when new amateur radio software is designed for users without disabilities only. Yes, I know that this is the 21st century and people should know better, but I have learned that it is best not to assume that everyone really knows what they are doing! It is not that software designers purposely exclude people with disabilities. Rather, design is sometimes driven by a marketing department that is more concerned with the "look and feel" of the software's interface and the engineers work toward that goal, unaware that users with disabilities may have difficulty using the software. In short, there is still plenty of ignorance out there!

In the past few weeks, I was notified that a user could not access all of our links in the newsletter. Even though we are aware of accessibility issues, it does show that problems will still crop up from time to time. In 2010, improving accessibility in the newsletter, website, and podcasts will be on our agenda. In fact, this very newsletter is now being produced using a new, state-of-the-art HTML editor, Microsoft Expression Web. Although Microsoft FrontPage has been a workhorse for us for over a decade, new web standards dictate that we needed to move forward with better editing tools. The Drupal content management system that we now use for Handiham.org also brings us into better accessibility compliance and offers us the opportunity to update web content more frequently and from anywhere, thus better serving our members and the amateur radio community.

One issue that I still struggle with is maintaining backward compliance. A reader informed me that a link would not work in Pine. I was surprised that this would come up, but it does show that there are legacy e-mail systems that are still in use and work perfectly well, provided that newer technologies maintain backward compliance. The question for me is, "how do I know what will be backward compliant?"

The answer is that sometimes I don't, and that means that I depend on our readers and listeners to let me know when something does not work for them. We will do our best to maintain accessibility, though there may come a time that the new technology will become so obviously better and widely accepted that it may no longer pay to support backward compatibility. Believe me, this is a common problem in the world of technology. One obvious change that is certainly coming in the next decade is the retirement of the venerable Library of Congress four-track audio cassette. Maintaining backward compatibility for this old system right now means that we are converting MP3 files to a cassette system that is decades old. Most of us are familiar with a conversion from analog television to digital, a situation where the technology changed so radically that maintaining backward compatibility became somewhat of a political issue. In the world of radio, HD radio is now being promoted by broadcasters, both commercial and public. In amateur radio, you will find some communities that have really embraced D-Star repeaters while others live firmly and confidently in the world of analog repeater systems.

When does the big change get made? There is no firm answer to this. Taking the example of digital repeater systems and radios, there will always be a period of transition with people who are so-called "early adopters" leading the way and plucking down big bucks for the latest digital technology. Most users of repeater systems will take a wait-and-see attitude. After all, new repeater systems are expensive and require a lot of effort to change out. A radio club has to be able to not only pay for the cost of a new repeater system, but they also have to promote the new digital technology to all of the club members and prove that it is so much better that it is worth the money that each member will have to spend for a new digital-compatible radio. This is a huge hurdle to overcome because most of us have perfectly good analog equipment and many of us use their repeater system only occasionally. This makes it hard to justify spending several hundred dollars for new equipment. I think what needs to happen is that there needs to be a "critical mass" of users before everyone jumps on board with new technology. Holdouts who refuse to change at that point will simply be left behind or find it necessary to form a new user group for the old technology.

It will be interesting to see the new ARRL website next month when it comes online. The League has been careful to maintain accessibility on its website and I'm looking forward to using the new website and learning how its accessibility features compare to the current website. Most website developers these days do not provide plain text alternatives. The reason is that common web authoring software and content management systems provide for accessibility as long as they are used correctly. The assumption is that the user with a disability will upgrade his or her software system as the technology advances. This means using a reasonably current voice dictation system or screen reader program to access the new content or new software interfaces. At some point there is a critical mass of users with disabilities who are comfortable with the new technology and at the same time the number of users with old technology who cannot access new software and content falls below a critical mass necessary to continue support for backward compatibility.

I am confident that sometime in the next few years the number of users of the old four track tape system will drop below critical mass. With only a few users left, it will no longer be economically feasible to continue to produce materials for them. They will have to make the choice to move on to the new technology or provide some way themselves to get the new technology converted to the old technology format.

