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Field Day 2002
suwain_2 writes "This weekend, amateur (ham) radio operators across the country will be setting up to practice emergency communications. Particularly after the tragic events of September 11th, I thought the general public, particularly Slashdot readers, might be interested in seeing what we do. This year bonus points are awarded to stations who have a "Get On the Air" station, to give non-hams a closer look (and even a chance to operator) at exactly what goes on. Unfortunately, the ARRL, who sponsors Field Day, has very little information on their site for non-hams, but what information they do have exists here. Check out the local newspaper to see if it's mentioned, and, if it is, stop by this weekend and take a look!"
Strange that it is organised by country, given the international context of radio.
Isn't this weekend supposed to be worldwide field day for satellite contacts ?
73!
Why are event announced on Slashdot the day before (or even the day of) the event?
Michael Loves Me!
Like these people.
If we don't fight for ourselves no one will.
I suppose I could go look it up, but I am lazy
The Albemarle Amateur Radio Club (WA4TFZ) will be holding it's FD2002 (warning: PDF) at the Earlysville Firehouse. Come check it out if you're near Central VA. Should be starting around 10AM on Sat. morning.
I'm going to try to bring my girlfriend to this year's Field Day in Tallahassee... Let's hope she doesn't flee in terror when she notices the ratio is out of whack. :^)
Slashdot's first reaction to VMware
Come see the Boston Amateur Radio Club operate at:
Larz Andersen Park
Brookline, MA
Behind Museum of Transportation
15 Newton St
Brookline, MA 02445-7406
Objects in the blog are closer then they ap
I just setup a quick and dirty AM broadcast band radio transmitter yesterday... cheap and easy to do, if you've already got a fairly fancy function generator on-hand.
Equip:
1 BK Precision 4040A Function Generator
2 line, or higher, level audio source.
a Connect audio source to the VGC/Mod input
b Set Int/Ext modulation selector to Ext (external)
c Set AM/FM modulation selector to AM
d Adjust the output frequency (the 'carrier') to something in the AM broadcast band (about 540 to 1150 KHz)
e Attach a length of wire to the center lead of the Output BNC connector and crank the 'Output Level' adjustment to max.
f Tune in on an AM reciever (you've got one of those, right?)
g Jam on!
Actually, you could also do FM, but my FG (the 4040A) only goes to 20 MHz, way below the FM broadcast band of 88 to 108 MHz. Also, this isn't exactly a jammin' pirate station; let's just say I could pick it up from across the room.
Actually Ham Radio played a vital part in the aftermath of 9/11, here in Loudoun county (Northern Virginia), the local amateur radio operators came out in force, primarily providing emergency communications support for the area around the pentagon, helping to coordinate the arrivals of huge numbers of rescue workers and vehicles, and providing communications between the local Red Cross chapter and the hotel where everyone evacuated from Dulles airport was taken. I met many of these guys at the local Red Cross office, and watched as they built a communications network to support an area where every phone line and every cell tower was completely overloaded. At the time I couldn't even imagine the effort that probably went into building a net in New York.
Loudoun Amateur Radio Group Field Day Page
-- Jason Kohles KG4PPU
I am headed to the beach to pick up chicks. Having my portable HAM set-up on the beach will generate a 20 yard 'No-Hottie'-Zone around me. Not good. :(
Michael Loves Me!
Raynet were to be the backbone of radio communications during the Cold War in the event of a nuclear strike on the UK - for details.
Evil ZEN Scientist
so we have all these small, relatively cheap, devices operating together to provide a greater service.
it almost reminds one of some sort of cluster...
In Capitalist America, bank robs you!
What is a contest?
Contests are competetive events designed to simulate the kind of rapid flow of information that would need to occur in the event that radio amateurs were relied upon to handle disaster communications on a large scale.
Field Day, while lots of fun, serves the purpose of getting new people involved with Amateur Radio, and so it is generally a lot less competetive than what you'd find at the typical contest-station during a contest weekend.
