Courage Center Handiham System

Welcome to Handiham World! Telling the story: Mike Runholt, KC0YFV, on ARRL website

Photo: Mike, KC0YFV, left, and Bill, N0CIC, take down one of the wire antennas following a memorable radio camp session at Courage North. This radio camp was the last of a long run of week-long camp sessions at the Courage North location. In 2010, the radio camp session moved to Camp Courage, about 40 miles west of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Courage Center owns both camps. The Handiham System headquarters is at Camp Courage.

Mike Runholt, KC0YFV, has written an excellent article about the Handiham System and Radio Camp. It appears this week on the ARRL website. You can reach Mike at his callsign at ARRL.net if you wish to comment on the story.

"The pontoon slowly motors around the lake. A group of hams gathers around the radio. “CQ, CQ 80 meters this is W0EQO, KC0YFV at the mike, maritime mobiling from Courage North in Lake George, Minnesota, over.” So begins a typical contact at the Handiham Radio Camp sponsored by the Courage Handiham System, a program of the Courage Center. You have probably seen our quarterly ad in QST and wondered what we do."

Read the entire story on the improved and newly-redesigned ARRL website.

Our thanks to Mike for telling the Handiham story so well. Good work, Mike! And, hey, Bill, you look good in that photo, too. Are you the wire tangler or the wire untangler?

73,

Patrick Tice, WA0TDA
Handiham Manager
wa0tda@arrl.net

Welcome to Handiham World! Second remote base station goes into beta testing phase

With the addition of the W0ZSW remote base at Handiham headquarters, members now have a choice of two remote base stations. Users who have signed up for access to the “Handiham Remote Base” (W0EQO) will be added automatically to the list for W0ZSW, with the same password. The remote base concept has been gaining in popularity as more of us want to be able to use an HF radio without the need to drag along a lot of extra gear while traveling. Some users live in condos or antenna-restricted areas and simply want to expand their operating horizons beyond VHF and UHF repeaters. The remote base stations allow users to operate real HF radios connected to real antennas, and make friends far and wide on the HF bands.

The W0EQO station at Courage North, a Kenwood TS-480SAT equipped with the VG-S1 voice module, is preferred by our members who are blind. We have a Kenwood TS-570S set up at this time in the W0ZSW station at Camp Courage. The two stations are quite a distance apart, hundreds of miles, so they can be used at the same time with no chance of interference between the two. W0EQO is in the tall pines of northern Minnesota, near the headwaters of the Mississippi river. The location is a very quiet one, with little interference. We have reports of users making very successful DX contacts. The station operates on 80 through 10 meters. This is due to the capabilities of the current antenna, a G5RV, which will not tune on 160 or 6 meters. The W0ZSW remote base station has a 300 foot "W0OXB Special" antenna, up an average of 45 feet. This antenna covers 160 through 6 meters, including the WARC bands. The W0EQO station will hopefully get an upgraded antenna system later this year, bringing it more in line with the W0ZSW station for band coverage and performance. Camp Courage is about 40 miles west of Minneapolis.

The DSL internet service has given us a great deal of trouble at Camp Courage, so the W0ZSW station has been off line as much or more than it has been on line. We hope to remedy this situation soon, but I have been tied up in meetings and office work and have been running behind with this project. One other issue with the W0ZSW remote is that we do not have the frequency speech readout working. The TS-570 does have the VS-3 voice module, but apparently the software does not support the voice readout. It may be necessary to replace the radio with another model for which the speech output will work if we cannot find a solution for the TS-570.

Lyle, K0LR, and Eliot, KE0N, have been working with me on this project and we are anxious to get it out of beta testing and on the air for our users. Please keep watching the Handiham website and this newsletter for the latest updates.

73,

Patrick Tice, WA0TDA
Handiham Manager
wa0tda@arrl.net

Welcome to Handiham World!

Operating Skills: How things have changed... and what we need to do about it.

From time to time we will feature a special operating skills essay, a short discussion of a topic related to building better operating habits on the air. There has always been a need to learn operating skills in amateur radio, but a great deal has changed over the history of radio, so the skills necessary must also follow this changing technology.

Some operating skills are very basic and one might think that they have changed little over the years. But remember, all of you old timers out there, newcomers to amateur radio now enter the hobby in a much different way than you did -- or I did, for that matter. When I got interested in radio as a teenager, the thing to do was listen to short-wave radio. Many hours were spent listening on the air and learning about how to operate by simply hearing stations use their call signs, make contacts with other stations local and distant, or using those new things called "repeaters" on the VHF band. A licensing exam for a "Novice" license included a five word per minute Morse code exam. You were expected to get on the air and operate, learning as you went, for a specified time, after which you had to take the General Class exam or else find yourself another hobby. The system promoted the learning of basic operating skills from the beginning.

That is not the case today.

Newcomers to amateur radio today generally don't even own short-wave receivers. Some may have listened to repeater traffic on VHF/UHF scanning radios, but their listening experience doesn't come close to being the same kind of experience many of us had on the short-wave bands decades ago. The Novice Class examination is long gone from the requirements, as is any kind of Morse code exam. Now, don't get me wrong; I am not complaining about these changes at all. Change is a normal part of life and we all realize that technology, including amateur radio, must change and evolve over the years. Unfortunately, even though our licensing process and structure has changed and technology has evolved radically, we have really not managed to figure out a way to teach basic operating skills before our newly-licensed hams press the push to talk button for the first time. Furthermore, the experience most Technician Class operators will have on repeater systems will not adequately train them in operating skills suitable for the HF bands. This has resulted in a situation where General and even Extra Class operators can be very weak in what we once considered basic operating techniques.

Fortunately, today we have more resources than ever to teach operating skills. The personal computer and the Internet offer vast resources and great potential. We can produce audio and video lectures to train people in basic operating. Radio clubs can have websites with "how-to" links. Amateur radio websites around the world offer help if only you can figure out how to find it. Helpers and teachers (Elmers) can connect with a person needing help using many different Internet tools, including e-mail reflectors, social networking sites, and Echolink-enabled repeater systems. VoIP systems like Skype can connect a newcomer needing some personal help in operating skills with an experienced operator on a one on one basis. The problem is that the application of this technology is scattered and inconsistent. Some radio clubs might be quite aggressive in helping their new members learn how to operate, while others do not. Some newcomers to amateur radio are able to figure things out for themselves, while others start out with bad habits and never seem to change.

What can you or I do about this?

Training excellent amateur radio operators begins at home. I have a mirror, and I look at myself in it every day. Sometimes I don't like what I see and I know that I have to make changes. The same is true with my own amateur radio operating skills. From time to time, I need to just think about how I am doing things and about how I might do them better. Listening on the air to operators who really know how to conduct a net or snag a DX contact can really show me how other operators with better skills in these areas than mine succeed where I might not be doing so well. Listen, listen, listen. Think to yourself about how you can change your operating technique to more closely match that of the best operator you hear on the air.

Clubs and organizations can help, too. Offer club programs or even small study groups that promote operating skills. Do tabletop exercises, simulating on the air operation. Recognize good operating with awards. Use the Internet to promote good operating by including operating articles and tips on the club website. Develop on the air opportunities like practice nets where club members can develop their skills. The key to helping other people learn is to be helpful but non-judgmental. Learning takes place best in a non-stressful situation, so beginning with tabletop exercises where the mistakes people might make will not go out over the repeater system is a good idea.

