Handiham World for 8 July 2009

Welcome to Handiham World!

Did you miss us last week? Well, after all, it is summertime here in Minnesota and we have to take a few days off to enjoy the fine weather. Next week will also be a "vacation week" for your weekly e-letter and audio lectures, but this week it's business as usual. In case you suspect that we are inordinately lazy in the summer, I think I should point out in our defense that this is typically the slowest time of year in the office, so it is the best time for staff to enjoy some time off without affecting our service to members all that much. Other organizations, including our friends at TIPSNET, take a summer break, as do many radio clubs. Once ARRL Field Day is over, the pace of ham radio slows considerably.

Not, mind you, that there are not things to do on the bands and around the ham shack!

I've been slowly collecting the materials for a new 160 meter wire antenna. This will be a random-wire job, and I'm going to tune it right at the feedpoint with an LDG autotuner. I've always wanted to try this kind of antenna arrangement, and the little LDG tuner is just the ticket. A random-wire antenna is really just an end-fed wire of more or less whatever length fits in a given space, and I have a nice, deep back yard, so there is no problem at all running the wire out at least 125 feet. If I cared to put a bend in it, I could easily make it 200. The problem with 160 meters, and the reason so few hams actually use that band, is that the antennas needed to operate on a frequency like 1.9 MHz are very long and thus very difficult to fit into a typical urban property. Let's take a moment to calculate the length of a half-wave dipole at 1.9 MHz, shall we?

Start with the formula: 468 divided by the frequency in MHz = the length of a half-wave in feet.

468 divided by 1.9 = 246.3 feet. That's a long dipole antenna! In fact, many operators barely have space for a 40 meter dipole that requires only about 65 feet. A vertical antenna might be a consideration, but for 160 meters, it could easily top 120 feet for a quarter-wave. I think folks in my neighborhood might notice something that tall in the back yard!

So consider the beauty of the end-fed Marconi wire. Like the vertical antenna, it is fed at the base, with the antenna's radiator near the ground and a counterpoise of radials or other conducting material serving to cut current losses in the ground near the feedpoint. The wire radiator goes up for whatever distance is practical, near the roofline of my house in this case, and then the wire continues out into the long back yard to make up the rest of the required length. If I use an antenna tuner right near the feedpoint, the tuner can decide if the radiating length is too long, in which case it will add a bit of capacitance to electrically shorten the antenna, and if the radiating length is too short for a given frequency, the tuner will add a bit of inductance to electrically lengthen the wire. I love letting an antenna tuner do the work - it's so much easier and more practical than cutting the antenna wire to exactly the right length, which is always time-consuming and problematic. If you cut off too much wire, the antenna tunes too high in frequency, and then you are stuck. There is an old joke about "reaching into your toolkit and pulling out the wire-stretcher", but that mythical tool has never been in any toolkit I've ever owned.

A Marconi antenna works best with an extensive radial system, but I'm not going to worry too much about that. I'll use the house's copper water pipe system, which is also near the antenna's feed point, as well as a galvanized metal window well that is conveniently located at the basement egress window near the feedpoint. I figure I can always add a radial or two if that isn't enough. Even shorter radials will act to reduce ground losses near the feedpoint, which is where most of the current flows anyway.

The 160 meter band is more useful than you might think. Even during a sunspot minimum, 160 meters remains reliably "open" during evening and nighttime hours. Although it can be difficult to use in the summer thunderstorm season when static levels rise, the 160 meter band always has some nighttime activity. My local radio club hosts an evening net on or around 1.9 MHz at 20:00 United States Central Time. You can find the SARA net nightly except Tuesday & Thursday. SARA, the Stillwater Amateur Radio Association, is a Handiham affiliate.

My goal is to get my wire antenna up & running before winter - antenna work is one ham radio activity that is best done in the summertime! For anyone out there looking for "bonus points", convert the length of an end-fed wire 1/4-wave at 1.9 MHz to meters.

Patrick Tice, WA0TDA
wa0tda@arrl.net
Handiham Manager

Handiham World for 24 June 2009

Welcome to Handiham World!

Image: Pat, WA0TDA, (L) and Newt Owens, owner of the farm, gas up the generator in this old Field Day photo from the 1970's.

