HamRadioNow

West Coast Host David W0DHG and East Coast Host Gary K4AAQ (K4AQQ?) didn’t have a show planned, and were going to just log in and say ‘hi’ for a minute. 2 hours later…

It’s all over but the endless shows reviewing what we did: Field Day 2023 is in the can.

Here’s our endless show.

It’s a Bill! HR 4006 is the official House Bill that contains the Amateur Radio Emergency Preparedness Act (wait… does that mean we’re all Preppers now?).

This is the bill that… if it makes it all the way into law… will give hams in HOA neighborhoods substantial relief from HOA rules prohibiting or severely limiting outdoor antennas. But it’s a long way between now and law.

Without much other official action, East Coast Host Gary K4AAQ spent some time comparing the current bill with its predecessor from last December, and found only one minor revision in one paragraph that didn’t seem to change the meaning. Then, because we’ve all forgotten what was in the Bill, he reviewed the high points. About halfway through, West Coast Host David W0DHG got home from his Father’s Day dinner and joined the party. They immediately went off topic for a while, then finished the review, and conducted a random bull session.

BTW, no Promo, so you didn’t miss it.

9 Years ago, Gary K4AAQ and Jeff AC4ZO (SK) did a HamRadioNow episode titled My Stupid Plan for 60 Meters. That was 12 years after we got those 5 ‘channels’ on 60, and the ARRL was noodling about a plan hatched at the 2015 World Radio Conference to create an actual band at 60. Turns out Gary’s plan really was stupid, but the show was a lot of fun.

Well, it’s 2023, and we’re back… our Episode 477: 60 for 60 detailed the current state of RM-11785, the FCC’s dithering proposal for maybe a little 15 kHz wide band (with a 9 Watt power limit 😮), but maybe not. That proposal was supposed to be out for 60 days of public comments after it was published on the Federal Register web site… where it has yet to appear, best we can tell. However, the place where you make comments, the ECFS (Electronic Comment Filing System) is still accepting comments left over from the first round of RM-11785, back in 2017. Gary filed his Express comments – his Genius Plan – and one other person also filed comments.

That ‘one other person’ turned out to be Janis Carson AB2RA, a 77 year old YL from upstate New York. Janis was first licensed in 1959, and while she is into boat anchors (aka ‘new equipment from when she was first licensed’), she is also right up to date on today’s technology, and everything in between. And she keeps current with the FCC, too, often filing comments on RMs and NPRMs.

With both David W0DHG and Jim NO1PC bowing out for other activities, Gary and Janis spend a couple of quality hours talking about the 60 meter proposals, and lots of other stuff.

LINKS:

HRN’s 60 meter Playlist

We’ve done a few shows about 60 meters over the years.

Comments that Janis has filed on other current topics:

https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/105030620228022/1

https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/10430521230708/1

The FCC’s ECFS page for RM-11785, with old comments from 2017, the new NPRM, and Janis’ and Gary’s current comments.

Fame!
There’s a Facebook group called Shit Two Way Installs. It’s a private group, so you’ll have to ask to join if you want to see it. But somebody - anonymously - immortalized Gary K4AAQ’s Q-Mobile in what is described as a group dedicated to “those memorable two way radio installs that leave us shaking our head.” As well they should. Eat your little hearts out (and BTW, Gary is a member of the group).

Before that, though, Gary, David W0DHG and Jim NO1PC have some Field Day tips, and then we check out some video of storm damage on the Santiago Peak site of a huge number of commercial… and a few amateur… repeaters and radio systems in the mountains east of Orange County, CA.

Did we promise to review the status of RM-11785 (the 60 meter NPRM)? Well, we’re going to hold that until next week when Gary’s comments should show up. Officially, it doesn’t look like it’s been published in the Federal Register, so apparently the 60 day clock for comments hasn’t started. But you can still file a comment? Not sure how that’s working.

Back in the day, 11 meter CB was a gateway to ham radio. The real Novice license existed back then, but it offered limited privileges (phone only on 2 meters), and required Morse code (5 wpm). So for many, their first taste of radio operating happened on the 23 CB channels (later expanded to 40 channels). That was Gary K4AAQ’s route. Ask ‘who got their start in CB’ at any ham club and you’ll find a lot of hands raised. But not David W0DHG’s or Jim NO1PC’s. Their route is more pure 👼. 10-4, good buddy.

Today, GMRS – the ‘anyone can play’ radio service using FM and repeaters in the 462-467 MHz spectrum – is beginning to boom. Maybe it was the reduction in license fee from $70 to $35 last year. Maybe it’s promotion on a bunch of YouTube channels. Maybe it’s a bunch of new equipment - mostly Chinese - from some of the same sources feeding ham radio with inexpensive radios.

It’s probably all of those things. The bar to entry into GMRS is the $35 fee for a license; the ability to navigate the FCC web site (a major complaint on some GMRS Facebook groups); and gaining enough knowledge to actually obtain and operate those radios effectively (also a common topic on the Facebook groups). One license covers an extended family.

Is GMRS a ‘hobby’ radio service? The rules don’t make that statement, but they do permit just about any kind of legal conversation among licensees (and with unlicensed FRS radio users). In some areas, conversations on GMRS repeaters are indistinguishable from ham radio conversations, except for the call signs.