In a contest, you try to contact as many other hams as possible, and you get points (multipliers to your score) for every distinct geographical region you contact. Some contests are US only, and many are worldwide. Some are focused on a particular frequency band, and some cover all HF bands.
There is nothing quite like the adrenaline that comes from making serious rate (300+ contacts per hour) for a few hours in a row. Aside from that, there is typically a great deal of team-spirit and good-natured rivalry among contesters, particularly those who are in the same state or county.
If you've always had an interest in ham radio but feared that it didn't have high enough octane to suit your temperment, look no further.
I'll post some web references below this comment soon...
Amazing magic tricks
This is probably in the ARRL link.
:)
Field Day is themed about emergency communications, although it couldn't be considered "practice" for emergencies. (Running/participating in emergency nets, etc.) - That's what ARES/RACES drills are for.
Field Day is purely a contest - BUT it is a contest that was designed with emergencies in mind. Most ARRL (and international) contests have various operator classes - In the case of Field Day, operator classes are based on how your station is powered. I think there's also a rule stating that you can't operate from your own station.
So basically, all Field Day entrants MUST be using equipment brought to the operating position for the event, not stuff that is there at all times. (I think people HAVE operated in tents from backyards, but people prefer to go hardcore and do some mountaintopping, or go to a firehouse, etc. where they can set up with their club. Club operations from community firehouses, etc. seem to be the most common Field Day arrangements.)
As a result, Field Day makes sure there are plenty of operators in this country with portable (or semi-portable at least) equipment that can be set up in a matter of hours. Bonus points to those who can operate for a weekend without a single bit of help from AC mains.
I was thinking of making the trek back up to school for Field Day, but I need to do some car shopping instead. I wish it were a few weeks later.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
For a few bucks worth of "street pharmaceuticals", you can hear voices in your head.
--bpl
Has anyone noticed a rise in radio interference from HAM and CB operations, not because of illegal wattage, but more so because of the lack of adequate radio inteference shielding in the current electronic devices? Seems people have forgotten about HAMs and SSW/CB bands in this Internet and "High Tech" age.
I grew up with two Hams, and of course I was expected to get my Ham license, as well, but I was was disinclined to learn Morse code, which was a requirement for your novice class license.
IIRC, the morse code requirement has been dropped, I'm sure to replenish the attrition of Hams by old age.
The revolution will be televised. Blackout restrictions apply.
UARC will be at Payson Lakes in the Wasatch mountains just as in recent years. A reference:
0
http://www.xmission.com/~uarc/anounce1.html#fd0
Cary High School
Corner of Maynard and Walnut St's
(Across the street from Cary Towne Center)
The Cary Amateur Radio club would like to invite all interested persons to participate. Persons curious about Amateur radio are especially encouraged to attend, as you will be given a chance to "try things out". Field Day 2001 was a joint effort with members from the NCSU "StARS" club, W4ATC, and was a great success.
St. Louis QRP [low power] Society
will be in Fox Hill [or is it Fox Run?]Park in St. Charles, from 1 pm Saturday until 1 pm Sunday.
See what can be done with 5 Watts or less on the HF and VHF bands.
73,
--bpl
1800 UTC Saturday to 1800 UTC Sunday, if you set up ahead of time. If you set up starting at 1800 Saturday, you can operate until 2100 UTC Sunday.
I may have that last end time wrong, but you are allowed an extended operating period if you wait to set up until after FD starts.
--bpl
In the late fifties, I had about 100 feet of wire strung out my window over a tree, for listening to shortwave on the regenerative receiver I'd built with a kit from Allied radio.
I also had a Ford spark coil... the kind with a vibrator (don't snicker) which generates a continuous voltage--I don't know how high, but capable of producing at least a 1 cm. spark.
One day, I clipped the Ford coil to the antenna, and called a friend of mine who lived about half a mile a way, and asked him to turn on his shortwave receiver. I keyed in "DE WQRM". He reported receiving it 5x5 on his shortwave radio--and also, subsequent short tests showed, AM, FM, and television.
I wisely decided to discontinue the experiment after a grand total of about thirty seconds on the air.
We don't need no steenkin' function generators!
