AmateurRadio.com

Paying homage to the cultural icon and frequent use of the phrase, my latest Social Circuits column is now available over at foxmikehotel.com. I’ve analyzed ARRL membership numbers and licensed hams over the past two decades. The results show some surprises, both in the growth segments of ham licenses and in League numbers. But the most demonstrable finding is captured in the phrase, Elvis Has Left the Building…but in 2015. Go here to find out what this means and perhaps why.

Meanwhile, Elvis ain’t coming back. But the League might be on the incipient steps of doing just that. But the Reagan-esque phrase of tearing down walls that created the decline depends on the ARRL’s Chief Executive Officer. Read the column and see the numbers. It’s as clear as Elvis singing Blue Christmas…

One of the most valuable tools for amateurs worldwide to use when evaluating HF rigs is the set of bench tests that Rob Sherwood NC0B has provided for quite a number of years now. He ranks the receive tests by his favorite metric: narrow dynamic range in dB. It’s a key for CW contest operators (pun intended) which he is in spades. But it is a frequent question from readers of Rob’s table: why can’t I sort it on another criterion? Especially if I’m not a CW contest operator?

Well, now you can! Working directly with Rob NC0B, I’ve taken his latest receive test data and made a sortable table for the Sherwood Test Results. They are circa March 5, 2022. It’s at my companion site, foxmikehotel.com at this link. I plan to update it when Rob adds new radios to his Table.

I’ve also added sub-pages to illustrate some facets of the data. Based on my work over the past couple of years with adding price and consumer satisfaction data for each rig in his Table, I’ve learned that it’s important for readers to better understand both Rob’s tests and his ranking metric. In that research published in the ARRL’s National Contesting Journal, I created a composite of all nine of Rob’s bench tests which I called the Sherwood Performance Index (SPI). It is a broader assessment of receive performance than the narrow dynamic range. But it is not intended to be a replacement for Rob’s preferred metric, only a complement.

Thus far, I’ve added two interactive charts that will help the viewer better understand Rob’s table results. More may come.

One chart shows how the reader can “out-rank” themselves by ONLY focusing on how a rig is ranked on the narrow dynamic range measurement. Rob tells readers not to take the exact ranking as the only aspect of a rig for the top ten rigs are all very good on receive. This interactive graphic will allow the viewer to see how some rigs “bunch” together with almost identical narrow dynamic range but are, indeed, sequential ranked because of numerical differences that simply do not make much difference as realized in the rig’s actual performance. But, ever hear an athletic team cheer this after a game? We’re Number 10! We’re Number 10! I didn’t think so. But Number 10 might be just as good as Number 1 on the metric determining the ranking. You have to look at the data behind the ranking. This chart makes it easy.

A second chart demonstrates how Rob’s ranking variable, narrow dynamic range, relates to the composite SPI. You’ll find some interesting results from that chart, seeing how narrow dynamic range is important but there is more to some rigs than that. Especially if you’re not a contest operator, CW or otherwise.

As he has stated in various podcast interviews (including mine on the ICQ Podcast and recently on the Ham Radio Workbench), he started these bench tests for his own use as a CW contest operator. Rob disagreed with the ARRL’s tests as published in a review of the classic Drake R-4C receiver. So he created what he thought was a suite of appropriate bench tests. And the rest is history. For transceivers and receivers (“rigs”) over a 50 year period!

Here’s a trend line for the SPI by year over the horizon of rigs in his Table, circa November 2019. We are in the best period yet for receive performance in terms of Rob’s test suite. But now you can sort the Sherwood Table on any of his tests including the composite SPI that I added to asses your rig of choice.

Rob codes his website in conventional HTML. He recently had to suddenly change hosting providers. So he’s had enough on his plate with all of the other engineering contributions he makes almost daily to various email lists and groups. So while he could alter the HTML code to provide the ability to sort his table, I appreciate his spending his retirement time continuing to assist the amateur radio community as he does now. I hope that this offering of a Sortable Sherwood Table on my companion website will help the reader better understand this terrific tool as well as help Rob, too.

In a joint announcement, the ICQ Podcast team and the Ham Radio Workbench podcast team agreed to shift the ownership and management of the Homebrew Heroes Award (homebrewheroes.org) to the Ham Radio Workbench team. “George Zafiropolis KJ6VU and I have discussed this over the past few months. It makes better branding sense for their team to acquire and manage this awards program. Their episode-to-episode content clearly reflects the underlying principles of the Homebrew Heroes Award,” said Frank Howell K4FMH of the ICQ Podcast team.

