Steve Bozak challenges citation and wins!

Earlier this year I mentioned a ham in New York (Steve Bozak, WB2IQU/HL9VX) who was cited for "talking on a cellular phone while driving" by a cop who apparently can't tell the difference between a ham radio and a cell phone.

Steve challenged the ruling and has won his argument.

The ruling is as follows:

The Vehicle and Traffic Law defines a "Mobile Telephone" as a "device used by subscribers and other users of wireless telephone service to access such service" (VTL §1225-c [1][a]). A "Wireless Telephone Service" is defined as "two-way real time voice tele-communications service that is interconnected to a public switched telephone network and is provided by a commercial mobile radio service, as such term is defined by 47 C.F.R. §20.3 (VTL §1225-c [1][b])(emphasis added). A review of 47 C.F.R.§20.3 reveals that Citizens Band Radio Service is defined under private mobile radio service not commercial mobile radio service. Therefore, the Court finds that the use of an amateur radio device does not fit the definition of a mobile telephone as defined under the Vehicle and Traffic Law and grants the defendant's motion to dismiss.

I sent the link to Steve via Facebook and it was news to him. He hadn't received word until I posted it!

Glad I was able to give him some great news...even if the law lumps ham radio and CB together...

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...

Not the best title for a ham radio article...

The Daily O'Collegian of Oklahoma State University has a nice write-up about ham radio in their recent issue.

Not too thrilled about the title, tho...

10-4 Good Buddy

Oklahoma State University’s Amateur Radio Club is making a comeback.

Having been around since the 1920s, Amateur Radio Club is one of the oldest clubs on campus.

But just two years ago, the club’s outlook was bleak.

With only one member, who was a senior and about to graduate, the club was seemingly coming to an end.

But Seth Charles, now ARC president, Patrick Huber and Logan Cabori helped start it back up.

More on this article here.

I would hope someone would have corrected the writer prior to publication, but I guess you can't win them all.

Couple killed by escaped convicts were hams

The burned skeletal remains of Gary Haas, N5VGH, and his wife Linda were found in a charred camper on a remote ranch in eastern New Mexico on the morning of Wednesday, August 4. Authorities believe they were killed by escaped convicts, along with an accomplice, who had escaped from an Arizona prison on July 30. Authorities said that the Haas’ bodies and camper were found by a rancher on his property, not far from Santa Rosa, one of the New Mexico cities that the couple frequented; their truck was found in Albuquerque, 100 miles away.

Read more on the ARRL web site.

Where's the challenge?

The ARRL has an offer for the 75th anniversary of ARES with a commemorative "Challenge Coin".

I first noticed it and thought to myself "What does one have to do in order to earn the coin?".

I figured you would have to check in to x-number of ARES nets, participate in so many events, talk to this many ARES groups, etc.

So what does it take to "earn" a Challenge Coin? $9.95 + shipping.

That's rather funny. When I hear "Challenge" I think of some sort of effort that has to be put in to earn such a prestigious item. Apparently not.

In any case, save yourself the trouble of being challenged and cough up the dough already!

TWIAR comrades: Together at last...

I've been affiliated with TWIAR (This Week in Amateur Radio) for about 15 years now (my God, has it really been that long?) and what started out as a site for posting an audio file or two has turned into a big-time partnership with George Bowen (W2XBS) and a plethora of other folks over the years who have come and gone, or stuck around in some fashion or another.

Last year while visiting Iowa, I took a day and went to the Council Bluffs / Pacific Junction area and hooked up with Dale Sargent for the day. Back around 1998 I think, I met up with a former anchor of TWIAR (who I just found out moved to middle Tennessee this year), and the only other person I had yet to hook up with was George.

That changed last week.

He called up about three months ago to tell me he might be coming to the Chattanooga area to attend a wedding and was passing through town on the way. I decided to take the opportunity to look up some repeaters and send him as much info so that we could hook up on the radio while he was here. We also made plans to get together at least one day while he was in the area.

