handiham - ham radio for people with disabilities

Handiham World for 8 July 2009

noreply@blogger.com (handiham) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 11:16:00 PDT

Welcome to Handiham World!

Did you miss us last week? Well, after all, it is summertime here in Minnesota and we have to take a few days off to enjoy the fine weather. Next week will also be a "vacation week" for your weekly e-letter and audio lectures, but this week it's business as usual. In case you suspect that we are inordinately lazy in the summer, I think I should point out in our defense that this is typically the slowest time of year in the office, so it is the best time for staff to enjoy some time off without affecting our service to members all that much. Other organizations, including our friends at TIPSNET, take a summer break, as do many radio clubs. Once ARRL Field Day is over, the pace of ham radio slows considerably.

Not, mind you, that there are not things to do on the bands and around the ham shack!

I've been slowly collecting the materials for a new 160 meter wire antenna. This will be a random-wire job, and I'm going to tune it right at the feedpoint with an LDG autotuner. I've always wanted to try this kind of antenna arrangement, and the little LDG tuner is just the ticket. A random-wire antenna is really just an end-fed wire of more or less whatever length fits in a given space, and I have a nice, deep back yard, so there is no problem at all running the wire out at least 125 feet. If I cared to put a bend in it, I could easily make it 200. The problem with 160 meters, and the reason so few hams actually use that band, is that the antennas needed to operate on a frequency like 1.9 MHz are very long and thus very difficult to fit into a typical urban property. Let's take a moment to calculate the length of a half-wave dipole at 1.9 MHz, shall we?

Start with the formula: 468 divided by the frequency in MHz = the length of a half-wave in feet.

468 divided by 1.9 = 246.3 feet. That's a long dipole antenna! In fact, many operators barely have space for a 40 meter dipole that requires only about 65 feet. A vertical antenna might be a consideration, but for 160 meters, it could easily top 120 feet for a quarter-wave. I think folks in my neighborhood might notice something that tall in the back yard!

So consider the beauty of the end-fed Marconi wire. Like the vertical antenna, it is fed at the base, with the antenna's radiator near the ground and a counterpoise of radials or other conducting material serving to cut current losses in the ground near the feedpoint. The wire radiator goes up for whatever distance is practical, near the roofline of my house in this case, and then the wire continues out into the long back yard to make up the rest of the required length. If I use an antenna tuner right near the feedpoint, the tuner can decide if the radiating length is too long, in which case it will add a bit of capacitance to electrically shorten the antenna, and if the radiating length is too short for a given frequency, the tuner will add a bit of inductance to electrically lengthen the wire. I love letting an antenna tuner do the work - it's so much easier and more practical than cutting the antenna wire to exactly the right length, which is always time-consuming and problematic. If you cut off too much wire, the antenna tunes too high in frequency, and then you are stuck. There is an old joke about "reaching into your toolkit and pulling out the wire-stretcher", but that mythical tool has never been in any toolkit I've ever owned.

A Marconi antenna works best with an extensive radial system, but I'm not going to worry too much about that. I'll use the house's copper water pipe system, which is also near the antenna's feed point, as well as a galvanized metal window well that is conveniently located at the basement egress window near the feedpoint. I figure I can always add a radial or two if that isn't enough. Even shorter radials will act to reduce ground losses near the feedpoint, which is where most of the current flows anyway.

The 160 meter band is more useful than you might think. Even during a sunspot minimum, 160 meters remains reliably "open" during evening and nighttime hours. Although it can be difficult to use in the summer thunderstorm season when static levels rise, the 160 meter band always has some nighttime activity. My local radio club hosts an evening net on or around 1.9 MHz at 20:00 United States Central Time. You can find the SARA net nightly except Tuesday & Thursday. SARA, the Stillwater Amateur Radio Association, is a Handiham affiliate.

My goal is to get my wire antenna up & running before winter - antenna work is one ham radio activity that is best done in the summertime! For anyone out there looking for "bonus points", convert the length of an end-fed wire 1/4-wave at 1.9 MHz to meters.

Patrick Tice, WA0TDA
wa0tda@arrl.net
Handiham Manager

Handiham World for 24 June 2009

noreply@blogger.com (handiham) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:32:44 PDT

Welcome to Handiham World!

Image: Pat, WA0TDA, (L) and Newt Owens, owner of the farm, gas up the generator in this old Field Day photo from the 1970's.

Summer is officially here, and summer heat and humidity have arrived here in the United States Upper Midwest. I call this particular season "the ham radio doldrums" because it seems as if activity on the HF bands gives way to thunderstorm static and the repeaters fall silent as people head outdoors or go on vacation. Sure enough, several recent nets that I often check into have gone without net control stations, and I only found out after the fact because I didn't show up for those nets, either. My bad!

Fortunately, Amateur Radio Field Day arrives at just the right time to revive ham radio for the summer! It's more than just a "day", too - most clubs and individuals plan for months ahead of actual Field Day weekend, and Field Day itself spans the weekend of June 27-28 this year. It is always held on the fourth full weekend in June. Since Field Day is an exercise in emergency operation, it is often held in, well, a real field! Outdoors. Without access to the power grid. Or permanent shelter. It may rain or be sunny & hot. There might be bugs. Or bears. You just never know, and that's part of the adventure.

The idea, of course, is to practice setting up and operating "off the grid", which is potentially valuable experience for doing the very same thing in an emergency. The thing about Field Day is that it typically combines this serious purpose with lots of ham radio fun, including on the air competition for points, camaraderie, family picnics, camping out, and just plain enjoying the summer. It's really my favorite ham radio event each year, and I plan to spend some time with the Stillwater Amateur Radio Association (SARA) Field Day crew this coming weekend.

When I think about all the years I have enjoyed Field Days past, I can recall times I have operated as part of a club event and times I have operated solo. There were other times that I operated with a small group of my ham radio friends. One of my favorite early memories is of operating with the Mankato, Minnesota Amateur Radio Club on the lawn of the local vo-tech school. We had tents set up, and it was fun to operate and learn new skills by getting on the air with my friends. Once I operated Field Day from a barn, sharing the microphone and code key with my friend Don Newcomb, W0DN, who is now a silent key. Don and I would later hatch the plans for a new antenna company, Butternut Electronics. You never know what might come out of your Field Day experience!

Some groups like to operate competitively, with the goal of earning that coveted high score. Points are given for each contact, and there are extra points for certain types of operation. For example, phone contacts count one point each, while CW or digital contacts count two points each. Multipliers for low power operation or operating "off the grid" help build up that score.

But fierce competition has never been my Field Day cup of tea, and I tend to gravitate toward groups that place a higher priority on just having fun. One time I decided to join a Field Day group operating nearby, and was disappointed when it turned out to be a CW-only operation with only the most experienced ops allowed to take a place at the operating position. I didn't stay long there, because it wasn't my idea of fun to watch someone else log points. The lesson I took away from that year's Field Day was that I needed to do a bit of homework ahead of time to be sure I was with a group that didn't take earning points so seriously. Not, mind you, that there is anything wrong with being competitive. It's fine for those who enjoy that sort of thing, so I guess my point is that Field Day comes in many flavors, and it's up to you to shop around for one that you like.

You can start on the ARRL website, since ARRL, among its many other great activities, sponsors Field Day. There is a graphic "Field Day Locator" map that allows you to put in your own address and then marks out nearby Field Day sites:

Handiham World for 17 June 2009

noreply@blogger.com (handiham) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 13:18:48 PDT

Welcome to Handiham World!

Handiham History: Early history notes from N0SBU

George LaValle, N0SBU, found this early history of the Handiham System and re-typed it for us. He is continuing to examine and sort through hundreds of documents and photos as we work on what we are now calling "The Handiham History Project". You will notice as you read this decades-old text that terms and language innocently used in that era are ones that are now considered passé or even politically incorrect. Rather than change the original text, we are leaving it intact so that you can see how society has changed and so that you can get a flavor of what things were like 40 years ago. You will also notice references to hams whose callsigns have long ago changed, and to those who are now silent keys. Some of the grammar isn't the best, but you will get the idea. Back in those days, money was a problem. Well, I guess some things never change! Now, please enjoy this early history, thanks to N0SBU.

Patrick Tice, WA0TDA
Handiham Manager

The Handi-Ham-System of Minnesota

Supported by PICONET a 13 county southeastern Minnesota Civil Defense Net.
Expanded By MISCCA the Minnesota Society for Crippled Children and Adults.

This program is designed to help handicapped individuals obtain their amateur radio licenses by providing on loan study materials, antennas, novice receivers and transmitters and HELP as needed.

HOW IT CAME ABOUT

During the Fall of 1966, in a small town in southern Minnesota, a handicapped YL announced her intentions of becoming an amateur radio operator and asked a ham-type handicapped friend how to begin.

He told Ned, W0ZSW, whose job for the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN took him past the YL's QTH every once in a while. Ned visited her, strung up an antenna and with his transmitter gave her a first glimpse of hamming.

Soon he found her a spare Civil Defense receiver to listen to and a tape recorder complete with code lessons and books. In Rochester two other YL’s started learning radio, via the Rochester Amateur Radio Club’s Novice class and using receivers borrowed for them.

