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Field Day 2002 218

Posted by michael from the turn-on-tune-in dept.
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!"
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Field Day 2002 More

Field Day 2002

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  • country ? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by berta ( 462366 )
    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!

    • Re:country ? (Score:3, Informative)

      by Andy Dodd ( 701 )
      Given that you used 73 to say Goodbye, I'm guessing you're a ham.

      Radio is both international and local. There are international contests, but there's nothing stopping people from operating locally.

      Due to the emergency communications focus of Field Day and the fact that 99.999% of all emergencies are relatively local (In fact, a nationwide catastrophe has yet to happen...), it makes sense that it's just the USA. Other countries might also hold similar contests during the year, too.

      N2YPH

    • Re:country ? (Score:2, Insightful)

      by tiberius ( 65744 )
      actually, this year, for the first time ever, field day is extending beyond the us. now, every country in north and south america is able to participate (iaru region 2).

      73,
      n8yo

    • Re:country ? (Score:2, Informative)

      by AnonymousCowhand ( 186416 )
      from the ARRL site:

      The traditional expression "73" goes right back to the beginning of the landline telegraph days. It is found in some of the earliest editions of the numerical codes , each with a different definition, but each with the same idea in mind--it indicated that the end, or signature, was coining up. But there are no data to prove that any of these were used.

      The first authentic use of 73 is in the publication The National Telegraph Review and Operators' Guide, first published in April 1857. At that time, 73 meant "My love to you!" Succeeding issues of this publication continued to use this definition of the term. Curiously enough, some of the other numerals then used have the same definition now that they had then, but within a short time, the use of 73 began to change.

      In the National Telegraph Convention, the numeral was changed from the Valentine-type sentiment to a vague sign of fraternalism. Here, 73 was a greeting, a friendly "word" between operators and it was so used on all wires.

      In 1859, the Western Union Company set up the standard "92 Code". A list of numerals from one to 92 was compiled to indicate a series of prepared phrases for use by the operators on the wires. Here, in the 92 Code, 73 changes from a fraternal sign to a very flowery "accept my compliments," which was in keeping with the florid language of that era.

      Over the years from 1859 to 1900, the many manuals of telegraphy show variations of this meaning. Dodge's The Telegraph Instructor shows it merely as "compliments." The Twentieth Century Manual of Railway and Commercial Telegraphy defines it two ways, one listing as "my compliments to you;" but in the glossary of abbreviations it is merely "compliments." Theodore A. Edison's Telegraphy Self-Taught shows a return to "accept my compliments." By 1908, however, a later edition of the Dodge Manual gives us today's definition of "best regards" with a backward look at the older meaning in another part of the work where it also lists it as "compliments."

      "Best regards" has remained ever since as the "put-it-down-in-black-and-white" meaning of 73 but it has acquired overtones of much warmer meaning. Today, amateurs use it more in the manner that James Reid had intended that it be used --a "friendly word between operators."

    • Clarification: There are Two connected Field Days this weekend, ARRL and AMSAT.

      The newer event which you refer to, AMSAT [amsat.org] FD, is world-wide, and lasts longer, satellite contacts only.

      ARRL [arrl.org] 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

  • One Days Notice? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by The Turd Report ( 527733 ) <the_turd_report@hotmail.com> on Friday June 21, 2002 @01:29PM (#3744593) Homepage Journal
    You all might want to let us in a bit earlier on this next year. I am interested, but I have already made plans.

    Why are event announced on Slashdot the day before (or even the day of) the event?

    • Pack your portable shortwave receiver and a 20' piece of wire and you'll be able to listen wherever you are! I'm going home to warm up my
      R-75 and R-5000 right now!

    • Re:One Days Notice? (Score:2, Informative)

      by pyser ( 262789 )
      Put a memo in your pda for next year then -- it's always the 4th weekend in June. Next year, June 28 and 29.
    • You all might want to let us in a bit earlier on this next year. I am interested, but I have already made plans.

      Field Day is always the fourth weekend in June. All you have to do is to mark your calendar for next year now.

      (If you have a PalmOS handheld, put in "Field Day" as an appointment for tomorrow, hit Details, Repeat, Month, change "every 1 month(s)" to "every 12 month(s)", and change "Repeat by (Day)(Date)" to "Repeat by Day". This should result in an event that happens on the 4th Saturday Of Every June.)

