K4HSM Vlog: 25 November 2025

 

Thought I would submit a video to discuss various ham radio topics including echolink, repeaters, the power of a telescopic HT antenna, and Thanksgiving. 

Don't know if I'll make a habit of this but it gave me something to do while sitting in my hotel room bored. I rerecorded about four times to try and get it right, and I'm still unhappy with it because of all the "uhhhhhs" and "errrrrrrs" I uttered during the recording. Even when trying to catch myself I found myself doing it more. You certainly won't see me being a toastmaster anytime soon... 

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and looking forward to a Merry Christmas. 73 de K4HSM 

Preaching the gospel of SKYWARN to Scouts at 2025 Scoutfest

I made an appearance at Scoutfest in Monroe County on 25 October representing East Tennessee SKYWARN. Hundreds of scouts from around the region came out for a weekend of camping and learning about various trades, skills, and ideas that may help them become better people tomorrow than they already were today.

The Smoky Mountain Amateur Radio Club, RACK, and Monroe Co. ARES were in attendance at a couple of sites next to the airstrip where planes took off and landed all morning and afternoon. Helicopters from the US Army and Lifestar flew in for the event as well.

Scouts and their families stopped by and were informed on what amateur radio was, how it could be useful in hiking, emergencies, and of course, severe weather.

A portable station was set up to allow scouts to talk on the radio. Some were shy, and others very outgoing. They talked to hams on the 146.940 repeater throughout the day and were impressed by how far away some of the stations were located.

The morning started off chilly, but by midday the sun came out, the skies cleared, and it turned into a pleasant afternoon. RACK had an HF setup and scouts could listen to 10meters being active with stations in Italy, Costa Rica, and many others across the US and Europe coming in and out as the band conditions allowed.

I attended on behalf of SKYWARN and provided spotter guides to anyone who was interested in weather, showing what to looks for and what is considered severe. Many scoutmasters and family members in attendance were ham operators and stopped by for eyeball QSLs.

Held every 3 years, Scoutfest is an event where the entire Great Smoky Mountains Council is invited to attend. This year, Axiom Space Astronaut John Shoffner was the guest speaker for the event.

It was a beautiful day and an exciting event. All the volunteers are looking forward to the next Scoutfest!

WB4GBI on Anything is Possible

On a personal level, Tim Berry is one of those you should be privileged to know and lucky to have on your side when you need someone to lean on for technical expertise or just a friendly ear.

Not only is Tim a ham operator, he's an Engineer for radio stations, Technical Director for the Vol Network, and owner of several repeaters in East Tennessee.

In this interview he talks about his early start in radio and electronics, his recent fight with cancer, and his fundraising to restore a tower site knocked down from recent storms.

The interview (and Tim) are an inspiring message that truly Anything is Possible!

 

A typical request for direction on ham radio (revisited)

I posted this nearly a decade ago, still holds true today...

I have to wonder if this type of conversation happens on your area's repeaters (the exact conversation and names have been altered to protect the guilty):

Ham1: "Hey guys, I'm from out-of-town and need directions to the gas station as I'm on fumes. I'm currently at (any location). Can anyone tell me how best to get there?"

Ham2: "Sure thing, stay on the interstate to the next exit, follow the highway about 3 miles, and then hang a left at the stop light."

Ham3: "Yeah, but if he takes the bypass he'll cut about 7 minutes off his commute, then go to the off-ramp past the "Y", hang a right, and he's there by the Post Office."

Ham4: "Hey everyone, I was just 'copying the mail' and wanted to let you know that the Post Office is now a Dollar General store, and the bypass has construction so (Ham1)'s directions are better, at least until December when they finish the construction."

Ham5: "Hey, I think your radio's got too much static (never mentions who...), you need to boost yer power or move to a better location."

Ham6: "I just checked with Google Maps and it says there's at least 3 stop lights before you get to the Post Office to make the turn."

Ham4: "I just said the Post Office is no longer there, it's a Dollar General!"

Ham5: "I still think needs to move his radio, still a lotta static."

          Ham4: "Who does?"

          Ham5: "Yes." 

Ham3: (After a looooong period of silence) "Didn't (Another ham) used to work for that Post Office branch some years ago?"

Ham6: "No you're thinking of (Yet ANOTHER ham) who worked at the one by the Walmart near downtown."

Ham3: "Well, he worked for that Post Office branch too, didn't he?"

Ham6: I dunno about that. What were we talking about again?"

Ham4: "I was trying to tell you that the Post Office is now a Dollar General, and the Walmart is near the mall, not downtown."

Ham5: "Your signal's not getting better try a different radio if you have one."

Ham2 & Ham4: (doubling) "(Callsigns) clear!"

Ham1: (after another long period of silence) "Thanks, guys, but my GPS got me there 5 minutes ago and you all quick-keyed so fast I couldn't get a word in edge-wise, and by the way it's at the 2nd stop light past the McDonald's. There's no Walmart, Dollar General, or Post Office in sight. I think you all are off your rockers. Thanks for the comedy routine, this is (callsign) clear."

Ham5: "I heard that same static on his radio as I did that other station (still never mentions who), and in fact several of you had that noisy signal, so maybe it's the repeater. Can't be my radio."

Why call for "emergency traffic"?

There are all sorts of nets on local repeaters, from SKYWARN nets to formal traffic nets to roundtable BS sessions.

I've called all sorts of nets since I got my ticket. One of the first net's I ever called was a technical net on English Mountain's 146.730 repeater in the mid-90s. From there I got to calling some of the nets on the Radio Amateur Club of Knoxville's (RACK) repeater, then I was calling nets for the local ARES/RACES group, then for yet another now-defunct radio club (a midnight "night owl net"), and all of this was at the same time!!! And then I began calling nets for SKYWARN.

One thing was always constant, with the exception of the SKYWARN nets, and that was all the other nets I was calling had the call for emergency traffic at the beginning of the net (also known as the preamble).

