Courage Center Handiham World Weekly E-Letter for the week of Wednesday, 01 February 2012

This is a free weekly news & information update from Courage Center Handiham System. Our contact information is at the end, or simply email handiham@couragecenter.org for changes in subscriptions or to comment. 

You can listen to this news online.   

MP3 audio stream:

http://www.handiham.org/audio/handiham.m3u

Download the 40 kbs MP3 audio to your portable player:

http://www.handiham.org/audio/handiham.mp3

Get this podcast in iTunes:

Subscribe in iTunes

http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=372422406

RSS feed for the audio podcast if you use other podcasting software:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/handiham

 

Welcome to Handiham World.

W0ZSW to Participate in Fourteenth Annual Minnesota QSO Party!

TS-570 transceiver


The Fourteenth Annual Minnesota QSO Party is on Saturday, February 04, 2012. It is presented by the Minnesota Wireless Association. Stations will be active 8:00 AM CST (1400 UTC) Through 6 PM CST (2400 UTC). Look for Handiham HQ station W0ZSW during the QSO Party.

Because the station will be staffed by real live humans (members of the Handiham affiliated Stillwater Amateur Radio Association, SARA), the Remote Base station W0ZSW will be off line for the duration of the contest. The W0EQO repeater will be active and connected to the Handiham Conference Server.

W0ZSW Remote Base service will be restored at 6:00 PM CST (2400 UTC) on Saturday, February 4, at the end of the contest. W0EQO Remote Base at Courage North will remain in service throughout the contest.
The SARA members are also going to help us assess equipment and clean and organize the Handiham station area and storage room. We will also check the station infrastructure and prepare some of our computer equipment with digital mode software for the upcoming Minnesota Radio Camp session in June.

We hope to hear you on the air!

For Handiham World, I'm...
Patrick Tice, WA0TDA
Handiham Manager

 


For more information about the Minnesota QSO Party, including frequencies and rules, please visit:
http://www.w0aa.org

Letters

dog barking at cartoon mail carrier

Susi, WA6DKS, writes with her net report:

The total for the January nets including the Wednesday evening net was 942. My Sunday Trivia net had 279, which is not in the above number as it is calculated on a different spreadsheet. I think everyone did a GREAT job this month. 

Thanks, Susi, and thanks to all our great net control stations, assistants, and net participants!

Now, here is a nice note from Miriam Kiser, spouse of silent key Rex, W0GLU:

Enclosed is a check to cover the balance of Dr. Dave's matching pledge. We can't let him get by not paying it. (Ha!) 
Sincerely, Miriam Kiser

The check is in the amount of $70, bringing the Dr. Dave Challenge total to $5,000.68.  We have officially made our goal!  Thank you so very, very much to Miriam and everyone who helped us meet the Dr. Dave Challenge, and of course to Dr. Dave, KN0S, who is supporting us with a matching grant of $5,000.  Incidentally, Dave has already started preparing for the Extra Class course at Radio Camp this coming June.  He recently received the latest question pool revision and will be reviewing it for changes, which the Operating Skills class at camp will want to know about.  

Tom, KD0HUG, writes:

I am going to call you Monday to talk to you personally to thank you for all your help through Handihams educational department. If not for your help I would not have made it through the Extra Class license material. This is why I want to talk to you personally in order to thank you. I am not going to change my call sign and it will remain KD0HUG because it is a good ice breaker and it gets a laugh from everyone on the air.

Sincerely, 
Thomas Niccolai proud Handihams member

73 to all of you...

and yes you can publish this....I passed my exam at 86%

A whoop from Iowa!!!

Congratulations, Thomas, and thank you for your kind words!

New Extra Class Pool is Posted

Cartoon kid with book, pencil, and calculator

The volunteers at the NCVEC have completed the revisions in the new Extra Class Question Pool, which will be effective on 1 July 2012.  

We have posted a copy on the Handiham website: 
http://www.handiham.org/node/33

The NCVEC Extra Class page is at: 
http://www.ncvec.org/page.php?id=356

We haven't really had a chance to go through this question pool yet, but a quick overview indicates that many of the questions and concepts have been carried over from the previous pool. There are some obvious updates where rules have been changed. I particularly like the practical questions such as E1A04, which asks: "With your transceiver displaying the carrier frequency of phone signals, you hear a DX station calling CQ on 3.601 MHz LSB. Is it legal to return the call using lower sideband on the same frequency?".  

The answer is, "No, my sidebands will extend beyond the edge of the phone band segment."

