AmateurRadio.com

Remember last week’s E-letter and podcast, when I mentioned that the number one priority here at Handihams would be to fix the website? That time has come, and here is the reason why:
Typically on Fridays I concentrate on producing new audio lectures for our licensing classes. Fridays are also a good time to catch up on loose ends that have collected during the week. Doing website updates is generally a little bit easier on Fridays because I know that I will be logging into FTP in order to put the audio I have produced onto the website anyway, so why not do other web updates while I am at it?
Well, last Friday proved to be a bit unnerving. As I had mentioned before, we had been having serious issues with the performance of the website Handiham.org that had caused pages to either be unavailable or load so slowly that many web browsers would simply timeout. Many of you could not reach our files or would only be able to download a partial file. Needless to say, this situation simply cannot go on. Not only is it bad service for our members, but it can eat up a lot of my time as I try to work my way through the many tech support complaints. Sometimes I have a way to work around it and help the person get the files they need and other times I don’t. In any case, Friday was not a good day for Handiham.org because it went down early in the morning and was off-line most of the day. I contacted the hosting service and they began to work on the problem which was on one particular machine in Utah.
Late on Friday the website did return to service. During the outage, it was difficult for me to work since I had to do everything that I could off-line and only later on plan to FTP the files to the website. Of course any members who needed files during the day were out of luck. Since we have had issues extending over months (though nothing quite this bad), we had already procured server space with Network Solutions, a respected company with which we already had a long-term relationship as our domain name registrar. I decided to start putting some serious effort into building a new beta website that would be the eventual replacement for the current one, but I had to step this effort up several notches over this past weekend.
When something like this happens, you really have two choices. You can either whine or complain about how awful things are and make excuses or you can look on circumstances as an opportunity to make something better. It is sort of like having your old fishing boat sink to the bottom of the lake. Yes, you miss your old fishing boat with all its dents and barnacles. On the other hand, you have an opportunity to get a new fishing boat and it can be exactly the kind of boat you have always wanted. A website is like that. We have had the old website for quite a few years now, and it has served us pretty well. However, over the years it has become cluttered with barnacles – too many links and just too much confusing stuff. It has become a little bit too dated and clunky to be useful, especially to newcomers who may be happening on it for the very first time.
Our opportunity is to build a new website that is easier to administer using Drupal 7, and to incorporate some much-needed changes. One new feature is the addition of a “Skip to Content” link near the top of the page so that blind users who are reading the page with screen reading software can skip listening to all of the menu links and go straight to the main page content. Another feature is a more pleasing view for sighted users without making the website inaccessible to blind users. And, of course, we are simplifying the menu structure to make the site less cluttered.
Our choice of Drupal for a content management system goes back quite a number of years when it was originally suggested by long-time Handiham volunteer Phil Temples, K9HI. We have been using Drupal 5.X and for the past few years 6.X. Drupal 7 has been under development for a couple of years and I have been testing it on my private website for quite a long time, watching as it matured. I feel that the time has come to make the change as long as we are redoing the website anyway. The new version of Drupal incorporates many features that had to be manually added to the old versions. Many administrative tasks are easier. We will eventually need to redirect Handiham.org to the new site, and, because of what we experienced last Friday, are going to try to do this as soon as possible.
As you might expect, there are going to be some problems. Any time you make a big website migration like this, coupled with a major redesign, there are going to be some things that might not work correctly or perhaps will be missing or not work at all. This will all take time to iron out. One thing that will have to be done is that we will have to re–register all of our users. I know this will be a major inconvenience for everyone, but it is really the only way to update the database on the new server with a clean installation. I think the strategy needs to be developed on exactly how we will do this, and I welcome user suggestions. I do have a data dump with e-mail addresses and usernames, so we could send out a blanket e-mail when the new site is ready. However, one concern I have about that strategy is that we may get an overwhelming number of hits on the new website as users try to create their new accounts. It may be better to use a targeted strategy of mailing perhaps 25 users at a time to even out the load. Anyone who has Drupal experience or who has administered a website is welcome to contact me directly with their comments.
The old website will still sit on the old server in Utah, but once the name Handiham.org is redirected, it will become unreachable. I will then take steps to reactivate our other Handiham domain name, Handiham.net. The old site would be available there for some period of time.
One problem that I anticipate is that the Handiham mailing lists with the Handiham.org domain name will cease to function. These two lists are the Handiham Radio Club list and the Handiham Volunteer Instructors list. The Wednesday E-letter list and the Friday New Audio Notification list will not be affected because they are hosted at Freelists. I may be able to reconfigure the club and volunteer lists with the.net address, but I would also welcome suggestions on how we should proceed with these lists.
Some of our users may be concerned about how this will affect the two Handiham Internet remote base stations. Neither station is connected in any way with the web hosting service and both are separately hosted on their own dedicated computers on Courage Center properties. Therefore, neither station will be affected in any way. We do update the remote base station status daily on the website, and this update will be continued on the new website as well.
Another change that will be implemented is the availability of more materials in DAISY format. This new format will replace some of the older MP3 audio for our blind members. This advancement will allow for easier navigation through the material for our blind Handiham members. This does not mean that we are moving away from human readers, so please don’t worry that you will never hear a human voice again on Handiham.org! Some materials, if they are available in computer text in the first place, are most easily converted to DAISY format that incorporates a voice produced by the computer software. Other materials are more properly and efficiently read by a human reader and can be imported into DAISY by special software. Our original production will still be done by Audacity so that we can more easily edit the audio and still produce four track cassette recordings for the Handiham members who need them during 2012. Of course Audacity remains our editor of choice for the Friday audio lectures and for the Wednesday podcast. As before, the free podcast will remain available to the general public in the iTunes store.
We are hoping that the transition will go smoothly, but you know as well as I do that a project like this is pretty complicated and there will always be some unforeseen problems. In fact, to me it sort of feels like planning for and setting up for Field Day. You always anticipate how much fun it is going to be and you have participated in the planning process for past years and like to think that you know you are not going to forget anything this year. Naturally, when you arrive at the Field Day site and start getting everything set up that is when you find out that no one packed Styrofoam cups for the coffee and the power supply cables are still sitting in one of the club member’s basement. That is how it will be for any new project and I am not going to be surprised when things don’t work on the website. What we can do is to work together to make the new website project successful by helpful suggestions that include specific recommendations on how to fix a problem whenever possible.
So, even though this is going to be a real roll-up-your-sleeves-and-get-to-work couple of weeks, I know that we are doing the right thing. I am encouraged by the American Council of the Blind website, which also uses Drupal 7 and the Bartik theme as its public portal. I also want to thank Handiham Radio Club members and Handiham volunteers who have visited the new beta website and given me suggestions and feedback. I really appreciate your help!

