Proud Parents

Just to warn the world that two of our children have just got their novice callsigns. Adam who no longer lives with us and is second of the three boys is now MW6AFK (Away From Keyboard) and Caroline who is only 15 and eldest of our two girls is now MW6CLF (Caroline Loves Fridays). They were among a group of four at Mold and District Amateur Radio Club that passed their tests on Saturday. Congratulations also to Vic and Graham who also passed and should have their calls soon.

Mum and Dad are very proud and are looking forward to doing the odd mass family SOTA activation some time soon. From time to time the qualification of a summit can now be provided on almost any band from one QTH ;0)

Caroline and Adam will be joining the Intermediate course starting 21st April at Mold. We have seven candidates so far for the course. If anyone wishes to join the classes please left me know. My email is on QRZ.com.

We are hoping to persuade the rest of our kids to join the fun next time around.

Foundation Success

Congratulations to Vic Evans, Graham Jones, Adam and Caroline Studdart who today passed their Foundation Exams at Mold & District Amateur Radio Club. Today's success leaves the clubs 100% pass rate intact for which everyone should be proud. I would like to thank Linc Lindley GW3KFA and all the other club members who have helped out by guiding and answering the many questions of the students. I would also like to thank our new senior lecturer Keith Williams GW4OKT for his work running the more formal classroom and revision sessions. Thanks also goes to those that gave their time to invigilate and support during the practical sessions.

Adam and Caroline are of course my children so I am especially proud of them. Caroline is 15 and is in the middle of her GCSE exams so I was a little concerned it would all be too much for her but I should not have worried. I hope she can replicate today's success when the results of the slightly more important exam results come through later in the year. Maybe I should not worry too much there either as when I asked how her last exam went she said "It was fun."

Vic is already a member of Flintshire RAYNET and I pass on the good wishes of the group to him on his success and hope that he enjoys the experience when we drop him in the deep end next time out. Adam and Caroline will also be joining the group when their MW6 calls come through, but we need a little talk about RAYNET at the radio club sometime for the sake of Graham and some of the other members who are unsure of what we do.

My next SOTA outing could be a family affair with four operators on four bands at once or if I go solo I should only need to find one extra contact to qualify the summit. Not that I usually struggle to qualify summits very often. Now to persuade my other children to follow the lead set by Adam and Caroline who are already chomping at the bit to do the Intermediate course.

Photo R-L Adam, Caroline, Keith GW4OKT (Instructor), Vic, Graham.

Winlog32 and Windows 7

When I was first licenced I was never off the air then I got the seven year itch and for some years I only operated on RAYNET exercises or occasionally while mobile. In 2005 the changes in the licensing regulation that did away with the Morse requirement re-sparked my interest and I took the decision to change from a paper log to a computerised one. This was sparked mainly by the fact that I could not find my last paper log book anywhere and that I could not wait for a new log book before I started to transmit again.

I started by making an Excel file with various columns for Time, Date, Call Sign etc. I then download every log book program I could find and installed each one in turn to try it. After I had rejected all the others one stood out as better than the rest. It seemed more complex than it really was so I was still unsure, but it was better than my rough Excel file which had become sluggish to load and seemed to get worse the more data I put in to it. The program I choose was Winlog32 and I soon got the hang of it and its advanced features now seem second nature.

My main shack PC ran Windows 98 second edition and Winlog32 has worked faultlessly since I first installed it. I have also run it for short periods on an XP machine also without issue. My new shack PC runs on Windows 7 and I am very impressed. Expected problems with program compatibility have been almost non-existent and I had been running Winlog32 for a few months with no problem until Windows or possibly my Virus Scan software decided to reboot with the log minimised on the task bar. After the reboot Winlog32 opened on the task bar and I could not maximise it again. The first time it happened I reinstalled Winlog32 and everything worked fine again. When it happen a few days ago I got the program back by opening it in XP compatibility mode, although there appears no advantage to permanently run the program in this mode.

I wrote an email to the author Colin G0CUS who replied very quickly. This is not a problem he has come across and he does not have a copy of Windows 7 yet to investigate. The problem can be replicated by shutting down the PC with Winlog32 minimised on the task bar. If anyone can confirm this happens I would be most grateful so as to exclude a none standard set up on my machine being the problem. If anyone knows why this is happening or how to fix it please let me or Colin know. I am going to stick with Winlog32 as I still think it knocks the socks off the competition.