Summer is officially here, and summer heat and humidity have arrived here in the United States Upper Midwest. I call this particular season "the ham radio doldrums" because it seems as if activity on the HF bands gives way to thunderstorm static and the repeaters fall silent as people head outdoors or go on vacation. Sure enough, several recent nets that I often check into have gone without net control stations, and I only found out after the fact because I didn't show up for those nets, either. My bad!

Fortunately, Amateur Radio Field Day arrives at just the right time to revive ham radio for the summer! It's more than just a "day", too - most clubs and individuals plan for months ahead of actual Field Day weekend, and Field Day itself spans the weekend of June 27-28 this year. It is always held on the fourth full weekend in June. Since Field Day is an exercise in emergency operation, it is often held in, well, a real field! Outdoors. Without access to the power grid. Or permanent shelter. It may rain or be sunny & hot. There might be bugs. Or bears. You just never know, and that's part of the adventure.

The idea, of course, is to practice setting up and operating "off the grid", which is potentially valuable experience for doing the very same thing in an emergency. The thing about Field Day is that it typically combines this serious purpose with lots of ham radio fun, including on the air competition for points, camaraderie, family picnics, camping out, and just plain enjoying the summer. It's really my favorite ham radio event each year, and I plan to spend some time with the Stillwater Amateur Radio Association (SARA) Field Day crew this coming weekend.

When I think about all the years I have enjoyed Field Days past, I can recall times I have operated as part of a club event and times I have operated solo. There were other times that I operated with a small group of my ham radio friends. One of my favorite early memories is of operating with the Mankato, Minnesota Amateur Radio Club on the lawn of the local vo-tech school. We had tents set up, and it was fun to operate and learn new skills by getting on the air with my friends. Once I operated Field Day from a barn, sharing the microphone and code key with my friend Don Newcomb, W0DN, who is now a silent key. Don and I would later hatch the plans for a new antenna company, Butternut Electronics. You never know what might come out of your Field Day experience!

Some groups like to operate competitively, with the goal of earning that coveted high score. Points are given for each contact, and there are extra points for certain types of operation. For example, phone contacts count one point each, while CW or digital contacts count two points each. Multipliers for low power operation or operating "off the grid" help build up that score.

But fierce competition has never been my Field Day cup of tea, and I tend to gravitate toward groups that place a higher priority on just having fun. One time I decided to join a Field Day group operating nearby, and was disappointed when it turned out to be a CW-only operation with only the most experienced ops allowed to take a place at the operating position. I didn't stay long there, because it wasn't my idea of fun to watch someone else log points. The lesson I took away from that year's Field Day was that I needed to do a bit of homework ahead of time to be sure I was with a group that didn't take earning points so seriously. Not, mind you, that there is anything wrong with being competitive. It's fine for those who enjoy that sort of thing, so I guess my point is that Field Day comes in many flavors, and it's up to you to shop around for one that you like.

You can start on the ARRL website, since ARRL, among its many other great activities, sponsors Field Day. There is a graphic "Field Day Locator" map that allows you to put in your own address and then marks out nearby Field Day sites:

Handiham World for 17 June 2009

Welcome to Handiham World!

Handiham History: Early history notes from N0SBU

George LaValle, N0SBU, found this early history of the Handiham System and re-typed it for us. He is continuing to examine and sort through hundreds of documents and photos as we work on what we are now calling "The Handiham History Project". You will notice as you read this decades-old text that terms and language innocently used in that era are ones that are now considered passé or even politically incorrect. Rather than change the original text, we are leaving it intact so that you can see how society has changed and so that you can get a flavor of what things were like 40 years ago. You will also notice references to hams whose callsigns have long ago changed, and to those who are now silent keys. Some of the grammar isn't the best, but you will get the idea. Back in those days, money was a problem. Well, I guess some things never change! Now, please enjoy this early history, thanks to N0SBU.

Patrick Tice, WA0TDA
Handiham Manager

The Handi-Ham-System of Minnesota

Supported by PICONET a 13 county southeastern Minnesota Civil Defense Net.
Expanded By MISCCA the Minnesota Society for Crippled Children and Adults.

This program is designed to help handicapped individuals obtain their amateur radio licenses by providing on loan study materials, antennas, novice receivers and transmitters and HELP as needed.

HOW IT CAME ABOUT

During the Fall of 1966, in a small town in southern Minnesota, a handicapped YL announced her intentions of becoming an amateur radio operator and asked a ham-type handicapped friend how to begin.