By the Summer of 1967 there were three new Novice tickets in the area and the search was on for Novice transmitters to go with them.

Talking with members of the PICONET group not only produced the three needed transmitters, but also a few spare receivers and transmitters.

AND THE IDEA WAS BORN

In time of emergency, PICONET did need active stations in more small towns. Why not put this unused equipment to work by placing it with interested handicapped persons in the area and so create the needed stations?

Handiham World for 10 June 2009

noreply@blogger.com (handiham) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 12:30:39 PDT

Welcome to Handiham World!

Handiham History: The new guy

Image: Pat, WA0TDA, in the W0ZSW ham shack, circa 1991. Now that I look at it, I look pretty dorky with those big glasses, but they were the style back then. No excuses for that goofy smile, though! That ancient terminal in the background was probably for packet radio. Black & white image scanned by George, N0SBU.

Back in in the early 1990's, Bruce Humphrys, K0HR, the Handiham Manager, left Courage Center to run another non-profit. I was in the market for a part-time job, having spent a couple of years at home with our newborn son. My wife Susie spotted an ad in the newspaper (of all places) for this odd-sounding job as Handiham Manager at the Courage Center. Did I want to apply?

Well, I did apply and was interviewed by Bruce himself. I ended up taking the job, and went to full time a couple of years later. As the new guy at Handiham headquarters, I needed to learn pretty much everything. Thankfully, Sister Alverna O'Laughlin, WA0SGJ, and Maureen Pranghofer, KF0I, were good at their respective jobs as Education Coordinator and Student Coordinator, and they helped me figure things out.

When George started the Handiham History project, I got to thinking about how the headquarters offices have changed over the years. When that dorky photo was taken back in 1991, Jane Rova was our Handiham secretary, and her desk had our one and only piece of high-tech office equipment: an IBM Selectric typewriter. We communicated by postal mail and telephone, and that was pretty much it.

Today, the volume of postal mail has shrunk to a trickle, having been replaced with email. While we still use the telephone a lot, email has even replaced a lot of what used to be done by phone. The website has been online since the late 1990's, and it has grown into a colossus that serves up Handiham audio and news on demand, replacing thousands of tape cassettes that used to travel to our members by mail. The website has made it possible to publish a weekly edition of Handiham World instead of a four times per year paper edition, which is how it was in 1991. Even better, the new technology makes everything more accessible and immediate for our members!

People often ask me what those staff members from the early days are doing today. Jane is retired, as is Sister Alverna. Sister lives in her Franciscan community at Assisi Heights, in Rochester, MN. Interestingly enough, that is where she lived when Handihams first started and where she became one of the first volunteers back in 1967. She still holds her original call, WA0SJG. Of course her Novice call, WN0SGJ, was modified to change the "N" to an "A" when she earned General. She currently holds an Advanced ticket. Maureen, KF0I, now operates her own business, which does custom professional Brailling. She lives a few blocks from Courage Center, and holds her Extra ticket. As far as I know, Bruce is still working at a non-profit that provides water and simple technologies to people in Africa.

Image: The N0SBU basement table, filled with Handiham history stuff.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch in Hugo, George LaValle, N0SBU, has spread out lots of Handiham photos, old newsletters, and memorabilia out on a big table in his basement. As George sorts through everything, he is writing some stories and re-writing some of the text in old Handiham documents for inclusion in our weekly e-letter. We will have much more later on.

Handiham World for 03 June 2009

noreply@blogger.com (handiham) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 10:26:33 PDT

Welcome to Handiham World!

Handiham History: Early membership certificate

Image: Early membership certificate for Handihams. Image scanned by N0SBU.

Quick: tell me what happened in 1967.

If you said, "that's when the Handiham System was started", you would be right.

Okay, so that is 42 years ago. A lot has happened to the Handiham System in all that time. In other words, the program has a lot of history. There have been amazing stories of handiham members who accomplished extraordinary things in spite of many personal challenges. There have been outstanding volunteers who gave thousands, even tens of thousands of hours in support of the program. There have been dedicated and caring handiham staff members who devoted their lives to the program.

One thing there hasn't been is a compilation of handiham history, but we are going to start chipping away at the edges of that problem.

It all started one day last week when George LaValle, N0SBU, asked me a question about the Winter Hamfest that we used to have in Faribault, Minnesota each December. Even though I had several of those hamfests to my credit, I couldn't really remember all that much about it. One memory I do have is that of myself and several volunteers loading an old Courage Center bus with what seemed like tons and tons of donated electronic and amateur radio equipment and then having to drive the bus through the sleet and snow out of the Twin Cities and down Interstate 35 to Faribault, a small city in southern Minnesota that was the home of the Winter Hamfest. We would arrive late in the afternoon the day before the hamfest and stay at a hotel nearby. That evening, we would have a pre-hamfest banquet at the restaurant next to the hotel. The bus sat out in the parking lot in the sub-zero freezing weather all night long. You can bet that that bus was hard to start and stiff as a board early in the morning when we had to coax it back onto the road for the bumpy, creaky, slow drive to the hall where we still needed to set up all the tables and get things ready.

Fortunately, the hamfest was a popular one and many hams from around the area showed up early in the morning to make quick work of unloading the bus and distributing the gear onto the tables. The downside of all of this extra help was that the equipment went this way and that way and seemed to end up all over the place at random. Power supplies would not necessarily stay with their rigs, so there was always some sorting out to do. Still, we were glad to get the extra help and those who helped us set up the tables always liked to get some idea of what goodies would be for sale once the doors opened up for business. As with any hamfest, we also had a few outside vendors.

Believe me, a hamfest is difficult to put on. If it weren't for the dedication of Handiham volunteers, we could never have pulled this off for so many years.

Of course, like many other things that have happened over the years, the Winter Hamfest is now history. It's part of a history that we really haven't documented. Now, thanks to the volunteer efforts of George, N0SBU, we hope to start sorting some of our history out. George and I made a trip to the basement at Courage Center, where we ferreted out two big boxes of handiham memorabilia. These include photos and Kodak slide carousels full of handiham history. There is even a "logbook" made especially for a guest sign up at a convention in Des Moines, Iowa from the 1980s. The cover is made of wood, which makes it the most realistic "log" book that I have ever seen!

I hope you will keep watching the weekly e-letter and the handiham website for more news and photos from handiham history.

Here is a special note from N0SBU:

Hello from N0SBU, George the Second Base Umpire of Hugo, Minnesota.

Pat has asked me to go through all of the old documents in storage and see if I could put together a brief history of the Handiham hamfest auctions. I went over to the office to see Pat and picked up two large boxes of documents and pictures. I sorted it out on a table in my basement here at home.

Briefly, after the Handihams were associated with the Courage Center, they had what were called "White Elephant Auctions". In what I have looked at, I assume they were held at the Courage Center, as they refer as having them on the "patio". These were fund-raisers to get money to buy equipment for the members.

Later it is noted that surplus equipment was sold at "Mid-West Amateur Radio" until that place went out of business.

That is about all I have for now. In my spare time I will go through this stuff in more detail and report back to you.

I remember going to the auctions in Faribault. Later they were at the Courage Center for three years. After that, all equipment that couldn't go to members directly went to the Amateur Radio Consignment Center to raise money for the program.

Do any of our readers out there have any more detail about the years that all of this took place? This is what I am looking for to add to our history.

Thanks and 73 from N0SBU, the Second Base Umpire of Hugo.

You can write to George care of wa0tda@arrl.net if you want to add to the Handiham history. Please put Handiham History in the subject line.

Patrick Tice, WA0TDA
wa0tda@arrl.net
Handiham Manager

Handiham World for 27 May 2009

noreply@blogger.com (handiham) — Wed, 27 May 2009 13:01:34 PDT

Welcome to Handiham World!

Last week's article about bad operators and their terrible habits that disrupt nets brought some comments. This commentary from John, N1UMJ, pretty much tells the story:

I find lately that my biggest problem is the one who breaks in without listening. I run many nets: a monthly RACES net, a weekly ARES net, and several NTS nets throughout the week. I'm hearing more and more of this on 2 meters. After the net, someone tells me, "Oh yeah, I know him - he's on EchoLink all the time."

That puts my problems in high gear. I even had one who, when advised there was a net going on, said, "I know", and kept talking to his party. I was at a state RACES office that day, so I had to be professional and polite. The repeater trustee helped with that one because politeness wasn't working.

Usually though, if they want to talk to someone during a net, as the clueless op might want to do, I very nicely and tactfully explain that it would be appreciated if they'd stick around and ask questions after the net and the person they want will surely stick around if they ask in the closing comments. That almost always works.

The Mr. Know-it-all type is not so common. I haven't had many of them, but the couple we've had, I just let him be his own worst enemy to be honest, unless he's really annoying, in which case I secure him or as NCS just don't give him a chance when I can see it coming. Luckily, the Know-it-alls are not the nightly check-ins.

I don't have the low life or politics person on any nets on which I am the net control station, but I think I'd probably again, go with telling them to keep that for another time.