A short video RXing PI9ISS

Andre Kuipers is a Dutch astronaut in space at the ISS at the moment. Since he’s Dutch he is the operator behind the HAM radio when skeds are made with Dutch and Belgian schools. His call is PI9ISS. Today he was answering some questions from Belgian students. I knew that the contact was actually made from Belgium this time so there was a chance to receive him. Since I was on the job I was not able to listen to the full session but managed to hear some of the overs. Of course my colleague had to listen to it as well, actually at first he didn’t even believe it was Andre from space till he listened a few overs.  The signal was most of the time full scale, after 10 minutes it went down fast and I lost PI9ISS in the noise.

Radio Netherlands relaystation entrance

Well I was home this afternoon cleaning the temporarely radioshack a bit. And had of course the radio on receive. I suddenly heard PJ4B from Bonaire Isl. on 12m SSB in a small pile-up. PJ4B was again transmitting from he Radio Netherlands Relay station site and used the commercial antennesystem. They told that it had a gain of 21dB over a normal dipole. Very nice steady signal peaking S7 here on the horizontal loop antenna. They were asking another Dutch station (PE2MC) what the difference was between signals of PJ4C and their signal. I couldn’t hear what Marco was telling but it must be a large difference as I couldn’t even hear PJ4C who was a few KHz down. Well, PJ4NX Peter was on the mike when he was calling for Dutch stations, so I had a easy chance to make the QSO.

