Is Ham Radio Green?

Is our hobby of ham radio green? By 'green', of course, I mean is it friendly to the environment? Is it hindering or helping push us toward 'global warming'? Is it contributing to unwanted 'greenhouse gases' in the environment? 'Green' seems to be a hot topic these days and whether you agree with the predictions or not, it doesn't hurt to sit back and think, "should we just keep on our merry way or should we take a look at how each of our lives are affecting our environment?".

Obviously the big culprit in ham radio is electricity usage. Much of our electricity is created by burning fossil fuels, which give off gases that harm our environment. So, are we doing anything right? Yes! Amateur radio operators who are involved in planning for emergencies often have drills where they set up stations that use batteries for power. One such drill is the annual 'Field Day' exercise sponsored by the American Radio Relay League the last weekend in June. Participants receive extra credit for operating their stations during the drill without using power from the grid.

Many hams shun the big power eating amplifiers popular with some hams and operate their stations QRP. QRP simply means "I am transmitting on low power." Today, QRP operation usually assumes 5 watts or less. Hams that are into QRP operation often use battery power. Whether battery or commercial power, at 5 watts they are using a lot less power. For most QRP operators it is the thrill of the chase. They compete for certificates for "Worked all States QRP" or "DX 100 QRP", etc. They often compensate for their low power by having very efficient high gain antennas.

Other hams operate mostly or totally mobile or portable. When mobile, whether they are operating on HF or VHF they are using vehicle battery power. Much of this mobile operation is on the daily commute or on a trip somewhere. If we make the assumption that the alternator is going to charge the car battery whether they are operating or not, the additional fuel used is negligible. Likewise, portable operation using a handheld radio (an HT) also is using battery power. Instead of everyone operating at a high power to reach 50 or 100 miles or more, we have shared repeaters that allow us to use minimal power output from our HTs, such as 1 or 2 watts.

So, where do we get the electricity to recharge those batteries, you say? Many hams love to experiment with solar panels. I have seen some hams at hamfests using miniature solar panels attached to their hats to keep the batteries in their HT at full power. Others have gone the larger route and installed solar panels on the roof of their house to power their equipment or even the whole house.
Other hams do the same thing using windmills. Today they are commonly called wind turbines. At one Field Day not long ago, one of our members even experimented with a water turbine, using a nearby stream, to generate enough electric power to keep a battery charged.

If you're a ham radio operator that uses battery power, including solar, wind, or water power to keep them charged, pat yourself on the back. If you're not, here's a challenge. Find some way to 'go green' with your hobby. I encourage anyone with other examples of how ham radio can be 'greener', please leave a comment by clicking the link below.

Until next time...

'73 OM
DE WA2KKG
K

Ham Radio and Public Service- Part I

One thing ham radio operators have always been known for is participating in public service events. We'll deal with public service for disasters and other emergencies such as RACES, ARES, and Skywarn in Part II. This is about using our radio equipment, our training, our enjoyment of the hobby, and a few hours of our time to help out people in a public way. Often these are events are organized by non-profit groups to raise money for a cause. Most times amateur radio groups like ARES, RACES, and other radio clubs organize local hams to provide radio communications for these events.

In this area of the Mid-Atlantic United States there are too many events of this type to list them all. However, some local events where hams have been of help in this area are: March of Dimes Walk-a-thon, MS-150 Bike Tour (MS as in Multiple Sclerosis), ironman competitions, marathons, Memorial Day and Independence Day parades, Walk for Hunger, Breast Cancer awareness walks, and so many more. Last year I organized a group to provide amateur radio communications for our local PBA Bike Race which ran a 30 mile route. It was great fun and the PBA officers were very appreciative of our efforts.

How do ham radio operators help out? What public service do they provide? First, we often provide radio communications for the organizers during the setup phase. Many of these events involve hundreds of participants and many functions must be organized, such as parking for participants, meal services, transportation back to the start, etc. Hams 'shadow' the key organizers during the hours before the event, so they can communicate with other members of the planning team who may be on the other end of the field, setting up the food tent, or at the finish line for example. Often one ham with a higher power mobile radio acts as net control for the day coordinating message passing by low power hand held radio operators out on the course. See the links below for great tips for the net control station and the shadows and checkpoints.