I don't have the nontechnical guy as you mention it, because I refuse to run a net on any repeater with EchoLink. Echolink does seem to cause a lot of problems, but on HF or 2 meters with more and more radios having complicated adjustments, I advise them of the problem and explain some people checked in to the net want to get out, but if they'll stick around for after the net I'll help them straighten the technical problem out.

I haven't really experienced the late person or the one who talks too much. If you're going to be late for a net though, I often find that if you listen for a few minutes before checking in, a little patience goes a long way and you can catch up without being a problem.

As I said, I run a lot of nets, and I've probably run in to just about every situation at one time or another.

My favorite was the time we had a dam almost let go in my city.

Picture this: The Emergency Operations Center (EOC) is active because the shelter is open. Someone comes on the repeater calling the EOC to ask how he can drive through the city without having traffic trouble, and no one's answering. We had the repeater on to talk from the EOC to the shelter, but we had other duties as well, especially if the shelter had us on the phone with private info or something.

Well, this guy starts yelling and screaming about what kind of EOC was it that wouldn't answer his questions and he was going to report them and stuff. The EOC wasn't using the repeater full time and thus didn't take over it to keep people off, but he was asked to refrain from use of the repeater in a phone call from the trustee for the rest of that event and he stayed off.

It's a shame there are people like that. It was just another time that it was very hard to be polite about it, but you really have to be. I was getting my two hours of sleep when that was going on, in my off shift and did get on and explain that a phone call was the best way to get his info and the repeater was not being used for requests like his because everyone was doing a million things and busy, but he's also the one that comes in to nets and tries to change topics and almost no one talks to him anymore because he hasn't changed in 18 years.

So, there are a few stories. It does happen, I see it more and more in recent years, but luckily it's not real bad yet and 9 times out of 10, there is a tactful way to handle it without causing any issues. When there isn't, I quit.

Thanks, John! And thanks to all of you long-suffering net controls out there who somehow manage to keep your cool. We really appreciate what you do.

Patrick Tice
wa0tda@arrl.net
Handiham Manager

Handiham World for 21 May 2009

noreply@blogger.com (handiham) — Thu, 21 May 2009 12:30:51 PDT

Welcome to Handiham World!

We're back - sort of

Image: A shopper uses a scooter to get around the acres of flea market. He's pulling a wagon with his callsign license plate, which we have blacked out so that the XYL won't see this and ask him about all that junk he brought home from Hamvention.

Last week we were at Hamvention™ and the ARRL national convention in Dayton, Ohio.

Believe it or not, even with all the talk of recession and pandemic flu in the news every day, the show was a good one, and our experience at the Handiham booth was very positive. While we will have to wait for final attendance numbers to be released, Dayton was certainly worthwhile for us. Of course I am behind in my work, so the weekly e-letter is late. When I sent out a "poor me, I'm so busy that I need more hours in the day" notice yesterday, I got the following highly sympathetic suggestions:

Sleep less...
Well you could do it, but it would involve moving to another and larger planet, I think Jupiter.
Maybe it has something to do with traveling over time zones especially the International Date Line a few times...
There is a thing called the day stretcher. You find them at Wal-Mart right next to the cucumber stretchers.
Learn to say 'NO" when asked to go to meetings. But then what do you do for a job?!!
Daily, at noon, turn the hands of the clock backwards by an hour or so. This will gain you the extra time required, but first check with the XYL to make sure your extra time doesn't interfere with her timing or else you won't have much time at all, on earth or elsewhere!
I'd give the person who could tell me how to get more hours out of a day a big bear hug!!!
This is my secret: Time travel -- oops, now it's not a secret anymore. I put my mp3 lessons on my cell phone mp3 player and listen when driving (I don't get distracted when I must pay attention to driving.)

Thanks to all who shared their words of wisdom. Geez, a guy sure can't get any sympathy around here!

But back to Hamvention.

Ken, KB3LLA, Handiham Radio Club President, was at the booth, as were Handiham volunteers John Hoenshell, N0BFJ, and John Pedley, N0IPO. Volunteer Bill Rouch, N6HBO, also visited and was quickly recruited for some booth time! It was in speaking with Bill that I started to form some real insight about what is happening in the realm of the Handiham program.

But I am getting a little ahead of myself. First, I should tell you that I drove to the show, all the way from Minnesota. That put me behind the wheel for almost 12 hours each way, and I knew I would be bored without an audio book to keep me company as the miles passed by. I'd recently visited the bookstore, where I'd picked up an audio CD copy of New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman's book "The World is Flat - A brief history of the twenty-first century". The six compact disks in the book would surely keep me occupied for quite awhile, when I was not on two meters or tuned in to the car radio.

So I listened to Tom Friedman, a Minnesota native who grew up not far from Handiham headquarters. In "The World is Flat", I learned that Tom was talking about the way technology, specifically the availability of high-speed internet communications, has made it possible for people to do their work from anywhere. That in turn means that you can be in Bangalore, India doing an information technology job as easily as you can do the same job from an office in Chicago. Heck, who even needs an office? This, according to Tom, flattens out the world. There are other "flatteners" as well, and they all work together to make it easier than ever before to do work in any place, at any time. People can collaborate on projects from every corner of the globe instead of sitting together in a meeting room.

But let's get back to my visit with Bill, N6HBO. Bill earned his license at Radio Camp, so he knows a thing or two about the challenges faced by people with disabilities. Anyway, Bill asked me about wi-fi radios. I wrote some time ago about my Christmas present, which was a Grace internet wi-fi radio, and Bill said he also recently got an internet wi-fi radio. We were soon comparing notes. He operates an excellent small mail-order business featuring ham radio accessories, and he thought such a radio might be of interest to hams. The thing is, Bill could never operate a business like his as efficiently as he does without the advantages of the flat world. He is able to use the internet to do his marketing, and his products can be manufactured wherever they can be made most efficiently. Bill's "Ham4Less" business is a success because he understands how to make the flat world work for him, and his customers benefit from quick service and good prices in the bargain!

So much has changed since I first started working in the Handiham program myself, way back in 1991. While we had Handiham members worldwide back then, the world was anything but flat. It took months to get an audio cassette tape to someone outside the United States. If you lived in New Zealand, you were certainly going to wait longer to get served than if you lived in Denver. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, uh, office, we had exactly one IBM Selectric typewriter for our document processing. Letters sent by postal mail and telephone calls via long distance were our usual methods of communication. You thought twice about making too many long distance calls, because the expense would break the budget. Contacting members by letter was so slow that you sometimes forgot what the conversation was about. With the telephone, you often traded voice mails in a frustrating effort to get things done. Sister Alverna, WA0SGJ, kept a huge bookcase full of index cards containing the membership. Down in the basement, shop volunteers like Rex Kiser and Ken Williams repaired donated vacuum tube equipment.

Today, in the new flat world, we deliver audio and information to our members around the world at the same time, which is whenever they want it, no matter where they live. It is as easy to listen to our audio or get information from our website in Europe or Australia as it is in Iowa or Minnesota. The playing field has been leveled, allowing us to serve more people when they want to be served, and do so wherever they happen to be, as long as there is internet available and they can reach our Handiham website. In the office, things have changed, too. Staff computers can access a shared member database, so that when we answer a phone call, we know the basics about the member who is calling. We can often research the answer to a question while the member is on the phone, saving another call back to that person. Thanks to secure computing technology, even if a major blizzard that keeps me home for the day strikes, I can log in to CITRIX and do my work as if I am right at my desk. Remote control also flattens our world with access to the Handiham Remote Base HF station. You can be anywhere with internet access and run the station. Handiham members who cannot put up antennas are now on a level playing field with those who can. I work every day with volunteers who live hundreds or thousands of miles away, trading files and collaborating on projects as if they are right here in the same room, working with me.

Talking with Bill at the same time that I was reading Tom Friedman's book really brought the point home to me: We have made quite a leap into the 21st Century flat world, and it has been good for all of us at Handihams!

Patrick Tice
wa0tda@arrl.net
Handiham Manager

Handiham World for 13 May 2009

noreply@blogger.com (handiham) — Wed, 13 May 2009 09:14:43 PDT

Welcome to Handiham World!

Handihams at Dayton HAMVENTION - Booth 332

Image: Stop by Booth 332 and meet John Hoenshell, N0BFJ, long-time Handiham volunteer and supporter. John will also be assisting with VE testing at Hamvention.

This is the week! We are going to be at booth 332 at Hamvention™ in Dayton, Ohio. If you are planning to attend, and we certainly hope that you are, please stop by booth 332 and pay us a visit. Specifically, it is SA0332. "SA" stands for Silver Arena. Last week a typo crept in, and we gave you the wrong number. Thanks to Ken, KB3LLA, for getting this corrected.

Hamvention begins on Friday, May 15th and runs through the weekend of the 16th and 17th.

This week Nancy is back in the headquarters office, so that will help a lot! The office will be closed Friday, and there will be no audio lectures. We reopen Monday morning, May 18.

When you stop by the Handiham booth, you will be able to sign our guest register. We always have a few extra chairs if you want to sit down and talk with us for while. If you are a wheelchair user, you will find that we always place our display table at the very back of the booth, which allows you to bring your wheelchair into our area and get out of the main traffic stream in the aisle.

