Fresh from the Unless You’ve Been Living In a Cave, You’ve Heard of This department, there’s been much ado over the FCC Petition for Rulemaking seeking encryption for emergency communications.  I won’t go into the details of the petition as you can read that several places elsewhere.  Technically encryption on amateur radio bands is illegal.  However, in reality the FCC has been letting it happen for years and the ARRL has turned a blind eye to it.  D-STAR uses a proprietary vocoder that takes an analog voice signal and converts it into a data bitstream.  The algorithm isn’t publicly documented and you can’t decrypt it, unless you buy a proprietary chip.

Some may quote § 97.309 (4)(b) which basically says one can transmit an “unspecified digital code” as long as the digital code is not intended to obscure the meaning of the communication.  Presumably the people who created and use D-STAR don’t intend to obscure the meaning of the communication, so perhaps it is within the law.

So, say I create a new digital communication mode.  It features a compression algorithm and I just happen to XOR the data stream with a 10 million bit pseudorandom bitstream to randomize it so a long stream of zeros or ones won’t screw up a modulator.  I document the algorithm and the 10 million bit key on some corner of the Internet.  It’s technically publicly documented, but in practice no one will go to the trouble of attempting to build a decoder.  I’ve achieved encryption in a roundabout way.  Whether my intentions were to obscure the meaning of the communications or make a modulator-friendly bitstream is anyone’s guess.  But with the inaction over the D-STAR vocoder and the wording of § 97.309 (4)(b), intention rules the day.  So while this debate over the petition is being framed in a discussion of encryption, it’s really the intent to obscure communications that’s at the heart of this.

I don’t have a horse in this emcomm race, but I’m not in favor of allowing obscuring messaging.  If the FCC does allow it, others are going to want to use it for their noble causes, like preppers under the guise of “homeland security”.

(D-STAR is a registered trademark of Icom, Inc.)

Google has announced Project Loon, an experiment to use balloons aloft at about 60,000 feet / 20 km to provide broadband wireless Internet service to the hinterlands.  The Loon moniker is somewhat of an admission that the project is a bit crazy and a play on the word balloon, but it does have a sound technological foundation.  The technology is much cheaper than satellites and naturally easier to launch.

The experiment is beginning this month with the launch of a handful of balloons from New Zealand which will orbit about the 40th parallel and navigate around New Zealand using varying direction and magnitude air currents at various levels.  Beta testers have been selected in New Zealand to try out the system.

The idea of using aircraft to provide wireless services isn’t new, and radio amateurs have been launching experimental balloons with radios for quite awhile although recently there has been an upshot in interest.  Google is known for using open source software and contributing open source technology back to the community.  I’m curious if Google will open source the hardware, perhaps enabling amateur radio to benefit with its own balloon network similar to this someday.  Current typical amateur radio balloon missions last only a few days.  Having several balloons aloft could perhaps be an alternative to satellites which are becoming increasingly expensive and difficult to launch.

The Project Loon site has a nice video detailing the project here.

Well, I finally broke down and bought a new rig this week.  You may recall I was debating between a Yaesu 950, Kenwood TS-590, Elecraft K3, and Ten Tec Eagle.  I ended up buying a Kenwood TS-590.  What led to my decision, you ask?

The simplicity of the Ten Tec Eagle is nice and refreshing, but I just couldn’t bear spending over $1,800 for such a simple rig.  It bugged me that the MARS mod wasn’t readily available.  This is one of my idiosyncrasies; any rig that I have must be able to transmit on whatever bands its capable of transmitting on, and I abhor hardware limited by software.  And for over a kilobuck, can’t Ten Tec spring for a second antenna connector?

Volumes have been written about the Elecraft K3, and any review below a 5 out of 5 gets dirty looks from the studio audience.  Yes, it’s a great rig, and initially it looks like a great deal until you start adding on the add-ons you really need to operate this rig.  Right off the bat it’s $2,100 for a 100 watt rig.  If you’re like me you’ll want a CW filter, a tighter phone filter, perhaps one to listen to and operate AM, and the general coverage filter band pass unit, and you’re looking at another $580.  Also, the chassis of the K3 is below what I would consider for a rig in this price class.  It’s not badly designed, but it’s really time Elecraft puts the big boy pants on and makes a die cast chassis.  I know someone will quip that the Yaesu 950 and Kenwood TS-590 receivers aren’t as good as the K3.  You’re absolutely correct.  Is that extra few dB of IMD performance or receiver sensitivity really worth an extra $500 – $1K?