For example, this would be the beginning of a preamble used for a typical net on any given repeater in the area:

Calling the (NET NAME) net.
Calling the (NET NAME) net.
This is (YOUR NAME) in (LOCATION) and I'll be the net control for tonight's net.
This net meets every (DAY OF WEEK) at (TIME) on the (REPEATER NAME/FREQUENCY).
If there is any emergency traffic for the net at this time, please call net control.

Now, this is going to sound like me being a grammar nazi, but over the last few years I began to ponder the need for asking for emergency traffic. I mean, seriously, if there's an emergency, who's going to wait around until it's asked for? And when is an emergency ever scheduled for that particular time of the net???

And if there was a bona fide emergency, who's going to tell them "wait until emergency traffic is called for!"?

Again, seriously, if there's a legitimate emergency, you stop what you're doing (unless you're already calling an emergency net) and take that traffic first priority.

If I were still calling non-emergency nets (or really any nets for that matter, as I haven't called a SKYWARN net in any official capacity in about 4 years) I would say this for my preamble:

Calling the (NET NAME) net.
This is (YOUR NAME) in (LOCATION) and I'll be the net control for tonight's net.
This net meets every (DAY OF WEEK) at (TIME) on the (REPEATER NAME/FREQUENCY).
If there is any emergency traffic during this net, please alert the net control with your callsign and announce the word "Break" twice, at which time all net activity will be suspended in order to handle the emergency traffic.

That should suffice, don't you think?

"We have nothing in common, kid..."

Sometimes I wonder what drives people to become a ham operator. I'm sure there are many reasons, such as the technology, the curiosity, the public service, the comraderie, etc.

When you're an adult, like I am half the time, you enjoy talking with your peers about a plethora of subjects. Some subjects that I hear hams discuss at length on local repeaters are aviation, motorcycles, hiking, travel, politics, religion, family, and health. All of these things can be interesting, especially to someone who has shared in that same passion along with ham radio.

For kids, however, well, there's not necessarily a whole lot they can share in some of these areas. Imagine a 30-something ham who's a pilot talking aviation with a 10-year old. There's not a lot of ground to be covered, figuritively speaking.

My daughter's been licensed for almost a year. In that time I can count the number of QSO's she's had on one hand. It's not that she's not interested in ham radio, far from it. But one issue she's raised with me is that there's not a lot of kids her age that she can talk to in the area.

And it isn't for lack of trying, either. We have friends that live in Bristol (some 90 miles away from home) and they have 2 sons who are licensed hams. Earlier this Spring we tried to check in on a new "Youth net" they'd started up. Problem is, there wasn't a net. Apparently, they forgot to call one. We've tried to schedule the kids to have a QSO, but the schedules just don't come together.

But I wonder if more kids are not getting on the air due to intimidation by those who are much older.

A couple of cases in point. I met with George Bowen (W2XBS) a few weeks back and we were talking about our kids getting on the air (his daughter Jessica and my daughter Lauren are both recently licensed youth) and he told me the story of how one radio club near his home was trying to encourage youth into getting licensed, yet when they (the kids) try to talk on a local repeater, the "old guys" who were club members would weasel their way into the kids' QSO and then just continue their QSO with one another with the kids left out in the background. Not very encouraging when all is said and done.

Here in Knoxville, I haven't heard of that occurring, but I overheard something that got me equally riled. I'm surprised I didn't jump in and chew the guy out, but I knew discretion was the better part of valor in this instance.

This ham (I won't give him the pleasure of the publicity) is one of those folks who probably is on your local repeater. He's the kind of person who can grate on you with just their manner, their inflection, or their pomposity. He says one thing, then does another, and has an excuse for being the exception to his rule no matter what. I've not talked to him but a handful of times. But I've heard him more than I've talked to him.

A few weeks back, he was having a QSO with another ham and the subject came up about a young ham who's from Chattanooga. The kid has been licensed for a short while, but his enthusiasm was one to be appreciated. I was one of his first contacts if I recall.

Apparently the kid's enthusiasm for being a new ham got on this guy's nerves.

He began bragging about how he chased this kid off the repeater. Saying he wasn't the kid's babysitter. He boasted about how he and the kid "have nothing in common" and that he wasn't going to talk to him anymore.

I don't know how long ago this QSO he spoke of took place, other than to say that I've not heard this kid on the repeater for several months now.

Is this how our current generation is to indoctrinate the next, by telling the next generation of hams to kiss off???

I seem to recall talking to hams who've been in amateur radio longer than I've been alive about how they would "elmer" new hams, young and old, and be their inspiration for staying in ham radio. Now I'm hearing about how we can scare them off and ensure they won't return to the airwaves anytime soon. And these are hams who have not been in the hobby less than half the years I have.

Kids are impressionable. They'll want to do something until someone gives them a bad experience involving something they feel they've done wrong. Even if it's the other person who's had a bad day, or misunderstood the intent of what the kid might've said, one bad ham's attitude will run a kid off the radio real fast.

In this ever-changing world we live in, where Facebook and Twitter are on the minds of kids more than the dits and dahs of ham radio, we need to all remember that they are the future of ham radio. No one's asking us to babysit the young hams, but we should be mindful that they are the ones that will carry ham radio into the future.

Nevertheless, I reported him to the repeater owner, who was pretty passive. Not much he could do really, but I felt I had to tell him in order to put it out there that we have a few jerks running around.

I'd rather not say what I would do if he said anything of the sort to my daughter...let's just say it will probably violate some or all of Part 97's rules...

Meet my daughter, KJ4QNH!!!

Nearly a year ago, I posted that my daughter Lauren was studying to be a ham. Unfortunately, with school, life, girl scouts, and basically everything else getting in the way, we were limited to 1/2 hour Q&As once or twice a week on much of what she already studied, and a few sample tests on QRZ, most of which she missed passing by a couple of questions.

