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Onboard the Soyuz transporter will be Expedition 12 Commander Bill McArthur, KC5ACR, Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev and space tourist Greg Olsen, KC2ONX, of Princeton, New Jersey. ... While in space, Olsen plans to conduct Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) school group QSOs with two schools in New Jersey and one in New York. Following joint crew operations, Expedition 11 Commander Sergei Krikalev, Flight Engineer John Phillips, KE5DRY, and Olsen are scheduled to return to Earth October 10 in the Soyuz vehicle now docked at the ISS.

This is in response to your comment but largely addressed to the submitter -- maotx, please don't take the "you" personally in all of this. :)

It's my feeling that every geek should get their ham license. It costs $14 and it's good for 10 years. The study guide for the technician license is published by the arrl and it's called "Now You're Talking". Given that most geeks already know ohms law and how to handle simple wavelengthfrequency conversions you've almost passed right there. Beyond that there's a lot of really obvious stuff ("Why should you wear a hardhat and safety glasses when helping someone work on a tower?" "Er. To protect my eyes and my head..." ). The exam is given in a multiple choice format -- any answer which includes the phrase "control operator" is correct.

Even if you know jack-shit about radio you'll come close to passing just by picking the "correct-looking" answer off the test. SAT style guesswork. Large portions of the exam can easily be gamed: they publish all of the questions, right answers, and wrong answers which will appear on your exam. The hardest part (unless you're really good at rote memorization) is probably memorizing the beginning and end frequencies of each of the bands. This is easy to game because of all of the answers which will appear on your exam only one of them will have the correct width for the band. AA9PW has practice exams on his website. Try it and you'll be amazed at how close you are to passing right now. A single night of study will bring you up to a passing mark.

Don't try and skip on the exam and operate without a license. If you're seriously putting together a convoy to go into the area you can easily get a licensed operator to come in with you and handle any radio contacts on your group's behalf. If you don't know a ham then look up a local club on the ARRL -- or call a local fire department or hospital and ask for the contact information for the local ARES/RACES group. Odds are one of them would love to go down with you -- and will be an extra set of hands. The HAM you get to go with you will probably have a lot better emergency equipment than your group will -- and will have already spent a lot of time drilling for emergencies.

73 DE KE7EWX

There are specific rules for how quickly the paperwork has to be sent out (which unfortunately, I don't have in front of me), but if the VE team really sat on the paperwork for more than about 4 or 5 days, you might consider sending a note to the ARRL VEC to complain, it's not supposed to work that way.

As for the parent comment, it does normally take a few days for this to happen. Our team happens to be very quick about it, but it isn't unusual for the VE team to take a day or so to verify that the paperwork is correct (it'll take a lot longer if there's a missed signature, etc. and has to come back), then it gets send up to HQ, and not always via overnight mail. When they get it, they have some checking to do, then they have to enter the info into the FCC system which generates the callsigns. I'd give it at least 2 weeks to be reasonable before complaining to the VE team.

I have a general class ham radio license and have a 2-meter radio in my 4WD truck and a smaller 2-meter radio that I keep in my backpack. There are two main types of radios that hams use, they use an HF radio for bouncing a signal off the ionosphere and talking to people hundreds or thousands of miles away. If they only want to talk to hams locally or in a nearby city they usually use a higher frequency radio such a 2-meter radio that does not bounce off the ionosphere.

About 5 years ago I had a girfriend who was a ham with a technican class license who had a 2-meter/440 radio in her car. If there was ever a disaster and got seperated we had agreed on which frequencys we should use to contact each other. It is not unusual to hear husbands and wives who are hams checking in with each other while one is at home and the other is doing errands. In a major disaster they should still be able to stay in touch with each other.

I have several battery packs for the 2-meter radio that I keep in my backpack. One is rechageable and the other battery pack is not rechargeable but contains AA alkaline batteries which can be replaced from the extra stash that I always keep on hand. Here in Arizona there are ham radio repeater stations on my of the mountain tops. Most repeater stations have battery and/or solar power backup. The can be used to communicate with hams who live 100 miles or so away on the other side of the nearby mountains. The ARRL has some info about becoming a ham. Most of the local hams all know each others name and callsign.

I also keep several LED flashlights around such as the Pack-lite which are so efficient that they will run for 200 hours on high and 1,200 hours on low. I also keep a couple of 5-gallon cans of water in the back of my truck.

There was actually a lot of news coverage on how the ham operators stepped in when the normal communications infrastructure went down. According to the ARRL web site there were 1000 hams down there helping out.

