Letter from the ARRL !

I guess we just have had different experiences. How many people have you met or talked with that you have also witnessed on the internet? I have met or talked with hundreds of them. My experience has been that people tend to be much bolder on the internet. This is only natural because we are behind a keyboard. There is no emotion from a keyboard, yet people seem to think they can determine when someone is expressing emotion. It just can't be done. That's why we have smileys and other icons. It's an aid to display emotions. Some boards actually call them emoticons.

A perfect example of this was a thread that was started called the top ten reasons not to learn code.(it seems to have been deleted now). Anyway, it was a sarcastic post that had some real reasons not to learn code and some stupid reasons not to learn code. It took the 18th poster in the thread to realize that it wasn't a serious post. All the other posters answered it as if the thread initiator was serious. Then even as thread progressed, more people did not even read the entire thread and added their two cents as if the post was serious again.

I disagree vehemently with N6WK on almost every single political issue. We have, and probably will in the future, continue to have major disagreements. I talk with Gordon on the air. I like him. I despise his political views, but I still like him. I don't like him on this board's political forum, but this is just a board. There IS a difference between the internet and REALITY.

Any explosive topic will bring out the worst in people, but it can also bring more people into the topic that might have a different insight. It also makes people really think about why they feel a certain way about a specific topic. Personally, I think it is very healthy as long as there are no personal attacks.

 

Insult is not libel.

Insult is distasteful.

Libel is injurious.

Much of what I have read here is very mean-spirited opinion.

Libel shouldn't be in your (that is, the general 'you') tool box of First Amendment expression, IMO.

Keep it off qrz.com. My opinion.

73,
Chip N1IR

 

As much complaining that goes on in these post! I supprized any kid would want to become a AMATEUR radio operator! All you old timers complain cause there is no new blood, but you scare them off with all the bitching and complaining! Smart move!

 

Echolink and IRLP are valuable tools. No, they aren't "radio", but they links radios together. I would be concerned if we forsake radio altogether in favor of the Internet (as we have done with packet radio and email) but that certainly isn't the case. NH-ARES does a huge public service event spanning the coverage areas of four repeaters. In the past, this meant multiple nets, and no ability to have race officials talk directly with those on other nets. With Echolink, we can temporarily link all the repeaters into one net, save on confusion, and provide better service to our "customer." For emergencies, this can also be true. Yes, the Internet connections could fail - and when they do we just revert to slower and clumsier modes (like HF, or simplex FM hilltop nets).
73,
Dave Colter WA1ZCN
SEC - NH
Editor - ARRL ARECC Course Series

 

I recently moved from CA to FL and upto a few months ago couldn't take with any of friends back there. Even thought most of them, including the extras, use 2M/440. I started using echolink to take to them as the commute form work to home.

It's only an aid to ham radio, use it or not, your choice. Just don't be an ass about it.:blues:

 

I like the way you describe ham radio during emergencies as slower and clumsier modes.   An RF repeater linking system with back-up battery and/or generator power serves very well during times of emergencies. I personally do not like echolink because it depends on landline technology that is useless if the internet is down.  Echolink and other "internet linking" operations can serve best as back up and/or health and welfare coms. It also puts our hobby on notice to the FCC that since some people are "falling" for these connections, then it is about time again to "reassign" one of our ham frequencies to another radio service with the belief that we have more "ways" to communicate than ever before.  Call it what you want but if the trend continues, your ham radio of the future will resemble a cell phone with features including connecting only on voip repeaters, and simplex on a couple of channels. Oh by the way, you will no longer need to have a FCC license to operate ham radio of the future.  Each "user" will have a FCC card to swipe on your hamcellpod so your duration on the voip repeaters can be monitored for "quality assurance."   Funny thing about it with all of that said about the future is that we are back to square one...the telephone and cable lines go down, so does the internet!  

 

I guess I should qualify what I meant by "slower and clumsier" modes. Any time you cannot communicate directly with the station you need to speak to, that is by definition a slower and clumsier mode. A direct connection is always faster and more efficient. Without a direct connection, the message must be written (regardless of how short it is) in order to survive the relay intact.

In NH, we do have an RF linked repeater network, but at present it doesn't reach the entire state. Due to a new Air Force radar operation in Massachusetts, we have lost the use of most of the linking frequencies in the most populated portion of the state. For all but the most severe emergencies, Internet linking will work as a substitute for us. Most of our emergency ops have been "last mile" replacement, and the Internet has generally remained up and running in the region. In Florida or California this might not be the best solution due to the nature of their disasters.

Sure, we could link on 222, but good commercial grade gear doesn't exist, unless you can find a pallet full of increasingly rare VHF Mastr II to modify. RF linking is also more expensive to implement, so right now Internet linking allows us to meet many of our needs short term. If it fails during an event, we have backup plans in place, using our slower and clumsier modes - manual relays via traditional layered nets.

For data comms we have used Packet in the past - however, that same radar installation cost us our Packet backbone frequencies. We will be switching to WinLink TelPac nodes in the short term, and working toward a state-wide 802.11 network long term. I view linking to the Internet for delivery outside of the affected area no different than delivering a message by phone or mail. Just faster and far more accurate. Even if the affected area is only a few miles across.

