Field Day 2012

This year I was only available to help with some of the setup for the HOSARC field day. The guys had worked out a network of diapoles and end fed wires that covered UHF, VHF,& HF. I got a few contacts on 15 meters and we even had a visitor from out of town who came by to operate.

Amateur Radio on the International Space Station

This is the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) presentation by Mark Steiner, K3MS. I recorded and edited this video for HOSARC my amateur radio club. The talk was given at the Hall of Science Amateur Radio Club general meeting in October of 2011. Mark touched on many different aspects of amateur radio on the ISS, including satellite launches, equipment on board the ISS, and ground stations. What did come out during the Q&A section of the talk was that if you would like to get some your own technology into space, design an easy system to change the Kenwood radio from school transmit mode to repeater mode easily via computer control. Seems the current process for changing the radio includes many more steps than busy astronauts have time for. If you can make it happen quickly, easily, and reliably, you could have your own tech in space! It is a high bar, but how many gear-heads do you know with systems they have designed in space. Please check out the video and leave comments. Full disclosure, the video does have pre & post-roll commercials. All money generated by these commercials will be donated entirety to the club. I hope you enjoy the video.

30 minutes of APRS with Bob Bruninga, WB4APR

This is the first 30 minutes of Bob Bruninga, WB4APR giving a talk at my amateur radio club HOSARC. It was a very informative talk and I hope to get the rest of this talk in the near future. Bob's presentation was incredibly informative. If you ever get a chance to see him give a talk, run, do not walk. He is a tremendous resource to the amateur radio community.

Queens ARES response for Huricane Irene

If you are a Queens New York based ham who would like to help ARES with the amateur radio response to Hurricane Irene, please contact  Jeff Spiro via the following email address: N1JSP[at]arrl.net. Licensed Amateur Radio operators with HTs & Mobile Units welcome.

Best of luck to them in their efforts. 

 

Amatuer Radio to the rescue of Protesters in Egypt.

No matter your stance on the student push for democracy in Egypt, it is very exciting to hear that they are using amateur radio and more specifically CW to get the word out on the protests. When all else fails, including the internet,... amateur radio.

HoSARC at the NYC Maker Faire Sept 25 & 26

The New York Hall of Science Amateur Radio Club will be running an exhibit on Satellite communications at the New York Maker Faire on Sept 25 & 26 2010. Our exhibit will cover Home Brew HF stations, our "Go Box" portable stations and live Satellite communications as propagation permits. There will be a special QSL card made just for the occasion and we are looking forward to spreading the word on Amateur Radio to like minded "Makers".

The Maker Faire  has been around since 2006 and like its namesake the Make magazine it celebrates  "arts, crafts, engineering, science projects and the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) mindset." These are all interests near and dear to any HAM's heart. If you have time this weekend, and you are in the New York area, please come on down. It promises to be quite a show.

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.