Courage Kenny Handiham World Weekly E-Letter for the week of Wednesday, 01 January 2014

Welcome to Handiham World.

Happy New Year from all of us at Handihams!

The Handiham office is closed on New Years Day and will reopen on Monday January 6, 2014.

Since I am actually sending this out on December 31, you still have time to donate to support the Handiham program. 

• Giving is easy by clicking this link: www.couragecenter.org/GiveToday 
  Be sure to use the pull-down to designate Handihams as the recipient of your gift. 

To make a credit card gift call 763-520-0542. Be sure to mention the Handiham designation option to ensure your dollars support the program. 
Thank for you supporting ham radio and the Handiham program. We wish you a very fine and prosperous new year.  (And of course good DX!)

From the archives, it's Daily on the Air (DOTA) - Something to resolve to do in 2014:

I've noticed that there isn't much activity on my local repeater. Perhaps I'm just not listening at the right times, but I've sampled the repeater throughout the day on different days of the week, and aside from some scheduled net activity, users seem to be maintaining "radio silence"! I don't think this is just true of my local repeater, either. Some repeaters have always been more active than others, but the overall activity level just seems to me to be down over the past few months. 

Every experienced ham radio operator knows that there is an ebb and flow in ham radio interest and activity, sometimes corresponding with the season. Here in North America, during the winter, we are likely to be challenged by difficult driving conditions that may spur an increase in repeater activity during commuter "drive time". Ham radio is seen by some as a wintertime activity, so repeater activity can pick up simply because people are stuck indoors. There is a daily rhythm to the use of a typical repeater as well, with long-time users sometimes appearing at the same time of day for a short exchange. But getting back to my repeater, there are long, silent stretches of dead air throughout most of the day. I know there are people out there either listening at home or in their vehicles, but the repeater is still going unused. 

What to do? I decided that I'm going to try an experiment. I call it the "DOTA", or "daily on the air". That way it rhymes with "GOTA", which, during Field Day, stands for "get on the air". With DOTA I simply resolve to have a contact on my local repeater every single day. It doesn't have to be long, nor does it have to be at any particular time. It could be with a person I already know, or it could be a random contact with a person I have never met on the air. If I don't hear anyone, I will just say, "WA0TDA listening", and see if I can shake someone loose! My DOTA plan went into effect this morning, and, not hearing anyone on the repeater, I made a short call. Immediately, another member of my radio club answered and we had a short conversation. He told me about his new transceiver, and how he was planning to earn his HF privileges. During the rest of the day, I think it might be a good idea to listen to the repeater and see if I hear anyone calling. My QTH is only about a mile south of interstate Highway 94, and I may be able to hear stations new to the area as they operate mobile and check out the Twin Cities repeaters. After all, if I were driving someplace and wanted to have a QSO, I would want someone to answer me if I made a call on their repeater system!

My theory is that activity builds more activity. When a repeater is perceived by the local ham radio community as one that is reasonably active, it is more likely to get used. Try DOTA yourself and let me know if it works for you. 

Patrick Tice, WA0TDA
Courage Kenny Handiham Coordinator

Read or listen to the entire edition here.

Courage Kenny Handiham World Weekly E-Letter for the week of Wednesday, 25 December 2013

Welcome to Handiham World.

And a Merry Christmas to you!

This week we are taking a few minutes to think about what is important on a day like Christmas.  Lots of gifts!
No, gifts are nice, but I'm really talking about getting together with family and friends to celebrate the season, whichever tradition you follow.  The traditional message of peace is a theme that the world could use, and add to that kindness, sharing, respect for each other...  Pretty soon we are all getting along!
So, since it is Christmas day, I'll wish you all a merry Christmas.  And since we celebrate many holidays this time of year, I'll also wish you a wonderful, happy holiday season from all of us at Handihams! 

Patrick Tice, WA0TDA
Courage Kenny Handiham Coordinator

Entire Episode - Read or Listen

Courage Kenny Handiham World Weekly E-Letter for the week of Wednesday, 18 December 2013

Welcome to Handiham World.

A dip in the pool - first thing this week!

Read/listen here - entire podcast/eletter

It's time to test our knowledge by taking a dip in the pool - the Amateur Radio question pool, that is. 
Last week we went to the Extra Class pool and examined a question about VHF/UHF operating, which created some controversy:

E2C06 asked, "During a VHF/UHF contest, in which band segment would you expect to find the highest level of activity?"

The correct answer was: C, "In the weak signal segment of the band, with most of the activity near the calling frequency."

Two Handiham volunteer instructors disagreed with the question's wording.

Matt, KA0PQW:

Hi Pat, Just a little bit on VHF contesting. While you are right most of the contesting is in the weak signal part of the band there is an FM-only category. It is also true that 146.52 is off limits, but they do use 146.55 and 146.58 and some other frequencies on two meters. On all of the rest of the bands 6 meter FM, 1.25 meters, and 70 cm and higher you can use the FM calling frequencies. Two meters is the only band that using the FM calling frequency 146.52 is not allowed, so you can certainly contest on 52.525, 223.500, 446.000, and higher bands. Seems to me that question is not well asked. I have seen a few other questions like this, some of which are more opinion than fact.

I hope this helps some. Thanks & 73,
 Matt,  KA0PQW

Bill, K9BV:

I disagree with C (and probably the FCC!) because a contest would wipe out any weak signal operation!!! Therefore, D is the best choice as most contests seem to operate near calling frequency, especially if the contest is lightly attended...

Bill - K9BV

Matt and Bill are both right, but of course the QPC (Question Pool Committee) would probably point out that in any multiple choice exam one is supposed to pick the "most correct" answer.  Even so, given the great variability in contests and usage by band, I'll have to concede that this isn't really that easy to answer. 

This gets me to thinking about the question pools and how some of the questions can seem clear enough when they are first added to the pool, but once feedback is received from the greater amateur radio community, such deficiencies get called out.  In other cases, the technology changes faster than the pool questions, and that can leave questions about legacy technologies still sitting there in the examinations we place on the table in front of the candidates. 

I thought about this last week when I was preparing my audio lecture on television, specifically fast scan amateur television.  There are several - actually more than several - questions related to cathode ray tubes (CRT's) and the scanning technology that has become mostly irrelevant between the time these questions were conceived and today, when LCD screens and digital TV are the norm.  Most of us no longer have any devices with CRT's in them anywhere around the house!

The point is that the QPC always has a challenge keeping the pools relevant to today's technology while also producing clear, unambiguous questions.  This is most definitely NOT an easy job, so be sure to check out the pre-release versions of the question pools as they are posted on the NCVEC website.  Having good questions in the pools is important, and if you spot something that is in error or not clear, you may have a chance to weigh in to get it changed.  It is best to bounce your thoughts off a friend who is familiar with the pools to find out if he or she concurs with your opinion on the question.

Finally, I think we should have a new question this week, and it comes from the General Class pool:

G2B01 asks, "Which of the following is true concerning access to frequencies?"

Possible choices are:

A. Nets always have priority
B. QSO’s in process always have priority
C. No one has priority access to frequencies, common courtesy should be a guide
D. Contest operations must always yield to non-contest use of frequencies

The correct answer is C, "No one has priority access to frequencies, common courtesy should be a guide." 

Guess what?  This is another one of those questions where there is room for interpretation!  In selecting the MOST CORRECT answer, you can often look for qualifiers like the word "always" in the answer.  In this case, three of the four answers have "always" in them, and that should set off the warning alarm that those choices may not be correct.  The reason is that in the real world, "always" covers too much territory.  Few things are "always" correct.  For example, if answer B had read "QSO’s in process usually have priority" instead of "QSO’s in process always have priority", I would have to choose that as the best answer, at least as correct as answer C.  Similarly, if answer A had read "Nets sometimes have priority" instead of "Nets always have priority", which could certainly be the case in a communications emergency during a Skywarn activation, that one would be equally correct. 

Today's homework: Help keep wrong or ambiguous questions out of the final release. The newest Technician Pool for July 1 2014 release is available for your inspection at the NCVEC website.

Please e-mail handiham@couragecenter.org to comment.

Patrick Tice, WA0TDA
Courage Kenny Handiham Coordinator

Courage Kenny Handiham World Weekly E-Letter for the week of Wednesday, 11 December 2013

Welcome to Handiham World.

Change is in the wind.

I'm looking at a page from a 1968 Allied Radio Knight-Kit catalog, and reminding myself what it was like in the heyday of short-wave listening.  The "Ocean Hopper" said it all right in its name, which conjured up dreams of far-off places around the globe.  On the same page there is the "Space Spanner" 2-band receiver kit, which would let you "thrill to broadcasts from Moscow, Rome, and Havana".

Yes, those were heady days for a young guy who just got his General Class license.  Like many ham radio enthusiasts of the day I had begun my exploration of the science and art of electronics by listening to the radio.  First it was AM broadcast, which I discovered would serve up distant stations late at night.  We had an old RCA Victor radio, and I discovered that it had something called "short-wave".  After figuring out that there was a place to connect a wire antenna I discovered that there was an entirely new world of radio out there, and one didn't need to stay up late into the night to hear stations from around the world!  Back then, all nations considered having an official short-wave service a necessity, and if they could afford to set one up, they did.  Havana put a stout signal into cold, wintery Minnesota and made me think about palm trees and Caribbean beaches. Radio Moscow had an air of dangerous intrigue - a propaganda outlet for Communism, for heaven's sake!  The BBC was a stalwart, highbrow source for world news.

