Handiham World for 27 October 2010

Welcome to Handiham World!

In this edition:

• New net will be on 75 m

• Band plan isn't the same as frequency chart

• Dip in the pool

• NASA internships available for students with disabilities

• Launch date set for Discovery mission

• Putting in a speech module proves to be quite a chore

• K1RFD puts in a guest appearance on TIPSnet

• This week at HQ

It's time for a new HF net - Part 3

Two weeks ago we said : We need at least consider moving our HF net to 160, 75, or 40 meters, and those bands are likely to be most useful in the evening. Because 160 requires a very long antenna, it is impractical for many users. 40 can get crowded, but requires the shortest antenna of the three. Of course we can consider reviving our 17 meter "non-net roundtable", which was originally started by Alan, K2WS, but the sun will have to spit out a few more spots for that band to get where it needs to be. So what do you think? 160? 75? 40? Or something else? And what about the time and day?

Decision time is here! we really need to get moving on this new net, and the consensus seems to be building around 75 m as the best band. Therefore, we will proceed to the next step, which is choosing a net frequency. Most of the responses I have gotten indicate that users would prefer a frequency in the Extra or Advanced class portions of the phone band. We were reminded by one respondent about the "DX window" in the ARRL band plan, which is 3.790 to 3.800 MHz. The Extra portion of the band runs from 3.600 to 3.700 MHz. The Advanced portion runs from 3.700 to 3.800 MHz. The General portion runs from 3.800 MHz to the top of the band at 4.000 MHz. All General frequencies are available to Advanced and Extra licensees, of course.

So the next step is to start listening in the evening for clear frequencies. Please report the frequency and the time you listened along with the day of the week so that we can pick a mostly clear spot for a regular weekly net. By the way, the net does not have to be weekly – it could be daily, a couple of times a week, or whatever Handiham Radio Club members think is appropriate and reasonable. Send your reports to me over the coming week so that we can move on to the next step and get the word out about our new 75 m net.

By the way, there are no plans to make this a formal traffic net or anything like that. While I wouldn't rule out the possibility of handling traffic, I think it would be fun to just have a nice social net on HF during the long winter evenings. As with the daily EchoLink net, we could enlist net control stations or simply have a more or less uncontrolled roundtable gathering. Maybe we will have some of both, depending on who shows up to join in the fun!

Please e-mail me this week with your frequency and time suggestions, frequency reports, and other suggestions about the net.

73,

Patrick Tice, WA0TDA
Handiham Manager
wa0tda@arrl.net

Handiham World for 20 October 2010

Welcome to Handiham World!

It's time for a new HF net - Part 2

Last week we said : We need at least consider moving our HF net to 160, 75, or 40 meters, and those bands are likely to be most useful in the evening. Because 160 requires a very long antenna, it is impractical for many users. 40 can get crowded, but requires the shortest antenna of the three. Of course we can consider reviving our 17 meter "non-net roundtable", which was originally started by Alan, K2WS, but the sun will have to spit out a few more spots for that band to get where it needs to be. So what do you think? 160? 75? 40? Or something else? And what about the time and day?

Interestingly enough, the 75 meter band seems to be favored so far. More than one respondent has suggested that we would have the best chance of success in the Extra Class segment of the band. The reason cited was that the General segment is crowded in the evening when the band is open to longer distance communications and thus most useful for our purposes.

I think we can agree that the 160 meter band is "out" because of the antenna requirements. 40 is a good alternative because of its propagation characteristics, but the phone portion of the band is less than half that available on 75 meters and there is no doubt that it will be difficult to find some open real estate for an evening net. Besides, we already have the CW net on 7.112 MHz.

So what do you think? A 75 meter net in the evening to be in the Extra portion of the band? Remember, only participants with Extra Class licenses would be able to transmit, but anyone could listen. We could initiate a "check in by email", or some similar system, which I have heard on other nets, to accommodate those without transmit privileges. Another idea would be to have the Handiham Radio Club as the net sponsor. We do need regular HRC activities, aside from a single meeting at Radio Camp during the year.

Weigh in! I hope to hear from you about these suggestions soon. Please drop me an email, and I'll share your thoughts with our readers and listeners.

73,

Patrick Tice, WA0TDA
Handiham Manager
wa0tda@arrl.net

QST Reviews Wouxun KG-UVD2 & KG-UVD1P Talking Handheld Radios

The Wouxun KG-UVD1 talking HT created quite a stir at Hamvention in May, both for its low price and for its built-in speech access for the blind. As I stated in a previous story, "Handiham volunteers Larry Huggins, KA0LSG, and Ken Silberman, KB3LLA, both found the new Wouxun 2m/70cm KG-UVD1P HT at Dayton, and Larry actually had his radio along to demonstrate to us at Handiham Radio Camp."