During the event hams continue to provide radio communications for all areas. The event may be a ten mile walk, a fifty mile bike race, or an outdoor gathering covering an area larger than several football fields. Hams may pass messages, called traffic, to each other on behalf of the organizers about where the leaders of the race are, for instance, by placing themselves at appropriate checkpoints along the route. In a five mile walk or a parade, hams may position themselves along the route or simply join in with the walk to watch for people who are in need of medical help, such as treatment for hyperthermia or a twisted ankle. In a bike race, hams at checkpoints coordinate other hams riding in roving bike repair vans to the location of riders who have broken down. Sometimes a ham radio operator is positioned at a rest stop or checkpoint along the route to watch for participants who may have become temporarily disabled and need assistance.

While these events are great ways to be of service to the public and help publicize amateur radio, it seems fewer and fewer hams are helping with these events. Just last night I received an urgent reminder email from our club president that we are committed to provide public service communications support for the local March of Dimes walk-a-thon and he needs 6 to 8 hams to properly handle it and he only has 2 who have volunteered. The walk is now only 6 days away! Why is that? Are we losing our public service spirit? Are we all just too busy... or too lazy?

These events are good ways to learn how to participate in a net. They help show amateur radio in a positive light. They are often outdoors in warm weather -- who doesn't need a little more fresh air and sunshine? There may be perks like a free t-shirt, free food, a free goodie bag, etc. Spring is the beginning of the season for these events. Contact a local club or two in your area and tell them you want to be contacted for the next public service event they do. If you don't know of a club in your area, check the listing the ARRL keeps HERE. Below are a couple of links to some helpful information about operating in public service events of this type.

Helpful Operating Hints by Bruce Pigott, KC1US
Net Control Tips by Madeline Lombaerde, KD6JTU

Until next time...

73 OM
DE WA2KKG

Ham Radio and April Fool's Day - Past and Present

Another April 1 has come and gone and now the April Fool's Day pranksters have to start planning for next year. I decided to see how many April Fool's Day pranks I could find recorded that relate in some way to Ham Radio. Here are a handful that gave me a chuckle.

In a memorial article about longtime American Radio Relay League staffer, By Goodman, it tells about his dry sense of humor and his series of QST April Fool parodies under the pseudonym Larson E. Rapp, WIOU. Here is one example:

"In the April 1960 issue, a phony full-page ad announced the formation of "Larsen E. Enterprises, Inc," supposedly off Route 128 in "Kippering-on-the-Charles," Massachusetts, with Larsen E. Rapp as president. Bearing a "Not a Advertisement" disclaimer, the ad offered customers free access to the company's air-conditioned "Wonder Workshop" with each kit purchase.

"If you don't have the time to assemble the entire kit yourself, one of our engineers will be glad to do it for you, just for the pleasure it gives him," the ad promised. " More...
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This one, from 2005, is simply titled: Converting a 1955 warbird into a modern ham radio DXpedition shuttle. What a whopper. Read more...

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This one, from 2007, tells how the FCC has made an announcement in the broadband powerline (BPL) interference issue. Read on...
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Here's another scary FCC announcement, from 2004, to take effect in 2008. We're almost there...
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One facet of the hobby enjoyed by Ham radio enthusiasts is direction finding and tracking things like weather balloons and amateur rockets. Radio beacons are put in these devices before launch or release and the ham operators attempt to find them later to retrieve any data collected on the flight. These next two involve those activities.

This one involves a group of ham radio operators who are members of Stratofox, an Aerospace Tracking and Recovery Team. This one was in 2005.

"This year's April Fools' joke was based on the premise that it needed to have the punchline, "the weasel has landed." About a dozen Stratofox members and some of their friends set out to see if it was really possible to fool anyone, even for a moment, that a fictitious organization called "TubeRat Aerospace" had landed a probe on the moon."More...
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This one is a little more tongue-in-cheek. Here is an excerpt from the "Voyage of the Peep-o-nauts" from way back in the year 2000.

"Soon afterward the balloon ruptured on schedule at an altitude of 110,000 ft. Unfortunately, no one had briefed the Peeps about this part of the mission! The audio downlink transmitted a mixture of wind and the payload's audio beacon. You can clearly hear the sounds of rushing wind when the balloon popped (at something over 100,000 feet) and began its plummet toward the ground."Continued...

Well, that's all the fun for now.

Until next time...