George Zafiropolis KJ6VU stated that “We are enthusiastic that our fellow podcasters thought of us to take on this terrific awards program. Our team has admired both the concept and the implementation over the past two years. We plan to maintain the Award into the future!” Martin M1MRB added, “We have been pleased to provide promotional support for this Award. And we will continue to promote it under the management of the Ham Radio Workbench team.”

Rod Hardmon VA3ON agreed, stating “I’m delighted to have a leadership role in this Awards program on behalf of Ham Radio Workbench. It’s a perfect fit for what we are about.” Vince d’Eon VE6LK concurred with both George and Rod by saying, “It’s a great program that we hope to take to the next level over the years by promoting those who truly make heroic efforts to show the way to build stuff in amateur radio and related areas.”

The Homebrew Hero Award was the brainchild of Frank K4FMH during the 2019 Hamvention in Xenia, OH. It was the first time the ICQ Podcast team had visited in-person as a group. As Martin Butler M1MRB, his son Colin M6BOY, and Frank were having lunch in one of the sets of bleachers between buildings, a number of prominent homebrew makers had passed by. “There sure are some homebrew heroes here this year,” said Frank. Colin looked at him and they both knew that this concept was worthy of fleshing-out. During the tour of the famous radio station WLW during Hamvention, the three of them put together the concept and implementation.

A few months later, the first Award was given to Hans Summers G0UPL, proprietor of QRP Labs (qrplabs.com). Colin M6BOY added, “It was a fast endeavor for Martin, Frank and I to put this together as we did. Corporate sponsors have been terrific in signing on, including Digilent, Siglent, MFJ Enterprises, and Heil Sound. The ICQ Podcast has been privileged to have Presenters who come up with innovative ideas like this.”

Frank K4FMH added, “I’ll still have a connection to this Award program as a sponsor. I’ve committed to donating a soldering iron station each year as this is the heart-and-soul of any homebrewer’s work bench. Awards programs like this take on greater meaning and importance as they transition over the years. This move to the Ham Radio Workbench Podcast team is the right move at the right time.”

Details on the Homebrew Heroes Award program in the future can be found at hamradioworkbench.com. The current slate of sponsors are continuing through the 2022 cycle of the Homebrew Heroes Award.

As my attorney friends like to say, I was “shocked and amazed” at my answer to that question!

Ham communities vary, of course. But I suspect that you may not be as aware of the licensed amateur radio operators who live in your general vicinity. Some are simply not “active,” whatever the heck you want to say that is. We tend to see through our personal windshields rather than a bird’s eye view those hams who are engaged in some visible activity. Hearing them on the air (very strong nearby signals perhaps), seeing them at radio clubs or local ham fests, and that sort of visibility is mostly how we gauge our impressions of other hams nearby. But I suspect that many, many hams are simply not visible to us that way.

We tend to look up specific call signs through a variety of resources, the most popular of which is the venerable QRZ.com. The results can be viewed on a map. But it is most always just the single call sign. And that is very useful. For some purposes.

But Ross KT1F in New Hampshire—his FCC record says he lives on Sleepy Hollow Road (!)–has published a very clever map of most all FCC ULS records for licensed amateurs. It’s about four years old now. As someone who has been involved in GIS and related technologies since the early 1980s, I am very impressed with KT1F’s ambitious project. Geocoding address records, especially about 750,000 of them requires either a lot of crunching against an enhanced TIGER street database (or similar source), $$$, or a clever way to use relatively free sources. See his site at to find out how he’s done this.

Here’s a screenshot of the map from Ross’ website with my location annotated. I had previously been the only licensee in the EM42xk grid. But no longer! As this graphic illustrates, there are several hams who now reside in this grid square, both on my side of the Reservoir as well as in the Fannin Landing neighborhood across the water.

I was very surprised at the number of hams around me. Driving by many of these neighborhoods on a daily or weekly basis, I would never know that so many had licensed ham operators living there. I just don’t see many obvious antennas. If you’d like to check out your neighborhood, here’s the website below (clicking link will open a new tab):

https://haminfo.tetranz.com/ham-map-info

What did you find in your neck of the woods? Are you rather isolated? Or less isolated than you imagined?

What Can You Do With This Map?

There are a number of very useful and productive things you can do by judicious use of Ross’ map tool. Here are just some thoughts that crossed my mind.

