Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
14 Minutes 59 Seconds
January 27th, 2010 | 
Author: The Emcomm debate lives on at the 'zed with this article entitled "READ THE ARTICAL BY WB6NOA IN CQ PAGE 46". It's apparently a pro-Emcomm (and spelling challenged) article, but in this debate I've honestly been disappointed in both sides. ARRL to a large extent created this Emcomm monster and now they're trying to put it back in its cage. The FCC can't seem to send a consistent message and has made some unreasonable interpretations of the rules, like the "you can't do any Emcomm for your employer even if you're off the clock" message. Rational voices with valid points about the questionable usefulness of amateur radio Emcomm in today's world get drowned out by the anti-Emcomm crowd that merely opposes all Emcomm for the sake of opposing it or because it's another way to get a dig in on ARRL.
The Emcomm debate has had its 14 minutes and 59 seconds of fame. It's time to move on. FCC, who cares if someone makes a few bucks while eating donuts and talking on the radio? If someone wants to blow their savings on a Dodge Colt Emcomm mobile, let's laugh at it and move on. Let's acknowledge that there is a place for some Emcomm in amateur radio, but it's not the only or the prime reason for amateur radio today.
Old Magazines
As part of a downsizing exercise I'm trying to clean out my shed of most of the QST magazines I have collected over the past 15 years. I was hoping to buy all the QSTs on CD from perhaps 1950 or 1960 to present to replace the paper copies and get several more decades to peruse when I'm an old codger vegetating in one of those assisted dying homes. I figured ARRL would offer the whole kit and kaboodle for perhaps $150 or $200. Going to the website I was dismayed to learn to get just 1995 to present would cost $310. OK, maybe I was a bit unrealistic, but how much does it cost to have an intern burn CDs from the already existing QST PDF database? Looks like I'll continue to have a couple hundred pounds of magazines in my shed for the foreseeable future. Oh well. If I ever lose my job I can use them to heat the house.
I also have a bunch of 73 magazines. No chance of ever getting them CD. NEVER SAY DIE! Not. What CQ magazines I had left I tossed out. I always thought it was a somewhat quirky publication, though I was a 73 fan at the time, so perhaps it was just me that was quirky.
I also found several years of Popular Communications from the 1980s. I loved this magazine when I was a teenager. I was a big pirate radio fan at the time and really enjoyed the spy stories. I almost threw the box out but decided to keep it. It's a window back into a time that we'll never see again when shortwave broadcasting was actually interesting.
SOS, XXX, and TTT
Last season while watching Deadliest Catch on Discover Channel, several times I heard the distress call "PON PON". Doing a little research (errr... a Google search) I learned that there are several distress signals beyond the venerable and familiar MAYDAY or SOS:
Distress signal: "MAYDAY" (CW: SOS)
Urgency signal: "PAN PAN" (CW: XXX)
Safety signal: "SECURITE" (CW: TTT)
I'm curious why we don't discuss or support the usage of PAN PAN (XXX) and SECURITE (TTT) in amateur radio?
FCC 2, Republic of Texas Pirates 0
In November I reported about Raymond Frank, the pirate radio station operator busted by the FCC who claimed that as "a citizen of the Republic of Texas" he wasn't subject to the laws of the United States or the Commission’s Rules. Frank allegedly operated a pirate radio station on 100.1 and 90.1 Mhz in Austin, Republic of Texas.
More Texans are attempting to use this problematic yet creative defense. Jerry and Deborah Stevens, who allegedly spewed RF on a frequency of 90.1 Mhz on your radio dial, also in Austin, the Republic of Texas, submitted a response to the Notice of Apparent Liability (NAL) denying that the Commission has jurisdiction over this matter and requested that "the matter be dropped". Mr. and Mrs. Stevens claimed the station operated only within the boundaries of the Republic of Texas, and questioned the FCC's jurisdiction over intrastate communications.
The FCC answered the question very clearly, giving essentially the same answer as Mr. Frank received, with a serving of Section 301 garnished with a $10,000 fine. We assume that has to be paid in US dollars and not Texan Republic currency. Once again 90.1 goes dark in Austin.
Critical Thinking
As I have gotten older, while physically I'm not what I used to be, mentally and intellectually I think I have grown stronger. Looking back on the past decade I'm troubled that we've become a society that has abandoned critical thinking. Today with the Internet it's way too easy to have material that supports our already established beliefs and steadfast opinions available at our fingertips, and we're often all too eager to forward this information to others without giving the validity of it any thought. Critical thinking has been replaced with leading question asking, predetermined goal-oriented thinking, and political slacktivism.
This year one of my blogging goals is to engage in more critical thinking and present those views.
Below is a video on critical thinking that I think is excellent...
Amateur Radio Website Technology Patent Causes Uproar
The popular amateur radio forum website iHam announced today that it has received a patent for a recycling technology developed by their staff over the past several years. The proprietary process enables iHam staff to turn fecal matter into text which is then posted on their website in the form of an article. The technology eliminates the need for humans to author articles, a process which requires time and effort. It also eliminates the need for editors to review the material, reject bad articles, and correct mistakes, misinformation, and mispellings in articles. iHam staff indicated that they can "have anyone be an editor now, even those without any editing inclination or experience", noting that feces can be fed into the system and one merely pushes a button for the article text to appear on the iHam website.
