HRN 482: Bill Me!

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It’s a Bill! HR 4006 is the official House Bill that contains the Amateur Radio Emergency Preparedness Act (wait… does that mean we’re all Preppers now?).

This is the bill that… if it makes it all the way into law… will give hams in HOA neighborhoods substantial relief from HOA rules prohibiting or severely limiting outdoor antennas. But it’s a long way between now and law.

Without much other official action, East Coast Host Gary K4AAQ spent some time comparing the current bill with its predecessor from last December, and found only one minor revision in one paragraph that didn’t seem to change the meaning. Then, because we’ve all forgotten what was in the Bill, he reviewed the high points. About halfway through, West Coast Host David W0DHG got home from his Father’s Day dinner and joined the party. They immediately went off topic for a while, then finished the review, and conducted a random bull session.

BTW, no Promo, so you didn’t miss it.

HRN 481: My Genius Plan for 60 Meters

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9 Years ago, Gary K4AAQ and Jeff AC4ZO (SK) did a HamRadioNow episode titled My Stupid Plan for 60 Meters. That was 12 years after we got those 5 ‘channels’ on 60, and the ARRL was noodling about a plan hatched at the 2015 World Radio Conference to create an actual band at 60. Turns out Gary’s plan really was stupid, but the show was a lot of fun.

Well, it’s 2023, and we’re back… our Episode 477: 60 for 60 detailed the current state of RM-11785, the FCC’s dithering proposal for maybe a little 15 kHz wide band (with a 9 Watt power limit 😮), but maybe not. That proposal was supposed to be out for 60 days of public comments after it was published on the Federal Register web site… where it has yet to appear, best we can tell. However, the place where you make comments, the ECFS (Electronic Comment Filing System) is still accepting comments left over from the first round of RM-11785, back in 2017. Gary filed his Express comments – his Genius Plan – and one other person also filed comments.

That ‘one other person’ turned out to be Janis Carson AB2RA, a 77 year old YL from upstate New York. Janis was first licensed in 1959, and while she is into boat anchors (aka ‘new equipment from when she was first licensed’), she is also right up to date on today’s technology, and everything in between. And she keeps current with the FCC, too, often filing comments on RMs and NPRMs.

With both David W0DHG and Jim NO1PC bowing out for other activities, Gary and Janis spend a couple of quality hours talking about the 60 meter proposals, and lots of other stuff.

LINKS:

HRN 480: SH👁T Two Way Radio Installs

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Fame!
There’s a Facebook group called Shit Two Way Installs. It’s a private group, so you’ll have to ask to join if you want to see it. But somebody - anonymously - immortalized Gary K4AAQ’s Q-Mobile in what is described as a group dedicated to “those memorable two way radio installs that leave us shaking our head.” As well they should. Eat your little hearts out (and BTW, Gary is a member of the group).

Before that, though, Gary, David W0DHG and Jim NO1PC have some Field Day tips, and then we check out some video of storm damage on the Santiago Peak site of a huge number of commercial… and a few amateur… repeaters and radio systems in the mountains east of Orange County, CA.

Did we promise to review the status of RM-11785 (the 60 meter NPRM)? Well, we’re going to hold that until next week when Gary’s comments should show up. Officially, it doesn’t look like it’s been published in the Federal Register, so apparently the 60 day clock for comments hasn’t started. But you can still file a comment? Not sure how that’s working.



HRN 479: GMRS is the New Novice

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Back in the day, 11 meter CB was a gateway to ham radio. The real Novice license existed back then, but it offered limited privileges (phone only on 2 meters), and required Morse code (5 wpm). So for many, their first taste of radio operating happened on the 23 CB channels (later expanded to 40 channels). That was Gary K4AAQ’s route. Ask ‘who got their start in CB’ at any ham club and you’ll find a lot of hands raised. But not David W0DHG’s or Jim NO1PC’s. Their route is more pure 👼. 10-4, good buddy.