Riding the ROS roller coaster

Over the last few weeks I have been ‘otherwise engaged’ and my blogs have been sadly lacking in content. There have been plenty of things to write about but I have had to set them to one side while I get on with ‘real life’ issues. I often say to my wife that radio is not a matter of life and death to me, it is far more important, but even radio has to be put aside every once in a while.

One of the things I have failed to write about is the saga surrounding the new ROS data mode, fortunately other great bloggers such as Julian G4ILO and Anthony K3NG have kept the world up to date by putting their own inimitable spin on the latest bizarre events surrounding this new mode.

To try to bring those who have been living under a rock up to speed on the subject this is roughly the list of events so far.

1. A message on QRZ.com announces the introduction of a new shiny data mode with a link to a free download on the authors website.
2. Visitors to the website see the new mode described as ‘spread spectrum’ by the author.
3. Forum members question if this new mode is quite legal.
4. Timothy N3TL writes to the FCC asking if ROS is legal to us in the USA.
5. The FCC reply that if the mode is truly spread spectrum then it is not legal but they do not know enough about it to say if it is or it is not true spread spectrum, putting the ball at the authors feet by saying he should know what he made.
6. The program’s author declares that his program is not spread spectrum by the terms of the FCC’s definition.
7. The word goes out that ROS is okay to use.
8. The author threatens legal action against Timothy N3TL for asking the FCC for clarification.
9. The author threatens almost every amateur radio blogger that has been covering the unfolding mess and anyone who questioned the programs legality in various forums that their use of his programs by them would become illegal.
10. A ‘persona non grata’ list of thos no longer permitted to use the software is posted on the ROS blog listing K5OKC, AA6YQ, M6RDP, PE4BAS, KQ7W, ZL4PLM, DL4PLM, GM4PLM, NN4RH, and G4ILO. Impressively Simon ZL4PLM / DL4PLM / GM4PLM managed to get all three of his calls in the list.
11. Julian G4ILO receives an apology from the author after spotting his post of 2nd March saying ROS is now legal in the USA.
12. The ‘persona non grata’ list disappears from the ROS blog but not before many potential users have uninstalled ROS in disgust at the authors reaction to those simply reporting the latest news about the mode.
13. Julian G4ILO writes to RADCOM suggesting that band plans include areas for experimental modes and that the use of such modes is restricted until they are evaluated by an international committee which would take into consideration the benefits of the mode, the amount of bandwidth it occupies and decide what frequencies it may be used on.
14. Just when I thought it could not get any more confused and bizarre, it does. As G4ILO has just posted…
On March 3, Dave AA6YQ called the FCC to confirm whether the statement that ROS was now legal for use in the US which had been posted on the ROS website and which I wrote about on Tuesday was true. The FCC advised that the information (which has since been removed) was not true, and that the matter was still under review. Dave was told that the ARRL was involved and would publicize the outcome. This they have now done, and the outcome is that ROS remains illegal for use in the USA on frequencies below 222MHz.

It would seem that I still have time to get on the banned list and that this little lot is going to drag on.

Paul PC4T posts …I tried to get rid of the ROS 'sh*t on my computer, But the program doesn't have a normal uninstaller. So the software developer must take care for a proper way to uninstall the software. Now I have to remove the software in the register of the computer. Aaargh...

Very soon the list of those allowed to use ROS will be smaller than those not allowed.

Personally I do not care too much about data modes until they start up over my SSB QSOs with a low power station on a mountain and then I might turn on a decoder so I can capture the call sign and send them a horses head by return of post, but the ROS saga has given me hours of chuckles and the occasional sharp intake of breath.

From what has come out of this I believe approval of new modes is essential to avoid us breaching our licensing conditions. Let me explain! If I write software for a new data mode and only give it to a few of my mates we are effectively using an encrypted signal, which is not permitted. Packet radio was seen as illegal when it first appeared on the amateur bands and a change in the licence was made before the law abiding amongst us gave it a try, however new data modes seem to surface regularly these days and it appears that ROS is the first one were anyone questioned its legal position.

So we can note that whatever happens in the US ROS remains legal to use in the rest of the world until such time as someone decides it isn’t. However I question if any new data mode can be considered legal until such time as is declared so by our country’s authorities and nation radio society.

Latest news

In the last few minutes this statement has appeared on the ROS site...

