Issue #42: Traits of Our Radio Innovators

Thanks Chip. Interesting post, for sure. And of course, you know that I agree with you on this.

Some comments . . . it's good to see that QRZ, a major publication for our community (with readership of four TIMES the total readership of QST and the old CQ combined) now has a column featuring innovations and allowing these conversations to be had. That's positive.

Another element of a solution . . . besides highlighting innovation, we could do something that will bring more people onto the airwaves and preserve our HF bands. Sure, attracting newcomers is nice, but just getting more people into tech licenses and selling more Baofengs isn't going to do a thing. Right now we have a huge number of Technician Class operators. And yet, in some regions, 2m is dead as a doornail (I live in one of them). We need to get these existing hams to upgrade into a higher grade of license and then use those privileges they'll earn. Maybe that would happen with some future innovation, but it could also come because of a combined push from all parties . . . ARRL, QRZ, other web pages and YouTubers and so on. Bring a new POTA or some kind of entry level contest that EVERYONE can participate in? There must be something we can do to entice these Tech's to get their generals and invest more time on the air in the HF spectrum. Dave W7DGJ

 

I have to admit that I usually only present a problem when I can suggest, at least, a solution. In this case, my hope is that the natural solution is there within our vast numbers and encouraging it to come forward is really one of many positive paths.

You still have LOTS of folks at tech jobs that don't want to putter around at work, but do so as hams on their own time. That formula has helped justify our existence for 70 plus years. Again, one path of many! But you seldom hear about their efforts, or that they even exist: perhaps they feel suppressed by the 'enjoyment' fraternity?

There's a topic for you Dave: 'Hamgenuity Showcase'

 

While not directly radio related, here is a more up to date report of innovation in the news that has a young creative radio amateur as a primary contributor.

A group of 20-somethings built a GPS-independent drone in 24 hours—and caught the eye of US special operations forces - Here’s what that says about the new class of defense industry disruptors.

The story features Ian KE0OZV who in 2018 was awarded a scholarship from the ARRL Foundation.

Amateur Radio legacy of course includes RC modeling and technique, so its a natural for introduction to, education for & integration with todays advanced drone tech.

In Ian's case, right now he seems awful busy with important stuff ! At that age I was QRT for 15 years with amateur radio as a low priority, so not expecting him to license upgrade soon or get into HF DX'ing. But hopefully in the future the ARS as we know it is still robustly here for him and to help others along their personal development path.

73, John, WØPV

 

Well,

How do we know it doesnt use ham radio?

This is a great story. You might be surprised with who is jazzing up the defense sector these days...

Then again, maybe not!

 

Given the recent announcements at the Ham Fair Tokyo, and the ongoing chatter now, this post of mine from a day or so ago is proving to be rather prescient.. I've seen it happen so many times before, so it is no surprise to see it occur yet again.

 

Duane, Please put more into this so we know what Tokyo news you are talking about!

 

There were 3 new product announcements by the JA big 3 there the last few days that I'm aware of. For several years now they have shifted from making their big new product announcements from Hamvention to Ham Fair Tokyo. So this is the time of year to pay attention for those vendor's announcements.

As for the individual radios themselves, there really isn't anything innovative in any of them. Some repackaging of various features that have been around awhile already, just not by them. For example a radio with a remote-able control head over Ethernet, there's nothing new about that. A competitor has already been doing that for close 10 years already. And this new radio has some pretty severe restrictions for how it can even be used. No WAN support apparently (though I would guess with a sufficiently fat and low latency VPN pipe it could be made to work over a WAN). Meanwhile the competitor doesn't have nearly as limiting restrictions, they understood the issues around the often limited bandwidth available AND variable network latency, and then designed the radio accordingly.

Then other usability things like 800x480 pixel main display screen, the long existing competitor currently provides 1920x1200, a huge difference when it comes to displaying signals on a scope with a high level of detail. And the over Internet remote experience of the new JA radio requires using a rather dated and limited computer app. The competitor, the experience is pretty much identical whether over a LAN, or WAN. There are certainly some restrictions for display features in terms refresh rates etc depending on available network bandwidth. But the remote client software that can be run on a PC is one and the same as what runs in the remote knobs and buttons control panel. Whether that panel or a PC is over the LAN, or WAN makes no real difference.

So looking at just those items alone it is clear there isn't anything new to be found in this new product announcement. But yet go look at the various discussion threads in different places, and you will find remarks from many people who are talking about this new radio as if it is breaking some new ground. It simply isn't. Yes there are a good number of people who do recognize that reality, but not enough.

Now you may have noticed that I did not explicitly name any company names or product model numbers. That is deliberate. My hope is that those who read this will be able to take "their brand's" blinders off, and then do some looking around across ALL vendor's websites etc, and then do some cold emotionless critical analysis of the different technical aspects of all the competing products. But alas, brand loyalty is a powerful thing.

Edit: By the way, the idea of using Ethernet as a core technology within our radios was already being kicked around by several of us way back in 2003. It's been a long slow slog to get to where we even are today:

https://www.eham.net/article/5923

 

Thanks for the update Duane. In my article about innovation for amateur radio, I indicated that we can't rely on the big names (the ICOMs the Yaesu's and so on). We would have to rely on individual operators and their curiosity and ambition. Your post reinforces that -- we certainly can't look to the Tokyo meeting to bring this about.

I think the radio community would do well to imitate the Auto industry, and in the big major shows, bring out the "concept cars." Sh0w what could be coming down the road. Give us something to inspire us, Dave W7DGJ

 

In the past, the 'concepts' came out as external boxes, in no small part because Martin offered them first at MFJ. People like Rick Littlefield and Tom Rauch came up with them.

Then they ended up as 'things in the rig' .

I am sure that most here don't realize that rigs lacked keyers 40 years ago... example.

Fifty years ago you still had point to point wiring(!) on major rigs, like Hallicrafters. Amazingly outdated even then: Heathkit used PCB's mostly by 1970..

BTW PCB's had been around for 25 years before. They got adopted when fire retardant layering became standard, as fires were common and really dangerous; kind of like today's lithium battery issue. To wit: you've heard of FR4 substrate--the FR means a fire retardant formulation.

 

Hi John, just saw this post -- for some reason, QRZs alert function never advised me you had stopped by. Quite an interesting story, thanks! Dave