I would like to hear some ideas from our readers and listeners about what has worked for you and for your local radio club as you bring newcomers into the fold. From time to time, I will be writing one of these short essays about some kind of operating skill. We will do our best to make a good operator out of each and every Handiham member. Some of you may have an idea for a unique and creative way to run a small operating skills class. Please share those ideas with us so that we can help make amateur radio better.

73,

Patrick Tice, WA0TDA
Handiham Manager
wa0tda@arrl.net

Welcome to Handiham World! Daisy book version of Handiham World Summer 2010 is released

DAISY books provide spoken word audio that is connected to text. The Summer Handiham World will soon arrive in regular print, but that isn't much good to our blind members, except for the giving envelope that will be enclosed. We are hoping that our members will help us out with a little extra this summer so that we can keep our services coming.

Now we are offering a Daisy version of the newsletter, and we think you will enjoy it. The print edition of the newsletter doesn't have the complete set of articles that this Daisy version has. The reason is that a print newsletter is limited to only 4 pages. We can make our Daisy version as long as we want.

Why should you use a Daisy book? Well, that is a good question. You may have been satisfied with cassette tape books for the past 30 years or more, and the tapes played nicely in your Library of Congress audio book player. Indeed, that technology has served our Handiham members very well over the decades, but it has its shortcomings. Tapes would sometimes not be recorded properly. Occasionally parts of the audio would be cut off when the tape wasn't quite long enough. Once in awhile a tape would break and wind itself around the capstan or rubber drive wheel in the player and really make a mess. The cassettes themselves did not hold much program material, even in the 4-track format used in LOC players. The audio quality was poor, and even worse in 4-track mode where the tape speed was half the normal speed. If you wanted to find a particular article or chapter, you either had to guess which tape it might be on (a typical book had multiple cassettes) and which side and track it might be on. This was seldom a big deal if one was listening to a novel, but if you were reading some kind of a textbook or reference book and wanted to find a particular topic, well, let's just say you had your work cut out for you.

DAISY is an acronym that stands for "Digital Accessible Information System". It is properly spelled in all capital letters, but generally when I write articles I capitalize only the D so that Daisy production software will say "Daisy" instead of spelling out each letter. In this article, I have mixed both spellings. Maybe some of our readers who use Jaws or Window-Eyes will let me know if those screen readers differentiate between the two spellings. I do know for sure that the Daisy production software behaves as I said, spelling out Daisy if all the letters are in caps.

That little trick is just one of many that I have learned in producing accessible materials for our Handiham members. Even so, every time I work on another production I learn something new. I could say plenty more about that, but I still haven't told you about the advantages of reading a Daisy book instead of a cassette tape book. A Daisy book can be played, which means to say listened to, on the new Library of Congress players that are currently being issued. You can also listen to a Daisy book on your computer. Often times the Daisy book can be simply downloaded via the Internet, which allows the user to bypass the time-consuming process of using regular postal mail. Your Library of Congress player can play the Daisy book that you download to your computer if you wish. If you don't like the Library of Congress player or you think it's too large to carry around when you are going places, you can buy a commercial Daisy player that will double as an MP3 player.

Since Daisy formatting includes the text of the book, you can use your player to search for a term within the text and skip directly to that part of the book. Or you can browse the book's contents and go to the section of the book, say a particular article, that you want to read. There is no more fumbling around with a box full of cassette tapes that get mixed up, since a Daisy book can fit on a single USB cartridge or in a single folder on a personal computer.

The audio quality of a Daisy book is very good to start with, and it stays that way no matter how many times you play it. A Daisy book doesn't wear out, break, and get tangled up like a cassette tape.

Are you ready to learn more?

How to get started:

You will need a DAISY book reader. You can easily read DAISY on your computer, but you need a software program to do so. AMIS is a free of charge, open source DAISY book playback software. Version 3.1 is the latest stable release of AMIS. You can view the release notes, learn the latest news, or download AMIS by visiting Daisy.org.

Next, you will need to download the Daisy book, in this case the Handiham World Summer 2010 newsletter itself. It is a zip file, and you will find it on the Handiham website.

Unzip the file with an unzipping utility (built into later versions of Windows or freely available), and place all the files in a single folder. Then use AMIS to open the book. The file you want AMIS to open is speechgen.opf. All the files from the folder must be in the same folder for AMIS to read the book.

I don't expect all of our readers and listeners to figure this out without running into a few problems. As with anything that must be learned, being patient is definitely a virtue. If something doesn't work the first time, go back through the instructions and make sure you didn't skip some vital step. The DAISY website has a frequently asked questions page just for AMIS.

Hopefully you will find that reading Daisy books is both easy and fun. If you haven't tried Daisy yet, this is your chance! If there are any volunteers out there who want to help us make books into Daisy format, please let me know. It does not require a huge investment, and you may even have all of the computing equipment you need. I am considering making some tutorials and also teaching Daisy book use at our next Radio Camp session in August, 2011.

Links to the resources mentioned here are available on the Handiham.org website. We don't include links in the text of these stories because they mess up the podcast production process.

73,

Patrick Tice, WA0TDA
Handiham Manager
wa0tda@arrl.net

Welcome to Handiham World!

Update: Larry Huggins, KA0LSG, Handiham Volunteer, holds the Wouxun HT on cover of Worldradio

Last week's mention of the Wouxun talking dual band handheld radio created quite a stir, so we are devoting some time to a follow up. I heard from a number of our readers and listeners who said that the PDF online version of the "With the Handihams" article was difficult to read because of the PDF layout. Although the magazine has done a great job making the layout easy to follow for sighted readers, I have heard that there is a need for a more straightforward text version for our blind readers and listeners. I have placed the text of the article on the Handiham website, as well as a link to an audio version of the article read by Bob Zeida, N1BLF, who reads for us and for The Talking Information Center of the Massachusetts Reading network. Since we didn't specify retailers, we also provide you a link to some sources.

Those of you who listen to this podcast will hear Bob reading "With the Handihams".

Before we get to those resource links, there is word that Wouxun is interested in developing a talking dual-band base/mobile rig. I read about this on a discussion thread on the Blind-Hams mailing list. At this point, they are interesting in learning what accessibility features are most needed, so this may be a rare opportunity for anyone who wants to have a say in the early design of a radio to get their voice heard. To comment on this, you may email Ed at Wouxun: sales@wouxun.us. That is also the address to request a price list and ordering information. The Wouxun.us website states "Due to having minor surgery, I will not be shipping orders between July 26 - Aug 7. During this time I will answer emails and take orders." With this in mind, I would guess that you may need a bit of patience in communicating with Ed, especially if you have questions. I would urge our readers and listeners to keep the questions simple and don't ask a bazillion of them. In fact, the website is easily navigated and you can find the answers to your question there. The pricing is under $110 + shipping, and a variety of accessories are available. Remember that you can get this radio in a dual band version that includes 2 meters and either 70 cm (440 MHz) or 1.25 m (222 MHz.) The pricing is the same for either combination.

Please see the Handiham.org website for the story & resource links.

Our thanks to CQ Publications and the Blind Hams Mailing List for helping us get the word out about accessible technology.

For Handiham World, I'm...

Patrick Tice
wa0tda@arrl.net

Welcome to Handiham World:
A volunteer summer continues as Larry Huggins, KA0LSG, makes the cover of Worldradio

Larry Huggins, KA0LSG, is right there on the cover of the latest Worldradio magazine. Way to go, Larry!