I have created a new narrowband digital mode for Ham Radio Operators. The wideband of this mode is of 500 Hz.
Technical description will be sent to FCC with the aim that they give their approval for this new mode. Until then, the author will not make public any technical explanation about this mode. 5 March, 2010 by José Alberto Nieto Ros

Passwords and Penny Theives

There are a few good and useful amateur radio websites that I just cannot live without and I have gone to the trouble of registering, but in general I try my best to avoid sites that require registration. Some of you may ask why and the answer is simple, passwords. I can only remember so many passwords. You either keep secure by using a different password on each website you visit or you use the same one so you can remember it. Some people have no problem remembering passwords and others write them down, but I have to admit I struggle to remember a password even five minutes after have typed it in. With all the passwords I have for on-line services and websites I just can not cope with anymore. So in the past week I have found three new ham radio sites, that looked interesting and I would like to have reviewed here but the dreaded "You need to be logged in to view this page" message came up. Well screw you idiots! If I cannot see your website how the heck do I know if I want to register and risk giving away my details to some deadhead spammer or worse. The other danger with sites that require registration is they could be phishing so entering a password you have used elsewhere could prove troublesome.

Another thing I have come across time and time again is sites that sell you what can be legitimately downloaded for free. A prime example is manuals for amateur radio gear most of which can be downloaded from the manufacturers websites. In a lot of cases the pay for versions are massively inferior having been scanned from dogeared copies where as most of the manufactures supply first generation copies. Recently a local ham was delighted to have found a manual for an old rig he had and told me how much he paid. When I told him the manual was available to download for free from the manufactures website he told me he had clicked on the first site that Goggle threw up and he could not be bothered searching any further. Another fellow ordered a manual from a site in the US and when it arrived it was an almost unreadable photocopy of a badly scanned and badly faded booklet complete with thumb prints and the words "Downloaded from..." in grey across each page. I went on the the manufactures website and downloaded the manual. After a few minutes with a laser printer I was able to give him a printed copy as good as the original for which he was grateful. Even where the manufacture does not have the manual there are plenty of sites hosting free to download manuals for old ham radios and other obsolete technology.

Pass the word! Don't cripple your website with passwords and registration forms and stop hams getting ripped off by educating them where to find the manuals they need.

Copper Chopper Cropper

Merseyside Police's toy 'Copper Chopper', which has been in service since last November has come a cropper. Last week a fanfare of publicity hailed the arrival of the radio controlled eye in the sky when it was used to catch a car thief in dense fog, however the Civil Aviation Authority has noticed the publicity and pointed out that the thief takers are in fact law breakers.

The drone is a £40,000 remote control helicopter fitted with a CCTV, which has been designed with police and military surveillance in mind. Since January 1st drones weighing under 15lb (7kg) need CAA permission to fly within 164ft (50m) of people and within 492ft (150m) of buildings. Merseyside Police failed to get the correct licences and the vehicle has been grounded.

What concerns me is that flying radio control aircraft in open ground has from time to time resulted in fatalities when control has been lost or power has failed. Flying aircraft in built up areas increases the possibility of a control loss accident and where their are people about the risk of a fatality. Bearing in mind just how easy it would be to jam a low power remote control unit I think the risk makes its use unacceptable unless the situation is life threatening, such as in a siege situation. I just hope the CAA see it the way I do.

Looking at pictures of the drone on the BBC's web site makes me wonder how it cost so much. I have seen a US amateurs aerial photographs and video using a radio control helicopter fitted with a webcam and a 23cms transmitter, which include infra red night shots and they are superb, it cost him a little over £400 to build, which is a long way clear of the £40,000 Merseyside police forked out from what the tax payers stumped up.

If you want a Drone of your own you can buy a similar thing that can be controlled from an iPhone from Parrot.

The RSARS - Professional Amateurs

The advertisement for the British Army used to say "Join the professionals" well some of those professionals and ex professionals happen to be amateurs and thanks to them I just lost a good couple of hours over on the Royal Signals Amateur Radio Society site. RSARS have added a section they call an e-Library and the sub-section entitled HF ANTENNAS and PROJECTS is a little cracker. I cannot say I came across anything I had not seen before but the quality of the PDF format documents leaves those on most amateur radio sites looking distinctly shabby. It is a real spit and polish job not just a gloss over and I give whom ever did all the work ten out of ten. One small niggle was a broken link to '20m helically wound MOBILE ANTENNA - EA5AVL' but over all a job well done. A note at the bottom of the page says that more items will be added shortly, I sincerely hope this is true. If these articles were printed and bound together they would make a nice booklet, which would I probably buy, but they are free to download and therefore a brilliant resource for anyone interested in making antennas like myself.