Yep, the idea of a local area club jumps out but there are likely existing clubs if there are enough hams in the general vicinity. But it’s clearly a thought. However, contacting your neighboring hams who are close by can be good for numerous other things, too.

One is periodic gatherings in a park or other suitable area. Saturday Morning Amateur Radio Time is a “smart” move but other times work just as well. A quarterly gathering with rigs, antennas and some food/beverage can grow into a low maintenance and enjoyable collective activity. If the locale is a park listed in the Parks on the Air (POTA) map, activate it! Announcing it on the POTA app website and on their Slack channel can draw a crowd on the air. You only need 10 contacts for it to become official. And, you get to know your neighboring hams.

A careful investigation of this map in your area can identify hams who live in HOA-governed neighborhoods. If you live in one, pizza night at a local restaurant (or elsewhere) can be a welcomed time of sharing. How do others deal with the ubiquitous rules against ham antennas in their neighborhood? Perhaps if enough hams join in over time, this group can request meetings with relevant HOA Boards to just inform them about the hobby, convince them that Herman Munster really isn’t a ham (or a real person), and that ham antennas do not have to be nearly as onerous as above ground utility poles, cell towers, marinas with boat masts that have marine radio antennas on them (like mine). Plus, during bad weather or other events, having an active ham in the neighborhood can be a real asset. But, right now, they probably do not know that.

Looking for area organizations and institutions, such as libraries, schools, assisted living centers, can often give concentrations of hams ideas about public service.

Library programs can be easy to schedule as Directors are all about programs as much as books and magazines these days.

Schools? Not so much from outsiders who would take up valuable curriculum time—-unless you have an insider connection on staff at an area school. I’ve talked with numerous school administrators. They estimate that there’s only about a 3 our of 10 chance to get into a school, regardless of whether there’s a connection with a school. Private schools tend to be more challenging than public schools. The race to gain the “best” college application packet quickly fills up a middle or high school student’s dance card. Just ask any parent of one or more such school children. (They were the first Uber drivers!)

Assisted living centers vary but the ones with resident mobility could be promising for area amateurs to arrange a visit. Doing a brief show-and-tell about amateur radio could well be a boon for residents. Those who know about amateur radio, were exposed to it earlier in life, or who just get struck by the hobby’s excitement could become very interested in the hobby. Most retirement counselors suggest retiring “to” something (e.g., a hobby) instead of just “from” something (work). A Tech license and an HT courtesy of you area hams could be lifeline for one or more residents. Remember, those who are still ambulatory and get out in the community can be as active as you are! (I gave a professional friend who moved into such a center in the Chapel Hill, NC area an inexpensive HT programmed with all of the repeaters in the Raleigh-Durham area. He had maintained his amateur license for decades but the last radio he had was a 2M Goonie Box.)

Is there an RF noise problem in your area? Are their neighborhoods where area hams live where the noise is not so bad? With cooperation, pooling a few dollars into a kitty for a web-based SDR (KiwiSDR, etc.) with a loop or other broadband antenna could be used by other hams in the area for RX (CATSync is a great tool for that). Password-protect it so that just your “team” can access it if the host’s Internet bandwidth is an issue.

Getting acquainted for an “unclub” group to meet and exchange ideas on projects, contacts, events and so forth can be useful. You can also check out others to see if they are individuals with whom you feel like spending time with. The issues with clubs are legion: just read the Clubs board on eHam! But not every club has to be like Walmart. Not every ham is someone with whom everyone else would like to break bread with. Or them, you. We “should” welcome all as a general value position but, honestly, all hams do not behave that way. So meeting without the formality of an official club is often an unobtrusive way to find other area hams with whom you’d like to meet with from time to time.

Of course, your best ham buddies do not have to live nearby. Some of mine certainly do not. But I was “shocked and amazed” that so many licensed hams to live near my QTH. Perhaps you will be, too.

There are other uses of KT1F’s map tool. These are just a few I’ve thought of as I was writing this blog post. What are your thoughts?

The historical research I recently published in October issue of The Spectrum Monitor is now available on my companion website, foxmikehotel.com. It’s on the home page. TSM allows authors to hold secondary publication rights to articles so I can freely post the PDF now that the November issue is published. Have a look if you don’t subscribe to TSM.

The next episode of the ICQ Podcast, Number 363 that will drop on Sunday November 7th, will feature an audio version of these new research results. For those who’d rather listen than read, this might be a viable option.