      There.. now you've all got a year's notice. See you on the air in '03. ;-)

  • I suppose I could go look it up, but I am lazy
    • IIRC, its the first name intials of the people who started Amateur Radio. Take this with a huge helping of NaCl.
    • Here's a reasonable explanation from the ARRL [arrl.org]

    • Re:What does HAM stand for? (Score:4, Informative)

      by P!Alexander ( 448903 ) on Friday June 21, 2002 @01:34PM (#3744635)
      From the National Association for Amateur Radio [arrl.org]:

      Why Ham? [arrl.org]

      "Ham: a poor operator. A 'plug.'"

      That's the definition of the word given in G. M. Dodge's The Telegraph Instructor even before radio. The definition has never changed in wire telegraphy. The first wireless operators were landline telegraphers who left their offices to go to sea or to man the coastal stations. They brought with them their language and much of the tradition of their older profession.

      In those early days, spark was king and every station occupied the same wavelength--or, more accurately perhaps, every station occupied the whole spectrum with its broad spark signal. Government stations, ships, coastal stations and the increasingly numerous amateur operators all competed for time and signal supremacy in each other's receivers. Many of the amateur stations were very powerful. Two amateurs, working across town, could effectively jam all the other operators in the area. When this happened, frustrated commercial operators would call the ship whose weaker signals had been blotted out by the amateurs and say "SRI OM THOSE #&$!@ HAMS ARE JAMMING YOU."

      Amateurs, possibly unfamiliar with the real meaning of the term, picked it up and applied it to themselves in true "Yankee Doodle" fashion and wore it with pride. As the years advanced, the original meaning has completely disappeared.
    • n 1: thigh of a hog (usually smoked) [syn: jambon, gammon]

      2: an unskilled actor who overacts [syn: ham actor]

      v : exaggerate one's acting [syn: overact, overplay] [ant: underact]
  • The Albemarle Amateur Radio Club [virginia.edu] (WA4TFZ) will be holding it's FD2002 [qsl.net] (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 [k4tlh.org]... Let's hope she doesn't flee in terror when she notices the ratio is out of whack. :^)
  • 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

  • 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.
    • 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?

      • 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.
        • And it's also what Nikola Tesla did before Marcoli.

          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. html
          http://www.mecfilms.com/dna/indev/patent2.ht m
          http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bl rad io.htm (less detailed an account)
    • If people are interested in building low power unlicensed radio station (which are legal) you should look at a Ramsey kit. It is better than rolling your own unless you have really good equipment like robslimo.

      The reason for a kit is that you don't want to be putting a dirty transmitter on the air or the local hams (if not the fcc) will be knocking on your door.

      The problem with these spark gap style radios that some of the others are mentioning here have a wide bandwidth and large harmonics. This is what will upset the neighbors.

      Power to the (clean) pirates!

  • Raynet - UK Radio Amateurs’ Emergency Network (Score:3, Informative)

    by ezs ( 444264 ) on Friday June 21, 2002 @01:42PM (#3744675) Homepage
    There is a similar type of thing in the UK - Raynet [raynet-uk.net]

    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 [subbrit.org.uk].

  • network of radios, sounds like a ... (Score:4, Funny)

    by colmore ( 56499 ) on Friday June 21, 2002 @01:43PM (#3744680) Journal
    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...

    • "...small, relatively cheap, devices..."

      I used to do yard work for a HAM, and believe you me, that stuff was anything BUT "small" and "relatively cheap", like that 50ft. tower in his back yard, for one.
      • "I used to do yard work for a HAM, and believe you me, that stuff was anything BUT "small" and "relatively cheap", like that 50ft. tower in his back yard, for one."

        With this radio (http://www.icomamerica.com/amateur/dualhand/q7aph oto.html) and a local repeater I can get out 60+ miles. If the repeater has an HF or VoIP link (http://www.synergenics.com/el/), I can get to the rest of the world. I can also work satellites with a slightly larger antenna and amplifier hooked up to the radio in the picture. The radio only goes for $120.

        - Lawrence
      • Here here. Ugh...the bottomless pool of dollars that I spent as a 12-year-old ham. First was the HF radio ($1000), then the handheld ($500), then as I got more experienced the friggin' antenna I forced my parents to endure on the roof ($2000 including a cherrypicker for a day to install).