Hey, come to think of it, what's so off-topic? It _was_ amateur and it _was_ radio, right?
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
I(KD5AMC) am a member of MORI and we are having a field day tomorrow. The public is welcome to join in. It will start at around 9am. You can find directions at http://www.qsl.net/mori/
Havoc Penington, the bane of my Linux desktop.
One of the most popular uses of packet radio seems to be accessing the local "DX Cluster"
:) I'd say the hardest part of the contest was maintaining power levels. Also, our rotor was broken so we had to send guys up onto the tower to rotate our Force12 while we hit the brake release on the rotor.
It's basically a system that allows people to report stations they hear, allowing someone looking for their final multipliers in a contest to know where to look for a station.
The interesting thing about this is that you're not allowed to advertise yourself on the clusters. As a result, if you appear, it's because someone else put you there. You'd think that the DX clusters would die as everyone would keep their "rare finds" secret so as to keep ahead, but instead, the DX clusters are INSANELY active during contests, which says a lot of good things about the ham radio community in general.
DX spots are wonderful when your club is hunting down their last multiplier (Santa Barbara) in the final hours of the ARRL SSB Sweepstakes.
N2YPH
And keeping your Collins 30S-1 happy for nearly 48 hours of continuous operation is no simple trick.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
Say... Isn't that what Marconi did, so long ago? Of course, he didn't have the FCC to hassle him about plopping his signal down across every band in sight. Now, class. For your homework, I want you to build a n FCC compliant spark-gap transmitter that operates legally in the 2 cm band.
The TCARC (Tompkins County, NY - It's upstate in the Finger Lakes region. Think Ithaca) will be setting up at the fire station in Etna, NY this weekend.
Hams looking for the place, try the TCARC repeater on 146.97- once you get into the area if you have trouble finding the location. The other major repeater is W2CXM (Cornell ARC) on 146.61- - But it's usually pretty quiet.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
You've obviously never heard a pileup on HF... hundreds of stations trying to contact that one rare station that's up and on the air. It creates a slashdot effect!
If only I had one Karma for every Ham Radio junkie I know....I would have exactly ZERO more Karma than I currently exist with.
Point being, emergency notification involves getting the word out to loads of people across a wide area. Is this really important??? Are ham radio operators really a large demographic capable notifying thousands of people of danger?
The WVRA is holding our Field Day at Man-Made Lake. The public is welcome to stop by.
Talk-in will be on the 164.64 (pl 114.8) Repeater.
I don't have any personal experience with the NYC 'net, but I do know that the various amateur emergency organizations were mobilized for well over six weeks.
It's not always the phone/cell systems that ham radio is designed to replace - Hams are also used to augment already allocated emergency frequencies. (Police, fire). I believe the Red Cross made VERY heavy use of hams for their communications. Simply put, they needed a dispatch-style system that landlines/cells weren't suited to.
In addition, a few years back there was a NASTY ice storm in upstate NY - Many cell tower antennas iced up and ceased operation, and hams came into play then too.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
Nope, not me, I must be someone else...
I stumbled upon a HAM on top of Rocky Butte in Portland, OR last year when they were doing emergency practices. They'd parked a small RV on top of the butte - a very odd site, since vehicles are normally not allowed up on the top of the butte.
The HAM guys were nice, explaining what they were doing and letting us check out their equipment.
For those slashdot readers in the Portland Area, go check 'em out on top of the Rocky Butte again!
Exocet Industries - Taking over the world, one computer at a
Still, the American Radio Relay League seems so dated. W1AW still broadcasts Morse code practice (!) most of the day.
There is a little more to it than that. check out AMSAT for some info on one other aspect of the hobby.
'73 de
VE6LSH
The newer event which you refer to, AMSAT FD, is world-wide, and lasts longer, satellite contacts only.
ARRL FD is mostly Region II (the americas). In prior years, only US and Canadian stations competed, but this year all Region II (NAM/CAM/SAM) stations may compete. Contacts with I & III count for the Region II station, if the DX gives (or can be prompted to give) a proper Exchange (1D mostly likely, if they're home on commercial power).
