[handiham-world] Handiham World Weekly E-Letter for the week of Wednesday, 03 July 2013
- From: Patrick Tice <wa0tda@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: "handiham-world@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <handiham-world@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 3 Jul 2013 12:56:15 -0500
*Courage Kenny Handiham World Weekly E-Letter for the week of Wednesday, 03
July 2013*
This is a free weekly news & information update from Courage Kenny Handiham
System <http://handiham.org/>. Our contact information is at the end, or
simply email handiham@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx for changes in subscriptions or to
comment. You can listen to this news online.
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http://feeds.feedBurner.com/handiham <http://feeds.feedburner.com/handiham>
------------------------------
*Welcome to Handiham World.*
[image: Cartoon guy with white cane and dog.]
This week we are looking at a bit of good news from Morocco.
Morocco?
Yes, that is where the "Diplomatic Conference to Conclude a Treaty to
Facilitate Access to Published Works by Visually Impaired Persons and
Persons with Print Disabilities" concluded last week with a successful
treaty that clarifies and facilitates access.
The NFB and AFB released a statement:
*This morning, the delegates to the Diplomatic Conference being held under
the auspices of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in
Marrakesh, Morocco, voted in favor of a treaty that will increase the
number of published works available to blind and print-disabled people all
over the world. This historic result would not have been achieved without
your support, expressed by signing our petition and taking other actions to
let these delegates know how important this treaty is to all of us who
cannot read print. On behalf of blind and print-disabled people everywhere,
the National Federation of the Blind and the American Council of the Blind
thank you for your support of this groundbreaking treaty. We will send you
additional information as we monitor the progress of the treaty towards
official signature and ratification in the United States, and we urge those
of you outside the United States to monitor developments in your own
country so that this important instrument is brought into full effect.
Thank you again for your attention to this historic and critically
important development.
*(NFB)
Shortly afterwards the White House weighed in on the WIPO treaty:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2013/06/28/landmark-treaty-visually-impaired
I wouldn't ordinarily recommend a United Nations website for exciting
reading, but take a minute to visit the WIPO site and check out what Stevie
Wonder had to say:
http://www.wipo.int/pressroom/en/articles/2013/article_0018.html
This was a very nice way to finish up the month of June and head into a
holiday week, in my humble opinion! A big thank you to all who worked to
make accessibility to published materials a worldwide priority!
Patrick Tice, WA0TDA
Courage Kenny Handiham Coordinator
------------------------------
Independence Day holiday
The Handiham office will be closed on Thursday, July 4 and Friday July 5.
We will reopen on Monday July 8. We wish you a wonderful Independence Day
holiday! Courage Kenny Rehabilitation Institute will be open on Friday.
------------------------------
Bulletin Board
[image: cartoon robot with pencil]
Gage Towers and the old 147.24 repeater site: Down it goes!
Ron, K0FTB, and I go way, way back in our history as amateur radio
operators. We were both early members of the Mankato, Minnesota Area
Amateur Radio Club. I joined the club when I was a teenager and now I'm
65! Time does fly. In any case, I moved from Mankato long ago but Ron
knew that I would be interested in the controlled implosion of a Mankato
landmark, the twin Gage Towers on the campus of Minnesota State University
at Mankato, my alma mater. For a period of time the Mankato club's two
meter repeater was on the top of Gage - 13 floors above the ground and
easily the highest point around. I remember going to the top of the tower
site for antenna maintenance and thinking what a magnificent view there was
from way up there. You could see miles and miles over the plains and the
Minnesota River Valley. That made the top of Gage a great repeater site.
But Gage was aging and it was cheaper to replace the buildings than to
rehabilitate them. The decision was made to tear them down, and with two
high-rise towers, that meant explosives would be the most efficient method.
Last Saturday morning as a huge crowd looked on, the buildings were brought
down together by perfectly placed controlled explosives.
Here is a photo of Gage towers before the demolition:
[image: Twin Gage 13 floor towers just before the demolition on Saturday 29
June 2013.]
Ron writes:
This was the building entrance area to gain access to our original VHF
repeater on Gage Tower A.
[image: Gage Complex sign in front of a huge pile of concrete rubble.]
Tower A was on the right and B on the left.
[image: Another view showing the rubble piles, with Tower B pile in
foreground.]
Our antenna was near this masting on Tower A.
[image: Tower A pile, with masting sticking up at 45 degree angle from top
of rubble.]
This mast looks familiar.
[image: Close up of our old tower mast, now on top of the pile.]
And all that damage was caused by 300 pounds of what came in this box.
[image: Explosives box: Close up of empty cardboard box that survived the
towers falling!]
