Did a little exploratory hike on the trail today, sans radio, just to see what the trail looked like.

I had to turn back early as a thunderstorm came on quickly, and I didn’t want to be out in that.  I did come across some beaver and a red fox.  I think they were quite startled by me  Tomorrow is planned, so I might try again on Thursday.

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

Novice Station KAØCEM, circa 1978.

Today my son, Antonio, was granted my old Novice call sign from 1978: KAØCEM. He has wanted this call sign ever since he began studying for his Technician license. What a moving thing this is to behold my son showing such honor to his father, if even in such a trivial matter as an amateur radio call sign. It gives me pause to contemplate my relationship with Antonio and the man he has become.

Back in 1996, when he was born, I could not foresee the year 2012. I’ll never forget that day when we came home from church to hear a message from Antonio Maset, the director of our adoption agency. Our hearts leaped to hear him say that a baby boy had been born the night before in Guatemala City. Mr. Maset said he would call back later that evening. We spent the afternoon with another adoptive family with a boy from Guatemala, and my wife and I looked at each other in awe when the mother told us we should have a name picked out when Mr. Maset called us back. Watching her boy and imagining a son of our own like him, our minds whirled as we tried to grasp the magnitude of what was happening.

When we went home and waited for the phone to ring, the minutes crawled by like hours. Finally, the phone rang and my wife and I each picked up. Antonio Maset was on the line with Helen de Rosal, the lady who ran the home where this little baby would spend his early days. We eagerly told them that we did indeed want to adopt this little baby, and we told them we wanted to name him after Mr. Maset. Thus was my son named Antonio before he left the hospital that day. Five months later, after our lawyer in Guatemala City finalized the adoption with the courts, I flew to Guatemala to bring Tonito (as we called him then) to the American Embassy for a visa. And a day later, I delivered him into my wife’s loving arms at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport as my daughter and a host of smiling friends and relatives looked on.

Antonio’s last lab in book one of the Electronic Learning Lab: a frequency meter using 555 & 4046 chips.

Now Antonio is sixteen, and he has chosen my old Novice call sign as his own. As heartwarming as it is, this symbolic gesture reminds me of far more important things about my son. Most importantly he has given himself to Jesus Christ; as a Christian he is as much my brother in the church as he is my son. He has grown up to be a respectful, hard-working young man who disdains teen culture and loves ham radio because he gets to talk with adults who treat him as an adult. He adores his sister, respects his mother, and honors me not only as his father but as his homeschool-teacher. He keeps up with his chores, and he willingly tilled and planted the garden this year. He loves playing classical guitar, riding and training horses, and reloading various kinds of ammunition.

And now, he’s a ham radio operator — with my old Novice call sign. He wants to master CW, but until then he is active on 2 meter FM and 10 meter SSB. He has registered as an ARES operator, and last night he even passed his first radiogram on the Yellow Medicine County ARES Training Net (a radiogram that I need to pass along on the MN Section Net today!). Not bad for being a ham for only one month!

I pray that God will guide Antonio as he continues to grow in wisdom and stature. Son, may you always keep amateur radio and your other pursuits in their proper place, and strive above all else to bring glory to God as you seek to know him and love him — not only to live well, but to die well.

Buyer beware! David, G4ASR reports that he ordered the same USB stick using the details in my previous post and when he installed his device, it shows up as an RTLSDR/RTL2838U which SDRSHARP does not recognise. We can see some references to this chip working under Linux, but not under Windows.


Does anyone know if this can be made to work with SDRSHARP or indeed any other SDR software working under Windows?

Welcome to Handiham World.

