Long time coming [036]

Greetings from the shack...

HERE

I’m in the shack. I started writing this a week ago after a 4m net. And here I am after another 4m net finishing it off.

Thank you for your patience.

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THERE

Thanks to Rich Magahiz KD3YR (ex N1DOJ, ex KA9ANL) for being my 200th subscriber to this email. Rich is @Zerofactorial@noc.social on Mastodon where he saw my invite to up the numbers and did so. He tells me he is just getting back into the hobby after a while away. He lives in California and attributes most of what he knows about our world to amateur radio, stamp collecting, and the few trips he’s made abroad. He also has a blog here. Welcome Rich!

My local repeater has been quite active this last week with some interesting QSO’s with people I don’t normally chat with. Bogdan 2E0MTP was just passing through, Mark M0YWO who inspired me to put up my skyoop was out and about mobile and I got to meet Steve G4VJN with his impressive stack of power amps and home brew gear for the first time.

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Look at this. Not just any ordinary secret society…The Radio fraternity lodge.

Hmmm… Secret societies.

Some of you will be members of one or at least like me, friends with those that are. But before the more curious amongst you get any ideas, I’m sure there are some lovely ones out there... but I wouldn’t want to encourage or promote the joining of secret societies.

I did consider it once. I was told I had an interesting name that dates back to the founders of a certain secret sect. As a result I’ve been invited a few times. But something never really sat right with me. I can’t shake the feeling that secret societies have the potential to harm both society and individuals.

Often characterised by exclusivity, secrecy, and a hidden agenda, I feel they can be detrimental to the larger community if their actions go against the interests of the general public.

Personally, rather than fostering secretive and potentially harmful behaviour, I feel it’s important to focus on building community and positive relationships with honesty, openness and trust.

Instead of joining a secret society, why not consider joining or creating a group that is open to all and focuses on positive goals that benefit society. A place that provides opportunities for connection, growth, and positive impact in your community.

Hang on a second. Sounds like amateur radio to me. ;-)

Here is a list of UK clubs. Here is a list of US clubs Here is a list of clubs in Europe and there are a few other countries listed here.

I’m a member of HARS, PADARC and G8BBC. If I have missed the club you attend in the link above, feel free to link to it in the comments.

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GEAR

This guy has no problem setting up his tiny ham radio station in a hotel room.

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Not really radio gear but I was very pleased with this little fault code scanner that Andy M1NER brought round to decipher the fault code on a Mini Cooper S I was borrowing.

Not crazy expensive at £50 and it did a great job. I imagine it would pay for itself in no time. Especially if you drive an older car.

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And here is how to create a secret folder with no name on your Windows desktop.

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ONAIR

Once in a while the HARS SSB net rotates to pop up on 4m. I knew it was to happen on a Monday night but I wasn’t sure where. It’s not a big band and never busy, but could I find it? Not as fast as i’d like.

I sat on the wrong frequency for a bit thinking people were just late and then engaged the less than exciting scope on my iCom 7100. It wasn’t until I headed down past the usual places that I found them on 7.250USB. I was tagged on the end and got stuck into the conversation.

It was easy to embrace the poorer audio quality when I could now hear everyone in the area. Sometimes Steve G1KWF is a little too low in the mix but the power efficiency of upper side band had brought him out in the open.

As you may know, USB requires less power than FM to transmit the same information. This is because FM requires a higher bandwidth to transmit audio, while USB only transmits the audio signal itself. This is really useful when working portable or in emergency communication scenarios where the power to hand may be limited. It was strange watching the meter fluctuate so wildly on a net that is usually on FM.

Despite the aurora borealis being in full swing above the clouds, it was also nice to not be bombarded by noise. With all the electrons and protons going wild in the upper atmosphere, transmitting on only the upper sideband of the audio signal, meant we were less affected by atmospheric as well as man-made noise. This made for clear transmission and great reception.

I rarely use USB vertical, as you lose all the benefits for longer range comms. But I have more than enough horizontal wire in the sky to enjoy ionospheric skip though. But nothing resonant on 4M. Perhaps I should sort that out. After all, there are more countries than you might think able to use the 40m band (over 30) for amateur radio and lots of opportunity for long distance QSOs.

