Ham Radio 2-Meter Band Threats Popping Up

A recent proposal at a recent CEPT conference may pose a threat to the popular 2-meter band in Amateur Radio.

In June, France presented a proposal to make part of the band (144-146 MHz) part of the Aeronautical Mobile Service with Primary allocation. French defense contractor Thales is requesting that they have primary use of the bands, with amateur radio having secondary use.

Even though the proposal will not appear until the World Radiocommunications Conference in 2023, already Amateur Radio organizations in neighboring places like the UK and Portugal are voicing strong objections with it. While it's going to be an uphill battle for any entity to try and overtake the allocation of the amateur radio bands in any country, the fact that it is being proposed and considered is a sobering reminder that hobbyists' contributions to the world of communications are still secondary to everything else occupying the spectrum. No matter how useful ham radio is in regards to community service, weather spotting, experimentation, scientific studies, etc., we are given the access to the ham bands at the mercy of governing bodies such as the the ITU, and if an agency with a need, and money, wants to come in and try to overtake the bands, they will certainly try.

While I'm not screaming that the sky is falling, I am saying that we need to continue to show that we need our amateur radio bands around the world. 2 meters is arguably the most popular band in VHF, if not the most popular overall, offering new hams a chance to break in and get their feet wet with ham radio. Amateur radio repeaters are all across the band, so that you can talk on an HT from your car, or on a hiking trail, or on the side of the road, and reach somebody in another city or county whether it be for emergencies or just to pass the time talking with a friend or a complete stranger.

I've touted the benefits of SKYWARN and emergency services such as ARES, but other services benefit from 2 meters. Clubs will coordinate with community organizations to provide communications for events like triathlons, road cycling tours, and other public events. Nets are held on many 2 meter repeaters (and simplex) for a variety of clubs and topics. There's also other modes of communication used as well, such as APRS. 2m is a good place to test out new modes of communication and on occasion talk to the International Space Station!

In short, 2 meters is not something I see being given away anytime soon, but as long as businesses and governments are thinking that ham radio is "old tech" and "ancient" the best way to show them that it is far from the case will be to use these bands and use them constantly, consistently, and with the best intentions that ham radio has to offer.

Cold fusion near reality?

From PhysOrg:

(PhysOrg.com) -- Few areas of science are more controversial than cold fusion, the hypothetical near-room-temperature reaction in which two smaller nuclei join together to form a single larger nucleus while releasing large amounts of energy. In the 1980s, Stanley Pons and Martin Fleishmann claimed to have demonstrated cold fusion - which could potentially provide the world with a cheap, clean energy source - but their experiment could not be reproduced. Since then, all other claims of cold fusion have been illegitimate, and studies have shown that cold fusion is theoretically implausible, causing mainstream science to become highly speculative of the field in general.

Despite the intense skepticism, a small community of scientists is still investigating near-room-temperature fusion reactions. The latest news occurred last week, when Italian scientists Andrea Rossi and Sergio Focardi of the University of Bologna announced that they developed a cold fusion device capable of producing 12,400 W of heat power with an input of just 400 W. Last Friday, the scientists held a private invitation press conference in Bologna, attended by about 50 people, where they demonstrated what they claim is a nickel-hydrogen fusion reactor. Further, the scientists say that the reactor is well beyond the research phase; they plan to start shipping commercial devices within the next three months and start mass production by the end of 2011.

Like most the rest of the world, I call bullshit, and I know jack about physics. The paper they submitted on this reactor has been rejected by their peers, citing lack of proper theory on how the reaction works, but it was published in the Journal of Nuclear Physics. Never heard of it? That's because the scientists themselves fund and operate it!

They have applied for a patent, but it has been partially rejected, citing lack of evidence since it apparently is designed to defy the general laws of physics. I don't see why. After all, the Fushigi defies the laws of physics and they got a patent...