As summer approached, I was looking forward to sitting down with her and studying, but she would lose interest (or rather, she was wanting to play with her friends, watch TV, play her Nintendo DS, etc.) or I would not be able to help her due to household "honeydews" that were never-ending.

I was determined not to force her in to doing this. I didn't want to pressure her, and only wanted her to get her license because she wanted to do it, not because I (or my wife) wanted her to. I walked a fine line between encouraging her and making her. I figured if I forced her in to studying, it would only discourage and block her from wanting to get her license, but I would often remind her that she needed to study.

I would occasionally ask her "are you still interested in getting your license?", and she eagerly replied she was determined to get it.

We continued to study together whenever possible and even my wife (Jessie, K4RLJ) was occasionally helping. Her biggest stumbling blocks were the frequencies allocated to Technician class licensees, what bands belonged to what frequencies, and the questions relating to Ohm's Law.

Then I remembered that on occasion ham groups have all-day classes followed by exams that same day. I was listening to a local net and caught some guys talking about one that had just occurred the Saturday prior and decided to email some folks and ask if there was any more such groups that were going to take place anytime soon. I was met with 4 different groups conducting such classes, but none were here in town. One was 2 hours south in Chattanooga, another in Kingsport, and yet another in North Carolina.

I then got an email from a friend who was a VE for W5YI and was going to have a class in my wife's hometown of LaFollette (about an hour north of here) and checked with Lauren and we decided we would do that one.

I gathered that this would be the key to Lauren's passing her test. There wouldn't be any TV, internet, or other distractions and she could focus completely on the task at hand. Plus she had been studying off-and-on for over a year, so my wife and I were confident she would focus her efforts and possibly pass the test. We didn't expect her to pass, but we didn't expect her to fail, either.

I did this once before with my sister-in-law when she was about 13. That one was an all-day session, where one person read off all the questions, and the correct answer, and they moved on to the next question. They then took the exams the next morning. Unfortunately she failed her test.

She did eventually get her ticket after studying and my wife took her to an exam session in Lafollette scheduled just for her. She did not, however get much more involved and her license has expired. If she wanted to get her license, she'd have to re-take the test and get a new callsign.

This session was different from my sister-in-law's. We met at Paradigm Church, which was located at a small shopping center on the far end of town. There, they gave her the questions and correct answers on a study sheet and they let everyone study at their own pace, without reading the pool aloud.

There was one person who was blind, and while Lauren was studying, several of us who were sitting around with nothing to do decided to help him and went into another room and read the questions and answers to him. His father who wasn't licensed either helped out as well.

They would study for 45 minutes and then take a 15 minute break. There was a 90 minute lunch in between.

The guys there were very nice about providing pizza for everyone and a few drinks to pass around. It was small, but quiet, and Lauren was concentrating like I've never seen before.

The study session was scheduled to last until 4PM, but Lauren had already gone through the pool by 11AM. She wanted to take the test right then, but there wasn't enough VEs to administer the examination. I quizzed her on several parts and she would miss one or two, and I would have her go back and re-study those portions. Finally, as the afternoon went on, the VEs arrived and started to fill out the Form 605's for her to get her exam when they asked for her picture ID...and guess who forgot to pick up her picture ID...

I suddenly entered a panic mode. I called Jes and proceeded to freak out asking for anything with her picture on it. Her school had picture IDs produced for those times when they might (god forbid) get lost or missing and I fortunately had one in my wallet. They asked for a photocopy. And guess who didn't have a copier in his back pocket...

I then scoured the town for someone...ANYONE...with a copier handy. The local pharmacies didn't have them anymore. For once, Walmart didn't have what I needed. All the check cashing places with copiers and faxes were all closed. Fortunately there was a rental place open at the local mall and I was able to coax the person behind the counter to photocopy the ID.

By the time I got back (30 minutes later) the other two who were studying alongside Lauren were in the middle of their tests, and Lauren was waiting on me with the photocopy.

We filled out the paperwork, handed over her $14 application fee, and away she went. It was hard not to stare at her while she was taking the test, but I fought the urge as best I could.

20 minutes later, she turned everything in. And we waited.

And waited...

Aaaaaaand waited...

I couldn't get any kind of yea/nay from the VEs one way or the other. We sat there patiently while they graded the other tests and hers. I would see them mark the test and pray it wasn't hers they were bleeding red ink all over.

They told one of the others that she had passed, but hadn't told us if Lauren passed. The longer it went on, the less confident we felt that she had passed.

Finally, the VEs called her up to sign her name on the CSCE. "So she passed?" I asked. "Well heck yeah she did!" was the reply, and Lauren smiled as bright as she possibly could.

We called Jes, her grandmother, some friends, and I posted her success on Twitter and Facebook and the kudos came in from hams the world over.

She missed 7 of 9 questions she could miss and still pass the exam. It took 11 days to get her callsign as the FCC was slow to process the paperwork and Veteran's Day also had an effect on the delay.

Earlier this evening, she had her first QSO with Jim, KQ4AB, who was the man who was overseeing the test session. At first I thought I would be her first QSO, or maybe Jes, or a couple of friends of ours who have kids that are hams, but I thought that she should check in to his net and have a quick QSO with him. He got a kick out of it and I recorded it on my cell phone. Here's the video.

So now, I have a wife and daughter who are hams. Just one more daughter to go. And she's cracked open the book and begun her journey. It may be a couple of years (she just turned 8) but she's determined to be like her sister.

I couldn't be happier.

Autopatch...who uses THAT anymore?

Back when I got my license in 1993, cell phones were nowhere near the "state of the art" they are these days. In fact, 7.6 million had them in 1991. Now, 203 million of us in the U.S. alone have them.

They were large, bulky, and heavy (look at the monstrosity to the right), they lasted for all of a few hours on a charge (without talk time), and if you did use them, you were either charged a ridiculous amount of money per minute, or you had limited talk times per month. And don't even get me started on roaming charges...

