AmateurRadio.com

I was asked to write a final paper for my University of Phoenix Class on a topic that I was passionate about. I thought that how Ham Radio helps communities would be a good paper as wells help others understand a little more about what makes Ham’s so passionate about the topic. I received an A on the paper and in the class and thought I would share with the community. The interesting part of the paper is that two of the people in the class were doing some disaster planning as they lived on the West Coast and they are getting more and more worried about earthquakes. My teacher is now going to get his license and I send the other person more information about the process. Add a Ham a year is my goal.

Here is the full post:

http://nicktoday.com/ham-radio-helping-communities/

Tim W3ATB and I hiked down to Old Hill Village today. The Pemigewasset River is up more than 20 feet and the area is inaccessible. We set up in a small field and worked the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Belgium and Alabama. We had a grand time.

We hike into the Corps of Engineers flood control area along Needle Shop Brook. We detour and clamber down a steep hill to get near the brook. It’s exhilarating to see the water racing through the narrow channel, filling the air with mist.

As we get closer to the flood plain the road disappears. The river has become a huge lake of more than 1000 acres and millions of gallons of water held back by the Franklin Falls Dam perhaps 8 miles downstream.

Melting snow and recent rains have left their mark. Three miles upstream a man drowned a couple of days ago in the Smith River. Search teams have been called back because it’s too dangerous.

Tim and I find a safe operating position in an overgrown field above the water’s edge. We toss a line over the branch of a small maple tree and pull up a sloper. I am using the KX3 and the internal tuner. I hear OK2PDY calling CQ on 15 meters and complete a quick exchange. He gives me a 559 and he is 579. In just a minute I work Frank PA1FP in the Netherlands. I am only 539 and he is 589.

We’ve brought our jackets because the temperatures dipped into the 30s the last couple of days. But my thermometer reads 60 in warm spring sun. I hand the key to Tim and he answers N4RAY who is calling CQ from Alabama. Rodney gives us a 579. He is QRP but is a strong 599.

Before calling it quits, I snag one more QSO… this time with a special event station in Belgium. OS16M is celebrating Morse Heritage Day. We exchange quick 599s and pack up. Unless we get more rain the water will recede in a few days and dry out within a week.

We’ll be back soon with bicycles to explore some of the most beautiful countryside in New Hampshire.

Thanks to W3ATB for the photos.

Never say that protesting doesn’t help. After Agentschap Telecom withdrew the registration of my Dutch call sign – and some 200 other Dutch hams living abroad – the two biggest Dutch amateur radio organisations wrote a letter to the AT in protest. Not only that, but many of the affected hams also wrote in to appeal the decision. The reasoning of the AT for their action was quite valid, because every database needs to be cleaned up every now and then. Their execution wasn’t and yesterday they admitted to that.

All the affected hams will be re-registered, with their old call signs given back to them. All previously issued registration papers will remain valid. We are being asked by AT to cancel our registration voluntarily in case we indeed never use the Dutch radio space. Re-registration is always possible, because the results of the test to pass the radio amateur exam will stay on record.

All’s well that ends well. 73 from PA2BX a.k.a. BX2ABT

I had the opportunity this afternoon to be one of the very first people to go hands-on with the new dual-band Wouxun KG-UV8D HT courtesy of Danny at BuyTwoWayRadios.com. What’s the verdict? I’m impressed!

VHF/VHF dual receive — for the win! This is a great feature and, at least for me, one of the most compelling reasons to upgrade to this radio. It mixes the audio from the two frequencies so you won’t miss anything. Great feature for EmComm, especially. I personally don’t have a great need for cross-band repeat, but that’s just icing on the cake.

The text on the color screen is so much easier to read than on previous Wouxuns. There’s about twice the screen real estate and it makes the radio much more usable. Although I didn’t get a chance to play with every feature of the KG-UV8D, I can honestly say that this radio seems to be much easier to program from the keypad. I think that larger screen helps a lot. For the first time, I feel that I could field program one of these without the manual. Trust me, that’s saying something!