Many HF radio contests are worldwide in nature as you suggest. This one is not restricted to HF, but is MW-HF-VHF+, and is specifically termed an Operating Event. It is a mixture of a Contest and a wide-area Drill. It differs from a Simulated Emergency Test in not having a disaster scenario, and in having contest-rules and scoring; everyone is out in the field as if they were the affected area. We're demonstrating that we can restore communications locally and wide area from improvised positions. Other countries' national associations have their own Field Days on other weekends.
A FD station may participate in both. The first AMSAT contact with full ARRL exchange is 100 bonus points on the ARRL, and each additional is another QSO point, and doesn't count against band/transmitter limits.
73 de Bill N1VUX
I'll be operating at W1BOS VHF+ positions, and visiting other Metro-Boston sites for ARES
You can find learn more about Amateur Radio and checkout Field Day operations with the Skyline Amateur Radio Club at Camp Ohwata in Solon NY, south of McGraw. Take I-81 to Exit 10, McGraw. Take Route 41 South to Maybuy Road Take Maybury Road to Camp Ohwata If you're a ham - talk-in on 147.180(+). 73
73 KC2BQZ
I've got my license but I don't use it anymore. I mean what the hell for, talking to other ham ops on a repeater while driving around town. It's cool to do the Morse thing in a kind of nostalgic way, but really, the whole talk to people around the world lost it's cool factor with the advent of the interenet. Remember back in the day when you first got on the Internet through a shell account and opened IRC. I mean holy shit, I couldn't talk to people in Europe on my local BBS. And it was alot more interesting than talking to ham radio ops around the world.
Ham radio is somewhat(and a big somewhat) usefull for emergency communication. But lets get real, were emergency workers in 9/11 really relying on anything that the hams did. They all have there own emergency networks. Hams are great for private citizens to get word out of an emergency area to there family, but really thats about it.
In reality most hams are a bunch of old farts that have nothing better to do than make themselves feel important by doing this kind of thing. I mean its not a bad thing, it keeps the geezers off the road for a while and gives them something to do, but don't kid yourselves, grandpa isn't gonna be a key component in saving thousands of people in a nerve gas attack just by cranking up the ham station.
Big 73's
-BlingBlings Flossin it
The amateur radio club of the Florida Atlantic University, K4FAU and the Boca Raton Amateur Radio Association are having their combined Field Day on the ropes course of FAU in Boca Raton.
Here is a map of the Boca Raton Campus. The ropes course is indicated with the number 74.
Everybody is welcome to visit us.
We will have a special G.O.T.A. (get on the air) station running where you can operate a radio under supervision and can see, feel and hear for your self what Amateur Radio is about.
73's de w4/pa3gvr
Hams aren't used for emergency notification of the public. Hams primarily provide communications infrastructure to those who REALLY need it in an emergency situation.
For example, hams will often assist police/fire departments. In NYC post 9/11, the Red Cross made heavy use of hams to maintain communications between all of their mobile units and their command post.
Another emergency organization in addition to ARES and RACES is SKYWARN - In this case, hams provide the "eyes and ears" on the ground to the NOAA. Not too heavily used/needed in the Northeast, but in places like Tornado Alley it's a different story.
In fact, broadcasting is verboten on the amateur bands - So theoretically emergency notification is against FCC rules. (Not like the FCC would care in such a situation. In fact, I believe there are clauses in FCC rules saying that the rules don't apply for emergencies.) Nonetheless, I agree that amateur radio is not the proper medium for emergency notification, but that is not the goal of the amateur emergency organizations.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
The Seattle Mike and Key club will be operating their field day activities out of Fort Flagler state park near Port Townsend. Here's a map from their web page.
And it's also what Nikola Tesla did before Marcoli.