The YouTube video (I'll understand if you don't watch the whole 41 minutes, especially if you don't understand Italian) is vague at best on how it works. How appropriate it was in Bologna...

So there you have it, a reactor you can't see, no details on how it specifically works, a partially rejected patent for how the reactor is supposed to work, and the only "journal" to publish their findings is the one they own! So yeah, perhaps I'm a tad skeptical.

Maybe Wayne Green was right after all...hell, he's probably got his hand in this snake oil pitch...

TRON: Legacy - A Real Review From A Real Fan

I'm an absolute geek when it comes to many things in Science Fiction. Although I can't tell you the parts list of a flux capacitor (other than it requires 1.21 jiggawatts, whatever the hell that is) or tell you the inner workings of a hyper-warp drive, I enjoy a good sci-fi flick if it stretches the imagination and makes you wonder if something is possible and plausible.

Then there's TRON.

Yeah, that's kinda how I looked when I saw the special effects for the first time.

I'm not the kind of geek that owns all the action figures of TRON, probably because I don't think there are any from the first movie (EDIT: There are!) or have posters of the movie or its stars on my walls (again, they didn't have any). But I have been a big fan of the movie from its groundbreaking special effects to its "shallow but campy" dialogue. Say what you will, I still use "it's got more bugs than a bait store" when the need arises.

TRON wasn't the kind of movie that got a lot of attention although it deserved way more credit than it got. Especially with the Oscars. In fact, it was disqualified from the "best visual effects" category because the Academy felt that the use of computers constituted "cheating". Really?

Not only that, but when it was released in 1982, a couple of other Sci-Fi flicks took a lot of TRON's thunder; Blade Runner and E.T. Both movies were groundbreaking in their own rights respectively. But special effects, to me at least, belonged solely to TRON for the use of computers and the imagination it created for an up-and-coming generation of geeks like me.

My geekdom comes mainly from the fact that:

1. I've seen the movie 80+ times, and
2. I played the arcade game so much, I'm pretty sure I shoved more quarters into the game than the GDP of seventeen 3rd world countries.

Considering some of the crap that has come out passing for movie reviews in recent years, I think I'm more than qualified than the others to properly review the sequel, TRON Legacy.

I've been waiting for this movie since the original trailer showed up online via YouTube when someone taped the then-called "TR2N" trailer at San Diego ComicCon a couple of years or so ago. So much so, I did a few firsts just for this movie, like buying tickets online about 6 weeks in advance, and watching it in IMAX 3D. I also purchased the soundtrack by Daft Punk, my first digital download of a music album. The only thing I didn't do was dress up like TRON Guy.

I will start off with 2 things, one, you won't find any real spoilers here (at least nothing too killer), and two, if you are a computer fan by any stretch, or a sci-fi fan in even the most trivial of degrees, you MUST GO SEE THIS MOVIE! Even if you've never seen the first TRON, there's enough of a back-story to fill you in on what's going on without having ever seen it.

The movie starts out in 1989, where we see Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) telling his son Sam (Owen Best) a "bedtime story" about the Grid. The Grid is the digital world we eventually see later in the movie. He talks about how he makes for the "perfect world" scenario in the penultimate of virtual reality and talks about a "Miracle". As Sam asks about the "Miracle", Kevin tells him it will have to wait until next time. That next time never came, as Kevin Flynn went missing. Fast forward to the present day, and we see that Sam (now played by Garrett Hedlund) grows up to be a rebellious college dropout who has nifty computer skills, but doesn't care to be a part of the Encom empire like his father before him. He does, however, pay Encom a "visit" every so often to remind them of his father's legacy. And by "visit" I mean "break in and wreak some sort of havoc".

Bruce Boxleitner, who reprises his role of Dr. Alan Bradley, is now on the Board of Directors for Encom, and he pays Sam a visit after Sam stops by Encom Tower to pay them another one of his "visits" and tells Sam he received a message on his pager (yes, a pager). The page came from Flynn's Arcade, long since boarded up and all but abandoned, frozen in time 20 years. Sam goes to the arcade to explore the origins of the message sent to Alan's pager.

