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| You and Volunteering |
| I am not much into Emcomm of storm chasing or some of the other areas that amateur radio has to offer. There has been quite a stir around FCC Part 97.111 as it relates to employees using amateur radio on behalf of their employer in emergency preparation drills. Out of curiosity I went searching through our company web site and safety materials and found that our EOC uses "ham radios" to what extent, I don't know and the question has not been answered for me. I did send an inquiry to the local utilities district about the Mosley PRO-96 used by their club station for radio activities including participation in the California State HF Emergency Net. Amateurs need no prodding when it comes to voicing their opinions on certain topics, such as licensing, CW and Emcomm just to name a few. There was a good article written on eHam titled, "Practical Reasons for Ham Radio Volunteering and Management. It's a rather long read, but the author is spot on when it comes to managing and volunteering. Of course it doesn't take long for some outspoken individual to chime with irrelevant information. Advice to Hams: If you are married, employed and have children you have no business in Ham radio beyond the most occasional use. Show me an "active" Ham who is employed, married and has kids and I'll show you: 1) A non-professional 2) An unhappy spouse. 3) A neglectful parent. 4) A meaningless sex life between said husband and spouse. [Generalizations you say? Yes. But with a very few exceptions, I'm comfortable with the accuracy of the assertion] Now if this piece was written for the many retired hams who have little of substance in their lives as they are waiting to die, then drive on. What the hell kind of reply is this? Let me run down this list. First, I am a professional with a 40-hour a week job, which I have been at for 4 years and I am paid very well for my work. My spouse is not unhappy, she might not like my current shift at work, but my salary allows us some comforts and we are not struggling to make ends meet. My 4 year old son means the world to my wife and I. He loves us both and a day does not go by my wife does not say, "He idolizes you." I spend time with my son doing all sorts of activities, a far cry from being "neglectful." Finally a meaningless sex life? Huh? How do you incorporate sex into amateur radio? I dunno, but this...is a stretch and none of his damn business Now I am quite active on the HF bands, participating in contests, operating on the bands when I have free time during my days off. I am able to balance my hobby with my personal and professional life. Volunteering is not for me. I am quite happy to a loving husband and a great father to a wonderful kid. Thankfully he has taken an interest in my hobby and my wife does not mind my operating habits. It could be this individual is speaking from experience, a bad one at that and feels that not all active, family oriented amateurs can balance so many activities and make ends meet. I still feel comments like these are ill advised and whats wrong with our hobby at times. |
| W6ONV on Friday 30 July 2010 - 12:40:42 | Read/Post Comment: 0 |
| Website Work Continues |
| Work is slow and sometimes tedious as I continue to move content from the current 6th Floor to the new management system I will be using. I had hoped to have the move complete last week, but that has not been the case. I am sure I will have further work after the move is complete because I will be changing the file directory structure for additional content, such as images. I guess I should have done that now, as I work on bringing the new site on line. I am still looking at layouts and color schemes, as well as some of the current style graphics I use. Not sure what the end result will be at this point, but some of the look and feel for the new site will be retained. |
| W6ONV on Monday 26 July 2010 - 19:02:17 | Read/Post Comment: 0 |
| IOTA Challenge |
| So I took Saturday off from work, initially it was for the second monthly NCCC meeting out in Stockton with the MLDXCC. Unfortunately, the 2007 Ford Ranger I bought last September seems to be having some starter/solenoid problems. I had planned on changing the parts, but found out both are covered under my warranty. So I will be taking the truck in on Thursday. Instead I decided to participate in the RSGB IOTA Contest. While I was not going to active any island, it was still an enjoyable contest to participate in. I figured I participated about 10 total hours and made 65 QSOs. I was not making anything resembling a serious effort. It was a change to work some DX and log some new IOTA. I did record 23 DXCC entities on CW and SSB. Conditions were not ideal, obviously. I found quite a bit of noise on 20M when I started working that band from 40M at the start of the contest at 1200z. I think this contest coupled with the NAQP a few weeks back just reinforced what I already know. I need to get the hex higher. Still it was a good time, working to make a contact. Some of the stations in the Pacific I worked were a definite challenge. Oddly enough I did not work one KH6 station on 15/20/40M. I did see a spot for K6NA on 15M, but when I got there the frequency was quiet, then again 15M was not great. Next up, NAQP CW on August 7! Followed two weeks later by the SSB edition of the contest, which I might need to pass on or work at N6RO because I will be finishing (hopefully) up our kitchen remodel. |
| W6ONV on Sunday 25 July 2010 - 19:54:12 | Read/Post Comment: 0 |
| The Waterfall |
| It has been nearly a year since I ceased using the operating mode, PSK31 and decided to focus on RTTY as my main interest. With recent band openings on 20M I have decided to get back into the PSK31 arena on 14.070.15 MHz and start working domestic (mainly) stations. Although the past two days I have worked Canada, Mexico and France. Along with those DX stations I have worked new stations or states I need for the ARRL Worked All States award using PSK31. I have also started to send out QSL cards again, some that are nearly 3 years old, already filled out and just sitting in a shoebox waiting to be mailed. I decided to spend $100 on one dollar bills and $40 worth of stamps to send out a few groups of QSL cards. This too stems from my early start on HF working only PSK31 stations. Since I have gotten into contesting, it is nearly impossible, time wise and financially to send out cards to EVERY contact. While I would like to, it is not really an option at this time. So I will continue to pick and chose and send cards as I see fit. Of course any cards received are immediately answered and sent back (no SASE required). As it sits now I am about 12 stations short of the WAS using PSK31, there seems to be some good sunspots coming into view, hopefully that will buy us some good propagation for the time being in order to work more PSK31 stations. |
| W6ONV on Thursday 22 July 2010 - 11:14:06 | Read/Post Comment: 1 |
| NCCC Responds |
| After putting out a call for help Sunday on the NCCC Reflector I’ve had a good number of club members respond providing feedback, opinions and their past experiences. I have read the responses numerous times in order to get some idea on how I will proceed. Some of the ideas that were brought forth were:
Those were the options that took into consideration the $100 budget I placed on the project. I did receive one response, off the reflector that really got me thinking. “I think that in this day and age, operating skill, and the tricks that you can learn, are severely underestimated. The ability to think your way to a contact is an irreplaceable skill, and one that many op’s do not understand (or pay attention to).” This is something that I have started to do as it relates to each contest. I purchased N6BV’s propagation CD and use it prior to all contests now. Taking that information into account helps me decide on bands and possible conditions we will see during the contest. I also do much more preparation as it relates to my personal goals. Not that I have a full year of contesting under my belt I have some sort of baseline as to how I performed the prior year. Sometimes these numbers are not impressive, but it provides me with a starting point from which I can work. While I hope for a few other responses to come in, I am working on composing a follow up piece to the reflector to see if it stimulates any further discussion. Beyond that I think another worthy piece of information given was to get some of the “experts” over to give my two antennas a good shake down. |
| W6ONV on Monday 19 July 2010 - 16:20:23 | Read/Post Comment: 0 |
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