The photo is from Handiham Radio Camp, where Larry volunteered as an instructor. In the Worldradio article, you can read about the blind-accessible HT that Larry demonstrated to our Operating Skills group. The article is my annual accessible radio roundup, a quick overview of radios and their accessibility features. It is entitled "What’s New for the Operator With Disabilities", and is a feature of my regular "With the Handihams" column.

"Regular readers know that from time to time I devote a column to what’s new in amateur radio equipment and software that is accessible to people with disabilities. Most of the questions I get have to do with what is blind-accessible, both for radio hardware and computing. Our largest single accessible technology user group is amateur radio operators who have some kind of reading disability, usually blindness or some degree of vision loss. I think this is probably a long-term trend as more baby boomers encounter age-related deterioration of their eyesight. Macular degeneration is relatively common in older folks and because of its onset late in life can catch them off guard and leave them wondering if they can still use a computer or even get on the air effectively anymore."

There are always questions about accessible handheld radios, so this part of the article is timely:

"Handiham volunteers Larry Huggins, KA0LSG, and Ken Silberman, KB3LLA, both found the new Wouxun 2m/70cm KG-UVD1P HT at Dayton, and Larry actually had his radio along to demonstrate to us at Handiham Radio Camp."

Read more on the Worldradio website.

Our thanks to CQ Publications for helping us get the word out about accessible technology.

For Handiham World, I'm...

Patrick Tice
wa0tda@arrl.net

Welcome to Handiham World!A volunteer summerEliot, KE0N, gets the remote base project underway

Eliot, KE0N, at the new remote base control point.

The Handiham Remote Base at Courage North has proven to be reasonably reliable and quite popular with the Handiham membership. Just in case you need a refresher, our Camp Courage North location is in far northern Minnesota near the headwaters of the Mississippi River. The station is at the location where we held many Handiham Radio Camp sessions over the past two decades. It consists of a Kenwood TS-480SAT, a rig control interface and computer, an LDG auto tuner, and a G5RV antenna. The station runs W4MQ software to control the radio and SKYPE to port the audio both to and from the remote control operator. Users sign in with their approved credentials and are able to control the radio, changing the frequency and other parameters, and use the radio for both transmit and receive functions. The idea is to provide a real radio for many of our members who cannot otherwise get on the air because of antenna restrictions or other impediments to installing an HF station. Some of our members who do have their own stations also appreciate being able to operate from a completely different location. In addition to the W4MQ software interface, up to five users without transmit privileges can listen to the radio by connecting to W0EQO-L on Echolink. If no transmit control operator is present, Echolink users may control the radio's receive frequency using the text box feature of Echolink, simply by sending a frequency in the text and pressing enter. This feature is useful for a quick check of propagation conditions here in the Midwest. For example, a user might enter the number 10 to hear what The National Bureau of Standards station WWV sounds like here in Minnesota.

Since only one transmit control operator can run the station at a time, there is a need for a second remote base. That is why we are pleased to have the able assistance of Eliot, KE0N, and Lyle, K0LR, who are working together to help me with this second Handiham remote base. Our new callsign will be the traditional Handiham headquarters call of W0ZSW. We hope to have the station in operation by the end of July, and when Eliot visited Handiham headquarters yesterday to work on the project, he made a lot of progress. In case you were wondering, the radio we have chosen is a Kenwood TS-570S. This radio, which has the capability of operating 160 through 6 m, will be coupled through an MFJ autotuner to a W0OXB 300 foot "special" wire antenna at an average height of 45 feet. This arrangement will allow us to offer 160 m through 6 m capability from the new remote base location. The existing remote base station at Courage North operates only 80-10 m using a 102 foot wire antenna, so we think that this will be a significant addition to our member services. The rig control computer is a Windows machine configured and supplied by KE0N, and the interface is a RIGblaster Pro. The radio is equipped with the VS3 speech module for blind users.

Lyle, K0LR, engineer for the Courage North station, is helping us with the station configuration. Our goal is to copy all of the user credentials from the first remote base to the new remote base so that users will have easy access to either station. This will also help us with tech support issues, and as you might guess we hope to keep those at a minimum!

One advantage of having two remote base stations separated by a significant distance is that there will be more choice for operating when conditions are bad in one spot but not in another. In the event that one station goes down, the other one would still be available. Redundancy is a good thing if you want to keep a service like this up and running.

No project worth its salt ever gets through the installation process without a few glitches and a visit from our associate engineer "Murphy". Sure enough, Murphy's presence was felt when the necessary DB9 serial cable turned out to be missing in action. We still have some issues to figure out with port forwarding and a static IP address, for those of you who understand what that stuff means. Nonetheless, we are pleased with the progress to date and feel that we are on target to have this member service available very soon.

For Handiham World, I'm...

Patrick Tice
wa0tda@arrl.net

Handiham Headquarters spruced up

The Handiham headquarters entrance in the Camp Courage Reception Center.

You have seen photos of our headquarters before, but things are looking pretty good now at the Cyril Rotter Technology Center. Antennas rise to the left of the round building, and the 300 foot wire antenna is invisible high up in the trees to the left. The double doors can open wide to accommodate electric scooters or wheelchair users.

QSL cards

Since it is strictly "slow news" for ham radio this time of year, how about telling us about some favorite QSL cards you have either sent or received over the years? A photo or scan would be helpful, if you have one.

This photo shows a Handiham 25th anniversary sticker that we produced in 1992. The idea was to stick these onto your existing QSL cards and send them out to help promote the Courage Handiham System. They are pretty rare, so if you have a card with one of these Silver Jubilee stickers, hang onto it!

So what do you have? Send it to wa0tda@arrl.net with your comments.

Feedback

Howard, KE7KNN, writes:

Hello, Pat.

Could you please remind our readers and listeners that we need people to take part in the Handiham nets, both the daily net and the Wednesday evening net. Summer is a particularly slow time and we need more participants. Remember that these nets are open to everyone and that you do not need to be a Handiham member. So bring a friend and join us -- you may even find the Handiham net a place to make new friends!

73,
Howard, KE7KNN, Handiham Net Manager

Welcome to Handiham World!A volunteer summerWill Tice, KC0LJL, does some soldering.

Handiham volunteer Will Tice, KC0LJL, helped out at Camp Courage by soldering some PL-259's to random wire receiving antennas. Will learned to solder when he took an electronics class in high school. Now that he is heading into his senior year at university, he helps us with other jobs as well, including computer-related stuff.

"Look at these nice, shiny solder joints", he says.

And speaking of volunteers, Bob Garwood, W0BV, has a first draft of the Summer Handiham World print edition ready. Bob is an experienced newsletter editor, and knows how to cut my sometimes too-long articles down to size. Look for the print edition (with a giving envelope) to show up later this summer.

Handiham volunteers Lyle Koehler, K0LR, and Eliot Ricciardelli, KE0N, will be working with me on the W0ZSW Remote Base HF station. We expected to work on the project soon after radio camp, and several important pieces of the project are now in place. We have completed our office move and have configured the office and ham shack space at Camp Courage. We have drilled holes through the concrete walls for feedlines, and our antenna team of Dave Glas, W0OXB, and John Harvard, KC0UHY, have installed an excellent 300 foot center-fed dipole fed with 450 Ohm open wire line and a current balun. The parts were donated by the Stillwater Amateur Radio Association, and a tuner was donated by Eliot, KE0N.

