Logo for Courage Kenny Rehabilitation Institute, part of Allina Health Courage Kenny Rehabilitation Institute Handiham World Weekly E-Letter for the week of Wednesday, 27 August 2014 This is a free weekly news & information update from <http://handiham.org> Courage Kenny Handiham System. Our contact information is at the end. Listen here: <http://handiham.org/audio/handiham27AUG2014.mp3> http://handiham.org/audio/handiham27AUG2014.mp3 Get this podcast in iTunes: <http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=372422406> Subscribe to our audio podcast in iTunes RSS feed for the audio podcast if you use other podcasting software: <http://feeds.feedburner.com/handiham> http://feeds.feedBurner.com/handiham _____ Welcome to Handiham World. Dennis, K0CCR, seen through the screen porch, logs at station 2. . Dennis, K0CCR, seen through the screen porch, takes a turn at logging the contacts at station 2. We'll get to Radio Camp after a quick reminder about the seasons. A Reminder About the Seasons and a Radio Camp Retrospective By Patrick Tice, WA0TDA IC-7200 display set to 3.925 MHz Image: Early morning music on 3.925 MHz means that the band is opening long into Japan before sunrise. Winter propagation on 75 meters is starting. We are refreshing the Handiham World format a bit to make if flow better. Hopefully this will work for both the text and audio versions as we move into the Fall and Winter ham radio seasons. What?!! Fall and Winter? It's August, for heaven's sake! That's true - and last week at Handiham Radio Camp the summer weather was in full force with high temperatures in the mid-80's Fahrenheit most days, so it sure seems like autumn is a long way off. But the signs of the approaching seasonal change are already knocking on the door. Consider this morning's temperature outside the WA0TDA QTH before sunrise when I took the dog out: Only 55 degrees Fahrenheit. And unlike the same trek outdoors at 5:30 AM in late June and early July, it was dark - seriously dark. The sun is slipping below the horizon earlier in the evening and rising later, and the change really gets noticeable around Labor Day, which will be celebrated in the USA and Canada on September 1. When I turned on the IC-7200 and tuned to 3.925 MHz after getting settled into the ham shack, I heard music - a Japanese broadcast station skipping into Minnesota on the 75 meter band. If anything is a sign that the winter HF propagation season is beginning, it is that kind of long skip on 75. When I got back from Radio Camp, there was an email from my local radio club, The Stillwater (MN) Amateur Radio Association or SARA for short) <http://www.radioham.org> to remind me about the first meeting of the Fall season in September. Since I'm one of the newsletter editors for my club, that meant rolling my sleeves up and getting to work. Well, if I wore long sleeves in August, anyway. Like many other clubs, my local radio club skips summer meetings and newsletters when members are more interested in outdoor activities. The September meeting is always a nod to the sure approach of winter and the resulting long nights that make indoor activities more inviting. For decades the Radio Camp was held near the last week of August, so it always felt like when the camp session ended, we turned the last page of summer. This year we followed that tradition, and will likely do so again as we begin planning for Handiham Radio Camp 2015. I know that Radio Camp 2014 will hold some great memories for me. From the very first day when several of us arrived early to set up antennas to the final take-down and hectic travel day, everything really went pretty well. For those of you who have never experienced Radio Camp, it's a bit like a special event station, a really long Field Day, a public service exercise, a ham radio class, and one heck of a social event, all rolled into one jam-packed week. Camp brings people with disabilities together for a week of ham radio fun and learning, but just because it's called "camp" it doesn't mean that we sleep in tents. We have modern wheelchair-accessible cabins with laundry facilities, a kitchen and internet access. The stations have to be set up when we get there, but there was no problem doing that, thanks to our team of antenna putter-uppers that included: Phil, K9HI (L) and Dave, W0OXB set up the wire antennas. . Dave Glas, W0OXB, designer of the "W0OXB Special" dipole fed with 450 Ohm ladder line and a current balun, the official antenna of Handiham Radio Camp 2014! Dave is the antenna launching expert, putting the golf ball attached to the fishing line he deploys from a casting rod with the help of a fancy slingshot exactly on its target. In the photo, Dave is in the foreground. . Phil Temples, K9HI, ARRL EMA Section Manager and assistant antenna rope wrangler. Bob, W0GAF, stands in woods holding spool of mason line used to put up wire antennas. . Bob Jensen, W0GAF, SARA Education Coordinator and expert antenna rope wrangler. Here Bob stands under a tree holding a spool of the mason line that we used to pull the wire