One thing that I would like to see in every amateur radio equipment review is a paragraph on accessibility. I am willing to reach out to our readers and listeners to discuss this topic and to exchange e-mails with anyone who is writing a review of equipment. The only thing is that I am not an expert on accessibility in the same way that our users are. After all, I can use my hands to type or control the knobs and buttons on a radio. I can see the radio's display and I can view the computer screen and use a mouse. That means I'm likely to only be able to give superficial advice on accessibility. If any of our readers and listeners can help, I would certainly appreciate it. We will share your contributions with our audience on the website and credit you with your name and callsign if you wish. As we move into the next decade, let's make sure that accessibility is job one.

For Handiham World, I'm...

Patrick Tice, wa0tda@arrl.net

Welcome to Handiham World!

What's on your wish list for the holidays?

Besides world peace, I mean? If you have asked Santa for some new ham radio gear, I hope your wishes are fulfilled. (I'm not holding my breath about getting one of those most excellent $11,000 Icom transceivers like the one I posed with for a photo op at HRO, but then again, I might rate something more affordable for Santa's budget.)

Yes, I have placed a new HF rig on the wish list at the WA0TDA QTH. The reason is that I'm tying up my Icom IC-706 M2G on 2 meters and 70 cm, sometimes using it as an Echolink node, and that leaves me only an old Yaesu FT-747 for HF. Alas, the Yaesu has seen better days. I had acquired it around 20 years ago as a result of a lightning strike on my tower. My wife and I were at home when the storm moved through the Twin Cities, and we about jumped out of our shoes when the blinding flash of lightning lit up the neighborhood like a million camera flashes. The thunder was instant and loud, and that meant just one thing to me: We had just taken a lightning strike, because the thunder came at the same time as the flash of light. I opened the door to the ham shack and my old FT-101B was smoked. Literally. There was even an outline of the metal louvers on the bottom of the rig burned into the wooden desktop.

So I replaced that rig with the FT-747, which worked like a champ for 10 years. It started flaking out in subtle ways. Once I called CQ on what I thought was a clear frequency, only to be chastised by some guy whose QSO I'd interrupted. A bit of sleuthing with a plastic probe led me to an intermittent on a circuit board that had muted the receiver. After that fix, I had a couple more years of trouble-free operation out of the 747 until the display started to disappear at random, accompanied by a total receiver failure. That was also an intermittent, because you could prod the rig and wiggle connectors to get the display and receiver back to normal. Many tries later, both by me and our shop volunteer CJ, K0CJ, and the problem still crops up at random. But the rig really started to annoy me when it would decide to suddenly shift frequency about 500 Hz or so, also at random. This thing was definitely getting on my nerves!

In the 23 years since the FT-747 came out in 1987, the technology built into ham radio transceivers has evolved - a lot! Although the Icom IC-706M2G is a decade newer, its design is still dated. I would like a better receiver section and more options for signal processing. So a new transceiver in the $1000 class went on my Santa list.

Will Santa deliver? Have I been a good boy? Stay tuned to the Handiham podcast and weekly e-letter news to find out!

For Handiham World, I'm...

Patrick Tice, wa0tda@arrl.net

Welcome to Handiham World!

Photo: Ralph Andrea, W0FCO, became a silent key in 1993. (Thanks to George, N0SBU & the History Project for this photo of Ralph posing with a handheld radio.)

Recently I had a phone call from the elderly mother of a long-time Handiham member. She explained to me that her son needed some help with his radio. Of course we visited on the phone for awhile so that I could learn a bit more about the radio and what it was and wasn't doing, but then we got to talking about how her son had gotten help from a Handiham volunteer in past years.

"Ralph Andrea used to come over to the house and help us with the station", she said. Ralph had passed away long ago, and now her son needed help again.

I remember when I first started with the Handiham program myself. It was 1991, and one of the first people Sister Alverna, WA0SGJ, told me about was Ralph, W0FCO. "Ralph", she explained, "will never miss an opportunity to tell someone about the Handiham System - even complete strangers."