We are so grateful for the time and talent that all of our volunteers share with us. Thank you!

For Handiham World, I'm...

Patrick Tice
wa0tda@arrl.net

Welcome to Handiham World!

Raining on a parade

Now that Field Day is over, we can look forward to a relatively quiet time on the HF bands. Summer thunderstorms are making a lot of racket, and even the 6 m band may have already peaked for the summer season. June is typically a good month for 6 m, and some activity was still being heard early yesterday morning. Sometimes sporadic-E skip can help make the VHF bands exciting during the high summer months, but you have to be on the lookout. Ducting can occur and enhance long distance communications, even on 2 m repeaters. One way to check conditions is to set your radio to scan, especially in the early morning hours. You never know what you might hear!

So let's get to the topic at hand. I'm sure you have heard the expression "raining on a parade". What it means is that someone has mostly negative or uncomplimentary things to say about someone else's idea or event. After all, no one enjoys going to a parade and then having a rainstorm come up so that everyone gets soaked and the parade is ruined, right? When someone disrupts an activity for someone else, whether by simply proselytizing against it and saying negative things or by actually getting in the way of that activity, that is "raining on the parade."

I was tuning the HF bands, listening for potential contacts, as were many other people during last weekend's Field Day event. While my interest lies mainly in the social aspects of the contest rather than the point score, I do still enjoy listening around the bands to find out who is making contacts and what the HF propagation conditions are like. I ran across an unfortunate QSO -- if you can even call it that -- around 14.270 MHz. There seemed to be some kind of argument or perhaps even a monologue going on about one guy suing another guy, and then there was a CQ for a "no contest contest", during which the caller went on and on without much listening time and sparse identification. It didn't take long to figure out that he hated Field Day and was not shy about letting everyone else know his opinion.

Of course anyone is entitled to an opinion and the regulations say that you only need to identify your station at the end of the series of transmissions and once every 10 minutes. While making domestic contacts, there is actually no requirement to identify your station right away. The thing I find disturbing is that it seems so confrontational to behave in this ungentlemanly manner. Field Day is a popular operating activity, and this really amounts to "raining on the parade". Why not just let people enjoy the contest during this one weekend out of the year and let it go at that? Or, if one really wanted to operate without competition from contesters, one could just as easily get on one of the bands that is not used in the contest.

Most of the amateur radio operators one meets either in person or on the air are really friendly, but a single loudmouth can give our service a bad name.

My advice?

Ignore the loudmouths and lead by giving good example yourself. Avoid the temptation to make a contact with anyone who seems primed for a verbal confrontation. Avoid giving them the satisfaction of knowing that they got your attention. This is pretty much the same thing we have been told by seasoned operators about how to deal with people who cause interference on repeaters or during scheduled nets. While it is seemingly passive to let someone blather on and simply ignore them, it is probably the most effective course of action because it does not lead to an escalation of the situation on the air. Of course willful violations of rules and regulations should be documented and reported to the governing authority, the FCC in our case, if the situation is ongoing and serious.

Wise old Elmer says:

Always identify your transmissions. Be polite while sharing the bands. Welcome those who are new to operating, and be patient with them when they make mistakes. Be thoughtful and kind to others. Respect the fact that other operators may have different operating goals, and give them their time and space on the bands to pursue them.

For Handiham World, I'm...

Patrick Tice
wa0tda@arrl.net

Welcome to Handiham World!

Photo: Pat, WA0TDA, left, and friend Newt, a farmer who let us use his barn for a Field Day ham shack, set up a generator. This was a Field Day with a real field - the end-fed Marconi antenna was hundreds of feet long, extending from a high point on the barn out to a solitary tree in a soybean field. Look at that head of curly hair I had back then, which I think was sometime in the early 1970's! The old gas generator made considerable racket, so it was located as far as we could manage from the operating position. This rustic setting for the generator was in the farmyard next to Newt's machine shed. Field Day has changed quite a bit for some of us...

Field Day is this coming weekend, June 26 and 27, 2010. We are looking forward to joining the SARA group, a Handiham-affiliate as well as an ARRL Special Service Club, for this annual operating event. Look for W0JH, our club callsign, and give us a shout. We will be operating on the HF bands as well as on 2 m, and you may even find us on Echolink.

Yes, I know that Echolink contacts do not count for Field Day points, but we will be in this contest for fun, fellowship, the promotion of amateur radio to the general public, and to use and have fun with new technologies. Earning Field Day points is far down on our list of priorities, and that brings me to what I have mentioned before in my columns and podcasts: Different clubs and individual amateur radio operators have different priorities for operation on ARRL Field Day. Some will be in aggressive contesting mode and will work hard to earn as many points as possible, often with multiple CW stations earning double points for Morse code contacts. Considerable effort will be put into impressive antenna systems and station staffing will include the best and most experienced operators. The logging system will be state-of-the-art and the entire operation will be carried off with military precision. Other clubs, like ours, will not consider high point scores as our first goal. The success of our operation will be whether or not we had fun getting on the air. I've had decades of ham radio experience, and that has given me a chance to approach Field Day from different angles. This leads to the observation that Field Day rules, while designed to be broad enough to include a variety of interests and goals, also set up a certain tension between contesting and the other goals, such as showcasing amateur radio to the general public, training new operators by getting them on the air, exposing seasoned operators to new technology, preparing for and operating in a simulated emergency situation, and drawing in family members to observe and participate.

Tension? What do you mean by that?

Well, here's the deal. If a club is really in it for the points, the top priority will be finding a location for the event that enhances operating, setting up stations with elaborate antenna systems, spending a significant amount of time operating CW for the double point score, designing and deploying bulletproof supporting systems that include multiple power sources independent of the grid and a shared logging system. Serious clubs will prepare all year long for this event and operator training will be a significant part of the preparation. All of this is well and good, and all of it is rewarded handsomely in the point scoring system. And who can argue with extensive preparation and training? Both are important aspects of emergency preparedness.

The problem is that the very nature of this kind of operation is that it can suffer enormously if it is compromised by allowing inexperienced operators to run the stations. True, those inexperienced operators may hold General or Extra licenses, but they may have little or no Morse code experience. If they do operate CW, they may do so at a much slower speed than the experienced operators in the club. Relegated to the phone stations, these relative newcomers to HF operation may still work stations at a far slower rate than experienced phone operators. The best Field Day location for antenna systems that are really competitive may not be the easiest site to get to. Club members who have family, work, or school obligations will find it difficult to participate in multiple planning and training sessions in the months prior to the contest. Do you see what I'm getting at? It might be said that "winning" in contest mode requires quite a different mindset and singular dedication toward scoring points than the other goals typically associated with a more inclusive Field Day experience. Let's take a look at the object of Field Day, as stated in the official rules:　

"To work as many stations as possible on any and all amateur bands (excluding the 60, 30, 17, and 12-meter bands) and in doing so to learn to operate in abnormal situations in less than optimal conditions. A premium is placed on developing skills to meet the challenges of emergency preparedness as well as to acquaint the general public with the capabilities of Amateur Radio."

Okay, working as many stations as possible probably means a no holds barred contest station. However, developing skills to meet the challenges of emergency preparedness is quite a different matter unless you are willing to compromise your point score to spend a significant amount of time during the event training relative newcomers to HF. Furthermore, if your site is optimally placed for contesting but inaccessible to people who can't hike up a rocky slope, I would have to argue that you would not only be shutting out club members with disabilities but also discouraging observation by the general public.