Let me first start off and say that I believe something should be done to protect against piracy and to protect intellectual property (IP).  However, like many of you, I feel the current legislation of SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP Act) are the wrong way to go about it.  Actually, these are both very dangerous pieces of proposed legislation.  I encourage everyone to take action.

Websites like Google decided to place a black box over their Google Logo to show support against the SOPA and PIPA legislation.  Other sites like Wikipedia have decided to black out their entire site again as protest.    In both of these examples, Google and Wiki have posted links where visitors can read more and do more to stop this legislation.

I announced yesterday on Twitter, Facebook and Google+ (the three social media platforms I use) that while I agree something should be done to protect IP, I felt SOPA and PIPA in their current form was not the answer.  I then stated my three amateur radio websites, http://myamateurradio.com, http://kd0bik.com/blog and http://kd0bik.com/sota would remain open to share the free flow of information to the amateur radio community. 

I began hearing last night of several popular amateur radio websites would follow the trend Wikipedia has done and black out their websites for 24 hours.  This is what has shocked and disappointed me.  Please allow me to explain why.

Amateur radio is both a hobby and it is a service.   Actually in times of need, the service amateur radio can provide is very important.  But amateur radio is also more.  It’s a community of like-minded individuals who come together to share the magic of radio in all its forms.  While not all amateur operators practice this, for the most part we don’t let social, political, religious type issues prevent the free flow of information and enjoyment for the hobby.  We prove this each and every day.

What disappoints me is when I’ve learned of certain amateur radio related websites have shut down in protest of the SOPA and PIPA legislation.   I’m not talking about just displaying a banner…I’m talking about a full blackout with no access to the information.  Again, I understand this is what “could” happen.  However, the important thing to remember is…IT HASN’T HAPPENED!!!

Now…let me state I fully understand these websites have the freedom of speech to stay open or to shut down.  In addition, I’m really not addressing the individual amateur radio operator who has a personal blog site and blogs about his activities in the hobby.  If he or she chooses to shut their site down for 24 hours, this is of course his or her right.  What I’m talking about are those sites which are built around supporting the community of amateur radio.

But don’t they too have the right to do as they please?  Yes…of course.  However, while these sites may be owned by a single individual…their existence is to support the amateur radio community.  In many cases, these sites accept donations to help offset their operational costs (yes it does cost real money to host websites).  These donations come from the community which uses the sites.  Finally, much of the content created on some of these websites has been done so by….YEP, THE COMMUNITY.  Therefore the way I look at it is the site just doesn’t belong to a single individual.  It belongs to the community.   More specifically it belongs to the amateur radio community.

Now I have thought long and hard about if I would actually mention by name some of the amateur radio sites I’ve discovered who chose to shut down in protest to SOPA and PIPA.  I’ve decided I would.  After all, in both of these examples the site owners/admins made public announcements so they certainly aren’t trying to hide. 

The first site might actually surprise you.  It did me.  APRS.fi, this is the popular Automatic Packet Reporting System map site which many APRS enthusiasts use to track their mobile position.  This site is also used by those participating in SOTA or Summits on the Air.  In the example of APRS.fi, I find their decision to shut down the most troubling.  Simple because many EMCOMM (Emergency Communications) groups utilize this website system and back to SOTA (as this is near and dear to me), many who participate in SOTA do so alone.  They are on the trail alone and use APRS to beacon their trail position.  While alternative sites exist, APRS.fi has somewhat become the most popular. 

The second site fits the “belonging to community” example.  HFPack has also blacked out their website in protest of SOPA and PIPA.  The somewhat ironic thing I find disturbing about HFPack and their decision to black out the site is unlike every other example I’ve seen, they failed to provide links for visitors to contact their local representatives and links to help a visitor understand why they are protesting.  

A friend of mine said it best, “The Interwebz community pokes itself in the eye to protest SOPA…” 

In closing, I’ve worked very hard to eliminate certain topics of discussion from my podcast and blogs…especially political commentary.  Yes I have opinions.  I have ideas.  Yes I VOTE.   But I keep these things to myself as they don’t directly relate to what amateur radio is about.  I will continue to use both APRS.fi and HFPack when the sites return.  I’m not boycotting them and I’m not asking you to boycott them.  I’m simply stating my opinion and my opinion is these sites should be open to share their services and content with all of us, the amateur radio community. 

