kl7aj
10-03-2007, 09:45 PM
CHAPTER EIGHT
A Relay Good Idea
Sooner or later, you may emerge from the arc-lit, flux-drenched dungeon in which you have been soldering, tweaking, twiddling and toiling, into the light of day. This happens to the best of us, occasionally. My ninth-grade daughter, Jasmine, refers to my den of iniquity, (or more aptly, my den of inequity), as The Batcave. If you have a batcave you can call your own, consider yourself most blessed indeed.
As you’re taking a shower, eating, or otherwise re-apprising yourself that you have something in common with the human race, an odd thought may occur to you. You may recall some vague, amorphous impression that Amateur Radio had something to do with communications of some sort. And, truthfully, you would not be entirely mistaken.
Now, it has taken us seven chapters to avoid this unpleasant reality, but eventually we had to address a most disturbing issue. There are some among us (present company excluded, of course) for whom the smell of ozone, the hum of overloaded transformers, the gleam of enameled copper wire, and the sensuous silhouette of an 807 vacuum tube, are not, of themselves, sufficient reasons to devote a lifetime to amateur radio. Although we must pity these poor artless souls, we might actually learn something from them as well. If we try really hard.
Like all other innovations, radio was an answer looking for a question. Most of us have heard the saying, “Necessity is the Mother of Invention,” and taken it at face value. Even the most glancing inspection of the history of technology will show us that this saying is unmitigated B.S. (Buffalo Sausage). Discovery has always preceded application. The historical fact is that radio was around long before anyone could think of anything useful to do with it. This really bothers a lot of people for some reason...especially those who have never discovered anything. As a Radio Amateur, this shouldn’t bother you at all. You are a Radio Amateur because you are, literally, a lover of radio. If you aren’t...well about the only alternative is to be a user of radio. It’s the difference between being a Creator and being a Consumer. Which is nobler? Which would you rather be?
Wait...don’t answer that. You don’t really have to choose sides, after all. And that is what this chapter is about.
Somewhere around the time that Amateur Radio became formalized, that is, officially distinguished from commercial radio, amateurs began, somewhat unconsciously at first, to congeal around a common activity. This activity was the relaying of messages through one or more intermediate amateur radio stations. Originally, these messages were all generated by amateurs themselves, and pretty much amateur radio related. These were things like signal reports and rundowns of station equipment...not that much different from modern, casual hamming. Hams were testing the waters of their capabilities...pretty much just seeing how far they could get. Like all great things in life, this was largely unplanned.
Before long, a pretty reliable network of ham stations began to spread across the country, all with the capability of relaying messages to other stations. This was the humble beginning of the American Radio Relay League, the American flagship organization of Amateur Radio. This concept proved so valid, so robust, that nearly a century later, the American Radio Relay League has seen no reason whatsoever to drop the “Relay” from their name.
Keep in mind that this network came into being before there was much of any kind of communications infrastructure in most of the U.S. There were a few telegraph lines and even fewer phones “out West,” but most of the continent was still pretty rural.
The fledgling American Radio Relay League, as well as some smaller relay leagues (the ham radio equivalent of “Baby Bells”) developed a highly standardized and sophisticated method for passing messages around the country. Without even really trying, the Amateur Radio network became the de-facto communications “company” in the United States, (though commercial passing of traffic was expressly forbidden, of course).
Only after hams had paved the way through the wilderness did the real telecommunications infrastructure come into being.
Now, there is a problem with infrastructures of any sort. A little word study makes this pretty apparent.
Infra...”underneath”
Structure...”a building”
This is precisely what happens when things go awry. Your critical systems end up buried underneath a building somewhere. It goes without saying, the more intertwined you are with the infrastructure; the more likely you’re going to be buried underneath a building or buildings...either figurative ones or physical ones.
The beauty of amateur radio is that hams have, at least in theory, a large communications network in place, operating outside existing commercial infrastructures.
Now, the more you know about how to handle communications between yourself and other radio amateurs, the better off you’ll be when things do go south. One should learn how to pass formal message traffic. It’s not that hard to do, it’s lots of fun, and it can burn the cobwebs out of the equipment in your Batcave, from time to time. And, for better or worse, it gives you a chance to interact with folks outside the Batcave, at least once in a while.