Some considerable effort over the years has been made to meld these otherwise incompatible goals. The "GOTA", or "Get on the Air" station concept was designed to fulfill the goal of getting newbies on the air while still allowing the more experienced operators to run up the point score on the other stations. The GOTA station could then also served as a point of demonstration to members of the press or general public who happened to show up. Still, there remains a sort of stigma about the GOTA operation in some clubs, where it is looked upon as a necessary but inconvenient compromise to the primary goal, which is to earn lots of points. Still, the rules do allow bonus points for locating in a publicly accessible place and having an information table. The question for any serious contest group will be how to compromise between optimal contest operation and putting on a show for the general public and training new operators. Some points are awarded for copying or passing messages. Again, this remains somewhat of a sideline activity to simply working as many stations as possible, preferably in a mode that allows for a higher point score.

Can you imagine a real-life emergency situation in which amateur radio repeaters, if they were available, would not be used? When the Interstate 35W bridge collapsed here in the Twin Cities several years ago, you can bet that the repeaters were buzzing with activity. Nonetheless, making Field Day contacts on repeater systems for points is prohibited by the rules. Some clubs will use their repeater systems for so-called "talk-in" information to guide participants to the Field Day site or to give out information of interest to the greater amateur radio community. Of course Echolink and IRLP contacts are not valid for points, either. If your club wishes to use these new technologies, you may not list the contacts for point scoring purposes, though they may be of great interest to the general public.

Extra consideration is given for CW operation, which earns two points for every contact as opposed to a phone contact, which earns only one point. Similarly, digital mode operation counts for two points per contact. From what I have observed over the years, CW is a highly efficient mode of operation that lends itself to really racking up the points, at least at the hands of experienced operators. I'm not sure exactly why it needs the extra boost of a point subsidy, but I suppose this could encourage the old timers to let a couple of newer, less experienced CW operators take over for a shift or two. The two point subsidy for digital contacts might be somewhat more justified as a means to promote more digital operation. Still, if special point considerations are given for digital operation and satellite contacts (bonus points), I do have to confess that I am somewhat at a loss as to why Echolink, IRLP, or WIRES capability isn't at least recognized in some kind of bonus point scheme if not outright point scores per contact. After all, these technologies will define amateur radio operation for a significant part of the ham radio population in the years to come -- as they do right now in this rather disappointing lingering sunspot minimum when HF operation has been lackluster at best.

Yes, I have heard all the arguments before about how repeaters cannot be tied up with any sort of contesting activity and how Echolink isn't real ham radio. I understand the reluctance of clubs to step too far outside the bounds of tradition. There are good and compelling reasons why unleashing contest activity onto repeater systems might be a really bad idea. Visions of repeaters tied up for hours on end come to mind. A repeater tied up with contest activity would be unavailable in an emergency. Contacts through an Echolink repeater would be said to make use of non-ham radio technology, doing an end run around the purpose and scope of amateur radio. These are all valid concerns, but I would counter that one can drive across the country these days scanning for repeater activity and finding city after city where the repeaters sit virtually dormant if not outright comatose. What would be wrong with actually using these resources? I'm going to stick my neck out and say that the horror stories of repeaters being tied up and in constant use will not come to pass. If using a repeater as a talk-in station or just to make random contacts to demonstrate the repeater and ham radio to the general public suits you, go for it. Believe me, with most repeaters going hours and sometimes days on end with no activity, you probably won't stand much chance of causing a problem.

And what if you make an Echolink contact or two? Don't count it in the Field Day log, but at least use the opportunity to enjoy the latest communications technology.

For Handiham World, I'm...

Patrick Tice
wa0tda@arrl.net

Oh, and if you want to join the Field Day fun with us, check out the Oakdale Discovery Center, starting at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, June 26, when we will be starting the station setup. The SARA Field Day will include a cooperative project with University of Minnesota students to launch a helium balloon, which will be tethered to fly above the Field Day site and transmit ATV - Amateur Television - pictures to the ground from aloft. Points? No. Fun? Yes.

Oakdale Discovery Center
4444 Hadley Ave N
St Paul, MN 55128-2651

W0JH Repeater Talk-In

The SARA 2m repeater is on 147.060 MHz, with a positive offset (transmit on 147.660 MHz). It is an open repeater. You need a tone of 114.8 Hz on your transmit signal.

Welcome to Handiham World! What coax should I use?

Question:

The repeaters I want to use are all just a bit too far away for me to work with an indoor antenna or a handheld radio. I want to install an outdoor antenna so that I can use several different VHF and UHF repeaters. I already have a dual-band 2m/70cm vertical antenna, but what kind of coax should I use? I am thinking about RG-58 or RG-8X, because they are cheaper and easy to work with than the thicker RG-8 or RG-213. My cable run will be about 100 feet.

Answer:

Since the repeaters you plan to work are probably located in different compass directions, your choice of a vertical antenna is a good one, as long as the repeaters are not so far away that you would need a directional antenna with more gain. The directional antenna usually means an extra investment in a rotator system, a considerable expense and an additional accessory to maintain over the ensuing years.

One thing you will not want to skimp on is your feedline, especially if it is to be used for VHF and UHF work, and when the feedline is going to be run for a considerable distance. A short run of RG-8X, under 25 feet, is probably acceptable for VHF work. The problem with these thin, cheaper feedlines is that they lose quite a significant amount of signal - both on receive and on transmit - and the savings in initial cost for the coax are quickly offset by the poor performance they introduce to your otherwise well-designed system. RG-58 is such thin, fragile coax that it is a poor choice for anything but temporary use or short connecting cables used in test situations. It is very lossy and should not be used over long runs, even for HF operation. Its fragility means that it can easily break.

Let's take a look at the loss for a typical VHF frequency, 146.52 MHz for three common types of coax, all assuming a 100 foot run.

RG-58: Power in = 100 Watts. Power out = 34 Watts. Total loss is 4.7 dB. Ouch!
RG-8X: Power in = 100 Watts. Power out = 39 Watts. Total loss is 4.1 dB. Ouch!
RG-213: Power in = 100 Watts. Power out = 55 Watts. Total loss is 2.6 dB.

As you can see, the unfortunate truth is that all of these cables have significant loss, but the cheaper cables will end up turning most of your signal into heat. Only the RG-213 comes close to being acceptable for VHF use with a 100 foot run.

Now for something really scary, let's try a 70cm frequency, 446.0 MHz, with the same cable run.

RG-58: Power in = 100 Watts. Power out = 13 Watts. Total loss is 8.9 dB. Double Ouch!
RG-8X: Power in = 100 Watts. Power out = 15 Watts. Total loss is 8.2 dB. Double Ouch!
RG-213: Power in = 100 Watts. Power out = 32 Watts. Total loss is 5 dB. Ouch!

Discussion:

Even with the best of these three coax types, you are still getting less than one third of your signal to the antenna. Remember that it works the same way on receive. And why would you even bother with RG-58 or RG-8X for UHF work, when 100 Watts turns into only 15 Watts or less? Long runs of cheap, lossy cable might as well just be dummy loads!

