David Coursey feels like his grew up at Radio Shack, having owned a procession of shortwave radios, CBs, ham radios, and even a cellphone with the company’s brand. And, yes, even a TRS-80 computer. He tweets as@techinciter, can be contacted though his Web site, and runs a ham radio site at N5FDL.com.

Hasn’t anyone told RadioShack how silly comb-overs look? You can change your look, even your name, but you are still just what you are–and people notice.

The Radioless Shack???

It’s odd that at a moment when it sells more radios than probably anytime in its history, that RadioShack may be dropping “Radio” from its name.

This is a case of an old fogey trying too hard to be one of the kids. Radio Shack’s biggest problem–and virtue–is that it’s the 7-11 of consumer electronics. Easy-in, easy-out, but limited selection and the appearance of so-so pricing.

Read N5FDL’s full article here.

CW (Morse code) mavens (like myself) often talk about the advantages of “the mode” over other modes “like SSB”. After all, CW is a form of a digital mode now isn’t it? CW gets through when other methods fail. Far more QSO’s or contest points are made with CW in the same span of time when compared to other modes such as SSB.

When contesting with CW, you can work at least a 5 to 1 ratio (I am trying to be kind here, it’s probably more like 10 to 1) over SSB contacts. For example, I had a limited amount of free time two weekends ago and decided to work the IARU contest for awhile. In the span of about an hour or so I worked around 100 stations and took a bunch of short breaks while operating. It takes seconds for each Q. If you are using a keyboard of course  pre-programming the function keys is the best way  to send your call, the customary 599 signal report and the I.T.U. region number.

When ragchewing, CW’s narrow bandwidth permits more stations to leverage the same bandwidth without affecting other QSO’s. Of course the features built into the newer, more expensive rigs sold today make a huge difference in removing unwanted adjacent signals.

I have never had the opportunity to operate a radio with fancy gadgets like roofing filters or DSP but have read other posts that state the virtues of these awesome features. I don’t own a $20k ham shack but my old TS450S with its AIP, IF shift, Notch and selectable filters does a fairly good job at picking out what I want to work. We all know how those features greatly reduce operating fatigue.

Icom IC-756 ProIII

I think the disadvantage of options like roofing filters, is that operators come on the air with them engaged and call QRL, hear nothing and start calling CQ without ever hearing the operators already working on or close to a specific frequency. There’s nothing like a LID with a $10k radio.

Being inconsiderate and not knowing how to use your equipment reminds me of a time when I was out bay fishing. Here we are in an open 17 ft skiff, quietly enjoying the day, when all of sudden a huge cabin cruiser slows down next to us, pushes up a big wake that caused us to roll heavily for a moment. I looked up to noticed a small radar dish going round and a boatload of antennas. From the upper bridge the guy yells down to me “Which way is the inlet???“. I wanted to point right to the closest sand bar, but just shook my head in total amazement and pointed.

Luxury Cruiser Yacht

So, now it’s Amateur operators with their $10k rigs acting like the guys in the $200k cruiser. These guys just don’t seem to give a damn about others and just bully their way in. One can only hope that they will learn to operate their equipment properly some day.

Even though CW is touted as an “outdated” mode, it is, and will always be a very effective mode of communication. In my opinion, it was a sad day when the FCC dropped CW as a licensing requirement.

With the megatons of space junk floating around the earth providing countless forms of commercial and military signals, I am glad that I still have a traditional way to communicate that gets the job done without a $10k station. I guess I will always be the guy in the 17 ft  skiff directing the $200k Luxury Cruisers to the inlet and getting my personal “last laugh“.

Post A Comment Below And VOICE Your Opinion!

From the ARRL Web site and the 7/24/09 ARRL Letter:

Inappropriate Use of Amateur Radio: The Board authorized the President to appoint an ad hoc committee to prepare guidelines for use by the amateur community and others to identify inappropriate uses of Amateur Radio, while preserving our role of providing communications during times of disasters and for public service events. The Board asked the committee to present its findings to the Executive Committee within 30 days.

In recent months the FCC has started an all out war on the way Amateur Radio Operators serve their communities. Once again the Feds are quick to demonstrate their lack of regard for the service Amateur Radio Operators provide. They seem to readily discount the potential Hams have to saves lives and property during disasters.

Does the ARRL really need to create new and amend existing guidelines to pave the way for Amateur Radio Operators to work with the Feds? Why are more regulations necessary to allow Amateurs to do what they have done for a very long time? I just can’t believe that big government and the ARRL have to stick their noses further into the goings on of the Amateur Radio Service.

We all agree that using Amateur Radio properly makes sense. But when those rules prevent a (paid) local emergency manager from talking about an ARES matter with a volunteer ARES leader over the air,  in my opinion, the FCC has begun to outlive it’s usefulness.

Click on the comments link below and VOICE your opinion!

Kids these days are consumed by cell phones, Twitter Tweets, text messaging and Facebook.