One upshot of my research is this: if you begin with the ARRL-published and famous book, 200 Meters and Down by ARRL Secretary Sutton, you are going to be terribly mislead about how amateur radio got organized in the United States. The new website, worldradiohistory.com, amidst other sources such as online historical newspapers (e.g., https://www.newspapers.com), the Internet Archive, the Hathitrust archive, various university-based archives, and other sources, really opens up our ability to more fully understand the origins, emergence and organization of wireless telegraphy which begat amateur radio.

I’ve included a picture from Wikipedia of a person who made voluminous but unheralded contributions to the emergence of amateur radio. This included selling parts to the person who Elmered one of the founders of the ARRL into the hobby. (Did you know there were two co-founders?)

Do you recognize him from this picture?

If not, you’d find the TSM article and the ICQ Podcast feature in the next episode very informative. I’ve included another, one that looks a bit wacky from the day but if you’re familiar with 3D immersive technology, it was “seeing” far into the future of…today! (See the search results using the term, Oculus Quest, if you’re not familiar.)

During a somewhat boring world history class in college, I heard my professor say, “Yes, history is boring to many. Until it touches your life.” He had a point. I was living through some important history of America back in the late-sixties and early seventies. It led me into studying social movements and how they intersect the lives of not only the current participants but those who come afterwards, too.

I hope that the research I’ve done into the early part of the last century on this topic will touch your amateur radio life, so to speak. It has mine as I learned quite a bit from almost a year’s worth of reading and study. I’m delighted that we have an outlet like TSM whose Editor, Ken Reitz KS4ZR, is willing to publish pieces like this.

The history of the early 1800s in the United States’ development holds meaning for today. More than we tend to realize. Back before Mississippi was a state, the Federal Government called it “I.T.,” short for Indian Territory. Territories were not “settled” from a Federal viewpoint. During those times, many footpaths established by Native American Tribes—for instance, the Choctaws—became passable roads for travel by foot, horses, carriages and stage coaches. The opportunity for interim settlers, mostly whites but not always, became obvious: Where are the Holiday Inns of the day? There were some, of course, but they were rudimentary places along the paths from here to there, offering a break in the daily travels, food, drink, and overnight accommodations. They were typically called “Stands,” and most often had enslaved peoples working there.

Inns, or stands, provided occasional shelter for travelers along the Natchez Trace from the 1790s to the 1840s. These stands offered food to eat and food for thought: local news, information, and ideas. The ever-changing mix of diverse people – whites, American Indians, African Americans – interacted at the stands on a regular basis.

National Park Service

My portable operations team, consisting of Mike N5DU, Thomas N5WDG, Mike K5XU and myself, availed ourselves of such a break in the daily tasks on Saturday, October 9, 2021 to activate the historic site of Brashear’s Stand on the Natchez Trace Parkway in Ridgeland, MS. It’s just a mile or two from my house. Here’s what it was like back more than a century ago:

Brashears Stand

Brashears Stand is named after Turner Brashears, who moved to the area in the late 1700s. He became a trader with the Choctaw and learned their language.

“In 1806 Turner Brashears placed an advertisement in the Natchez newspaper about his stand labeling it “A house of Entertainment on the road leading from Natchez to Nashville.” Travelers on the Natchez Trace generally seemed to be pleased with their treatment and accommodations at Brashears Stand. In 1807 Reverend Jacob Young, a Methodist preacher, wrote “Near the line that divided the Choctaw Nation from the Mississippi Territory stood a fine public house kept by a man by the name of Brashears…He treated us very well but knew how to make a high bill.” In addition to earning money from his stand operation, Brashears prospered by selling land and enslaved people.” (National Park Service)

The Stand no longer exists but it’s a testament to what we hams sometime take for granted when we get outdoors to enjoy our hobby. One inspiration of mine to better understand these environs is the well-known POTA and SOTA activator and blogger, Thomas Witherspoon K4SWL (see QRPer.com). He is always appreciative in his blog posts about the park or summit he’s activating. This area was the location my team chose for our very first POTA activation. Here’s the setup, two permanent picnic tables with 100+ foot pines. That and perfect weather make for an enjoyable time whether the band conditions follow suit or not.

