Hi!
Yes indeed, it was a very impressive article, and remarkably up to date in
the modern sense.
Some may think the expense suggested is on the steep side, thus I believe it
can be improved, hi hi. I recently bought a new UV5R from Amazon for around
$40. I know some may gripe about these cheap Chinese radios, but still, tne
minimum speech feedback out of the box should be reassuring, and I had it
programmed locally within half an hour in order to be back on the local
repeater, that also enjoys IRLP access.
77,
Dave
From: marc-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:marc-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of Nina Kagan
Sent: Monday, 24 May 2021 1:53 a.m.
To: marc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [marc] Re: Ham radio FW: Article from Boston Globe Ideas Section
2021 05 23
Thanks for sharing Jerry.
Nina
From: marc-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:marc-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of jerry
Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2021 7:38 AM
To: marc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [marc] Ham radio FW: Article from Boston Globe Ideas Section 2021
05 23
From: NFB-NEWSLINE Online <publications@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2021 7:18 AM
To: Jerry Berrier <jerry.berrier@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Article from Boston Globe Ideas Section 2021 05 23
Connecting with strangers over ham radio cleared my family's static Going
analog boosted my marriage's reception during a year of pandemic isolation.
By Gabriella Gage . By Gabriella Gage . On a rainy October night during the
pandemic, my husband, David, searches for a faint voice in the distance. He
doesn't know who's calling, but he knows he wants to speak to them. David
adjusts the tuning knob on the decades-old transceiver ever so slightly, as
if cracking a safe. Outside, a homemade antenna bobs in the wind. On his
computer, pulsating lines tell him the voice is one of hundreds calling out
on this busy night. The voice gets clearer: "CQ," the magic letters he's
been awaiting - the amateur radio operators' invitation for a response -
followed by a call sign. David jumps on his mic, repeating the stranger's
call sign and adds: "This is KB1TOY, Kilo-Bravo-1-Tango-Oscar-Yankee. You're
light but I can hear you! After months of troubleshooting, David has made a
new contact: Emilio, a truck driver and self-described cowboy in his early
40s, located in a commune in rural southern Italy. They quickly exchange
personal information, knowing that any minute they might lose each other.
For David, it's a distance record - a new high. A new human connection, rare
in these pandemic days, made an ocean away without leaving our Somerville
apartment. Our family celebrates. We are not alone. The global pandemic has
brought a renewed interest in amateur, or "ham," radio, a nostalgic pastime
long overshadowed by the Internet, social media, and cell phones. Longtime
enthusiasts and newbies like David flocked to their radios for community,
distraction, and vital pandemic information. "We've noticed general and
event-related activity are both up," says Bob Inderbitzen, spokesperson for
the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the national association for amateur
radio in the United States. Its membership of licensed ham radio operators
numbers 779,531 - a total that grows by upwards of 30,000 annually. "People
have turned to amateur radio more and more as a way of varying communication
with the world," says Inderbitzen, whose call sign is NQ1R. March 2021 saw
the largest monthly cohort of new licensees in the last decade - 4,397 - and
licenses are up by 35 percent this year over 2019. Amateur radio offers
something uniquely appealing in the age of COVID-19 isolation: the chance to
connect in real time with strangers around the world while honing a
technical skill that's handy during global health crises and natural
disasters. In many ways, crises are what ham was built for. The Federal
Communications Commission grants ham radio operators in the United States
special access to airwaves that can also be used for emergency response
efforts. Radio can be lifesaving in areas prone to natural disasters, such
as Florida, Puerto Rico, and Indonesia. During pandemic lockdowns, England's
National Health Service partnered with the Radio Society of Great Britain to
spread public safety messages and promote wellness checks on hams, many of
whom are older. ARRL's Inderbitzen says ham radio has historically attracted
two kinds of people: those with an affinity for electronics and gadgets, and
those looking for public service and community-building opportunities. David
falls somewhere between the two. Prior to the pandemic, he counted on
hobbies that involved risk- riding motorcycles through deserts, sailing
boats across the Atlantic, racing cars at tracks - to challenge himself and
make new friends. The storm more than the port has always been where he
found refuge in times of crisis - flirting with danger helps him de-stress.
During the pandemic, however, David struggled in the privileged monotony of
isolation at home as a new dad and computer programmer. Without travel or a
creative outlet, and as the hours online and time caring for our baby
blurred together, he retreated from our tight, loud quarters to our dark,
unfinished basement and worked longer days than ever. He was burned out and
increasingly disconnected from our little family. David discovered ham by
chance on YouTube early in the pandemic. Its many new digital applications,
such as one called "moonbounce," which permits earth to moon and back to
earth radio transmissions, appealed inherently to the adventurer in him. He
couldn't tear across a desert on a motorcycle, but he could travel in a
whole new way. It wasn't long before an imposing copy of "Practical Antenna
Handbook" replaced the travel books on David's nightstand. There were
frequent late-night trips to Home Depot. Spools of copper wire glinted
around the house. He began using the NATO alphabet to spell things for our
toddler - Alpha, Bravo, Charlie. . . . David had embarked on what
Inderbitzen calls "the journey of discovery. "It's all about learning about
radio communications, improving your station and technical skills, and
pushing those boundaries so you're heard farther away," says Inderbitzen,
who first discovered ham as a middle schooler before making a career out of
it. In a twist for a traditionally analog medium, the pandemic brought
testing for licensing online. After weeks of studying, David passed his
general class operator exam - there are three license levels, offering
successively greater access to the airwaves. He did it on Zoom from our
bathroom, the only room small enough to show he was alone at all times and
thus could not be cheating. Increased availability of inexpensive equipment
has also made ham more accessible - a modest portable station can be created
with a laptop and under $50 worth of additional equipment. David dedicated
weekends to devising new antennas for our "home station" - his new name for
the once-dreary basement - and modeled them for our delighted daughter, a
fan of all things remotely "robot. In order to attach the antenna that would
improve the station's signal in a dense city rife with interference, we took
turns launching coaxial cable into the trees above our house with a
slingshot. The antennas also strengthened another connection: the one to our
family life. David relished having a challenging hobby he could share with
us at home. Ham even scratches David's competitive itch: He discovered
"contesting," when amateur radio stations try to contact and exchange
information with as many stations as possible in a given period of time. In
an age of machine-to- machine connectivity, David found the thrill of
discovery, technical challenge, and global escape he craved. He's connected
with hams in nearly every state and in dozens of countries, including Ghana,
Ukraine, Kuwait, and Panama. And now, without leaving Boston, we've
collected QSL cards - written or digitized confirmations of two-way
communication, often designed around the operator's unique call number -
from fellow hams around the world. In the end, it wasn't the next great
technology or ham's increasingly popular digital modes but old-school analog
radio - the unfiltered voices of real humans crackling somewhere in the
distance - that helped David find his way back to us in the storm. Talking
to strangers improved our communication with each other, too. And now, as
the prospect of actual travel looms, we have new friends to meet all over
the world. Gabriella Gage is a writer in Somerville
This article is provided to you as a courtesy of NFB-NEWSLINE? Online for
your sole use. The content of this E-mail is protected under copyright law,
and is not to be distributed in any manner to others; infringement of our
non-dissemination agreement is strictly prohibited. Allowing someone to have
access to this material is in violation of the Terms of Use agreement that
you electronically signed when you signed up for NFB-NEWSLINE? Online.
Please do not forward this E-mail or its attachments to any other person or
disseminate it in any manner. Thank you. The NFB-NEWSLINE? Team.