However, there is a group of youngsters in Calabasas, CA. that have become licensed Amateur Radio Operators. That action has led them to become leaders in a new wave of shortwave listeners.

They still consider Morse Code and the old guy with a box of radio parts and coax cable to be very old fashioned.

One middle school 16 year old always thought that cell phones were the most reliable form of communication,. “After all”  he said, “Everyone uses cellphones”.

That thinking changed one day when there was a power outage in his area.

He then realized that cell phones and the Internet, things he took for granted every day,  just stopped working!

He also learned that battery powered radio equipment and solar powered repeaters continue to provide communication when “shore power” is dead.

When the youngster’s science teacher talked to his class about learning basic radio principals and receiving extra credit for passing the FCC Amateur Radio license exam, the youngster was all ears.

17 students passed the FCC exam that school year.

Over the next three years, 57 middle school students have earned their license. Plans are being made to offer the two day learning sequence in the coming school year.

The basis of the teacher’s motivation to bring Amateur Radio into the classroom was his personal decision to become a licensed Ham Radio operator right after the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

The youngster said he was nervous when he first signed on after he obtained his license and his new radio.

“I heard all these adults talking and thought, What will I say? I have only talked to one person my age over the radio. But they can hear your voice and know that you’re young.” he said.

Since high school students have tried and failed to find teachers that will sponsor the program, an attempt will be made to create a high school club to serve as a follow-up to the middle school class and help to keep teens active on the air.

I helped my son achieve his No Code Tech license when he was 11 years old. We attended a two day learning sequence sponsored by  SPARC, the Suffolk Police Amateur Radio Club of Long Island New York.

I served as a VE for a number of years and held sessions at Suffolk Community College.

I assisted a long time friend and fellow Amateur KF2P with classroom instruction for the No Code Tech License while working at Brookhaven National Laboratory.

Click on the comments link below and add your personal follow up to this story:

Are you a youngster with a Ham License? Who helped you get into the hobby?

As an adult, have you helped youngsters achieve their license?

Are you a teacher that would like to comment on this idea for your own classroom?

This week, four more Congressmen — John Boozman (R-AR-3), Bob Filner (D-CA-51), Dennis Moore (D-KS-3) and David Wu (D-OR-1) — pledged their support for HR 2160, The Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Enhancement Act of 2009 http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.2160:. This brings the total number of cosponsors to 18.

Introduced by Representative Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX-18) in April http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/04/30/10792/?nc=1, if passed, HR 2160 would “promote and encourage the valuable public service, disaster relief, and emergency communications provided on a volunteer basis by licensees of the Federal Communications Commission in the Amateur Radio Service, by undertaking a study of the uses of Amateur Radio for emergency and disaster relief communications, by identifying unnecessary or unreasonable impediments to the deployment of Amateur Radio emergency and disaster relief communications, and by making recommendations for relief of such unreasonable restrictions so as to expand the uses of Amateur Radio communications in Homeland Security planning and response.” The bill has been referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

Some In Congress Do Care About Ham Radio

If enacted into law, HR 2160, would instruct the Secretary of Homeland Security to undertake a study and report its findings to Congress within 180 days. The study would spell out uses and capabilities of Amateur Radio communications in emergencies and disaster relief. The study shall:

* Include recommendations for enhancements in the voluntary deployment of Amateur Radio licensees in disaster and emergency communications and disaster relief efforts.
* Include recommendations for improved integration of Amateur Radio operators in planning and in furtherance of the Department of Homeland Security initiatives.
* Identify unreasonable or unnecessary impediments to enhanced Amateur Radio communications — such as the effects of private land use regulations on residential antenna installations — and make recommendations regarding such impediments.
* Include an evaluation of Section 207 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-104, 110 Stat 56 [1996]).
* Recommend whether Section 207 should be modified to prevent unreasonable private land use restrictions that impair the ability of amateurs to conduct, or prepare to conduct, emergency communications by means of effective outdoor antennas and support structures at reasonable heights and dimensions for the purpose in residential areas.

The Secretary of Homeland Security shall utilize the expertise of the ARRL and shall seek information from private and public sectors for the study.

“HR 2160 presents the Amateur Radio Service with a unique opportunity — but also carries with it the important responsibility of making your voice heard,” said ARRL Regulatory Information Manager Dan Henderson, N1ND. “HR 2160 stands as the first step in trying to address the long standing problem of extending the protections afforded Amateur Radio operators under PRB-1 http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/regulations/PRB-1_Pkg/prb-1.pdf to deed restrictions and covenants. To be clear, passing HR 2160 is not going to achieve that goal right away. But it will help lay the ground work by assessing the impact such restrictions have on our ability to train for and respond to disasters and other emergencies.”

