AmateurRadio.com

An interesting news item popped up on the ARRL website last week.

The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) has expressed public support for a .radio top-level domain name. Under the proposal as put forth by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), registration will be available via the EBU to all eligible radio representative organizations and broadcasters, Internet radios, radio amateurs, radio professionals and their respective representative organizations, as well as companies providing radio-specific products and services in order to create a worldwide radio community.

The IARU supporting comment:

The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) welcomes dot-radio, the Internet Top Level domain that the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) proposes to create for the global radio community.Created in Paris, France, the IARU has been the watchdog and spokesman for the world Amateur Radio community since 1925 and counts with over 160 members from many different countries and territories.

The IARU believes that the dot-radio proposal to be submitted by the EBU could provide an unique opportunity to standardize Radio domain names on the Internet.

The use of a specific global online name such as dot-radio can help create a unique space worldwide, a place where the global radio community can gather.

Am I the only one who thought to themselves, “what does this have to do with Amateur Radio?”

What does the European Broadcast Union, a group that represents the interests of broadcasters (especially on radio spectrum issues), have anything to do with ham radio? Anyone? I can hear the crickets chirping….

What does it mean to “standardize radio names on the Internet”? How about “a place where the global radio community can gather”? I mean, is anyone feeling like this sort of thing is missing on the Internet?

Has anyone had any trouble getting their callsign domain name in .com, .net, .org, or .co.uk? From an Amateur Radio perspective, this whole thing seems like a solution in search of a problem.

Others have also weighed in the potential conflict of interest in EBU’s application. Julien Mervyn Dedier filed this comment with ICANN:

Dot. Radio the Internet top Level domain that EBU proposes to create for the global radio community is not in the best interest of amateur radio operators worldwide. The International Amateur Radio Union’s (IARU) support for Dot. Radio by EBU does not reflect the views of all amateur radio operators globally.

Apparently he’s not alone in raising the conflict of interest concern. Kevin Murphy, editor of the domain name blog DomainIncite, wrote:

The European Broadcasting Union, which is one of four applicants for the .radio top-level domain, has asked to join ICANN’s Governmental Advisory Committee as an observer.

It is believed that its request is likely to be accepted.

The move, which comes just a couple of weeks after ICANN revealed its list of new gTLD applications, could raise conflict of interest questions.

While several GAC governments and observers are backing new gTLD bids – the UK supports .london, for example – they’re generally geographic in nature and generally not contested.

I’m not suggesting that there is some grand conspiracy here. There may be very valid reasons why IARU believes that this is fundamentally in our best interest. They just aren’t clear to me from the press release.

I e-mailed Mr. Ellam, the president of the IARU, a week ago for comment. I asked specifically for an example of how the approval of EBU’s .radio application would benefit the Amateur Radio community.  I ‘m still awaiting a reply.

If you’ve read this blog for a while, you’ll know that I have mixed feelings these days about HF DXpeditions and some of the behaviour that they engender on the bands. Nevertheless, there is a great deal of pleasure derived by many in chasing the DXCC entities.

Carl, N4AA, Editor of ‘DX Magazine’ has been organising the ‘Most Wanted Survey’ of countries over many years and over the last 10 years or so, it has been my pleasure to assist in a small way with the IT to analyse the results. If you are interested in helping Carl with the survey, you might like to read the following press release

“Effective immediately the 2012 Most Wanted Survey form is available on the DX Publishing web site.
“Please go to: www.dxpub.net and under the heading MOST WANTED SURVEY you will find a link to the form. Click on ‘2012 SURVEY’.

“Several prefixes are in BOLD type. These are ones which may cause confusion due to their similarity, i.e. 3D2, VK9, VK0, etc. Please use care when marking these to be sure the correct one is counted.”

“There are a few shown in RED. These indicate either an addition to the list from last year or a change in the prefix (ZK2 is now E6). “There is a ‘block’ at the bottom of the form for you to send along any comments, or to include any country that you need which is not on the list.”

“Please pass the word to your friends and to any DX clubs in your area that the survey will be available until October 15th. Thanks for your participation. 73, Carl, N4AA”

Arguably, with the much greater use of systems such as LOTW, ClubLog and so on, there will be reduced need for surveys like this – as analysis of the database behind LOTW and ClubLog reveals in an instant the ‘needed’ countries. Nevertheless, the ‘Most Wanted’ survey still provides a valuable indication towards the wishes and needs of the HF DX community.

This morning I received an email to warn me my subscription to eQSL.cc will run out next month. Forgetful as I am becoming, I thought that this time I’d better get on and renew it right away before I forget.

The amount asked for Bronze membership is $20.00 US. But if you think that’s too much you can pay any amount, even as little as $5. You could probably get away with $1 but surely nobody is that cheap?

Bronze membership is really worth it because it allows you to use your own QSL design. Free members only get a plain text card which is pretty boring.

I’m glad eQSL allows free membership because it’s better to have as many hams as possible registered with the system (and hopefully take the steps needed to become Authenticity Guaranteed) even if they don’t pay a cent.  According to eQSL nearly 90% of members never donate any money. I’m not very good at mental arithmetic but if every user paid something then the minimum membership fee would be about $2 a year I think.

It’s always tempting to freeload, to put off donating until another day, but I think everyone should donate to help keep running the sites they use most.

