AmateurRadio.com

The Committee to Preserve Golf November Tango is pleased to announce the availability of the new GNT Polo Shirt. The origins of the GNT frequency traces back to the incident when three ham radio operators found themselves stranded on the shore of Lake Michigan, calling out in desperation for Gin and Tonic. You may recall the unfortunate circumstances that caused confusion about the correct Golf November Tango calling frequency.

Fortunately, this has all been cleared up and The Committee has authorized the sale of the Golf November Tango shirt, with the official GNT frequency embroidered on it. (It seems that the group is really bad at documenting things, so they figured that if they all had a shirt with the frequency written on it, it could only help. See the logo shown to the left.)

These awesome polo shirts are available online in both mens and womens sizes at the Ham Radio Techwear store. The committee apologizes that these shirts are a little late for Christmas presents, but there is always next year.

Remember, when all else fails, make a call on the GNT Frequency.

73, Bob K0NR

Sandy’s visit through the area has taught me a lot.  I thought I was prepared; and for the most part, I was.  But things can always be improved upon – some points for me to remember, that I think are worth sharing:

1) You can’t have enough ice.  If you don’t have / want / or use an emergency generator, you can’t have enough ice.  I bought four huge bags last Sunday, the day before the storm hit.  I could have used twice that – and I should have been making my own, filling plastic containers with water and sticking them in the freezer. As it was, after the third day, I had begun to run out of ice and all the perishable items in the refrigerator had to be tossed.

2) Generators.  Lots of folks purchased generators after their experience with Hurricane Irene last year. That was fine until the gas ran out, then they were in the same boat as me.  Most of the gas stations around here had plenty of fuel, but also lacked the electricity they required to pump it.  I have ordered an 1100 Watt AC inverter that was mentioned in SolderSmoke and I am going to purchase a couple deep cycle marine batteries and a charger.  Once I start using them after a power outage  they may not last for long, but at least I will be able to power up the freezer and refrigerator for a while.

Related to this – if you know that a big storm or blizzard is headed your way – gas up those vehicles!  All of them!  You don’t know how long gasoline might be in short supply afterwards.  Go and Google “long New Jersey gas lines after Sandy” if you want a dose of stark reality.

3) Candles. You can never have too many.  I thought I had an adequate supply; and I did.  Our power was out for close to five days.  If it had been out much longer, I would have started to reach the “uncomfortable zone” of running out.  Oh, and if you’re like me, make sure your emergency candles are the unscented variety.  It might have lifted someone else’s spirits; but I didn’t need the house smelling like a flower shop.

4) Flashlights. Forget the big honker ones that use “D” batteries.  I bought some “D” batteries and flashlights, and they are a waste as far as “bang for the buck” goes.  I have purchased two LED camping style lanterns that use four “D” batteries each and they will last a lot longer while providing tons more light than normal flashlights.  For regular flashlight usage, get the small handheld LED flashlights.  I had two of them and am going to get more.  Each of these babies used three “AAA” batteries which are still plentiful in the stores (I mean really, most people use “AAA’s” for their remotes, right?).  They were used throughout this crisis and they were as bright on the final day as the first.  Also, those headband LED lights?  Some may consider them “dorky”, but I am going to purchase a few.  They will be invaluable for the times you have to do something in the dark that requires both hands. (I.E. – shaving on the morning darkness with one hand holding the safety razor and the other holding the flashlight was less than ideal. Trying to move ice around from cooler to freezer with one hand – less than ideal).

5) Firewood / Fire logs.  I had a small supply left over from the last heating season. I should have laid in a bigger supply.  I didn’t run out; but was running uncomfortably low, and it was starting to get chilly here. I would wake up in the morning, and go look at the thermostat to see that the house temperature had fallen to 56F (13C) overnight.

6) Charge up everything!  All my handhelds, HF radio batteries, cell phones were charged to the max ahead of time, I also broke out my solar panel and had it ready to charge up 12V gel cells if needed as this wore on.