As luck would have it, he was able to make it down and so we finally met last Monday and it was our first "eyeball QSO" of (hopefully) many.

We spent the day swimming in the pool at their hotel, talking about the past, present, and future of TWIAR, and just shooting the breeze about life, the Universe, and everything.

As I guessed, my elder daughter hooked up with his, my younger one with his younger one, and the wives went off into their own world. One thing about my daughter Amber, she will have never met you before, grab you by the hand, and say "CMON!!" and take you wherever she thinks they need to go...

We were there until 11ish, just lost in time talking about everything possible. We had an enjoyable time at a Cracker Barrel and just enjoyed getting to know each other after all these years. When all was said and done we trekked back to Knoxville, and he headed home on Wednesday.

We've already made plans to hook up again should they make their way down or we make our way to the New York area.

In the meantime, we're talking about a revamp of TWIAR. Not sure what we want to go with or what theme would work best, but we'll basically have to start from scratch for most of the content when it does occur (and time is not always a luxury).

Speaking of the kids, Lauren's trying to get on the radio a bit more but everything else just gets in the way. Hopefully there will be more kids getting on the air that she can talk to.

Speaking of kids...do I have a yarn to spin (making it a separate post) about adults talking to kids on the radio...stay tuned.

German ham detained in Lebanon

Several international news agencies and blogs are reporting that Manfred Haug (OD5/DL6SN) was arrested last Monday and charged with spying by Lebanese authorities who questioned him over his "sophisticated transmitting equipment".

He was later released and no charges were filed after "intense questioning" by counterintelligence officials.

Manfred works at a cheese factory as an engineer and has lived in the country since 1999.

Lebanese officials have ramped up their security efforts in recent months, arresting dozens of individuals and accusing them of spying for Israel.

When in a country with potential security issues and hostilities, stow the radios!

Mt. Pleasant, WI is not kind to ham radio

If you're a ham operator, or the father of one, and you or a member of your family have special needs, stay away from Mt. Pleasant, Wisconsin.

The town's planning commission ordered that a tower belonging to the Markstrom family was to be taken down after it was determined that the Markstroms did not secure the proper permits to erect it.

But it's not so much the planning commission, as it is the neighbors who all of a sudden claim that the tower's interfering with their TVs. The complaints were brought on after Jim (KB9MMA) and his son Samm (KC9POP) had their community service during severe weather attract unwanted attention by local officials and neighbors. Samm is 10 and has issues with Cerebral Palsy.

Granted, I don't live there, and I'm certainly biased when it comes to ham radio towers and the right to have one (I will NEVER live in an HOA thanks to their micro-plutocracies that base their "laws" on the almighty $$$ at the expense of individuality and the freedom of expression) but when the neighbors call a ten-year old a "media puppet" and are indifferent to the public service he's been awarded, the negative attention given to the neighbors is warranted in my opinion.

It looks like several media outlets have reported the story and there's even a facebook page dedicated to the cause.

However, now that the commission has spoken, it looks to be a lost cause. Jim has said he may sue to keep the tower, but at this point, why bother? Get the hell out of there, and move to a place that has wide open spaces, and welcomes the community service that Samm employs in order to get out of his shell that his disability has encased him.

And if Mt. Pleasant, God forbid, gets hit with a tornado, I would certainly hope they have ample warning. They would, if they'd allow one ham and his son to keep their tower.

Doppler-gangers

Due to the nature of the subject, I've omitted names and callsigns.

Over the last few weeks we've had several individuals causing malicious interference across several repeaters here in East Tennessee. One was caught a few weeks ago, and turned out to be a non-ham. Of the few others that have appeared, one has been very clever in hiding his (or her) signal quite well, but a few have been able to pick them up. While we have a few leads as to who the suspects are, we haven't singled any people out (yet!).