When I visited the ARRL website, as I do every day, I spotted a story about good old short-wave listening: Voice of Russia — former “Radio Moscow” — to End Shortwave Broadcasts.  Yes, another international service has bitten the dust.  Not, mind you, that I would have even noticed had it not been for the ARRL story.  Like most of us, I get my news and information from many different sources, all of which have access to world-wide stories.  The Internet has made world-wide communication so ubiquitous that I rarely even stop to consider that it's the reason I actually listen more to the BBC now than I did back in the days of short-wave.  The BBC is carried on my local public radio service, Minnesota Public Radio, and is available as an Internet stream as well as on the FM broadcast band.  Unlike the Ocean Hopper, my FM radios and my Grace WI-FI radio serve up a perfect signal anytime without regard to the vagaries of short-wave propagation.

Is this good? Or bad? 

I guess the only answer is "yes" because it is really both.  It's good to have more reliable, clear reception.  It is there when I want to listen, and I don't have to put up with fading and interference. On the other hand, Internet-dependent radio is also a potentially brittle technological confabulation, mostly reliable and getting more so, but still potentially breakable.  It's just that there are so many points at which the break can happen:

• Your home network could fail or reassign IP addresses, interrupting connectivity.
• Your ISP could experience an outage for many reasons - equipment failure, overload, or damage to infrastructure, such as when a fiber optic cable gets cut by an excavating crew or storm damage cuts an overhead cable or topples a tower.
• Bad guys could mount an attack on a web service, interrupting streaming.
• A government could deem a service to be undesirable and block it.  So could an employer, if you listen at work.
• A computer problem at your own PC could disrupt streaming.  We all know that our home computers are complicated and depend on hardware and software dancing together perfectly!

Short of losing power or having a solar storm, short-wave is going to be there for you.  It's simpler and therefore less "brittle", and less likely to break.  In fact, the same thing is true for Amateur Radio in general, assuming that the Internet is not a link in a radio system.  This ability to stand alone without complicated infrastructure is one of our features!

But, as we suggested, change is in the wind.  Short-wave broadcasting has been declining in importance for a long time, and the world has become increasingly dependent on Internet communications.  To me, that makes our unique ability to carry on standalone communications even more valuable!  If the power goes down, I can get going again on emergency power.  I can't say the same thing about an Internet outage.  I like the Internet and use if for lots of things, even ham radio applications like logging, remote base operation, and VoIP services like Echolink and IRLP.  But here's the thing:  I may embrace the changes that made these services possible, but I have not - and will not - forget about short-wave and its unique advantages.  I'll enjoy the BBC on  an Internet radio, but I won't set aside my HF station. 

You just never know when you'll need to "ocean hop" without a smartphone or computer.

Patrick Tice, WA0TDA
Courage Kenny Handiham Coordinator

Read or listen to the entire newsletter this week.

Courage Kenny Handiham World Weekly E-Letter for the week of Wednesday, 04 December 2013

Welcome to Handiham World.

Last week we talked about display advertising in ham radio publications and how blind readers did not have access to it due to postal regulations. There is a resource we discovered that will work for you!

Blind?  Try alternative ways to access ham radio advertising content on the web.

Since most of us relish the display advertising in all of the ham radio publications, I'm not surprised that one of the most popular activities at Handiham Radio Camp is our discussion of the display ads in the current magazines.  Last week's e-letter and podcast featured some news about what I saw in the latest magazines.  Of course that kind of discussion is fun, but it's hardly comprehensive and it probably doesn't cover what you are looking for at any given time.  For that kind of targeted research, you turn to the web. 

The Internet is a big place.  That is at once both an advantage when you are searching for something and a disadvantage.  There is truth to the saying that you can't really sip information from the Internet - it's more like trying to drink from a fire hose, with the information coming at you fast and at high volume.  This is a problem for guys like me who can see the pages of search results, but blind computer users experience the web in a different, more linear way.  With screen reading programs providing the necessary interface between the computer and the user, content must be read a line or phrase at a time. You cannot quickly take in an entire page on the screen.  That makes searching a challenge, and it means that blind computer users need to have a strategy to target their searches in order to narrow the results more efficiently. 

While looking through my December 2013 QST print version, I discovered what is just the ticket:  An on line version of the QST Index of Advertisers that appears at the back of every issue.  The URL is: http://www.arrl.org/ads/adlinks.html, which takes you to a page entitled "Meet Our Business Partners".  This page is open to any user, whether logged in to the ARRL website or not.  The thing that makes it really useful is that it closely mirrors the Index of Advertisers in the print version of QST while providing links to advertiser websites, or in some cases, toll-free phone numbers. 
Well, if QST has that kind of resource, how about CQ?  I know that the print CQ has an "Advertiser's Index" at the rear.  Sure enough, a visit to the CQ website did turn up "CQ Amateur Radio Advertiser Links", exactly what I was looking for.  The URL is: http://www.cq-amateur-radio.com/cq_advertisers.html. Like the ARRL page, there are links to advertiser websites as well as phone numbers.

"This is a bonanza", I thought to myself.  "Is there a third list on the Worldradio Online site?"
Sure enough - the URL is http://www.worldradiomagazine.com/wr_visit_ads.html and the site is called "Visit Our Advertisers". 

I suggest that you save all three websites in your browser bookmarks.  I have lots of bookmarks, so I've created a "Ham Radio" bookmark folder just for Amateur Radio related pages. Whether you can see the ham radio display ads or not, these bookmarks will prove useful many times as you research new products or simply look for contact information from Amateur Radio manufacturers and services. 

Happy hunting!

Patrick Tice, WA0TDA
Courage Kenny Handiham Coordinator

Check out the entire issue and podcast here.

Courage Kenny Handiham World Weekly E-Letter for the week of Wednesday, 27 November 2013

Welcome to Handiham World.

What you don't see

Blind?  What do you miss in special-format publications designed for blind readers? 

In this edition of your weekly Handiham World we are taking some time to review a part of some of the amateur radio magazines that many of our members are never able to access. Sure, you can read articles when they are made available in DAISY from the Library of Congress National Library Service, and that is a wonderful service indeed. In fact, when the December magazines come out, there is no way for our members to know what might be showing up in the display advertising. Postal regulations do not allow free matter content to include any advertisements, only articles. This leaves our members with a somewhat incomplete experience. I'm basing my conclusion about this on the fact that I and most everyone else I know spend plenty of time looking at the display ads to see what is new in Amateur Radio technology and services. You can't always depend upon any publication to review new radio equipment at the same time that it is first being offered to the public via display advertisements. If you have ever had the experience of talking on the air or at a radio club meeting with your fellow ham radio operators and being surprised to hear about some innovative new technology, you can get a feeling for what we are talking about here. If you depend on NLS DAISY downloads or cartridges, you will have no idea what is going on in display advertising within any of the usual Amateur Radio publications unless someone who can see the display ads fills you in.
Now, I want to make it clear that we don't take any advertising ourselves nor does this edition of your Handiham World contain any ads. What I am going to do is simply look through the December QST and the November CQ and produce a short narrative of what I am seeing that seems worthy of mentioning. It is up to you to figure out how to access any manufacturer's website or your favorite ham radio dealer if you want to find out more, since we don't sell anything ourselves and heaven knows we are not "tech support" for every radio, gadget, and service that you might find out about in these publications. What I hope to do is give you an idea what is going on in a somewhat general way so that you can follow up on the things that catch your interest.

Read or listen:  Handiham World

Courage Kenny Handiham World Weekly E-Letter for the week of Wednesday, 20 November 2013

Welcome to Handiham World.

Reading online

Which devices and software do you use to access websites and read online publications? 

Are any of them accessible?

Here I am, holding up my Google Nexus 4 smartphone running the Kindle app.  The screen displays a page from "Treasure Island" - "Fifteen men on the dead man's chest -- Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!"

Novels like Treasure Island are a breeze to read on a smartphone with the right software. My wife uses a Kindle Fire, which has a bigger screen, but I prefer the Kindle app on my much more portable smartphone. Both of us can see the screens, so accessibility issues are related to the size of the text.  Both devices allow us to resize the text for comfortable reading. Since I use bifocals, I appreciate the accessibility on these devices. Both also browse the web, and the trend toward  "mobile" websites is much appreciated.  These websites feature larger text that flows to the available space as well as a simpler, less cluttered website structure. 

Read or listen to the entire newsletter here.

 

Courage Kenny Handiham World Weekly E-Letter for the week of Wednesday, 13 November 2013

Courage Kenny Handiham World Weekly E-Letter for the week of Wednesday, 13 November 2013

This is a free weekly news & information update from Courage Kenny Handiham System. Our contact information is at the end, or simply email handiham@couragecenter.org for changes in subscriptions or to comment. You can listen to this news online.  
MP3 audio:http://www.handiham.org/audio/handiham.mp3
Get this podcast in iTunes:

RSS feed for the audio podcast if you use other podcasting software:http://feeds.feedBurner.com/handiham

 

Welcome to Handiham World.