'73 OM

DE WA2KKG
K

Ham Radio in Space

I've mentioned a few times that one of the exciting things that ham radio operators can do that no one else can do, is to talk to space travelers via ham radio! While that often means talking to American Astronauts aboard the United States Space Shuttles, there is also a regular schedule with the International Space Station (ISS) as it circles the Earth. These astronauts aboard the Shuttles or the ISS must have amateur radio licenses in order to use the ham bands.

The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program schedules ham radio contacts with schools all over the world on a regular basis. This is a big deal for students in those schools as they usually prepare a list of questions in advance and then the students themselves get to key the microphone and speak to the astronauts in person. You can find out much more about ARISS, including how to get your child's school on the program, by visiting the ARRL's pages about the program: ARISS1 and ARISS2. These webpages have many additional website addresses that you can research also.

The fifth private space traveler, Dr. Charles Simonyi, has several school contacts scheduled on his upcoming visit to the ISS. His visit is presently scheduled for launch on April 7, 2007. You can read about his travel to space and his use of ham radio at the below website:

"Space Traveler to Talk with Students ... Directly from Space. Dr. Charles Simonyi to Use Ham Radio and Share Recordings of Conversations on www.charlesinspace.com.
— In his continued effort to inspire youth in the science of space travel, Charles Simonyi, Ph.D., the fifth private space traveler, will speak with high school students in three events across the United States through the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program." Click the above link to read the entire article.

In addition to the ARISS program, everyday hams like you and I can call the space station as it passes overhead and make contacts with the astronauts. Of course that is easier said than done and to tell you what is involveded had better be left for another time. However, crew members do make contacts with earth-bound hams as the ISS travels. The contacts are made during their breaks, pre-sleep time, and before and after meal-time.

Until next time...

'73 OM
DE WA2KKG
K

What Is Ham Radio and Why Do They Do It?

So, you are wondering, What is this Ham Radio?. Ham radio, officially called the Amateur Radio Service by the Federal Communications Commission in the United States, is a hobby, an avocation, a pastime, a calling, a public service opportunity. It is many things to many people. It can be whatever you want it to be. It exists around the world in almost every country.

First a little history. It is commonly accepted that Marconi invented radio and made the first radio transmission across the Atlantic Ocean back around 1901. These early wireless transmissions were called 'spark gap' because a high voltage was used which made a loud 'snap' sound. Soon after Marconi's first transmissions there were amateurs experimenting with this new technology. For the next several decades as the development of radio technology continued, the amateur community grew, clubs were formed, amateurs provided communications to police and arctic expeditions. Amateurs were responsible for many of the technical discoveries that continued to spread the use of radio in our society.

What is a 'Ham'? "Ham" is what the early telegraph operators called another operator who was not very good at sending. As wireless transmission of those telegraph signals became the norm, the commercial operators increasingly found themselves competing with amateurs for space on the airwaves and began calling the amateur operators, "hams". Well, I guess it stuck. Even though it started out as a derogatory term, hams have adopted it and now wear the label with pride.

Ham radio is first a hobby about communication with other people, sometimes people you don't even know. The earliest ham operators' goal was to find ways to increase the distance their signals would travel, thereby enabling them to talk to more and more people in distant lands. Here in the twenty-first century we now have jet aircraft capable of carrying hundreds of people to distant places in less time than it takes some people to get to work, cell phones that can literally connect us to another person with a telephone number anywhere in the world, and the Internet where we can watch videos made today by the average person worldwide. So why ham radio?

Ham radio is still a sought-after communications method. What's the draw? It's like a big 'party line'. Most people today don't remember the time when everyone shared the same phone line with his neighbors. If you picked up the telephone to make a call and someone was talking you had to hang up and wait awhile and try again later. Party lines still exist today in the U.S. in a few rural locations as well as in some other countries. With ham radio you call out and you never know who is going to answer! You could be talking to an author in England, an engineer in Syria, a restaurant owner in Australia, or a doctor on the next street. It can be a little intimidating at first, but lifelong friendships have developed this way. Just imagine how this helps foster international goodwill and can move toward world peace. And it’s a lot of fun!