So, last night on my way home, I checked in to the local SKYWARN net and listened in to the gang wrapping up the net as the weather abated. However, as I was checking on some weather approaching from Nashville, we suddenly heard a dear carrier, covering up all signals.

My immediate reaction was that the NWS station had left the mic stuck in the "transmit" position. However, the NWS station chimed in on another repeater that they were not the cause. So the next natural suggestion was that we had a QRMer.

However, something told me it wasn't intentional. The normal interference we had heard was someone scratching a mic, retransmitting signals from HF, or the occasional bodily function. This was just silence. However, a couple of other hams were convinced it was intentional, because they'd been getting QRM recently.

I stepped up my drive home and arrived and put my home station into action. I swung the beams south and immediately got a spike in my signal strength (about S-7) to the southeast, towards Pigeon Forge. We'd had a couple of leads of QRMers from that area, so I started to think we had a bead on the signal from that general direction. However, another ham advised they had a strong signal near McGee-Tyson Airport, directly south of me. I swung my beams due south, and the signal shot to S-9, almost full quieting! Now, all I needed was another ham with a beam to triangulate a general location.

Unfortunately, no one else with a beam was listening, or wasn't hearing the signal.

I got on the repeater's output frequency and sent out a simplex transmission that we were actively searching for the signal. The repeater owner was listening and managed to shut the repeater off through a control link on another band, preventing damage to his repeater.

A DFer with a doppler unit was in the area, so I advised he head towards the airport. While the DFers were doing their manhunt, I got on the repeater's output frequency again and advised that I had the signal to the south and requested input from users who could hear the signal and give a direction or bearing. Unfortunately, no one was giving beam headings or any signal report. I gave out my phone number and a couple of hams called and gave me some signal strength reports, but again, not from a beam, just what they picked up on their HTs.

About 30 minutes into the situation, we new this was not intentional. No one with common sense would risk their equipment just to harass other hams, especially during a SKYWARN net. 3-4 DFers got in on the hunt, and they had bearings near the airport, but further south. As they got closer to the transmitter, I began looking up hams in the QRZ database who might be in the area. I would ask for street names to try and see if there was any hams who lived on particular streets. After they gave information on one street, I called out a ham's callsign and address, and they sped towards that position. Another ham knew they person and called him on the phone. It turned out he was not the QRMer. The DFer's briefly stayed, using the time to get another bearing before continuing on.

Suddenly, the signal developed noise. it had now been transmitting for over an hour and I figured the radio was beginning to overheat. It went from S-9 to S-7 on my radio's signal strength meter. Some thought the drop in signal was an indication it was mobile, but I didn't hear "picket fencing", indicative of a mobile station on the move.

As the DFers moved in closer, the signal suddenly dropped out. Was the radio dead? The hunters made comments that the radio must've died, but suddenly it reappeared, then cut out again! Suspicion arose. Was this intentional, and the guy was messing with us? Was he monitoring us and shutting off the transmitter the closer the hunters were getting?

Suddenly, it came on again. Then off, and on...it appeared to me that the transmitter was shutting itself off due to thermal protection. We knew we had to find it before the radio was permanently damaged, or worse, started a fire!

We were approaching 2 hours, when suddenly one of the DFers picked up a strong signal near the house of a well-known ham. We finally had our culprit.

The ham had gone out to tend to some business and had just plugged in an ICOM radio he had just acquired. His wife was home and allowed one of the DFers in to check the equipment, and the radio was finally turned off. It turned out the mic had a short in the wiring, and was shorted to transmit.

The radio itself was warm, but not terribly hot. The power supply, however, was able to fry an egg, from what I was told.

It was a successful "hunt" and with the terrain and occasional "kerchunk" from hams trying to figure out why the repeater wasn't on, the DFers were able to resolve the situation in good time.

It was a great exercise in direction finding. Hopefully the lessons learned will make the hunters better when it comes time to locate the actual QRMers on the repeaters.

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?