antennas up into the trees. (You start by launching a light fishing line over a tall tree branch, then tie mason line to it, then tie the antenna rope to the mason line to pull everything up into place with stronger line.) Don Rice, N0BVE, gets a wireless router working. . Don Rice, N0BVE, added an extra wireless node to extend our internet at camp. Before that he led the team to replace the old non-working CDE-style antenna rotor on our tower with a new Yaesu rotor and 300 feet of new rotor cable. L-R: Lee, WB8TRA, Bill, N0CIC, and Don, N0BVE posing at the tower. . L-R: Don's assistants in the rotor replacement project were Bill Jones, N0CIC, Lee Lorentz, WB0TRA, and Matt Arthur, KA0PQW (not pictured). The work was necessary because the old rotor was frozen in place, leaving the triband HF beam antenna stuck pointing south. Don did the tower climbing and Lee and Bill were the ground crew. (Photo courtesy N0BVE.) . Matt Arthur, KA0PQW, who was in charge of the HF station using the tower and beam, said that "it was great experience for the campers to work DX." Most of the operators at camp do not have access to a directional, rotary HF antenna system at home. . Don, N0BVE, also donates and maintains the W0EQO-R repeater system located a short distance north of the HF tower. Walter, WB6JTJ, listens on his HT. . Walter Hampton, WB6JTJ, listens to camp traffic on his 2m HT. The W0EQO two meter repeater with Echolink host computer. . In this photo the W0EQO repeater is to the far left, while the Echolink host computer for W0EQO-R sits atop the tuned cavities. Rachel, KC0VBV, and Phil, K9HI, make contact with the Marshfield Fair station NN1MF. . Rachel, KC0VBV, and Phil, K9HI, are all smiles after making contact with the Marshfield County Fair special event station NN1MF. During Radio Camp week, our Handiham campers had a unique opportunity to make contact on the Camp Courage repeater, W0EQO-R, via Echolink with special event station NN1MF at the Marshfield Fair in Marshfield, Massachusetts. One of the amateurs with whom they spoke was Mark Vess, KC1ACF. Mark has been a ham operator for just over a year but he has been an avid short wave listener since childhood. He offered us his perspective into our hobby and the Marshfield Fair Special Event station: "One of the Whitman Amateur Radio Club's goals is to engage members of the public and introduce them to the wonderful world of amateur radio. We also log call-ins as well as a special event station. I was lucky enough to be contacted by the Handiham group. As we are all ambassadors of our hobby, I spoke with a number of Handihams over two days and we had a blast talking ham radio. What a great group of folks. We made sure that all call-ins were duly placed in the call book for future reference. Mark says the Whitman club is also willing to arrange contacts with operators at any time. Supporting the hobby is what we are all about" Mark also states that a large number of kids and adults at the fair were able to "get on the radio" as the Whitman Amateur Radio Club had operators standing by from as far away as Malaysia. The Marshfield Fair is a real country fair with 4-H animal exhibits, motorcycle races, truck pulls, lawnmower races, demolition derby, a great midway and lots of rides and good food. It is the best venue for bringing amateur radio to the public. See you next year at the Marshfield Fair, at the WARC booth or on the air. Phil Temples, K9HI, holds HT at the ready as he follows the public service exercise script. . Phil Temples, K9HI, prepared a scripted EMCOMM practice exercise for us again this year. "The Sumner County E911 EMCOMM Incident" will be remembered for its excellent execution as a practice exercise at Radio Camp. . It's a normal day, with typical incidents in Sumner County. An ambulance call for a woman with labored breathing and a reported robbery at a convenience store are dispatched without incident. Then comes a report of an explosion at a telecommunications hub... . "We have never had an EMCOMM exercise run as smoothly and professionally as this one", said Pat Tice, WA0TDA, Handiham Program Coordinator. "Everyone listened carefully and waited to be called. When the calls came, the various locations used tactical callsigns and clearly communicated their information. Sumner County may be fictional, but I feel good about the practical communications experience we had, should the real thing arise." Lucinda, AB8WF, acts as net control during the practice exercise. . Lucinda Moody, AB8WF, acted as NCS during the exercise. She is reading one of the script pages shortly after being directed to open a numbered envelope. Bill Vokac, K9BV, was lead instructor for General Class. Here he is showing us a circuit board. . Bill Vokac, K9BV, was lead instructor for General Class. Here he is showing us a circuit board. Licensing classes have been a traditional part of Handiham Radio Camps for many years. Matt, KD0WQQ, checks a circuit board out while he studies for his General. . Matt, KD0WQQ, checks the same circuit board out while he studies for his