The four of us paired up at each of the two permanently mounted picnic tables. We placed old sheets on top of the tables. You may guess why since there are lots of birds in the area! We used N5DU’s Xiegu G90 (the one Rob Sherwood tested for his website) for FT8, K5XU’s Kenwood 590s for CW, and my new Icom IC-705 on it’s maiden voyage. Mike K5XU has been blind since birth and is a 50 year amateur licensee and career broadcaster. (Learn more about Mike’s amazing life and career on the ICQ Podast episode 299 here.) He is the CW op for our team. Thomas N5WDG is a wide area network engineer covering several states for AT&T and is one of my engineering Elmers. Mike N5DU has become our FT8 leader. I can neither deny or confirm that he uses the G90 bedside at night to work other countries via FT8. Mike is the State of MS RACES Officer for the Emergency Management Agency and practicing attorney in Jackson MS.

Given the tall pines in this small park area, we used three EFHW antennas I had built in the past month. I ran across an eBay vendor, John KG6ZBN (seller name eddieson), who was selling both 1:9 and 1:49 UnUns for $10-$12. I could not source the parts for that! Since George at Packtenna was out of stock on his EFHW antennas, I just bought several of John KG6ZBN’s EFHW UnUns as shown below for the 1:49 model. I did follow George’s build specs using the #26 Silky Wire from The Wireman. This wire for low power is a wonder. One of the EFHW’s is shown below with inexpensive plastic kite winders to manage the wire. I use S-hooks to link the kite winder in the air to very small paracord once I have the latter over a tree branch or something. A sweep of one of the 1:49 EFHW is shown using a RigExpert Stick analyzer and Antscope illustrates the resulting SWR dips in the HF bands. The bluetooth-connected “blue stick” was connected at the SO-239 connector of the EFHW before hoisting up in the air so the coax is not in the system on these measurements. I was very pleased with these results.

So how did our first POTA activation go in an otherwise ideal Saturday for doing some amateur radio? Not bad. Not bad at all. I posted our activation on both the POTA.app and on the Parks on the Air Slack Channel. Some tweeted that they tried to reach me on SSB while I was using the IC-705 at 10 watts. Most were a no-go except the one SSB contact from Arizona giving us a “true” 599 report. We had 59 contacts in all, but dropped one due to a busted call sign. The map below shows the range by mode. SSB is green, CW is red, and FT8 is yellow.

Mike K5XU’s 30 watts on CW worked very well as he is a master operator in that mode. Catching Alaska and Puerto Rico on 30 watts was not surprising. Mike N5DU’s FT8 power was 10 watts (5 watts for the first two). Working Guatamala and Sardinia on 10 watts using an EFHW was nice. N5DU added his DX Engineering Bandpass Filter box which significantly reduced interference between his FT8 rig and my SSB rig sitting just a few feet apart. My poor SSB showing, except for the one QRP contact out to AZ in their State QSO Party, was not to be unexpected. Nonetheless, as my friends Scott K0MD and Thomas K4SWL told me, my first deployment of the IC-705 was better than imagined in terms of how the rig operates and the features it contains. I did connect it the day before to my amateur radio laptop (Thinkpad 420s) on my patio via USB and tested a 1:9 EFHW strung head-high between two bushes in my garden. This is the very first rig that has connected immediately to WSJTX after two settings: rig selection of the 705 in the software and pressing the on-screen menu button for FT8 Preset on the 705. I immediately began receiving and decoding FT8 signals! One contact convinced me that I had that mode in the bag on the 705. Well done, Icom!

Lunch was served at my house a couple of miles away after our noon shutdown. Fried catfish from nearby Cock of the Walk restaurant, hush puppies, corn bread, fried onion rings and pickles were the main course. To finish off our meal, apple pie or brownie a la mode with chocolate peanut clusters were served. We dined on our screened porch with a breeze off of the Barnett Reservoir flowing through the solar shades. While not the healthiest diet, and one we do not eat often, a good time practicing this aspect of our hobby was had by all. We plan to continue POTA activation’s, and perhaps the one SOTA entity in the State, in the future. Having a group of ham radio friends like this makes the hobby most pleasurable. Now, I need to get that log submitted to my POTA manager!

Think that the ARRL was the first amateur radio association in the United States? Or that the famous and brilliant inventor also “invented” amateur radio? If so, you are not alone. But pesky historical documents and the facts they contain tell a deeper and more accurate story. It’s in the October issue of The Spectrum Monitor. Smartly edited by Ken Reitz KS4ZR, TSM is a wonderful read in my household. I go back as a subscriber to TSM’s predecessor, the Monitoring Times, launched by Bob Groves, years ago. It’s a real honor for me to get the cover feature in the TSM this month. Thank you, Ken and Thomas K4SWL, for the encouragement on this revealing story!