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Amateur Radio Weekly – Issue 156
29 April 2017 | by 
FCC changes will affect GMRS, FRS, CB, other Part 95 devices
DXing on Citizens Band will become legal.
ARRL
Man fined $500 for writing ‘I Am An Engineer’ in email to government
An electronics engineer says he found a flaw in traffic lights. The Oregon engineering board fined him for it.
Motherboard
Heads up: An invasion is coming
Yep, thousands of Hams are expected to converge on our county fairgrounds for a three day event known as the ‘Hamvention.”
Fairborn Daily Herald
USB CW Key
Enable a key to be used as mouse input via USB.
whaley.org.uk
Requiem For Radio project
Artist Amanda Dawn Christie has brought back to life the sounds of the 13 CBC Radio-Canada International shortwave towers that once stood in Sackville, N.B.
CBC
How to broadcast color PAL and NTSC television with an SDR
This project describes my approach and success in transmitting an analog color TV image via a HackRF One.
hackaday.io
VHF SOTA Expedition in the Snowdonia National Park
I stayed a total of 8 days and activated 11 summits.
Adventures in Ham Radio
The Cricket: The Four State QRP Group’s latest transceiver kit
The Cricket is a low cost entry level minimalist CW transceiver for the 80 meter band.
The SWL Post
Contesting in Hawaii – H2O versus your antennas
The elements always win…meaning water. Well, the Sun plays a role as does wind. Nothing like the repeated pounding that trade winds do to break or loosen something.
ARRL and Ham Radio in Hawaii
Video
MFJ-269C testing coax cable faults and length
The MFJ-269C is so much more than an SWR analyzer.
Ham Radio Concepts
Ham Radio Headset Shootout: Budget vs. High-End
Discussing two very popular headsets in the Amateur Radio community in this video.
YouTube
2 Responses to “Amateur Radio Weekly – Issue 156”
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RE the article about the man being fined $500 in Oregon for “practicing” engineering while not licensed [by the state], it is “probably” an example of the Society of Professional Engineers making sure, through their surrogates, that no one is REALLY an Engineer unless he/she is listed as a PE (professional engineer). At one time, this meant that no one could put up a sign advertising that he/she is an engineer OR do engineering consulting work unless he/she is a PE. However, this man was not “practicing” engineering but merely authenticating his level of expertise. But because he was not a listed PE, he is not recognized as an engineer or to have that level of expertise. It is a case of the State of Oregon saying that Oregon will say whether a person is or not an engineer based on whether the person is a “licensed” PE and, specifically, saying that if a person is not licensed, he/she is not a PE and cannot practice engineering. It is parallel to a person who has studied medicine for ten years and telling someone to take some medication but because the person is not a “licensed,” it is then “practicing medicine without a license.”
Going into school to learn a trade puts one on a path to licensing, the various states see to it. Even someone who wants to bypass the engineering licensing process by going to school, it is possible, or was at one time, by working under a licensed PE for two years and then taking the PE exam. It was called “Engineer in Training.” Only then could the person say he was an engineer.
A top-of-the-line technician with years of experience could not advertise, even on a business card, that he/she was a “consultant” because this was Holy PE territory. The PE society in each state is jealous of this and are attentive to this being done and they are notorious for getting in there and stopping this. In some cases, saying one is a “technical consultant” was a gray area that could be excused but any hint of it being engineering and the person doing this is in trouble. One of the most popular reasons for being this way is to say that if someone gave some erroneous advice and lives were put in jeopardy, then it was in everyone’s interest to make sure it did not happen. I suspect that the reputation of the Society of Professional Engineers was also a prime element in the criteria for doing this.
RE the Cricket transceiver article:
It is a very innovative and imaginative transceiver.
I understand making if for 80M because 40M is plagued with shortwave broadcasters, etc. However, I hope to see a 40M version in the future. Might not be too hard to do by offering shorting taps or a way to bypass part of the coil and a crystal change. To me, this would be advantage in that three switch contacts could change the transceiver from one band to the other. Even both crystals could be board mounted.
Some “rubbering” of the crystal frequency could be done by the option of adding a variable capacitor and possibly a small choke in series with the crystal. It could be a variation of the Cricket as an optional purchase. Or the few extra parts could be offered.
I like the board-etched coils. Construction simplicity is the best part of the radio. There is definitely a place for it.
I listened to 3.579 MHz in the background during the afternoon and I finally heard a station so the frequency is not dead. It’s from 8-land and I’m in 4-land. Therefore, it should be a good CW frequency if enough people get into the Cricket.