. htmlt ml rad io.htm (less detailed an account)
The USPTO initially held the position that Marconi's device used Tesla's patents ("Many of the claims are not patentable over Tesla patent numbers 645,576 and 649,621"). In 1904, the USPTO reversed itself, probably due to financial backing from JP Morgan, et. al. Tesla was broke and tried to sue in 1915 (Marconi won the Nobel Prize in 1911 for the radio), but couldn't push it. In 1943 the Supreme Court reversed the USPTO's decision, giving prescedence to the Tesla patents, probably largely because Marconi was suing the government for using radio without licensing it.
Some of many sources:
http://www.pbs.org/tesla/ll/ll_whoradio
http://www.mecfilms.com/dna/indev/patent2.h
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/b
If you're already a ham, just ask on the local repeaters, or get in touch with someone on 146.52.
If you're not a ham, check your local newspapers, or just go to google, look for an amateur radio club in a geographic area near you. For example, I live in Clay County, so search for Clay County Amateur Radio and you'll eventually find our web site.
We have a blast over field day. Typically, operations are done using emergency power. My club has a generator on a trailer, for field day as well as for emergencies.
The other cool thing about field day is that all you tecnician licenses (who can't normally transmit below 30 Mhz) can because clubs will have General and Extra class control operators around. So you get to play on HF and get a little incentive to upgrade your license.
So, anyone's who's got a few hours over the weekend, we start at 1800 UTC (13:00 CDT) on Saturday, and go for 24 hours. Show up, ask questions, and learn stuff.
No, I don't listen to news reports. There are never any emergencies, either. I have no television and rarely listen to the radio.
I do pay attention to the world, and it does come in handy. It's just not the media-diluted one you suscribe to.
The DSRC will be hosting their annual Field Day outing on the grounds of the Sarnoff Corporation in Princeton, NJ on Route 1 at Washington Road. Visit http://www.nerc.com/~jdegood/dsrc/ for more details.
:)
If you're going to do Field Day, do it in Princeton, home of Albert Einstein and color television. Not to mention the first place on land to hear the Titanic's distress calls!!
Intelligent Life on Earth
there are 3 kinds of people:
* those who can count
* those who can't
I was NOT a ham at the time, but the NY effort was huge. It was what I needed to get off my butt an get my license
Since that time I've gotten involved in NYC ARES. In fact, I've become the Queens County Assistant Emergency Coordinator
-- 73 de KG2V For the Children - RKBA! "You are what you do when it counts" - the Masso
I've always been too lazy to get my code license. (Partly a chicken and egg issue - HF equipment costs $$$, which I'm reticent to spend w/o a code license. Don't wanna bother with code if I don't have the equipment.)
As a result, my first HF experience was operating as W2CXM my senior year in college. Contesting is FUN.
N2YPH
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
Try APRS... A lot of the old TNCs are firmware-upgradable to include built-in APRS.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
Packet radio and APRS are the results of what I'm talking about here. I get lots of "wow, don't you think this is cool?" from the ham gadget freaks, and lots of "why would I care?" from everybody else.
Morse code practice is useful - especially if you are planning on upgrading. Morse code is also one of the easiest modes to build a transmitter for - its so fundamentally simple.
Plus - as a geek factor - morse code is the only digital language your brain is able to process. And its neat too - because you can put morse code telemetry on something like a beacon, a baloon or a satellite and decode its various properties in your head.
NOVA QRP Club (http://www.novaqrp.org) will be at Lake Fairfax Park in Reston, VA.
Sterling Park Amatuer Radio Club (SPARC) at one of the middle/high schools in Sterling, VA.
73
KS1G
So regardless of whether it's new tech or old tech, where there are gadgets, there are geeks. Check out this link from another poster, WC8VOA. They've got some cool pics of the old VOA station, its antennae (before their consumption by suburban sprawl) and its equipment... like 100,000 watt transmitter tubes and other heavy-duty stuff.
I'd have a personalized plate on my car, but "toxic bachelor" won't fit into 7 letters.
5x5?
Is that code for "well" or what?
Withdrawal before climax is very ineffective and those who try this are usually called "parents."
It's a shame that what Tesla was trying to do (and, for all practical purposes, failing at) was transmit ENERGY; Marconi used a similar apperatus for transmitting INFORMATION, and succeded wildly with a company selling ship to shore emergency communications gear. And yes, the Patent office bungled it all up by failing to recognize Tesla's prior art in resonant RF circuits.