While in the arcade, we're treated to a heavy dose of retro, from the original TRON arcade game (which aided the original movie in a limited re-release towards recouping it's production costs that year doe to the games popularity) to Journey blasting over the sound system cranked to 11. The sounds of the games in that arcade will bring you back to the 80's all over again (those old enough to have been there) when a visit to the arcade was the alternative to doing homework or nothing being on TV, and the only video game systems were the original Nintendo and SEGA Genesis.

As Sam explores the arcade, he finds a hidden chamber behind the TRON video game, and it takes him to a room below the arcade that contains a tabletop touchscreen computer and laser, covered in dust, but powered on. Sam works to find out what his dad was doing the last time he used the computer and is prompted to activate the laser. He does, and the adventure begins, as Sam is taken into the Grid, a virtual world created by his father. Sam is forced into the games, where he meets up with CLU (played by a virtual Jeff Bridges) who momentarily tricks Sam into believing he's really Sam's father. Once he gets the information out of Sam, he confesses to Sam who he really is, and forces Sam to the light cycle game.

Sam is rescued by Quorra (played by Olivia Wilde) and she helps reunite Sam with his father. They then embark on a journey to get to the portal that will take Sam and Kevin back to the real world, dodging the nefarious CLU and his henchmen. In the beginning, CLU was partnered with Flynn and the original security program TRON, however, after a glitch in the Grid produced the so-called "Miracle", CLU, strict to his programming, turned on both Flynn and TRON and sought to return the system to it's "perfect state" by purging all of the imperfections. Flynn was not able to return to the real world and was trapped in the Grid, autonomous of the outside world and never connected to the internet, since the internet (as we know it) didn't come along until after Flynn's disappearance.

The special effects are just as groundbreaking as the original was nearly 30 years ago. One of the first things we are treated to in the Grid is the familiar "Recognizer", now upgraded and purely bad-ass. The light cycles, too, have been modified from their 2-D locomotion in the original to souped-up hot rods that streamline the rider atop it rather than enclose the rider inside of it (actually a limitation of the computer graphics in 1982 that prevented showing a rider on the light cycles, resulting in a geometric design that encased the rider). Although we are treated to a vintage light cycle, version 2.0 actually.

Several objects of affection in the original make their upgraded appearances in the movie, such as the Solar Sailer and the Transport Carrier, but no tanks are seen, which kinda sucked. What's also improved is the time it takes to get sucked into the Grid. Instead of 80 seconds for Flynn in the original, Sam was there in less than a second. We also don't see any grid bugs, which were prominent in the video game, but only warranted a cameo in the original movie. For the ones like me who were looking, you'll find many references to the first film in the movie. Some subtle, others not so much, but one thing I noticed absent was reference to the MCP.

Now for some of the bad things. First, as mentioned before, no tanks. Come ON...how could you not have them? Oh well, we'll give a pass, since the storyline more or less did not have much use for them. Still it would have been nice to see what one looked like in upgraded form. The story seems to slow down after Sam reunited with his father. The pace was fast and in a near-constant accelerated state up until then. Afterward, we see a significant slowdown but not necessarily anything stagnant.

If I have one real gripe, it was the mouth movements of the younger Kevin Flynn/CLU. It looks so artificial, almost like going to Disney World and seeing one of their animatronic robots, like in the Hall of Presidents. Yes, it's all CGI, but if you watched Forrest Gump, the mouth effects of the Presidents in Forrest Gump was more realistic. They should have incorporated some hand-drawn animation to perfect CLU's mouth to be more natural. But then again, he is a computer program, so maybe that was the whole point?

The plot overall was very good, although at times painfully predictable. Yet, it really made sense of why we haven't seen any action from the franchise for 28 years. In reality, the computer graphics needed to get to this point in the technology in order to produce an epic of this scale.