Ken, KB3LLA, Handiham Radio Club President, will be at the booth whenever he isn't out somewhere on the show floor finding out about all the new amateur radio gear. I will be there, as will Handiham volunteers John Hoenshell, N0BFJ, and John Pedley, N0IPO. If you hang around too much, we will put you to work as a greeter and Handiham representative!

So consider the welcome mat out and waiting for you. We hope you can stop by and see us in person, but if not, we are going to try to get on the Handiham EchoLink Net on Saturday and on the same node and frequency at other times throughout the day on Saturday. This all depends on whether or not we are able to get a reliable Internet connection, so no promises.

I hope to see you there!

Patrick Tice
wa0tda@arrl.net
Handiham Manager

Handiham World for 06 May 2009

noreply@blogger.com (handiham) — Wed, 06 May 2009 11:08:13 PDT

Welcome to Handiham World!

Handihams planning for Dayton HAMVENTION

Image: Pat, WA0TDA, peeks out from behind a display at the Handiham booth during a previous Hamvention.

It is hard to believe that it is the month of May already, and that means that it is nearly time for the biggest and best ham radio get-together, Hamvention™ in Dayton, Ohio. Thanks to support from a generous donor, John Hoenshell, N0BFJ, who underwrites much of the expense, we are once again able to have a booth on the Hamvention floor. If you are planning to attend, and we certainly hope that you are, please stop by booth 322 and pay us a visit. Hamvention begins on Friday, May 15th and runs through the weekend of the 16th and 17th.

As you might expect, we are busy getting ready for the big show. Next week we will be even more shorthanded at the Handiham office than usual, but we feel that it is important to have a presence at Hamvention, and this show in particular is going to be a good one because it is also the site of the ARRL National Convention. If you are able to attend, you will not want to miss the ARRL EXPO, which is a showcase of exhibits and activities to enhance your ham radio experience. It is open to ARRL members and nonmembers alike, and features official ARRL program representatives, activities (including activities for youth), and forums.

I hope to see you there!

Patrick Tice
wa0tda@arrl.net
Handiham Manager

Handiham World for 29 April 2009

noreply@blogger.com (handiham) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 11:46:35 PDT

Welcome to Handiham World!

Last time we had a great piece by Trippy Brown, WD8OEP, on the virtual ham radio simulation that uses the CQ100 software interface by VE3EFC. I got to thinking about virtual experiences again when I saw a commercial for the Microsoft X-Box gaming system advertising a virtual fishing game. Fishing! With a game console! It is interesting to see what kinds of experiences can be virtualized, isn't it?

One thing that all of these virtual screen experiences are doing is taking the place of the real activities on which people used to spend their time. For example, I have seen reports that indicate that real hunting, fishing, and even golfing are all suffering from lack of participation. Does that mean that these games are actually causing a drop in participation in real activities? Or is it simply a response to a lack of time and money to actually go fish, hunt, or play golf?

Are we right to ask whether something like virtual ham radio will detract from the real thing?

Well, it's always good to have questions like that or we would be bored. One difference that I can see between the CQ100 system and a plain old video game is that the communication is still real, even though it is not over the air. Another significant difference is the requirement for a valid ham radio license for access to the system.

Take a few minutes tonight at 7:30 PM Central Daylight Time to join us and discuss this topic on the Wednesday evening Handiham net. (That works out to Thursday morning at 00:30 hours GMT.) There's nothing like a topic to keep a net interesting! The net is on the usual EchoLink frequency and node, 145.450 MHz in the Twin Cities or node 89680. See you there, and bring your opinion with you to share!

Patrick Tice
wa0tda@arrl.net

Handiham Manager

Handiham World for 22 April 2009

noreply@blogger.com (handiham) — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 09:50:47 PDT

HTML clipboard

Welcome to Handiham World!

State of the program: Where we are in these tough economic times.

Is there anyone out there who doesn't know there is a worldwide recession? It seems like the tough economic times have reached into every corner of the world and every part of our existence. You cannot turn on the news these days without hearing about some company laying off hundreds or thousands of people, some bank going under, or some other negative economic news. As you might expect, non-profit organizations and programs of those organizations, like the Courage Center Handiham System, are certainly not immune from the hard economic times.

So far this year we have had to ask one staff member to retire, and we have had to eliminate the job of "Student Coordinator", where Jerry Kloss, N0VOE, put in so many wonderful years of dedicated, caring service to our members, especially those members who were just getting started in amateur radio studying for their Technician licenses. Fortunately, we have been able to turn the Student Coordinator position into a volunteer job, and Jerry is still able to help us by working from home and welcoming those who are just getting in to amateur radio by contacting them on the phone or by e-mail. Still, we are down by one staff member in the office because of this change, and volunteers can have other priorities. That is a big trade-off, but what do you do when money is short?

Then there is the remaining office staff, where hours have been cut back. We have had to eliminate office hours on Fridays. Even so, on the remaining days we can still provide most of the same services that we did before, only it sometimes takes a little longer. But who knows what the economy will do over the next year or two?

One big program change was that we had to cancel our plans to offer a California Radio Camp in 2009. The money just isn't there. We hope to not just eliminate that camp session altogether, but the only thing we can do is hope that better economic times will increase the value of our endowment fund and that our donors will continue to support us. Like many other nonprofit programs, we have money invested in a fund and use the interest to help pay the costs of running the program. Since the value of everybody's investments is down, that affects us as well and means that less money than ever is available to use for operating funds.

Believe me, membership fees and the small amounts of money brought in by program fees and equipment sales do not come close to covering the cost of running the Handiham System. On the plus side, the Internet has enabled us to serve more people in a more cost-effective way. Not only can we offer audio and other services online, but the Internet offers a quick and easy way to interact with our members to get questions answered and things done much more cheaply than by using older methods. If it weren't for the availability of the Internet, I'm not sure that we could ever keep up with our work! Nonetheless, there are things that remain in our program that still end up costing a lot of money. We need a certain amount of office space, we have storage for donated equipment, there are the ongoing costs of running any office; things like the cost of the space calculated by square foot that we use within Courage Center, the various utilities like electricity, phone, and Internet service, and the cost of office supplies. None of that stuff has gotten cheaper over the years.

We are optimistic that the upcoming Minnesota Radio Camp will be well-attended and successful. The camp is expensive to produce and operate, but it remains one of our core services, as does the distance education in amateur radio that we have always done. There are other services that we have offered over the years that simply cannot be sustained in the future. While we can offer excellent amateur radio access through the Handiham Remote Base station running the Kenwood TS-480, it is getting more and more difficult to offer refurbished used equipment directly to our members on a loan program. There are a couple of reasons for this change. The elephant in the room is eBay, where used amateur radio equipment gets traded and sold these days instead of being donated to us. Even though we have a dedicated volunteer, K0CJ, who comes in every week to help us with donated gear, there is still a cost to maintaining storage space and using staff time to manage the program of donated equipment. Sometimes weeks will go by with absolutely nothing coming in. This is one area where I, as the manager of the program, must make the hard decision to change the fundamentals of this service. My feeling is that it is better to offer our new hams who pass their Technician license exams at radio camp brand-new handheld radios instead of trying to support the used equipment program. I would like your input on this. Do you think you have other ways to save money and continue to offer the same services?

Finally, I want to take this opportunity to remind everyone that the Handiham program has always been primarily a volunteer operation. It began that way in 1967 and has always depended upon volunteers to help with our mission of "hams helping hams", whether it be to get licensed, learn more about their equipment and operating, helping to get newcomers on the air, and helping people with disabilities make friends and learn how to communicate using technology. That remains our mission; the question is how do we best maintain our strengths to carry it on into the future? I know it is a downer, but we have to consider the budget and work within the money and resources that we have available. If we can raise more money in this summer's upcoming Handiham appeal, it will certainly help. I welcome your ideas and, as always, your support whether it be as a financial donor, active Handiham member, or one of our very much appreciated volunteers.

Now let's move on to our next story. To introduce it, I want to remind you of a really popular phenomenon these days: MMRPG's. You are probably saying to yourself, "What the heck is an MMRPG?"

Although we have mentioned this term in the past, many of us probably have no reason to really use it or remember what it means. An MMRPG is a "massive multiplayer role playing game". Typically, it is a video game with Internet connectivity in which many participants from around the world interact in the game's virtual reality. Participants can communicate with each other, take on roles as "avatars", becoming the character that best suits their personality, and work their way through whatever mission or purpose the game theme might include. These things sometimes involve quests and battles, individuals working alone or in groups, and, as you might expect in a game, competition for a high score.

So you might ask a second question, "What does this have to do with amateur radio?"

I'm glad you asked that question! An MMRPG involves communication in a virtual environment. Everyone who participates in the game knows that the experience is one of virtual reality, and that if you participate you are not really fighting swordfights and climbing mountains, even though you might be doing those things while you are playing the game. Still, you are communicating with others who are playing the massive multiplayer role-playing game. The communication is real. The experience is fun. And there is something out there for amateur radio operators that is able to provide a virtual amateur radio station in a world of virtual amateur radio propagation where multiple participants can be "on the air" as part of a virtual shared experience. This is the same concept as the massive multiplayer role-playing game, except that it is for amateur radio. The system makes use of the CQ100 interface developed by VE3EFC. So, with that little introduction, I will let an enthusiastic user tell you more about it in our next story.

