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Updated: 9/3/07

Featured in This Issue

NVIS, One-Way Skip, and why my 160 meter antenna doesn't work. By N6XN

Are you a dinosaur? If you know what a "Banana Boat Swing" is you might be. If you have one yourself, you definitely are! How about a "Lake Erie Swing" or a "Submariners Fist"? I heard something today that took me back and I had to look up a couple of things from my distant past. A visit to the Telegraph Office produced this terrific article by George Franklin, W0AV. In his article George describes the origin of some unique "fists" from the early days of telegraph and CW on Amateur Radio. These days we Hams operating CW have it pretty easy; memory keyers, comfortable chairs, boring, everyone-sounds-the-same signals, but in the early days, in the military and the commercial world, things were quite different. In the first place, many operated while standing up. On seagoing freighters, the key or bug was bolted to the table so it wouldn't slide around. Often the key was bolted in such a fashion as to overhang the front edge of the table with a handgrip mounted to the adjoining bulkhead to give the operator something to hold onto. In the military, the key was often strapped to the operators upper leg. All this led to the development of some pretty interesting styles. Each operator developed his own style based on the conditions at his operating position and after a time, each operator developed a distinctive "fist". I could easily recognize my friends by listening to their CW whether they were in Napa or half way around the world. The fist was as distinctive as their voice.

So what did I hear today? Sunday, August 12th 11:50 AM. The northbound Wine Train blowing the crossing at First Street. Instead of the long drawn out "Q" I heard "CQ". That had a distinctive swing also; just as if the operator was pulling on a rope! 73, Ron and thanks for the smile.

Link of the Month This one comes from AR Newsline and spotlights the website of Tom White, K5EHX. One especially interesting feature Tom has is a repeater directory using Google Maps as the platform. When you enter the callsign or other identification of a particular repeater, a map comes up with the repeater site circled so you can see the coverage area. I can't see how it could possibly be accurate, yet when I asked to see the Mt Veeder system, Tom's data seemed to be surprisingly accurate. See for yourself.

From the ARRL Club News For August, this rather long article on mentoring is especially meaningful for those of us involved in training and testing. Are we running a "License Mill"?

Mentoring Activity Is Active Mentoring

Amateur Radio has always been an activity of exploration and discovery as well as personal growth and social interaction. The people who often receive the most satisfaction from Amateur Radio are those who have spent time developing skills. They have made a commitment to increase their knowledge of the subject and who have become a part of the fabric of the amateur community. Obtaining a license and purchasing a radio does not make you a radio amateur any more than purchasing a tennis racket makes you a tennis player. If I may carry this analogy a step further, mentoring in ham radio is like coaching in sports; it is ineffective unless there is an effort from the participant.

"Without involvement, there is no commitment. Mark it down, asterisk it, circle it, underline it. No involvement, no commitment." --
Stephen Covey

Too often time and energy is wasted by well-meaning amateurs who want to help people discover Amateur Radio. Fueled by their good intentions, these disciples of Amateur Radio try to spoon-feed information to apathetic newcomers who somehow meandered through the door to ham radio or have found themselves handcuffed to ham radio either through school, career or family involvement. License mills that systematically churn out call signs and don't offer any follow up training are not the least bit beneficial to the Amateur Radio Service. One new ham who gets involved in a local club and is active on the air will have far more impact on Amateur Radio than a hundred call signs who may never even purchase a radio let alone get on the air. Unfortunately the dormant call signs will clutter the census of Amateur Radio for up to ten years, misleading the actual number of active hams. New hams should already have that wide-eyed zeal of any person who has willingly embarked on a new hobby or venture. The enthusiasm of new hams is often contagious and this can have a positive effect on a club by invoking renewed excitement to the group.

A recent example of this wide-eyed enthusiasm happened at our club's Field Day event when I met a newcomer to Amateur Radio who had only been licensed about six weeks at the time. I could instantly see in the eager but curious way that he immersed himself in the weekend's activities that this person had the potential to be an asset to our club and to Amateur Radio. Soon after Field Day, the novice operator had a General class license manual in his hand but, more importantly, he was in my shack experiencing DX, SSB, digital and CW operating. Soon after that, I had him in the chair participating in the IARU contest. Immediately after his inoculation of on-the-air operation, my new protégé was planning his first wire antenna and the layout of his shack. He even designed a QSL card to confirm future contacts with other radio amateurs. By the time this newsletter is released I am certain that he will probably have upgraded to General and started logging contacts from his own station.