The radio seems slightly narrower and thinner than previous versions. This is a definite step up and it improves the ergonomics of the radio. The PTT button is large and segmented in a way that makes it hard to mistake it for a function button as with the KG-UV3D. The programmable buttons under the PTT are also cool. You can program it to activate the FM radio or to start scanning, for example. Very easy to customize.

The battery is different which is a little disappointing for those of us who have a collection of older Wouxun batteries, but I like the changes they’ve made to the way it slides on and off the chassis.

The rubber ducky antenna they include is OK, but for me a Smiley 270A would replace it in short order. And speaking of antennas, why can’t Wouxun figure out if they want to use SMA-male or SMA-female on these radios? I think we can all agree that they should just standardize on one or the other. This radio has a SMA-female connector while my KG-UV3D is SMA-male.

I’ve fallen in love with this little radio and I’ve only had it a few hours. When they begin shipping in a couple weeks, I will definitely be ordering one. While there aren’t really any must-have new features (except dual-receive), the radio just feels much more refined than other radios I’ve used that are anywhere near this price point.

Whether you’re a brand new ham looking for your first rig or you’ve been at this game for decades, you can’t go wrong with this $139 radio.

Update 4/28/2014:
If you click through to BuyTwoWayRadios.com, you will notice that the final price of this radio is now $159. If you order this radio, don’t forget to use the coupon code 139UV8D to get the original $139 price! Not sure how long this coupon code will remain active. Your mileage may vary.

I took the morning on Saturday April 5th to take part in the RaDAR Contest. RaDAR is Rapid Deployment Amateur Radio which of course endorses and promotes activities on the go and quick set up of active amateur stations.

The contest was a 4 hour time block and had various categories. I chose to do the portable QRP option taking my radio and antennas and snowshoes to get to where I wanted to be. The time frame for this RaDAR Contest was from 1400-1800z, so I left the house it was -12c. Grabbed my gear and put my snowshoes on and hiked to my spot to attempt to make my first 5 qsos before I would have to pack up, walk another km and then set up again and make 5 more contacts before doing it again. Well as the Propagation Gods would have it the bands were not great and there were a few other QSO Parties and contests on as well with Europe and Polish Stations quite loud on 15 and 10 meters. I was running a VX-1210 at 5 watts with a Chameleon Whip antenna. Exchange was call, Name Report and Grid Locator with other operators to gain points.

I worked Phil N1EP in Maine on 15 meters with a great report both ways, I then called CQ a number of times while listening to the Blue Jays and Whiskey Jacks singing while the heat of the sun slowly got warmer and warmer, remember I started at 10am local time..a slight breeze was about but the sun was great, as it has been a long winter. I then moved to 10 meters and heard a station calling CQ, it was Alex UR0EV from Ukraine, he heard me at 5 watts and we exchanged reports, Alex was a 579 and he gave me a 559, great report for a 10’ mil whip and 5 watts. That was all I was able to work as the snow was getting soft now by noon and I had to snowshoe back and the snow was sticking to the bottom quite well making them heavy. If you went off the trail the snow is still waist high and not easy to get out of..

The following pictures show the trail I was on, my setup of the VX-1210 and Chameleon mil whip all sitting on my snowshoes. All I know is it has been a long winter and we are not out of it yet, cabin fever is setting in big time for everyone up this way and spring cant arrive soon enough, let alone summer..I too needed to get out and operate portable again to keep things moving.

I walked on bare ground for the first time in four months today. It was glorious. I worked Iceland, Ukraine, Belgium and a bunch of stations in the Missouri QSO Party and a few in the QRPARCI Spring Contest.

The river is swollen with spring run-off. A couple of kayakers have just left for the three mile run through the rapids to Franklin. I hiked along the old rail trail that runs alongside the river. Parts of the trail are snowy still. It’s still squishy in many places. But it’s 52F and a perfect day for the first real spring outing.

I hiked about a mile and whistled back and forth with a chickadee as I went. I turned through a gate toward a farmer’s field. I tramped through eight inches of snow on the way to a warm spot I knew would be free of snow. The sun had melted all the snow in a warm corner of the field, and I sat down under a large pine tree. The rest of the field was still covered with six inches of white.