Anyway, after watching the news I decided to get a ham license. I highly recommend the Now You're Talking Book (available from the arrl or amazon). After only a few days of studying I passed the test.

nd finding a way to listen the Hams is always good,

Being able to talk to hams is even better!

Contact the ARRL to find out how. http://www.arrl.org/hamradio.html

And finding a way to listen the Hams is always good, even when you aren't in an emergency.

For that matter, it also doesn't hurt to become a ham. It isn't that hard.

73 DE KC2IDF

Amen! Luckily for non-hams, most hams are thoughtful enough to help their neighbors in an emergency and not just themselves. The more hams we have, the better off we would be in an emergency. It's not that expensive, and it doesn't take that much time to do. Contact the ARRL for more information on how to get your license. Handheld 2m/73cm radios can be bought very inexpensively in many places. Brands include Icom, Yaesu, Kenwood, Radio Shack, Alinco, ADI, and others. Check out eBay, lots of inexpensive radios and batteries to be bought there.

BPL causes gross EMI radiation on FCC protected bands due to the use of unshielded transmission lines (powerlines are more like antennas) and is also highly sensitive to interference from legal RF transmissions.

BPL has to be killed. If BPL trials come to my area, I'm going to get my HAM radio liscense, a Yaesu 20 meter transmitter, and drive around transmitting legal power and kill all your downloads!

http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/
http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/retrieve.cgi?na tive_or_pdf=pdf&id_document=6515383154

This is HOMEPLUG, not BPL. If you're unwilling (or unable) to acknowledge the difference, you shouldn't be discussing the subject.

In case you were unaware,

http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/files/HomePl ug_ARRL_Dec_2000.pdf

Notice the conclsuion. Then try to continue complaining about interference (which if you don't want to read the pdf, is described by the ARRL as "barely perceptable" with moderate separation of the antenna and homeplug equipment. Moderate separation is described in one place as 60 feet.

Homeplug is working with HAMS. Stop bellyaching about something you haven't bothered to research.

http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/files/HomePl ug_ARRL_Dec_2000.pdf No, it won't.

Read and be enlightened http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/files/HomePl ug_ARRL_Dec_2000.pdf

http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/files/HomePl ug_ARRL_Dec_2000.pdf

Could you please read this, then shut up.

Thanks.

Here is a link. http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/

Aside from this theme, there's the interference: power lines act as antennas that amplify and increase (by air) the frecuencies the BPL modems use. And this is bad for radio comunications, notably amatteur operators.

As mentioned before on Slashdot, Japan's JARL has stopped any implementation of the technology if they could not come with an answer to the interference, and USA's ARRL it's threatening even with legal action, as a nice article they've made stats.

To give you an example of the amplitude of the problem, here in Mexico the technology is seen as a means to compete with the largest provider (some say a monopoly) by smaller companys, they've been granted capital by Google, Goldman Sachs and Hearst Corporation, and they talked with goverment officials (disclaimer: I'm one of them) to get sympathy (on competitive grounds and consumer's benefit), and my side has stated clear that we're not going to support BPL if there's a disruption in HAM's radio comunications.

Ladies and gentlemen: this is a HUGE, and we must wellcome anything that increases competitive business, lowers prices and amplify the reach of broadband access to the Internet, but keeps things as important as Amateur Radio working...

It's kind of sad that these companies have so little respect for the Ham Radio operators.

This is an article from the ARRL webpage discussing some work with Motorola at W1AW:

BPL at HQ: ARRL Cooperating in BPL System Experiment
http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2005/08/29/1/?nc= 1

I don't know what the other BPL developers are doing, btw.

Please cut the whining folks, and read up. I thought that hams were a bit more resiliant than this.

      -Pete Lee
        K7LEE

I'm a Ham and have been keeping up with the test results through QST, a magazine put out to members of the Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL). The ARRL web site has probably all the info you would want at http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/.

I've tried to be objective about the technology, but especially when I see videos of Hams driving around their neighborhoods with an HF rig dialing through the spectrum and hearing nothing but hum from the power lines transfering BPL signals, I can't say I'm very optomistic.

It's also appaling how the FCC has championed this and practically refused to demand BPL trials be shut down when complaints of interference have been filed (and probably every trial has had complaints).

But just think about it. What are antennas but unsheilded wires with a modulated electric current applied to them. That's exactly what BPL is, one giant antenna. How could it not cause interference?