Failing the Technician

A quick path to failure is to make an all too common mistake...

Here's the scenario:  An eager young man shows up at a VE session, ready to take that first step into Amateur Radio by passing the Technician exam and getting a callsign. He has studied and feels prepared.  The exam is only 35 multiple choice questions covering a subject he knows well from having read through the study guide several times. It won't be hard to get the required 75% passing grade, 26 questions or more correct.

Shortly after settling down at an exam table, he starts working his way through the test booklet.  It seems odd, but some of the questions seem to be out in left field - there are topics he doesn't recall from the book.  Other questions are worded differently than he remembers them, but he can take an educated guess at the answer.  When it's time to turn in the exam materials for grading, he doesn't feel quite so confident.

Waiting outside the testing room isn't easy.  Finally the door opens and a volunteer examiner approaches him.  There's no big smile on the examiner's face as he gets the bad news:  he's failed the Technician exam and will not join the ranks of ham radio operators, at least not today.

What went wrong?  He had studied, putting a lot of time and effort into the preparation for this examination. He'd taken plenty of other tests before and knew how to study. 

The volunteer examiner felt bad, too.  She asked him about his studies. 

Had he studied prior to the exam? 

Yes. 

Had he taken any on line practice exams?

No, he didn't know about the websites that offered such a service.  His rural location had poor internet access and all of his computer time was spent at school or the public library, mostly for homework.

The volunteer examiner had an idea. "Did you bring your study guide along with you?", she asked.

Yes, he had the book along, and pulled it out of his backpack and handed it to the VE.

As soon as she saw the book she recognized it - a popular study guide that was published in 2001.  No wonder this young man had gotten so many questions wrong.  There had been many rules and regulations changes in the past decade alone, and the question pool was completely different.  Even the questions on electronics were reworded, with many new ones chosen to replace older ones on any given topic of radio safety and theory. Since he didn't take any on line practice exams, he didn't find out that the questions in his book were long out of date.

Does this sound like a made-up story?  Well, I did make up this scenario, but I based it on a real-world incident that is being discussed right now on an Amateur Radio instructor forum. The young man and his disappointing mistake are real.  The discussion forum is parsing the reasons why such a thing could happen: Old books lingering on library shelves, books handed down from someone else and used past their expiration date, ignorance of on line practice exam resources, and more. 

There's a special reason I'm writing about this today.  Later on this evening I'll be part of my own club's VE team, the same team that fields exams at our Handiham Radio Camps. Like all of our team members, I'm eager to see new hams walk out of our test session, smiling as they carry their CSCE's and thinking ahead to how they will set up their stations.  Some will be there for upgrade exams, and they too will be thinking of new frequencies to use and perhaps which HF gear to consider to accommodate their new goals of DX operation or contesting. Believe me, no one wants to see newbies succeed more than the VE team members.  I love to give out good news when I step out of the exam room to see a candidate who is awaiting his or her results.  And it's really hard to give out bad news.  You can't help thinking about your own experience with studying and taking exams, and how you felt when you passed or failed, then finally passed and got your license. 

What advice do you give to a candidate who didn't make it?

Job one is to identify the problem and make helpful, positive suggestions on how to correct it.  You are there to help the candidate succeed.  It is best to avoid being judgmental, so instead of telling the candidate that he should have looked at the forward pages of the study guide to determine that it was out of date or that he should have known about practice exam sites, it is far better to simply suggest a current study guide and write down the web addresses for some good practice exam sites.

The next thing to do is to assure the candidate that yes, an Amateur Radio license is well worth the effort and that they can - and will - pass the examination, given the right preparation.  This is a good time to have some practical information ready to hand out to the candidate:  A list of upcoming VE sessions, practice exam websites, and suggested study guides. If time allows, you might also make some suggestions about how to study, especially if the candidate indicates that certain concepts were really difficult to master.

I hope that tonight's session is a good one.  I love to give out "good news", but I've done this long enough to know that some candidates might not pass.  If that happens, I'm ready.

Patrick Tice, WA0TDA
Courage Kenny Handiham Coordinator

More at handiham.org.

Courage Kenny Handiham World Weekly E-Letter for the week of Wednesday, 06 November 2013

Welcome to Handiham World.

Cart before the horse? 

Think your station plans through before you start buying equipment!

This stack of three Icom IC-7200 transceivers was at the Icom booth at Hamvention® one year.  One is painted in camo, the next is Army green, and the third is the stock black case.  All are fitted with the optional front facing handles to expedite use in the field and protect the front panel.  I certainly like my own Icom IC-7200 and often recommend it to others, but I have many years of amateur radio experience and I have to be careful about assuming what others may or may not know about setting up a station. It is easy to see a display like this or hear someone at the local radio club meeting talking about HF operation and the radio that they prefer and then to make the assumption that the same radio will work for you.

That is not always the case! There is a lot to setting up an amateur radio station, especially an HF station, and it is easy to get so wrapped up in finding the right radio that one can forget about planning the antenna and feedline system, the logistics of the ham shack itself, and the practical questions about how all of this will fit into family life and daily activities. It's not only HF either. Echolink operation seems awfully appealing, but if you have ever interfaced a radio with the computer and have had to wrestle with port forwarding in a home router, you know that a starry-eyed newbie is in for what could be a rough ride getting things set up.

Over the years I have spoken with many people who have placed the cart firmly before the horse. The most difficult are those who have purchased hundreds or even thousands of dollars worth of amateur radio equipment before passing their license exams. Others have their licenses but have acquired equipment that is not practical for their situations.  Still others buy gear or software that they think does one thing but really does something else.  It is amazing to me how far some of these projects get before the light bulb goes on and they realize that the project is not on the right trajectory!

What can you do to avoid putting the cart before the horse? 

Read or Listen Here.

Courage Kenny Handiham World for 30 OCT 2013

Welcome to Handiham World.

Don't miss it this weekend: The “Remembering the Edmund Fitzgerald” Special Event

Split Rock Lighthouse - November 2 & 3, 2013

 The Stillwater Amateur Radio Association (SARA) , a Handiham affiliated club, will be operating to commemorate the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Using the club’s call sign, W0JH, twenty SARA members will operate from Split Rock Lighthouse (ARLHS USA 783) in Lake County, Minnesota. This year marks the 38th anniversary of the ship’s mysterious sinking.  

“This is the ninth year we’ve participated in this special event from the shores of Gitche Gumee (Lake Superior),” according to SARA activities & events chair, Dave Glas (W0OXB). “For our operators and more than a thousand hams around the world, it’s been a popular event that pays tribute to all hands lost on the famous iron ore carrier.”

W0JH Operating Schedule - also see the Special Events listing on ARRL.org and in November QST:

Saturday, November 2 and Sunday November 3 2013

• 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM Central Standard Time
• 3.860, 7.260, 14.260, 21.360, 28.360 MHz, plus or minus QRM

Join us in Remembering the Edmund Fitzgerald and her crew by making contact with W0JH!

Read or listen to the entire newsletter.

Courage Kenny Handiham World Weekly E-Letter for the week of Wednesday, 23 October 2013

Welcome to Handiham World.

Remote Base Station Proves a Challenge to Manage This Month

The W0ZSW remote base gets regular use each day, and we're pleased with its good record of on line availability.  Pictured here we see the TS-480HX rig, twin Astron RS-20A power supplies, a new recently donated LDG AT-1000 Pro 2, the backup LDG AT-200 Pro, the host computer, and on the wall a Radio Works line isolator.  The instruction manuals are nestled up against the side of the computer, always available for a quick lookup if there is some kind of operations question. 

Read or listen here.

 

Courage Kenny Handiham World Weekly E-Letter for the week of Wednesday, 16 October 2013

Welcome to Handiham World.

Simple antenna makes life easier

HF antennas have a way of getting really complicated.  We would like them to work every HF band, cost almost nothing to buy or build, be DX magnets, and - for good measure - be invisible to the neighbors and homeowners' association! This simple fan dipole antenna system is easy on the pocketbook, works great, tunes well, and can't be seen from the street.  It can be taken down in minutes by one person, but is sturdy enough to stay up all winter here in Minnesota. 

More at:

http://www.handiham.org/drupal2/node/263 

 

Handiham World podcast for 09 October 2013

Read or listen:

http://www.handiham.org/drupal2/node/262

Handiham World Podcast for 02 October 2013

Last week we shared our summer antenna woes, detailing the demise of the big olive tree that held up one end of the W0OXB double extended zepp antenna at W0ZSW.  This past Monday we had some pretty brisk winds out of the south. I thought it was pretty breezy when I took Jasper out into the back yard that morning, but it wasn't the sort of wind that felt unusual as the seasons change here in southern Minnesota. 

Read & Listen:
http://www.handiham.org/drupal2/node/256 

Handiham World Podcast for 25 September 2013

Read or listen to this week's Handiham e-letter and  podcast:

http://www.handiham.org/drupal2/node/249

Handiham World Podcast for 18 September 2013

Was Radio Camp was too short this year?

We think so, and some of you do, too. We take surveys to find out what people think, and one thing that came to the fore this year after the July Radio Camp session was that although camp was fun and campers really enjoyed the competitive get-on-the-air contest, there was just not enough time to spend getting everything done. Some campers felt that the session needed to be longer to make travel from out of state worthwhile.