The band police 

Recently I got an e-mail from a new amateur radio operator who told me about an encounter with an unpleasant character on the bands. This new operator was following all the rules of identification while enjoying an EchoLink contact with a DX station. Someone jumped in and told him he should get off the air if he wasn’t going to identify. Interestingly enough, the guy with this unsolicited advice didn’t identify his station at all. The whole incident confused and worried our new amateur radio operator. It wasn’t exactly a way to feel welcomed on the amateur radio bands, was it?
Let’s deconstruct this incident.
First off, our new amateur radio operator says that he was following all of the rules of identification and I believe him. Because it was an EchoLink contact, it is possible that because of delays in the various interconnected systems and possible packet loss, the station that broke in with the comment about identification may not have been able to hear all of the conversation. So there could be a technical issue here, but there is certainly no need to break into a conversation to rudely chastise someone with unsolicited advice. After all, all identifications were being done properly and sometimes band conditions or Internet connectivity can change what a third station might hear. Even if there is a compelling need to break in, the best way to do so is with one’s callsign, not with an unidentified scold.
What our new amateur radio operator had the misfortune to experience was a visit from one of the lower life forms on the amateur radio bands: the band police. Who knows if they even hold valid amateur radio licenses? If they do, do they think the rules about identification do not apply to them when they are busy butting into another conversation to complain about something they don’t like? Well, I suspect that these “band police” are pretty under socialized in other respects. I’d be willing to bet they are blowhard know it all’s at the Field Day site and at the radio club meetings. For them it’s “my way or the highway”, and that probably extends to other areas of life aside from amateur radio!
We all know that there are unpleasant and even downright toxic personalities out there, so in amateur radio as in the rest of life we need to have a strategy. Just as you would avoid contact as much as possible with an unpleasant and unreasonable neighbor or a pushy bully at the office, you can devise a strategy to minimize your contact with unpleasant people on the amateur radio bands. You may wonder how this is possible when they break in with unsolicited comments, but the best advice is the long-standing recommendation from experienced operators: simply ignore them. Don’t acknowledge them. Like Internet trolls, they like to interrupt and disrupt with off-topic and controversial or unsolicited comments. The more you engage them, the more you feed their egos. Ignoring the band police may not be as satisfying as telling them to mind their own business, but if you go down that road you are asking for trouble. Yes, there may be times when the situation gets so bad that you may need to escalate it by bringing it to the attention of the ARRL official observers in your area. One thing you should NOT do is let an incident like this spoil your enjoyment of the amateur radio bands. Almost all amateur radio operators are friendly, helpful, and understanding – and especially so when it comes to welcoming new amateur radio operators to a lifetime of fun on the bands.
This is a reminder that the Handiham office is open only with very limited services and hours this week. No renewals or new membership requests can be processed until July 16.
Email me at [email protected] with your questions & comments.   
Patrick Tice, WA0TDA
Handiham Manager

Handiham remote base stations up & running, but…

…there are a couple of issues.
While W0EQO has returned to complete service following severe storms which took down over 20 trees at Courage North, W0ZSW remains only marginally useful. The problem is the internet connectivity and network problems at the Handiham headquarters office at Camp Courage. I do plan to spend some time working on these problems this week, which unfortunately means even less time to answer phone calls and emails or to work on the new Extra Class lecture series. Both stations remain accessible via Echolink for receive, but with occasional dropouts on W0ZSW.

If you’re a big fan of TWiT’s weekly amateur radio broadcast, HAM Nation, then you’ll want to note that the program is now on WEDNESDAY evenings at 8pm Central Time (GMT -5:00).

A longtime reader, Chris K9ROC (Blog | Twitter), wrote me looking for some advice. Please take a moment to leave your great ideas, friendly suggestions, or dire warnings in the post comments. I know Chris will appreciate them!

2M/ 440 antenna mounts for a 2009 Dodge Grand Caravan? …

For many months I had a 1/4 wave 2m mag-mount antenna on the roof of the minivan and it worked very well with respect to both transmitting and receiving.

But I took it off for a couple reasons. First, a whip on the roof of the minivan hit everything in the parking garage at work. Second, the coax went through the rear of the van, the large door. Every time my wife opened the rear door it was grinding at the coax. And of course the mag-mount itself wasn’t great for the roof. 😉

I’ve been told to install an NMO mount on the roof with a hole (I have a great elmer experienced with this). But when I mentioned the idea to my wife I realized that discussion was a non-starter. 😉

Soooo … what other options do I have? Through-the-glass on a side window? I’ve read that that’s not a good idea with modern auto glass.

What about something that would clip-on to the front fender? At the last couple RARA events I saw a lot of cars that appeared to have some kind of fender mount.

Or should I really let myself get talked into the NMO?

Thanks very much in advance,
Chris K9ROC

This QRP thing is just like fishing. Yesterday, it was like I had magic bait. Every time I cast my call out upon the waters, I had a hit.  Every time I called a station, I had a hit.

Today was the antithesis of yesterday.  No one answered my CQs and also wasn’t able to raise anyone that I called.  Reverse Beacon Network said I was getting out just fine …. no strikes, though.  The difference between yesterday on today?  Nothing except that yesterday was Sunday and today is Monday.

As much as we would like it to be, this Amateur Radio thing is not an exact science.  I think tomorrow I will head out somewhere nature like and will try the EFHW.  I had good luck with that “fishing pole” last year.

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