PROMO

Today, GMRS – the ‘anyone can play’ radio service using FM and repeaters in the 462-467 MHz spectrum – is beginning to boom. Maybe it was the reduction in license fee from $70 to $35 last year. Maybe it’s promotion on a bunch of YouTube channels. Maybe it’s a bunch of new equipment - mostly Chinese - from some of the same sources feeding ham radio with inexpensive radios.

It’s probably all of those things. The bar to entry into GMRS is the $35 fee for a license; the ability to navigate the FCC web site (a major complaint on some GMRS Facebook groups); and gaining enough knowledge to actually obtain and operate those radios effectively (also a common topic on the Facebook groups). One license covers an extended family.

Is GMRS a ‘hobby’ radio service? The rules don’t make that statement, but they do permit just about any kind of legal conversation among licensees (and with unlicensed FRS radio users). In some areas, conversations on GMRS repeaters are indistinguishable from ham radio conversations, except for the call signs.

All it would take to make GMRS the ‘New Novice’ license is pointing people with a potential interest in radio communications… but not enough interest to get a Tech license… to GMRS. And maybe help them with the first radio thing. They get their feet wet, see if they like it, then bump up against the limits of GMRS (only FM on only 8 repeater channels) and maybe itch for more. Hello, ham radio!

But before we get to that, Gary tortures Kyle AA0Z by holding a bottle of Kyle’s favorite soda (pop), Sun Drop Cherry-Lemon. There are oceans of the stuff at Gary’s local food store, but not a drop within a 3 hour drive of Kyle’s house. To compensate, he has White Castle, and Gary is 90 minutes from the nearest Krystal (a kissing cousin of White Castle). Anyway, Gary eventually does a taste-test, comparing Sun Drop (the Cherry-Lemon version) to another born-in-the-south favorite, Cheerwine (no alcohol, despite the name). Conclusion? Watch and see (did you really think we were going to spoil that one for you here?).

A few quick notes on H.R.3241 - Amateur Radio Communications Improvement Act, recently reintroduced in Congress, and RM 11785 (60 meter band NPRM) which is now getting comments.

And then we round things out by taking a look at Gary’s new Yaesu FTM-300 DR, a dual-band (dual-receive) Fusion radio. It’s not the new FTM-500, but it’s fairly recent, and much cheaper. Gary gets his first taste of operating the C4FM digital voice mode.

LINKS:

HRN 477: 60 for 60

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The FCC is finally about to act on the long-pending issues on 60 meters. In 2015, the WRC issued a set of allocations, giving hams a teeny-tiny 15 kHz wide ‘band’ and only 9 watts ERP. But in the US, the FCC made no changes to our 5 discrete ‘channels’ and 100-watt ERP power limit.

Now the FCC is about to act… by asking, once again, what we want. They are more or less proposing following the WRC’s allocation, but before they do that, they want more comments from hams. Should they make that change? Should they keep (or also keep the 5 channels). Should they adopt the 9-Watt power limit? What about modes? So many questions.

You get to comment on all that, starting any day now (if it hasn’t started already). You have 60 days, followed by a 30 day reply-comment windows. Then… someday… the FCC will adopt new rules.

LINKS:

HRN 476: Back to Bouvet

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Adrian Ciuperca KO8SCA returns to HamRadioNow’s David W0DHG, Jim NO1PC and Gary K4AAQ with some awesome video of the voyage to and operation on Bouvet Island back in February, and a Powerpoint presentation with all the details you’ve been wondering about.

The ProMorePlus

In the ProMorePlus (a new show category that Gary invented and may never be heard from again, and perhaps just a ploy to slow down the rapidly accumulating episode count), Gary K4AAQ did a product review – something we rarely do on HamRadioNow, apparently for good reason. Not a new or unobtaniumly new radio… just a lowly ‘FBI’ style headset for his HT. He gets mixed results. He also discovers an old (1980s era) DX Magazine article about a DXpedition that came under ‘enemy fire’ while trying to land their ship (in the wrong place). The ProMorePlus is only on YouTube and Facebook video – it’s not in the audio podcast… sorry.

