AmateurRadio.com

A new video (quite well done) that you may want to keep on hand for showing to those who have or are expressing a deisre to become an Radio Amateur.

First, here’s the link to the full version (which is a bit longer than what is embedded here):  http://youtu.be/ivUMIADFSDw

Next, from Jim W4QO considering the current “Buddies in the Caribbean” DXpedition to St. Lucia:

In order to step up the pace here in St. Lucia, if you (running QRP @5 cw/dig or 10 PEP SSB) work 3 of the 7 ops on the Buddies in the Caribbean DXpediton this week, you can earn the coveted BIC QRP certificate.  It’s not the Buddies who have to be running QRP – it’s YOU!  Many of us are running QRP
but some are not.

http://dx-world.net/2013/st-lucia-buddies-in-the-caribbean-dxpedition/

Sadly, Joe didn’t make it so you only have to work 3 of the other 7 using QRP to earn this valuable certificate.

We have worked many of you QRPers already so how hard can it be?  Find 3 of us on any band, any mode.

To find us, go to this easy link:

http://www.dxwatch.com/dxsd1/dxsd1.php?f=3647

The Buddies are the ones with a J6/ in front of their calls. There are still 3.5 more days to do this, so come on, work us!

Send a #10 envelope with SASE to W4QO at qrparci.org with a list of the 3 (or more) you worked.  If you work 5 or more, well, just wait and see what you get!!  🙂

If you worked J6/W4QO, then include your QSL card and get one in return.

73,

Budd, J68FF #6260
Chris, J6/W6HFP #15226
Rick, J6/AA4W #4046
Craig, J6/NM4T #8137
Jim, J6/W4QO #6515
John, J6/W5EXJ #15219
Jerry, J6/N9AW #6694

Lastly, I thought this announcement from the League regarding the Communications Act of 1934 was of interest:

SB QST @ ARL $ARLB033
ARLB033 Plans Announced to Update the Communications Act of 1934

ZCZC AG33
QST de W1AW
ARRL Bulletin 33  ARLB033
From ARRL Headquarters
Newington CT  December 5, 2013
To all radio amateurs

SB QST ARL ARLB033
ARLB033 Plans Announced to Update the Communications Act of 1934

The US House Communications and Technology Subcommittee has announced plans for a multi-year effort to examine and update the Communications Act of 1934, the overarching law under which the FCC functions. The subcommittee, part of the US House Energy and Commerce Committee, is chaired by Oregon Republican Greg Walden, W7EQI. Walden and Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Fred Upton of Michigan made the announcement December 3.

“Today we are launching a multi-year effort to examine our nation’s communications laws and update them for the Internet era,” Upton said in a news release. “The United States has been the global leader in innovation and growth of the Internet, but unfortunately, our communications laws have failed to keep pace.”

ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ, noted that the most recent significant update of the Communications Act was in 1996. “Under the leadership of Greg Walden, the subcommittee and its staff are well equipped to take up the challenge,” Sumner said. “The ARRL will be monitoring the work closely as it goes forward next year and beyond.”

The plan was made public via Google Hangout, where the committee leaders were joined by former FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell, who said he was “delighted” to learn of the update plans. Upton explained that the process, to start in 2014, will involve a series of white papers and hearings focusing on what might be done “to improve the laws surrounding the communications marketplace as well as a robust conversation utilizing all platforms of digital media.” He suggested a bill would be ready by 2015.

Walden said, “A lot has happened since the last update” and that the Communications Act is “now painfully out of date.” He pointed out that the Act, drafted during the Great Depression, was last updated “when 56 kilobits per second via dial-up modem was state of the art.”

Upton said, “We must ensure that our laws make sense for today but are also ready for the innovations of tomorrow.”

Walden said he wants to open the discussion to input from everyone. Interested parties may follow the plan’s progress via Twitter. “It’s important for people to have an opportunity to weigh in,” he said. “This is really a public process to get better public policy.”