This fatal flaw will seriously limit the way that BPL can be deployed and will decrease the reliability of a BPL system in any area where it is possible that nearby radio transmitters could be operating. Under the FCC's rules, BPL is an unlicensed device that must accept any interference caused to it by authorized radio services. In the past, and through decades of experience, such interference is rare to other broadband services, such as DSL, cable or satellite. However, in all of the BPL areas tested for susceptibility so far, the unshielded wiring that is used by BPL apparently picks up nearby radio transmitters and overload or otherwise degraded the performance of the system. Although this has been seen at power levels as low as 5 watts from Amateur Radio transmitters, Amateur Radio transmitters can use as much as 1500 watts of power, greatly extending area over which BPL will be unable to tune out these over-the-air signals.

See the ARRL.org website for more info. http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/ 73 de W7COM

Will this deployment of Broadband over Powerline cause interference to radio services and be subject to interference from radio services ?

The American Radio Relay league has information on BPL in the USA at

http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/

The Australian Government has information on BPL at

http://www.acma.gov.au/ACMAINTER.2490560:STANDARD: 2099729486:pc=PC_2845

The is at least one large organized group of hams already set up for emergencies which is called the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES). They work in cooperation and their webpage says that the "local ARES operation will usually take the form of nets--HF nets, VHF (repeater) nets, even RTTY, packet or other special-mode nets, depending on need and resources available."

Here are a couple of non-ham related thoughts I have had on emergency communications. I know a couple who travel around the country with a motorhome with "WiFi" hot spot sign on the front. I asked how they did that when he did not have a telephone line where he was staying. He said that he had an internet connection through his small satellite disk. The neighbors with laptops could use his WiFi hotspot. Many RVs are quite self-contained with their own generator, water tank, propane powered refrigerator, propane powered stove and heater and a holding tank for the toilet and so forth. They are desined to stay for several days where there is no electricity or water. I do not know if the roads going into those emergency areas would be accessable to an RV or not. I wonder if something like that with both a WiFi hot spot plus a ham with both shortwave and VHF communications might be useful (I'm just thinking).

Here in Arizona, the local hams and the search and rescue team fixed up an old 4WD army ambulance (or something like that) from the 50's as a search and rescue command and control vehicle. It has an antenna farm on the roof and laptop computers inside. I believe that the sheriffs office or someone gave them the old army ambulance. If I remember correctly, I heard that they put a new engine in the vehicle and repainted it several years ago. I hope I am describing it correctly, since I am not involved with them. I did peek through the door of the vehicle once

Just before Y2k, I had heard that either the city or county had installed an extra fuel tank so that the fire trucks and other emergency vehicles would not run out of fuel in the weeks after Y2K. I was surprised to hear about fire trucks running out of fuel in New Orleans. They must have not prepared for hurricanes as well as a certain town in the mountains of Arizona prepared for Y2K?

The ARRL is now seeking volunteers for deployment to the Gulf Coast area, to assist with Red Cross feeding and sheltering operations.

The Amateur Radio Emergency Services exist to provide communications support the operations of governmental, health, and welfare organizations, such as the Red Cross, Salvation Army, etc. We do not operate as an independent entity, so while your idea of sending a lot more hams sounds good, without the organizations that provide search and rescue, food and water, shelter, etc., we wouldn't be much help.

Try doing a little research:

http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2005/08/30/1/?nc= 1

The ARRL is also asking for volunteers on thier website. Thier are hams operationg from Slidell, and there was also a active station on top of LSU hospital. There has not been a bigger effort because it's incredibly HARD to get around in New Orleans right now. The hams ARE there, have been there and are proceeding to setup operations. Remember, it even took the military sometime to assemble staff and supplies necessary for the effort.

If you want to know how the ham radio ops are helping in this disaster, check out http://www.arrl.org/. US hams are very well organized to help with communications during these event, and we are helping out with this one as well!

David on4bds

The ham operators were told to wait http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2005/09/01/1/?nc= 1 >unless they were totally self suffcient. They sign up to be deployed later http://www.eham.net/articles/11874

This is the live audio stream from the West Gulf ARES Emergency Net which is handling emergency amateur radio traffic for areas hit by Hurricane Katrina. The net is active 24 hours per day.

The US Government SHARES service reports that radio HF, VHF and UHF radio are the only means of communication available. "SHARES was used in numerous cases [August 29] to facilitate communication coordination for both federal and military agencies, and also rescue efforts for stranded civilian personnel," John Peterson said.