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
The truth is that the original post is correct that some current electronic equipment is not shielded properly. This is most noticable when someone is transmitting on HF or 6 meters (50 Mhz). As long as the operator is running a clean station the interference is the not the operators problem. If the TV or whatever is not properly shielded it is the owners problem to get it fixed. The other problem is poor utilities. For instance if the cable company has a leak a fullly legal operator running on 2 meters (144-148Mhz) will make a mess out of some cable stations. This is NOT the fault of the operator. The cable company is responsible in making sure they have a closed system. They don't want to spend the money to fix problems so they will blame someone else. However if you tell them you are going to call the FCC you will be amazed at how fast it will get fixed.
Come by and visit the Peel Ham Radio clubs field day setup.
http://www.peelarc.org/
http://www.peelarc.org/fieldday.html
RTFARRLP -- fourth FULL weekend.
:)
Um, yes, I know. Fourth FULL weekend is the same as "fourth Saturday [plus the following Sunday if you have an unusually energetic club]". Thus, if you would give the matter 30 seconds' worth of thought, perhaps you would realize that that's exactly why I mentioned setting an appointment for the "4th Saturday".
But I do appreciate your desire to be helpful.
"The Crystal Wind is the Storm, and the Storm is Data, and the Data is Life"
If I am remembering right,
5x5(x9) Signal report....
A 1..5 rating for signal strength (5 being strong signal)
A 1..5 rating on signal clarity (5 being clear)
and
only for CW contacts
A 1..9 indication of code quality (solid tone, no chirp, etc).
A strong, clear, properly formed CW signal would be reported as 559. Since the code quality does not matter for voice, 5x5 is loud and clear.
... or at least, it was supposed to be.
:)
Take a look at eBay's components and test equipment sections sometime. For the price of a decent HF station, you can outfit your shack with better equipment than NASA had when it launched the Voyager probes. If you can't think of something interesting to do with all that stuff, it's time to turn in your license and take up birdwatching.
The Amateur Radio Service's underlying charter emphasizes the advancement of the radio arts and sciences, and for a long time, that was what hams did. Things slowed down for awhile when Heathkit went away and the Japanese started commoditizing the radio business, but those things happened a long time ago. The truth is, you can do more fun stuff with ham radio now than at any time in the past.
Dahlmann tightly grips the knife, which he may have no idea how to use, and steps out into the plain.
Actually there are *three* concurrent events. The third is Milliwatt FD, which has the same basic rules as ARRL FD, but power categories are 100 mW and less.
Sponsored by ARCI.
--bpl
5 by 5 is long for 55, from the RST signal reporting system for cw (Readability, Strength, Tone), shortened to RS for just the readability and strength when reporting voice. Since his test was morse code, but completely without tone (probably pretty close to pink noise), he left off the tone.
The only things hams ever changed in my chunk of america was an annoying tower that some local boob _claims_ he has the federally-protected right (under FCC PRB-1) to supersede local zoning laws and erect. It's widely known that the guy's a pretentious jerk who just wants to chat with his other fire-police (a strange aberration of volunteer seen only in NYS) buddies. People like this give ham radio operators a bad name.
That's my purse! I don't know you! -- Bobby Hill
CW == "code word"?
;-P )
(Thanks for using abbreviations to explain an abbreviation!
Withdrawal before climax is very ineffective and those who try this are usually called "parents."
We are having Field Day at the Lake Dale Fire House.
This is our 4th year and we are hoping to beat our previous score.
We welcome anyone to come out and join us. Check out our webpage and our Fieldday 2002 page as well. We have directions and dates and time up there
73's
Bryan Fields, KB9MCI
The Cyclone Amateur Radio Club of Iowa State University (W0ISU) will be joining the Story County (Iowa) Amateur Radio Club (W0YL) for Field Day at the Isaak Walton league in Ames Iowa. All interested are invited and encouraged to attend. Setup will be the late morning of the 22nd with operations going until about noon on Sunday the 23rd.