It was true. If Ralph saw someone who used a wheelchair or a white cane, he would introduce himself and start his sales pitch about how much fun ham radio was and how the Handiham System could help them get started. He was an awesome volunteer, and I was privileged to meet him and work with him in the Handiham System for two years, until his death in 1993. There was almost no volunteer job that Ralph wouldn't handle. He would pay calls to members who needed antenna work or station setup help. He kept a massive collection of electronics parts in his basement, which was jammed with floor to ceiling shelves like a commercial repair shop. If someone needed a left-handed resistively-coupled doofrazzle, Ralph was going to find one in that collection, because everything was neatly stacked, organized, and labeled.

When Ralph got sick and spent his final days in the V.A. Medical Center in Minneapolis, I got the feeling that he was still very much the Handiham volunteer. During one of my visits to his hospital room shortly before his death, he wanted to make sure that I would take good care of the Handiham System. That was the kind of guy Ralph was. Other people, especially Handiham members, came first.

It was a sad day when we had to say goodbye to such a kind and dedicated friend of Courage Center. After Ralph became a silent key, Doris, his XYL, got help from the local ham community to sell the parts collection and radios, donating the proceeds to help us and even setting up a special fund to help Handihams into the future. The parts sale was so big that it filled the garage and the wide driveway. Hams from the 3M Amateur Radio Club and the St. Paul Radio Club as well as others pitched in to help.

That gift of support still helps us offer services today, and I know that some of you, our readers and listeners, will step up to the plate and help keep the Handiham System healthy. Maybe you can give your time to help someone else. Perhaps you can teach a ham radio licensing class at your local radio club or school. Some of you will be able to help with gifts of financial support. Ralph did all of that stuff, but I sometimes wonder where he found the time. The thing is, if you truly want something in life, you are more likely to make it happen. He liked ham radio and made the special mission of the Handihams his priority.

I want you to think about Ralph Andrea when someone asks you to help set up a rig or teach a class. Or yes, write a check to support us. Working together, we are sure to succeed when we have something as exciting as amateur radio to share.

For Handiham World, I'm...

Patrick Tice, wa0tda@arrl.net

Welcome to Handiham World!

Photo: Ralph Andrea, W0FCO, became a silent key in 1993. (Thanks to George, N0SBU & the History Project for this photo of Ralph posing with a handheld radio.)

Recently I had a phone call from the elderly mother of a long-time Handiham member. She explained to me that her son needed some help with his radio. Of course we visited on the phone for awhile so that I could learn a bit more about the radio and what it was and wasn't doing, but then we got to talking about how her son had gotten help from a Handiham volunteer in past years.

"Ralph Andrea used to come over to the house and help us with the station", she said. Ralph had passed away long ago, and now her son needed help again.

I remember when I first started with the Handiham program myself. It was 1991, and one of the first people Sister Alverna, WA0SGJ, told me about was Ralph, W0FCO. "Ralph", she explained, "will never miss an opportunity to tell someone about the Handiham System - even complete strangers."

It was true. If Ralph saw someone who used a wheelchair or a white cane, he would introduce himself and start his sales pitch about how much fun ham radio was and how the Handiham System could help them get started. He was an awesome volunteer, and I was privileged to meet him and work with him in the Handiham System for two years, until his death in 1993. There was almost no volunteer job that Ralph wouldn't handle. He would pay calls to members who needed antenna work or station setup help. He kept a massive collection of electronics parts in his basement, which was jammed with floor to ceiling shelves like a commercial repair shop. If someone needed a left-handed resistively-coupled doofrazzle, Ralph was going to find one in that collection, because everything was neatly stacked, organized, and labeled.

When Ralph got sick and spent his final days in the V.A. Medical Center in Minneapolis, I got the feeling that he was still very much the Handiham volunteer. During one of my visits to his hospital room shortly before his death, he wanted to make sure that I would take good care of the Handiham System. That was the kind of guy Ralph was. Other people, especially Handiham members, came first.

It was a sad day when we had to say goodbye to such a kind and dedicated friend of Courage Center. After Ralph became a silent key, Doris, his XYL, got help from the local ham community to sell the parts collection and radios, donating the proceeds to help us and even setting up a special fund to help Handihams into the future. The parts sale was so big that it filled the garage and the wide driveway. Hams from the 3M Amateur Radio Club and the St. Paul Radio Club as well as others pitched in to help.