Food and water were no problem  We had the stove top available for cooking. The electronic ignitors didn’t work; but kitchen matches did the job (I have multiple boxes of those).  We had an AM / FM radio for news/entertainment.  That was a necessity – however, I want to purchase one of those offered with the built in hand crank generator.  This will cut down on the amount of batteries needed and many of these models also have USB ports so that you can use the hand crank generator to charge up your cell phone, kindle, Nook, Kobo, etc.

What did bother me when we would listen to the radio; and the announcers would say, “To report (such and such) please go to this Website ……..”  How the heck am I supposed to go to the Internet when there’s no electricity?  Also, going through my e-mails after the fact yesterday, I saw there were calls for ARES radio volunteers at the Middlesex County hospitals.  The requests came via e-mails.  How was I supposed to have seen those?  I am one of the last persons in the world NOT to have a smartphone and my “18th century” cellphone handles e-mail, well, …… let’s just say “crappily”.  Maybe that’s just a personal problem and I need to get “with it”.  Not going to sweat that one for now.

The KX3 was invaluable and a God send – thank you Lord, for Elecraft!  But seriously, any battery powered HF rig (PFR3, ATS, MTR, Yaesu FT-817, etc) is so essential if for nothing more than to ward off boredom.  I would come home after work, eat dinner and then ………. nothing.  Too early to turn in, I took afore mentioned LED flashlight and headed down to the basement shack and spent the night on the bands.  I worked a fair amount of DX and even had a QSO with DL3GA who commented that “It is nice to hear a station on the air from New Jersey”. Hey, how many times have you heard THAT before?  Maybe, never? (LOL!)

But I was also able to keep in touch with a lot of my QRP friends, including Jim W1PID who would check in with me every night.  Just those brief, continual QSOs did a lot to improve my psyche and moral, knowing that there were folks out there that I personally knew that I could stay in touch with.

This is by no means an exhaustive treatise on being prepared for an emergency – it was one of some personal observations.  But do yourself a favor.  If you’re given enough notice that a big storm / blizzard / whatever, is coming your way – get ready and try not to wait until the very last moment to do so!

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least!

We have quite a few licensed radio amateurs that are members of public safety agencies, including  fire departments, law enforcement agencies and search and rescue. Since they are authorized users of those public safety channels, they often ask this question:

Can I use my VHF/UHF ham radio on the fire, police or SAR channel?

It is widely known that many amateur radios can be modified to transmit outside the ham bands. The answer to this question used to be that amateur radio equipment cannot be used legally on public safety channels because it is not approved for use under Part 90 of the FCC Rules. (Part 90 covers the Private Land Mobile Radio Services.) The only option was to buy a commercial radio with Part 90 approval and a frequency range that covered the desired amateur band. Some commercial radios tune easily to the adjacent ham band but some do not. The commercial gear is usually two to three times as expensive as the amateur gear, and just as important, does not have the features and controls that ham operators expect. Usually, the commercial radios do not have a VFO and are completely channelized, typically changeable only with the required programming software.

The situation has changed dramatically in the past two years. Several wireless manufacturers in China (Wouxun, Baofeng, etc.) have introduced low cost handheld transceivers into the US amateur market that are approved for Part 90 use. These radios offer keypad frequency entry and all of the usual features of a ham radio. It seems that these radios are a viable option for dual use: public safety and amateur radio.

Here is a short list of the most common radios on the market:

 Some Things to Consider When Buying These Radios

• The manufacturers offer several different radios under the same model number. Also, they are improving the radios every few months with firmware changes and feature updates. This causes confusion in the marketplace, so buy carefully.
• Make sure the vendor selling the radio indicates that the radio is approved for Part 90 use. I have seen some radios show up in the US without an FCC Part 90 label.
• Make sure the radio is specified to tune to the channels that you need.
• The 2.5-kHz tuning step is required for some public safety channels. Your particular set of frequencies may or may not need it.  For example, a 5-kHz frequency step can be used to select frequencies such as 155.1600 MHz and 154.2650 MHz.  However, a 2.5 kHz step size is needed to select frequencies such as 155.7525 MHz. There are a number of Public Safety Interoperability Channels that require the 2.5-kHz step (e.g., VCALL10 155.7525 MHz, VCALL11 151.1375 MHz, VFIRE24 154.2725). The safest thing to do for public safety use is to get a radio that tunes the 2.5-kHz steps.
• Although these radios have two frequencies in the display, they only have one receiver, which scans back and forth between the two selected frequencies. This can be confusing when the radio locks onto a signal on one of the frequencies and ignores the other.