Talk-in will be on the Ames 147.24+ repeater. Call W0ISU or W0YL. Hope to see you there.
Jonathan
W0LBG, VK4DHK
President-Elect, Cyclone Amateur Radio Club
CW = Continuous Wave = Morse Code
A CW transmiter generates a continious carrier signal, that is only transmited when keyed, the rest of the time its there, just not being transmited.
ok, so my explination is a litte dirty, I only hold a tech license and at that havnt done anything realy in about a year now...
73
KB1FRY
The communicator license is code free and allows voice/data/code operation on any ham band over 50 Mhz. This includes 6 meters (50-54 Mhz) During a good sunspot cycle, you can talk thousands of miles on six. It also includes 2 meters, which is filled with repeaters and digipeaters (packet repeaters), 3/4 meters (same), 1.2 Ghz and even 2 Ghz (want a high powered 802.11 b?). Also, many repeaters work crossband, and the FCC allows licensees with this class of license to use repeaters that crossband into the 10 meter band (Big time distance here!). Radio Shack even sells a study guide for this license (along with quite a few radios).
They are the only guys that are usually bigger nerds than I am.
Their endless facination with acronyms and decimal points reminds me of...er...
...crap...programmers like me.
Nevermind.
"A microprocessor... is a terrible thing to waste." --
GeneralEmergency
Saturday 1400 ET thru Sunday 1400 ET
2 00 1.html
aka 2pm to 2pm.
More info about the Boston Amateur Radio
Club Field Day (Open to the Public) should
be at http://www.barc.org but we seem
to have forgotten to put it up.
Info and pictures about last years BARC field day
is at
http://www.barc.org/barc/2001/FieldDay/fieldday
73 de Peter KB1CVH
see ya there
Peter AI6PG
Ah, so that's what those Morse Code generator things are called? I've often wondered.
(Google needs a reverse dictionary for when you know what you want but not what it's called.)
Withdrawal before climax is very ineffective and those who try this are usually called "parents."
They call it RST--Readability, Strength, Tone.
Readability is how clear and understandable your signal is, and that goes from 1 (all but unintelligible) to 5 (clear).
Strength is how strong your signal is. Most people use the 1-9 readings on the signal meter on their rig to get this number. Sometimes you'll hear folks say "you're coming in 20 over 9"--means that the needle on the S meter is pointing to the +20 dB mark past S9.
Tone is for Morse only and is how good your beeps sound, from 1 (that's supposed to be Morse?) to 9 (nice beeps!).
A perfect signal report on voice is 59, on CW (Morse) it's 599. A lot of people just give a "59" report no matter what--I have a small low-power ham rig (Yaesu FT817) and a crappy antenna, and I know that I'm not getting to Honduras with a 59 signal--yet that's what I got from an operator in Honduras recently.
I'll be at home in the air conditioning this weekend, making a few contacts to the people sweltering out in tents and shelters. Been there, done that, taking this year off. :)
"Settle down, Beavis. We've got an experiment to do."
There's a map of Field Day locations
in Eastern Massachusetts, US
at
http://www.emaares.com/fd/fd_dir.html
73,
peter
Peter AI6PG
I'm a ham, yet I'm not very notable. My call is KB8WZI..
There are quite a few celebrities and personalities that are Hams, here are some just to name a few:
George Lucas
Yassir Arafat
President Mubarak of Egypt
King Hussein II of Jordan,
Jimmy Carter
Tommy Lee Jones
Al Gore (he invented Amateur Radio)
George Wendt, the guy from Cheers
Pierce Brosnan
I've actually been on frequency with the President of Jordan.He speaks pretty good english. I never got to talk to him though.
"In the beginning, there was nothing; Then it blew up."
I am a member of Orange County Amateur Radio Club - www.w6ze.org. We are holding our Field Day at Portola Park in Santa Ana, on Santa Clara Ave. Just look for the big antennas ;).
I attended my first Field Day last year, and it was a blast. I am a Technician, so I can't normally operate on HF. But at Field Day you can operate HF with all the Generals and Extras around as control operators.