Call me a pessimist, but I hope we’re not opening Pandora’s Box here.

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

My Baofeng UV-5R has been an unqualified success. I’ve always liked it as a simple, no-nonsense handheld. Since the summer, connected to my Elk hand held yagi, it has become my satellite transceiver of choice for making contacts on SO-50.

As I have commented before, I have enough handhelds really. However, Sunday night saw me on the Handy Radio website (a UK based vendor of Chinese handheld radios and accessories) looking around for an after market antenna to stick on my tiny Baofeng UV-3R. I couldn’t help but notice the Baofeng UV-B5 on sale at £28.99. It would have been silly not to, really.

How do the cheap Baofeng handhelds compare? I have had the Baofeng UV-5R since I bought it from the 409shop in April 2012, but recently I noticed that the UV-B5, UV-B6, and UV-82 have appeared on the market also. If I should need another handheld transceiver for VHF/UHF, is there any advantage in getting any of the other models?

I prepared the following table in order to highlight differences and similarities. Bold characters signify an improvement for what I conceive to be typical radio amateur use.

Feature	UV-5R	UV-82	UV-B5
Front-end	OK	OK	Improved
Antenna	Short	Longer	Longer
Signal meter	On/off	On/off	Dynamic
Squelch	VHF: On/off UHF: Tiny steps 21. Dec 2013	As the UV-5R 21. Dec 2013	Larger steps
Size and shape	Square and small	Fits better in hand, larger buttons	Fits better in hand
Frequency/channel change	Up/down	Up/down	Rotary encoder
VFO/MR button	Yes	Turn radio off, then press menu as you turn it on 3. Jan 2014	Yes
Band button	Yes	No (in menu)	Switches  automatically
Dual PTT button	No	Yes	No
Programming	Need a computer to enter alpha tags	Alpha tags  can be entered  from keyboard	Alpha tags can  be entered  from keyboard
Memory channels	128	128	99 + 16 for FM radio
Display	7 characters in name	7 characters  in name	Harder to read, only 5 characters in name
Modifications	Enlarge mic hole, (and here), Low modulation mod	–	Unused button as background light switch

Hello …. my name is Larry and I am a pileup addict.

Or at least that’s the way it seems lately!  For the past few days, everytime I have gotten on the air and worked a station, I had to bust a pileup in order to do it.  Of course, the Fox hunts are nothing but a big QRP pileup and I snared both Lee AA4GA and Johnny ACØBQ on 40 Meters last night.  OK, there really wasn’t much of a pileup on Lee, I have to confess – but there was for a while. By the time I was able to hear him well enough to work him, his pileup had dwindled.

But after the Fox hunts, I swung down to the low end of 40 Meters and busted the pileup to work Jim J6/W4QO, one of the QRP guys who is on DXpedition to St. Lucia.  Then, I beat two pileups at lunchtime today. The first was to work another good QRP friend on St. Lucia. This time it was Jerry J6/N9AW on 17 Meters.  That was a full blown pileup and Jerry was working them fast and fierce, in a manner that would make any grizzly hardened DXpedition veteran proud. And lest I slight him, Jim’s performance last evening was every bit as good as Jerry’s.  Two top notch QRPers and all-around ops in Jim and Jerry.

See, participating in those Fox hunts DOES help!  We actually learn a thing or two – not only how to navigate pileups, but also how to manage them.

Later at lunchtime, I busted a pileup to work ZD8UW on 12 Meters – Ascension Island.  At 5 Watts out from my end, that came out to just a smidge more than 1000 Miles per Watt.

Working a pileup can sometimes make you want to bang your head against the wall.  You’re in there, sending out your call in what seems like a hopeless battle, ala` Don Quixote.  But then, you hear your call coming back to you and you complete the exchange for another rare one in the books, and all thoughts of bloodying yourself disappear in the breeze!

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

PS: I am working on the finishing touches to a new Christmas story.  Look for it here as we get closer to the Holiday.