One thing I have learned over the years is that it never hurts to remind even experienced operators about such basic things as how to stay within the limits of the band segments. It is much more likely that you will need this knowledge during your day-to-day on the air operation than, for example, information about how antenna modeling software performs its calculations. Not, mind you, that this latter type of question is inappropriate. After all, the standard for technical knowledge for the highest level Amateur Radio license should be more rigorous than the standards set for Technician or General. Virtually the only test of operating skill ever required, the Morse code examination, is no longer part of any Amateur Radio license requirement. There were many practical reasons for eliminating the code exam, but I have always felt that for the highest level of licensure it would still be appropriate to have some measure of operating skill or technical expertise measured in some more practical sense than a simple multiple-choice examination. In the past I have suggested that one show up to the VE session with at least some proof of operating skill or dedication to public service or software or engineering skill. The fact of the matter is that a person can pass the Extra Class examination with little or no practical experience on the air or within the amateur radio community. Yes, I know that there are practical difficulties in implementing such suggestions, but I do think that we have a right to expect Extra Class licensees to be the people in our Amateur Radio community who will be able to organize and teach classes, help newcomers with station design and installation, present knowledgeable club programs, take the lead in public service activities, and to publish helpful articles on club websites and in club newsletters and national and international Amateur Radio journals.

Attaining the Extra Class is something really special. The examination is 50 questions and the material is not easy. It shouldn't be; after all, our expectation is that Extra Class licensees will be knowledgeable in the technical art of radio and will be the go to people for operating skill and leadership.  But if you are preparing for the Extra Class examination, I would like you to personally resolve to be involved in Amateur Radio in a way that carries you above and beyond simply passing an examination. Be a leader in your radio club. Take a storm spotter course. Teach a class. Put on a club program in an area of your expertise. Step forward to help when another club member needs assistance.  In a sense, attaining the license itself is really only the beginning. Nothing about holding a particular piece of paper is going to make you a good operator.  It is much like getting a college degree. Ask anyone with experience in the professional working world and they will tell you that a college degree is really just the starting point of learning in your new career. The Extra Class license is like that. It is a wonderful achievement,  and it is really your ticket to spread your wings in Amateur Radio!

Troubleshooting 101: Answer to "Mysterious force destroying integrated circuits"

Pat and giant alligator

Avery, K0HLA, gives us the answer to last week's troubleshooting question which was: 

Another electronics problem solving .... When I was working in industry one of my fun jobs was to program the many IC's and hard drives used in our devices.

One time our quality control department received a bunch of very bad IC's. So, another bunch was ordered, but they too were bad as received.  So we sent a couple of QC engineers to see if they could find out why. They went to the other company and very carefully watched their operations up to the point they were packaged and shipped. It was noted that the IC's were checked as good just before being shipped, but when received they were bad. Can you guess what the problem was?

Avery says: The reason The IC' s were bad was because of the plastic bags in which they were placed. The IC's were good when put in but when taken out, "static electricity" caused by the bags zapped them. Remember, it takes only 30 volts to damage them. When a person feels a static charge or sees the spark, there is around 3000 volts at very little amperage. The company changed to special bags designed to prevent static ESD (Electrostatic discharge). They are dark in color and have lines through them. Do NOT use pink or clear bags to store or ship IC 's as the static can damage them. Believe me, this was a very expensive lesson to learn because we went through 1000's of the IC's every day.

Email me at wa0tda@arrl.net with your questions & comments.   

Patrick Tice
Handiham Manager

A dip in the pool

Guy studying license manual.

It's time to test our knowledge by taking a dip in the pool - the question pool, that is!

Today we are taking a question from the new Extra Class pool. Might as well go right off the deep end and start learning this stuff.

E9B13 asks us: What does the abbreviation NEC stand for when applied to antenna modeling programs?

Your possible answers are:

A. Next Element Comparison
B. Numerical Electromagnetics Code
C. National Electrical Code
D. Numeric Electrical Computation

Did you pick answer B, Numerical Electromagnetics Code?  That is the correct answer, and if you have been studying the old question pool, this should seem familiar to you.  The same question is in the old pool, but with a one-digit difference in the question number, E9B14.  I mention this similarity because there is a lot of overlap in question pools.  You do not need to start at square one with your studies if you don't test before the new pool comes into effect on July 1, 2012. Yes, there are some new questions, but overall you will recognize what you have already studied appearing in the new pool just as it was in the old one, except for minor differences like the question number. The section of the pool in which the question used to be will remain the same, since the pool is arranged by topic areas. 

Reminder:  John P. Walsh Lifetime Membership

Joe Walsh, KB1KXU, received a Radio Camp scholarship (Steele Foundation) that allowed him to attend the Handiham Malibu radio camp in 2004.  He was able to obtain his Technician license at the camp and is grateful for that opportunity. Now Joe would like to remember his brother John, who served his country in the Armed Forces by awarding one lifetime membership to Handihams. Because his brother was a disabled veteran, he would like the scholarship to go to another disabled veteran. He would like to call it the John P. Walsh Lifetime Scholarship. We are pleased to post this on our website for the purpose of obtaining candidates for the scholarship. The grant will be $120, the cost of the lifetime Handiham membership.