He told Ned, W0ZSW, whose job for the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN took him past the YL's QTH every once in a while. Ned visited her, strung up an antenna and with his transmitter gave her a first glimpse of hamming.

Soon he found her a spare Civil Defense receiver to listen to and a tape recorder complete with code lessons and books. In Rochester two other YL’s started learning radio, via the Rochester Amateur Radio Club’s Novice class and using receivers borrowed for them.

By the Summer of 1967 there were three new Novice tickets in the area and the search was on for Novice transmitters to go with them.

Talking with members of the PICONET group not only produced the three needed transmitters, but also a few spare receivers and transmitters.

AND THE IDEA WAS BORN

In time of emergency, PICONET did need active stations in more small towns. Why not put this unused equipment to work by placing it with interested handicapped persons in the area and so create the needed stations?

Read more at www.handiham.org.

Handiham World for 10 June 2009

Welcome to Handiham World!

Handiham History: The new guy

Image: Pat, WA0TDA, in the W0ZSW ham shack, circa 1991. Now that I look at it, I look pretty dorky with those big glasses, but they were the style back then. No excuses for that goofy smile, though! That ancient terminal in the background was probably for packet radio. Black & white image scanned by George, N0SBU.

Back in in the early 1990's, Bruce Humphrys, K0HR, the Handiham Manager, left Courage Center to run another non-profit. I was in the market for a part-time job, having spent a couple of years at home with our newborn son. My wife Susie spotted an ad in the newspaper (of all places) for this odd-sounding job as Handiham Manager at the Courage Center. Did I want to apply?

Well, I did apply and was interviewed by Bruce himself. I ended up taking the job, and went to full time a couple of years later. As the new guy at Handiham headquarters, I needed to learn pretty much everything. Thankfully, Sister Alverna O'Laughlin, WA0SGJ, and Maureen Pranghofer, KF0I, were good at their respective jobs as Education Coordinator and Student Coordinator, and they helped me figure things out.

When George started the Handiham History project, I got to thinking about how the headquarters offices have changed over the years. When that dorky photo was taken back in 1991, Jane Rova was our Handiham secretary, and her desk had our one and only piece of high-tech office equipment: an IBM Selectric typewriter. We communicated by postal mail and telephone, and that was pretty much it.

Today, the volume of postal mail has shrunk to a trickle, having been replaced with email. While we still use the telephone a lot, email has even replaced a lot of what used to be done by phone. The website has been online since the late 1990's, and it has grown into a colossus that serves up Handiham audio and news on demand, replacing thousands of tape cassettes that used to travel to our members by mail. The website has made it possible to publish a weekly edition of Handiham World instead of a four times per year paper edition, which is how it was in 1991. Even better, the new technology makes everything more accessible and immediate for our members!

People often ask me what those staff members from the early days are doing today. Jane is retired, as is Sister Alverna. Sister lives in her Franciscan community at Assisi Heights, in Rochester, MN. Interestingly enough, that is where she lived when Handihams first started and where she became one of the first volunteers back in 1967. She still holds her original call, WA0SJG. Of course her Novice call, WN0SGJ, was modified to change the "N" to an "A" when she earned General. She currently holds an Advanced ticket. Maureen, KF0I, now operates her own business, which does custom professional Brailling. She lives a few blocks from Courage Center, and holds her Extra ticket. As far as I know, Bruce is still working at a non-profit that provides water and simple technologies to people in Africa.

Image: The N0SBU basement table, filled with Handiham history stuff.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch in Hugo, George LaValle, N0SBU, has spread out lots of Handiham photos, old newsletters, and memorabilia out on a big table in his basement. As George sorts through everything, he is writing some stories and re-writing some of the text in old Handiham documents for inclusion in our weekly e-letter. We will have much more later on.

Handiham World for 03 June 2009

Welcome to Handiham World!

Handiham History: Early membership certificate

Image: Early membership certificate for Handihams. Image scanned by N0SBU.

Quick: tell me what happened in 1967.

If you said, "that's when the Handiham System was started", you would be right.

Okay, so that is 42 years ago. A lot has happened to the Handiham System in all that time. In other words, the program has a lot of history. There have been amazing stories of handiham members who accomplished extraordinary things in spite of many personal challenges. There have been outstanding volunteers who gave thousands, even tens of thousands of hours in support of the program. There have been dedicated and caring handiham staff members who devoted their lives to the program.