Because only doctors and celebrities could afford these miracles of modern technology, the "poor man's cell phone" was the autopatch, or a phone patch hooked up to a repeater. Back in 1993, we had 3 repeaters in Knoxville with autopatch capability, and all were open for use. I was fascinated to listen on a scanner to hams using the patch to call home, find out what they needed to pick up from the grocery store or the fast-food joint, or just to see if little Johnny got home from school okay. Every so often a 911 call would roll in and usually it was a car wreck where people were banged up but okay.

There were those who used it daily for the same thing over and over. One in particular would call his mom and ask her what she needed, and every time he called, she said the same thing: "Pick me up some 'see-grets'," or "cigarettes" as we would say.

Some hams would never have a QSO with anyone other than the autopatch. I can recall many hams who would make their patch call then leave, never to be heard from again until the next time an autopatch was needed.

My first autopatch call was to my mom, if I remember correct. She wasn't too thrilled. She didn't like the "one-way" aspect of it where I couldn't hear her unless I un-keyed the mic. Still, it was great to have the ability of calling home while on the from work to see if I needed to stop and get something along the way, or call my then-girlfriend (now the wife) to check on things.

Knoxville must be the exception to the rule, because just about any other city I've been to, from Des Moines to Destin, not one phone patch outside of Knoxville was "open". They were off the air, toned with an unpublished tone, or a code was needed to be entered that the repeater owner needed to provide (and who were they to do such a thing?). I can recall one repeater trustee in Florida who said flat out he wouldn't give out the patch code to "foreigners" like myself. That ended the otherwise pleasant QSO immediately and swearing off of "his" machine.

One repeater here in Knoxville had its user base centered around the autopatch, and it was not unusual to see 50-60 patch calls made per day. Along with funny IDs, weather info, and an occasional TWIAR or Newsline airing, it was a happening repeater.

Then came the modern era of telecommunications. Phones got smaller, smarter, and most importantly, cheaper. My first cell phone was circa 1996. I got a whopping 60 minutes per month to use, at $49.99/month. My first cell phone was the popular Nokia phones with that "Snake" cell phone game that was so addictive. Text messaging? Wasn't that what beepers were for?

Over the years, as cell phones gained popularity, autopatch use was inversely proportional, and nowadays one autopatch call a day is above average. I myself have not used an autopatch for several years. Until today.

Today is my younger daughter's birthday. So one of her requests was to have a sleepover with her friends. And my other daughter's friends. And their sisters. 9 kids (including my two) camped out in the living room overnight last night. All girls. Then there's my wife, and our two dogs and a cat, all girls. I was drowning in an Ocean of estrogen.

This morning I get (rudely) awakened to the sounds of kids hollering about how hungry they were (similar to birds when the mom brings a worm to the nest) and my wife dispatched me on a mission to get doughnuts from the nearby Krispy Kreme. The task was simple: One dozen plain glazed and one dozen with rainbow sprinkles. I arrive at the doughnut shop and discover the rainbow sprinkles have been substituted with brown and orange Halloween Sprinkles since it's October. To make sure I don't scar my daughter for life I decide to call my wife to ensure I can get these sprinkles. Alas, I discover I have left my cell phone back at home, because I was still in a stupor heading out the door and forgot to take it with me.

So I go back to the Trailblazer and get on my ham radio, trying to remember how to use the autopatch. Back "in the day" one repeater had the simple "* up, # down" method, where you keyed the mic, announced your call, punched in the * key followed by the 7-digit number, then listened for the repeater to acknowledge the connection and read back the phone number. Another repeater (Tim Berry's WB4GBI on 147.075) was slightly different. You had to key the mic and push *, listen for the dial tone, then key up again and punch in the phone number. An extra step, but nothing like the one used by the local radio club. I can't even remember the sequence, but it was like a 3-digit code to get the patch up, then the 7 digits.

It had been so long since I needed the autopatch, things changed a bit. One repeater's autopatch I couldn't access, so it may be offline (the repeater trustee sold the machine when the club running the repeater dissolved) and the other machine (147.075) changed its format to *up, # down without the need for listening for the dialtone.

Attempt #1 succeeded, but no one answered the phone and I left a message begging for someone, anyone to pick up. Strange, since there's 9 kids and my wife, someone SHOULD have heard it. I call again, and again, I get the answering machine. Since the machine is working, I know my house hasn't burned to the ground, so I try my wife's cell phone. For some reason, it didn't want to connect all 7 digits on that attempt. I try again and this time it connects, but I get her voicemail.

I then decide to make the executive decision to get the doughnuts with sprinkles. In the end, I made the right choice. My wife claims she was not near the phone and it was in the bedroom out of earshot (apparently the 100 decibel level of kids drowns out a phone/answering machine) and the cell phone was on vibrate and she didn't have it on her.

It never ceases to amaze me how the best technology built into a cell phone is useless when you don't take it with you. But it's nice to know that the autopatch is still there "when all else fails".

Adventures in Zero-land

There are some things I wanted to do before I left this world, and traveling to the midwest was one of them. Given, I was intending to go storm-chasing, and considering that it was just visiting my sister-in-law's home, and still "tornado season" in the midwest, the chance to go to Iowa was too good to pass up.

My sister bought and flipped a 120-year-old home in a little town south of Des Moines called Truro. It would take us 16 hours to get out to the house in question. I spent 4+ days getting a dual-band radio installed so that I would have some radio time while on the way to and from Iowa. The big question I had was, would anyone want to talk to me?

I must admit, getting a contact on a repeater has been a bit of a challenge in recent treks around the southeast. When the mobile was installed in the minivan, I often spent countless hours looking for contacts on repeaters and simplex to no avail. Trips to Myrtle Beach, Winston-Salem, Huntsville, Ft. Walton Beach, and Nashville were often met with silence, no matter if it were the middle of the day or the dead of night. I even took my FT-530 to San Diego last year and wasn't able to make any repeaters anyplace. The ones I were able to hit, no one would answer. I wondered if I was even making it in to the repeaters but I guess I'll never know.