LINKS:

HRN 475: Eclipse... Again (already)?

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There's a 90% partial Eclipse coming for the western US on October 14 this year, and a total Eclipse for the Midwest and Northeast on April 8, 2024.

During the total Eclipse in 2017, hundreds of thousands of people flooded rural areas across the country in the relatively narrow ribbon of 'totality' (115 miles, but everyone wanted to be at the center line). They came over the course of hours or even days, but they all left at once when the show was over (and nobody cared about the next 90 minutes of the waning eclipse after they'd seen totality). All that created gridlock on the highways, and overload on the cell system.

The same is expected on April 8 next year, when a total eclipse moves from Texas through the Midwest and on to New England. And that presents an opportunity for hams to lend a hand with communications, if they're organized and prepared. Our guest is JM Rowe N5XFW, Arkansas Section Emergency Coordinator (among many other Emcomm titles). He's working on getting his state's hams ready, and coordinating with neighboring states as well.

HRN 475 Promo(re) Eclipse... Again (already)?

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Two of them, in fact. A Partial this year, and a Total in 2024.

A good eclipse can draw a huge mass of people into a fairly small band of territory, with the potential for overloaded roads and communications facilities. That’s an opportunity for hams to help out… if we’re prepared. Some areas were prepared in 2017, the last total eclipse that went coast-to-coast. We’ll learn about that, and plans for this and next year on our Sunday live show. Tune in!

LINK: 2024 Interactive Map

HRN 474: Ask Me Nothing

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Our sarcastic take on the Ask Me Anything shows when there’s nothing to talk about. Gary K4AAQ leads off this Sunday morning show after combing Reddit and finding yet another ham asking about calling CQ on… well, in this case, it’s simplex on FM on 2 meters and 70 cm. Seems somebody got on his case about it. Ring any bells? HamRadioNow 315 comes to mind (Do NOT Call CQ on Repeaters). So, yeah, repeaters, but the points are valid for simplex FM, too.

About this point, David W0DHG logged in and we review the responses. Gary was hoping somebody would have linked to his iconic show. Nobody had, until a chat-room viewer took care of it (thanks, chat-room!).

Then Jim NO1PC joined the Zoom, and discovered a broken connection in his audio system (remember the ‘mungy’ audio Gary complained about in the last show?). He fixed it on the fly.

Then David had to get ready for his WaveTalkers show, and we wrapped up.

HRN 471: Appliance Boy Meets M17

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M17 is the new kid on the VHF/UHF Digital Voice block. You’re not going to be picking up a new M17 radio at HRO anytime soon – it’s decidedly experimental at this point. But it’s not vaporware, either. In this episode, HRN host Gary K4AAQ talks… at length… with Ed Wilson N2XDD and Steve Miller KC1AWV about what M17 is, how you can get into it, and what the future might be.

At length? Well, that was a challenge. Ed mentioned that the longest show they did – and they’ve done almost all the other shows – was three hours (turns out the YouTube length for that show was only 2:46). So we had to beat it, and we did.

We didn’t do an official promo for this show, but Gary did spend some time on the feed… as one ham noted… taking an hour to describe a 10-minute troubleshooting episode.

This was an off-schedule Friday night show for us. David W0DHG was on his way to his stage in the Baker to Vegas run, and Jim NO1PC had family-time. We will be back together soon (but not too soon - Gary has a ski trip next week).

Down below you’ll see links to Michelle Thompson’s Blog about M17 and ARDC. Toward the end of the show (which turns out to be long before the end of the show), Gary brings up a controversy that Michelle told him about, concerning funding for M17, her Open Research Institute, and ARDC. Read the blog post, and watch the show at that point for the details. We’ll cover other points of view about that in future shows.