I have a large quantity of Gage photos taken this week if you are ever
interested in seeing them. In another 50 years they will be much more
interesting.
*73 Ron
K0FTB*
All photos courtesy K0FTB. In case you are wondering, yes the 147.24
repeater is still on the air and no, it was not still up there when the
buildings came down!
------------------------------
Handiham Nets are on on the air through the holiday.
If there is no net control station during any scheduled net time, just go
right ahead and start a round table discussion.
[image: TMV71A transceiver]
*We are scheduled to be on the air daily at 11:00 USA Central Time, plus
Wednesday & Thursday evenings at 19:00 USA Central Time. A big THANK YOU
to all of our net control stations! What will Doug, N6NFF, come up with
for his trivia question tonight? I guess we'll just have to tune in and
listen! Tune in and see how you do with the question this week, or just
check in to say hello. *
*We maintain our nets at 11:00 hours daily relative to Minnesota time.
Since the nets remain true to Minnesota time, the difference between
Minnesota time and GMT is -5 hours. The net is on the air at 16:00 hours
GMT. *
*The official and most current net news may be found at:
http://www.handiham.org/nets *
------------------------------
*A dip in the pool*
[image: Pat shows off his new Plantronics USB headset!]
It's time to test our knowledge by taking a dip in the pool - the AMATEUR
RADIO question pool, that is!
*Let's go to the Extra Class pool and examine a question about the
filtering needed for repeaters like the one on Gage towers:*
Question E7C10 asks: Which of the following filters would be the best
choice for use in a 2 meter repeater duplexer?
Possible answers are:
A. A crystal filter
B. A cavity filter
C. A DSP filter
D. An L-C filter
If you have ever worked with repeater systems, you know that the right
answer is B: A cavity filter. The reason cavity filters are required is
that in a typical repeater installation you will want to use a single
antenna for both transmitting and receiving - both at once! This would not
be possible if you didn't use a filtering system of such extreme
effectiveness that you could separate the two very close receive and
transmit frequencies from each other! Alternatively, you could use widely
separated antennas, one for transmit and one for receive, but think of the
hassle that would be, and besides, few good antenna sites exist with lots
of room for two antennas. Cavity filters (affectionately called "cans"
because that's what they look like) are very effective at sharply defining
frequencies, and that makes them ideal for use at repeater sites. Tuning
them is a job for experts with the proper equipment.
Here is an in-depth accessible article about tuning cavities (called
duplexers here):
http://www.repeater-builder.com/ge/duptuning.html
Please e-mail handiham@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx to comment.
*
------------------------------
This week @ HQW0EQO & W0ZSW are on line.
[image: W0EQO station in the server room at Courage North.]
*
Both stations are on line as of this morning. We are not expecting any
outages, but band conditions are disappointing lately. I do hope to
re-hang the W0ZSW antenna soon. Absorption is very high on 160, 75, and 40
meters during the day. Try these bands after dark for the best results.
- Remote Base operating tip: If switching from one station to the
other, be sure to log off the station you are on, then wait for at least 30
seconds before logging on to the other one. This can prevent timing issues
with the software.
- Remote Base operating tip: The antenna may not be tuned until you
transmit some RF, thereby activating the LDG AT-200PRO autotuner. This can
make the band seem dead at first. Be sure to identify all transmissions.
- Remote Base operating tip: If you are interested in working PICONET
on 3.925 MHz, W0EQO often works best because of its northern Minnesota
location. In the summertime, there is a barrier between northern and
southern Minnesota on 75 meters during the daytime. Up here in Minnesota,
we call this "the iron curtain" because it seems to really block the
north-south propagation. Most of the PICONET net control stations seem to
be up in the northern part of the state, so you will hear them best on
W0EQO. In the winter, with its shorter days, 75 meter propagation
north-south returns to normal.
Yes, it does run on Windows 8.1
Will the new versions of the W4MQ software client run on Windows 8? Windows
7? How about the new preview release of Windows 8.1?
Yes, yes, and yes.
And it will run on both 32 and 64 bit versions, too.
Do we recommend trying the Windows 8.1 preview on your own computer?
No! It has been a headache for me, with recurring sound issues. Hang
tight until the official upgrade.
****
Merger news:
*Courage Center has merged with Allina Sister Kenny Rehabilitation
Institute. The new organization is Courage Kenny Rehabilitation Institute,
which combines these two respected nonprofits. *
- We are open Monday through Wednesday and closed on July 4 and 5 for
the United States Independence holiday.
- Camp applications were due at the end of June. We are still
processing the ones that are already in the mail.
- Campers needing equipment for their stations should advise us by email
at handiham@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. Then I can try to have it ready by camp
time if it is available.