Read or listen:   http://www.handiham.org/drupal2/node/248

Handiham World Podcast for 11 September 2013

Welcome to Handiham World.

9/11 - pause to consider how Amateur Radio has changed to respond in emergencies.

 

Handiham World Podcast for 04 September 2013

Long ago I had a part-time job fixing consumer electronics at a small, independent retail store.  Bill, the store's owner, did a big business in TV sets and appliances like washing machines and refrigerators.  In those days, TV sets were 100% analog and were failure-prone because of the less sophisticated design and assembly processes of the day, the use of high-voltage at the CRT (picture tube), and the limitations of vacuum tube and semiconductors of the day.  So Bill pretty much had to have a "service department" to repair the TV sets that he sold as well as sets that he hadn't sold but that might need repair or (hopefully) replacement with a new set.

Read more or listen to the podcast:
http://www.handiham.org/drupal2/node/244

Handiham World Podcast for 28 August 2013

My little dog Jasper needs to go out first thing in the morning, so a little after 5:00 AM we made our way out through the garage and back door into the waning Minnesota night. 

There it was - staring us right in the face:  The constellation Orion, marching into the southeastern sky with his faithful hunting dogs, Canis Major and Canis Minor, following behind.  The thing is... Orion is a WINTER constellation. It hardly seems like winter can be knocking at our door when the temperatures here have been over 90 degrees and it is, after all, still three weeks until autumn equinox.

But there it is: The days are getting shorter and that means we will slide quickly down the steep slope of the analemma - the thingy on a globe that looks like a number "8" bisecting the equator.

A slide down toward autumn and into winter is fast, and we will notice that the daylight hours are quickly fading here in the northern hemisphere even as they grow longer south of the equator. Less daylight will mean less sun to create the annoying D-layer absorption on the 80 meter band, and that means that it is time to think about how you can leverage 80 and 75 meters to have some great contacts that can range from local and regional to DX!  This morning, with Jasper busy burying his snout in his food bowl, I decided to wake up the ham shack for the day and started by dialing across the 75 meter band.  It was still well before sunrise, but there was some thunderstorm static skipping in from the southern states.  There were also plenty of 5-area callsigns on the air, meaning that 75 meters was a clear pathway between north and south this morning.  As the day dawns and the sun rises, so does the D-layer absorption.  By mid-day, the band will be mostly abandoned because propagation is so poor that near-vertical incidence propagation is nearly dead, thanks to absorption.  But as the days grow shorter and Orion sticks around all night long, the 75 meter band will become a go-to place for getting on the air and really having a lot of fun.

Read or listen:

http://www.handiham.org/drupal2/node/243

Handiham World Podcast for 21 August 2013

The fact that I can type this story out on a keyboard is due only to the sheer luck of good timing. 

In my early days as a young and clueless guy in  my 20's, I had rented a house with a yard and put up a used tower to support my 2-element Gotham quad antenna.  The antenna had been on a tower at my parents' house, and I had managed to disassemble it and get it down to the new location. As most of us know, when you have just started out on your own you have a very tight budget, and at that time I felt pretty lucky to be able to have a multiband transceiver and an antenna. At that stage of life there is no alternative but to watch every penny. I'd built the radio, a Heath HW-101, from a kit. The Gotham quad was just plain downright cheap, made with the lightest, cheapest aluminum alloy, wooden dowels, and cheesy plastic standoffs for the thin single-conductor aluminum wire elements. It covered 10, 15, and 20 meters, though - three bands that I liked using almost every day.  (This was pre-internet, of course.)

Read or listen:
http://handiham.org/drupal2/node/242

Handiham World Podcast for 14 August 2013

If your schedule is off-the-charts busy during summer you are not alone!  Radio clubs are stirring, awakening to a new season of meetings - and there is a sudden realization that it's only TWO WEEKS UNTIL SEPTEMBER!  The newsletter isn't started! No one arranged for a club program, either.  The meeting room wasn't reserved.  What to do?  Where to start? Who does what?  Help!

Read and listen:
http://www.handiham.org/drupal2/node/240

Handiham World for 07 August - Podcast Release

Deciding on a new radio soon?  Consider the Kenwood TS-590S, but think about the other good options out there.

Let's start by saying that this is not another rig review.  You can get reviews from QST and CQ and plenty of opinions, educated and otherwise, on the internet. There are loyalties to brands that transcend individual models and that can lead to recommendations for one rig over another even though the well-meaning advice is wrong. 

It has been said that if a dozen amateur radio operators are asked which radio or antenna is best, there will be a dozen different opinions!  I have been asked for radio and antenna advice many times over my ham radio career, especially in the past couple of decades working in the Handiham office.  It can be hard to stay open-minded when you prefer a particular manufacturer's products, but that is what I - and you - have to do when someone asks you for advice, especially if they are a newbie.

Read or listen to the entire story or podcast here:

http://www.handiham.org/drupal2/node/239

Or at our secondary site:

 http://www.handiham.net/node/1378

Handiham World for 24 July 2013

Welcome to Handiham World.

Image: Pat, WA0TDA, poses with 2 meter quad antenna used for hidden transmitter hunting.

Radio Camp final preparations are underway

We are getting the final packing done for the upcoming Handiham Radio Camp session, since it begins on Sunday.  As you might expect, several of us will be at Camp Courage already on Saturday 27 July to put up antennas and get the stations tested and ready to go on the air. We will have W0ZSW and W0EQO remote base stations available to the campers, just as those stations are available to other Handiham members everywhere else. To avoid confusion, we are most likely going to use our personal callsigns while operating the camp stations.  We'll need to discuss this and come up with a workable solution.

Read or listen at:

http://www.handiham.net/node/1377

 

Handiham World for 17 July 2013

Handiham World for 17 July 2013 is posted for reading or listening:
http://handiham.org/drupal2/node/235

Handiham World for 10 July 2013

Your Handiham World is ready!  Read or get the podcast audio:

http://www.handiham.org/drupal2/node/234

Handiham World for 03 July 2013

The latest audio podcast and e-letter news are posted:

http://www.handiham.net/node/1373

Handiham World for 26 June 2013

Read & listen at:
http://www.handiham.net/node/1372

Handiham World for 19 June 2013

Read or listen here:
http://www.handiham.net/node/1371

Handiham World for 12 June 2013

Read the issue or listen to the podcast at:

http://www.handiham.net/node/1370

Handiham World for 05 June 2013

Your Handiham World is on line!

Link to website and Podcast Audio:
http://www.handiham.net/node/1369

Handiham World for 29 May 2013

Courage Center Handiham World Weekly E-Letter for the week of Wednesday, 29 May 2013

Welcome to Handiham World. This is the last edition of the "Courage Center Handiham World Weekly E-Letter" - but don't worry, we are not going away.

Read or listen here:
http://www.handiham.net/node/1366

Handiham World for 22 May 2013

Courage Center Handiham World Weekly E-Letter for the week of Wednesday, 22 May 2013

This is a free weekly news & information update from Courage Center Handiham System. Our contact information is at the end, or simply email handiham@couragecenter.org for changes in subscriptions or to comment. You can listen to this news online.  

Read or listen here:

http://www.handiham.net/node/1365

Handiham World for 15 May 2013

Notice:  We are closed from Wednesday afternoon until Monday morning, 20 May for Dayton HAMVENTION®.

Read or listen to the weekly podcast. This week we speculate about what you might expect at Dayton, explore plans for a ham radio summer, and bring you up to date on other tidbits of news from Handiham headquarters. Follow the link:
http://www.handiham.net/node/1363

Handiham World for 08 May 2013

The end of the very long winter seems to be at hand here in Minnesota. Spring has been cold and snowy, and-believe it or not – there is still ice on some of the lakes in northern Minnesota. Reports tell of 20 inch ice.

Today we are enjoying 77° weather with plenty of sunshine here in the Twin Cities, which is in the southern part of the state. Of course the amount of sunshine we get drives the change in seasons. We are getting more hours of sunshine each day here in the northern hemisphere, and not only does that bring warmer weather (eventually) to places like Minnesota, it also brings summertime operating conditions on the HF bands.

Read more or listen to the audio podcast:
http://www.handiham.net/node/1362

Handiham World for 01 May 2013

Read or listen to the full Handiham World here:
http://www.handiham.net/node/1359

Handiham World for 24 April 2013

Handiham World is ready to read or listen to as an audio podcast! Here's the link:
http://www.handiham.net/node/1358

Handiham World for 17 April 2013

Handiham World is ready to read or listen to as an audio podcast!  Here's the link:
http://www.handiham.net/node/1357

Handiham World for 10 April 2013

Your Handiham World is ready to read, download, or listen to as a web article or an audio podcast. Here's the link:
http://www.handiham.net/node/1356

Handiham World for 03 April 2013

The Handiham World for 03 April is on line and available at the iTunes store as a free audio podcast. Visit iTunes and search for "handiham".

Here is your weekly e-letter in web format with pictures and links:
http://www.handiham.net/node/1355

Handiham World for 27 March 2013

Your weekly Handiham World is ready in podcast audio and on our server! 