LINKS:

HRN 470: The David(less) and Gary Show

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No Preshow babble. Zip in to 12:10 and we… er, Gary… gets started. (No ProMore either)

It was going to be The David and Gary Show because we didn’t have prep, so we didn’t have a topic or theme (not that all of the shows actually stick to a topic or theme). And just before showtime, somebody smacked into a power pole down the block from the West Coast Studio, and David was left in the dark. And that’s the last we’ve heard from him (at least as I’m typing this).

But the show must go on, so Gary (me) managed to vamp for about 45 minutes before wrapping things up and sending everyone to Ria’s Ham Shack to brush up on getting their General license.

Oh, and I figured out how to invite people to our Discord: https://discord.gg/wZNBfEmB (link expires on March 26, so hurry).

HRN Special: Digital Voice 2023 (VHF/UHF Edition)

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The 90 minute version

East Coast Host Gary K4AAQ presented a forum on Digital Voice for VHF/UHF 2023 at the Charlotte Hamfest in March. Gary ‘inherited’ the forum from Roland Kraatz W9HPX, who became a Silent Key the previous December. Gary put in too many hours making ‘too many PowerPoint slides’ to just do a one-hour forum, so he recorded this Special Edition for HamRadioNow.

The 15 minute version

This version clocks in at about 90 minutes. Gary had to cut a lot of the slides he worked so hard to create to bring his talk down to an hour, so he put some of them back in for this version. Then, just for those of you with limited time, he took a digital axe to the whole thing and chopped it down to 15 minutes. It isn’t pretty, but the essential elements are there. Maybe.

The Original Documentary

We’re also presenting Gary’s original 2008 documentary Digital Voice for Amateur Radio, which includes his investigation of D-STAR and P-25, and the original DV mode for HF. Somehow all that is squeezed into less time than his slide show.

Audio podcast listeners are being treated only to the 90 minute slide show. If you want to see the truncated version, or the documentary, here’s the link to the web site: https://www.hamradionow.tv/episodes/2023/3/15/hrn-special-digital-voice-2023-vhfuhf-edition

HRN 469: Fallow Communications Commission

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There’s no Promo(re), just the show

The FCC has been MIA for some time in ham radio. RMs (Requests for Rulemaking) and a couple of NPRMs (Notices of Proposed Rulemaking) have been dormant for up to 10 years! We look at some of the important ones, and some that are important only to the guy who proposed them.

If you want to make comments on any RM or NPRM, review any of the proceedings (read the comments), or file one yourself (please don’t), this is the place: https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/search/search-filings

HRN 468: Way Too Much PowerPoint 😮

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East Coast Host Gary K4AAQ is working on a slide deck for a hamfest talk next weekend (Charlotte Hamfest - see him live at 9 am Saturday, March 12). The topic is Digital Voice - VHF/UHF edition. Gary’s still working on the slides. He’s in the 70s. A good PowerPoint talk has maybe 30 slides, tops, say the experts. Do we have a problem? What do they know?

West Coast Host David W0DHG is the audience as Gary rehearses the talk. At the one hour point,
Gary was in the 60s. So close? We’ll watch the playback to see how it paces. David tried hard not to fall asleep.

HRN 467: Ode to a Decibel

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A decibel is 1/10 of a Bel. By rights, this should be 1/10 of a show, but it’s at least 1/3. So bonus.

We did it again! NO AUDIO for the first 3:45, so slide on down.

Well, at least we didn’t resort to an Ask Me Anything 🙄. Instead, Jim NO1PC and David W0DHG scraped Gary K4AAQ’s Facebook feed for Elmer questions that he answered in his usual “here’s how to build a clock” complexity. Or not! The dB answer was an attempt to simplify, to explain decibels without any math. Almost no math. Because Gary doesn’t know the math. He does it all by remembering 3 dB and 10 dB. Everything else slides between those two markers.

Then there’s a dual band antenna mystery to solve, some background on just how unique your call sign is, and a review of tone decode. All with a low grade fever.