        I suppose, in the grand scheme of things, this was not too much money, but for a 12-year-old, that was a lot of allowances and computer tutoring.

        --noah

  • A plug for Ham Radio Contesting (Score:4, Interesting)

    by rnd() ( 118781 ) on Friday June 21, 2002 @01:46PM (#3744688) Homepage
    Field Day comes in many flavors, depending on the ham radio club that you encounter. I've been a ham since age 12, and the best thing about Ham Radio to me is contesting.

    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...

    • Team spirit (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Andy Dodd ( 701 ) <atd7NO@SPAMcornell.edu> on Friday June 21, 2002 @01:57PM (#3744777) Homepage
      One of the most popular uses of packet radio seems to be accessing the local "DX Cluster"

      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. :) 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.
    • Some links about Ham Radio Contesting, as promised:

      Site dedicated to ham radio contesting [contesting.com]

      ARRL DX Contest (soapbox comments [arrl.org]

      November Sweepstakes Comments [arrl.org]

      Contest Calendar [arrl.org]

      General Ham Radio Info [eham.net]

      this is KF8QE

    • 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.

      One thing that you forgot to mention, was that Field Day is supposed to help prepare for emergency communications.

      So ... while the point system is still used, you don't get extra points for the regions you contact, you get extra points for running on batteries, low wattage, and because this also helps with the image of amateur radio, extra points are awarded if you get press coverage.

  • A little bit more... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Andy Dodd ( 701 ) <atd7NO@SPAMcornell.edu> on Friday June 21, 2002 @01:46PM (#3744689) Homepage
    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. :)
    • Well, a person CAN operate from their home station on home power, but that's a separate class from the others.
    • I don't think its really a contest, while points are collected - and extra points are given for non petrol based power, cw and satellite contacts - there are no paper awards to be handed out.

      You even have to buy your own t-shirt.

      Field day is an important day because for one thing its a 69 year old tradition now, and it gives clubs and groups the excuse to get out, go camping, eat good food (hopefully) and practice operating on emergency power - which is really what emergency communications is all about. If you can't power your radio - you can't communicate.

      Also just for your info - there are different classes of field day stations - including base stations run off of AC Main Supply - but you get a whole lot more points if your station is operated off alternative energy - like solar, wind, or hydro.

      That said - hope to catch you guys on uo-14, ao-27, so-41, and maybe ISS :).
  • 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.
    • Well, It doesn't have to do with ham equipment inasmuch as it has to do with CB. Equating the two is a MAJOR fallacy. A lotta folks with CBs will modify them to drive an extra watt or two out of them, and will make the things splatter RF all over the place, throwing interference at just about anything electronic. And "SSB/CW" goes all the way from the HF band into the Microwave band.

      SSB means single side band, which is a form of modulation. CW means Morse Code, which is, well, the code. Both get lots of distance, but CW mainly because of the quality of the information. To understand a CW message, all you need is to discern timing of two pulses of different length intervals. To understand voice (AKA Phone) or packet, there's more "information" being shoved into the bandwidth, thereby making it harder to understand as the quality of the signal decreases.

      So, blaming it on SSB/CW even is a fallacy, because people can, with poorly designed equipment cause problems in FM-modulated signals.

      Of course, that's just my opinion, I could be wrong.
      • Heck, I would say that FM is more of a danger than SSB/CW - Why?

        Inherently, most amplifiers designed for FM use are nonlinear. Which means lots of harmonics.

        In a well-designed amp this is irrelevant, since filtering kills the harmonics. But such an amp inherently requires more filtering than a linear one used for SSB. (CW can also be sent through a nonlinear amp.)

        Why use nonlinear amps? They're far more efficient.
    • lack of adequate radio inteference shielding in the current electronic devices

      This is a major 'public-relations' problem that most Hams have ... primarily front-end overload interference on TVs. What front-end overload is, is too much RF being pulled in from a transmission source. The result is interference of all channels on a TV.

      The reason that this is a PR problem, is that according to FCC rules and laws, its the owner of the TVs problem to fix, not the Hams' problem ... and this leads to ill-will between the general public and Hams.

      This gets back to the posters point ... inadequate RF shielding. BTW, plastic computer cases are a "Bad Thing" if they don't have any metal shielding plates ...

  • UARC will be at Payson Lakes in the Wasatch mountains just as in recent years. A reference:

    http://www.xmission.com/~uarc/anounce1.html#fd00
  • 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
  • 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/
  • 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.
  • 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?