Amateur Radio has a wide variety of things to offer but the fact remains that in this post 911 and post-Katrina world, many people have been attracted to Amateur Radio through the emergency communications feature of the service. It is wonderful that these new people are using the EmComm portal to come into the exciting world of Amateur Radio however, if the intention is to get an entry level license, buy a hand-held radio and keep it in a box only to be used for emergencies. All of the spoon feeding in the world is not going to enable these people to become good operators and effective communicators.

Active radio operators are effective communicators and are essential to "maintaining a reservoir of trained communicators," as stated in FCC Part 97 as the basis and purpose of the Amateur Radio Service. Not only do active hams make good communicators, active hams "enhance international goodwill" which is also part of the FCC's basis and purpose of the service.

Effective mentoring in ham radio requires coaching, teaching and above all, encouragement. The mentor who is a cheerleader and promotes activity on and off the air gives new hams a purpose and lets them learn by doing. Activity introduces new hams to other operators and offers opportunities for new friendships and resources that can help develop communication skills.

Contests and awards are not just for collecting certificates and other wallpaper. Operating events are fun and they can be used as mentoring tools to encourage new operators to set goals and get involved. More time spent on-the-air with other hams not only increases an operator's ability to be able to pass information, but it cultivates good listening skills, creates a familiarity and comfort level in using the equipment, and it helps to understand complex topics like propagation.

Proficiency comes by doing, and as one becomes more proficient at something, the more enjoyment there is to be derived from it. People who enjoy what they are doing are more likely to share their avocation with others who show an interest. Mentors who promote activity kick start the machine that generates momentum in a club. Active hams are enthusiastic hams, and enthusiastic hams create commotion that others want to be a part of. As the passion for ham radio activity grows, soon the students become the teachers who mentor a new group of excited wide-eyed novices.

Radio amateurs have many opportunities to be recognized for their operating achievements and mentors ought to be using these programs as training aids. ARRL sponsors or supports many events and awards programs that are designed to get hams on the air. In fact, the very first tab on the ARRL Web page http://www.arrl.org is "Operating Activities." Along with contests and awards, there are many special event operating activities. On any given weekend there are operating events that hams can participate in. Besides the structured events and activities mentioned we can always sit down with a new ham and call CQ. Effective mentoring comes not from spoon feeding, but by setting a buffet table full of activity and inviting new hams to join in the feast.

From AR Newsline, this interesting tidbit. For several years operators using the digital modes such as PSK31 have been using the old RST signal report format (T standing for "tone"). While this is probably better than nothing, over the years the "T" component has become rather meaningless. Listening to any DX pileup one will hear report after report (both to and from) of 5-9-9 even though it is obvious that neither station can hear very well. Modern rigs tend to be extremely stable compared to the old, often home-brewed tube rigs of years past. As a result, its rather unusual to hear anything but a very clear, stable tone on CW. But on the digital modes, what would pass for tone, is often a distorted, overly wide, high IMD signal and the receiving station is limited to numbers between 0 and 9 to describe it to the originator.
The proposed modification is a RFQ signal report with the Q standing for "Quality". Not yet adopted by the ITU but scheduled for discussion during the upcoming conference in Brazil, it makes a lot of sense. Read about it and other facets of operating PSK31 at Winlink.org

From The Rain Report this interesting discussion on digital modes featuring Mark Thompson WB9QZB. In a 15 minute MP3 "podcast" Mark discusses the various digital modes with a particular focus on D-Star. The discussion traces the evolution of digital modes in Amateur radio beginning with packet to the present day choices which now include digital voice. Hear it here.

And finally, we once again visit "The origin of 73". Most hams know it stands for "Good bye and good luck" or does it? And if there is a 73, and 88 stands for "Love and Kisses" what happened to all the other numbers? From N2EY, this interesting list.