[image: Logo for Courage Kenny Rehabilitation Institute, part of Allina
Health]
*Courage Kenny Rehabilitation Institute Handiham World Weekly E-Letter for
the week of Wednesday, November 1, 2017*
This is a free weekly news & information update from the Courage Kenny
Handiham Program <https://handiham.org>, serving people with disabilities
in Amateur Radio since 1967.
Our contact information is at the end.
Listen here:
https://handiham.org/audio/handiham01NOV2017.mp3
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Subscribe or change your subscription to the E-mail version here.
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*Welcome to Handiham World.*
*In this edition: *
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*A note from the coordinator*
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* NASA-Hadley Links *
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* Assistive Technology Assessment *
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* Early Handiham Program History, Part 4*
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*Down memory lane…*
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*Check into our nets!*
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*...And more!*
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*A note from the coordinator...*
As winter approaches in the northern hemisphere, thoughts turn to long
nights operating the radio in a warm, comfortable shack. When you are
tuning around the bands, be sure to check out the Split Rock Special Event
– Edmund Fitzgerald Commemoration – November 3-5, 2017.
[image: Picture of Stillwater Amateur Radio Club Members at 2016 Split Rock
Special Event Station. Members are holding both the United States and
Canadian flags. The lighthouse is in the background of the photo.” width=]
The Stillwater Amateur Radio Association (SARA), a Handiham Affiliated
Club, will be operating to commemorate the sinking of the Edmund
Fitzgerald. Using the club’s call sign, WØJH, more than twenty SARA members
will operate from Split Rock Lighthouse State Park (ARLHS USA 783) in Lake
County, MN. This year marks the 42nd anniversary of the ship’s mysterious
sinking and our thirteenth year of operating this Special Event.
Join them in Remembering the Edmund Fitzgerald and her crew by making
contact with W0JH!
* W0JH Operating Schedule*
Friday, November 3 3:00 pm – 5:30 pm (Central Time)
Saturday, November 4 10:00 am – 5:00 pm (Central Time)
Sunday, November 5 10:00 am – 5:00 pm (Central Time)
Frequencies of Operation:
3.860, 7.260, 14.260, 21.360, 28.360 MHz (+/- QRM)
Midwest or local stations should look for them on the 75m and 40m bands in
the early morning and late afternoon.
They will have a station working PSK31, so look for W0JH (070 #1905) around
3.580, 7.070, and 21.070 as well.
*Don’t forget to request an electronic QSL certificate:*
Send an email request to: SplitRock2017@xxxxxxxxxxxx with the following
information:
Your call sign
Date of QSO
Time of QSO in UTC
Band/Frequency
Mode
Your RST report
The email address where you want the certificate sent
*Any email received without the above information will be returned for
clarification.
*No QSL Cards or other postal mail requests will be accepted.*
Certificates for valid contacts will be set as a PDF file to your email
address beginning 2 to 3 weeks following the event.
Another sign of the approach of winter is the time change. Many of us will
be changing our clocks this weekend (except those lucky enough to live in
locations where the time does not change). Don’t forget to turn your clocks
back Saturday night so you are on-time for all your Sunday activities!
In the E-Letter this week there are some NASA-Hadley links regarding the
solar system, extreme weather, and the solar eclipse. The next link is to a
presentation on Assistive Technology Assessments. Sister Alverna’s early
history of the Handiham Program is back with Part 4. Finally, there is an
article from the Summer 1984 issue of Handiham World in Down Memory Lane.
Do you have a story to share about assistive technology or ham radio
related activities? Please send your articles and stories via email to
Lucinda.Moody@xxxxxxxxxx or by calling me at 612-775-2290.
------------------------------
* NASA-Hadley Links*
Editor’s note: Thanks to Ken KB3LLA for these links.
Here is the link to the NASA-Hadley "The Birth and Eventual Death of Our
Solar System" webinar: https://hadley.edu/SolarSystem.asp
Here is the link to the NASA-Hadley "Extreme Weather: Studying the Impact
of Water" webinar: https://hadley.edu/Extremeweather.asp
Here is the link to the NASA-Hadley Explore the “Solar Eclipse” webinar:
https://hadley.edu/Eclipse.asp
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* Assistive Technology Assessment*
Presented by Ike Presley
In this webcast, Presley talks about the world of assistive technology and
walks us through a range of assistive technology options. He shares some of
the strategies involved in conducting an assessment as well as in choosing
the right assistive technology tool for the learner. Presley also provides
guidance regarding how often learners should be reassessed and resources
for staying current with assistive technologies.