We know some disabled vets, and we bet you do too. These men and women have served their country and many of them have limited means, but would enjoy amateur radio.  Some may already be Handiham members but would be glad to have a lifetime membership.  All too many retired vets live on very limited budgets.  Now I have a favor to ask:  Please help us to find a candidate for this award and help us and Joe to honor his brother John.  You may email us at hamradio@couragecenter.org or call the toll-free number 1-866-426-3442. 

Remote Base Health Report for 01 February 2012

Kenwood TS-480 transceiver, used in both remote base stations. (Universal Radio image)

Our thanks to volunteer engineer Lyle Koehler, K0LR, for his help maintaining the station databases and updates. 

GWSkype gets a new name 

According to a press release from GW Micro, "To better comply with the SkypeKit developer terms of service, GWSkype customers were asked to submit name suggestions and then vote on a new name for GWSkype. The GWSkype community selected GWConnect as the new name."

GW Micro is proud to announce that a new version of GWConnect is available for download! Customers have been able to post any GWConnect issues on the GW-Apps email list. GW Micro has taken note of those issues, and is releasing a maintenance release which will change the official name of GWSkype to GWConnect as well as to resolve many issues that have been reported. In addition, the update includes support for German, Swedish, and Turkish. Feature requests have also been noted and a version with an expanded feature set will be released later in 2012.

GWConnect is free for anyone who wants to use it. It is available at: 
http://www.gwmicro.com/apps/GWConnect 

You may wish to visit the GWConnect page at: 
https://www.gwmicro.com/App_Central/Apps/App_Details/?scriptid=1353 

Skype is used to port the Handiham Internet Remote Base station audio. 

Out there

I subscribe to an assistive technology mailing list.  One of the listers posted this: 

Funny and moving at the same time. If you have some time this weekend it is worth the listen: 
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/454/mr-daisey-and-the-apple-factory 

This week @ HQ

Handiham headquarters at Camp Courage, Maple Lake Minnesota

Supporting Handihams - 2012. 

Now you can support the Handiham program by donating on line using Courage Center's secure website.

It is easy, but one thing to remember is that you need to use the pull-down menu to designate your gift to the Handiham program.

We really appreciate your help. As you know, we have cut expenses this year due to the difficult economic conditions. We are working hard to make sure that we are delivering the most services to our members for the money - and we plan to continue doing just that in 2012.

Thank you from the Members, Volunteers, and Staff of the Handiham System

Patrick Tice, WA0TDA, Handiham Manager
patt@couragecenter.org

Handiham Membership Dues

Reminder: Handiham renewals are on a monthly schedule - Please renew or join, as we need you to keep our program strong!

You will have several choices when you renew:

Please return your renewal form as soon as possible.

Your support is critical! Please help.

The Courage Handiham System depends on the support of people like you, who want to share the fun and friendship of ham radio with others. Please help us provide services to people with disabilities. We would really appreciate it if you would remember us in your estate plans. If you need a planning kit, please call. If you are wondering whether a gift of stock can be given to Handihams, the answer is yes! Please call Walt Seibert at 763-520-0532 or email him at walt.seibert@couragecenter.org. 

Ask for a free DVD about the Handiham System. It's perfect for your club program, too! The video tells your club about how we got started, the Radio Camps, and working with hams who have disabilities.
Call 1-866-426-3442 toll-free.1-866-426-3442 toll-free -- Help us get new hams on the air.

Get the Handiham E-Letter by email every Wednesday, and stay up-to-date with ham radio news. 

You may listen in audio to the E-Letter at www.handiham.org.

Email us to subscribe:
hamradio@couragecenter.org

Handiham members with disabilities can take an online audio course at www.handiham.org:

That's it for this week. 73 from all of us at the Courage Handiham System!

Pat, WA0TDA

Manager, Courage Handiham System

Reach me by email at:
patt@couragecenter.org

Nancy, Handiham Secretary:
hamradio@couragecenter.org

Radio Camp email:
radiocamp@couragecenter.org

 

ARRL Diamond logo

ARRL is the premier organization supporting amateur radio worldwide. Please contact Handihams for help joining the ARRL. We will be happy to help you fill out the paperwork!

The weekly e-letter is a compilation of software tips, operating information, and Handiham news. It is published on Wednesdays, and is available to everyone free of charge. Please email wa0tda@arrl.net for changes of address, unsubscribes, etc. Include your old email address and your new address.

Courage Center Handiham System
3915 Golden Valley Road
Golden Valley, MN  55422
763-520-0512

hamradio@couragecenter.org