I was torn between the Yaesu 950 and Kenwood TS-590.  Two things tipped the scales in Kenwood’s favor.  A read several reviews about the Yaesu’s multiple roofing filters being not that useful, however they made it a major part of the user interface on the front panel.  The other mention was Yaesu’s menuing system.  Having three Yaesu products currently I’m quite familiar with Yaesu’s menus, however I can’t say I really like them.

A few reviews of the Kenwood TS-590 indicated better performance on CW than the 950.  Admittedly I wanted to give Kenwood another try after their HF “design drought” of eight years, my fond memories of Kenwood back in the 80s and 90s, and the 850 I have has given me lots of great service for 14 years.  I was a bit nervous about the TS-590 having operated a TS-570 years ago at Field Day and being disappointed in the receiver, however Kenwood literature, which was quite extensive, indicated that the 590 was designed anew from the ground up.

The TS-590 so far hasn’t disappointed me.  I was able to figure out nearly all of the functions in the first 15 minutes without cracking open the manual.  Power, mic gain, and VOX settings are easily accessed with single keystrokes and don’t require menu navigation.  The menu is accessed via a button aptly labeled MENU.  The knobs have a quality feel to them and the front interface is consistent and well laid out.  What don’t I like?  Two items: the number keypad on the left side has the bands (1.8, 3.5, 7, 10, etc.) as the primary marking on the buttons and the number (1, 2, 3, 4…) are secondary, which gets confusing when doing direct frequency entry.  The second item is the CW QSK.  Much like my TS-850, it makes more relay noise than I would like, however it sounds good in the headphones.

The manual is very well laid out, and doesn’t have the Japanglish commonly found in older Kenwood manuals.  The rig achieves a nice balance between simplicity and complexity, not being overly flashy and offering a straightforward and useful display.  The free software controls every aspect of the rig, down to the AF and RF gain and power, and it’s a rather well designed and intuitive application.  New firmware can be uploaded to the rig as it becomes available.  I especially like the filter controls which are on one knob.  In CW mode it acts in shift and width mode, and in phone it changes to lo cut / high cut, which makes a lot of sense.

Overall, I’m pleased with my decision, and hats off to Kenwood for a nice little rig.  Sorry Yaesu, but let me know when you have an FT-817 replacement out and we’ll talk.  :-)

“I wonder if that new antenna radial I dropped last fall settled into the grass enough by now?”

THWAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!

“No.”

In a shocking and unexpected move, the FCC today transferred all amateur radio licensing responsibility to QRZ.com, releasing Report and Order 2013-699.  Outgoing Chairman Julius Genchowski read a statement noting that the decision was due to a combination automatic budget cuts from budget sequestration and an acknowledgement of reality.  Other commissioners released similar written statements.  The Report and Order stated,  ”Our enforcement bureau received an inquiry from a radio amateur who was banned from QRZ.com (“QRZ”), an amateur radio portal and a popular callsign database.  After his callsign listing was removed from the QRZ database, amateurs frequently questioned on the air whether he was really licensed.  On a few occasions he was actually referred to as a ‘bootlegger’ by other radio amateurs, a derogatory term for an unlicensed individual operating illegally.  Our research indicates that few licensees actually use the FCC ULS [the official online licensing database] for amateur radio license queries.  In this ruling we have identified an opportunity to shed the responsibility of licensing and reduce administrative costs, and are therefore transferring administration of amateur radio licensing to a private entity.”

FCC Chairman Genchowski Makes Announcement to Stunned Audience

At press time ARRL had not released a written statement due to a backlog in the ARRL email server, still processing emails from a month ago.  However, in a conference call this afternoon it was announced that ARRL was petitioning the FCC to withdraw the R&O until it could present its solution for privatizing amateur radio licensing, a solution employing 65,535 bit encryption technology which would be ready sometime in 2019.

QRZ praised the FCC change and announced that for a limited time free Extra class upgrades will be included with an XML subscription or purchase of Ham Radio Deluxe.  QRZ forums were abuzz, with both support for and opposition against the change.  One super moderator stated that QRZ super moderators will have enforcement privileges, with the ability to revoke licenses for bad behavior both online and on the air, later taunting to users to step out of line and “feel his wrath.”

The FCC announcement is the most notable change in US amateur radio licensing since the controversial and still-debated Incentive Licensing program, and will go into effect upon publication of the Report and Order in the Federal Register.