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Malcolm in the middle

I have been a member of RAYNET since just after I was licenced. Firstly with the Group known as East Clwyd and then after the county boundry changes in 1990, with Flintshire RAYNET. After the passing of Clwyd County ControllerBob Cardwell GW4PUX, Flintshire RAYNET has been run by Group Controller Martin Ellett GW6XYE and Deputy Controller Malcolm McIntosh GW4IEQ. After all these years and because of health issues Malcolm is stepping down, he will be sorely missed. Malcolm has been ying to Martin's yang and put uncountable hours in to the administration and liaison of the group, its members, and the user services.

Many amateurs in North Wales, Merseyside, Cheshire and beyond will remember Malcolm as the voice of GB2RS for many years transmitting the news from his elevated QTH in Dury. Malcolm was ever the consummate professional and was in my opinion one of only a handful of newsreaders that could hold their own with the best the BBC had to offer.

Malcolm remains a member of RAYNET and hopefully we will see him out from time to time, but I would like to personally thank him for helping to make things seem to run like clockwork even when at times event organisers did not have a clue.

Ra Ra Spots and Flares

Ra the sun god has woken from his sleep and the latest news from SpaceWeather.com is that there has been an enormous sunspot 1045 that is crackling with M-class solar flares. The active region has produced three M-class and almost a dozen C-class solar flares since it appeared on Saturday.The strongest blast, an M6-class eruption on February 7th, hurled a coronal mass ejection toward Earth which is due to arrive on the 9th or 10th. NOAA forecasters estimate a 30% chance of high-latitude geomagnetic activity. Some amazing photographs of the Northern lights from Saturday 7th February can be found at various places on the Internet including one by Fredrik Broms of Kvaløya, Norway that is shown on SpaceWeather.com

“The Olympics could be bang in the middle of a solar maximum,” said Richard Harrison, of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Oxfordshire, speaking before the launch of Nasa’s Solar Dynamics Observatory.

Well as far as I am concerned it could not happen at a better time. I really hate these big sporting events that dominate TV, radio and the newspapers for weeks either side of the actual events. It could mean that while half the world watches the sportsmen and women chasing gold I can work the world on a HF band that is wide open but not that busy because most people are stuck in front of their TVs.

The soothsayers are suggesting that the whole show could be wiped out by a big solar flare. Apparently all the satellites will fall out of he sky and every electronic device that is switched on will be rendered useless. Um! Sounds like the millennium bug all over again. Oh well! If it does happen my radio in a biscuit tin might be the only communication we have and I might have to break out the bicycle when we find the car's computer is fried. Sounds like chaos, sounds like we should prepare of anarchy, sounds like we should not take too much notice of the rubbish in the newspapers, well at least until it happens.

There is a good video at the Times on-line along with an article by Hanna Devlin and some ignorant, humorous and even some well informed comments.

Echolink via the iPhone

Don't you just hate it when you get pipped to the post? Yesterday's winner was Tim G4VXE who posted yesterday evening about an Echolink App for the iPhone.

Yes! There I was looking for something interesting to write about and I find that an Echolink application for the iPhone had been released. "My mate Dave 2W0PWR will like that because he has an iPhone" I think and rush back to the blog to do a posting, but there in my blog list I see "echolink-on-iphone" at G4VXE.com Nice one Tim.

Julian G4ILO says in a comment on Tim's item "Use a phone to access a repeater to call someone on the radio who probably has a phone you could just call direct. Okay, I'm sure if I think long enough about this I'll eventually see the point of it." Well I see the point already and it makes sense if you have free VOIP on your phone as it does not cost anything. I cannot take my radios into work, but the mobile phone is a different matter.

As I see it services like Echolink are an interesting addition to amateur radio and not the thin end of the wedge. I look back to an interesting conversation I had on antennas with a station on 40m, we never needed it in the end but it got so fascinating that we made plans to QSY to Echolink if we lost each other.

If I owned an iPhone the application would be useful on a long journey that was through areas of low amateur activity and with BlueTooth in my car it could keep me amused safely. This application is not a great leap forward but is a step on a journey and who knows where it will lead, however if it survives one must wonder if the amateur radio of tomorrow will bear much resemblance to the amateur radio of today.

The app is available here. There are some screen shots over a RadioGeek's blog.