General. After the Friday VE session, Matt had his General Class CSCE. Joe, Bogwist, N3AIN, at the controls of station 2, a Kenwood TS-590S. . Joe, Bogwist, N3AIN, sits at the controls of station 2, a Kenwood TS-590S. Joe taught our on line audio class about how to use this radio from a blind operator's perspective. His "Radio in the Dark" series explains how it's done. At camp Joe taught others how to use this excellent blind-accessible HF radio. One of the camp pontoon boats sits at dock ready to head out on Cedar Lake. The Icom IC-718 station and mobile antenna get us on HF while on the water. . One of the camp pontoon boats sits at dock ready to head out on Cedar Lake. The Icom IC-718 station and mobile antenna get us on HF while on the water. Lakeside and other recreational activities provide a mid-afternoon break for everyone during a typical camp day. Bill, N0CIC, becomes "Captain Bill" when he runs the pontoon boat. Here he jokes with the campers and pretends to need a hard hat to survive the boat ride. . Bill, N0CIC, becomes "Captain Bill" when he runs the pontoon boat. Here he jokes with the campers and pretends to need a hard hat to survive the boat ride. Bill, N0CIC, also made repairs on equipment through the week. . Bill, N0CIC, also made repairs on equipment through the week. Our volunteers bring the tools and equipment they will need to do their jobs at camp. Bill was ready when we needed to replace an open PL-259 on a vital piece of coaxial cable. I wish I had time to detail everything about our great camp experience this year, but time is short for me as we head into the Labor Day holiday weekend. But I do want to thank everyone who participated in the session, campers, volunteers, True Friends Camp staff, and the staff at Courage Kenny Rehabilitation Institute and our supporters, who made the 2014 Radio Camp possible. Every time I make my way home after camp, I am really jazzed about getting on the air. The week's activities only whet my appetite for more ham radio, and I know that everyone else feels the same way. That's why, I my own sneaky way, I began this little discussion with a reminder about how the seasons are changing and how we will soon - heck, we already are - enjoying more and better HF propagation, thanks to the longer nights and the prospects of diminished thunderstorm static. Even though camp can only last a week, we now have a wonderful opportunity to keep the communications going by getting on the air every single day! Please take a few minutes to think about the following: . Our daily Echolink net continues to operate for anyone and everyone who cares to check in at 11:00 hours CDT (Noon Eastern and 09:00 Pacific), as well as Wednesday and Thursday evenings at 19:00 hours CDT (7 PM). Tonight N6NFF will pose a trivia question in the first half hour, so check in early if you want to take a guess. . With 75 meters becoming more usable, consider checking into the PICONET on 3.925 MHz, which has a long Handiham affiliation. It's on Monday through Saturday mornings from 9 AM to 11 AM and Monday through Friday afternoons from 3 PM to 5 PM Central Time. The 3 to 4 PM hour will begin after Labor Day, but details and schedules are at www.piconet3925.com, so check there for sure. . Don't forget about our remote base station, W0ZSW, which is available for your use. You can easily use it to check into PICONET on 75 meters or MIDCARS on 7.258 MHz. The YL System net is happy to get your check in on 14.332 MHz. . Take advantage of your camp training during the EMCOMM exercise and learn more about public service communications in your area. Want to feel inspired? Listen to FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate, KK4INZ, tell us how important Amateur Radio is in emergency communication and disaster planning. <https://handiham.org/audio/fugate.mp3> . Finally, I mentioned that my own local radio club is getting started with meetings again in September. I like being part of a local club that offers me an opportunity to participate in face to face activities related to radio and technology. If you don't belong to a local club yourself, this is a great time to find and join one. If you need some help with that, the excellent ARRL Club List can be a good resource. <http://www.arrl.org/find-a-club> You can find out more about the Handiham program, an educational resource for people with disabilities, at our website, https://handiham.org. Oh, and before I forget - This coming week we will be closed on Monday, Labor Day, September 1. Changes in our hours related to the holiday weekend will be posted on our website. 73, and I hope to hear you on the air soon! Have a wonderful and safe holiday weekend. For Handiham World, this is Pat Tice, WA0TDA. 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! 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 <mailto:handiham@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Patrick.Tice@xxxxxxxxxx for changes of address, unsubscribes, etc. Include your old email address and your new address. <http://handiham.org> Return to Handiham.org