Larry, W2LJ, recently wrote about a topic that all of us can identify with, the LID in a DX station pileup who ignores protocol and has no sense of manners.  They ignore DX requests for specific stations to respond and just blast the frequency, often with high power, until they get their contact.  The problem has existed for decades and is nothing new.  It’s one reason why I get turned off by DXing (despite dreaming of going on a high profile DXpedition someday), and it’s especially frustrating for a QRPer where timing and skill are much more important due to the power disadvantage.  Conversely, RF power often makes up for a lack of skill or manners, and the DX pileup LID makes a nuisance of himself to the point where the DX station can’t ignore him, and rewards him with a QSO.

The problem has been going on too long.  The reason it continues to exist is much like why we have email spam after nearly 20 years of the “mainstream” Internet.  There’s no cost associated it, and the bad behavior is rewarded.  The DX Code of Conduct is a great model for people to follow, but unfortunately it’s only the honest and polite people who follow it.  There must be consequences for bad behavior.

First off, DX stations need to stop rewarding these LIDs with contacts.  They need to call them out and let them know they’re not getting a contact during the DXpedition.  Perhaps we could create a specific Q signal that says “you’re blacklisted” to keep it short and sweet and avoid long on the air explanations.  Or they can work the station and not QSL the contact and let the station know through some means they got a non-QSL for their bad behavior.

Second, DX organizations and organizations like ARRL, CQ,  and perhaps RSGB need to maintain a “three strikes” policy.  If they receive evidence, such as recordings, of bad on the air behavior three times within a given period, the offender has awards stripped and they’re identified on a blacklist that can be accessed by high profile DXpeditions.  The minutia of appeals and reinstatement and the level of public notification can be debated, but I think the basic idea is sound and something that needs to be done.

This all may sound harsh, but in order to change bad behavior there needs to be consequences. All too often in amateur radio we don’t call out bad behavior and it affects the enjoyment of the hobby for the rest of us.  It’s time for the organizations who have the power to enforce consequences, to take action, rather than continue to provide rewards.

It’s day four of my hopefully last Windows-to-Linux migration, and so far so good.  I have my HRD log imported into CQRLog and it’s talking to both my Arduino Keyer and Yaesu FT-897.  The Keyer is happily sending CW and CQLog is reading the rig frequency.  The rig control function is very simple and utilitarian compared to HRD’s, but it works.  What I cannot get working is controlling the Kenwood TS-850.  This appears to be a problem with Hamlib, which CQRLog uses via rigctld.

I found that Linux re-enumerates USB /dev/ devices if you unplug one.  For example, I had my Arduino Keyer at /dev/ttyUSB0, my TS-850 interface at /dev/ttyUSB1, and my FT-897 interface at /dev/ttyUSB2.  Upon unplugging the Arduino Keyer and TS-850 interface, the FT-897 became /dev/ttyUSB0, and with nary a mention in syslog.  I find this behavior strange.  But I’m really pleased Linux handles USB device insertions and ejections so well.  Back in the day to do stuff like this you’d have to edit some text file, recompile your kernel, and walk uphill in snow both ways.

To run N1MM I installed Virtualbox and within that installed a very bare bones Windows XP installation.  This enables me to run Windows XP as a virtual machine within Linux, without rebooting.  N1MM installed and ran without a hitch in the virtual machine. I was reminded N1MM likes to install in C: root, like it’s 1994 on Windows 3.1.  But I digress.  Attaching host USB devices to virtual machines in Virtualbox is a piece of cake and I had N1MM talking with the 850.  So I’ve got my contesting needs covered.

It occurred to me that it wouldn’t take much to get CQRlog to do basic contest logging.  It already has cw interface keying and function key definitions and macros.  All it really needs is serial number generation with corresponding function key macros, previous QSO report lookup, and perhaps a little more field customization.  This would cover the basics.  One can handle scoring outside the program, but a band map with the DX cluster integrated would be the next feature on the list.  I may just look at the source code and see if I can make sense of it and maybe play around with some customizations.  I sense another project I’m going to get sucked into.

So far I haven’t had to go back to my native Windows installation for anything, other than to steal more disk partition space.  Maybe I cheated a little by installing an instance of Windows XP on Virtualbox, but hey, whatever gets the job done!

(Update: I just found the CQRLog band map window and it is integrated with the DX cluster!)