A reluctant Ham gets jazzed
by
Jessica Littmann, KA1WEB
My nonHam friends were totally baffled when I gleefully announced that I was attending the Dayton Hamvention. Most had never heard of Amateur Radio, and the few who had didn't understand the purpose of the event. "What is it exactly?" they asked. "A conference? A flea market?"
"It's
kind of like a Mecca for Hams," I explained. I viewed the event as a way
to spend some time with my father, W1OU, who got me into the hobby when I was
in eighth grade. Plus, I hoped that a little time at the heart of Hamdom would
help rekindle my interest in radio. Since graduating from college and working
for a few years, Amateur Radio had slipped down on my list of priorities.
Although I still made a point of getting back for Field Day every year, that
was really the extent of my involvement.
My
impression, as a 25-yearold female who isn’t keen on being labeled a YL, was
that the hobby was mostly middleaged men reliving their childhoods by buying
all the equipment they couldn’t afford to get way back when. Although there
certainly were strong elements of nostalgia at the Hamvention, I found plenty
of encouraging evidence - including enthusiastic presentations by young
amateurs, accounts of exotic DXpeditions, and the buzzing convention floor,
that the hobby is thriving among Hams of all ages with diverse interests.
My
dad and I arrived in Dayton on 18 May 2001, after meeting up in Chicago. The
hotel was swarming with Hams - Hams with radios strapped to every appendage,
Hams with t-shirts and hats emblazoned with their call signs, and Hams with
antennas protruding from the backs of their cars. When we went in to the hotel
restaurant, we were amused to see that almost all of the diners had HTs propped
against their menus.
Our first night at the convention, we attended the Collins Collectors Association dinner. I was among a small minority of women at the presentation, and one of the few participants who wasn't even alive when Collins equipment was in its heyday. To me, collecting Collins radios was about preserving history - but to many of the other participants, it was much more personal than that. Ronald Steinberg, W9RVR, reminisced about the first Collins radio he'd ever owned, a KWM1 that he'd bought in the 1950s. "Now, if only I had my 1957 Chevy back to go with it." I sighed.
A video presentation of the Hammond Radio Museum in Guelph, Ontario, underscored the theme of radio as living history. Fred Hammond, VE3HC, now a silent key, was shown in the video escorting Floyd Soo, W8RO, around an immense collection of vintage radios and radio related paraphernalia. While the speeches and videos were all interesting, they left me with the feeling that for many amateurs, radio is more about preserving the past than growing into the future.
We
hit the Hamvention floor early the next day. Although I knew that Hamvention was
the largest gathering of Amateur Radio operators in the world, I was still
unprepared for the scope of the event - it was larger and much more vital than
I anticipated.
The
first Hamvention in 1951 included only
13 vendors, according to Hamvention organizer Steven Schoemann, N8NRE, of
Dayton, Ohio. "It just kept growing and growing, and snowballed into what
you see here now." Schoemann said. A cadre of volunteers starts preparing
for the event two weeks before as an estimated 28,000 visitors from every
continent descend on the convention center.
Unlike
other conventions I've attended, where slick signs, giveaway trinkets, and
"booth babes" are the order of the day, Hamvention was marked by
scores of lowbudget signs, and knowledgeable people who actually produce and
use the wares they're selling. At every table I passed, I saw amateurs engaged
in earnest conversation with each other.
For
Bill White, W8IKF, attending the 50th anniversary of Hamvention was a trip down
memory lane. White, who has been operating since 1951, attended the first
Hamvention at the downtown Dayton Biltmore. "It's sure grown since
then," he said. For White, radio was a great hobby "years ago, when I
made my own stuff. Back then we built our own transmitters and receivers - now
it's all readymade," he said wistfully.
There
were, however, signs of a renaissance in homemade equipment - most notably, the
Elecraft (www.elecraft.com ) table, where attendees crowded around the table
for information on building radio equipment from kits. As I looked at the kits,
I remembered how my dad and I had built an MFJ receiver years ago. Seeing where
the parts went and soldering them in place helped me translate the squiggles on
a schematic into a working knowledge of how the radio actually functioned.