Peterson said SHARES, which is part of the National Communication System, will continue to be a major communication facility for federal government agencies and military units responding to the Katrina emergency, and "SHARES stations should be prepared for extended operations." He encouraged any and all reports from affected areas.

SHARES is continuing operation 24/7 on government communication frequencies of 14.3965 MHz days and 7.632 MHz nights throughout the disaster response.

Here are a few stories: 1, 2, and 3.

Here are a few stories: 1, 2, and 3.

Here are a few stories: 1, 2, and 3.

http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2005/08/30/1/?nc= 1 Ham Radio has become a lifeline. I work for the ARRL and I think its great that people are using their ability as Ham Radio operators to help people in crisis. If anyone is interested in becoming a ham, so they can help in an emergency one day, you can call 1-800-32-NEW HAM. ARRL is also helping people try to contact loved ones in affected areas

"A call for help that involved a combination of cell telephone calls and Amateur Radio was instrumental in saving 15 people stranded by floodwaters on the roof of a house in New Orleans. Unable to get through an overloaded 911 system, one of those stranded called a relative in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. That individual, in turn, called another relative, Sybil Hayes in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, whose 81-year-old aunt Helen Elzy was among those clinging to the roof along with other family members.
Hayes called the American Red Cross chapter, which contacted the Tulsa Repeater Organization. Using the Red Cross chapter's well-equipped amateur station, TRO member Ben Joplin, WB5VST, was able to relay a request for help on the 20-meter SATERN net via stations in Oregon and Utah to Louisiana, where the ARES net contacted emergency personnel who rescued the 15 people.
"When all else fails, Amateur Radio works is more than a catchy tag line," says TRO's Mark Conklin, N7XYO. "It's a lifeline." He said as of late Monday evening, Elzy and the others on the roof were safe at a Red Cross shelter. "

found this...

http://www.arrl.org/whyham.html

Interesting bit to add considering what T-Mobile is doing with their hotspots; a smarter idea would be to set up essentially a tent with a long range 'net connection and a generator with several computers (read, laptop-style). Or if you're really starved for internet and you're a Ham op. Packet-Radio Working for Nextel, I know what the costs are that are associated with putting up towers. However, having a background in ham radios, I know that setting up temporary cellular repeaters isn't a tough task. Especailly, with it being a large company such as T-Mobile, the costs of arranging a tempory repeater could easily be re-couped with the sales post-event. That's even thinking selflessly. To add another tidbit, you can also place phone calls over Ham radio into the existing PSTN network if you wanted to contact loved ones, even if they were without a ham license.

Adding to my post... Go here to search for ham radio operators in your area.

Amateur radio support is being mobilized.
In my area they are assembling a group to go, but are asking only for those who can bring enough supplies, radios and battery power to be self-sufficent for at least 72 hours so they can be deployed in areas that are the most devastated.

http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2005/08/30/1/?nc= 1

This is something that gets into the news only slowly, and after the main event dies down. Hams are certainly out there doing what they can. See the ARRL press release on the situation.

and will continue to, at least until BPL destroys all HF communications. http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2005/08/30/1/?nc= 1

You can get a copy of Now You're Talking! for about $20 and the exam itself will cost $14. NYT! is a very good book for the exam if you also want to understand the concepts. If you think Ham is too low tech, check out some of the DSP stuff and homebrew DSP equipment

Well, then do it - the test for No Code Tech is not very hard, and then you can start getting practice operating, and start studying for the Extra when the FCC removes the 5 words per minute Morse requirement (any day now).

Go to http://www.arrl.org/ - download the question pools (they are about to change - so get the correct ones), go by a shi^H^H^HRadio Shack and get the Tech, General, and Extra study guides, and spend a few minutes a night studying.

The ARRL should have a list of testing sessions and locations - failing that, let me know where you are and I'll see what I can find out.

http://www.arrl.org/
Amateur Radio Volunteers Involved in Katrina Recovery (Aug 30, 2005) -- Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) volunteers in Louisiana are engaged in the Hurricane Katrina recovery effort, and more are waiting in the wings to help as soon as they can enter storm-ravaged zones. Winds and flooding from the huge storm wreaked havoc in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama after Katrina came ashore early Monday, August 29. Louisiana ARES Section Emergency Coordinator Gary Stratton, K5GLS, told ARRL that some 250 ARES members have been working with the Red Cross and the state's Office of Homeland Security Emergency Preparedness. Much of the affected areas remain flooded and dangerous, however. As a result, state officials have not allowed emergency or other units to enter the flooded zones, and there is still no communication with many coastal areas.