Hams have many different activities available in this great hobby. For instance, some of the many things that interest hams are: contacting other people around the world, using repeaters to cover a wide local area with a hand-held or mobile radio , making contacts by bouncing their signal off of the Moon or repeating it through a ham radio satellite. Some hams like to interconnect their transmitters and receivers to their computer for various ways to enhance the enjoyment they get from their hobby. They can now even talk to others through the Internet without actually using a radio. And yes, there are still many who like to find ways to improve, by experimenting with new antenna, transmitter, and receiver designs. Hams are credited with developing a transmission mode known as 'single sideband' and many other radio related inventions.

Hams often operate their equipment from a home station, from a vehicle like a car, boat, plane or bicycle, or even a portable location while walking, on a picnic, or anywhere using a hand-held radio. Why do they do it? Many reasons: fun, excitement, love of science, intrigue, belonging to a social network and so many more.

(Parts of this post are similar to some previous content... with my apologies. This was written as an article to be published elsewhere and I decided to share it with you.)

Until next time...

'73 OM
DE WA2KKG
K

Where's The Fun For A New Ham Radio Operator?

Since February 23, 2007 when the FCC in the U.S. dropped the code requirement for getting a ham radio license, they have been swamped with new license applications. But this is a good thing because now we have many new operators coming onto the ham bands. If you are one, just take your time and listen a bit before you talk. Learn the lingo and the protocol. For those of you who were using CB, the operating procedures are different here. The operating procedures are even different between HF and VHF. For instance, you say 'phone' on HF and 'voice' on VHF/UHF. Most operators on the bands will be patient and help you with tips if you go astray. Welcome to the world of Ham Radio!

OK, so you're getting, or have gotten, your first Technician class ham radio license. What are you going to do with it? Most hams enjoy talking to other hams. This is called a QSO, pronounced 'Que-so' on voice/phone, taken from the many Q-signals used by CW operators to pass information even in very bad conditions. Here's one source for a list of Q-Signals. Sometimes that QSO is for asking and getting answers to specific questions. Sometimes it involves a technical discussion about equipment (Rigs) or the newest antenna design. Sometimes it is just to talk about nothing of particular importance, like the weather. Listen and learn.

As I said in a previous post, most new Technicians start out on the VHF and UHF bands. You will most likely start out with a handi-talkie (HT) because they are the most economical transceiver for beginners. An HT will get you onto 2 meters (144 MHz) using FM voice. A more expensive HT may also have 1.25 meters (222 Mhz) and/or 70 cm (440 MHz) capability as well.

All of these bands have repeaters owned and operated by other hams. A 'repeater' does what it's name implies; it 'hears' the transmission from your low-power HT and simultaneously retransmits your voice from a higher elevation at a higher power output in all directions. There are probably more repeaters on 2 meters than on any other ham band and that's good because a 2 meter HT is the least expensive radio to buy. Some repeaters are 'closed' (for members only) and most are 'open'. Where are these repeaters? You can purchase printed directories from various sources, but for starters there are any number of online directories which you can find by searching. Here's a good one to get you started.

Until next time...

'73 OM
DE WA2KKG
K

Welcome

I'll have to admit right off that this is my first experience with blogging. I haven't even read many blogs, with the possible exception of my son Kenny's blog, Creative Journal. So please bear with me as I learn this new type of information technology and share with you my tidbits about a much older type of information technology: Ham Radio. I should also mention that this is being written from the perspective of a ham radio operator living and operating in the United States, and so some of what I write may not be accurate if you are in another country. Particularly if is pertains to licensing, operating rules, etc. You non-US hams, are invited to comment and offer what is different in your contry.

To begin, we'll talk about this great pastime of Ham Radio and aim the posts at you 'newbies'. Later we'll get into discussions on equipment, antennas, and all the FUN that you can have in ham radio. Some call ham radio a hobby. I use the term pastime, instead of 'hobby', because for many of us this is more than a hobby. It is a calling in the volunteer sense. We are involved in very many public service activities, which always give us great satisfaction. Translation: fun, fun, fun!

Some ground rules are probably in order. Comments are welcome! I don't claim to have all the answers and there are those who are certainly more knowledgeable about ham radio than I. So feel free, but try to keep them on topic and free of uncivilized language.

Let's leave it at that for the first post to Ham Radio Scene. Next time we'll talk about "How to Get on the Air" and Do you need a license? and Do you have to learn Morse Code?

'73
de wa2kkg k
What does 73 mean? (Psssst- "Best Regards")