A Relay Good Idea
Sooner or later, you may emerge from the arc-lit, flux-drenched dungeon in which you have been soldering, tweaking, twiddling and toiling, into the light of day. This happens to the best of us, occasionally. My ninth-grade daughter, Jasmine, refers to my den of iniquity, (or more aptly, my den of inequity), as The Batcave. If you have a batcave you can call your own, consider yourself most blessed indeed.
As you’re taking a shower, eating, or otherwise re-apprising yourself that you have something in common with the human race, an odd thought may occur to you. You may recall some vague, amorphous impression that Amateur Radio had something to do with communications of some sort. And, truthfully, you would not be entirely mistaken.
Now, it has taken us seven chapters to avoid this unpleasant reality, but eventually we had to address a most disturbing issue. There are some among us (present company excluded, of course) for whom the smell of ozone, the hum of overloaded transformers, the gleam of enameled copper wire, and the sensuous silhouette of an 807 vacuum tube, are not, of themselves, sufficient reasons to devote a lifetime to amateur radio. Although we must pity these poor artless souls, we might actually learn something from them as well. If we try really hard.
Like all other innovations, radio was an answer looking for a question. Most of us have heard the saying, “Necessity is the Mother of Invention,” and taken it at face value. Even the most glancing inspection of the history of technology will show us that this saying is unmitigated B.S. (Buffalo Sausage). Discovery has always preceded application. The historical fact is that radio was around long before anyone could think of anything useful to do with it. This really bothers a lot of people for some reason...especially those who have never discovered anything. As a Radio Amateur, this shouldn’t bother you at all. You are a Radio Amateur because you are, literally, a lover of radio. If you aren’t...well about the only alternative is to be a user of radio. It’s the difference between being a Creator and being a Consumer. Which is nobler? Which would you rather be?
Wait...don’t answer that. You don’t really have to choose sides, after all. And that is what this chapter is about.
Somewhere around the time that Amateur Radio became formalized, that is, officially distinguished from commercial radio, amateurs began, somewhat unconsciously at first, to congeal around a common activity. This activity was the relaying of messages through one or more intermediate amateur radio stations. Originally, these messages were all generated by amateurs themselves, and pretty much amateur radio related. These were things like signal reports and rundowns of station equipment...not that much different from modern, casual hamming. Hams were testing the waters of their capabilities...pretty much just seeing how far they could get. Like all great things in life, this was largely unplanned.
Before long, a pretty reliable network of ham stations began to spread across the country, all with the capability of relaying messages to other stations. This was the humble beginning of the American Radio Relay League, the American flagship organization of Amateur Radio. This concept proved so valid, so robust, that nearly a century later, the American Radio Relay League has seen no reason whatsoever to drop the “Relay” from their name.
Keep in mind that this network came into being before there was much of any kind of communications infrastructure in most of the U.S. There were a few telegraph lines and even fewer phones “out West,” but most of the continent was still pretty rural.
The fledgling American Radio Relay League, as well as some smaller relay leagues (the ham radio equivalent of “Baby Bells”) developed a highly standardized and sophisticated method for passing messages around the country. Without even really trying, the Amateur Radio network became the de-facto communications “company” in the United States, (though commercial passing of traffic was expressly forbidden, of course).
Only after hams had paved the way through the wilderness did the real telecommunications infrastructure come into being.
Now, there is a problem with infrastructures of any sort. A little word study makes this pretty apparent.
Infra...”underneath”
Structure...”a building”
This is precisely what happens when things go awry. Your critical systems end up buried underneath a building somewhere. It goes without saying, the more intertwined you are with the infrastructure; the more likely you’re going to be buried underneath a building or buildings...either figurative ones or physical ones.
The beauty of amateur radio is that hams have, at least in theory, a large communications network in place, operating outside existing commercial infrastructures.
Now, the more you know about how to handle communications between yourself and other radio amateurs, the better off you’ll be when things do go south. One should learn how to pass formal message traffic. It’s not that hard to do, it’s lots of fun, and it can burn the cobwebs out of the equipment in your Batcave, from time to time. And, for better or worse, it gives you a chance to interact with folks outside the Batcave, at least once in a while.