That gift of support still helps us offer services today, and I know that some of you, our readers and listeners, will step up to the plate and help keep the Handiham System healthy. Maybe you can give your time to help someone else. Perhaps you can teach a ham radio licensing class at your local radio club or school. Some of you will be able to help with gifts of financial support. Ralph did all of that stuff, but I sometimes wonder where he found the time. The thing is, if you truly want something in life, you are more likely to make it happen. He liked ham radio and made the special mission of the Handihams his priority.

I want you to think about Ralph Andrea when someone asks you to help set up a rig or teach a class. Or yes, write a check to support us. Working together, we are sure to succeed when we have something as exciting as amateur radio to share.

For Handiham World, I'm...

Patrick Tice, wa0tda@arrl.net

Welcome to Handiham World!

I hope you had a wonderful thanksgiving holiday. We certainly had a wonderful time sharing the holiday with extended family. With the new technology, I didn't have to leave my ham radio friends behind, either. At my XYL's sister's house my first job was to repair the broken cable internet, an easy fix that simply required rebooting the cable modem and the wireless router. Now that the internet was back in business, it was easy to check in to the Handiham Echolink net using a tiny netbook computer and a USB microphone. I also managed a couple of check-ins on the 75 meter PICONET during the visit. No one minded, because there always seems to be some "down time" during these multi-day visits, and sometimes I think the best thing for everyone's mental health is to spend some time doing relaxing activities like reading or getting on the air.

One interesting thing I noticed just before we headed out over the river and through the woods for Thanksgiving was the release of an NPRM, or Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, by the FCC. The topic: Amendment of the Amateur Service Rules Governing Vanity and Club Station Call Signs. The notice came to me in an FCC bulletin on the day before Thanksgiving, though the NPRM was actually issued on the day before, which was Tuesday, November 24. I have posted the NPRM on the Handiham website in a format that is more easily read than the original downloads. Because of the timing of the release during a busy, short holiday week, I suspect that many ham radio operators missed the announcement altogether, even though we posted it as soon as it was released, and the ARRL produced a story on ARRLweb that included an excellent explanation of what the NPRM is all about.

Here are the main points. At the end of this story, I will provide links to the ARRL story and the NPRM on the Handiham website.

• To look up anything on the FCC website or to offer comments on a notice of proposed rulemaking, one needs to know the docket number: WT Docket No. 09-209.

• The vanity callsign program began in 1996, but the FCC did not set forth all of the procedures governing vanity calls. This NPRM attempts to do a bit of fine-tuning by specifying some procedures.

• Club station licensing is also due to be addressed in this NPRM, stating: "The Commission also decided in the Vanity Report and Order to resume issuing new club station licenses. We believe that certain rule changes to the club station licensing rules may be appropriate." and "...call signs shown on the license of a deceased licensee generally are unavailable to the vanity call sign system for two years after the license expires or is canceled. Below, we propose to amend our rules to clarify the process by which such call signs become available for reassignment."

• If the rule changes are made, Novice Class licensees would be able to serve as club station trustees.

The conclusion states: "In summary, we believe that the public interest will be served by amending certain rules in order to make the amateur service’s vanity call sign system more equitable and transparent. We also propose changes in the rules governing club station licensing, to promote equitable and administratively efficient processes. We therefore seek comment on these proposed rule changes. In addition, we invite commenters to propose any other amendments to the rules governing the vanity call sign system and club station licensing."

I urge you to do some further research on this NPRM, even though it is a busy time of year. You will find the appropriate links after my identification.

For Handiham World, I'm...

Patrick Tice, wa0tda@arrl.net

Welcome to Handiham World!

Handiham Headquarters will be closed for the United States Thanksgiving holiday

Handiham Headquarters will be closed for the United States Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday and Friday, November 26-27, 2009. An audio lecture notification will be sent out early, on Wednesday instead of Friday.

By the way, what do you have to be thankful for? Here is my list of ham radio stuff, in no particular order:

I am thankful for...