Here's the link: http://www.handiham.net/node/1354

Handiham World for 20 March 2013

Get the latest news on our weekly podcast and e-letter page. It's on line at:
http://www.handiham.net/node/1353

Handiham World for 13 March 2013

The latest Handiham World is on the server!  Read about batteries - and how I was impressed by an iPad's longevity at:

http://www.handiham.net/node/1352

Patrick Tice, WA0TDA
Handiham Manager

Handiham World for 06 March 2013

The latest news from your Handiham World Newsletter, available as an audio podcast or in HTML on the web:

http://www.handiham.net/node/1351

Handiham World Weekly E-Letter for 27 February 2013

Courage Center Handiham World Weekly E-Letter for the week of Wednesday, 27 February 2013

This is a free weekly news & information update from Courage Center Handiham System. Our contact information is at the end, or simply email handiham@couragecenter.org for changes in subscriptions or to comment. You can listen to this news online.  
MP3 audio stream:
http://www.handiham.org/audio/handiham.m3u
Download the 40 kbs MP3 audio to your portable player:
http://www.handiham.org/audio/handiham.mp3
Get this podcast in iTunes:
http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=372422406
RSS feed for the audio podcast if you use other podcasting software:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/handiham

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Welcome to Handiham World.

New release of 6.20200 remote base software brings back CW!

We lead off this week with a report on what is happening with the Internet Remote Base project.  Thanks to Jose, KK4JZX, for the following report:

It’s here! 6.20200

Yes, folks, another update to the Web Transceiver client. Another milestone achieved! Want to have 200 watt support, well we have it and we want you to try it on W0ZSW. Much more robustness, well, we have it, thus you benefit! Welcome to the new and improved remote base client. One short month brings lots of fixes for version 6.2 of the client. Give it a try, and you will find that the new client boasts some nice improvements. You asked, we answered! Take advantage of a very new version of web transceiver with improved default browser support. Yes, you are reading correctly, we have implemented default browser support. For those of you who wanted the client to launch your default web browser, well you got it, try it now! How about CW support? Well, it was always there but we simply overlooked one coding error and finally fixed it for version 6.2. Our good friends can now continue using CW as the CW filters have been fixed.
Update as soon as possible to take advantage of the new and improved Web Transceiver. If you find something wrong, just e-mail us. We can tell you that your request won’t go into the bit bucket. The sooner you report issues, the sooner issues will be fixed. So, what are you waiting for? Get yourself to the new download page and get the latest version of web transceiver. Once you update, you will officially be at version 6.2.0.200 and you can begin taking advantage of some of the new and improved Remote Base client features.
We wish you the very best of luck, 73 : KK4JZX

The future of the W4MQ remote client is bright. We hope that, as we continue to enhance this client, we are able to provide value. Look for the following enhancements as we move forward: 1. Screen Reader Accessible versions of W4MQ
2. Support for new versions of Skype
3. Better support for hot keys within the client
4. and much much more!
Happy operating - From The Handiham Remote Base Client Team!

The Remote Base health report for today is a good one: W0EQO and W0ZSW are both on line and there is only one scheduled outage for mid-afternoon at W0ZSW, where the rig control computer will need to be rebooted for updates from Microsoft.  Please join me in thanking our remote base team volunteers for their wonderful effort!  Read more and download the new client at the remote base website: 
http://handiham.org/remotebase/
Patrick Tice, WA0TDA
Handiham Manager

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Correspondence:

Jose, KK4JZX, writes about the Thursday Tech Net:

I want to thank all those folks that joined us on the TechNet last night. It was truly amazing. We had a very interesting scenario in which there is a Plasma television. The issue was that every time the operator keys up, the TV freezes and has to be reset. There was an incredible amount of discussion surrounding this topic. We had other topics of course but it was truly amazing. Join us next week as we discuss many other Amateur Radio related technology topics.

73,
Jose – KK4JZX

Gord, VA3WXA, wrote WEATHER RADIO LISTENERS NEWSLETTER NET IRLP REFLECTOR CHANGE:

As has been mentioned in a past issue, Gord, VA3WXA has started a newsletter and a net on IRLP on Saturday evenings to go along with it. It was on IRLP reflector 9034 up until December 8th and since then it is now on IRLP reflector 9038. You can also connect to it via Echolink VE3ZHR-L 591897. The Weather Radio Listeners Newsletter Net meets on Saturday evenings at: 8:00 PM AT, 7:00 PM ET, 6:00 PM CT, 5:00 PM MT and at 4:00 PM PT. The main focus is on Weather Radio but we are also open to talking about SKYWARN and other related topics. We have recently started a roundtable section after taking check ins and any weather or Weather Radio related topic is fair game. The latest issue of the newsletter is now out and there is a lot of material that may be of interest to most people. The section devoted to SKYWARN and CANWARN is getting some interest from the National Weather Service and Environment Canada, with this issue discussing Superstorm Sandy and even an article on the North American Ice Storm of 1998.

If you aren't on the mailing list already and you would like to join, send an email to blindgordie@gmail.com.

Since the last article on this topic we have had 2 new recipients thanks to this weekly newsletter and hopefully there are more of you who are reading or listening to this that are interested.

Thanks & 73,
Gord, VA3WXA

Ken, K3FMK, found a bunch of ham radio related apps for Apple devices: 

Hello! Here are just a few ham radio apps I found for the Apple iPod Touch, iPad Mini, iPad or iPhone:

Antenna Array
Antenna analyzer
CQ Roll Call Insight (Seems to be some sort of newspaper for ham radio operators.)
Echolink (For the iPod Touch and the iPhone.)
Elevation (Current elevation GPS and Map in meters or feet)
Frequency Counter
Ham (iPhone ham radio app)
Ham Dashboard (iPhone ham radio app) $2.99
Ham Radio Handbook (Good reference for ham radio!)
Ham Square (iPhone ham radio app)
Ham Tracker (iPhone ham radio app) $2.99
HamIAm (Good reference for ham radio!)
HRO (Ham Radio Outlet)
iPTT (Push To Talk)
iSDR (Receiver covering 7179.7 kHz to 7222.0 kHz)
Maidenhead (Latitude, Longitude and Maidenhead within 100 meters)
My Altitude (Coordinates (x2), Altitude, Metric and English, Barometric Pressure)
Q Codes
QST (Digital version ARRL magazine)
SICE Telecom
Air GHz! Advanced Radiolink Calculator
Skype

If memory serves me correctly, many were free from the App Store! When I checked with the App Store for "ham radio" apps, the total came to 199. But, I only managed to check out about 125. Although many were free, or $0.99 and a little higher, I did find one at $24.99. Can't remember the name, but I think it had something to do with repeaters. I hope this selection works reasonably well for you and when you check the App Store, you find more that will fit your needs!

73 de K3FMK, Ken 

Editor's Note:  Thanks for that list, Ken.  There are some great ham radio apps out there!

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Handiham Nets are on on the air.

We are on the air daily at 11:00 USA Central Time, plus Wednesday & Thursday evenings at 19:00 USA Central Time.  

The official and most current net news may be found at: 
http://www.handiham.org/nets 

Daily sessions:

• Monday through Saturday 11:00 AM social net with designated net control station. Everyone is welcome to check in.
• Sunday morning 11:00 AM informal Roundtable with no net control station or designated topic. Check in with your friends and enjoy a Sunday morning chat!

Evening sessions:

• Wednesday evening Handiham Radio Club Social Net with a trivia question. This is a friendly, directed net with a net control station and the opportunity to answer a trivia question,  if you wish.
• Thursday evening Handiham Radio Club TechNet, a directed net with a net control station for the purpose of discussing technical topics in amateur radio. If you have a question or a technical problem, check in and report it to the net. Perhaps you will find an answer in the ensuing discussion, or perhaps you will be able to answer someone else's question about a technical issue.

EchoLink nodes:
Welcome to the NX0P repeater,  146.685 with a tone of 100Hz,  Echolink node number 513917.  The NX0P machine is near Albert Lea in far southern Minnesota, near the busy intersection of US Interstate highways 90 and 35. 
*HANDIHAM* conference server Node 494492 (Our preferred high-capacity node.)
*VAN-IRLP*, node 256919
KA0PQW-R, node 267582
KA0PQW-L, node 538131
N0BVE-R, node 89680
On the 220 MHz band: 223.94 negative offset, Arden Hills, MN Tone 100 Hz - KA0PQW (link)
Other ways to connect:
IRLP node 9008 (Vancouver BC reflector)
WIRES system number 1427

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A dip in the pool

It's time to test our knowledge by taking a dip in the pool - the question pool, that is! 