HR 2160 is also sponsored by W. Todd Akin (R-MO-2), Michael Arcuri (D-NY-24), Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD-6), Madeleine Bordallo (D-Guam), Bart Gordon (D-TN-6), Brett Guthrie (R-KY-2), Michael Honda (D-CA-15), Mary Jo Kilroy (D-OH-15), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA-16), Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO-9), Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI-11), Charlie Melancon (D-LA-3), Bennie Thompson (D-MS-2) and Peter Welch (D-VT).

Check the ARRL Web site http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/05/12/10818 for information on how to encourage your Congressional representative to sponsor HR 2160.

Source:

The ARRL Letter Vol. 28, No. 28 July 17, 2009

The U. S. S. Constitution (Old Ironsides), as a combat vessel, carried 48,600 gallons of fresh water for her crew of 475 officers and men. This amount of water was sufficient to last six months of sustained operations at sea. She carried no evaporators (i.e. fresh water distillers).

However, let it be noted that according to her ship’s log, “On July 27, 1798, the U.S.S. Constitution sailed from Boston with a full complement of 475 officers and men, 48,600 gallons of fresh water, 7,400 cannon shot, 11,600 pounds of black powder and 79,400 gallons of rum.”

Her mission: “To destroy and harass English shipping.” Making Jamaica on 6 October, she took on 826 pounds of flour and 68,300 gallons of rum.

Then she headed for the Azores , arriving there 12 November. She provisioned with 550 pounds of beef and 64,300 gallons of Portuguese wine.

U.S.S. Constitution (Old Ironsides)

On 18 November, she set sail for England . In the ensuing days she defeated five British men-of-war and captured and scuttled 12 English merchant ships, salvaging only the rum aboard each.

By 26 January, her powder and shot were exhausted. Nevertheless, although unarmed she made a night raid up the Firth of Clyde in Scotland .

Her landing party of Marines, captured a whisky distillery and transferred 40,000 gallons of single malt Scotch aboard by dawn. Then she headed home.

The U. S. S. Constitution arrived in Boston on 20 February 1799, with no cannon shot, no food, no powder, no rum, no wine, no whisky, and 38,600 gallons of water.

GO NAVY!

I was cruising the Web this morning while filling my ears with CW on 40 meters. It’s really great having my HF rig back from the shop. By the way, if you are in need of an equipment repair, I might suggest you contact Burghardt in South Dakota.

It’s been over 3 months since I have had my TS450S making really good noises (CW notes) in my shack. As it turned out, there was a leaky cap spewing out corrosive materials   on to one of the PC boards.  At this point I am just glad that I caught up to the problem before the radio ended up in the closet acting as a dust magnet.

After throwing down a few quick Tweets (I have learned those are what posts to Twitter are called) about our latest club project, I somehow stumbled across KB6NU’s blog.

Dan’s story about Stuart and his mom got my attention.  I thought of it as an inspirational article for Hams that take part in Field Day and Elmering the younger generation.   Apparently  Stuart was quite an interesting little fellow.  Since my writing skills will never be in the same league as Dan’s, it would be much better to take a few minutes to read Dan’s post directly. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

Feedback

Has anyone had a similar Field Day Story to share with the readers?

Are there any quick comments  out there about Dan’s story?

This information was supplied to me yesterday via email from the desk of Kevin vk2ce. Kevin has cleared up the confusion over ILLW. After reading Kevin’s message, it’s evident that illw.net is the official Web site of ILLW. The information I have previously posted (and removed) was part of  a commercial enterprise which misrepresented the true spirit and original intent of ILLW.

Important Information from the ILLW founder:

The International Lighthouse/Lightship Weekend was founded by Mike Dalrymple, GM4SUC and John GM4OOU in 1995 as the Scottish Northern Lights weekend. In 1997 it was renamed the ILLW due to increased international participation.

The official event web site at http://illw.net has full and accurate documentation about the history of the event as well as entrants lists from 1999 onwards. It has always been held on the 3rd full weekend of August and this years event is 15-16 August. It is not a week long event and it is not a contest. Any other web site purporting to be the ILLW is misrepresenting the truth and the fact that we have over 270 entrants this year so far is proof of these statements.

Kevin vk2ce
Webmaster and Organiser
http://illw.net

Fire Island Lighthouse

“Congress designated National Lighthouse Day on Aug. 7, 1989, marking the 200th anniversary of the signing of the Lighthouse Act and the commissioning of the first Federal lighthouse in the United States.

The purpose was to  provide recognition for the important role which lighthouses played in the history of our country, and the values of safety, heroism, and American ingenuity which they represent, as well as honoring and encouraging continued restoration efforts for existing lighthouses, many of which had fallen into disrepair.”

With so many lighthouses on Long Island, it’s an event some members of my club, SCRC, have talked about be part of for the first time this year.

Other Lighthouse sites to visit:

The Lighthouse Directory

Legendary Lighthouses

U.S. Lighthouses

LighthouseFriends.com

Q&A:

Have you participated with an ILLW event in the past?

What is you opinion about preserving historical lighthouses?

Have you visited a lighthouse or light ship and what was your experience?