    • Not the point. (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Andy Dodd ( 701 )
      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.
  • The WVRA [dwave.net] 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.
  • one day, I'll have to get a radio so I can use it again... oh well. I remember years ago talking to some guy in Japan on field day... I helped set up a large antenna on top of an historic mound in the park we were set up.

  • 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!

  • Hams have one of the few means of communication that will work across long distances with no intervening infrastructure. The data rates are lousy, propagation problems are a headache, and interference is a big problem, but you can get to almost anywhere on HF. The military has some portable HF gear, but almost nobody else bothers any more.

    Still, the American Radio Relay League seems so dated. W1AW still broadcasts Morse code practice (!) most of the day.

    • Still, the American Radio Relay League seems so dated. W1AW still broadcasts Morse code practice (!) most of the day.

      Well, being able to understand code at 5 words per minute (at least enough to pass a multiple-choice exam, no penalty for guessing IIRC) is still a requirement for the higher levels of ham license in the US. And if civilization collapsed or summer-movie aliens invaded in a big way, Morse code would probably be pretty useful (needs less bandwidth than speech and/or easier to build a transmitter).

      I'm not sure how many folks actually use the code after passing exams though..

      Bridget - or "88 de N3XDS", heh.

    • 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.
  • 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
  • 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
    • Actually The Red Cross of NYC had to rely on Hams during 9/11 because the phones were really messed up, and they figured they would use their "Nextels" - guess what? They didn't work - since that time, a bunch of the agencies here in NYC have taken on a new respect for what the HAMS here in NY - we get invited out a lot more

      73
      KC2IXE
    • Mod parent up...I think this is an interesting topic to discuss.

      I've been thinking along the same lines for a while....I got my ham license back when I was 12 years old ('91) and the Internet/Web, though well on their way, were not a thing of public knowledge (weird to think about that, eh?). Likewise, cell phones were still in the "ultra luxury" class and were not things that everyday people had.

      Ham Radio changed my perspective on a lot of things, and that time it was insanely cool -- I could fire up my HF radio, aim the yagi, and have a conversation with someone in Australia from my bedroom in NYC. Amazing. Even better, I could talk to people in exotic countries in Africa (Mali is one I remember nailing and being very excited about), the Middle East (I spoke with hams in Kuwait, Jordan, and Israel regularly), the Baltic States (Yugoslavia, etc.), and even tropical pacific islands -- very cool stuff for a 12-year-old.

      With my handheld 2-meter radio, there was this mysteriously cool things called "Autopatch", where I could use the local repeater to....make phone calls! (that everyone with a scanner could and would easily listen to) Wow...now I had a cell-phone-like thing years before I or my friends would actually use cellphones, and that too was awesome.

      Even with my computer, I could plug it in and use RTTY or CW to ... digitally communicate with others around the world and send....email! I could even download weather fax imagines from sattelites and see the radar before the local newscasters could. Amazing.

      The Internet changed a lot of that, and very seriously. Now, talking with someone in Australia isn't so exciting when I can log onto IRC and see thousands of Aussies in their own chat rooms (heck I can log onto an Australian porn site and "talk live with buxom babes waiting for me").

      Exotic countries in Africa now bring to mind open relays, spam, and scams more than they bring excitement, and tropical islands are money-making opportunities for .TV domain names more than anything.

      And digital weather maps? Woop-de-doo....weather.com and weatherunderground.com have those pretty much taken care of.

      So I'm going to agree -- the allure that ham radio once had for me is gone ... yes, morse code is cool, and yes, some of the digital modes are still cool, but it's nothing like what it used to be, and sadly, probably won't ever be.

      --noah
      • So I'm going to agree -- the allure that ham radio once had for me is gone ... yes, morse code is cool, and yes, some of the digital modes are still cool, but it's nothing like what it used to be, and sadly, probably won't ever be.

        If you were only interested in using ham radio as a means of communications, I can understand why you might be tired or bored with it.


        What motivates and interests me is actually building things, networks, infrastructure, transmitters, receivers, learning about a new or at least new to me, modes (e.g. QMSK). In fact I spend a very small amount of time "on the air" with most of the interesting bits happening on the bench.