Patrick Tice
wa0tda@arrl.net

Handiham Manager

Handiham World for 15 April 2009

noreply@blogger.com (handiham) — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 11:27:40 PDT

Welcome to Handiham World!

CCleaner is a great freeware utility for freeing up disk space

Image: Screenshot of CCleaner running on the wa0tda ham shack PC.

Free software tour: A free junk remover.

Last week we talked about the free file recovery utility called "Recuva" by Piriform Ltd. Today we introduce a great freeware disk cleanup utility made by the same folks. It's called "CCleaner".

John, N1IWT, mentioned that he uses CCleaner when he told me about Recuva. I had been using CCleaner myself for a long time and knew it to be an effective disk cleaning tool.

Here is the overview from the CCleaner website:

CCleaner is a freeware system optimization, privacy and cleaning tool. It removes unused files from your system - allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space. It also cleans traces of your online activities such as your Internet history. Additionally it contains a fully featured registry cleaner.

The fact of the matter is that most of us are not very good at housekeeping. Sometimes my ham shack is a mess, because projects and things that I am meaning to work on collect faster than I have time to tend to them. My computer is not that much different. Temporary files, deleted files, unused installation files and all sorts of other junk collect on the hard drive because I just don't have time to go through all of the fiddling around to find them, move them to the recycle bin in Windows, and then do a final deletion. Sometimes there are unused program files taking up a lot of space and they have made entries to the Windows registry that slow the computer down. This is the sort of thing that CCleaner can do for you. It can perform a semi automated cleaning, getting rid of a lot of stuff that you will never use and certainly do not need cluttering your hard drive. Your computer will be happier because it will have more hard drive space and the Windows registry will be leaner and meaner and faster.

One thing you should know, however, is that a program like this is not for novice computer users. You sort of have to know your way around the Windows computer before you trust any kind of maintenance software to delete files from your hard drive. If you know what you're doing, and are confident in your computer skills, I recommend CCleaner as a worthwhile addition to your computer utilities. It is for Windows computers, not for Mac or Linux.

You can find CCleaner online (see the handiham website.)

Now if only there were something automated to clean up my ham shack for me, I would be all set!

Next week: State of the program. Where we stand during these hard economic times, and what we can expect in services.

Patrick Tice, WA0TDA
Handiham Manager
wa0tda@arrl.net

Handiham World for 08 April 2009

noreply@blogger.com (handiham) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 11:26:01 PDT

Welcome to Handiham World!

Free software tour: A free, easy to use, file recovery utility

Last week we talked about XMLog. Today we introduce a great freeware file recovery utility called "Recuva".

I had been looking for a file recovery utility, and when I mentioned it last week, John, N1IWT, came to the rescue. He writes:

I wanted to mention a rather easy file recovery program I've been playing with. When I lost all of my data a few months ago, I had to search a discarded HD. I found a program called Recuva touted by the people who distribute CCleaner. The best part is that it's free and it works.

It recovered 1,000 files, some 10 yrs old! One word of warning: Don't allow it to "recover all" until you are used to it. Just do "manual only", otherwise it will recover even scraps. But it will tell you before you open a file whether it is good or bad.

Check it out.

73,
John N1IWT

Thanks, John. I love it when you guys do my research for me! Here is the overview from the Recuva website:

Recuva (pronounced "recover") is a freeware Windows utility to restore files that have been accidentally deleted from your computer. This includes files emptied from the Recycle bin as well as images and other files that have been deleted by user error from digital camera memory cards or MP3 players. It will even bring back files that have been deleted by bugs, crashes and viruses!

You can find Recuva online. (See the handiham website.)

Next week: I might as well tell you about the other utility John mentioned, and which I already use, CCleaner. It sort of does the opposite of Recuva, but more about that next week.

Patrick Tice, WA0TDA
Handiham Manager

Handiham World for 01 April 2009

noreply@blogger.com (handiham) — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 08:59:33 PDT

Welcome to Handiham World!

Free software tour: A free, easy to use, accessible logging program

Last week we talked about two free screenreader solutions for our members who are blind or have low vision. This week, we introduce you to XMLog, a free, regularly updated, amateur radio logbook system for Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000 and XP. It will also work with Windows Vista but, as the website points out, "there may be problems setting the correct execution options. If you have trouble check the Yahoo! XMLog group."

Michael, W1ECT, is the author and maintainer of XMLog, and he has clearly devoted a lot of thought and effort into making the software interface work well for everyone, including blind users. His dedication to offering this resource to the greater amateur radio community and continuing to support it is commendable. If you use XMLog and like it, there is information on supporting it on the website.

Logging software these days is far removed from early computer logging, when the personal computer was simply used to manually enter data in some kind of basic spreadsheet. Today, logging software interfaces with modern transceivers and recovers frequency information directly through a hardware link. XMLog is no different in this respect, and you will find that it supports most common modern radios. Rig support is listed on the main XMLog webpage, and I was surprised to see not only cutting-edge radios like the Elecraft K2 and K3, but also the Heath SB-1400! All Kenwood radios are supported, as well as most ICOM and Yaesu radios, as well as a few others. Frankly, this software is about as universally usable and friendly as it gets!

Some audio speech alerts are built into XMLog, though you do have to install the free audio wave files associated with the alerts if you want to use that feature. Otherwise, we consider XMLog to be screen reader accessible if you are blind. The interface is straightforward whether you can see the screen or not. There is built-in CW support and XMLog can display a separate window that interfaces to your packet TNC or to Internet PacketCluster nodes. You can have DX spots announced automatically in audio format if you use the voice alert feature for PacketCluster spots.

Frankly, I think that logging software is an essential part of a well-run amateur radio station. While you don't have to log every single contact, you are more likely to log if the logging process is simple and nearly effortless, as XMLog seems to be. The value of logging will become apparent once you start keeping your own logbook. You will be able to go back over your records to find a friend you met on the air, keep track of contacts for various awards, track your usage of various frequencies and bands, recall a call sign that you had forgotten, and use your operating record if you ever have to field an interference complaint. The FCC no longer requires logs, of course, but they are truly valuable nonetheless, and as long as you don't have to expend too much effort keeping them up-to-date, why not start your own station logbook?

You can find XMLog online at the XMLog website.

Next week: I experiment with a file recovery utility.

Patrick Tice, WA0TDA
Handiham Manager

wa0tda@arrl.net

Handiham World for 25 March 2009

noreply@blogger.com (handiham) — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 11:54:38 PDT

Welcome to Handiham World!

Free software tour: Two screenreaders

Last week we talked about the free rig control program called HRD, or Ham Radio Deluxe. Today, I want to share a couple of free screenreader solutions for our members who are blind or have low vision.

In my opinion, there was never an area in the world of software solutions that is more worthy than providing affordable computer accessibility. While I understand and respect the need for professional-grade assistive-technology software, the business needs of commercial producers are such that the end product can be very expensive. This will inevitably shut out many users who simply cannot afford hundreds, or perhaps even thousands, of dollars for assistive technology software above and beyond the cost of their computer systems. A business or educational setting may require commercial software with its superior performance and customer support. On the other hand, home users can be well served by free software solutions, whether they are free software that you download and install on your computer or web-based. I am going to give you links to what I feel is the best free software screenreader as well as an online screenreading resource operated by a nonprofit organization. Neither one will cost you a dime, and both are very capable screenreading resources.

Thunder: This is a free screenreading program that you download and install on your computer. You will need Microsoft Windows, 2000 or newer. The website does not specifically state that Vista is supported, but we believe that it is. Lists of keyboard commands are available for Thunder, as you would expect for a commercial product. The Thunder screenreader website states in large, bold type:

Thunder is TOTALLY FREE to all organisations and all individuals.

No, they didn't spell organizations wrong; that is the British spelling! Thunder is used worldwide, and the organization that offers it is in Great Britain. If you already have a commercial screen reader on your computer, you should stick with what you have, because we do not recommend installing two screenreading programs on a single computer.

The AIR Foundation, or Accessibility is a Right Foundation: this nonprofit organization offers free screenreader access via the Internet. You open up the organization's website, and immediately it will begin talking to you and telling you how to use the screenreader. Once it is running, you need to stay connected to the Internet and as long as you do so, you have free screenreader access on your computer. It's as simple as that; you really don't need to know very much about either operating a computer or screenreaders to make this thing work. We have not tested it on a dial-up Internet connection, but we strongly suspect that it would not work. We suggest either a DSL or cable modem connection to the Internet.

The AIR Foundation is a not-for-profit organization, whose mission is to advocate, teach, and deliver tools that promote accessibility as a fundamental human right. Its first corporate partnership is with Serotek Corporation.

Where to find these resources: Go to the Handiham website at handiham.org, where you can read the entire issue.

Handiham World for 18 March 2009

noreply@blogger.com (handiham) — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 12:28:16 PDT

Welcome to Handiham World!