One thing there hasn't been is a compilation of handiham history, but we are going to start chipping away at the edges of that problem.

It all started one day last week when George LaValle, N0SBU, asked me a question about the Winter Hamfest that we used to have in Faribault, Minnesota each December. Even though I had several of those hamfests to my credit, I couldn't really remember all that much about it. One memory I do have is that of myself and several volunteers loading an old Courage Center bus with what seemed like tons and tons of donated electronic and amateur radio equipment and then having to drive the bus through the sleet and snow out of the Twin Cities and down Interstate 35 to Faribault, a small city in southern Minnesota that was the home of the Winter Hamfest. We would arrive late in the afternoon the day before the hamfest and stay at a hotel nearby. That evening, we would have a pre-hamfest banquet at the restaurant next to the hotel. The bus sat out in the parking lot in the sub-zero freezing weather all night long. You can bet that that bus was hard to start and stiff as a board early in the morning when we had to coax it back onto the road for the bumpy, creaky, slow drive to the hall where we still needed to set up all the tables and get things ready.

Fortunately, the hamfest was a popular one and many hams from around the area showed up early in the morning to make quick work of unloading the bus and distributing the gear onto the tables. The downside of all of this extra help was that the equipment went this way and that way and seemed to end up all over the place at random. Power supplies would not necessarily stay with their rigs, so there was always some sorting out to do. Still, we were glad to get the extra help and those who helped us set up the tables always liked to get some idea of what goodies would be for sale once the doors opened up for business. As with any hamfest, we also had a few outside vendors.

Believe me, a hamfest is difficult to put on. If it weren't for the dedication of Handiham volunteers, we could never have pulled this off for so many years.

Of course, like many other things that have happened over the years, the Winter Hamfest is now history. It's part of a history that we really haven't documented. Now, thanks to the volunteer efforts of George, N0SBU, we hope to start sorting some of our history out. George and I made a trip to the basement at Courage Center, where we ferreted out two big boxes of handiham memorabilia. These include photos and Kodak slide carousels full of handiham history. There is even a "logbook" made especially for a guest sign up at a convention in Des Moines, Iowa from the 1980s. The cover is made of wood, which makes it the most realistic "log" book that I have ever seen!

I hope you will keep watching the weekly e-letter and the handiham website for more news and photos from handiham history.

Here is a special note from N0SBU:

Hello from N0SBU, George the Second Base Umpire of Hugo, Minnesota.

Pat has asked me to go through all of the old documents in storage and see if I could put together a brief history of the Handiham hamfest auctions. I went over to the office to see Pat and picked up two large boxes of documents and pictures. I sorted it out on a table in my basement here at home.

Briefly, after the Handihams were associated with the Courage Center, they had what were called "White Elephant Auctions". In what I have looked at, I assume they were held at the Courage Center, as they refer as having them on the "patio". These were fund-raisers to get money to buy equipment for the members.

Later it is noted that surplus equipment was sold at "Mid-West Amateur Radio" until that place went out of business.

That is about all I have for now. In my spare time I will go through this stuff in more detail and report back to you.

I remember going to the auctions in Faribault. Later they were at the Courage Center for three years. After that, all equipment that couldn't go to members directly went to the Amateur Radio Consignment Center to raise money for the program.

Do any of our readers out there have any more detail about the years that all of this took place? This is what I am looking for to add to our history.

Thanks and 73 from N0SBU, the Second Base Umpire of Hugo.

You can write to George care of wa0tda@arrl.net if you want to add to the Handiham history. Please put Handiham History in the subject line.

Patrick Tice, WA0TDA
wa0tda@arrl.net
Handiham Manager

Handiham World for 27 May 2009

Welcome to Handiham World!

Last week's article about bad operators and their terrible habits that disrupt nets brought some comments. This commentary from John, N1UMJ, pretty much tells the story:

I find lately that my biggest problem is the one who breaks in without listening. I run many nets: a monthly RACES net, a weekly ARES net, and several NTS nets throughout the week. I'm hearing more and more of this on 2 meters. After the net, someone tells me, "Oh yeah, I know him - he's on EchoLink all the time."

That puts my problems in high gear. I even had one who, when advised there was a net going on, said, "I know", and kept talking to his party. I was at a state RACES office that day, so I had to be professional and polite. The repeater trustee helped with that one because politeness wasn't working.