*Practice Exams:
- Did you know that we have a listing of practice exam websites? Here
it is:
http://www.handiham.org/drupal2/node/28
The July 2013
DAISY<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DAISY_Digital_Talking_Book>digest
for our blind members is ready for use in the DAISY section after
you log in. NLS cartridges have been mailed.
- If you have trouble logging in, please let us know.
- All Daisy materials are in zip file format, so you simply download the
zip file you need and unzip it so the Daisy book folder can be accessed or
moved to your NLS or other Daisy player.
- Tip: When in the Daisy directory, it is easy to find the latest books
by sorting the files by date. Be sure the latest date is at the top. The
link to sort is called "Last Modified".
- You can also find what is on a web page by using CONTROL-F. This
brings up a search box and you can type a key word in, such as "July". You
may find more than one July, including 2012, but you will eventually come
across what we have posted for July 2013.
Interested in the VE program and becoming a volunteer examiner? The new
ARRL VE Manual 2013 version is available in beta Daisy format with complete
text and
audio<http://handiham.org//manuals/ARRL/VE_Manual/ARRL_VE_Manual_2013_Handiham_Daisy.zip%C2%A0>-
Download 74 MB zip file and unzip to play on NLS digital player.
*
- CQ for June is now available for our blind members in the DAISY
section. We do not have the July issue ready yet.
- QCWA Journal for JUNE 2013 has been added today in MP3. QCWA members
may also access this audio from the QCWA website <http://www.qcwa.org/>.
Just follow the link in the page header. The July issue of QCWA Journal has
not been released yet, so we do not have it.
- Our thanks to Bob, N1BLF, Jim, KJ3P, and Ken, W9MJY, for reading this
month. Look for these DAISY materials in the members section.
<http://handiham.org/drupal2/user>
*Digital mailers are important: *If you do mail a digital cartridge to us,
please be sure that it is an approved free matter mailer. Otherwise it will
quickly cost us several dollars to package and mail out, which is more than
the cost of the mailer in the first place. We don't have a stock of
cartridges or mailers and not including a mailer will result in a long
delay getting your request back out to you.
*DAISY audio digests are available for our blind members who do not have
computers*, playable in your Library of Congress digital player. Handiham
members who use these players and who would prefer to receive a copy of the
monthly audio digests on the special Library of Congress digital cartridge
should send a blank cartridge to us in a cartridge mailer (no envelopes,
please), so that we can place the files on it and return it to you via free
matter postal mail. Your call sign should be on both the cartridge and the
mailer so that we can make sure we know who it's from. Blank cartridges and
mailers are available from APH, the American Printing House for the Blind,
Inc. <http://www.aph.org/>
Digital Talking Book Cartridge Catalog Number: 1-02610-00, Price: $12.00
Digital Talking Book Cartridge Mailer Catalog Number: 1-02611-00, Price:
$2.50
Order Toll-Free: (800) 223-1839.
The Library of Congress NLS has a list of vendors for the digital
cartridges:
http://www.loc.gov/nls/cartridges/index.html
Get it all on line as an alternative: Visit the DAISY section on the
Handiham website after logging in.
*
------------------------------
Stay in touch
[image: Cartoon robot with cordless phone]
Be sure to send Nancy your changes of address, phone number changes, or
email address changes so that we can continue to stay in touch with you.
You may either email Nancy at hamradio@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx or call her at
763-520-0512. If you need to use the toll-free number, call
1-866-426-3442.
Handiham Program Coordinator Patrick Tice, WA0TDA, may be reached at
handiham@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx or by phone at 763-520-0511.
Mornings Monday through Thursday are the best time to contact us.
The Courage Kenny Handiham Program depends on the support of people like
you, who want to share the fun and friendship of ham radio with others.
Please help us provide services to people with disabilities.
Call 1-866-426-3442 toll-free. -- Help us get new hams on the air.
Get the Handiham E-Letter by email every Wednesday, and stay up-to-date
with ham radio news.
You may listen in audio to the E-Letter at Handiham Weekly E-Letter in MP3
format <http://handiham.org/audio/handiham.mp3>
Email us to subscribe:
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That's it for this week. 73 from all of us at the Courage Kenny Handihams!
Pat, WA0TDA
Coordinator, Courage Kenny Handiham Program
Reach me by email at:
handiham@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Nancy, Handiham Secretary:
hamradio@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
ARRL is the premier organization supporting amateur radio worldwide. Please
contact Handihams for help joining the ARRL. We will be happy to help you
fill out the paperwork!
[image: ARRL diamond-shaped logo]
The weekly e-letter is a compilation of software tips, operating
information, and Handiham news. It is published on Wednesdays, and is
available to everyone free of charge. Please email
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*
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