As you can see from the results we have listed, the loss per distance unit of feedline goes up when the frequency goes up. Therefore, a cheaper grade of feedline might be acceptable for use on 3.9 MHz, but far too lossy for use at VHF or UHF. Another consideration is that if one intends to use even higher transmit power levels, cheaper coax must not be used because it may arc over and fail. It is generally acceptable only for lower power levels.

The results we listed are for SWR readings that are virtually perfect, 1:1. Since no antenna installation is perfect and minor mismatches occur in even a carefully-designed system, the actual loss will be even higher than what we listed. This makes using good feedline even more important.

To summarize, you will have several important choices to make when you plan your VHF/UHF antenna system. You will want to decide which repeaters you want to work, their compass directions from your station, and whether you will need to choose a directional antenna or a vertical antenna. The supporting structure will add height, which is generally a good thing for effective VHF/UHF work, but also add to the length of a feedline, and longer feedline runs mean more loss. If you want to try weak-signal work on VHF and UHF, you will need a rotator and a horizontally-polarized directional antenna. Unlike repeater operation, weak signal work on SSB and CW absolutely demands good quality feedline for the lowest loss possible. FM repeater operation is less demanding, and will require vertical polarization. You may be able make your horizontally-polarized system work for repeaters, but your vertically-polarized antenna will not be effective for weak signal work on SSB and CW.

Our recommendation is to use good quality feedline for every installation, avoiding higher loss coax except for short connectors and temporary use in sort runs.

Resources:

Are you wondering how we calculated the loss for examples we used in this article? It was easy with the online calculator we found at the KC7HXC website!

For Handiham World, I'm...

Patrick Tice
wa0tda@arrl.net

Welcome to Handiham World!

We are definitely in the summer ham radio doldrums. I can tell that we have reached this time of year by some of the comments I hear, usually by word of mouth or by e-mail:

"What is wrong with the bands?" "When will the bands get better? I don't hear anything on HF." "I never hear anything on the repeater." "My radio club doesn't meet during the summer." "No one is around to help me with my station/antenna projects." "When I went to check into the net, there was no net control station and no one ran the net."

Does any of this sound familiar? I hear most of this same kind of discussion every year about this time. As summer arrives here in Minnesota, people start thinking seriously about outdoor activities and taking vacation. Of course we have ARRL Field Day in June each year, but the overall disconnect from many ham radio activities really begins in mid-Spring, generally following Dayton HAMVENTION.

Mother Nature contributes to the problem of HF operation by throwing thunderstorms at us all summer long. The resulting radio interference pretty much makes operation on the lower HF frequencies something that would try any operator's patience. Then there is the onset of spring and summer jobs waiting for everyone when the snow finally melts here in central North America. I have noticed that radio club attendance usually starts to decline in March. Many radio clubs don't even meet during the summer because everyone has so much going on that it is difficult to find a quorum for a meeting.

When I hear questions about the HF bands, I know that they are usually coming from newbies who don't have too much experience and have never learned about the seasonal fluctuations in HF and VHF propagation. Old timers know that the 6 m band comes alive in the late spring and early summer, just as the lower HF bands start to get plagued by thunderstorm static. If these newbies haven't learned about seasonal fluctuations, they certainly don't know about or understand solar weather or the sunspot cycle either. Oh, well... I look upon it as a teaching opportunity.

Last week we reminded you to get ready for Field Day. As long as band conditions aren't too good, now is the time to head out to the backyard for an antenna inspection. Those of you listening to the podcast can hear me as I go through my usual checklist to make sure that my antennas are going to keep working all right. An antenna inspection should be done several times each year, or even more often if you have experienced severe weather in your area.

What to look for:

Are the antennas still up in the air?

Don't laugh -- I have heard from people who didn't even know half of their antenna was lying on the ground someplace after one of the supports broke. A visual inspection will include making sure that any wire antennas are still in position and that tree branches are not impinging on the radiating element or feedline. Other types of antennas, like vertical or beam antennas, should be visually inspected just to see that all of the elements are in place. If an antenna is designed to rotate, you should look to see that trees have not grown so close to the antenna that they enter the turning radius. So far, all of this can be done by simply walking outside and looking around. If you are blind or have low vision, you will want to get a helper to do this part of the job with your direction.

What about the feedline?

Next, you are going to pay particular attention to the feedline or feedlines, and if the antenna is really high in the air, a pair of binoculars can bring the feed point (center insulator) into focus so that you can see if everything is connected properly. This antenna inspection is a pretty simple one and it does not include any tower climbing. You can follow the feedline down to the point where you can do a close inspection, being sure to include where the feedline enters the building. Since you can actually feel and manipulate the feedline at that point, you can check for any deterioration that might indicate a need for replacement. You will also want to check to make sure that where the line enters through the wall that water or insects cannot get into the building. If coax connectors are covered with a sealant, check to make sure that they are still being protected from the elements. I hope you have some kind of lightning arrestor and grounding system where the feedline enters the house. Check to make sure the connections are solid. If you do any actual work on the antenna or feedline, all of the radios inside should be disconnected from the AC mains to avoid any possibility of electric shock. Remember, at this point we are just doing a visual inspection.

Have animals damaged the coax?

Since one of my antennas is a ground mounted Butternut vertical, I will need to do a close up inspection of the feed point to make sure that the coaxial cable is connected at the base, both the center conductor to the vertical radiating element and the coax braid to the grounding system and radial field. Since this particular antenna model has several capacitors that I can reach from the ground, I can also check to make sure that they have not come loose or broken over the winter. My antenna has a small fence around it to protect the base, and even the fence deserves a quick look over to make sure that it is still structurally sound. The vertical is fed underground, so I will need to inspect the parts that are visible in the feedline system, looking for signs of deterioration or damage caused by rodents or rabbits. (I once looked out the back window and saw a squirrel happily eating away at a plastic lawn chair. Animals can cause similar damage to coaxial cable.)

Towers need special attention.

If you are lucky enough to have a tower, you should also include it in your periodic inspection to make sure that it is structurally sound, and that includes a close-up inspection of at least some of the hardware that holds the tower together and the tower base to make sure that corrosion has not compromised its integrity. Naturally you want to inspect as much of the feedline as you can easily reach around the base of the tower and take a look at the grounding system as well.

A checklist can help. Pilots use them before takeoff - you can use checklists, too.

Every antenna installation is different, so I can't get overly specific about a check list. However, I can say that it is my responsibility to know and understand the design and layout of my own antenna system so that I can make sure that it remains safe and effective. You have that same responsibility for your station, whether you have a disability or not. Perhaps you cannot easily get outside or see the antenna system yourself, but you should still have a complete understanding of where things are and how they work and how they should be inspected so that you can direct your helper or helpers during a routine inspection. Of course it helps to have amateur radio operators -- hopefully friends from your local radio club -- to help you with your antenna inspections. But if you don't, you may have to call on friends who know very little if anything about amateur radio and antennas. In that case, you really have to be able to take charge of the inspection and give good directions so that the inspection can be done properly and your helpers can be safe as they are following your directions. You may want to make a checklist of basic items so that you don't forget anything.

Yes, summer may be the ham radio doldrums, but it is a lot easier to do an antenna inspection on a nice summer day than it is in the middle of winter. So if you can't hear anything on the bands it might be time to think about an antenna inspection followed by iced tea on the veranda.

For Handiham World, I'm...