All it would take to make GMRS the ‘New Novice’ license is pointing people with a potential interest in radio communications… but not enough interest to get a Tech license… to GMRS. And maybe help them with the first radio thing. They get their feet wet, see if they like it, then bump up against the limits of GMRS (only FM on only 8 repeater channels) and maybe itch for more. Hello, ham radio!

But before we get to that, Gary tortures Kyle AA0Z by holding a bottle of Kyle’s favorite soda (pop), Sun Drop Cherry-Lemon. There are oceans of the stuff at Gary’s local food store, but not a drop within a 3 hour drive of Kyle’s house. To compensate, he has White Castle, and Gary is 90 minutes from the nearest Krystal (a kissing cousin of White Castle). Anyway, Gary eventually does a taste-test, comparing Sun Drop (the Cherry-Lemon version) to another born-in-the-south favorite, Cheerwine (no alcohol, despite the name). Conclusion? Watch and see (did you really think we were going to spoil that one for you here?).

A few quick notes on H.R.3241 - Amateur Radio Communications Improvement Act, recently reintroduced in Congress, and RM 11785 (60 meter band NPRM) which is now getting comments.

And then we round things out by taking a look at Gary’s new Yaesu FTM-300 DR, a dual-band (dual-receive) Fusion radio. It’s not the new FTM-500, but it’s fairly recent, and much cheaper. Gary gets his first taste of operating the C4FM digital voice mode.

LINKS:

We’re now on Spotify

FEMA tweets MOU with ARRL

H.R.3241 - Amateur Radio Communications Improvement Act

RM 11785 (60 meter band NPRM) is now getting comments

OK, snide-boy… yes, it was Dayton Hamvention weekend. And while our principle hosts didn’t go (and neither did any of the main hosts on Ham Nation, we notice), our Midwest Correspondent Kyle AA0Z stopped by the show to tell us what we missed.

Then Jim NO1PC showed off his Sand Crab antenna trailer, and we all took the ARRL Member Survey on a likely dues increase.

The FCC is finally about to act on the long-pending issues on 60 meters. In 2015, the WRC issued a set of allocations, giving hams a teeny-tiny 15 kHz wide ‘band’ and only 9 watts ERP. But in the US, the FCC made no changes to our 5 discrete ‘channels’ and 100-watt ERP power limit.

Now the FCC is about to act… by asking, once again, what we want. They are more or less proposing following the WRC’s allocation, but before they do that, they want more comments from hams. Should they make that change? Should they keep (or also keep the 5 channels). Should they adopt the 9-Watt power limit? What about modes? So many questions.

You get to comment on all that, starting any day now (if it hasn’t started already). You have 60 days, followed by a 30 day reply-comment windows. Then… someday… the FCC will adopt new rules.

LINKS:

HamRadioNow’s YouTube Playlist of our previous shows on 60 meters

Adrian Ciuperca KO8SCA returns to HamRadioNow’s David W0DHG, Jim NO1PC and Gary K4AAQ with some awesome video of the voyage to and operation on Bouvet Island back in February, and a Powerpoint presentation with all the details you’ve been wondering about.

In the ProMorePlus (a new show category that Gary invented and may never be heard from again, and perhaps just a ploy to slow down the rapidly accumulating episode count), Gary K4AAQ did a product review – something we rarely do on HamRadioNow, apparently for good reason. Not a new or unobtaniumly new radio… just a lowly ‘FBI’ style headset for his HT. He gets mixed results. He also discovers an old (1980s era) DX Magazine article about a DXpedition that came under ‘enemy fire’ while trying to land their ship (in the wrong place). The ProMorePlus is only on YouTube and Facebook video – it’s not in the audio podcast… sorry.

LINKS:

3Y0J Bouvet DXpedition YouTube Channel (includes the long version of the video we played in tonight’s show, but without Adrian’s narration 😐)

HRN 454: Bouvet by Sailboat? (our first chat with Adrian about the DXpedition)

DX Magazine “Disaster at Spratley” from 1983 (Gary was reading from this article in the ProMorePlus)

QST Editorial: “Bouvet — A Very Tough Teacher” (David A. Minster, NA2AA, ARRL Chief Executive Officer, ruminates in his column about the safety of these extreme DXpeditions, and how we might think different about them)

There's a 90% Eclipse coming for the western US on October 14 this year, and a total Eclipse for the Midwest and Northeast on April 8, 2024.

During the total Eclipse in 2017, hundreds of thousands of people flooded rural areas across the country in the relatively narrow ribbon of 'totality' (115 miles, but everyone wanted to be at the center line). They came over the course of hours or even days, but they all left at once when the show was over (and nobody cared about the next 90 minutes of the waning eclipse after they'd seen totality). All that created gridlock on the highways, and overload on the cell system.

The same is expected on April 8 next year, when a total eclipse moves from Texas through the Midwest and on to New England. And that presents an opportunity for hams to lend a hand with communications, if they're organized and prepared. Our guest is JM Rowe N5XFW, Arkansas Section Emergency Coordinator (among many other Emcomm titles). He's working on getting his state's hams ready, and coordinating with neighboring states as well.