So we embarked upon our journey around midnight on a Thursday night/Friday morning. We picked up my sister-in-laws friend who lives in Iowa and we all rode up I-75 towards Lexington, KY.

I spent most of the first couple of hours talking with my friend Jason, KF4VDX on his repeater, then we moved to a repeater in Petros (NW of Knoxville) and linked to a repeater in Williamsburg, KY. He came in on one repeater, and I talked with him on the other. About an hour north of the TN/KY line, the repeater faded in the distance and we had to end our QSO. At one point in time some years ago, we probably could have continued on using the FARA linked repeater system, linking KY, OH, IN, and MI. There was a repeater in Knoxville that was installed to the linked system, but it only lasted a few short months before a storm took out the link from Knoxville to Kentucky. We decided we would try Echolink if possible while in Iowa.

Overnight, the drive was lonely, broken up by conversation in the car of ghosts and ghouls, and it was conveniently told to me that this house we were going to be staying was reportedly HAUNTED! So we passed the time telling one ghost story after another, and sure enough I wasn't going to sleep at the wheel...

The night was quiet, and I tried several repeaters in the Lexington and Louisville areas as we trudged north and west. We stopped a couple of times, between Louisville and Indianapolis. And about an hour before Indy, I tried 146.700 and struck up a conversation with K9NQW. We chatted for a while, discussing the usual banter new contacts tend to discuss. I would later get a QSL card from him after I returned home, and it was a very pleasant surprise. I just replied back to him this week with my own QSL card, something I haven't done in a couple of years.

After we by-passed Indy and its Friday morning rush-hour bedlam, (we arrived around 7AM Eastern time) we got on I-74 going towards Illinois. My wife drove as I dozed off and on (I don't sleep very well in the car) so the radio was quiet as she and my sister-in-law's friend chatted.

At one point on the drive near Peoria, I was tempted to head a bit further west towards Macomb, IL. Some friends were down there, but it was unannounced, and I hadn't heard from them in some time, so I wouldn't know where they lived. Still, it was tempting to take a trip and see if their LPFM radio station was still on the air. However, time was getting the better of us, and we continued onwards towards Davenport, IA.

Between Champaign and Peoria, I stuck up a QSO with three hams (their callsigns escape me, and the notepad I wrote them down on went MIA) in the area. They were very helpful, telling us about traffic issues, talking about other hobbies (one was into bicycle riding and spoke of wanting to bike the Smoky Mountains) and recounting war stories of QSOs long past. It was also the first storms we encountered in this area. It was unique to be able to watch the storms from several miles away, as opposed to having the horizon obstructed by mountains and rough terrain as we would in Tennessee. These storms were not severe, however, so no storm chasing for me to embark upon as a detour to the monotony.

The showers were brief, and we continued on towards Iowa. We passed Knoxville, IL on the way to Davenport, but couldn't stop to take a picture due to construction in the area.

Along the way, I sent messagea to my Twitter account to see if any hams would try to contact me while I was on the way to Iowa. I'd send my location and repeater(s) I was monitoring. Unfortunately, this experiment was all for naught. No one mentioned my Twitter page when talking to them. But considering that I was having many QSOs as it was, Twitter probably wasn't necessary anyways.

When we crossed the Mississippi River into Iowa and interstate 80, I found another ham on a repeater in the area. As we talked we passed an airport, and I instantly recognized "Fat Albert", the Blue Angels flight team's support plane. I was told there was an airshow that weekend, and the Blue Angels were the main event. We discussed returning on Sunday for the airshow. Unfortunately we were not able to make it.

During the trip, my wife would thumb through the Repeater Directory and read off whatever repeaters were on 2m and 440 in whatever cities showed up on the signs along the way. I was surprised that a great majority used tone access. Back in Knoxville (Tennessee, that is), tone access was almost unheard of. So few repeaters employ tone access in the area. (NOTE: As I wrote this, I checked and found that Iowa repeaters were mandated to have tone access in 2007). At one point in 2004 SERA (the South Eastern Repeater Association) attempted to mandate tone access, and I was one of many who cried foul. My biggest complaint was that in times of emergency we may not have the luxury of trying to figure out the tone of a repeater as we're trying to access it for any emergency traffic. I was aware many areas were using tone access to curb interference (intentional or otherwise) but I guess back home we're just a tad different. In fact, one group of folks tried to get East Tennessee repeater owners to secede from SERA and start their own repeater coordination body. While I sympathized with the breakaway repeater owners, I didn't necessarily support the idea of a new coordination group, but I wasn't a repeater owner, just an avid user. Eventually, SERA backed away and decided to wait until a later time to "re-evaluate" the policy with more input from repeater owners, and not just a few coordinators trying to speak on their behalf. The storm eventually died down, but I think a lot of damage was done and interest in SERA waned for a time. I have yet to renew my subscription to their journal, though I need to get another issue soon.

Back to the story, though. After we had a late afternoon lunch/dinner in Newton, near a new Iowa Speedway, we started to get excited as we were finally closing in on our destination. I didn't expect the drive through Iowa to be so long. It's much bigger than I expected. The radio was quiet through Iowa City and Williamsburg.

When we got near Des Moines, we hit a severe thunderstorm and an absolute torrent of rain, the likes of which I have not encountered in years, both in duration and intensity. It made me thankful for putting on new tires just a couple of months prior (at $700 no less!) as we hit some of the worst storms I've driven through ever. One of the repeaters in Des Moines (146.820) was designated as a SKYWARN repeater, and as we tuned in, I heard the National Weather Service liaison chime in with weather warnings and bulletins. I didn't dare key up, fearing I'd get a major ass-chewing by someone thinking I was a rookie, despite my having been SKYWARN net control and conducted hundreds of nets in the past. But, after a lengthy period of quiet, I keyed up and requested info from NWS on the path of the storm in relation to my destination. Silence. No one, not even NWS would come back to me. And I know I had the right tone set in, and was 50w into the machine. But whatever the reason, no one was willing to talk to me. As it turned out, I attempted to use this repeater 3-4 more times the week we were in Iowa, and not once did anyone answer me back. This was the only open repeater that I encountered where the locals were not talking.