Recommendation

I own 3 different models of Wouxun radios and two Baofeng UV-5R radios. I think they are all great radios for what they do. For serious public safety use, I would recommend getting the Wouxun KG-UV6D with the 2.5-kHz frequency step. The controls of the Wouxun are superior, including a knob for channel/VFO selection and RPT key for changing repeater shift. The Wouxun software works much better than Baofeng’s (which is really a mess). Also, if you show up at an incident with the Baofeng, your fellow first responders will think it is a toy.  If you are absolutely sure you don’t need the 2.5-KHz frequency step, then you might consider one of the other Wouxun models.

I have purchased several radios from importcommunications.com and have been very satisfied with the service. You may want to shop around for the best price.

73, Bob K0NR

From the ARRL web site:

On August 20 — in response to a Spring 2012 Congressional directive — the Federal Communications Commission released its findings on the Uses and Capabilities of Amateur Radio Service Communications in Emergencies and Disaster Relief: Report to Congress Pursuant to Section 6414 of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012.

There was hope that the thousands of comments from amateur radio operators concerning the restrictions that homeowners associations place on the use of antennas would get the FCC’s attention. Maybe the FCC would see that the overall effectiveness of the amateur radio service for emergency use is being limited by these arbitrary, overly restrictive rules? (See a summary of my comments here.)

But, the FCC responded with this simple statement:

Moreover, while commenters suggest that private land use restrictions have become more common, our review of the record does not indicate that amateur operators are unable to find homes that are not subject to such restrictions. Therefore, at this time, we do not see a compelling reason for the Commission to revisit its previous determinations that preemption should not be expanded to CC&Rs.

I am not surprised by this response but still disappointed.

73, Bob K0NR

You probably already heard about the terrible wildfire on the west side of Colorado Springs. The fire burned 18,247 acres, destroyed 346 homes and killed 2 people.

Here’s a map of how the fire progressed over time.

18,247 acres is a little more than 28 square miles of area burned. Think about a fire that consumes 28 square miles in your back yard. Pretty sobering.

Here’s a time lapse video that shows the fire from a distance.

The Denver Post has some of the best photos of the fire as it burned structures on the northwest side of Colorado Springs.

There were two major ham radio activities (that I am aware of) in response to the fire:

The RACES team (Special Communications Unit) attached to the El Paso County Sheriff’s office staffed the Emergency Operations Center in Colorado Springs. I did help out for one 12-hour shift, a relatively minor role.

Pikes Peak ARES  supported the Red Cross, who operated the emergency shelters for ~32,000 people that had to evacuate their homes. The Pueblo newspaper ran an article about this.

The real heroes are the firefighters that battled the blaze, especially on that terrible Tuesday night when so many houses were lost. Those guys and gals are awesome!

- 73, Bob K0NR

This weekend my wife and I were out exploring the San Juan Mountains near Ouray, Colorado. We found ourselves on a Jeep road to Engineer Pass. When we got to the pass, we stopped to have lunch and I examined the high peaks nearby. I saw some people on the summit of one of the peaks, which I determined was Engineer Mountain by looking at a topo map.

Hmmm, I said to myself, Engineer Mountain is a valid peak (W0/SJ-011, 12968 feet elevation) for a Summits On the Air (SOTA) activation. The only portable radio I had with me was a Yaesu VX-8GR with the stock rubber duck antenna. Not a great SOTA station. But if I could whistle up 4 contacts on 2M FM simplex, I would have a legitimate activation. We had already decided to climb to the summit, so any radio activity was just icing on the cake.