Garrett Hedlund did a nice job in the role of Kevin's son. Although I kind of felt young Sam (Owen) was a bit better in his brief appearance. I think there wasn't a lot of emotion from Hedlund when it needed to be there, but definitely much better than if Shia Labeouf were in the role. He'd talk Flynn's head off and after 30 seconds he'd shove him out the door...

Costuming for TRON Legacy was revolutionary, incorporating flexible lights and fabric together using techniques never-before tried. You can thank the folks at Quantum Creation FX for the design.

It was good to have TRON's director Steven Lisberger retained as Producer. TRON's Producer Donald Kushner also was retained for this film. In my opinion, if you're going to have a great sequel, you need to keep as many people as possible from the original film in order to keep the ideas and the stories consistent.

The history of TRON has been kind of a love-hate with the Disney gang. I'm not sure why but Disney never gave TRON the kind of push it gave to other movies it oversaw. It seems Herbie and the Apple Dumpling Gang got more love from Disney than TRON. Despite the groundbreaking effects, which Disney seems to enjoy pulling on folks (see Toy Story), there wasn't much hype to the original TRON that I recall back then. Then Disney shelved all of the already-scant publicity and advertising for the first movie soon after its disappointing release. In fact, my first exposure to TRON was an article in TIME magazine reviewing the movie (positively, I might add). Disney considers the movie to be the red-headed step-child of it's movie fleet in many respects. Contrast that to the marketing blitz we've been consumed with for TRON Legacy these last 12 months plus, and it's hard to believe that the first TRON is not really being marketed to those who might want to see what started it all.

My wife liked the first TRON better, but then again, I do too. How many sequels can recapture those initial feelings of euphoria you get when you see mind-blowing effects and incredible action for the very first time all over again?

The first thing I did when I got home was plug in TRON and watch it. Even on my HDTV there's a lot of letterbox space at the top and bottom. And even today there's a lot of things that still show up for the first time despite the fact I've seen it multiple times. There's a lot of people who still like the originals over their sequels, no matter how spectacular the remake or the sequel is. I offer Star Wars and the Matrix as examples.

For anyone who remembers the original movie, it will captivate you and put a lot of the original movie into a greater perspective. For those who have never seen the original, or who weren't as captivated by the movie as I was (like my mom and wife, who went to the movie with me and my brother) but did like the original, TRON Legacy will be worth the money and might make some sense of the TRON concept.

I was completely blown away by this movie. Then again, I am a fanboy. It's the perfect sequel for those who enjoyed the first movie.

So, if you've stayed with me to the bitter end, what's the bottom line? Quite simply, if you are a fan of any kind of computer, science fiction, fantasy flick, or of special FX in general, then this movie is a must-see. And it's best to see in 3D IMAX to take maximum advantage of the movie. I've already made plans to save my pennies and catch it again. The last movie I saw more than once? The Hunt for Red October (suck it, Trebek!!!).

And to the folks that get paid to tell you this stuff: TRON Legacy is not entirely about dialog, plot, or whatever other excuse you can pull to not like the movie. We're talking about a movie involving the computer world and the computer-generated special effects are what runs the movie. That is what people with even a passing interest in technology really want to see.

Go see this great movie. End of line.

"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...

You think YOU have a strong opinion about ham radio...

Check this guy out:

The "Truth Revealed About Ham Radio" by Bert Fisher K1OIK – that gives his humble opinion about what he views is wrong with our hobby and some hams within it.

I'd treat this like I treat other hams who have strong opinions (like, oh, I dunno...me!) and just remember what they say about opinions...

Still, it's a very entertaining 10-minute diatribe. I find truth in much of it. And yeah, I've done several of the things he rails on (HIHI!).

By the way, Google Blogs rolled out this new template, and I decided to give it a try. Give me feedback on it. Like? Dislike? Better or worse than the previous template I used?