One
of the highlights of Hamvention was a forum on getting kids involved with
Amateur Radio, moderated by Carole Perry, WB2MGP, of Staten Island, New York.
Perry is one of the few educators in the U.S. to successfully integrate Amateur
Radio into a gradeschool curriculum. Because Amateur Radio requires knowledge
in different subject areas - including geography, history, science, math, and
language arts, the hobby makes an ideal component of a gradeschool curriculum,
Perry said.
Not
all the young Hams at the event were fortunate enough to have time dedicated to
their hobby in school, however. "School has slowed me down a bit."
conceded Manhattanite Zane Wruble, W2YL, who earned her Extra Class license in
February of 1999. An avid contester, Wruble cited "earning awards" as
her favorite aspect of the hobby. The 12 year old has already garnered kudos in
the form of a DXCC award, and is progressing toward working every county in the
U.S.
Another
young Ham, Jonathan Troop, K6DE, of Longmount, Colorado, emphasized the
opportunities that Ham radio offers for mentoring. Troop, 13, serves as an
Elmer for several other 7 -10 - year olds in the Boulder Amateur Radio Club
(BARC) who are working to attain their licenses. Although some adults might
think the idea of kids teaching kids is a bit risky, Troup pointed out that
most kids appreciate the opportunity to work with a peer to get their licenses
- it makes the hobby seem cool.
Fellow
BARC Junior member Kristin Wilson, KC6INX, described the popular
"Fourteener" event, in which Hams brave thunderstorms and rocky
terrain on a predawn hike to the top of 14,000 foot Boulderarea peaks in order
to log as many QSOs as possible. Wilson, whose mother, siblings, and
grandparents are amateurs, described herself as belonging to "a family of
pigs - I mean, Hams!" Her humorous presentation underscored Perry's
message: Successful young Hams have in common a network of friends and family
to encourage them with the hobby.
Farther
afield, potential Hams get hooked on the hobby in other ways. Foxhunting, or
radio directional finding, is one of the more popular ways to get kids involved
with radio in China, according to Han Zhaofeng, Deputy Secretary of the Chinese
Radio Sports Association (CRSA) in China. "It's part sports and part
education." Zhaofeng said, adding that children are able to take classes
in radio directional finding as one of their technology courses. Students build
their own receivers and learn the principles of ARDF. "It is our hope that
Amateur Radio will become part of education in the future. ARDF is how we get
people involved." said Zhaofeng.
I
was surprised to learn foxhunting is
becoming a booming hobby in the U.S. In one forum, veteran foxhunters Bob Frey,
WA6EZV, and Dick Arvelt, WB4SUV, explained some novel techniques for this
specialty hobby. The two participated in ARDF world championships in Nanjing,
China, which included 350 competitors from 26 different countries.
They're
not the only ones who are world travelers. We also stopped in on the DX Forum
on Saturday, and had the pleasure of listening to Garry Shapiro, N16T, and Tom
Harrell, N4XP, describe their sometimes harrowing DXpedition to Kingman Reef.
While visiting a desolate stretch of reef suspended in shark infested waters,
the team learned a valuable lesson: Beware of sea urchins when bringing
inflatable boats loaded with equipment to shore. Their description of combining
adventuring with radio communication was inspiring enough to get an armchair
traveler like me excited.
Our
last stop was the sprawling outdoor flea market, where we saw everything from
vintage radios housed in Gothic cabinets to mountains of spare parts. My dad
and I were among the minority of conference goers who flew, rather than
driving, to Dayton - a fact that irritated my dad when we really started
trawling the market. "Do you think I could fit that generator in the
overhead compartment?" he asked, pointing at a monstrous contraption that
must have weighed over 400 pounds. He finally contented himself by buying some
parts and a PSK 31 interface. I settled for a name tag with my call sign on it
- and a resolve to get more involved with ham radio this year, so I can enjoy
next year's Hamvention even more.
KN
Reprinted
from WORLDRADIO
Brush Fire Recall – Circa 1943
By
Emmett Goodman, WD4GOL
The Brush
fires, now occurring in central Florida, have recalled an incident that
occurred while I was employed as a lonely XMTR engineer on the “outskirts of
town” location of AM radio station WAYS in my hometown of Charlotte, NC.