That is all…Thank you for your time.

73 de KDØBIK

ZL1HIT (Bryan Rentoul) has bridged a gap of more than 80 years by combining the text transmission system developed by Rudolf Hell in the late 1920’s with current microprocessor technology.

A sample of received Hellschreiber test from Bryan’s beacon

Hellschreiber sends a line of text as a series of vertical columns. Each column is broken down vertically into a series of pixels, normally using a 7 by 7 pixel grid to represent characters. The data for a line is then sent as a series of on-off signals to the receiver, using a variety of formats depending on the medium, but normally at a rate of 112.5 baud.

This process was historically accomplished with mechanical equipment but there are very few examples of this equipment still in operation and it is now sent and received by computer. Hellschreiber is very tolerant of noise and interference and requires only simple transmitters and receivers to work effectively.

German Hellschreiber unit in operation

With a microprocessor generating the digital on-off signals a simple crystal oscillator transmitter can be used to form a beacon station, one that transmits a call sign and perhaps some other information over and over. Changing the transmitted message is as simple as reprogramming the microprocessor or having it respond to a connected input, for Eg. A thermometer, light sensor, switch, etc.

Receiving the signal and decoding requires a radio receiver capable of CW reception and a computer running any of several free software packages like FLdigi or Digital Master 780.

The ZL1HIT beacon using a PIC microprocessor and a simple crystal oscillator transmitter.

For more information and the PIC microprocessor source code please visit the web page of Bryan Rentoul here : ZL1HIT Hellschreiber / PIC Beacon

Websites are going black on January 18th to save the Internet.

Join them by writing your senator and tell them you oppose PIPA.

At last, I finally got the QRP keyer using KD1JV’s Simple Keyer Chip boxed and working.

The completed keyer

As usual, nothing went according to plan. There must be some relative to Murphy’s Law that states for any homebrew project the case will be just too small for comfort. A related rule is the one which guarantees that after you have drilled the case, the position of one of the switches or sockets will be in just the place where it fouls one of the components.

After my first attempt at getting it into the box the keyer was dead as a dodo. This turned out to be because I had forgotten to break one of the tracks on the Veroboard.

After the second attempt the keyer responded to the function button but there was no keying. That turned out to be because one of the connecting wires had broken at just the point where it was soldered. With my eyes as they currently are that took a while to spot.

When I had resoldered the connection and put the board into the case for a third time I noticed that another connecting wire was hanging on by one strand of copper. Lesson: don’t use hookup wire from China, it is made from inferior grade copper.

View from the front

View from the back

This had taken me a day, so I decided to put the project aside until I felt calmer. The next day I re-made all the connections using new wire, put the board into the case one last time and it actually worked! But Murphy had one last laugh: Now I couldn’t find the four screws for the Hammond case I was using. We searched everywhere. Fortunately my parts box had another Hammond case which sacrificed its screws for the benefit of the keyer. Later, Olga and I managed to find suitable replacements in the local DIY emporium so the other case won’t be wasted.

This Simple Keyer is just what I need for the simple QRP rigs that only work with a straight key. The code speed is easily adjustable and there are two memories, one of which can be repeated as a beacon. I don’t need more sophistication than that for QRP work.

This year Workington and District are joining up with Barrow in Furness club to extend the amount of stations we activate. We are operating from Silloth GB1LBC, Workington GB2LBC, St Bess GB4LBC and Barrow GB5LBC lifeboat stations from the 21st to the 29th January in a relaxed style. hopefully making htis years SOS radio week a bigger event locally.

The purpose of our time on the air as special event stations is to promote the RNLI  as a charity, something that costs £300,000 a day to run!

St Bees will only be running at the weekends and We are looking to be on mainly 40m and 80m but the Cobwebb is coming with me so there is a possibility of something on the higher bands but it really depends on the weather as high winds will certainly destroy it.

I hope to work as many as possible in between cups of tea and choccy biccies and if you would like to make a donation then it would be really appreciated. Keep an eye out on the status monitors to see when we’re up and running.