Hams, Twitter, and the Web 2.0 social media.

Just read a great ARRL article concerning the Web 2.0 social media phenomenon and on Twitter in particular. I have a few experiences of the speed and power of twitter myself. In addition to Amateur Radio, I am active in the Open Source community, in particular the BSD operating system. Last week I made a video recording an interesting talk about PFSense. On the way out the door to make the recording I "tweeted" about making the recording. I was surprised to see within a few minutes, Scott Ullrich the co-founder/developer on the project, had "re-tweeted" my message to his thousand plus followers.

I can not wait to see how this very powerful tool will be used by inventive Hams. One use for twitter is the ability to dispense very important information quickly. Some of the first pictures of the "Miracle on the Hudson" actually came from TwitterPic the twitter picture sharing service. I would not be surprised to see a version of this used over D-Star network to get information out of emergency zones. Of course to be used responsibly, there will have to be controls in place, and that will come in time.

No two people will use this information tool the same way, but it is good to know it is available to us should we need it; kind of like amateur radio.

qrz.com has a fantastic HTML editor!

I have long wished to have a more interesting qrz.com bio page and tonight I finally did something about it. While logged into qrz.com, I selected the "click for more detail..." green bar and selected the "Edit Record" button noted in the image above. In resulting page, I clicked on the "Add or edit your biography text, fonts, etc." link and found the following simple HTML editor that is great for adding details to any QRZ bio.

With the advent of "Web 2.0" and all the online media options many people would like to add more than text and an image or two. In that case qrz.com has you covered. If you look toward the bottom and select the "Advanced" button you get a HTML editor with much more power and advanced options.

Embedding videos, editing the actual HTML code, it's all there. I particularly liked the ability to toggle between regular webpage and full screen editor mode. They even have multiple pasting options for copying your data into the page. I feel I have only scratched the surface on this powerful FREE tool, but I can assure I will learn more and report back here. Below I have attached before and after pictures so you can judge the abilities if this editor for yourself. Just click on any of these images for a larger view. I am not a web designer by any stretch of the imagination, but the this well engineered website has me thinking I could be! QRZ relies on contributions from the amateur radio community and I will be making one soon, hope you can too.
Update:
I have traded a few emails with Fred L Lloyd AA7BQ and found out that the advanced HTML editor software is the open source Java based TinyMCE, the platform you would expect from a long-time Sun man like Fred.


Before &After:

Amateur Radio emergency comunications in action!

I was listening to a few hams using the LIMAC repeater for an interesting talk on Physics. Just as they were about to sign and clear there was an emergency break-in call. It was Raymond Larsen, N2ZEM asking for someone to place a Suffolk Police 911 call as he had just witnessed an auto accident in which a woman was injured. It was the first time I had heard something like this and the receiving operator (KC2QIQ I believe) snapped into action and handled the call like a pro. It is one those moments that really makes you proud to be a part of such a civic-minded hobby. Even if you are just monitoring.

New Year, New QRZ Forum update.

Seems QRZ.com is getting into website upgrade activities in addition to the ARRL. I just tried to update a post I had made on the QRZ forums and was greeted by the page you see below. Looks like 2010 is shaping up to be a great year for Amateur Radio. If you would like to see a larger version of the picture, please double click on it.

SOTA Summits on the Air.

 On November 14th of this year I made a whopping 5 QSOs, including the Goatman! . It was not a very large number, but considering it took a good bit of hiking a portion of the Appalachian trail and following of both GPS and trail map directions , it was pretty respectable. We were out for a Summits on the Air activation. SOTA is a Amateur Radio program that promotes both outdoor and indoor transmitting and monitoring. With interesting awards like the "Mountain Goat" and "Shack Sloths" I think it may become a fixture on the HAM scene.

ARRL Website redesign.

I was just listening to Jerry Taylor's Practical Amateur Radio Podcast Volume 2 Episode 32 with an interview with Katie Allen, K1KRB. Jerry's interview covers the upcoming redesign of the ARRL website. Jerry also mentions the QST article on the same subject in the Dec. 2009 edition page 55. I have to admit, I am looking forward to the upgrade as it should make finding out information about our hobby much easier. It is good to see such helpful resources get updated. I think it will help to grow our hobby. It is through the web that I have found information on our hobby and I am sure I am not alone. My hope is that this update will help bring more people into our ranks as the years progress. The new website should be launched in late January 2010.
Happy Holidays to everyone and I will see you in 2010.

Gordon West, WB6NOA, stops traffic in NYC.

Last night the Hall of Science Amateur Radio club had their 2009 Holiday party. We were fortunate to have Gordon West WB6NOA in attendance. "Gordo" was in the New York and visiting clubs in the area. He was a huge help during our party, pushing raffle ticket purchases and giving an encouraging speech about future of our club.

On the trip home, we chatted about possible kit night plans and ideas for promoting "Ham-ology" as he calls it. He was an absolute gentleman, with time for everyone who asked him a question. It was great chatting with the man and discussing the state of our hobby.

Tom N2YTF and wife drove us through Manhattan with Mr. West enjoying the sights of Christmas in New York in the back seat. We pulled up to his hotel and Gordon hopped out to checkout the HoSARC repeater with the transceiver in his hotel room. Gordo waved to us from the hotel lobby and we were just getting ready to pull out into Manhattan traffic when suddenly we heard from behind us. "Don't worry I will get the traffic for you". Before we knew it, Mr. West was waiving down traffic for us on 8th ave! It was great seeing him again and we are looking forward to his next visit in February.