Patrick Tice
wa0tda@arrl.net

Welcome to Handiham World! June is here, and that means Field Day planning

As you know, we have been at Handiham radio camp last week, and because the camp session ended just as the long Memorial Day holiday weekend began, today is our first day back for routine office duties. We hope you had a pleasant and thoughtful Memorial Day weekend and were able to set some time aside to remember those who have gone before us, serving to protect our freedom.

Memorial Day seems to be the unofficial start to the summer season here in North America. Yes, I know that the official beginning of the season begins later this month at the summer solstice on June 21. In fact, in the Northern Hemisphere, summer solstice begins on Jun 21 2010 at 7:28 AM EDT. Nonetheless, nothing flips the switch to summer quite as well as a long holiday weekend, and once people get into the mood of summer, they tend to forget about spending time with indoor activities and look to the great outdoors for fun in the sun.

That doesn't mean that ham radio will not be an important part of the summer. To the contrary, June is an excellent month for ham radio. Amateur Radio Field Day is coming up on the first full weekend in June, as it always does. ARRL Field Day is June 26-27, 2010. If you have never operated during a Field Day, you are in for a pleasant surprise: Field Day is the largest on-the-air operating event in Amateur Radio. Combining elements of a contest with setting up portable stations is a brilliant strategy. Field Day provides an opportunity to practice setting up for emergency situations, learning new and better operating skills, participating in a competitive event as a group or as an individual operator, really learning how your equipment works, and -- in the case of a radio club Field Day event -- being able to socialize with your friends and just have a lot of fun sharing this operating event. Some radio clubs have a family picnic to make sure that spouses and children can share in the fun. Others are in it for the contest and run stations day and night, focusing on that all-important point count.

If you are a person with a disability, you can participate in Field Day, but you may have to do just a little advance planning to make sure that you are able to operate effectively and safely, either as an individual or in a group. Here are some things to consider:

Field Day has many different options. You can operate from your home station without setting up any portable antennas and portable radios. You do not need to operate using power from a generator or batteries. In fact, you can operate your existing station just as you always do and still participate and have a great deal of fun on Field Day. The object of the exercise is to work as many stations as possible on any amateur radio band except 60, 30, 17, and 12 m. If your disability requires that you stick close to home, you may want to simply participate using your own station.

You don't have to operate during the entire Field Day exercise. Even if you participate for a couple of hours, you can have fun and gain experience. So, even if your disability makes it inconvenient to be away from home for long periods of time, you will be welcome at most radio club Field Day sites during the time it is practical for you to be part of the group effort.

Check out the Field Day site in advance for accessibility, especially if you are using a wheelchair or electric scooter to get around. Some sites are truly rugged and not accessible. Others may be the ultimate in accessibility, with wheelchair ramps and accessible restrooms. Since several radio clubs in your area may be participating in Field Day, now is the time to start shopping around for an accessible site. Don't be afraid to call the contact person listed on the club website and discuss accessibility. It is better to find out in advance what is and what is not available.

Sometimes special needs can be accommodated at the operating positions of a club Field Day site. For example, if it is known in advance that a blind operator will be participating, a radio or radios equipped with voice frequency output might be made available. Again, this is something that needs to be planned in advance, so now is the time to speak up.

If you are a ham radio operator with a disability, I certainly hope that you are part of a local radio club already. But if you aren't, a club Field Day is sometimes the perfect opportunity to meet club members and find out if a particular club will meet your needs. Don't forget that as a club member you will be expected to participate and take on some club duties as well.

Sometimes we concentrate on accessible radios and wheelchair ramps when we think about Field Day, forgetting that it will be necessary to take care of life's normal requirements. Since the contest goes on for at least 24 hours, if you expect to stay at the Field Day site for long periods of time or even for the entire length of the contest, you will have to consider whether the restrooms are accessible, if the food and beverages meet your dietary needs, whether it will be possible for you to stay on your medication schedule if you must take medicine on a daily basis, and what kind of shelter is available on site in the event of inclement weather.

If you stay overnight, you will need to determine where you will sleep and how you will stay warm since it can get quite cool in the night and early morning. Generally speaking, if you are comfortable with camping and already do so on a regular basis, you will have no problem managing a Field Day where the crew is "roughing it". On the other hand, if you would rather fill out 100 tax forms than go camping, you should look for a club that has its Field Day indoors with lots of amenities. Either one will be a great experience, but you have to be sure you pick the right one for you!

Field Day rules change a bit from year to year as new ideas take shape and technology changes. If you have never been to a Field Day or if you have been away from Field Day for a number of years, take some time to check out the ARRL website and find out more about this excellent operating event.

My radio club, the Handiham-affiliated Stillwater Amateur Radio Association, is holding its Field Day indoors in a completely accessible modern city park building. SARA goes the extra mile to serve Handiham members and is an ARRL Special Service Club.

I hope to hear you on the air during Field Day 2010.

Patrick Tice, Handiham Manager
wa0tda@arrl.net

Dear Family & Friends,

Here I am at Handiham Radio Camp, and I've been having a great time. It's hard to believe that we are already leaving camp tomorrow morning. The week has gone by so fast!

Several of us arrived a day early to begin setup of antennas and stations. The photo I've included here shows Phil, K9HI, Matt, KA0PQW, and Don, N0BVE, posing midway between antenna projects and smiling for the camera. The volunteers who help us through the week are really the experts at making things happen - whether it is setting up computer networks, running coax, stringing up Field Day antennas, setting up and testing station gear, teaching licensing classes, teaching operating skills, getting campers out onto the lake to operate marine mobile, and all of the other things that happen during the week.

Nancy, our Handiham Secretary, met the campers for the first time this week. She had never been at a radio camp session before and was quite a celebrity, since everyone knew her voice from talking with her on the phone. When the radio camp was at Courage North, it was too far for Nancy to drive. Now that we are at Camp Courage, we are close enough to Minneapolis to make the drive practical.

This morning we met the V.E. team for breakfast, then the campers who were taking exams gave it their best shot. Those who got the good news were really happy, and those who didn't quite make it - well, they were happy to have an excuse to come back to camp next year. After lunch, we started taking down the antennas, at least the temporary ones, and packing up the station gear. It seemed as if we had just gotten that stuff out of the boxes and set it up, but that's the way it goes: Time really does go fast when you are having fun.

The afternoon weather is perfect today, and we are having a pool party. The campers and staff are enjoying our swimming pool while I am packing boxes. Poor me. Oh, heck, I really didn't want to go swimming anyway. While I was packing, I was listening to Jerry, N0VOE, conducting a mini-net connecting a group of our campers with an elementary school class studying geography. Arlene, KE7KNM, teaches school in Salt Lake City, UT, and invited us to speak with her students, who would locate our home QTHs on a map.

Joe, N3AIN, agreed to share a few thoughts about radio camp week with you, so keep listening, and have a great Memorial Day weekend.

The Handiham office will be closed through Tuesday, opening again on June 2.

73,

Patrick Tice, Handiham Manager
wa0tda@arrl.net

Welcome to Handiham World! Getting ready for Radio Camp: Sniffing out problems in the station equipment

Handiham Radio Camp begins on Friday, May 21. We have to make sure that our radio gear is ready to go so that it can be deployed when we do camp setup later this week - and that means doing a few preliminary checks that include connecting the transceivers to a power supply and testing the receive and transmit functions, making sure that there is modulation, and checking to make sure that the speech modules are speaking the frequency for our blind users.

