AmateurRadio.com

The main thing most people are talking about on the local radio shows and TV morning shows is Hurricane Irene. Giving updates, information on being prepared and of course comparing it to other past hurricanes. Kim and I are pretty much ready, we’re going to get a couple coolers to keep perishables cold should we lose power. Needless to say, here is some video of the storm from NASA TV.From the NASA YouTube Channel:

From almost 230 miles above the Earth, cameras on the International Space Station recorded new video of Hurricane Irene, which is strengthening as it takes aim on the southeast Bahamas, and possibly, the Eastern Seaboard of the United States. The video was captured at 4:08 p.m. EDT on August 23, 2011, as Irene moved west-northwest.

73.

Rich also writes a Tech blog and posts stories every Tuesday and Thursday on Q103, The Rock of Albany’s website, as well as Amateur Radio stories every Monday thru Friday on AmiZed Studios and hosts a podcast called The Kim & Rich Show with his fiance’ Kim Dunne.

Smoke rising from the World Trade Center site the day after the September 11 attacks. (W2VU photo)

From the top of my street in the wintertime, you could see them, reflecting the afternoon sun or the colors of a sunset. You could also see them from the CQ headquarters office, which is about as far east of Manhattan as my house in New Jersey is west of it, and from Sandy Hook, the northernmost point of the Jersey shore. The twin towers of the World Trade Center were a beacon for New York City, visible for miles in every direction. In the weeks after the September 11 terrorist attacks that destroyed them, so was the seemingly never-ending column of smoke and dust that rose from “Ground Zero” (see photo). Even for those of us in the New York metropolitan area who did not know someone personally touched by the tragedy—and there weren’t very many of us—the loss was personal.

So here we are ten years later. How have our lives changed? How has ham radio changed? How safe are we from another 9/11-scale attack?

Some answers are obvious. Just try to get on an airplane. For all the questions that some people may have about how effective airport security measures really are, the fact is that there have not been any additional successful terrorist attacks by Al-Qaeda in the United States in the past ten years. That’s not for a lack of trying, either. There have been several well-publicized attempts (along with others that we don’t know about, I’m sure), many of which have been thwarted by quick-thinking citizens.

Another long-term change as a result of 9/11 is that we Americans, as a group, have become much more proactive in protecting ourselves and our neighbors. The “don’t fight back” advice of the ’80s and ’90s has been replaced by a credo of “If you see something, say something,” and when the danger is imminent, do something.

This renewed ethic—a tradition that goes back to sheriff’s posses in the old west and the Minutemen of the American Revolution—has led to a greater acknowledgement by public safety officials that they can’t always handle everything on their own and that citizen involvement in our collective security is good and necessary. This has resulted in the creation of groups such as CERT (Community Emergency Response Teams), the involvement of schools and businesses in emergency planning, and a greater recognition of the value of amateur radio as part of an emergency or disaster response plan.

Since 9/11, ham radio has provided high-profile assistance in other large-scale disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina, the Indian Ocean tsunami, the Chilean earthquake, and this spring’s tornadoes in the southeast … and emergency management leaders have noticed. But there have been mixed results in putting this new-found appreciation into practice on the local level. While we have strong support at the highest levels (such as FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate; see “Public Service” on page 13) and some municipalities have welcomed ham radio with open arms, others have been more resistant, mostly because their communications systems have yet to fail.

To them, I offer these two quotes: (1) The director of London’s emergency medical service, speaking at a conference I attended, said “an emergency becomes a disaster when communications fail;” and (2) the former emergency management director in my hometown once told me, “The more sophisticated these (communications) systems become, the more likely they are to fail, and when they fail, we’re going to need you guys.”

But he retired … the new director doesn’t have the same vision, and ham radio no longer has a voice on the Local Emergency Planning Committee. This is despite the fact that ten years ago, just 15 miles away, perhaps the most sophisticated emergency communications system in the world failed when the twin towers literally collapsed on New York City’s Emergency Operations Center. And in those critical early hours, it was ham radio that kept city agencies in touch with each other until a backup EOC could be activated.

Ham Radio a Decade Later

How has ham radio itself changed since 9/11? There now seems to be a greater emphasis on our emergency communications capabilities, which is all well and good, except that it appears that a whole lot of people have gotten their ham licenses solely to be able to use amateur radio in the event of an emergency. Our licensing numbers are now at record levels, but many of these newer hams do not appear to be getting involved in the broader ham radio community by getting on the air, joining clubs, joining the ARRL, or subscribing to magazines. For them, ham radio is only a tool, not a hobby. But one of the reasons ham radio works “when all else fails” is because of hams who regularly use their equipment on a hobby basis and are familiar with its operation and capabilities so they can hit the ground running in an emergency. A ham who keeps a handheld locked in a drawer along with his or her license, waiting for the next emergency to arrive, won’t be able to do that. Besides the fact that the battery will likely be dead, he or she likely won’t have the training and experience needed to be truly useful as an emergency communicator.

Disasters such as the 9/11 attacks demonstrate the ongoing need for the services that ham radio can offer. But we must offer more than warm bodies with licenses and handhelds. Radio amateurs at the highest level of their game—be it in emergency communications, satellites, digital modes, or other specialties—are those whose thirst for advancement is insatiable, both technologically and operationally.