Here’s my list of sites I use most every day and would really miss:

• eQSL
• APRS.fi
• WSPRnet
• Propagation Reporter
• DX Maps

There are a couple of omissions that may surprise you. But those big sites you’re thinking of must make enough from advertising to get along without my help. I probably visit them less than once a week, so I wouldn’t miss them as much as the sites in my list.

Which ham radio sites would you really miss if they closed tomorrow?

A tip o’ the cap and a smart salute to NS8R for making me aware of The American Legion Amateur Radio Club.

http://www.legion.org/hamradio

If you’re a US Armed Forces veteran and belong to the American Legion – please be sure to check it out.  It looks really, really nice.

Oh, and if you’re a veteran and a Legion member or VFW member, or not a member of any organization at all – thanks for your service!

On another note, QRP DXing can be a mixed bag.  Some days, when the band conditions are right, it can be like shooting fish in a barrel. Other days, when the bands and the sun are not very cooperative, it can be akin to having a root canal.  But either way, it’s fun. Hey, even trying for “the one that got away” is more fun than being at work!

But I really have to give credit to my brother and sister QRPers who go about it using SSB.  They have just that smidge more of patience and endurance than most of us. Sometimes, it seems like it just can’t be done – but here’s proof that it can.

Thanks, John K7HV for posting to YouTube.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least!

Icom ID-51

Icom has demonstrated a prototype of its latest dual-band handheld transceiver – the ID-51A. (The European version will be the ID-51E.)

Covering 2m and 70cm, the ID-51 can also receive FM broadcasts and AM short wave radio. It supports D-Star (of course) as well as FM mode, and boasts a large 128×104 pixels display, the largest yet seen on an amateur radio handheld rig.

Like its smaller sibling the UHF-only ID-31, the ID-51A/E has a built-in GPS which can be used for track logging to a micro-SD card. The storage card can also be used to record incoming and outgoing voice traffic. Very useful – not!

Disappointingly though not unexpectedly, this new Icom does not support APRS, though it presumably supports D-Star’s rather lame version, D-PRS.

The ID-51 is being billed as the most technically advanced handheld, though it looks like you will be paying a lot for features – like the GPS and short wave receiver – for which most hams will have little use. I doubt that the large display – never mind the GPS – will do much to extend battery life, though Icom will offer an extended battery pack (at the usual inflated Icom prices no doubt.) However it is nice to see a manufacturer breaking the mould for HT user interfaces which have changed little for the last 20 years.

Introduction:

• The 10th Annual Ohio LinuxFest will be held September 28-30, 2012, at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in downtown Columbus, Ohio.
• Another riveting episode even though Richard has been attempting unassisted human flight. (We’re all worried about the consequences should he succeed.)
• Our special guest tonight is Rob Hawkins from the mintCast.

Announcements:

• If you’re a subscriber to LHS, you can access the Etherpad, download episodes without music, and you’ll soon have the option of episodes in .flac format.
• Remember the Black Sparrow Media app for iPhones, iPads and Android devices. It’s free! With it, you can listen to all of the podcasts in the Black Sparrow Media group.
• Please consider donating to the podcast! Click the Donate link.
• Check out the KF8GR Linux Ham Home Page. Even though it hasn’t been updated in several years, much of the information is still relevant.
• Richards suggests a Linux/Amateur Radio “best on the web” award. Your web site should have at least one page devoted to Linux or Linux and Ham Radio. Send your nominations to [email protected]. If accepted, the LHS hosts will provide an award graphic for your website, and a link to your site from LHS.
• Richard also found this TechNewsWorld article “Why Ham Radio Is Still Handy”.

Topics:

• Interview with Rob Hawkins of the mintCast podcast.
• Rob describes his move from Ontario, Canada to Houston, TX, and drops this bombshell: “Texas is nothing like Ontario!” Rob is an engineer by training. His first computer encounter was an IBM 370 mainframe and Fortran at the University of Waterloo, Ontario. His first personal computer was a Radio Shack Color Computer and his first Linux exposure was with Slackware and several dozen floppy disks. He’s been using Linux Mint since version 8.
• Rob goes on to describe how he came to the mintCast.
• Our hosts and Rob then move on to various technology topics:
  • The current state of Linux Mint.
  • UEFI – Unified Extensible Firmware Interface.
  • Software patents.
  • Windows 8 and possible opportunities for Linux.

Contact Info:

• Contact Richard at [email protected], Russ at [email protected], or both at the same time at [email protected].
• Listen to the live stream every other Tuesday at 8:00pm Central time. Check the LHS web site for dates.
• Leave us a voice mail at 1-909-LHS-SHOW (1-909-547-7469), or record an introduction to the podcast.
• Sign up for the LHS mailing list.
• Sign up for the MAGNetcon mailing list.
• LHS merchandise is available at the Merch link on Web site. Check out the Badgerwear or buy one of the other LHS-branded items at PrintFection.com/lhs or Cafe Press. Thanks!
• Thanks to Dave from Gamma Leonis for the theme music.

Music:

• “The Napalm Theory” by Ophyra, from the album Post Mortem, courtesy of Jamendo.
• “Velvet Embracer” by Diablo Swing Orchestra, from the album The Butcher’s Ballroom, courtesy of Jamendo.