We arrived in Truro and the rain had been pouring in this little town. The streets were flooded, and the homes on both sides of our place was flooded and running past our house's driveway to the nearby runoff creek. To make matters more interesting, after the rain eventually died down, as I'm trying to unpack the Trailblazer, the nearby tornado siren begins wailing! I joked with my mother that I would chase tornadoes while out here, but now I'm thinking I'm the hunted one!

As it turned out, the siren was signaling the local volunteer fire department into action. Apparently something caught fire from a downed powerline or something. Still, it took me a few hours to reclaim my wits about me.

The next evening I took the family to Knoxville (Iowa, that is) Raceway about an hour east (taking the highways and even a gravel road or two). I'd never been to a sprint car race before, and figured we'd take in the best one in the country. On the way there, we hit up a 440 machine and I had a 10 minute QSO with a guy on his way to working security/bouncer duties downtown in Des Moines. It was a nice way to pass the time as we travelled the highway towards Knoxville.

When we neared Knoxville, my wife looked up the one repeater in Knoxville and found it to be closed. I tried to key it up and it did not reply with a carrier. I decided to do a little snooping and found the tone for it. I know, I probably shouldn't have, but what would it hurt? I'm just some hick from Knoxville (Tennessee, that is) who doesn't know any better, right? The worst I figure is I'd be shooed off the machine. Well, not even THAT happened. I keyed up 2-3 times and gave my call ("K-4-H-S-M, mobile Zero") and got no response. Either no one really was listening (closed repeaters back home tend to be vacant) or they weren't caring to talk to me. Not even on the return trip back to Truro would I get an answer.

On Sunday, I got into another repeater on 2m and struck up a QSO with another ham as we made our way to a museum some hour NE of Des Moines. He was pleasant to talk to, though again his call and name escape me.

I began to realize that the area was chock full of enthusiastic hams who were very friendly and helpful to this 4-lander. I often wonder if I just wasn't hitting the right repeaters back in the southeast when trying to bring on a QSO to pass the miles.

The next day, I went to 6.52 simplex on 2m as we made our way towards Winterset, IA (home of the famous bridges of Madison County and birthplace to John Wayne) and I was stunned when I got an answer from Mark, W0ISF. We talked on simplex, then he invited me to his repeater. If his callsign rings a bell, it's used every year for the Iowa State Fair special event station (going on now as this is published). I would end up talking to Mark 2 more times, including our leaving to return home the following Friday morning. I thanked him for his hospitality and hoped I could talk to him during the fair. As of now I haven't heard them (listening to 20 meters mainly) but I will continue to try.

On Tuesday, I traveled to Western Iowa to see my friend Dale, N0WKF (file guy for TWIAR) for our first eyeball QSO. On the way, again, a couple of good hams talked to me. I tried to reach Dale on his repeaters but he wasn't on the air listening for me. It was great to finally meet him. We stayed for about 3 hours and then visited Council Bluffs before heading back to Truro for the evening. The trip was spent off the air, though, as we were drenched from a sudden shower while on a pedestrian bridge over the Missouri River separating Iowa from Nebraska. I was partly pissed from being soaked, and partly afraid I'd short something while talking.

The journey back to Knoxville, TN was made going south through St. Louis and unfortunately I wasn't able to make any contacts on the way back home. As I approached Wentzville, MO, outside of St. Louis, I tried to find a repeater to raise Vern Jackson, WA0RCR, another TWIAR contributor with the Gateway 160 meter net report. Unfortunately no repeaters were in Wentzville, and I didn't have 160 meters in the car to try. Although that would be a great trick...

Traveling through St. Louis (with a visit to the arch) was a first for me, and traffic was certainly not going to give me any breaks this Friday afternoon. I endured heavy traffic, and although I heard a few QSOs as I scanned the 2m band, I had to drive first, talk later.

After we left St. Louis, we got stuck in traffic, and no real way to pass the time for the 90 mins other than drive/stop/drive/stop. I tried a couple of repeaters on 2m and 440, but no one was there. My concentration was spent on trying to find a way back the other way for a detour anyways, but the two spots where I could turn were Government vehicles use only, and the cops were watching them. I saw people pulled over after making the U-turn, and figured I'd be a sitting duck with TN tags.

After the jam let up (construction that either never occurred or completed for the day while we were stuck) and we had dinner, Jes drove from Illinois down thru Paducah and into Tennessee, but I didn't use the radio. I'm not a good passenger. That's all I care to say about that part of the trip...

Back into Tennessee, I hit the Cumberland Plateau past Crossville and called to Jason, KF4VDX, and sure enough, he was there, almost like he was waiting for me to return. Although I had a great trip out west, it was nice to hear a familiar voice again. He talked me back to the house and my trip officially ended around 2am (Eastern Time) Saturday morning. In just 12 hours, Field Day would be underway, and he and I would try to work it both from his home and from a club outing in Maryville.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised at the warmth and hospitality both on the air and in person from people all over Iowa. My sister-in-law's house was officially sold 2 weeks after we left, so we won't be able to go back there for "free room and board" next time we go out there. But it made such a great impression upon us, we know there will be a next time.

BTW: No ghosts bothered us while we stayed there. And if I find that sheet of paper with the names of everyone I talked to while out there, I'll add them to this post. If you're one of them, email me.

My daughter's getting closer to getting her license + other tidbits to catch up on

Just an FYI, my older daughter, Lauren, has finished studying the question pool, and is now working on taking the practice tests on QRZ.com.

I'm also going to post about my trip to Iowa from June and installing my radio for that trip. They should be posted early next week.