Even though I spend very little time there, 4M is my favourite band. Perhaps it’s the people I chat to. Maybe it’s how it reminds me of CB. Uncommon but well loved it offers several unique advantages not found in other bands.

Firstly, the 4m band is relatively underutilised. Less competition for space, also means less interference from other radio operators. It can also mean clear and reliable simplex communication. Even in urban areas where bands may otherwise be congested.

Secondly, as mentioned above, the 4m band offers interesting propagation characteristics making it ideal for both short and long-range comms. It’s particularly effective for "groundwave" propagation, where radio waves travel point to point along the surface of the earth even when the transmitting and receiving stations are not in line-of-sight.

If you need a quick guide to what you can do and where, here are some pointers.

70.000 – 70.100MHz    Propagation Beacons

70.100 – 70.250MHz    Narrowband Modes (CW/SSB/MGM)

70.250-70.294MHz    All Modes

70.294-70.500MHz    All Modes (Channelised Operations – 12.5 kHz spacing)

Low competition for frequencies, good propagation with enough space for a variety of modes means I certainly have a soft spot for the 4m band. And I’m pretty certain I’m not alone with that sentiment. I mean it even has an AM calling frequency (70.260MHz). I think it might be the only band that does.

I’ll occasionally listen to the 4m calling frequency in the day (70.450) and every Tuesday at 8pm I’ll participate in the Huntingdonshire Amateur Radio club’s 4m net on 70.400.

If you have a local 4M net where you are please let me know in the comments.

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I only ever hear people who I perceive to be men on 4m. There must be others out there.

There is diversity on the more international bands. Of course there is. Our hobby has us able to reach out around the globe and connect anyone anywhere.

Travelling the UK using 2m/70cm I have found some diversity, but here in Cambridgeshire there appears to be very little. Differing backgrounds, differing opinions certainly make things more interesting.

How are things where you are?

This week I was flicking around the frequencies and heard what I perceived to be a female voice. Not at all common round here. Cathy M0DFL was chatting on the GB3EZ net with Melvyn M0IID and I popped in to say hi. A very friendly bunch that I would like to chat more with.

But I was a little annoyed at my surprise and wondered why 2m and 70cm in this part of the country lacked such diversity. I know of a few licensed women in the area, mostly from our local club, but they are the wives of far more active operators and I tend to only hear them call out in the background. We do have Michelle G0JIW pop up on some of the nets. Michelle identifies as female but was assigned male gender at birth. Otherwise it’s mostly white heterosexual aged males. Like me.

There are a lot of stereotypes around amateur radio but I’m not convinced it’s all introverted old white men who enjoy tinkering with electronics. I doubt it’s just a regional thing. While there are certainly many amateur radio operators who fit these stereotypes, the reality is that ham radio is enjoyed by people of all genders ages, and backgrounds. According to this .gov page 82% of people in England and Wales are white, and 18% belong to a black, Asian, mixed or other ethnic group. Plus there are slightly more women and girls than men and boys. I’d like to explore more why that is not reflected in amateur radio.

I believe that a diverse community is a stronger, more robust community. Different experiences and perspectives bring a lot to a group. An appreciation for diversity brings with it increased tolerance and reduced prejudice leading to greater social cohesion. And this would of course be great for the hobby. Especially as we head into the future.

You can’t confront a problem if you don’t acknowledge the problem exists. So I’m going to take a chance and contemplate this a little more in my next email.

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ELSEWHERE

• This video features on the front of my local club website.

• I tried to join a club again. Regretted it immediately.

• No idea how I stumbled on this tips video but I like the soldering iron hack.

• This is my other more regular, slightly more eclectic email.

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FINALS

Thanks for reading and I hope subscribing.

Please share this wherever you think it might resonate. At time of writing there are 211 subscribers to this email. 41 of you subscribed in the last month so someone is putting the word out. Thank you.

All the spelling mistakes are just there to check you are paying attention. Feel free to comment, like and share elsewhere.

You are some of the more curious people in radio… And I thank you.

Over

73 de Christian G5DOC

_._

The top NYT news clipping from 1923 talks about the prospect of mixing photography with radio. And the bottom one mentions the possible invention of first facsimile machine in 1927.