I had tossed a line over a pine branch and was using the KX3. I tuned a 33 foot wire with the earchi.org 9:1 unun and the internal tuner on the KX3. Rather than detailing each QSO, I’ve attached my log below:

6 Apr-14 1921 21.037 N0M CW 599 599 MO
6 Apr-14 1922 21.039 N0O CW 599 599 MO
6 Apr-14 1924 21.042 W0E CW 599 599 MO
6 Apr-14 1927 21.060 N4BP CW 599 599 FL
6 Apr-14 1932 14.006 TF3JB CW 599 599 Iceland
6 Apr-14 1940 14.025 UR9IDX CW 599 599 Ukraine
6 Apr-14 1942 14.062 AB8FJ CW 599 599 OH
6 Apr-14 1945 21.018 ON4IA CW 579 599 Belgium

I operated for about 25 minutes and had a fantastic time in the warm sun. The little thermometer attached to my backpack read 65 degrees in the sun!

As I made contacts around the world, I could see the last remnants of the long winter melting before me. Most of the snow in the open areas will be gone in 10 days or so. It will linger for several weeks in the woods. I will get out every chance I have.

Mellish Reef in the Coral Sea

This week I was happy to add to my logbook three contacts with VK9MT.  The well-planned and excellently managed dxpedition was operating from a tiny sliver of coral and sand about 500 miles northeast of the Australian coast, a barely-there island called Mellish Reef.  It was a new one for me (number 306!), and when they had to suddenly cut their time out there short because of threatening weather, I was especially happy I had been able to log them.  Now, as I write this, the exhausted team faces several days of rough sailing, trying to steer clear of the tropical storm that chased them off the reef in the first place.  We wish them godspeed and offer our thanks for their time, effort, and considerable personal investment in placing Mellish on the air for us.

There’s another reason I was so pleased to get a few brief contacts with this particular group and QTH, though.  Mellish Reef is located in the Coral Sea.  In May, 1942, a key naval battle was fought in the immediate vicinity.  The Battle of the Coral Sea actually changed the course of warfare since throughout the battle neither fleet ever laid eyes on the other.  All fighting occurred between airplanes flying off the decks of carriers, something that had never happened before.  The battle also was a tactical victory for the Allies.  It not only stopped the Japanese march to the south toward Australia but it also left the Imperial Navy two carriers short.  They were damaged at the Coral Sea conflict and unavailable for the historic Battle of Midway, a key factor in the first clear-cut Allied victory of WWII.

The Allied tanker USS Neosho ablaze after coming under attack in May 1942 in the Coral Sea, near Mellish Reef

I am now writing a book about a little known side story to the Coral Sea battle.  It is the tale of the sinking of two ships, a destroyer and a tanker, which were mistaken by the Japanese as an aircraft carrier and escort, an error that helped the Allies prevail in the battle the next day.  Just over 100 men were left clinging to the listing deck of the hulk of the tanker, awaiting rescue that would not come for four days.  Another nearly 200 men abandoned the ships and ended up adrift on life rafts without food, water or shelter.  By the time the rafts were found nine days later, only four of the men were still alive and two of them soon died.  It is an amazing story of human perseverance and bravery, but also one about how what happens in war is so often determined by error, coincidence, and sheer luck.  How many of those men might have survived if they had somehow found their way to Mellish Reef?

As an author, I look for human stories everywhere.  For certain, when I work a fellow ham anywhere–around the corner or on the other side of the globe, engaging in a rag chew or in a quick “59 TU” contact–I am always interested in what Paul Harvey called “the rest of the story.”  What is it like there?  What else happened there?  What does the OM do for a living?  What stories is he willing to share?

Remember when brave and resourceful ops put South Sudan on the air before most in the USA even knew a country with that name had been hatched?  I was recently thrilled to work the dxpedition FT5ZM on Amsterdam Island.  Now that part of the world is at the top of the headlines with the Malaysian passenger jet search.

Tonight, as the guys who worked so hard to give us a QSO from remote Mellish Reef continue their rough ride to what we all hope will be a safe return home, I can’t help but think of the other stories that have played out down there in that roiling, dun-colored sea.

73,

Don Keith N4KC

www.n4kc.com

www.donkeith.com