Let's go to the Extra Class pool and look at a question about logic:
E7A10 asks, What is a truth table?
Possible answers are:
A. A table of logic symbols that indicate the high logic states of an op-amp
B. A diagram showing logic states when the digital device’s output is true
C. A list of inputs and corresponding outputs for a digital device
D. A table of logic symbols that indicates the low logic states of an op-amp
Wikipedia tells us that "...A truth table is a mathematical table used in logic—specifically in connection with Boolean algebra, Boolean functions, and propositional calculus—to compute the functional values of logical expressions on each of their functional arguments, that is, on each combination of values taken by their logical variables..." and that "truth tables can be used to tell whether a propositional expression is true for all legitimate input values, that is, logically valid."
You may not be thinking "logic" when you think about studying electronics, but it is at the core of the subject these days, thanks to the common use of digital devices.  Turning again to Wikipedia, we find that "Boolean algebra is the sub-area of algebra in which the values of the variables are the truth values true and false, usually denoted 1 and 0 (respectively)."
So what this means is that we can have electronic switches - lots of them - in different states of on or off and in millions of different combinations.  Make a circuit out of these things and pretty soon you have yourself a nice amateur radio transceiver!  So what IS a truth table?  It's answer C, A list of inputs and corresponding outputs for a digital device.  As we design a circuit, we look at a need presented by the circuit, then we choose a digital device that can satisfy that need.  To do this, we use truth tables.  The truth table allows us to figure out what happens in a solid state logic gate by showing us the options of what happens at the device's output when certain conditions are present at the input.
So it might go, "If two inputs are both positive (or "on" or "high" or whatever you want to designate the off/on state), then the output will be negative (or "off" or "low" or whatever you want to designate that on/off state.)  But if only one input is high and the other is low, then what happens at the output of the solid state gate?  That is what the truth table will tell you. It is what you will use to pick the gate you need to make your circuit do what you want under the conditions you call for. 
You can find out more about Boolean logic and truth tables in your Extra Class study manual, and on Wikipedia.  Now that's logical, Mr. Spock!
Please e-mail handiham@couragecenter.org to comment.

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This week @ HQ

We had a report that the audio podcast was not titled for the past three weeks.  I have been unable to identify why this is a problem as the metadata is included in the MP3 file and the podcast does show up on iTunes.  However, this particular user was getting the podcast via Juice.  If anyone can suggest a solution please contact us.
The DAISY digest for our blind members is in production for March.  Our thanks to Bob, N1BLF, Jim, KJ3P, and Ken, W9MJY, for reading this month.  Watch for these DAISY materials in the members section on Friday.
Spring Break!  The Handiham office will be closed March 8 through 12 for Spring Break.  This office closing does not affect other Courage Center programs and services.
Photo:  The great room in a typical wheelchair-accessible cabin at Radio Camp. Each cabin sports a complete kitchen for snacks and a laundry. 
Radio Camp application packets will be ready for mailing in late March. 2013 camp dates call for arrival on July 28 and departure on August 2.  We have confirmed that we will offer our campers who pass Technician at camp brand-new handheld radios. Radio camp will emphasize ham radio fun and getting on the air.
We will feature:

• Technician beginner small group class - Get your first license and get on the air!
• General Class study group for those who need a quick review before taking the General exam.
• Extra Class study group for those who need a quick review before taking the Extra exam.
• VE session conducted by SARA, the Stillwater (MN) Amateur Radio Association, on Thursday, August 1, at 1:30 PM. 
• Operating Skills small group get on the air sessions and discussions
• Extra Class seminar for those with Extra Class licenses who want to participate in more advanced technical projects and discussions
• Several stations to operate, including maritime mobile on the camp pontoon boat with Cap'n Bill, N0CIC
• Sailing with Skipper Bill, K9BV
• Handiham Radio Club meeting and elections
• Dining in the nearby newly-remodeled Woodland dining hall. 
• Fun in the sun during Minnesota's excellent summer season - at Camp Courage on beautiful Cedar Lake!

For a Radio Camp application, email Nancy at hamradio@couragecenter.org or call her at 763-520-0512.
Our scheduled Extra Class lecture this week will cover the next section as we continue the topic of digital logic, and it will be available on Friday afternoon if all goes well. All courses, Tech though Extra, are on line for your use whenever you want to study or review. Teaching is done with thoughtful attention to descriptions for those who are blind, and we promote understanding concepts rather than simply memorizing the question pool.  If you would like to use this service but do not understand how, please contact us.  We can also put the audio lectures on your DAISY digital NLS cartridge if you prefer that method instead of downloading or streaming audio from the website. Our latest audio lectures cover concepts in the Extra Class course. Please join us in whatever course you need, and also please let us know if you would like a specific topic covered in our Operating Skills lecture series.
Handiham net information and news: The official and most current net news may be found at: 
http://www.handiham.org/nets 
Digital mailers are important: If you do mail a digital cartridge to us, please be sure that it is an approved free matter mailer. Otherwise it will quickly cost us several dollars to package and mail out, which is more than the cost of the mailer in the first place. We don't have a stock of cartridges or mailers and not including a mailer will result in a long delay getting your request back out to you.
DAISY audio digests are available for our blind members who do not have computers, playable in your Library of Congress digital player.  Handiham members who use these players and who would prefer to receive a copy of the monthly audio digests on the special Library of Congress digital cartridge should send a blank cartridge to us in a cartridge mailer (no envelopes, please), so that we can place the files on it and return it to you via free matter postal mail.  Your callsign should be on both the cartridge and the mailer so that we can make sure we know who it's from. Blank cartridges and mailers are available from APH, the American Printing House for the Blind, Inc.
Digital Talking Book Cartridge Catalog Number: 1-02610-00, Price: $12.00
Digital Talking Book Cartridge Mailer Catalog Number: 1-02611-00, Price: $2.50
Order Toll-Free: (800) 223-1839.
The Library of Congress NLS has a list of vendors for the digital cartridges: 
http://www.loc.gov/nls/cartridges/index.html
Get it all on line as an alternative:  Visit the DAISY section on the Handiham website after logging in.

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Stay in touch

Be sure to send Nancy your changes of address, phone number changes, or email address changes so that we can continue to stay in touch with you. You may either email Nancy at hamradio@couragecenter.org or call her at 763-520-0512.  If you need to use the toll-free number, call 1-866-426-3442. 
Handiham Manager Patrick Tice, WA0TDA, may be reached at handiham@couragecenter.org or by phone at 763-520-0511.  
Mornings Monday through Thursday are the best time to contact us. 
The Courage Handiham System depends on the support of people like you, who want to share the fun and friendship of ham radio with others. Please help us provide services to people with disabilities. We would really appreciate it if you would remember us in your estate plans. If you need a planning kit, please call. If you are wondering whether a gift of stock can be given to Handihams, the answer is yes! Please call Walt Seibert, KD0LPX, at 763-520-0532 or email him at walt.seibert@couragecenter.org.  
Call 1-866-426-3442 toll-free. -- Help us get new hams on the air.
Get the Handiham E-Letter by email every Wednesday, and stay up-to-date with ham radio news. 
You may listen in audio to the E-Letter at Handiham Weekly E-Letter in MP3 format
Email us to subscribe:
hamradio@couragecenter.org
That's it for this week. 73 from all of us at the Courage Handiham System!
Pat, WA0TDA
Manager, Courage Handiham System
Reach me by email at:
handiham@couragecenter.org

Nancy, Handiham Secretary:
hamradio@couragecenter.org

ARRL is the premier organization supporting amateur radio worldwide. Please contact Handihams for help joining the ARRL. We will be happy to help you fill out the paperwork!

The weekly e-letter is a compilation of software tips, operating information, and Handiham news. It is published on Wednesdays, and is available to everyone free of charge. Please email handiham@couragecenter.org  for changes of address, unsubscribes, etc. Include your old email address and your new address.

Return to Handiham.org

Courage Center Handiham World Weekly E-Letter for the week of Wednesday, 20 February 2013

This is a free weekly news & information update from Courage Center Handiham System. Our contact information is at the end, or simply email handiham@couragecenter.org for changes in subscriptions or to comment. You can listen to this news online.  
MP3 audio stream:
http://www.handiham.org/audio/handiham.m3u
Download the 40 kbs MP3 audio to your portable player:
http://www.handiham.org/audio/handiham.mp3
Get this podcast in iTunes:
http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=372422406
RSS feed for the audio podcast if you use other podcasting software:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/handiham

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Welcome to Handiham World.