Rival forum website QRM is expected to file a lawsuit to block the patent citing prior art by providing articles from its website dating back to 2003. One insider familiar with QRM's process I spoke with on the condition of anonymity and a free case of Yuengling Lager stated that a QRM lawsuit would be unsuccesful. "Their technology is quite different from iHam's." he said. "Although their process also recycles fecal material, they use monkeys in a room to fling it onto a whiteboard to form the article text. iHam's process is much more high tech and efficient. I think you can see the difference in the quality of articles when comparing iHam to QRM. QRM has had only limited and sporadic success with its technique, but iHam has had its patented technology work consistently for the past several years."
It's been reported that several cable news networks, a UNIX operating system intellectual property litigation firm, and a propagation prediction report are interested in licensing and using the technology. However, even without merit, the lawsuit may delay iHam's plan to monetize the patent, the proceeds of which have been slated to buy more colors and modern fonts for the popular website.
The amateur radio advocacy group Radio Amateur Remembrance League (RARL) may also be jumping into the fray and is rumored to be examining the patent to see if it infringes on material they had used previously for a regulation by bandwidth proposal and by a digital subcommittee that rubber-stamped a popular HF email standard. When asked about their position on the patent, Worldcommunications Online responded that their statement would be online in the February 2010 issue which was going to press next week and slated for uploading to their website in a month and a half.
The patent has certainly created a lot of noise in amateur radio and is starting out 2010 with a bang. Stay tuned.
(After coming to my house and eating all my crackers and licorice, The K3NG Report legal team has informed me that I have to tell all viewers that the above story is fictional satire, and not a real news story. The names have been changed to protect the guilty and any resemblance to any organizations or websites, living or dead, is purely intentional. There is no confidential informant and I haven't gotten anyone to talk with a free case of beer. Actually, there were several cases of beer and it was my legal team drinking it and doing a lot of talking. I'm told only political TV networks pretending to be news channels are allowed to create news articles that are totally fictional. No animals were injured in the making of this blog article, however the egos of several amateur radio operators may be bruised when reading it. I'm told that's OK.)
We Are Not Amateurs
I've felt for a long time that the moniker radio amateur is outdated. I think the term ham is even worse, bringing to mind old, crusty, cynical ultra-conservative balding overweight white men, even if the stereotype is largely accurate. I avoid using the term ham, though I find many non-amateurs in the general population don't recognize what I'm talking about until I call this hobby....errr service....ham radio. But I digress.
We have to consider how amateur radio has changed over the past 60 years. We're no longer a group that the gubermint is going to call up for radio operators like they did in WWII. We're not inventing any cutting edge technology. Today we merely play with new ways to do things, mainly with computers and software, and we have developed new applications like APRS but it's still the same basic communication. Industry is not coming to us for the next 5G wireless technology. Amateur communications used to mirror commercial communications on HF, with CW and Q signals, and a lot of jargon and equipment that was nearly interchangeable. Today the military doesn't use HF, MARS (at least one branch I think) has dropped CW, and commercial HF maritime operation has become more a historical and preservation endeavor. We have evolved amateur radio in a sort of time capsule over the years while the rest of the world has changed around us. Contesting has evolved into its own sport with roots perhaps in the old days of radio relay networks when DX was 100 miles. Our Emcomm efforts, while noble efforts by those who donate their time, energy, and equipment, are largely exercises in preparation for events in which our services will unfortunately not be requested or required by agencies. If the big nucular bomb hits, I doubt any of us are going to be playing radio.
We do have a thriving and diverse community within amateur radio, or perhaps I should say communities. We have the QRPers, the contesters, the Emcomm folks, digital people, AMers, Slow Scan TVers, CW afficienados, satellite fans, APRSers, foxhunters, D-STARs, and 80m phone roundtable dweebs. Each group practices and refines their amateur radio art to some extent. And it is an art.
Even the FCC recognizes the term art in Part 97.1(b):
" Continuation and extension of the amateur's proven ability to contribute to the advancement of the radio art."
1. the quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance.
2. the class of objects subject to aesthetic criteria; works of art collectively, as paintings, sculptures, or drawings: a museum of art; an art collection.
3. a field, genre, or category of art: Dance is an art.
4. the fine arts collectively, often excluding architecture: art and architecture.
5. any field using the skills or techniques of art: advertising art; industrial art.
6. (in printed matter) illustrative or decorative material: Is there any art with the copy for this story?
7. the principles or methods governing any craft or branch of learning: the art of baking; the art of selling.
8. the craft or trade using these principles or methods.
9. skill in conducting any human activity: a master at the art of conversation.
10. a branch of learning or university study, esp. one of the fine arts or the humanities, as music, philosophy, or literature.
11. arts,
a. (used with a singular verb ) the humanities: a college of arts and sciences.
b. (used with a plural verb
12. skilled workmanship, execution, or agency, as distinguished from nature.
13. trickery; cunning: glib and devious art.
14. studied action; artificiality in behavior.
15. an artifice or artful device: the innumerable arts and wiles of politics.
16. Archaic. science, learning, or scholarship.
I tried to nail amateur radio down to one of the above definitions but found that many apply. Even number 13 applies at times.
We no longer parallel professional communications, but we are not amateurs -- we are artists and we're preserving an art independent of what is going on in the outside world.... But more than just artists, we engage in a craft and we are craftsmen.
We are
Radio Artisans