One
nice fall day, during my afternoon shift, our teen-age after school janitor
came in about 4 pm. He then proceed to sweep up the floor of the XMTR building,
empty the ashtrays into the waste baskets, and take them outside to burn the
contents.
About
a minute after he dropped a lighted match into the trash pile I heard a scream
from outside. “Mr. Goodman, Mr. Goodman,” he yelled. “Come out here quick!” I
ran outside to see the whole field surrounding the antenna array ablaze.
The
XMTR was located on 85 acres of land covered with scrub pine trees and wild
grass called broom sedge which our southern forefathers used to make crude
brooms. Now that broom sedge was nice and dry, just like the brush in Central
Florida.
I
ran inside, quickly grabbed the phone and called the Charlotte Fire Department.
The XMTR was located 3 miles outside the Charlotte city limits in a little wide
place in the road called Oakdale. One country store, gas station and no fire
department! The Charlotte Fire Department dispatcher quickly informed me that
since WAYS was located outside the city limits that the charge for city fire
vehicles sent outside the city was $20 per truck. She asked me if I was
authorized to OK the payment of the same. I finally convinced her that if she
didn’t accept my authority that the whole place would burn down before the
trucks could get there! Hi!
About
five minutes after I hung up the phone, two big trucks with 12 firemen showed
up. That operator, while arguing with me, was smarter than I thought. She must
have dispatched those trucks from the
nearest station, about six miles away, while she was talking with me!
Those
12 firemen with burlap bags beat out that fire in just about 10 minutes.
Fortunately, that broom sage burned so fast, helped with a nice little breeze,
blowing away from the XMTR building, that it did not create a hot enough fire
to ignite the scrub pines.
As
it was now after 5 pm I only mentioned the excitement to the announcer on duty
at the uptown studios. So all was quite until the uptown business employees
came to work the next morning.
Then
I was bombarded with telephone calls at home. I was having my breakfast when I
got the first call from the business office manager. He said that I did not have
the authority to OK that $40 expense and that I would be hearing from his boss
about whether it would be taken out of my next pay check or not. Hi! I asked
him whether I should have let XMTR building burn down?
Fortunately,
the next call came from the station manager, and he said that he had oked the
payment and that I had done the right thing. It was three days before our young
janitor showed up for work again!
What
has this got to do with Ham radio? “Well?” as former President Regan would say.
“out of the seven engineers at the station, three of them were licensed hams!”
KN
GRUMMAN AMATEUR RADIO CLUB
MINUTES OF GENERAL MEETING – 5/21/03
By Pete, N2PYV
The
meeting was called to order by Pat at 5:40 p.m.
All
present introduced themselves.
Finances
continue to be in good shape.
Pat, KE2LJ
Gordon
was absent. Pat stated that they had removed the amplifier from the Bethpage
Repeater system and it is now running on about 20 watts from the repeater.
NET REPORT –
Zack, WB2PUE
The
Sunday Morning 40-Meter Net was good this week. They were able to talk to some of
our members at the Dayton Hamfest. The Wednesday Noon 20-Meter Net was also
good this week.
VE REPORT –
Bob W2ILP
There
were four VE’s and two applicants present at the last session. One applicant
made Technician and the other upgraded to General.
WAG REPORT –
Bob, W2FPF
No
Activity
Pat, KE2LJ
The
company has ordered the new generator, which we specified. It will cost about
$1500.00. It should be delivered next week.
Two
applicants were approved for membership as follows:
Donald
E. Huber,WB2UKA, Extra for Sustaining Membership.
Andrew
Feldman, WB2FXN, General, for Full membership.
PROGRAM:
Andy
Feldman, WB2FXN, gave a presentation about the plans for the Air Show to be
held at Calverton on September 19, 20 & 21. Andy is the ground coordinator
for the event. He is looking for hams to help with the communications at the
event. The gates will open at 10 a.m. and the flying will be at 2:00 p.m. –
4:30 p.m. There will be A-10’s and F-14’s flying. They are planning for as many
as 45,000 people to visit.