In this issue you will find:
In this issue you will find:
Greetings from Handiham headquarters!
Happy summer solstice to all of you in the Northern Hemisphere, and happy Winter to everyone south of the equator. I have always wondered how one decides whether it is summer or winter when one lives exactly on the equator! You are not imagining things - your weekly e-letter is really a day late. That's because we were at Courage North yesterday, and just didn't have time to put the edition together. Or maybe we were just waiting for summer to arrive!
In this issue you will find:
In this issue you will find:
Greetings from Handiham headquarters!
Photo: Allen Pitts, W1AGP, the new voice of ARRL Audio News.
Before we get to the Talking Books story, it has been a busy time of year for many of us with graduating high school seniors. With so much going on, I'm afraid I sometimes get behind in my reading of amateur radio news. Even the ham radio audio newscasts sometimes have to go by the wayside when things get over-the-top busy in our household. I like all of the audio news features, including the RAIN Report, Amateur Radio NEWSLINE, and ARRL Audio News. Anyway, the reason I mention this is that I haven't had time to listen to Allen Pitts, W1AGP, the new voice of ARRL Audio News. I was reminded of this when I saw a note on the ARRL website mentioning that there were some glitches in the audio. Since we are all too familiar from first-hand experience with producing audio that has glitches, I could only be sympathetic! If one is going to have glitches in an amateur radio audio news program, this is probably the time of year to do it because so many of us are too busy to notice in the first place! I hate to admit how far behind I am in my reading of the amateur radio magazines in regular print format.
Well, hopefully that will change as we move ever closer to summer's premier operating event, ARRL Amateur Radio Field Day, some of the initial rush into summer will ease up a bit and we can pay a little bit more attention to amateur radio news and operating. In the meantime, I suggest getting your amateur radio news via audio while you are participating in some other activity like walking or running for exercise, driving your car, or simply relaxing. By telescoping activities this way, you can still keep your self up to date on the latest news without committing any more time to reading. Maybe you really can do two things at once!
Please be sure to give the ARRL Audio News a listen. Allen, W1AGP, is doing a wonderful job. There is a link to his bio in the RekkyTec links later on in this edition.
By the way, those of you who are listening to the Handiham audio this week will hear quite a difference in Avery's QTH. We have finally gotten Avery to sit down at a computer and record his audio using Audacity. I think you will be pleasantly surprised by the difference in audio quality.
Patrick Tice, WA0TDA
Handiham Manager
wa0tda@arrl.net
In this issue you will find:
Greetings from Handiham headquarters!
Well, it is official. Handiham Radio Club President Linda Reeder, N7HVF, has published special event information on the ARRL website for the on the air celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Courage Handiham System. Of course we will have more about this upcoming operating event in future issues, but you might as well be among the first to know, so here are the details just as they appear on ARRL Web:
Aug 25-Aug 28, 1400Z-0200Z, Lake George, MN. Courage Handi-Ham System, W0EQO. 40 Years for Handihams. SSB 14.340 7.240 CW 14.140 7.040. Certificate. Avery Finn, 3915 Golden Valley Rd, Golden Valley, MN 55422. Using call signs W0EQO and W0ZSW.
I ask you to notice the dates of the event. Hmmm, let's see... What happens every year in late August? Anyone? Raise your hands if you know the answer! Okay, you in the back row -- do you know the answer? Yes, that's right -- Handiham Minnesota Radio Camp. This year, Radio Camp runs from Friday, August 24 to Friday, August 31. The operating event will start on a Saturday, which should be just perfect for anyone who has the weekend off from work and who wants to contact the Radio Camp special event stations.
Most special events have just one callsign, but we have decided to use both W0ZSW, the official Handiham Radio Club callsign and W0EQO, the usual Radio Camp station callsign because both of these calls belonged to important historical figures in the Handiham System. We will tell you more about that later on as we get closer to the operating event.
Linda has al ready made headway into the Handiham audio history project. She has been interviewing people and taking audio notes. She tells us how she got started with the Handiham System:
"When I first learned about Handihams, it was 1986. I already had my Technician license. I was putting the Advanced Class question pool into Braille..."
Podcast subscribers and website listeners will hear the entire text of Linda's comments. Thanks to N7HVF for all of her hard work on the Handiham History Project. If you would like to submit audio telling us about how you got started in ham radio and Handihams, please let me know. I will make sure that Linda gets a copy of your audio comments.
Patrick Tice, WA0TDA
Handiham Manager
wa0tda@arrl.net