Ike Presley is a project manager at the American Foundation for the Blind's
National Literacy Center. As a member of the Literacy Team, Presley helps
develop resources and materials that can be used by service providers to
improve the quality of their service. https://youtu.be/BFahrZI7aQA
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* Early Handiham Program History, Part 4*
by Sr. Alverna O’Laughlin
[image: Sr. Alverna O’Laughlin]
* Handiham History: Remembering Past Members *
(Editor’s note: This is the fourth in a series of articles on the early
history of the Handiham Program.)
In the summer of 1970, the Handiham Program lost their first member in
death—Mary Adams, WN0VLM. Although only a Novice, she was very active in
CW—a motivated student with a real desire to upgrade. Later that same year,
Mike Archambeau and Doug Peterson died. These three deaths so close to each
other prompted Handiham Program founder, Ned Carman, to comment, “At best,
life here for many of our members is frail.” He felt a great personal loss
at the death of members.
In December 1969, Ott Miller, W0EQO, Faribault, Minnesota, was elected
president of the Handiham Program at the Winter Hamfest. Ott was well-known
in the Amateur Radio fraternity. His election marked the first time anyone
outside the Rochester, Minnesota area was elected an officer of the
organization.
Ott’s interest in Amateur Radio began when he was a young man, shortly
after he had polio and his mobility was limited. As a new ham, he enjoyed
experimenting with as well as operating his station. About this same time,
Ned was friends with Ott’s younger brother. It was then that Ned was first
introduced to the hobby. One could say then, that without Ott there may not
have been a Handiham Program.
Under Ott’s leadership, helpful contacts broadened. He was active on
several local nets and much of his time was devoted to exploring new ways
to make Amateur Radio concepts more understandable. With his electronic
repair background, he looked for ways to make station operation easier for
persons with disabilities.
What a shock it was on that colder winter night on February 2, 1971, when
Ott’s sister called to tell us that Ott died while visiting friends at the
Eagle’s Club not far from his home.
A big snow storm hit the day before Ott’s funeral, but it did not deter his
many friends from being present at the First Lutheran Church to bid their
final farewell to this gentle, patient, caring friend and fellow amateur
radio operator.
The Handiham Program does more than just educate ham radio operators. An
unexpected side benefit for Jean Heikkila, W0IRJ, and Orvin Fingarson,
WN0DCA, came out of the May Convocation in 1970. Little did anyone expect
that wedding bells would be ringing for them in November. What a surprise
it was on the Handiham Round-up in early September when Jean announced,
“Orvin and I are getting married.” When asked about their decision, Jean
said, “It was love at first sight.” It was a touching wedding, with more
than 300 persons witnessing the interdenominational service; and Orvin, a
music major, sang to his bride.
(Sr. Alverna’s account of the early years of the Handiham Program will
continue in the next issue of Handiham World.)
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* Down memory lane...*
In honor of the celebration of 50 years of the Handiham Program, here is an
article from the Summer 1984 issue of Handiham World, reprinted from the
American-Statesman, Austin, Texas.
[image: Lions Clubs International. Eye Donation: Need of the Nation.
Close-up picture of open eye.]
* Blind Radio Operator Finds Eyes for Others*
Mike Shaw was sitting in the bedroom of his West Austin home when the
message came over his ham radio. A Louisiana hospital needed a cornea to
transplant into the eye of a 16-month-old girl.
Shaw relayed the message to the Austin Lions Club Eye bank, which had just
received a cornea from the family of a Georgetown child who had died.
“Within hours, the cornea was flown to New Orleans and transplanted into
the eye of Jamona Anderson,” said Eleanor McMain, director of the Southern
Eye Bank in New Orleans.
The happy ending marked another success for Shaw, an amateur radio operator
whose blindness is no deterrent to helping others see.
Shaw, 28, sits in his bedroom each day to listen to three broadcasts from
around the country. The broadcasts contain messages from eye banks that are
looking for eyes or corneas, or have eyes available.
The broadcasts at 6:45 and 8 am and 8 pm contain messages such as, “Kansas
City needs two eyes under the age of 50, fresh tissue,” and give a phone
number, Shaw said.
Shaw then calls the eye bank at Seton Medical Center. If the bank has eyes
or corneas from donors, an employee will call the number Shaw provides and
arrange to fly the eyes to that city.
Jamona Anderson’s new cornea came from Jessica Vasquez, a 13-month-old girl
who died November 15 in Brackenridge Hospital. Jessica’s liver was
transplanted into a 10-month-old baby in Pittsburgh, and her other eye was
used to repair the cornea of a 14-year-old Elgin boy.