I'm heading to Dayton, OH this weekend for a wedding, so I may be able to make some QSOs while in the area. I'll only be up for the weekend, so there won't be much time to enjoy the trip.

I wish I knew what was up with FARA. Their web site is dead (has been for several months) and when I tried a couple of their repeaters last month going to Iowa I couldn't raise them.

BTW: It looks like the Mt. Mitchell repeaters got a 1-year reprieve from the radio station that wanted to kick them out. It will hopefully give them enough time to either relocate the repeaters to another tower on the mountain, or convince the land owners that amateur radio is worth keeping around the mountain.

I was talking to a ham in Chattanooga 2 weeks ago who told me that several repeaters north of there between Chattanooga and Knoxville got evicted from their towers after a SNAFU involving a new owner of the towers and the contact information being lost. One of the stories I was told is that the Park Service was even cut off, and within a few minutes of going off the air, a Park Ranger arrived at the tower site and demanded to know what was going on. The hams who were running one of the repeaters cut off were also there, and witnessed the Park Ranger threaten the tower climber with arrest if he did NOT restore service ASAP. The tower guy didn't know what to do, because he got an order to remove the equipment, and was gonna go to jail if he did.

Sometimes I wish amateur radio had that kind of clout.

It looks like they got things cleared up with the Park Service real quick. However, the amateur repeaters (as many as 10 or more if I remember) are still off the air until a new contract is worked out.

It also looks like the English Mountain repeater came back to life recently. It had been taken off the mountain several years ago after a tower collapse that forced the land owner to require a fence, insurance, and other amenities that basically forced the repeater off the mountain. The repeater's owner, Sam Kirby, WB4HAP, passed away unexpectedly in 2007, and the future of the repeater was in even more doubt. However, Tim Berry, WB4GBI came through, returned the repeater to English Mountain, and once again, the activity is making a renaissance.

It may not match the activity of it's peak in the late 90s, but there's only one way to know for sure.

And what the heck is up with Radio Shack dropping "Radio"? Is it just for advertising, or permanent? I have money on this being a marketing test, to see if the public responds in waves to the impending onslaught of advertising and marketing in advance of the Christmas season, and if even remotely successful, "Radio" will be permanently removed from the name of the store.

It will probably work the same way Subway did those $5 footlongs. First they were "for a limited time" then it became a constant fixture on the menu due to the popularity of the promotion.

To me, it really ceased being "Radio Shack" when it stopped selling ham radios, focusing on scanners and CB radios instead. Hams are people too, dammit! Then they concentrated their market towards satellite TV and radio, cell phones, RC cars, and batteries. They did score with SAME weather radios, but now most any store sells them, and for less.

They did earn points when they had PL-259 barrel connectors and an 8-pin mic plug I needed to solder up a mic to my ill-fated FT-5100 radio (more on that in a future post) but overall, you ask an employee a technical question, and unless they're a ham themselves (and a few are), you get the deer in headlights routine. Any more it's hit-or-miss with your question. You got questions, they got answers half the time...

Off to bed, and off to Dayton.

Mt. Mitchell repeater site risks being evicted

For those of you west of the Mississippi or north of the Mason/Dixon, Mt. Mitchell is the highest peak east of the Mississippi River.  Near the peak is Clingman's Peak, where several broadcast and communications towers reside.

The repeaters have the largest coverage area of a single repeater on the east coast.  They are on:

• 53.63
  
• 145.190 
  
• 224.54
  
• 442.225 
  
• 443.600 
  

145.190 is probably the most popular of the group.  There's nary a ham in a 7-state area who hasn't heard of (or talked on) Mt. Mitchell.  Just last night I was listening to a couple of hams on there, and there was no indication of any issues with the repeater.  In fact, one of the hams I was talking with just last week, and it was the first time I had talked on that repeater since last June when I went camping near Catawba Falls.  When I first got licensed in 1993, there was hardly a moment when Mt. Mitchell wasn't in use.  I can recall a couple of hams in particular who commandeered the machine from sunup to sundown.  It was the hotspot for North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, and even Florida.  When there was a band opening on 2 meters, it was possible to hear stations from Maine.  I heard several stories of Maine-Florida QSO's happening during openings.  Over the last few years the activity has quelled somewhat, but 

I was surfing the QRZ.com forums this morning and came across this bit of information regarding the repeaters on Mt. Mitchell:

Per owner of several of the repeaters (WA4BVW), all repeaters have to be removed from Mount Mitchell by the end of July. According to Ken, WA4BVW, the Mt. Mitchell 2 meter repeater [145.190-] will have it's 27 year anniversary this June. It is home of the 6600 net on Saturday nights, which has check-ins from NC, SC, TN, Georgia. The repeater has great coverage. When I got my ticket, this was the first repeater I made a contact on with NC4TN. I have not been a ham for very long, but I really enjoyed what time I have had on the repeater, especially the 6600 net. 

Repeaters:

http://www.wcars.org/repeaters.html

I came home and received the following info via email (WARNING, lengthy):

Dear Ham Radio Community.

 

Western Carolina Amateur Radio Society needs your assistance.  

 

The Mt Mitchell Repeaters will be off the air if we do not act.  This is a BIG BIG deal.

 

Below is an email sent out to this evening.  We are asking that you forward this email to your members and ask that they respond to help us keep the 53.63, 145.190, 224.54, 442.225, 443.600 repeaters on the air.

 

You may follow this on QRZ -  http://forums.qrz.com/showthread.php?t=206595

 

We appreciate your assistance.

 

Dean Blair ~ k2jb

WCARS President

k2jb@bellsouth.net

 

Ladies & Gentleman,

 

There have been a lot of phone calls and emails today regarding the pending demise of the Mt. Mitchell repeaters.  

Some of you may be hearing this for the 1st time.

Let me summarize the facts and then suggest some action items for everyone.

