AmateurRadio.com

The zed is reporting today that the source code and rights to Ham Radio Deluxe have been sold to three radio amateurs, Mike Carper WA9PIE, Randy Gawtry, K0CBH and Rick Ruhl W4PC.  No details are posted right now other than development and support will be continued on the product (emphasis mine).

HRD is arguably one of the best, if not the best amateur radio loggers ever written.  It’s the first amateur radio program I would give straight As for design and usability.

While HRD has always been a free piece of software, it would follow that if someone has paid cash for the source code and rights, they intend on getting a return on that investment.  Considering one of the purchasers runs an amateur radio and communications software company, this is quite plausible.

I find myself sounding a lot like the open source zealots I used to bemoan on Slashdot, but I’m increasingly concerned with closed source software and systems within amateur radio.  I’ve seen freeware closed source software authors and followers who think they have a license to be arrogant to users or use the software to further an agenda or an ego.  Some closed software stagnates over time when the author no longer has the time or interest in maintaining it.  Networks run by closed source software tend to be silo solutions developed in a vacuum, ignoring standards and recreating the wheel.  Open source can prevent all these scenarios and create a design and development “ecosystem.”  Such an ecosystem is quite apparent in the Linux and Arduino communities and for a spell in the 2000s I think we had such an ecosystem in QRP.  I don’t think we’ve ever had a truly great software ecosystem.

There is one positive if HRD goes commercial.  With a revenue stream there will be an incentive to continue development, support users, and maintain it as the fine product that it is.  Perhaps I’m jumping the gun and prematurely assuming it will go commercial, but I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibilities.  I made a contribution to HRD in the past, so I would probably buy the commercial product as it’s just that good.  It’s just unfortunate that HRD couldn’t have been released as an open source project and been freed to evolve in a community based effort.

I’m not a fan of New Kids on the Block, but this title just jumped out at me when I saw the story over at ARRL.ORG that NASA is looking for more astronauts. Currently there are only 59, where a decade ago, there was 150. Since the retirement of the Shuttle, the numbers have been going down.

Photo Courtesy of NASA/APOD

It takes 2 and a half years to train to be an astronaut, on top of the years of college getting a degree. Then there is the 31 weeks of working in Russia to learn how the Soyuz craft work and learning Russian. It’s a pretty big commitment, but from what I can see, it has some big payback and perks. I mean, who wouldn’t want to fly a few hundred nautical  miles above the Earth in micro gravity?

But currently, the Soyuz is grounded because of the crash of a supply ship in August, while Russian space agency investigators troubleshoot what went wrong. This could lead to a short abandonment of the International Space Station if Russian officials find the problem quickly. But still, the need for astronauts for the manned space flight program is still there.

From the ARRL.ORG story:

NASA has said that it expects to send four to six astronauts to the ISS each year for six-month rotations. But the August crash of a Russian re-supply rocket has grounded the Soyuz, the only vehicle capable of flying crew members to the station. NASA noted that the Russian crash might lead the agency to temporarily abandon the ISS this fall unless the Russians quickly troubleshoot the problem. “We will understand, to our satisfaction, the anomaly, what is believed to be the cause and how they resolved it,” said NASA ISS Program Manager Michael Suffredini in a press conference after the crash. “If we’re not happy, we won’t put our astronauts on the Soyuz.” In April, NASA awarded $269 million to four companies developing craft to deliver cargo and crew to the space station.

This along with the time needed to train, could lead to a shortage in 5 years. So NASA is looking now. But I doubt you’ll find a posting for the job on Monster.com or Regionalhelpwanted.com. Still, if you possess  a pretty hefty degree and are in good physical shape, you could be the next NASA astronaut. And having a Ham Radio license is also a plus. Right now there are 4 Hams on the Space station. Ron Garan, KF5GPO (NASA), Mike Fossum, KF5AQG (NASA), Sergei Volkov, RU3DIS (RKA), and Satoshi Furukawa, KE5DAW (JAXA). And you can check out AMSAT or the ISS Fanclub for more info on working the ISS.

Hardly a day goes by when you don’t read some new health report. More coffee, less coffee, more wine, less wine, fish oil pills, vitamin E, raw food, some old world fruit that no one has ever heard of – these are all cited by one expert or another as a potential, partial solution to much of what ails us. Especially as we grow older. The indomitable human spirit wants to live forever while the old clay jar is a whole lot less willing.