Let me point out that this is one of those times when battery operated amateur radio provides one of the best ways to get messages in and out of an affected area. In fact, this story at the ARRL has some information on how hams are helping in the recovery effort.

I am a ham, and already have set up a matching network to use the MV powerlines as an antenna, in anticipation of an all-out war against BPL.

What will happen to the local BPL connectivity when I pump a kilowatt of RF into the power lines? 47CFR15 *requires* the "non-licensed" service to "accept all interference from licensed users" of the frequency.

I'll tell you- there will be no BPL connectivity, and I will likely destroy the BPL equipment!

More info- "notching" DOES NOT WORK! It has proven itself completely ineffective in reducing interference, in EVERY test market! See http://www.arrl.org/ for details. Yet the BPL advocates, with monies invested already, MUST proceed- so that they can recoup their investment before the advent of WiMax!

BPL is a only a sorry attempt by the power companies to cash in on broadband- WiMax will render it obsolete in less than a year.

So why even pursue it? Just to make lifetime enemies of the very people who made radio and computers possible in the first place?

?

Here's a link that MAY enlighten those who wish to learn rather than just rant against the HAM radio operator. The ranks of HAM radio still provides one of the largest pools of technical savvy and engineering skills yet. Enjoy your electronic toys? The entire beginning (and continuation) of electronic investigation began with many HAMS.
http://www.arrl.org/news/features/2005/08/01/1/
In this story the author explains the technical issues and how they are being addressed to prevent the noise pollution from the Cheap And Dirty(tm) BPL service and using better technology to let everyone get what they want.

It's not the FCC, it's the American Radio Relay League that helps hams band together in opposition to these things in Washington and elsewhere. The web site is very informative, if a bit slanted. It seems like there is a large faction of older men who have spent lots of time and money on setting up a system to conduct communications the same way, and they don't want to change anything. To some extent, I understand that. It's important to note, though, that amateur radio was founded on the basis that experimentation and innovation in radio technology could be done by anyone willing to invest a small amount of time to learn the rules and prove they aren't going to destroy anything. Experimentation and innovation are key to the equation, and working around some noise created by BPL should be considered an exciting opportunity to learn something new, not the end of a fun hobby. The technology is out there to do it, and there are plenty of people who love to teach this stuff. Seems to me it's just an adjustment and a small price to pay for the privilege of using bandwidth essentially for free.

http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/aud-vid.html

Video and audio recordings of BPL interference in the Americas, Europe, Asia, etc.

It's not just the HAMs fighting this...many emergency response teams still rely on older, lower-frequency, long-range communication networks (instead of the relatively short-range digital networks of municipal locales), and the interference to those services is as disruptive to their systems as this "noise" is to Amateur Radio.

the AARL has a collection of video and sound files demonstrating BPL interference.
Vid:
http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/aud-vid.html
Sound: http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/aud-vid.html #Audio

the AARL has a collection of video and sound files demonstrating BPL interference.
Vid:
http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/aud-vid.html
Sound: http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/aud-vid.html #Audio

Yes, the Amateur Radio community is in opposition to BPL, due to the high degree of RFI (radio frequency interference) that BPL puts out. The problem that not as many people are talking about is that this will also affect many fire/rescue/police radio frequencies, which occupy the same radio spectrum as the BPL systems interfere with. This could potentially cause severe problems in emergency situations. So no, it's not just a bunch of us HAMs whining about BPL "ruining our hobby". We also interact with emergency personnel in emergency situations, severe weather, natural disasters, and yes, even terrorist attacks.

Yes, the Amateur Radio community is in opposition to BPL, due to the high degree of RFI (radio frequency interference) that BPL puts out. The problem that not as many people are talking about is that this will also affect many fire/rescue/police radio frequencies, which occupy the same radio spectrum as the BPL systems interfere with. This could potentially cause severe problems in emergency situations. So no, it's not just a bunch of us HAMs whining about BPL "ruining our hobby". We also interact with emergency personnel in emergency situations, severe weather, natural disasters, and yes, even terrorist attacks.

Yes, the Amateur Radio community is in opposition to BPL, due to the high degree of RFI (radio frequency interference) that BPL puts out. The problem that not as many people are talking about is that this will also affect many fire/rescue/police radio frequencies, which occupy the same radio spectrum as the BPL systems interfere with. This could potentially cause severe problems in emergency situations. So no, it's not just a bunch of us HAMs whining about BPL "ruining our hobby". We also interact with emergency personnel in emergency situations, severe weather, natural disasters, and yes, even terrorist attacks.