Category: Amateur Radio

What is there to say about Hamvention that has not already been said? I suppose we all have our own stories to tell about our first time in Dayton, Ohio; my first time was not for anything amateur radio related but rather for The Grand American Trapshoot that was eventually the casualty of the TSA under the guise of airport security. As of this writing, the security remains secure and the airport has yet to be taken over by trapshooters. If you notice the garage/storage like buildings and a two story building on the other end of the runway, you have now found the place which held the Grand American- vendors used those buildings, which had been purchased by them in some cases, for their business during the two week event. Without question, this was the place to shop for shotguns and shooting accessories for the clay target sports. A shame it’s gone.

While I had been to the Grand (as it was called), I had never been to Hamvention before this year. It was never a priority. Field Day, which is today, is another great holy event among amateurs. It, too, is also not a priority. I’m not sure what my lack of apparent enthusiasm is indicative of in either case. I just made a contact in the mobile with a station in San Diego on 10M. After completing the contact, I shut the radio off and came inside. It was that simple- a real take it or leave it sort of thing. I actually realized I gave the wrong exchange because I classified myself incorrectly after the fact, but really, who cares?

The people who care about these things are the same people who look forward to Hamvention all year. These same people are attending for the social aspects- they get to meet and greet all their on air and real life friends. There are cliques within cliques within cliques. This is not unlike the Atlanta radio scene. It’s all about the glad handing, the being seen and showing up at the right dinner at the right time and with the right people.

Imagine the meetings in the settings that James Bond would have attended. Now think about the polar opposite. The Hara Arena is slowly disintegrating and the constant complaint about the entire place, other than its general state of disrepair, is the bathrooms. I’m not sure how the bathrooms are supposed to survive longer than the building in which they are placed, but believe me- they are a terror to be avoided if possible.

You’d be a fool if you didn’t think that the majority of amateurs are politically conservative. So, it was with some interest that I tried to make note of the many different t-shirts, bumper stickers, overheard conversations, and any other sort of political indicator I could find. If there is one thing that hams are good at doing, its expressing themselves. What they express, however, is another matter entirely.

Of course, there is a vocal minority who do not feel the same way:

I also noted a couple of men wearing suspenders which had been embroidered with their callsign. These are the same sorts of people who enjoy wearing personalized t-shirts about an event way past its prime. The, “I survived” type of t-shirt is a real cash cow for the provider. Think about it: you purchase the t-shirts, have them silkscreened with the appropriate logo and then sell them to the public at the event- you are going to capture some amount of business because there are always going to be people who want a, “I survived Field Day” sort of t-shirt as a token of their having attended. Remember- hams certainly express themselves!

I also kept an eye out for different W4 1×2 calls. I was there, along with W4PA, W4NL, W4OI, W4QO and W4AX. Hopefully there were others there, but I did not see them.

There is also some sizable segment traveling in these circles that believes in alternative medicine. It is difficult to know how many anti-vaccination people, if any, were at Hamvention, but there had to be some present.

Really, whatever this was (I think it was an electrical stimulator of some sort) is the solution you have for sale that could fix all of these issues both jointly and severally? So where is everyone waiting to get this magic treatment? Not in the waiting area? Ultimately, I feel badly for these people because they are at the very bottom of the sales hierarchy. Trying to make a living selling something most people aren’t buying is nothing but misery.

I’m not sure why alternative medicine is big amongst this sort of crowd- you’d think with such a science and engineering background necessary for the hobby, many hams would immediately dismiss the pseudoscience that is alternative medicine. But it isn’t so.

I suspect that the same people who believe in these sorts of magical cures (such as glucosamine) are very similar to the MENSA crowd. The common thread is that both groups always feel like a victim- there is a certain, “I am the only one affected and the only one able to fix such.” In either case, both believe they are always right as a function of their intelligence or insight into a problem- they are smarter than the doctor or whomever and can plainly see what others can’t. It is the “If people would only listen to me,” sort of syndrome. I can’t imagine a worse lot to throw in your chances with; I also imagine that if you put that you were a member of MENSA on your resume that it would be immediately thrown into the trash and rightfully so. Why did MENSA decide to show up here instead of Georgia Tech? The people maning the table were very polite and nice to speak with, but really, what’s the point? Maybe they know their market well and are trying to scoop up more of the egocentric types that would attend this event. Even so, this effort makes as much sense as digging in a dry well.