One group of hams who regularly stretch the limits of their equipment, their skills, and the ionosphere is contesters. This was demonstrated once again in the 2010 CW weekend of the CQ World-Wide DX Contest (results begin on page 31 of this issue), with record participation and several new scoring records, despite marginal band conditions. Contests such as the CQ WW demonstrate the dedication of participants to making sure that their equipment and their skills are always at peak efficiency. A combination of these factors is necessary to keep ham radio vital, growing, FUN when everything is working as it should be, and ever-more capable of helping our communities at those times “when all else fails.” 73, W2VU

AmateurRadio.com & Nifty Accessories
have teamed up to give away a
$20 Gift Card to FIVE very lucky hams!
Entry Deadline: 1 September 2011 18:00 UTC

Read the rest of this post

With the news of Hurricane Irene, a Category 3 storm, moving into a category 4, Greg, G0DUB, reminds us on the IARU Region 1 website, that hurricane watch frequencies are active and gathering info on the storms. These are used by Hams in North and Central America for tracking and deal with the storms and reminds us about creating QRM near these frequencies.

Photo Courtesy of NASA

• 14.300MHz is used by the Maritime Mobile Service Net daily for gathering info on weather reports from Maritime Mobiles for forecasters as well as handle traffic from these Maritime mobiles.
• 14.325MHz is for the Hurricane Watch Net which is established whenever a storm could come into contact with the U.S. mainland. They also gather info for the National Hurricane Center.
• 14.265MHz is the frequency for the Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network which handles health and welfare traffic for those affected in a disaster area as well as disaster relief response should a hurricane hit.

From the Southgate ARC website, here are some of the other frequencies to keep in mind as well:

Frequencies used in Cuba: 7.045, 7.080, 7.110 MHz, 3.740 MHz

Frequencies used in Central America;
Red Centro Americana : 7.090 and 3.750MHz
Guatemala: 7.075 MHz
Nicaragua: 7.098 MHz

Mexico (FMRE): 3.690 and 7.060 MHz

Also keep in mind local frequencies if it is an area where the hurricane may hit. Simplex as well as repeater. If you are in an area where Irene may hit, I wish you luck in getting through this. I know I’ll be watching and listening.

73.

Rich also writes a Tech blog and posts stories every Tuesday and Thursday on Q103, The Rock of Albany’s website, as well as Amateur Radio stories every Monday thru Friday on AmiZed Studios.

Despite the fact that I haven’t managed to make JT65-HF work on my laptop yet, the more I read about the JT65 modes and how people are working great DX with them, the more I’m impressed.

When PSK31 came out, it slipped into the ‘almost mainstream’ as a mode for people to work DX when they didn’t have a big station for CW/SSB (wonder if we’ll get to call them legacy modes one of these days…). PSK31 has built a great following over 10 or 12 years. I see JT65A for HF following in these footsteps.

Oh yes! Talking of legacy modes… someone who I greatly admire for a number of reasons recently posted on his Facebook status,’without CW it’s just CB’.

Maybe it was a bit tongue-in-cheek – but I did laugh! What a 1980s view of the world! Sure Morse code is fun and it’ll get through in many challenging conditions. I enjoy it myself and try to use it as well as I can. It’s hardly the centre of the hobby or even advancement of the hobby, is it? To even suggest that without morse code that ham radio is just a ‘appliance service’ is pretty demeaning to people who have broader interests! And I think it’s pretty demeaning to people who enjoy CB too 😉

Anyway – have a look at these great articles from W6DTW and NW7US about JT65 – how it works and how you can use it in operation.

See the articles from David and Tomas here

I thought it was about time to provide a brief update into my study preparation for my extra class upgrade.  First, I did just want to say a very special and heartfelt, “Thank You” to all who have contacted me either via email, commented on the blog post or via Facebook, Twitter and/or Google+.  Your words of encouragement have helped to push me and most importantly have helped me to believe in myself.

I certainly don’t mean to sugarcoat the difficulty (or even lack of difficulty) there is in achieving the extra class ticket.  Some have found it extremely difficult and others extremely easy.  I would safely and squarely place myself in the middle of that spectrum.  This, like many other things in life, is made much easier when you look at it through positive lenses.  It is the many comments I’ve received which have taught me that this is just like anything else in life.  Look at it negatively and it will be difficult to impossible, but look at it positively and it can be achieved.

As I mentioned in this blog post from early August, I’m participating in an online (via Echolink) study program hosted by SouthCARS and we are 50% of the way through the program.  We meet twice weekly on Sunday and Tuesday evenings again via Echolink.  Volunteer SouthCARS members help moderate the sessions and help provide both encouragement and inspiration as they help educate us in the material. 

The program works like this.  Before each session we (the students) are tasked with reading about 60-70 of the questions which make up the question pool.  During each session, the instructors select about 15-20 of the questions to cover.  They read the question and the correct answer.  But then spend several minutes providing detailed information regarding the subject of the question.  Many times this extra information comes from firsthand experiences and after a few minutes, it really becomes clear as to what the particular content of the question is about.

Because many of the questions in the extra class question pool relate to each other, once you have a good grasp of one question, the knowledge and the “ah ha” moments just click right into place.  The SouthCARS Elmers are always good about answering questions from the questions not covered. 

In addition to the homework and the online sessions, I’m also actively taking the practice tests for the information we’ve covered in the sessions.  This is helping to keep my mind sharp around those areas covered several weeks back.  I’m spending approx. 1-2 hours per day in reading the ARRL extra class manual, reading the question pool and doing the study questions for the info covered.  I’m going to owe my wife a nice dinner and perhaps tickets to the theater for her being so supportive.

So when do I plan to take the exam?  This is still a very good question.  One thing I can say today, which I couldn’t or certainly didn’t want to say back in early August, is I’m certainly better prepared on the information we have covered so far.  Having said that, if I can maintain my pace and continue as planned, I believe I could be looking at being ready to take the exam around the early October timeframe.  Yes…October 2011. 

Look for another update from me regarding my study/preparation process around the 75% mark.  But for now, I need to get back to my studies and keep those brain cells “extra” energized.

Until then….

73 de KD0BIK