So off we went up the mountain. I got to the top and started calling on 146.52 MHz FM. Now it hits me that we are in the middle of a national forest, away from population centers and, to top it off, no one is expecting a SOTA activation here today. This might be a bit of a challenge to make 4 contacts. Then Thomas, KRØNK, answered my CQ. OK, there’s one contact. A little bit later Dave, AKØMR, comes on frequency and gives me a second contact. Both of these guys were in Grand Junction, CO, which is about 100 miles from Engineer Mountain. Not bad for a peanut-whistle HT using a standard rubber duck antenna.

I needed two more contacts. I tuned around for a repeater in the area and came across the 147.27 MHz machine which turned out to be a stones throw away from my location. It requires a CTCSS tone, so I fumbled around until I figured that out. No, I did not have a repeater directory with me…that was safely stored in the Jeep at the bottom of the mountain. I gave a quick call with my location and Ben WB5ITS came back to me. We QSY’d over to 146.52 to make my third contact.  Anticipating a rough go of it, I asked my wife Joyce K0JJW to descend off the peak while I remained at the top, so she could be my fourth contact. (SOTA rules do not allow contacts between parties on the same peak.)

Somewhere along the way, I reach for a piece of paper to log the contacts, only to find that I did not have a writing utensil with me. Duh. I would have to remember the times and callsigns of the contacts and write them down later.

I completed the fourth contact and headed down. Later that evening I checked the ListsofJohn database and found that there are actually two peaks in the area called Engineer Mountain. Go figure. The SOTA database only recognizes one of them…of course, you guessed it, not the one I was on. It turns out that the Engineer Mountain I was on is subordinated by an adjacent peak: Darley Mountain (W0/RG-034, 13260 feet). However, since I operated from 13,218 feet on my Engineer Mountain, it is within the 75 foot vertical activation zone for Darley Mountain. So, this does count for a SOTA activation of Darley Mountain.

This is where I could claim that incredible skill, flexibility and a little luck ruled the day. I think a more appropriate analysis is to concede that a complete lack of planning and preparedness produced a marginal result.

What can we learn from this?

• Do your homework concerning the SOTA peak that you intend to activate before you start the climb. Make sure you know where it is and that you are really on it.
• Always keep a notepad and pen/ pencil in your backpack
• Even for casual hikes, take along a decent antenna for the HT. A half-wave vertical is way better than a stock rubber duck.
• Plan in advance so you can post your intended SOTA activation on sotawatch.org
• Have a repeater directory (or equivalent) available to identify repeaters in the area.
• And don’t forgot the normal hiking Ten Essentials

Beyond doing a SOTA activation, some of these items could be important if an emergency should occur. It runs out there was no mobile phone coverage in the area. I used to be pretty vigilant about taking an HT with spare batteries and extended antenna along on hikes but have gotten sloppy lately. See Rescue on Uncompahgre Peak, which describes an incident years ago when my radio turned out to be very useful during an emergency.

In the end, I did complete my first SOTA activation, so I can be happy about that. And it gave me the opportunity to relearn a few things about planning and being prepared.

73, Bob KØNR

P.S. The WØ SOTA guys recently created a great W0 SOTA page.

At the direction of Congress, the FCC opened up Proceeding 12-91: COMMISSION SEEKS COMMENT ON EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS BY AMATEUR RADIO AND IMPEDIMENTS TO AMATEUR RADIO COMMUNICATIONS.

I decided to file my comments with the Commission, which can be read in full here. I’ll also provide the short version here:

1. The contributions of amateur radio operators during disasters and emergencies is substantial and well documented.

2. The key attributes that make the Amateur Radio Service so valuable in an emergency or disaster situation include the large number of trained operators available, the tendency for many amateur radio operators to prepare their stations for emergency operating conditions, the high degree of flexibility due to the wide range of spectrum and emission types available, and the ability of amateur radio operators to adapt to adverse operating conditions,

3. Restrictions from homeowners associations banning all external antennas is a serious and pervasive impediment to amateur radio emergency communications.

4. Limitations on emission type in Part 97 should be relaxed or eliminated.

5. There is the potential to improve the use of the Amateur Radio Service within the overall planning and organization of the federal government.

There are many different issues that could be highlighted but I decided to focus on these…with an emphasis on restrictive covenants.

What do you think? File your comments with the FCC here.

73, Bob K0NR