George LaValle, N0SBU, and his dog PJ pose for the camera as they sniff out any potential problems, while Avery, K0HLA, looks on approvingly. Every project needs a supervisor, a sniffer, and a guy who pushes the transmit button!

If you listen for us on the bands during camp week, which is Friday, May 21 through Friday, May 28, 2010, give us a shout and you may earn a QSL card, providing that you send us one. We do plan to be on the Handiham Echolink net every day, including Sunday during camp week, but remember that because Fridays are camper travel days, those days are not going to be the best for making contact with the camp. You may be able to contact campers or volunteers on the road as they travel.

We are often asked, "What frequencies will you be on?" and "Can we make a scheduled contact with the camp?"

I know from years of experience trying to figure out frequencies and schedules that it is best not to promise anything. However, I can say that we will make a good effort to be on the air at Echolink net time, and if you want, you can ask the folks at camp if they are willing to get on the HF bands for a schedule. Be sure to route any requests through the net control station, whoever that might be.

Thanks to Don Rice, N0BVE, we will have Echolink repeater access at Radio Camp. Our repeater will be connected to the HANDIHAM Conference Server, node 494492. This high capacity node, sponsored by N0VZC, can accept 200 connections. The camp repeater will be on all the time, so you can always try a call even outside regular net times. You never know when someone will be listening.

The best times to contact us are:

Early morning before 08:00 CDT (Before breakfast)
Between 13:00 and 15:00 CDT (Camper recreation time)
After 18:30 (Following dinner)

As I said, you can try calling anytime and the call will go out all over camp on the camp repeater system. We do have people listening most of the time, especially those who are in Operating Skills or Extra Seminar.

We hope to hear you on the air soon!

Patrick Tice
wa0tda@arrl.net
Handiham Manager

Welcome to Handiham World! Courage Center Development Officer Walt Seibert Passes Ham Radio Exam
Photo: Walt Seibert, left, gets congrats from Pat, WA0TDA.

Another New Ham

Congratulations to Walt Seibert, who passed his Technician licensing exam at the Handiham-affiliated Stillwater Amateur Radio Association VE session last Thursday. Walt works with me at Courage Center, and we have known each other for many years. As one of his duties in the Courage Center Development Department, Walt traveled with me one year to Dayton HAMVENTION and with the help of our colleague Tom Olson put on a "meet and greet" development event in support of the Handiham program.

So Walt is no stranger to ham radio, and when he decided to pursue his Technician Class amateur radio license, we were thrilled. There is nothing like being able to "walk the walk and talk the talk", and if you are going to ask potential donors to support an amateur radio education program for people with disabilities, it certainly helps to have an amateur radio license yourself. I know that Walt was amazed at the size and scope of Dayton HAMVENTION. The amazing technology, the friendly folks who visited the Handiham booth, the fun and fellowship -- I guess it isn't surprising that amateur radio looked pretty good.

Of course Walt is always busy at work, helping Courage Center to earn the trust and support of those who believe in our mission to help people with disabilities. For a time he was interested in amateur radio but couldn't take the time to pursue it because of his other professional development studies and the demands of work. However, the stars finally aligned for Walt, and he decided to earn his Technician. We helped with study materials and links to amateur radio practice exam websites. Soon Walt was reporting back to us that he was passing practice exams on a regular basis, and then every time he tried. We set up Walt with an upcoming VE session and crossed our fingers.

I am a member of the Stillwater Amateur Radio Association VE Team, so I was pleased to see that Walt showed up at our Thursday evening testing session, which meant that I would be able to personally give him the good news when he passed the test. As expected, Walt did a great job on the examination and I was able to perform one of my favorite duties as a volunteer examiner: giving a successful candidate the good news!

Congratulations to Walt, who is now waiting for his callsign to appear in the database.

Guide Dog Trawler passes away quietly

Folks, it is with much sadness that I report the passing of guide Trawler. He gave no indication of any health issues. He guided at church last Sunday, and we went to the Plymouth Senior Center yesterday, where he worked well as usual, steps and all. All was normal the rest of Monday. This morning, Tuesday, Pam found him on his sleeping mat next to our computer. He was in his normal sleep position, no sign of any trauma. Pam feels it was his heart. Trawler would have been ten years old July 4 of this year.

I would like to have my ham radio friends on the net and camp staff know of this, so could you forward the information?

Jerry Kloss, N0VOE

Editor's note: Trawler guided Jerry, Handiham Volunteer & Student Coordinator, through years of Radio Camps and Handiham activities. A true team, they worked so well together that it was fun to watch them travel with confidence and poise. Our hearts go out to Jerry and his wife Pam in their time of loss, for losing a treasured animal and guide leaves a hole in your heart.

Welcome to Handiham World! A new antenna goes up at Handiham headquarters

By Patrick Tice
wa0tda@arrl.net

As most of our regular readers and listeners know, the Handiham headquarters has moved from its long-time Golden Valley offices to a new location at Camp Courage near Maple Lake, Minnesota. We already had a vertical antenna at the new location, but we really felt that we needed a more versatile wire antenna that would be able to tune a variety of different frequencies. We settled on a 300 foot dipole fed with 450 ohm ladder line and a current balun. Coaxial cable from the balun takes the signal to the antenna tuner and to the TS-570 transceiver currently in place at our operating location.

As you can imagine, getting an antenna of that length up into the air can be quite a challenge. We had the advantage of some pretty tall trees from which we could support the antenna, and with some careful planning we were able to run the legs of the antenna out into some fairly clear spaces while still using these tall trees as supports.

Volunteers Dave Glas, W0OXB, and John Harvard, KC0UHY, had put up these "OXB Special" antennas before, so all I really had to do was follow directions and do as I was told. Dave directed the operation, as he is the real wire antenna expert. Not only had he ordered the materials and did some assembly ahead of time, he also procured the materials by getting the support of the Handiham affiliated Stillwater Amateur Radio Association, which paid for everything we needed. Dave also drove and brought the necessary tools. You could certainly tell that he had done this kind of antenna work many times before!

The weatherman cooperated on Tuesday, May 4. The sun was shining and the temperature was in the mid-70s. Although we had some wind, it wasn't really more than a modest breeze and we were able to use the wind to our advantage in launching a tennis ball loaded with a couple of heavy lead sinkers as a lead for our fishing line. The tennis ball is launched using a slingshot like device that was donated to the Handiham program by volunteer and donor Bill Rouch, N6HBO. In order to get the tennis ball over some really tall trees, Dave cut a small slit in it and slipped in a couple of lead fishing weights. This gave the tennis ball enough mass to easily fly over the tallest branches. When all was said and done, the average height of this 300 foot antenna was probably close to 45 feet. That is really pretty good for an antenna of this length held up by trees.

We did some preliminary tests and then had to head back home to avoid getting stuck in rush-hour traffic. We will do some of the final work on the station later on when we receive the expected donation of an automatic antenna tuner from Eliot, KE0N. Do you see how volunteers, donors, and staff all work together to make a project like this possible? We are so grateful for everyone's assistance. We couldn't do it without you!

Eventually, we plan to use this new antenna on a second Internet remote base station. This will increase the operating capability by adding not only the second station but the ability to operate on the 160 m band and on the 6 m band. If this new antenna system works as well as expected, we may even consider upgrading the antenna system at the Courage North location, also adding 160 m and 6 m there.

Remote base operation will be an important part of our services in the years to come. Thank you for your support.

Patrick Tice, Handiham Manager
wa0tda@arrl.net