One of the effects of the many advances in health care that we’ve seen is that there are now enough chemicals, procedures and micro-gadgets to keep our hearts beating longer than that of most of our ancestors who were considered to have lived to a ripe old age if that made it to 50.

Living 80, 90 or even 100 years has become much more common these days but with that advance we’ve seen an epidemic of the ills that regularly attend old age.

Evolution has best equipped humans to be pattern seekers. We look for order in all sorts of chaos – which is why a fluffy white cloud so often looks like a dog or a dead President. Seeing a human face in the random pattern of bark colors on the side of a tree comes naturally to us since it served our survival needs best to see a vine and think it was a snake than to ignore the deadly serpent.

If not the most horrible, then certainly one of the most horrible diseases humans can face is Alzheimer’s. While science continues to look for a miracle drug for that terrible disease, humans look for patterns of behavior that result in lower incidence of disease or a later onset.

For instance, we often promote diet and behaviors that reflect the way people live in a particular part of the world where they live longer and healthier lives. I’m not suggesting that this is a bad idea, but it at least partially explains why coffee is good for you one day and bad for you the next.

Alzheimer’s disease is of particular interest to me because my Mother suffered with it for five years before it claimed her life in 2005. Because of that, I tend to read more news articles about this breakthrough or that hopeful new treatment in the disease.

Nothing is certain at this point but one thing does surface in almost every medical report about Alzheimer’s.

Those who lead more active lives and who remain more mentally active seem to have a higher probability of escaping life without a visit from this disease or the onset of it is delayed. There are all sorts of ideas of what constitutes healthy brain exercise – from playing chess to reading to learning a new language.

Having been a radio amateur since 1977 I have to tell you that I have seen a lot of old hams, I’m talking about a lot of fellows who are over 80 years of age and it occurs to me that they share certain attributes. Things like maintaining a close cadre of friends – either over the air, via the local club, or at hamfests, etc. Most of the older hams have used CW for decades and continue to do so. And most remain fairly inquisitive about the nature and properties of radio – and in the last few decades, many of them have taken to personal computers which offers a new learning challenge.

If you think about the mechanics of Morse, one must hear the sound of it and decode it, often out of the noise. It must then be mentally translated into words – and many operators choose to either hand copy 100% of a message or at least make notes on paper. When it’s their turn to send, they have to think about what they want to say and translate those thoughts into mechanical motion in a particular pattern.

It seems to me that this constitutes as much, and probably a whole lot more brain exercise than almost any other mental function that I can imagine.

Amateur radio is probably too far outside the mainstream for scientists to target it for serious research in this matter. But given the advice that seems to have become standard in this regard I don’t think it’s far out of line to suggest that being an active radio amateur could be an effective weapon in the battle for a clear mind and a higher quality of life for those who have lived beyond the median age.

Frequent medical advice for brain health includes staying physically active, maintaining proper body weight, controlling blood pressure, enjoying a glass or two of red wine each day, and maybe, just maybe they should add – making a few CW contacts each and every day.

After all, there’s absolutely no downside in adopting all of the above.

It was a week in which I tried to get some loose ends fixed. I finished the SLA battery charger after I got the 1R8 resistors from my favourite supplier, did the family finances and tried to get the home-directory on my laptop cleared of some junk. In the process I upgraded my logging software, which is CQRlog. It was a major upgrade since the author switched to another back-end database, so it messed up my log quite a bit. I sorted that out and now everything is back in order again.

In the process I noticed that there was an option to look up data on hamQTH.com. Having never heard of this site I checked it out and found it to be a light-weight version of QRZ.com, or as they claim on the web site: Free Hamradio Callbook. It was set up by the authors of CQRlog, Petr (OK2CQR) and Martin (OK1RR). The reason, according to their web site:

Since the owner of one popular server decided to hide all addresses until you are not registered, I decide to write my own. This callbook provides all information for free because you entered data to callbook for free and didn’t get paid for it. So it won’t be right to ask for a payment if you want to publish your data.