Remote Base Report

We lead off this week with a report on what is happening with the Internet Remote Base project.  This is because we have made really good progress with the software, and also because we have to explain why this whole process is not as straightforward as you might think.
First, a summary of what it is.  The Handiham System operates two internet-enabled high-frequency amateur radio stations, W0EQO and W0ZSW.  These club stations consist of Kenwood TS-480 transceivers interfaced to computers that are always running and connected to the internet. Approved users can log into either of the stations and control the radios, both for transmit and receive, and get on the air.  This remote control operation allows users who cannot get on the air with their own stations, perhaps because they have no room for antennas, to enjoy HF amateur radio operating from a real HF station. 
The rig control software is available from the Handiham website, but that wasn't always the case.  It was kindly shared with us by Stan, W4MQ, the software author, because he wanted to see that it would be updated and continue to be available free of charge to amateur radio operators everywhere even though he would no longer be doing the updating. Bob, N2JEU, had taken over this task before we came on board - but sadly, Bob became a silent key before he could reach his goal.  It was shortly after that when we approached Stan for permission to work directly with the software.  A long time has passed, but we have made solid progress and have released our first update this past January.  A software development team led by programmer Jose Tamayo, KK4JZX, is responsible for managing the software. 
When the January software release was made available, it solved several serious problems, including delays in the software's response to commands. That delay could be very annoying when operating on the air. Unfortunately we did not realize that we had broken the CW filter system, leaving our CW users with only a very narrow 50 Hz filter, effectively killing Morse code operation!  That will be fixed in the next release, as will a number of other things on our task list. I mention this because it is always hard to work with something as complicated as software.  Even commercial software developers hit bumps in the road and have to send fixes and updates to their customers.  We appreciate hearing from you whenever you find something wrong or if you have a suggestion to make something better.
But the software, although it is our major effort right now, is only a part of the remote base picture.  The hardware - the stations themselves - are themselves complex installations that sometimes require intervention.  The usual tasks are editing the station configuration files to add new users or to change something about how the station operates, rebooting the W4MQ host software, updating other software - including Windows - and just making sure that everything is still working.  Outdoors, the stations have antennas that must stay up and in good condition in spite of snow, ice, wind, rain and whatever else the weatherman throws our way!  One recent improvement was the mitigation of RFI from a nearby plasma TV set at the W0ZSW location. When you are responsible for stations like these, there is always something going on.  It is not a "set it and forget it" type of operation, and we depend on users to tell us when something is not working right.
Another important but sometimes overlooked part of the Internet Remote Base project is the website support pages.  Since we are a small team, we have little time to work closely with individual users who need tech support. That is where the website can help to answer user questions and guide them in everything from installation and setup to problem-solving later on.  Here is a partial diagram of how the oldest part of the website support pages are organized.

Doing the website work is my job, and others contribute some of the text.  Since our first station came on line in 2009, the website has been around in one form or another to help users get started.  The problem is that as our remote base operations changed and grew, we kept adding to the old website.  Now that website has outdated information, and worse still, it is difficult to navigate and find what you want. This was brought home to me recently when I went to look for some information myself and had a hard time figuring out where to go.  This means that it is time to bring the Remote Base website up to a higher standard.  We will be working to move all of the information from a static directory on Handiham.org to a database-enabled Wordpress site at http://handiham.org/remotebase/.  This will make it easier to manage the information we put on the site and keep it up to date.  In the current system we have too many things to manage, and sometimes information appears in two different places.  Whenever that happens, there is always the danger that one page will say something different than the other.  Having everything in one place will add much more reliability to the site and an additional bonus will be a search field that will help users find what they want more quickly.
So to sum up, we are working in three major areas:

1. Software development, maintenance, and testing
2. Hardware and station maintenance
3. Support and website services

This is not a trivial amount of effort!  And when you consider that none of it even existed prior to 2008, when planning began, it is all the more impressive to see what our team has accomplished. As we move forward, we must manage our resources - business talk for not biting off more than we can chew.  This will mean limiting the user base to being primarily a Handiham service, even though we do regularly get requests for Remote Base access from nonmembers.  This will have to extend to tech support as well.  It makes sense to ration our time helping members rather than someone who is not a member.  On the other hand, since we do honor the spirit of Amateur Radio in helping each other whenever possible, we might consider some more interactive support solution such as a Yahoo Group for the remote base, which was suggested by Eliot, KE0N.  Such a support group would be a place to post questions and solutions about remote base operation so that users would have a place to go for help no matter where they live and whether or not they are Handiham members.  Of course we will also have the Remote Base website, which will be available to anyone for information and support.
Next, you see a photo of the W0ZSW remote base station itself, showing the TS-480HX transceiver, two Samlex SEC switching power supplies, the Systemax rig control computer, and the LDG AT-200PRO automatic antenna tuner. Both of our stations use RIGblaster interfaces to connect the radios to the computers.

You may be wondering why there are two of the SEC 1235M power supplies instead of just one, as you would find in a typical station.  Each supply can deliver 30 amps, but the Kenwood TS-480HX radio requires more current when operating at full power.  The usual solution is to use two "regular" power supplies as we have done, but you can also use a single supply if it is capable of delivering over 40 amps. One of the changes coming with the newest software upgrade will be 200 watt operation on several bands.  We had only been able to use the TS-480HX at 100 watts because that is the highest power level setting in the old version of the rig control software. 
Antenna tuning is a potential problem with any club station, where you are going to have a number of different operators with different skill levels and different goals in where and how they want to operate. One person will want to operate 40 meter CW.  Another will try snagging new contacts on 6 meter SSB. The antenna at the W0ZSW station is a 200 foot long "W0OXB Special", which is a type of double extended zepp wire antenna fed in the center with 450 ohm ladder line running to a current balun and then to 50 ohm coax and an antenna tuner. The tuner must be retuned every time the station's frequency is changed substantially, and you can't depend on every user to be able to do that consistently and accurately.  That's why we chose an automatic antenna tuner, the LDG AT-200 Pro, to put in the coaxial line between the TS-480HX and the current balun. This excellent and reliable tuner tunes itself automatically when RF is applied at transmit.  No other user intervention is required, making it about as foolproof as we can manage. It is worth mentioning here that the radio does not even have its own internal antenna tuner as some do.  The TS-480HX (High Power) model gives up the internal antenna tuner available in the 100 watt TS-480SAT in order to fit in the larger amplifier components. In the future, we may make antenna improvements or add a second antenna, which is supported by the software.  W0ZSW is located in Woodbury, Minnesota, east of the Twin Cities metropolitan area and not far from the Wisconsin border. Its grid square is EN34mv. 
Here is a picture of the W0EQO remote base station at Courage North, in Northern Minnesota's pine forest and lake country, located in grid square EN27me.  This is close to the headwaters of the Mississippi River. The station is a Kenwood TS-480SAT transceiver, a single Samlex power supply for 100 watt operation, an LDG AT-100 Pro automatic antenna tuner, and the rig control computer. The station is in an unheated equipment room in a region where outside temperatures can reach below minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit (-34 C.)  Outdoors, the northern lights flash through the sky on dark star-filled nights and bears and wolves roam the woods. Needless to say, there is not a lot of urban RF interference here and the station is considered to be in a quiet location.

The antenna at W0EQO is a 125 foot G5RV, which is strung between two tall pine trees. Because the antenna will not tune on all bands, this station cannot be used on 160 or 6 meters.  Neither station will transmit on 60 meters, although receiving is allowed anywhere the radio's frequency can be set.  Although the radio does have an internal antenna tuner, this feature is disabled and the antenna is tuned automatically by the external LDG tuner as soon as RF is applied on transmit. The LDG matches a wider range than the internal tuner and does not require any special operator intervention. 

The Remote Base health report for today is a good one: W0EQO and W0ZSW are both on line and there are no scheduled outages.  Please join me in thanking our remote base team volunteers for their wonderful effort!

Patrick Tice, WA0TDA
Handiham Manager

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Correspondence:

Jose, KK4JZX, writes:

To Handiham Members and Volunteers,

We are making progress and continuing to work on enhancing the remote base client software.  The Remote Base Beta team has been working diligently in testing some very exciting fixes and features that will be released soon.  If you have suggestions for improving the remote base client software, let us know and we will add your suggestions to the list.  The sooner you get your suggestion in, the sooner you might see it in a future update.  Want a peek at what’s coming up?  Well, stay tuned as we continue to work to release the next version which will include fixes for the default browser issue and many more enhancements.  

Thank you and enjoy.  73:  KK4JZX 

Ken, KB3LLA, passes along an invitation to visit Sendero Group at CSUN:

Join Sendero at CSUN 2013 in San Diego, February 27 - March 1 when we unveil what many of you have been eagerly awaiting!

What's new:

* Demonstrating the fully accessible turn-by-turn GPS iPhone application, The Seeing Eye GPS, in the Sendero Suite and at the booth.

* Announcing Sendero PC GPS, now you can run Sendero GPS as well as the virtual maps on your Windows laptop, ultrabook or tablet.

* Calling for testers, Sendero is conducting research on a People Finder application made possible by a grant from the Department of Education.

* Releasing 2013 Maps for BrailleNote, Braille Sense and Mobile Geo.

Visit http://senderogroup.com/news/csunform.asp to sign up and join in the fun!

Jim, KJ3P, writes about his volunteer recordings for the monthly DAISY digest, enjoyed by our blind members:

As always, I welcome your feedback, especially regarding the number and choice of articles.

73,
Jim Perry, KJ3P

Editor's Note:  You may email us at handiham@couragecenter.org and we will pass your comments on to Jim and to our other reading volunteers. 

Avery, K0HLA, recalls the Postal Service's delivery schedule in the old days:

Seems to me that when I was a young lad:

1) Post cards were a penny

2) Letters were 3 cents

3) There was no postal delivery on Saturdays to non-business addresses.

4) There was delivery on Saturdays only to business and emergency organizations like fire, police, hospitals, etc.

So, this NEW "no delivery on Saturdays" is not new. What is the big deal ?  

73 & DX de K0HLA Avery
( CW Forever )

Mike, W1MWB, responds to the call for a new Worked All States challenge:

I think an IRB and conference-based WAS challenge would be a good thing. For example, just the other day I heard a station in NH calling for the NH QSO party. It was AF1T, whom I worked on 2 meter simplex. However, on 20 meters I could not get through the pileup as he was probably a bit too close geographically. If I had been on one of the handiham IRBs I would have most likely been able to make the contact, so I think utilizing the IRBs would be a good thing, and as you said, using the *HANDIHAM* server and associated systems would be good practice for new folks coming into the hobby. I look forward to hearing more on this. 