Usually though, if they want to talk to someone during a net, as the clueless op might want to do, I very nicely and tactfully explain that it would be appreciated if they'd stick around and ask questions after the net and the person they want will surely stick around if they ask in the closing comments. That almost always works.

The Mr. Know-it-all type is not so common. I haven't had many of them, but the couple we've had, I just let him be his own worst enemy to be honest, unless he's really annoying, in which case I secure him or as NCS just don't give him a chance when I can see it coming. Luckily, the Know-it-alls are not the nightly check-ins.

I don't have the low life or politics person on any nets on which I am the net control station, but I think I'd probably again, go with telling them to keep that for another time.

I don't have the nontechnical guy as you mention it, because I refuse to run a net on any repeater with EchoLink. Echolink does seem to cause a lot of problems, but on HF or 2 meters with more and more radios having complicated adjustments, I advise them of the problem and explain some people checked in to the net want to get out, but if they'll stick around for after the net I'll help them straighten the technical problem out.

I haven't really experienced the late person or the one who talks too much. If you're going to be late for a net though, I often find that if you listen for a few minutes before checking in, a little patience goes a long way and you can catch up without being a problem.

As I said, I run a lot of nets, and I've probably run in to just about every situation at one time or another.

My favorite was the time we had a dam almost let go in my city.

Picture this: The Emergency Operations Center (EOC) is active because the shelter is open. Someone comes on the repeater calling the EOC to ask how he can drive through the city without having traffic trouble, and no one's answering. We had the repeater on to talk from the EOC to the shelter, but we had other duties as well, especially if the shelter had us on the phone with private info or something.

Well, this guy starts yelling and screaming about what kind of EOC was it that wouldn't answer his questions and he was going to report them and stuff. The EOC wasn't using the repeater full time and thus didn't take over it to keep people off, but he was asked to refrain from use of the repeater in a phone call from the trustee for the rest of that event and he stayed off.

It's a shame there are people like that. It was just another time that it was very hard to be polite about it, but you really have to be. I was getting my two hours of sleep when that was going on, in my off shift and did get on and explain that a phone call was the best way to get his info and the repeater was not being used for requests like his because everyone was doing a million things and busy, but he's also the one that comes in to nets and tries to change topics and almost no one talks to him anymore because he hasn't changed in 18 years.

So, there are a few stories. It does happen, I see it more and more in recent years, but luckily it's not real bad yet and 9 times out of 10, there is a tactful way to handle it without causing any issues. When there isn't, I quit.

Thanks, John! And thanks to all of you long-suffering net controls out there who somehow manage to keep your cool. We really appreciate what you do.

Patrick Tice
wa0tda@arrl.net
Handiham Manager

Handiham World for 21 May 2009

Welcome to Handiham World!

We're back - sort of

Image: A shopper uses a scooter to get around the acres of flea market. He's pulling a wagon with his callsign license plate, which we have blacked out so that the XYL won't see this and ask him about all that junk he brought home from Hamvention.

Last week we were at Hamvention™ and the ARRL national convention in Dayton, Ohio.

Believe it or not, even with all the talk of recession and pandemic flu in the news every day, the show was a good one, and our experience at the Handiham booth was very positive. While we will have to wait for final attendance numbers to be released, Dayton was certainly worthwhile for us. Of course I am behind in my work, so the weekly e-letter is late. When I sent out a "poor me, I'm so busy that I need more hours in the day" notice yesterday, I got the following highly sympathetic suggestions:

• Sleep less...
• Well you could do it, but it would involve moving to another and larger planet, I think Jupiter.
• Maybe it has something to do with traveling over time zones especially the International Date Line a few times...
• There is a thing called the day stretcher. You find them at Wal-Mart right next to the cucumber stretchers.
• Learn to say 'NO" when asked to go to meetings. But then what do you do for a job?!!
• Daily, at noon, turn the hands of the clock backwards by an hour or so. This will gain you the extra time required, but first check with the XYL to make sure your extra time doesn't interfere with her timing or else you won't have much time at all, on earth or elsewhere!
• I'd give the person who could tell me how to get more hours out of a day a big bear hug!!!
• This is my secret: Time travel -- oops, now it's not a secret anymore. I put my mp3 lessons on my cell phone mp3 player and listen when driving (I don't get distracted when I must pay attention to driving.)