        • What motivates and interests me is actually building things, networks, infrastructure, transmitters, receivers, learning about a new or at least new to me, modes (e.g. QMSK). In fact I spend a very small amount of time "on the air" with most of the interesting bits happening on the bench.


          I agree with your point. This is certainly one of the better parts of the hobby -- the study and and practice of radio itself and indeed, the appeal of this won't go away.

          I guess for me it was mostly about the communication (though that's pretty silly, since most of the contacts I had were rarely more than "hi this is what i'm using what's the weather like where you are?"). But I suppose the means (i.e. building and tinkering), though they were fun, were still a means to an end. And when that end got less exciting, the means got less exciting. To each his own, though, and I hope you continue to enjoy things!

          That being said, I still think there are novel communication-related things going on in the hobby -- the AMSAT stuff is still amazingly cool (how many "regular" people do military-style sattelite tracking on their home PCs and then use a dedicated sattelite communications channel?). Also, EME stuff is outta-this-world (ha ha ha), and contesting is still a thrill that can't really be matched elsewhere.

          --noah
    • I mean its not a bad thing, it keeps the geezers off the road for a while...

      Are you sure about that? I'm thinking they're more on the road than ever. [marac.org]

      de KF9FR

    • Re:Ham Radio Dead? (Score:3, Interesting)

      by AlphaOne ( 209575 )
      I think you missed the point... perhaps that's why you don't operate anymore.

      I mean sure, if you just want to talk to other people there are easier (and better) ways to do so. We lost a lot of folks to the Internet revolution because they simply liked to chat with people. There's nothing wrong with that. I'm an Internet junkie myself.

      There's more to it than that, though. For one, it's a challenge. If you like challenges, it's a great hobby. Trying to talk to someone in France while both of you are coping with an unusual accent and bouncing a weak signal off of the atmosphere is very challenging (and VERY exciting). If that doesn't satisfy your desire to be challenged, try to do morse code by bouncing a signal OFF THE MOON.

      Or maybe you'd prefer to talk via satellite. There are dozens of amateur radio satellites in orbit right now and YOU CAN USE THEM TOO.

      To truly understand how radio waves bounce around is also very difficult (indeed, impossible in some respects... it's very voodoo). Once you sort of get it straight in your head, it's exciting when you're right. Especially if you're trying a little experiment to see if it helps matters.

      Most people take cell phones, radio stations, satellite TV, walkie talkies, and other wireless items forgranted. Learning what makes all that work is VERY exciting (to a geek, anyway).

      Even better than learning, though... YOU CAN DO IT TOO. Ever wondered how television transmitters get a signal from a camera onto your TV? Or, better yet, have you ever researched the subject and wished you could experiment with it? YOU CAN.

      That's just scratching the surface, too. It's a big onion and the more you peel away the more there is.

      Sure, there are some "old farts" out there... but those are the nicest and most helpful people you will ever meet.

      As for 9/11, yes Amateur Ops were in huge demand. I'm not sure if you noticed, but there was a large antenna on the top of one of the WTC towers... almost all of lower Manhattan's public safety stuff was on that tower. Not to mention television transmitters, radio transmitters, and so on. It was not only a loss of public safety communications but general public communications as well.
    • ... or at least, it was supposed to be.

      Take a look at eBay's components [ebay.com] and test equipment [ebay.com] 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 [qsl.net] with ham radio now than at any time in the past.
  • The amateur radio club of the Florida Atlantic University, K4FAU [qsl.net] and the Boca Raton Amateur Radio Association [netfirms.com] are having their combined Field Day on the ropes course of FAU in Boca Raton.
    Here [fau.edu] 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

  • Seattle -- mike and key (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    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 [mikeandkey.com] from their web page.

  • Finding a local field day (Score:3, Informative)

    by RocketScientist ( 15198 ) on Friday June 21, 2002 @02:26PM (#3744955)
    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.
    • 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
    • clay county iowa? i live on the boarder of kossuth and emmet, and i've been looking for a local club. i don't have my license yet, but i do have the equipment
  • 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!! :)
  • For those of you in Southern NH (Hi Maddog!) check out the Nashua Area Radio Club's website [n1fd.org] for information on their field day activities. They run a huge event, this year there are 25 stations planned!

  • Honestly.... (Score:3)

    by GeneralEmergency ( 240687 ) on Friday June 21, 2002 @04:41PM (#3745888) Journal
    Hams make me nervous.

    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.

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