Jamona’s mother, Ramona Anderson of Hahnville, Louisiana, said that before
the transplant, her daughter had several operations for an eye problem she
had since birth. Anderson called Shaw “beautiful” for his help.
Shaw, who is unemployed because of health problems connected with diabetes,
said he learned to operate a ham radio 16 years ago at the Texas School for
the Blind.
A brain tumor damaged Shaw’s optic nerve when he was 5, and he has been
blind since then. The damage cannot be repaired by an eye transplant.
He said a sighted friend got him interested in volunteer monitoring five
years ago, and he thinks he is the only person in Austin monitoring the
broadcasts regularly. Shaw doesn’t know how many people have received eyes
because of his help.
I enjoy it,” he said. “It’s good to have something to do. I don’t want
people to be in the shape I am in. This is a seeing world, and people ought
to be able to see.”
Editor’s Note: The following is from the QRZ page for W0EYE: “W0EYE is the
official call sign of the Eye Bank Net, formally the Eye Emergency Net. The
net was organized in 1962 at Iowa City by Dr. Al Braley, M.D., W0GET and
Ted Hunter, W0NTI (both are Silent Keys) The first on the air meeting was
on December 20th 1962. The purpose of the net is for locating and arranging
for the distribution of eye tissue to be used in sight saving emergency
corneal transplant operations. We handled this traffic for over thirty
years, serving more than fifty hospitals across the country, with close to
one hundred-fifty members. During that time we tranferred 11,066 eyes. We
have generated much good publicity for Ham Radio and have received many
honors, including a Presidential Citation. We continue to meet out of
fellowship and to help keep the tradition of Amateur Radio in public
service alive. The International Eye Bank Association has asked us to
continue our net, in case their newer methods of communications should ever
fail. All licensed Hams are welcome to check in and join us daily at 3.970
Mhz at 0045 UTC”
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*Check into our Handiham nets... Everyone is welcome! *
How to find the Handiham Net:
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The Handiham EchoLink conference is 494492. Connect via your iPhone,
Android phone, PC, or on a connected simplex node or repeater system in
your area.
The Handiham Net will be on the air daily. If there is no net control
station on any scheduled net day, we will have a roundtable on the air
get-together.
[image: Cartoon multicolored stickman family holding hands, one
wheelchair user among them.]
Our daily Echolink net continues to operate for anyone and everyone who
wishes to participate at 11:00 hours CDT (Noon Eastern and 09:00 Pacific),
as well as Wednesday evenings at 19:00 hours CDT (7 PM). If you calculate
GMT, the time difference is that GMT is five hours ahead of Minnesota time
during the summer.
Doug, N6NFF, poses a trivia question in the first half of the Wednesday
evening session, so check in early if you want to take a guess. The answer
to the trivia question is generally given shortly after the half-hour mark.
A big THANK YOU to all of our net control stations and to Michael, VE7KI,
the Handiham Radio Club Net Manager.
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*Membership*
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*You can pay your Handiham dues and certain other program fees on line.
Simply follow the link to our secure payment site, then enter your
information and submit the payment. *
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Handiham annual membership dues are $12.00. The lifetime membership
rate is $120.00.
MEMBERSHIP DUES PAYMENT LINK
<https://pay.usbank.com/default.aspx?id=COURAGE_KENNY_HANDIHAMS>
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If you want to donate to the Handiham Program, please use our
donation website. The instructions are at the following link:
DONATION LINK <http://www.handiham.org/drupal2/node/8>
How to contact us
There are several ways to contact us.
*Postal Mail: *
*Courage Kenny Handiham Program 3915 Golden Valley Road MR#78446 Golden
Valley, MN 55422*
*E-Mail: **Nancy.Meydell@xxxxxxxxxx* <Nancy.Meydell@xxxxxxxxxx>
*Preferred telephone: 1-612-775-2291 Toll-Free telephone: 1-866-HANDIHAM
(1-866-426-3442)*
Note: Mondays through Thursdays between 9:00 AM and 2:00 PM United States
Central Time are the best times to contact us.
You may also call Handiham Program Coordinator Lucinda Moody, AB8WF, at:
612-775-2290.
73, and I hope to hear you on the air soon!
For Handiham World, this is Lucinda Moody, AB8WF
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 Nancy.Meydell@xxxxxxxxxx
for changes of address, unsubscribes, etc. Include your old email address
and your new address.