Free software tour: Ham Radio Deluxe

Last week we talked about the free audio editing program called Audacity. Today, I want to tell you about a wonderful way to control many modern amateur radio transceivers using a personal computer. This information pertains to users of Microsoft Windows because the software is written to run specifically on that operating system. Ham Radio Deluxe is a free software suite written by Simon Brown, HB9DRV.

Ham Radio Deluxe (HRD) also includes mapping, satellite tracking and the digital mode program Digital Master 780 (DM780). It is designed for Windows 2000 or higher (XP, Vista, 7), also Internet Explorer 6.0 (or higher) is required. It may work with Windows 98 but this is not supported. The policy is to support Windows versions which are supported by Microsoft.

Any licensed Amateur may download, install, and use HRD. It is not open source software, however. The difference is that the software author does not license the software under an open source licensing agreement, and the computer code is not public.

Before I get into any details about Ham Radio Deluxe, I think we should make it clear that this software is constantly under development and is thus being improved all the time. It has gone through many releases and upgrades over the years, and I have used it with great success in my own ham shack for many of the years that it has been available. The fact that HRD is always in active development sets it aside from many other software packages. Oftentimes you will find that a rig control program has maybe one or two releases, and not very much changes, if anything, after that. Ham Radio Deluxe is different, because it keeps getting better and better. I like the fact that I don't have to worry about ditching my rig control program because it is hopelessly out of date. This is one of the most important reasons to choose Ham Radio Deluxe.

In order to use software to control your radio, you will need to provide a hardware connection between the radio and your computer. How you do so depends on which radio you have and what kind of ports your computer has available. Fortunately, there is information on the Ham Radio Deluxe website that will help you get this part of the job done. In the case of my ICOM IC-706M2G, I learned that I needed a special cable. This was relatively easy to find at a good price via the Internet. Further connections were done via a commercial rig interface, in this case a Rigblaster. I found that it was easiest to follow the Rigblaster instructions and everything worked pretty much as expected right away! You may find satisfaction in building your own interface, and you will find plenty of help for doing so on the Internet.

Ham Radio Deluxe should be downloaded and installed after you get your hardware connections in order. I won't go into detail, but HRD will prompt you for the proper port settings the first time you use it, and after that the computer will remember all of these details so controlling your rig will be as simple as turning on the power to the rig and then running Ham Radio Deluxe.

Like many hams, I have a few frequencies and modes that I return to on a daily basis. Generally speaking, most users will find that they do not take advantage of the many features of HRD. For example, I will typically use HRD and my ICOM to check into a local HF net, PICONET, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. The net meets on 3.925 MHz SSB, and Ham Radio Deluxe allows me to save that frequency and mode into my "favorites". A simple click of the mouse puts me on the PICONET frequency. Since I like to keep a record of stations that I have worked, I use the logbook feature in HRD. The logbook is a pop up window that has all of the basic input fields you would expect, but what makes it easy to use is that all I have to do is enter the net control station's callsign, and the log book remembers the station and allows me to choose "auto fill" to complete all the other fields with the correct information about name and location, as well as a note that this was PICONET. The frequency field always reflects the radio's true frequency, which is sent by the data cable from the ICOM to the computer.

If you like DX, there is a DX spotting window built into Ham Radio Deluxe. A list of DX spots appears below the frequency screen, and all you have to do is click on the DX spot you're interested in, and the radio automatically changes frequency to the same one as the DX station. I am not much of a DX chaser, but I do enjoy using this feature to see which bands are open. Since the DX spotting feature gets its information constantly from the Internet, you need to have a live Internet connection. You do not need an Internet connection to use HRD to control your radio, as long as the radio is connected through an interface directly to your computer. However, it is also possible to control a radio remotely via the Internet using Ham Radio Deluxe. I have enjoyed using the K0LR IC-756 Pro transceiver located in northern Minnesota, even though I was physically located in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Lyle and I set up the details for me to log on before I left for vacation. Since I was already familiar with controlling my radio with HRD, it was easy to learn how to control another radio remotely via the Internet.

Even so, I feel as if I have barely started to use all of the features Ham Radio Deluxe has to offer. You can run digital modes, track satellites, map the contacts you are logging, operate CW, display a short wave station database, and customize the program to your liking. Since I can see the computer screen, I do not use the built in voice to speak frequency and mode, although these features are available in Ham Radio Deluxe. It is worth noting that the spoken frequency is not dependent on any voice module being installed in the rig. Even if the transceiver does not have a voice module, HRD can still speak the frequency. That said, what I have heard from blind hams is that HRD is not all that blind-friendly from the standpoint of screen reader users. I would like to get more detail on what features are accessible and which ones are not. Since this software is supported by an excellent team of volunteers, perhaps one day accessibility improvements can be made.

You can get Ham Radio Deluxe by following the kink on the Handiham website.

Next week: Two free screen readers.

Patrick Tice, WA0TDA
Handiham Manager

wa0tda@arrl.net

Handiham World for 11 March 2009

noreply@blogger.com (handiham) — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 10:39:50 PDT

Welcome to Handiham World!

Free software tour: Discovering Audacity

It has been a relentless winter here in the Northern Hemisphere, so I thought it would be nice if we all took a bit of a holiday. I can't afford a real holiday, but how about a tour? A virtual tour of some of the best free software I have discovered over the years might be just the thing to help us make the last dregs of winter go down a little easier!

Audacity: No, I am not talking about the kind of audacity than means being bold. This Audacity is a free, open-source audio recording program for your computer. It is cross-platform, which means that you can use Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, GNU/Linux, and other operating systems to run Audacity. The reason I want you to discover Audacity is that you will learn to use a powerful recording tool, your computer, and learn to work with new recording technology. If you have been frustrated as I have been over the years by broken cassette tapes, the impossible situation of finding a place in the middle of a cassette, editing tape audio, annoying tape hiss, and all the rest of the problems that go along with analog tape recorders, you know what I mean.

In this edition of your weekly Handiham World I am going to give you some basic tips about how to find Audacity on the Internet. Some of you will be brave enough to download and install Audacity and give it a try. Others may be interested in learning more about basics of audio recording using a computer. Either way, I would like you to take a look at the Audacity website and then let me know if you are interested in learning more about recording audio, audio editing, and converting one kind of audio to another. The reason I am asking this question is that I am contemplating doing a series of tutorials covering this topic. If there is enough interest out there, we will cover it in some depth.

Handiham World for 4 March 2009

noreply@blogger.com (handiham) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 12:03:15 PST

Welcome to Handiham World!

EMF - Run for the hills, it'll get you!

EMF - electromagnetic field - is a physics term, one that amateur radio operators know about, perhaps not in those very words, but from their studies for licensing examinations they know that magnetism and current flow are related. A flow of electrons through a conductor creates a magnetic field that is strong in the vicinity of the conductor, but falls off rapidly as distance from the conductor increases.

Even though we can't see an electromagnetic field, it is a real physical field produced by electrically charged objects, and we can measure it with various instruments. A simple one is a compass, the needle of which will move when it is in the vicinity of a conducting circuit hooked to a battery. This is a simple experiment done in elementary school science classes.

Both AC and DC produce EMF. Some devices, like your simple doorbell, depend on the magnetic field generated in a coil when a doorbell button closes a switch that allows current to flow. The magnetic field pushed an iron rod into a piece of tuned metal that makes the ding-dong sound. Some appliances around the home use motors that require much more energy to do work, such as running the compressor in your fridge or moving the fan blades in your furnace. The more current that flows, the stronger the EMF, most of which is contained within the motor and the appliance cabinet.

Ham radio equipment generates EMF, too, but much is at radio frequencies, as you would expect! There will be other electromagnetic fields around power supplies and other accessories. Even the desk lamp on the ham shack desk and the wiring inside the walls of the house have electromagnetic fields surrounding them.

In short, we are bathed in EMF from almost everywhere!

Now, with all of that in mind, let's look back a couple of weeks into the news. At the University of California in San Diego there is an ongoing flap over a cancer cluster in a single campus building. The gist of the story is that the Literature Building is suspected of having cancer-causing EMF because a larger than expected number of cancer cases have shown up among people who work or have worked in that building. I'll give you the link to the story on the campus newspaper website after this story, but for now, let's look a little more closely at what has happened at the campus.

The facts are these:

There are electromagnetic fields in the UC Literature Building, as there are in every campus building.
There are elevators in the building, and the motors that run them generate electromagnetic fields.
A number of workers in the building have indeed been diagnosed with cancers of various types over a period of years.
There is a cluster of cancer cases, given the way one maps out the parameters over time and space.
The issue is an emotional one that has generated demonstrations, marches, and anti-EMF activism among faculty and students.

But what do you think? As ham radio operators, we certainly have an interest in a story like this!

Should we be worried that EMF will give us cancer? It sure seems that some of the students and faculty members at the University are worried enough to take action, even to the point of demanding that the entire building undergo a renovation.