As for all the naysayers, who say that Ham Radio is dead, come out to a Field Day site and see what all these "dead people" are doing, with their "dead equipment" on the "dead ham bands".
For those that haven't yet seen what Field Day is about, find a local club in your area and check it out. Have fun!
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73 de K6LNX
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LinuxKnight
Actually, one of the first things I did after Sept 11 was to go and get a new radio. When the next shit comes down -- say it's a suitcase nuke or smallpox -- it's going to be chaos, with most of the populated areas heading for the hills. Communication is going to be important, and maybe even life-saving.
I, for one, welcome our new Antichrist overlord.
Breaker, breaker. I saw some smokeys. They even had a bear in the air
10-4 good buddy! Did you see a beaver?
Negatory! I just saw bears. Give me your 20?
I only got two fives and some loose change!
How ya like dat?
Hello All in the Pittsburgh, PA, USA area. The Wireless Association of South Hills is going to be holding our Field Day operation at the Library Sportsman Association. To find a map visit WASH ARC and click the link for the June Newsletter.
Hopkinton State Park. Minimalist Field Day, come
and see what we're doing. Drive around the loop
road 'till you see our banner.
Why am I a ham? Because it's a ticket to play on the radio bands. I've built my own radios (nothing gives a thrill like putting together
some R, L and C components, a couple of transistors, and actually communicating with someone across town!) I've built an APRS
tracker (www.findu.com), used thrown away computers to send data over HF with PSK-31, listened to the space shuttle and ham satellites.
Hams are a lot like any other hacker type: kinda geeky, spend all their spare money on gear, like to play with new stuff. There's a tradition, in the ham hobby, of volunteerism. Hams have the ability to use a large number of radio frequencies, and they can hop between them as needed. This can come in handy when other groups run out of capacity on their allocated frequencies. My ham club works road races, parades, walk-a-thons and other civic events. We volunteer ourselves and our radio gear to make life easier for everyone involved.
Plus, it's an excuse to get outside and play with electronics!
Peter, KA1AXY since 1978
As a means of communication into a disaster area,
amateur radio can work, but gets flooded easily.
It's great for getting word out of the disaster area to family and friends that you are still alive and not too badly injured.
This is called Health and Welfare Traffic.
So if an emergency occurs, don't try to send traffic into the area. If you are in an emergency area, then you might want to send messsage traffic to your loved ones outside the area.
There's a national network of relays setup to pass traffic, and they practice every day to stay in shape. It's called the National Traffic System aka NTS. It's sponsored by the Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL).
See http://www.arrl.org
Peter AI6PG
A true ham would only buy a CB rig to convert it to 10 metres!
Of course the CBers have taken the aura of the early hams -- pushing things to their limits, and often beyond.
I'll be out at the North Coast Amateur Radio Club Field Day this weekend.
C'mon out and join us if you're in the area.
More Info..
IMHO, hams and hackers (for those that care aobut labels, white-hat) should be one in the same. The reason I got into ham radio was because of the fact I wanted to play with different radios and building antennas, becuase I had access to radio equipemnt (I worked for RadioShack at the time, before Len Roberts sold out). When I got the net, I decided I wanted to build a network. Now, I have a small network with web, mail, and ftp services, but I want to add digital ham traffic (packet). True ham operators are about designing, devolping, and manufacturing news ways to communicate, and figuring out different equipment and theories. The last time I checked, most of the free software movement has similar ideas involving figuring out how things work. Also, most hams I know love the net, learn HTML and XML, and do use e-mail and IM on a regular basis. Not bad for a bunch of "old farts". If more people felt like I did, everyone who has ever build a netowrk, written code, or designed software would be a ham. Also, hams are great at dealing with the government, especally(sp) about lobbying Congress about stupid and ill-concieved rules and laws (sound familiar???????). If the EFF, et al, and ARRL got together and tackled some issues together, that would make a very knowledgeable and powerful lobby.
I'm a hamker. Hams, hackers, same ethos, different medium. == 73 de KB0STG