We have had many questions about this radio, but details on its overall quality and functionality were mostly anecdotal. That has changed with a QST review of the latest versions of the KG-UVD2 & KG-UVD1P talking handheld radios by Bob Allison, WB1GCM, ARRL Test Engineer. Bob's article appears in the November 2010 QST, which will be available to blind Handiham members in the upcoming Friday audio updates in the Members Only section of the Handiham website. QST is also produced in audio through the Library of Congress National Library Service and will be available for the new NLS digital players, available to those who qualify for services. The NLS version of QST is the complete magazine without advertising, but it takes some time to produce and is typically around a month later than the print mailing or Handiham digest version.

Handiham World for 13 October 2010

Welcome to Handiham World!

It's time for a new HF net.

When was the last time you thought about getting on 20 m and being part of the Handiham net? Don't be embarrassed to admit that you haven't thought about it for a long time. Neither have I, as a matter of fact, so you are not alone. The 20 m net died several years ago when our last regular net control volunteer Mike Knox, WA0KKE, finally had to throw in the towel.

What happened?

Like many things in our technologically-driven existence, there was no single cause for the demise of the Handiham net. A prime suspect certainly had to be the relentless, never-ending sunspot minimum that we are trying to claw our way out of with limited success, even now in 2010 when the sun should be really perking up. As most of you know, the higher solar activity associated with more sunspots creates ionospheric conditions that favor really good high-frequency radio propagation. In a really good solar maximum, the HF bands crackle with strong DX signals and one can "work the world" with just a few watts of power on bands like 10 and 15 m. Sad to say, it has been so long since we have seen those conditions that many operators have simply drifted away from regular HF operation, especially if they did not have room for wire antennas that would allow them to tune 160 through 40 m, bands that remain usable even during solar minimum conditions.

The 20 m band sits astride the critical part of the HF spectrum that just barely remains inside the "always useful" zone. At sunspot minimum, it is generally crowded with DX seekers and anyone else simply looking for an open band with capability of working stations at some distance during daylight hours. Even then, 20 isn't always reliable when solar storms wipe out the bands. So what happened was that the conditions on 20 simply didn't favor continued scheduled net activities. The net control station would be faced with terrible band conditions and fewer and fewer check-ins. In spite of my efforts to find another net control station, no one was interested, and I guess I don't blame them. Who wants to preside over a net with no stations checking in?

But we can't ignore other factors that came into play during the deterioration of the HF bands during the sunspot minimum. The rise of the Internet followed by the spread of broadband connectivity made EchoLink much more practical and reliable than HF communications. The VHF and UHF repeater systems with EchoLink capability came into their own as HF activity deteriorated. More and more people made the move to EchoLink. The Internet is also a huge factor in siphoning away people from ham radio - and most other leisure time activities. It's not that the Internet is good or bad per se, it's just that people only have so much time for all of the competing leisure time activities, and ham radio is simply finding a new "normal" in this very different world.

Another factor is that a daytime 20 m HF net is simply too hard to conduct when more and more people with disabilities are going to school and work, instead of the "bad old days" situation in which people with disabilities simply sat around housebound. We are glad that those days are gone, but Handiham members who work and go to school cannot be expected to have the time to check into a daytime net on any regular basis. You simply can't count on enough folks having a day off from work or a school holiday to keep a critical mass of net participants.

So what to do?

I would suggest a change in net frequency and timing. We need at least consider moving our HF net to 160, 75, or 40 meters, and those bands are likely to be most useful in the evening. Because 160 requires a very long antenna, it is impractical for many users. 40 can get crowded, but requires the shortest antenna of the three. Of course we can consider reviving our 17 meter "non-net roundtable", which was originally started by Alan, K2WS, but the sun will have to spit out a few more spots for that band to get where it needs to be. So what do you think? 160? 75? 40? Or something else? And what about the time and day?

I hope to hear from you about this suggestion soon. Please drop me an email, and I'll share your thoughts with our readers and listeners.

73,

Patrick Tice, WA0TDA
Handiham Manager
wa0tda@arrl.net

New at the Hong Kong Electronics Fair: Wouxun KG-UV920R

The Hong Kong Electronics Fair opened today, October 13, and runs through October 16.