Well, here is what I think: Sometimes people get an idea into their heads and even though it is not strongly supported by empirical evidence, the kind of evidence that good science demands, they still believe that they are right. Something like EMF is a good candidate to pin an otherwise unexplainable cluster of cancer cases upon, especially since it is invisible and possibly mysterious to those who are not educated in the sciences. Remember, mankind has a long and sad history of blaming natural events on something like the position of the planets in the sky! Malaria was once thought to be brought on by swamp air. Gemstones had the power to protect you against diseases; emerald protected the eyes. Disease and causality were simply not understood, and the germs that caused many diseases were invisible, just like EMF.

Today, people still fall prey to the same mistake of associating two independent events and assuming that one causes the other.

Now, I am not going to say that EMF in extremely high concentrations or over long periods of time is perfectly safe. I am also not convinced that the cancer cluster in the Literature Building has anything to do with EMF. Did the two exist together? Yes. Are they connected? Maybe, but maybe not.

Cancer clusters are little understood by laymen, and even educated residents of a college campus can make mistakes interpreting what seem to be straightforward facts. After all, the thinking goes, there were many more cancer cases in the Literature building than one might expect by sheer chance. Something caused them, so it must have been EMF, because it acts in mysterious ways, not fully understood, upon the body.

The problem is that cancer clusters are not necessarily a statistical anomaly at all. Try this: Think of a grid of 100 squares, such as a perfectly flat tile floor in your kitchen. Now you pour an entire jar of 100 marbles out onto the floor from as high as you can reach. The marbles will bounce around at random and eventually come to a standstill, distributed across the entire kitchen floor. Look at each square tile. Does each tile have exactly the same number of marbles on it? Not likely! Some tiles will have none, most perhaps one or two, and one tile may have a half dozen. Now, imagine that the tile with a half dozen marbles is the Literature building. What "caused" the marbles to stop in that particular tile? After all, the average number of marbles on a tile is only one. Something must have "caused" the marbles to concentrate there, right?

Wrong.

Pure, random chance is in play here. Nothing "caused" the concentration of marbles on that particular tile, just as a tile with no marbles was not "protected" from marbles by some unseen force. So cancer clusters can be random. The fact that there are electromagnetic fields present in the Literature Building may be no more relevant than the color the walls in the Literature building are painted. It would be astounding if your 100 marbles distributed themselves exactly one per tile on the kitchen floor, and so it is with real life geographic distributions.

It is easy to be tricked by this phenomenon. Our minds work to seek out cause and effect. We want to know a reason why things are as they are, but every cluster does not mean there is a cause related to anything other than chance.

As an amateur radio operator, I know that electromagnetic fields are generated by my equipment. Some of these are proven dangerous, such as high power, concentrated microwave energy. But I am not going to worry about the EMF from my refrigerator or an elevator motor. I am going to take prudent steps to reduce RF exposure. I don't worry about getting cancer from a cell phone or handheld radio, but I do wear a seatbelt when in an automobile and hold the railing while using the escalator or taking the stairs. Ham radio isn't going to give you cancer, but you could fall off the tower while putting up an antenna. Take stock of reasonable risks and prepare for them. Use a safety belt and hard hat when doing tower work. And enjoy getting on the air.

I don't want to dismiss the very real concerns of the UC San Diego students and staff, but I do think that it does not serve a useful purpose to fixate on electromagnetic fields as "the cause" of a cluster of cancers. It will be interesting to follow this story as it unfolds. I prefer to be open-minded. If empirical evidence exists outside of random chance, it is important for us to learn about any effects electromagnetic fields have on the body.

Now, as I promised, here are some links you can use for further reading:

Handiham World for 25 February 2009

noreply@blogger.com (handiham) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 12:47:52 PST

Welcome to Handiham World!

Are you on Twitter? WA0TDA is.

Twitter is a social networking site of sorts, with people sending short messages called "tweets" to anyone who cares to "follow" a particular user. This is sometimes called "micro-blogging".

The content can be pretty interesting - or it can be rather silly or boring, too. It is the sort of thing you have to actually try before you really understand what it's all about. The process is pretty simple: You go to the Twitter website and create an account, which is free. Pay attention to the Twitter terms of service and privacy statements, since this is the sort of thing that can get users confused. A little reading can pay off, though I know most of us would rather jump out the window than read the instructions for anything!

The way it works is that you are supposed to just send a short message of 140 characters or fewer by filling in a simple form field on your Twitter site, where it is then resent to all your "followers". You can follow as many or as few other Twitter users as you want.

I follow TWIAR, This Week In Amateur Radio, among a few others. You can find a short overview of what Twitter is about on, where else? - Wikipedia! In fact, I think this Wikipedia article does a better job of explaining Twitter than Twitter does. Go figure.

You will find my Twitter site by searching Twitter for wa0tda.

There are other ham radio operators on Twitter, as well as services like TWIAR. Be careful, it can get addicting! On the other hand, the "tweets" can get pretty numerous and you can get overwhelmed by their banality, as K9ZW observes on his blog.

Basically, what K9ZW suggests is that the signal to noise ratio is unfavorable on Twitter. What he means is that you can get overwhelmed with useless garbage as people post things like, "I'm just waking up and the sun is out", which is pretty much not of any real interest. On the other hand, the TWIAR posts do keep you up to date on ham radio topics. It is a good point, though - the posts you want to read can get drowned out by the trivial ones, which is what an unfavorable signal to noise ratio means!

Happy tweeting, if you decide to try Twitter.

Next week: I weigh in on a new EMF flap over a cancer cluster on a California university campus. Does EMF cause cancer?

73,

Patrick Tice, WA0TDA
Handiham Manager

wa0tda@arrl.net

Handiham World for 18 February 2009

noreply@blogger.com (handiham) — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 09:40:34 PST

Welcome to Handiham World!

I have heard from net manager Howard, KE7KNN, and the move of the Handiham Monday night EchoLink net is official -- we will be making the change beginning the first week in March.

Frankly, I'm a bit relieved. Monday nights were just not good for me, because my own local radio club has a 2 m net at the same time. I had tried flipping back and forth between the two nets, checking into one and then checking into the other. This never seemed like a good way to operate. I always felt that I was never really giving either net my full attention.

But that's just me.

Monday night is apparently a fairly busy night for others as well. Since Monday is the start of the traditional work and school week, it may very well be that family matters simply have to take priority over amateur radio. We think we will have better luck with Wednesday night net activities. By Wednesday, most people have gotten their week pretty well planned out. It may be easier to take a few minutes out of a Wednesday evening, so we hope to hear more of you checking in. Since the 7:00 PM start time might have caused a conflict with the CNIB net, which starts at 6:30 PM USA Central Time and sometimes lasts longer than 30 minutes, we are also moving our start time by a half hour to 7:30 PM Minnesota time. That means the Universal Time start would be Thursday mornings at 01:30 GMT.

The other details about the net remain the same:

The Handiham EchoLink net is still the same friendly gathering open to everyone.
It is still a great place to learn about getting on the air and how to participate in nets.
There is a net control station to keep things organized, but unlike many other nets, we invite new net controls to step up to the plate and take over!
There is a Net Manager, Howard, KE7KNN, who will be glad to hear that you want to participate, either as a station checking in, or as a net control station.
The net is still on the same repeaters and nodes as the ones we use for the daily EchoLink net.
- In the Twin Cities you can use the N0BVE repeater system, 145.450 MHz, negative offset, no tone.
- You can connect via nodes 89680 or 267582 on EchoLink.
- IRLP node 9008 (Vancouver BC reflector)
- Yaesu WIRES system number 1427
- And there are other ways as well, so feel free to connect as you see fit. The one exception is that we ask you not to connect to N0BVE via IRLP, since that dumps off all the EchoLink users.

The first Wednesday of each month the net has a theme of "learning", so don't miss the opportunity to be a better net participant or control station. If you are shy, just listen in. We'd love to hear you check in though!

Patrick Tice
wa0tda@arrl.net

Handiham World for 11 February 2009

noreply@blogger.com (handiham) — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 13:00:23 PST

Welcome to Handiham World!

If you're like me, you probably use the web to check news. Printed newspapers and news magazines are "yesterday's news" for sure, and it isn't surprising so many of them are losing market share. So we are reading what is now called "digital ink". And just as with real ink newspapers, digital ink can give amateur radio some real media hits - or misses, as was the case with one story that popped up on my Google News page this morning.

The story was on the Alva, OK Review-Courier website, and was a rehash of an older post on an AOL-linked service called "Walletpop". I'll give you links to both in a moment, but the point I'd like to make about this sort of bad press, which contains factual errors and even stupid spelling mistakes like "Morris Code", is that once they are posted, they live forever on the Internet as they get passed around every time someone re-discovers them. In this case, the so-called "story" is about Ham Radio being one of 25 things about to become extinct in America. When it appeared first in mid-2008, it wasn't real news then, either - just speculation based on someone digging their old crystal ball out and trying to predict the future. Among the unfortunate comments in the article was one about 50,000 ham licenses being lost "in the past five years alone".

I can only speculate how much email Tom Barlow, N8NLO, the original author of the ham radio part of the Walletpop article, has gotten about this story. Feel free to read the many postings on the website, too.

Read more on the handiham.org site or listen to the podcast.

Handiham World for 4 February 2009

noreply@blogger.com (handiham) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 10:25:17 PST

Welcome to Handiham World!