Thanks to all who shared their words of wisdom. Geez, a guy sure can't get any sympathy around here!

But back to Hamvention.

Ken, KB3LLA, Handiham Radio Club President, was at the booth, as were Handiham volunteers John Hoenshell, N0BFJ, and John Pedley, N0IPO. Volunteer Bill Rouch, N6HBO, also visited and was quickly recruited for some booth time! It was in speaking with Bill that I started to form some real insight about what is happening in the realm of the Handiham program.

But I am getting a little ahead of myself. First, I should tell you that I drove to the show, all the way from Minnesota. That put me behind the wheel for almost 12 hours each way, and I knew I would be bored without an audio book to keep me company as the miles passed by. I'd recently visited the bookstore, where I'd picked up an audio CD copy of New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman's book "The World is Flat - A brief history of the twenty-first century". The six compact disks in the book would surely keep me occupied for quite awhile, when I was not on two meters or tuned in to the car radio.

So I listened to Tom Friedman, a Minnesota native who grew up not far from Handiham headquarters. In "The World is Flat", I learned that Tom was talking about the way technology, specifically the availability of high-speed internet communications, has made it possible for people to do their work from anywhere. That in turn means that you can be in Bangalore, India doing an information technology job as easily as you can do the same job from an office in Chicago. Heck, who even needs an office? This, according to Tom, flattens out the world. There are other "flatteners" as well, and they all work together to make it easier than ever before to do work in any place, at any time. People can collaborate on projects from every corner of the globe instead of sitting together in a meeting room.

But let's get back to my visit with Bill, N6HBO. Bill earned his license at Radio Camp, so he knows a thing or two about the challenges faced by people with disabilities. Anyway, Bill asked me about wi-fi radios. I wrote some time ago about my Christmas present, which was a Grace internet wi-fi radio, and Bill said he also recently got an internet wi-fi radio. We were soon comparing notes. He operates an excellent small mail-order business featuring ham radio accessories, and he thought such a radio might be of interest to hams. The thing is, Bill could never operate a business like his as efficiently as he does without the advantages of the flat world. He is able to use the internet to do his marketing, and his products can be manufactured wherever they can be made most efficiently. Bill's "Ham4Less" business is a success because he understands how to make the flat world work for him, and his customers benefit from quick service and good prices in the bargain!

So much has changed since I first started working in the Handiham program myself, way back in 1991. While we had Handiham members worldwide back then, the world was anything but flat. It took months to get an audio cassette tape to someone outside the United States. If you lived in New Zealand, you were certainly going to wait longer to get served than if you lived in Denver. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, uh, office, we had exactly one IBM Selectric typewriter for our document processing. Letters sent by postal mail and telephone calls via long distance were our usual methods of communication. You thought twice about making too many long distance calls, because the expense would break the budget. Contacting members by letter was so slow that you sometimes forgot what the conversation was about. With the telephone, you often traded voice mails in a frustrating effort to get things done. Sister Alverna, WA0SGJ, kept a huge bookcase full of index cards containing the membership. Down in the basement, shop volunteers like Rex Kiser and Ken Williams repaired donated vacuum tube equipment.

Today, in the new flat world, we deliver audio and information to our members around the world at the same time, which is whenever they want it, no matter where they live. It is as easy to listen to our audio or get information from our website in Europe or Australia as it is in Iowa or Minnesota. The playing field has been leveled, allowing us to serve more people when they want to be served, and do so wherever they happen to be, as long as there is internet available and they can reach our Handiham website. In the office, things have changed, too. Staff computers can access a shared member database, so that when we answer a phone call, we know the basics about the member who is calling. We can often research the answer to a question while the member is on the phone, saving another call back to that person. Thanks to secure computing technology, even if a major blizzard that keeps me home for the day strikes, I can log in to CITRIX and do my work as if I am right at my desk. Remote control also flattens our world with access to the Handiham Remote Base HF station. You can be anywhere with internet access and run the station. Handiham members who cannot put up antennas are now on a level playing field with those who can. I work every day with volunteers who live hundreds or thousands of miles away, trading files and collaborating on projects as if they are right here in the same room, working with me.

Talking with Bill at the same time that I was reading Tom Friedman's book really brought the point home to me: We have made quite a leap into the 21st Century flat world, and it has been good for all of us at Handihams!

Patrick Tice
wa0tda@arrl.net
Handiham Manager