Petr’s English is a little crooked, but he means: “At QRZ.com you have to register (and pay) to get access to data that you and others gave for free. With us your info remains free.” You might recall that QRZ.com restricted the xml access to their database last June, shutting out some logging software from auto-filling in some data fields. They also limited
look-ups by registered and non-registered users and hide address details to non-registered users on their web page.

I usually steer clear of web sites that are set up because of frustration about another web site. But this one got me thinking and there is an analogy that came to mind. About 18 years ago a couple of guys set up a CD database, with users contributed content, called CDDB. It grew phenomenally and a company was formed to manage it, which was sold off and made the owners rich men. The new owners then said the info in the database would stay freely accessible, but in
the end the database (with data which users gave for free) was closed for most software packages which accessed it. And if you ever ripped a CD you know how annoying it is to not have access to a database with song titles. Luckily the database had already been cloned and freedb had been set up to replace CDDB.

Now I am not a lazy person and I have always typed in my logs by hand. But with hamQTH.com I now have an auto-fill function available for CQRlog, something I have to pay US$29.95 for with QRZ.com. You could argue that there is no such thing as a free lunch and that QRZ.com has grown to be the default standard. I agree that bills have to be paid and money has to be made. But I also come from a free world and believe in creating and sharing your work for every one’s benefit. As a result I have been using and contributing to the GNU/Linux operating system for over a decade already. My contribution may not have been big, but it doesn’t have to be so: many small contributions do make a huge difference. A contribution of US$29.95 a year is kind of steep in my world. So I give hamQTH.com a thumbs up and have updated my profile with the latest info. If only I had discovered them last weekend when the All Asian contest was going on. Would have saved me a lot of typing.

This weekend is Mid-Autumn Festival in the Chinese world. Look out for some extra activity from East Asia and don’t choke on your moon cakes.

73 de Hans (BX2ABT)

Everyone remembers what they were doing when they found out about the 9/11 attacks. I remember it because I had a bad migraine that day, rather like the one that turned out to be a harbinger of my brain tumour. I switched off the computer, drew the curtains in the bedroom, lay down on the bed and switched on the radio. Instead of the expected classical music there were voices talking about a plane that had crashed into the World Trade Centre. For a few minutes I lay there thinking I was listening to some “mockumentary” radio play like the famous Orson Welles “aliens have handed” spoof. But something told me that wasn’t right, so I went downstairs, turned on the TV and saw that this was all too real.

Today I hope against hope that we get through this anniversary day without another terrorist attack attempt. I just don’t understand why anyone would want to give up their life, and end the lives of other innocent people, for any “cause”. One thing being diagnosed with an incurable brain tumour has made me realize is that life is too short to waste getting angry about things you don’t agree with.. Wouldn’t the world be a better place if we could all banish negative thoughts, focus on enjoying life as best we can with those we love, and make peace even with our enemies?

Series Four Episode nineteen of the ICQ Podcast has been released. News Stories include :-

• Special Event Stations mark tenth anniversary of 9/11 
• Battle of Britain special event station 
• Attacker kills W9WPH on hiking trip
• Scout amateur radio team on Mount Snowdon 
• 6th form students space project
• Second Japanese D-Star reflector 
• Codar Radar on 24 MHz ended 
• OH8X Tower Jump 
• Full licences at Mid Ulster Amateur Radio Club 
• Asteroid fly-by receiving opportunity
• LED lighting causes radio interference
• 15 months for teen radio pirate
• UK Propagation charts for September 2011
• New 2m repeater channels
• Take your hand-held to work' day

Your feedback and Martin (M1MRB reports from a SSB Field Day.

Series Four Episode nineteen of the ICQ Podcast has been released. News Stories include :-

• Special Event Stations mark tenth anniversary of 9/11 
• Battle of Britain special event station 
• Attacker kills W9WPH on hiking trip
• Scout amateur radio team on Mount Snowdon 
• 6th form students space project
• Second Japanese D-Star reflector 
• Codar Radar on 24 MHz ended 
• OH8X Tower Jump 
• Full licences at Mid Ulster Amateur Radio Club 
• Asteroid fly-by receiving opportunity
• LED lighting causes radio interference
• 15 months for teen radio pirate
• UK Propagation charts for September 2011
• New 2m repeater channels
• Take your hand-held to work' day

Your feedback and Martin (M1MRB reports from a SSB Field Day.