Oh, darn - state legislators across the country are at it again, going after distracted drivers and catching up ham radio operators in the bargain. This was the point when, on January 30, at the instruction of the Board of Directors at its January 2009 meeting, the ARRL Executive Committee adopted a policy statement on mobile Amateur Radio operations. The statement addresses the growing number of proposed state and local laws and ordinances regulating the use of cellular telephone and text messaging, inadvertently affecting Amateur Radio mobile communications. In its statement, the Executive Committee urges state and municipal legislators to limit the scope of their proposals, limiting them to devices such as full duplex wireless telephones and related hand-held or portable equipment. Alternately, it suggests that licensed Amateur Radio operation be listed specifically as an exclusion to the proposed regulations.

I can tell you for sure that any law that doesn't exempt ham radio will certainly be a problem for many operators like me, who safely enjoy mobile amateur radio operating nearly every day. Most of us have fun staying in touch with friends during an otherwise boring commute, generally on a VHF or UHF repeater system. There is a huge difference between trying to carry on a duplex telephone conversation and carrying on a QSO via two meters. Believe, me... I know. I've done both, and find the cell phone to be much more demanding than the radio. In a typical radio contact, everyone understands that the conversation may go silent when the driving conditions change or momentarily get difficult. There is never a problem tending to driving first. This is not the case with a cell phone conversation, which is often difficult to interrupt. And people who text message while driving, well, they're just plain negligent. Texting requires more "processor cycles" from the brain, and will certainly result in the driver failing to notice what is going on around their vehicle.

Amateur radio remains a valuable way to stay in touch while driving, and is solidly established as a proven way to report in during emergencies and SKYWARN nets. It should not be caught up in these "distracted driver" bills. You can read more about the initiative on the ARRL website, as once again the League goes to bat for amateur radio.

By the way, did you know that a blind lifetime membership in ARRL is only $200?

For Handiham World, I'm...

Patrick Tice
wa0tda@arrl.net

Handiham World for 28 January 2009

noreply@blogger.com (handiham) — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 10:48:59 PST

Welcome to Handiham World!

What is the best way to run a training net? As many of you know, we will be having a special net on the regular handiham EchoLink frequency once a month, and it will be devoted to teaching net participants how to be good net control stations and for those who do not want to be net control stations, how to be good net participants. The very first session of this net will be on the first Wednesday evening of the month at 7 PM Minnesota time. So you will need to look for us on the 145.450 MHz N0BVE repeater system, node 89680. You can connect the very same way that you always do for the daily EchoLink net. The first session will occur on Wednesday, February 4.

But let's get back to that original question: exactly what is the best way to run a training net? Jerry, N0VOE, asked me that question because he is very likely going to be the first one actually stepping up to the plate as the net control station for this new net. It's a reasonable question.

Just cover a single major topic while paying attention to good net practices otherwise.

Let's say the topic is on how to open a net. Since you are going to follow good net procedures anyway, you open the net with a short preamble and then call for participants who might have emergency traffic, then any traffic, etc., etc. You have now given good example. Take the stations checking in, then when you feel you have a quorum, go ahead and open the discussion topic. Feel free to discuss why a preamble is useful, why you should call for emergency traffic first rather than later, and so on. After the topic has been discussed for awhile, invite a net member to try it for himself or herself, right on the spot.

Do not cover more than the single major topic. This will help you maintain the focus of the net so that participants don't go wandering all around, figuratively speaking. If you feel like some playacting, pretend you are checking in while someone else does the opening. We can have a net discussion board by email afterwards, so people can say what worked and what didn't.

It need not be very long. I would say this is an absolute maximum 30 minute net. That way, we do not ask participants to commit to a long, drawn-out session that will take up an entire evening. We are likely to get more people returning to the net to learn a little bit more about proper net operation if we are prepared and stick to one simple topic.

In other news, I've heard from a couple of Window-eyes users who have had excellent success navigating the new Worldradio online publication. One reported to me that many of the ads are accessible, which can be very useful for anyone interested in the latest ham radio technology... and aren't we all?! As I expected, the Worldradio online publication is being well received by handiham members everywhere, including those who use computer screen reading software. Our hats are off to CQ Publications for making this online resource disability-friendly.

For Handiham World, I'm...

Patrick Tice
wa0tda@arrl.net

Handiham World for 21 January 2009

noreply@blogger.com (handiham) — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 11:53:01 PST

Welcome to Handiham World!

WorldRadio Online first issue is ready to read!

It is a banner day in ham radio publishing. A long-time print journal has made the transition to that great printing press in the clouds, the Internet.

The February 2009 issue of WorldRadio Online was uploaded late on Tuesday, and is available for downloading and viewing. Currently it is available only at the main CQ Amateur Radio website, but will also be available at the entire CQ family of websites soon. We are pleased to note that the "With the Handihams" column appears on page 26 in this maiden issue. With this publication, CQ Communications, Inc. joins the other major amateur radio publisher, ARRL, in offering significant online content.

Although Bob Zeida, N1BLF, will continue to read selected portions of WorldRadio for our monthly magazine digest that serves our Handiham members who cannot read regular print, we are pleased to note that the online version has a number of very useful accessibility features for people with disabilities.

The format is Adobe PDF with embedded, searchable text. This is the industry standard, and beside providing the useful search feature that allows users to easily locate key words anywhere in the entire publication, it also allows blind users with screenreaders to access the embedded text and read the articles. Since some of the advertisements also carry embedded text, blind users will have access to them for the first time. In reviewing the ads, we noticed that they are hyperlinked to the advertisers' websites.

For those of us in the bifocal stage of life, you can enlarge the print on your computer screen. This can definitely make life easier when you are enjoying the columnists you know and love, like Krusty Ol' Kurt and his Aerials column and you don't have to strain to see the fine print.

Then there is the color. Long ago in the late 1970's, when Don, W0DN, and I began advertising our funky new Butternut antenna in the ham magazines, there was no color to be found on the pages of the ham radio publications. Yes, QST and CQ readers enjoy a splash of color these days, but WorldRadio never changed its newsprint textured paper and black and white format. That has changed, and the new look adds pizzazz!

Handiham World for 14 January 2009

noreply@blogger.com (handiham) — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 11:21:01 PST

Welcome to Handiham World!

Remote Base and Morse Code

Screenshot: W4MQ Remote Base CW pop up window

Did you ever own a gadget, a radio, or a piece of software that you really understood completely? I must say I had a bit of a surprise earlier this week when using the handiham remote base software by W4MQ. I had been using the remote base as a beta tester for a number of months now, but I had never really had occasion to use the CW mode setting, even though I had tuned around in the CW portion of various bands a number of times in the past. In fact, Avery, K0HLA, had asked me if it was possible to operate using Morse code with the remote base.

"Heck, I think it must be possible, but I'm not sure how you would hook up a key and whether you would use some kind of modulated audio or just how it would work", I replied.

After all, the radio obviously received very well in the CW portion of the bands, and some of our handiham members would likely be interested in operating Morse code from time to time if such a thing were possible. Well, as Lyle, K0LR, and I worked through a number of beta testing issues, one thing that came up was something called "auto mode". This is a setting made by the administrator of the system that causes the radio to go back to whatever default mode is set for a given portion of a ham radio band. For example, on the 20 m band if you were using a frequency of 14.280 MHz, the auto mode would place the radio in the USB mode automatically, so that you would be on the right side band. The user can, however, control the mode manually. It is assumed that this will sometimes be necessary. Anyway, this setting was not being changed automatically when I did my testing, so I noticed that the radio would typically just keep the same mode that I had been listening in on single side band whenever I went to the CW portion of the band. Only this week did I think to manually change the mode to the CW setting. The first thing that I noticed was that the audio filter was automatically changed to a much narrower width that would be more appropriate for Morse code operation. The second thing I noticed was that the radio no longer said "no transmit". And the third thing was that a little pop-up window appeared that would allow me to simply type into a text window and send Morse code automatically! Because I had already logged on to the software using my own call sign, this handy little application already knew who I was. It has several shortcut buttons that allow me to send CQ, call QRZ, call a specific station just by entering the station's call sign in a form field and pressing the call button, and probably even more that I haven't discovered yet. So here I was, using this software for months, and only this week discovering a major feature.

I don't know whether to be a little bit embarrassed by this, or whether I should just chalk it up to the fact that there was so much other stuff to test that a fellow might be expected to miss a thing or two here and there. I will readily admit that I seldom have an actual QSO using Morse code, but I do listen to code rather frequently just to see what band conditions are like, mostly on 20 and 40 m.

Discovering this new Morse code feature (new to me, anyway) was almost like discovering a gift that I had forgotten to open up at my last birthday party. Who knows what else the remote base might serve up as a really fun and useful feature? We are still hoping to open the remote base and get it out of beta mode within the next few months. It has been doing extraordinarily well surviving the cold Minnesota temperatures in its unheated ham shack. Already this week Courage North has had an early-morning low temperature of -35°F. I think I can almost feel the cold radiating back at me right through my own computer when I connect to the remote base!

For Handiham World, I'm Patrick Tice, wa0tda@arrl.net
patt@couragecenter.org