• Antennas that stay up & keep working through the entire Minnesota winter. (You haven't experienced real cold until you've handled aluminum tubing or scaled a tower in January up here on the frozen tundra.)
• ARRL. I couldn't get along without my wa0tda@arrl.net address and monthly QST, but I can also rest easy knowing that the League is our advocate on so many fronts.
• The way most ham radio gear keeps working year after year, reliably delivering good service, when consumer-grade electronics have long since given up the ghost.
• Repeater owners who welcome activity on their machines.
• Echolink, IRLP, and WIRES.
• The Internet and all of the ham radio applications it makes possible.
• Hams who design circuits or write software for the rest of us.
• Elmers who help newbies and oldbies (Is that a real word?)
• Solar cycle 24. Better late than never.
• Nets. I love the way we can stay connected in our "virtual communities" on the air.
• Our Handiham members, be they regular members, supporters, or volunteers. Talk about communities - they are the best!
• Radio clubs. Sometimes you need to just meet other hams face to face.
• The manufacturers and dealers who work so hard to make amateur radio technology available to us.
• People who step up to the plate to teach ham radio classes. They are responsible for keeping amateur radio healthy by training new operators.
• Anyone who funds, plans, or goes on a DXpedition. What these folks do for amateur radio really pushes the limits, and if you don't believe me, take a look at some of the DXpedition videos.
• Volunteer examiners and their VECs. Having had to travel long distances to take most of my exams at FCC offices, I really appreciate the volunteers who offer convenient, friendly, local exam sessions, giving freely of their own time and talent to help others become hams for the first time or to step up the ladder to General or Extra.
• Contest planners, QSL managers, people who serve on committees, hamfest organizers, authors, publishers, and all of the others who work behind the scenes to enrich our radio experiences.
• DSP. Good grief, how could we stand all of that noise we used to endure before ClearSpeech speakers and the digital signal processing now standard in every transceiver?
• Anyone brave and patient enough to be a net control station.
• My understanding family, including my XYL, Susie, who encourages me to "get on the air" or "give that guy a call" when we hear someone calling on a repeater as we travel in the car, my son Will, KC0LJL, who writes software for me, and my dog Jasper, who keeps me company in the ham shack.
• And all of my ham radio friends! Without real people, ham radio would just be a bunch of stuff. Now, don't get me wrong; I like all of the equipment and gadgetry, but what really makes ham radio special for me is... YOU!

For Handiham World, I'm...

Patrick Tice, wa0tda@arrl.net , wishing all of our readers and listeners a wonderful holiday week and a happy Thanksgiving.

Welcome to Handiham World!

Image: Matt, KA0PQW, and the bucket truck lift operator, Jeff, KC0UOW, ride the bucket up to do some antenna work. Photo courtesy Don Rice, N0BVE, taken during Matt's antenna work in October. Don had just completed some work on Matt's 220 MHz antennas, and Matt was headed up to do the final inspection.

It's always a good idea to get your antenna work done before winter, especially if you live in Minnesota, as Matt, KA0PQW does. One may be blind, but that doesn't mean you can't do antenna work. Matt directs and does hands-on work on his antenna projects, and has some great helpers.

I have always recommended having at least one helper available for any antenna project that involves working on an elevated antenna system, whether it is on a roof or high on a tower. The reason, of course, is safety - if something goes wrong, the second person can provide assistance or call for help. Besides, most of these projects really do require at least one more set of hands - and eyes. You can use a spotter to check for hazards like power lines and buried pipes or cables. This goes for any ham radio operator, whether they are blind or sighted. I shudder to think of all the times I have not followed my own advice, but in my defense I was young and stupid. As a teenager, I navigated our family home's rooftop like a monkey - stringing antennas, hurrying down to test for SWR, then running back up the ladder to the roof to make adjustments - all without anyone else around. When I bought a used tower, I was up and down that thing dozens and dozens of times. I did buy a Klein lineman's belt but even so, I worked alone all too often. The closest call I ever had was on an old telescoping mast. I had just finished my antenna work and stepped onto the ground when the steel cable holding the top section snapped and the tower telescoped back down. A few seconds delay in getting off would have meant amputated fingers and toes! Worse yet, I did not have a helper around.

Well, I have learned a lot since then. I ask for help, so that I have someone there to do antenna work as well as to help us both stay safe. I plan to stay safe - and you know what? Staying safe means more happy years of ham radio fun!

For Handiham World, I'm...

Patrick Tice, wa0tda@arrl.net
Handiham Manager