73 for now,
Mike, W1MWB

Tom, KB3HG, writes about how people need to listen more during contests:

Good Humor for the contest, but didn't MN just have a QSO party of late? I tried to make contact;  have a Boy Scout with me. What a bunch of contest alligators - all mouth and no ears, they never shut up. I'm a Delaware station and wanted to give a few contacts away. Not a chance; not 5NN so no returns. A mighty poor showing for a scout to see. If I get one scout started it will go to five or more real quick. I have managed to generate interest in the radio merit badges and now the new ribbon for the scouts.  

Tom, KB3HG
FM29CQ
Newark, DE 19711

Editor's note:  How many times have we mentioned in this very publication how important it is to listen?  It bites to realize you might have worked Delaware had you only taken the time to listen carefully!

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Handiham Nets are on on the air.

We are on the air daily at 11:00 USA Central Time, plus Wednesday & Thursday evenings at 19:00 USA Central Time.  

The official and most current net news may be found at: 
http://www.handiham.org/nets 

Daily sessions:

• Monday through Saturday 11:00 AM social net with designated net control station. Everyone is welcome to check in.
• Sunday morning 11:00 AM informal Roundtable with no net control station or designated topic. Check in with your friends and enjoy a Sunday morning chat!

Evening sessions:

• Wednesday evening Handiham Radio Club Social Net with a trivia question. This is a friendly, directed net with a net control station and the opportunity to answer a trivia question,  if you wish.
• Thursday evening Handiham Radio Club TechNet, a directed net with a net control station for the purpose of discussing technical topics in amateur radio. If you have a question or a technical problem, check in and report it to the net. Perhaps you will find an answer in the ensuing discussion, or perhaps you will be able to answer someone else's question about a technical issue.

EchoLink nodes:
Welcome to the NX0P repeater,  146.685 with a tone of 100Hz,  Echolink node number 513917.  The NX0P machine is near Albert Lea in far southern Minnesota, near the busy intersection of US Interstate highways 90 and 35. 
*HANDIHAM* conference server Node 494492 (Our preferred high-capacity node.)
*VAN-IRLP*, node 256919
KA0PQW-R, node 267582
KA0PQW-L, node 538131
N0BVE-R, node 89680
On the 220 MHz band: 223.94 negative offset, Arden Hills, MN Tone 100 Hz - KA0PQW (link)
Other ways to connect:
IRLP node 9008 (Vancouver BC reflector)
WIRES system number 1427

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A dip in the pool

It's time to test our knowledge by taking a dip in the pool - the question pool, that is! 

Let's go to the Extra Class pool and look at a question about power supplies:
E7D17 asks, "What is the primary reason that a high-frequency inverter type high-voltage power supply can be both less expensive and lighter in weight than a conventional power supply?"
Possible choices are:

A. The inverter design does not require any output filtering.
B. It uses a diode bridge rectifier for increased output.
C. The high frequency inverter design uses much smaller transformers and filter components for an equivalent power output.
D. It uses a large power-factor compensation capacitor to create “free power” from the unused portion of the AC cycle.
The reason I chose this question is that it refers to what are commonly called "switching" power supplies, or "switchers".  These are the supplies we use at both Handiham Internet Remote Base installations.  The reason these supplies can be so much smaller and lighter in weight than conventional supplies is that they do not need huge, heavy transformers.  The correct answer is C: The high frequency inverter design uses much smaller transformers and filter components for an equivalent power output.  Conventional designs operate at 60 Hz, the power line frequency, and their components need to be enormous by comparison to operate at such a low frequency.  One advantage of the conventional design is that it is not likely to generate any interference in the HF range, as is common in switching designs. Most modern switchers have RFI suppression built in, and sometimes include a way to tune an interfering signal away from the ham bands.
Please e-mail handiham@couragecenter.org to comment.

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This week @ HQ

Photo:  The great room in a typical wheelchair-accessible cabin at Radio Camp. Each cabin sports a complete kitchen for snacks and a laundry. 
Radio Camp application packets will be ready for mailing soon. 2013 camp dates call for arrival on July 28 and departure on August 2.  We have confirmed that we will offer our campers who pass Technician at camp brand-new handheld radios. Radio camp will emphasize ham radio fun and getting on the air.
We will feature:

• Technician beginner small group class - Get your first license and get on the air!
• General Class study group for those who need a quick review before taking the General exam.
• Extra Class study group for those who need a quick review before taking the Extra exam.
• VE session conducted by SARA, the Stillwater (MN) Amateur Radio Association, on Thursday, August 1, at 1:30 PM. 
• Operating Skills small group get on the air sessions and discussions
• Extra Class seminar for those with Extra Class licenses who want to participate in more advanced technical projects and discussions
• Several stations to operate, including maritime mobile on the camp pontoon boat with Cap'n Bill, N0CIC
• Sailing with Skipper Bill, K9BV
• Handiham Radio Club meeting and elections
• Dining in the nearby newly-remodeled Woodland dining hall. 
• Fun in the sun during Minnesota's excellent summer season - at Camp Courage on beautiful Cedar Lake!

For a Radio Camp application, email Nancy at hamradio@couragecenter.org or call her at 763-520-0512.
Our Remote Base Health Report will move to its new home on the Wordpress site this week. If you have been in the habit of checking the daily remote base report, you will soon find it at its new home. 
Our scheduled Extra Class lecture this week will cover digital logic and will be available on Friday afternoon if all goes well.  Due to the lack of time, I was unable to post this lecture last week.  All courses, Tech though Extra, are on line for your use whenever you want to study or review. Teaching is done with thoughtful attention to descriptions for those who are blind, and we promote understanding concepts rather than simply memorizing the question pool.  If you would like to use this service but do not understand how, please contact us.  We can also put the audio lectures on your DAISY digital NLS cartridge if you prefer that method instead of downloading or streaming audio from the website. Our latest audio lectures cover concepts in the Extra Class course. Please join us in whatever course you need, and also please let us know if you would like a specific topic covered in our Operating Skills lecture series.
Handiham net information and news: The official and most current net news may be found at: 
http://www.handiham.org/nets 
Digital mailers are important: If you do mail a digital cartridge to us, please be sure that it is an approved free matter mailer. Otherwise it will quickly cost us several dollars to package and mail out, which is more than the cost of the mailer in the first place. We don't have a stock of cartridges or mailers and not including a mailer will result in a long delay getting your request back out to you.
DAISY audio digests are available for our blind members who do not have computers, playable in your Library of Congress digital player.  Handiham members who use these players and who would prefer to receive a copy of the monthly audio digests on the special Library of Congress digital cartridge should send a blank cartridge to us in a cartridge mailer (no envelopes, please), so that we can place the files on it and return it to you via free matter postal mail.  Your callsign should be on both the cartridge and the mailer so that we can make sure we know who it's from. Blank cartridges and mailers are available from APH, the American Printing House for the Blind, Inc.
Digital Talking Book Cartridge Catalog Number: 1-02610-00, Price: $12.00
Digital Talking Book Cartridge Mailer Catalog Number: 1-02611-00, Price: $2.50
Order Toll-Free: (800) 223-1839.
The Library of Congress NLS has a list of vendors for the digital cartridges: 
http://www.loc.gov/nls/cartridges/index.html
Get it all on line as an alternative:  Visit the DAISY section on the Handiham website after logging in.

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Stay in touch

Be sure to send Nancy your changes of address, phone number changes, or email address changes so that we can continue to stay in touch with you. You may either email Nancy at hamradio@couragecenter.org or call her at 763-520-0512.  If you need to use the toll-free number, call 1-866-426-3442. 
Handiham Manager Patrick Tice, WA0TDA, may be reached at handiham@couragecenter.org or by phone at 763-520-0511.  
Mornings Monday through Thursday are the best time to contact us. 
The Courage Handiham System depends on the support of people like you, who want to share the fun and friendship of ham radio with others. Please help us provide services to people with disabilities. We would really appreciate it if you would remember us in your estate plans. If you need a planning kit, please call. If you are wondering whether a gift of stock can be given to Handihams, the answer is yes! Please call Walt Seibert, KD0LPX, at 763-520-0532 or email him at walt.seibert@couragecenter.org.  
Call 1-866-426-3442 toll-free. -- Help us get new hams on the air.
Get the Handiham E-Letter by email every Wednesday, and stay up-to-date with ham radio news. 
You may listen in audio to the E-Letter at Handiham Weekly E-Letter in MP3 format
Email us to subscribe:
hamradio@couragecenter.org
That's it for this week. 73 from all of us at the Courage Handiham System!
Pat, WA0TDA
Manager, Courage Handiham System
Reach me by email at:
handiham@couragecenter.org

Nancy, Handiham Secretary:
hamradio@couragecenter.org

ARRL is the premier organization supporting amateur radio worldwide. Please contact Handihams for help joining the ARRL. We will be happy to help you fill out the paperwork!

The weekly e-letter is a compilation of software tips, operating information, and Handiham news. It is published on Wednesdays, and is available to everyone free of charge. Please email handiham@couragecenter.org  for changes of address, unsubscribes, etc. Include your old email address and your new address.

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