Amateur radio is about to be introduced to a brand-new entry in the mobile dual-band radio category, the Wouxun KG-UV920R. Although at this time we have little in the way of product specs, the Wouxun dual-band handheld radio that was demonstrated at Handiham Radio Camp early this year created quite a lot of interest because of its built-in speech frequency readout for blind users. The KG-UV920R features dual-frequency display and cross-band repeater capability. It comes with more than a thousand memory channels. It also includes an unusual receiver that covers the short-wave bands! We are waiting for a more detailed specification document so that we can tell if speech frequency readout will be a feature - and we sure hope that it is! At this time, no pricing is available.

Handiham World for 06 October 2010

Welcome to Handiham World!

Photo: John Hoenshell, N0BFJ, enjoys being a VE and handles the paperwork at radio camp sessions and also volunteers during VE sessions at Dayton HAMVENTION. He believes that team members with disabilities can participate in a successful session.

Can a VE session be more than just a process of overseeing test takers in a room and handling their FCC paperwork?

This morning I had a different, but VE-related, question from one of our blind members. She was asking how she might participate in a VE session if she became a volunteer examiner. She mused that being a VE sounded interesting and that she would like to participate, but she wondered if it would be practical since she couldn't see a room full of test takers. Since this topic comes up from time to time, I thought I'd take another look at what a VE session is about. While I am by no means an "expert" VE by experience, I can relate to testing in general - I was trained as a teacher, after all - and I have observed people with disabilities for decades. I have been present at many VE sessions over the years, especially at Handiham radio camps, but have only relatively recently become a VE myself.

I got to thinking about the very best VE sessions I had observed. What made them stand out from the others? It was more than the success of the candidates, though that always helps. It was more than the team arriving prepared and being able to process the paperwork efficiently, too. It was more than promoting the session and arranging a good location, though those things were important.

But what was it?

Well, let's discuss the typical VE session a bit.

Our blind Handiham member is right in assuming that a blind VE cannot observe a room full of test takers as a sighted person might do during a VE session. That does not mean that a blind VE cannot participate. At our radio camp VE sessions, I suggest that blind VE team members sit at the tables where the exam is being read by volunteer readers to blind test takers. This assures that the exam is being proctored so that all rules are followed. A sighted VE simply looking at a room of test takers cannot know what is being said at each table in this kind of an adapted test session. Blind VE team members understand how tests are given to blind candidates and are potentially better at this kind of observation than anyone else.

The paperwork table is probably one place a blind VE would not be as useful. In every VE session, the team leader should try to match skills & capabilities with the tasks at hand. If there are no blind test takers to proctor, a blind VE might instead be part of the meet & greet team, setting candidates at their ease and answering the usual questions about what to expect during the testing, any rules of conduct (no smoking, quiet please, bring test to table at the side of the room when finished, etc.) As testing progresses and candidates start to turn their exams in for grading, a blind VE can then be stationed outside the testing room to answer questions that candidates might have. Typical information requested ranges from when they can use their new privileges if they pass an element upgrade to the location of the rest rooms.

Another job that every VE team has is communicating test results to the waiting candidates. There is no reason a blind VE cannot help with this job - and a savvy VE team leader will know who is best-suited for the hardest job - the delivery of the bad news. If a blind VE can handle telling a candidate that they didn't pass but can do so in such a way as to help that person accept the news in a positive way, the entire VE team will be grateful! You don't have to see to help candidates, successful or not, learn more about your ham radio club. Post-testing is a great time to talk with candidates and invite them to club and ARRL membership, and yes, even Handiham membership if they have a disability.

For the excited new Technicians and Generals, you might start a conversation about which radios are best, pointing out the availability of the club's repeater system or the best ways to check out the the HF bands during the improving sunspot cycle.

In the end, a successful VE session is one that provides an opportunity for the candidates not only to pass their exams, but to leave the test site with the information and enthusiasm that will carry over to participation in the club and regional activities as well as getting on the air! When you look at a VE session as more than just three team members overseeing a room of test takers, you can easily find places for blind VE team members to be a part of this most rewarding of volunteer activities.

I hope to hear you on the air soon.

73,

Patrick Tice, WA0TDA
Handiham Manager
wa0tda@arrl.net

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A dip in the pool

No one told you there was going to be a quiz, right? I thought it would be fun to pick a question out of the question pool and see how many of us can remember the right answer. Ready? Here we go:

E6A02

What type of semiconductor material contains more free electrons than pure germanium

or silicon crystals?

A. N-type

B. P-type

C. Bipolar

D. Insulated gate

Did you pick answer A, N-Type? That's the right choice, and easy to remember if you think of "N" standing for "negative" and an excess of electrons in a material would give it an overall negative charge.