This is a bit off the topic, but I noticed you mentioned health and welfare traffic. This may come as a shock to many hams, but our days of carrying H&W messages for the Red Cross are pretty well over. The official announcement is coming soon. There may still be some carried for other relief agencies, but the federal plan is for ARC to eventually handle or coordinate all such messages. Red Cross now envisions hams as best used for shelter comms in limited circumstances, and for disaster assessment teams. The also expect us to learn to operate their radio systems and other equipment. And only for the first 72 hours of a disaster. Some will howl that this is not ham radio, but remember that one of the FCC's goals for Amateur Radio is to provide a "pool of trained operators in time of need." By training on the Amateur bands, we can provide operators for agency systems. But, I digress from the original topic.
73,
Dave Colter WA1ZCN

 

Here, in metro Myrtle Beach, SC, The best choice of coms for Skywarn is RF linking repeaters. We have the same problems with hurricanes just like Florida. We have found that it is very suitable for our needs and all of the linked repeaters have emergency back up if the power fails. It's a 5 repeater linking system. The NWS in Wilmington, which is about 55 miles north of here can get into the system nicely.

73,

Rick Summerford
Coordinator for The Greater Horry County Skywarn of South Carolina

 

I am extremely jealous of your signature.

 

you like huh? lol

 

Basically, we become dispatchers.

 

Basically in emergency situations, we are the last line of defense in communications when everything is down.

 

Basically in emergency situations, we are the last line of defense in communications when everything is down.

Very true. In December of 1997, Guam was devistated by Typhoon Paka, which had winds over 200 mph and caused extensive damage on the island. The commecial power system on the island was totally destroyed. I relayed damage assessments from Guam, Saipan, and Tinian to the Red Cross headquarters, Virginia ARES, and the ARRL using a 600 watt generator, a notebook computer, a 56K modem, and an email account.

ARRL story is HERE.

I tried calling them on 40 meters, but for some reason nobody could hear me.

As hams we should be well versed in communications and be capable of using any communications method that is available during an emergency. The more options we have, the more viable we are as a communications resource.

73, Jim KH2D

 

I just don't understand how anyone can call echolink ham radio. Someone explain this to me. If i am talking to someone on echolink and we are both using just our computers, no radios involved, do i have to ID every 10 minutes ? Also can the FCC fine me if i use obscene language ? IF not then how can that be called ham radio if the FCC has no control over my actions as would be normally governed by the rules of the Amateur Radio Service in Part 97 ? That seems pretty simple to me. I know that some echolink conversations involve at least one ham using a radio but some do not and i don't see how that can be called ham radio at all.

I also don't understand why those of us that don't think echolink is ham radio have to be attacked on here. Don't we have a right to our opinion too ? I keep seeing some people on here who disagree with others calling them " you old hams " as though that were some kind of insult. I don't know where i fit into that. I was first licensed in 78 but was only on the air for about a year then. I got back into ham radio in 99 and have been active since. I am only 49 and don't know if i am a "old ham or not " but i know alot of my views on ham radio are old school and i don't apologize for that at all. There was a time when new hams looked to older hams for guidence and to show them what the hobby was all about. Now it seems like alot of newer hams want to tell the older more experence hams to " get out of the way, we don't want to hear what you have to say you in the way from the way we want things to be. What happened to respect ?

Oh well i guess i will go make another contact on 20 meter CW. That is what gets me excited about ham radio not talking over echolink by my HT through the repeater 5 miles away to a ham thousands of miles away through another repeater only 5 miles from him. I get excited know my radio made the contact with the other ham without the aid of anything but his radio also. That is ham radio to me.

Keith
WD4PTJ

 

I have been watching this thread for a while now.  I have chosen not to say anything untill now.  There have been a few that have expressed my opinion and I didn't figure I needed to say the same thing again.  

I was licensed at the age of 15 in 1987.  I thought radio was the coolest thing I had ever experienced.  18 years later I still get excited when I make a contact.  I use Yahoo chat to keep up with family and friends back in the states sometimes.  I have even used echolink to talk to friends back in the states.  But I was on a computer when I used echolink and it felt just like Yahoo chat.  

It seems like most people don't realize that linking has been around for quite some time.  We used links (RF links (only radios) several years before I heard of the internet or owned a computer.  It was fun, it only envolved radios and it was reliable.  

I find it amazing that so many are saying that emergency communications aren't possible with just radio.  Why was radio so reliable before the internet and now it isn't?  A few days ago I found a QSL that I had forgotten about.  It was sent to me from a ham that if he hadn't had his radio with him he would have died during the night.  He was stuck in the snow on a back mountian road in Colorado miles from the closest highway.  He shouldn't have been there but he was from out of state and didn't know the danger.  This was before the days of echolink, home computers and the internet.  I heard his call for help and I was able to call search and rescue.  They were able to get to him and get him and his family to safety.  A few days later a tow truck could get to his car to get it out.  How could this ever be done without a reliable internet link?

Say what you will.  I perfer radio to radio communications.  
73,
Ed
DL9BCH \ KA0ZWV