 

1. To recap, regarding the amateur radio repeaters on Clingman's Peak (Mt Mitchell), WMIT General Manager, Alice Knighten has informed Ken Woodard, WA4BVW to..."Please plan to remove all of your equipment from the site and return the access keys to our office by July 31, 2009." 

 

2. Randy Johnston, KE4RQL who maintains the 3 WA4BVW repeaters and Jimmy Johnson, K4YR owner of 2 other repeaters located there have attempted to discuss the matter with Ms. Knighten. Her decision seems irreversible and there is nothing to discuss about the issue except to remove the repeaters.  

 

3. I have spoken with Randy and Jimmy and they are appreciative of any assistance the amateur community can bring to bear to reverse this decision and have requested WCARS take a lead in coordinating assistance. We have the support of NWS, SKYWARN, ARRL and WCARS and I believe EOC managers.  

 

From my conversations today, the consensus seems to be:

1. Find an alternative site with the Forest Service on Clingman's Peak. No guarantees this is possible and would be Plan B.
   
2. Generate enough attention to this issue with the people who may be able to appreciate the value of amateur radio on Mt. Mitchell and reverse this decision.
   

We think Franklin Graham is the person who can resolve this issue. Jennifer Mauney, KC4LWX has obtained the contact information for Franklin Graham's executive secretary who screens his email.  She spoke with her today about this issue and believes that he is not aware of this decision, and that we should contact him.  

 

We need County EOC directors, ARRL representatives, SKYWARN representatives, NWS representatives and Amateur Radio Affiliated Club Officers to respond.  Anyone with or without adjectives after their name needs to contact Franklin Graham. 

 

I have attached a letter that you might consider using as a template to send.  However, nothing will substitute for your own words.

Please keep your communication professional and to the point.  There are no personalities in this issue. Simply a great deal of lost value to the amateur community if these repeaters go away.  Lets keep that our message.

 

Time is of the upmost importance.  

Franklin is returning today (6.11.09) but will be leaving town over the weekend.

His secretary asked that we email him at this address:

rwinkler@samaritan.org

The phone number is 800-528-1980

 

Dean Blair ~ k2jb

WCARS

k2jb@bellsouth.net

 

Contacting Alice Knighten directly may or may not be the most effective thing to do at this point. However, here is her contact info 

Alice Knighten  aknighten@brb.org 

General Manager

Blue Ridge Broadcasting

PO Box 159

Black Mountain, NC  28711

Phone 828-285-8477

Fax 828-298-0117

 

Hi Dan,

 

Tonight I spoke with Randy Johnston, KE4RQL, who maintains the 145.190, 224.540 and 443.60 repeaters for Ken Woodard, WA4BVW on Mt Mitchell.

Ken was informed by WMIT Station Manger, Alice Knighten, whose facility houses Ken's repeaters, that ALL AMATEUR EQUIPMENT MUST BE REMOVED FROM THEIR FACILITY BY JULY 31, 2009.  The building where these repeaters are housed also houses the 442.225 and 53.63 N4YR repeaters which will also be affected.  As Randy understands it, the building where these repeaters are housed belongs to WMIT.  The property is Forest Service property.

 

Randy spoke with Alice Knighten to inquire as to the reasons for their decision.  The only explanation given was that Amateur Radio was outdated technology and it no longer fit with the direction the station was going and that the only equipment that will be permitted would be FBI, CIA or Homeland Security UNLESS, they wanted to pay $1,000 per month per antenna at the site.  Their position was non-negotiable.  Amateur Radio equipment has always been permitted there per gratis and always under the direction and supervision of WMIT Station Engineers with regard to physical location, feedline and antenna placement.

 

As you personally know, Amateur Radio has been active on Mt. Mitchell since 1982 and no doubt you checked into the first net Phil Haga, KA4CAC called just as I did. It is all about to end unless we can educate the current management of WMIT.  For 27 years the public has benefited and been served in untold ways.  For Amateur Radio to be summarily discharged from that critical site without explanation or consideration of its public service value seems to be an uninformed decision at best and myopic to say the least.

 

Therefore, on Randy's behalf and with his permission, I am officially requesting any suggestions, assistance or influence the ARRL might be able to provide to influence an amicably resolution to this dilemma for Amateur Radio on Mt Mitchell.

 

 

Best Regards,

Dean Blair, K2JB

President, Western Carolina Amateur Radio Society

k2jb@bellsouth.net

828-423-3082

 

 

Well there it is !!!!  Is it for the money? or are they that lost about amateur radio !!

This will be posted as alway's on the 470ARG website so all can see..  I feel WIMT maybe having some finacial issues, as they should relize the possible danger of communications they are removing may hurt the coverage area of the repeaters,in case of a disaster or a emergency, the fact that $1000.00 per month I feel show's it's about money... I maybe wrong but that's how I see it, we are very lucky to have the 145.470 that cover's our area with the great foot print it has, and all the work that Tim Berry does for the area with all his repeaters...Dean I hope that there will be a way to resolve the issues and I will be sending letters out also as a ham operater, and EC for Sevier County Tennessee...

Rick Sawaya Sr

 

-- 

Rick Sawaya Sr  N4JTQ 

Unbelievable.  Despite amateur radio's community service during Hurricane Katrina, and the many times amateur radio has been called upon during earthquakes, the Tsunami in Sri Lanka and India, and even during times when 911 goes offline, amateur radio is there.  Yet we are still "antiquated", we are still considered old hat, and respect is still hard to come by.

It never ceases to amaze me how those in the broadcasting and communications industry still view amateur radio with contempt.

So now, another challenge besets amateur radio.  More than just staking a claim on a mountaintop, it's an issue of reputation and respect.  Hams need to show their solidarity and support and back up their right to be on the air with the facts as they speak volumes for the service amateur radio provides.

I will be composing my letter this weekend.  

Alice Knighten -  aknighten@brb.org 

General Manager

Blue Ridge Broadcasting

Franklin Graham - rwinkler@samaritan.org

Watch the QRZ forum for more info (you do not need to be registered to view the forum).

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