ICQ Podcast Episode 231 – Ed’s 2017 Predictions

ICQ Podcast — In this episode, Martin M1MRB / W9ICQ is joined by Dan Romanchik KB6NU and Ed Durrant DD5LP to discuss the latest Amateur / Ham Radio news. Colin M6BOY rounds up the news in brief, and this episode’s features is Ed Durrant DD5LP predictions for 2017. We would like to thank Michael Casavant, N1XRR and our monthly and annual donors for keeping the podcast advert free. To donate, please visit – http://ift.tt/2ieneAX Amateur / Ham Radio Licence Status VHF/UHF DX Book Replica Edition NOSintro Book ACMA Reverses CB Decision Online UK Advanced Exam ARES Volunteers Support Oroville Dam Evacuation Making VHF/UHF Contests Better Ivory Coast DXpedition SOTA Summit to Summit VK-EU Event

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NewsWest for Sunday, February 19, 2017:

NewsWest, has an interesting variety for you
this week:

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Group Puts Skills to Test at Winter Field Day:

eHam.net News — The Gaston County Amateur Radio Society hosted a Winter Field Day event at the home of George Poteat (NC0G) Jan. 28-29. Ten club members and two guests made more than 180 national and international radio contacts, using a variety of modes of radio communications. Winter Field Day is an event with the purpose of encouraging amateur radio emergency preparedness under extreme weather conditions. “Since emergencies and disasters are unpredictable by nature, the goal is to enhance radio communication skills in a less than favorable weather scenario,” said Tom Agerton, a member of the group. “Being prepared is the key to a timely response during any emergency event and this is what is expected of amateur radio operators by local authorities and the general community.”

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Youth Take Up Amateur Radio from Inside Central Victorian Bus in the Bush:

eHam.net News — Castlemaine student Kezia Hamilton is a product of radio communications, so to speak — her parents met while talking on CB radio as teenagers. “They had this certain station where they would meet people and would go on a separate frequency to chat,” Kezia said. “They decided they would like to meet outside my mum’s house, kind of like the equivalent of Facebook in those days.” The 17-year-old is part of a group of eight Castlemaine Venturers learning amateur radio in a converted bus located on a bush block on the outskirts of town. “It’s pretty cool talking to other people! We once had someone from France and we talked to a couple of people in New Zealand,” Kezia said. But it is not just the fun factor of amateur radio that appeals to Kezia. “I think it could be very useful in emergencies and stuff because sometimes the phone towers break down,” she said. In the digital age of mobile phones, instant messaging and social media, many swear by amateur radio’s resilience.

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Radio-Heads Give Bhubaneswar a Peep into Airwaves from the Past:

eHam.net News — Spread over three days from February 12, the exhibition was held to mark the World Radio Day on February 13. The centre of attraction was a radio of the General Electric Company make dating back to 1906. Sanjeev Manna, the proud owner of the radio, said he had bought it from a man in Madras (now Chennai). It was touted as the oldest radio at the fair. A self-proclaimed radio activist, Subrat Kumar Pati, also the organizer, said: “The fair brought ham radio, old and new radio sets and broadcasting equipment under one roof.” He added that his romance with the radio started early on in life. His fascination for the equipment saw him working with every aspect of it over the years.
A valve radio, the predecessor of transistor, was also a top draw. Its owner Akshay Patnaik said, “I collected it from one of my friends at Manikagada in Khurda.” A radio collector, Patnaik is credited with having over 350 radio sets. His set, one of the oldest at the exhibition, dates back to the 1920s, said Pati. “Who says the popularity of the radio is on the decline?” asked Pati with an online radio station making its debut at the fair. People bought as many as 2,000 new sets from the fair, which points to the growing popularity of the radio, added Pati. The ‘Outreach International Radio Fair’, as the exhibition was called, lived up to its name with the participation of three international broadcasters.

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Ham Radio for Dummies Books Available:

eHam.net News — With the explosive growth in amateur or ham radio, the Cedar Creek Amateur Radio Club decided to spread the word about the over 100-year-old hobby. There are now more licensed hams than at any time in history. And no wonder. You don’t need the Internet or Wifi or cell plans. Just a simple walkie talkie that now costs as low as $30 can connect you to repeater systems that will send your voice across the world. So how are new people exposed to the hobby? Through a book called “Ham Radio for Dummies” by Ward Silver. It is part of the “Dummies” series that explains topics and things in simple terms. And now that the ham license no longer requires a code test, anybody from age 5 to 95 can easily join in. The Radio club, financed in part by a grant from LDG Electronics of St. Leonard, MD, set out to put a copy of that book in most every school and public library in the tri-county area. The task of being the “Johnny Appleseed” of ham radio fell to Glenn Hughes, a club member and former teacher. Glenn visited with librarians, superintendents and key administrators as he delivered the books. Here are a few of their comments. “I delivered the books to the Junior High and High school libraries and visited with the Lead Librarian. She was very excited about sharing something new with the students,” said Brad Koskelin, Asst. Supt. of Mabank ISD.

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The Social Media of 1939:

eHam.net News — In the first two decades of the 20th century, a new subculture embraced a new technology. Ham radio operators built their own transmitters, traded and modified each other’s designs, negotiated complicated covenants that let them share the unregulated ether, and formed groups to enforce the rules. They battled the military (figuratively speaking) for the right to use the airwaves, and they invented broadcasting at a time when virtually everyone assumed that radio would be used only for point-to-point communication. They were often young, often anonymous, and often prone to pranks. They were the social media of a century ago, and you can draw whatever parallels you’d like between their subculture and the subcultures of today. Before long the government would be regulating the airwaves, broadcasting would be professionalized, and the ham operators would be confined to their own segment of the spectrum, where the rules they followed became more strict. But on that reservation they kept their kind of social media alive. Here is an artifact from that middle period of amateur radio, after the anarchic early era but before it stopped seeming unusual to hear live voices from another side of the world: a 1939 “Pete Smith specialty” called Radio Hams.

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