The Handiham World for 25 June 2008

Welcome to Handiham World!

---

K7UGA QSL

Here is another QSL card in our vintage cards series. This one is courtesy of Jeff, K0JS, who writes:

Dear Avery,

I understand that you're looking for vintage QSL's. This one may be of interest since you are using Barry's S-Line. Barry was recovering the last men on the moon from the USS Ticonderoga. Worked him on 15 meters. He was using a Swan 500 & dipole, as I recall. I keep this one with my WZ6C/ST4 "camel mobile" card!

73, K0JS

We thank Jeff for sending in this wonderful vintage QSL card. "Vintage" ham radio operators like me and Avery certainly remember Senator Barry Goldwater, K7UGA, who was a very active amateur radio operator and had a large, well-appointed station at his home QTH in Arizona. What makes Jeff's card unique is that Barry was not at his home QTH when this contact was made, but out to sea on a recovery mission to pick up astronauts who had just made the trip back from the moon. In those days, the 1970s, there was no Space Shuttle and the astronauts had to "splash down" into the ocean, which provided probably the softest, safest way to get the Apollo capsule back onto the surface of the planet. Naturally, United States Navy ships like the Ticonderoga were needed to proceed to the most likely area that the capsule would splash into the ocean and be ready to pick up the astronauts and the Apollo capsule itself. What a thrill it must have been to work a station like K7UGA running Maritime Mobile!

The Handiham World for 18 June 2008

Welcome to Handiham World!

Image: Pat in the sunny Courage Center cafeteria one morning, holding Handiham coffee mug. Photo by K0HLA.

It's almost summer, so how about a dip in the pool? Of course I mean the question pool, since this is about ham radio.

Recently we heard from a Handiham member who visited the Question Pool part of our website and noted, "I visited that website, but my JAWS screenreader is not reading any of the correct answers, just the choices. I need both."

What was really happening was that he was encountering the answer but hadn't realized it, since the pools are formatted with the question number, followed by the correct answer in parentheses, then the related FCC part number in brackets.

We probably SHOULD re-do these so the correct answer appears like this, so that a screenreader user can read through all the answers then get the correct one. Here is what I am talking about:

OLD WAY:

E1A03 (A) [97.301(b)]
What exclusive frequency privileges in the 40-meter band are authorized to Amateur Extra class control operators?
A. 7000-7025 kHz
B. 7000-7050 kHz
C. 7025-7050 kHz
D. 7100-7150 kHz

NEW WAY:

E1A03 [97.301(b)]
What exclusive frequency privileges in the 40-meter band are authorized to Amateur Extra class control operators?
A. 7000-7025 kHz
B. 7000-7050 kHz
C. 7025-7050 kHz
D. 7100-7150 kHz
The correct answer is A.

What do you think? Can we simplify it further, like this:

Question E1A03:
What exclusive frequency privileges in the 40-meter band are authorized to Amateur Extra class control operators?
A. 7000-7025 kHz
B. 7000-7050 kHz
C. 7025-7050 kHz
D. 7100-7150 kHz
The correct answer is A.

Notice that I have eliminated the FCC part number to help it read better in JAWS and avoid confusing the screenreader user. Also, I have placed the correct answer after all the possible answers, which makes far more sense when you are trying to study and quiz yourself about the pool questions.

Please email me and let us know what you think about this if you are a screenreader user yourself. Also let me know if you are reading this on the website because you are not getting the Wednesday mailing as expected.

Patrick Tice
wa0tda@arrl.net
Handiham Manager

The Handiham World for 04 June 2008

Welcome to Handiham World!

Picture: As you arrive at Handiham Headquarters, you see the flowering crab trees, and then you look up and spot our antennas. It's a beautiful sight to ham radio operators, and the flowering crab trees aren't bad, either.

The big news again this week continues to be our complete changeover to a new web server. Phil, K9HI, is working with me and Phil, N1XTB on making the transfer.

• This week I had a few members who do not keep up with their reading of the weekly e-letter ask me why they couldn't log on to the old members only section. Of course we have been talking about this change for months, so it's important to read the news at least once in awhile!

• If I have not manually entered your callsign into the new server, your login will not work. You can use the "Create New Account" link, and enter your HAM RADIO CALL SIGN and email address that you have already registered with us when you joined Handihams. Your request for a password will be reviewed and your callsign or email address will be checked against the ones you already entered in our database.