I did find some cool items for purchase. I renewed my membership with the ARRL for 3 more years, which earned me a 2012 handbook. In the boneyard, I found a 1977 handbook, the year of my birth. I purchased it and have been intrigued at the differences between the two texts! I also noticed quite a bit of of test equipment for sale in the boneyard.

I also purchased my next project from the guys at Far Circuits: a W1VT 222MHz. Transverter.

There were also a lot of “picklocks” guys at Hamvention: at least three different tables for them and their wares. Not sure these guys are relevant- but perhaps they are more relevant than the bird house seller, the pet hair remover seller or the cosmetics seller.

There were other goings on. It’s a big place, Dayton, and worth visiting at least once. Like the guys in the hamabouts will tell you- motor on!

The June VHF Contest is the second major ARRL VHF contest of the year, the first being in January. The contest this year is the second weekend of the month, June 9th-11th. You can find a copy of the rules with all the specifics, here.

You will find most activity centered on 6M and 2M with the remainder of activity on 70CM and 1.25M. In certain areas, you will find people with equipment for the higher bands, 902MHz-10GHz, but I doubt there will be that much, or kind of, activity locally. You may want to try your hand with the various WSJT modes! But don’t forget our old friends SSB and CW.

Good Luck to All!

Jim Massara, N2EST, has written a very nice article about the famous and much beloved QST cartoonist Phil “Gil” Gildersleeve, W1CJD.  Give it a read!

In the September/October (Vol. 39 N. 5) issue of National Contest Journal, Hal Kennedy N4GG writes on page 3,

“A lot of things are legal but not ethical. For example, in all but a few circumstances, it is unethical for me to lie to you, but it is not illegal. It’s far easier to operate within legal boundaries than it is to operate within ethical boundaries.  An important consequence, is that when you act ethically you can be assured that you are acting legally (emphasis mine). It is important to understand this distinction.  Not breaking the law does not make what you are doing okay.  That’s not good enough.  It’s also the wrong focus.  Act ethically, and legality will take care of itself.“

In fact, you are not assured that you are acting legally when you are acting ethically.  For instance, it may well be within your ethical framework to help a terminally ill family member find an appropriate assisted suicide solution at the end of his or her life, though this practice is quite often illegal.  And you don’t even have to go to such a controversial extreme to find an exception to Kennedy’s position- “the golden rule” may be an ethical principle which all should follow, but it certainly isn’t codified as law in any legal jurisdiction, nor is it likely to be any time soon.

When Kennedy says, “Not breaking the law does not make what you are doing okay,” he fails to provide any real justification for this point; and in fact, he seems to be making a bigger claim: that pushing the boundaries of the law, while not illegal in and of itself, is nevertheless not acceptable ethical behavior.  Ignoring his larger claim, my concern is that if you aren’t breaking the law, what difference does it make what you are or are not doing? Put another way, his position is that it is acceptable to do certain acts with regards to the law, while it is not acceptable to do certain others (pushing boundaries, for instance), both of which are legal.  But if both acts are legal, how can one be privileged over the other?

Following what he says logically, if you are doing something ethically, you aren’t doing anything illegal.  And if we can be assured that we are acting legally so long as we are acting ethically, as he says, then it is reasonable to assume that it is the case that performing a non law breaking act is acceptable behavior.  But since that can’t be by his reckoning, the contradiction that results shows how poorly he has argued.  I’m sure he wouldn’t like the consequence of what he wrote to be used in this way, but it is undeniable that his position is inconsistent and does not follow logically, as I have shown. This isn’t an unusual result of someone who is “ethically trained” in a business setting. Where they go wrong is trying to take this training and apply it to something other than a business setting- they have no experience with anything other than where and in what they were trained- its what they would have us believe, after all, about their ability to do their own job.  It’s a very common mistake to make, one which I am sure I’ve made myself.

So, while his argument fails as a logical matter, how does the spirit fare?  I don’t see why anyone would in principle disagree with his main thesis- let’s get rid of cheaters- but really, who would disagree?  The only way to solve cheating in radio contests is to make it a real time scored event, such that the possibility for cheating will no longer exist because all participants are judged at the same time and for the same individual events that comprise the whole of the contest.  Since the nature of radio contests is such that this is practically impossible (but in principle, it is not impossible as using internet real time scoring could be developed), the only way in which to otherwise check for cheaters is the one that is already on record- the check log.  I do also concur that cheaters should be kicked out.  The usual reason given for not doing so is because of libel issues- but really, what’s the problem?  If someone threatens to sue you over a trophy and recognition (no money is awarded for placing in any radio event), this person is a bully.  A bully is a coward and a coward never follows through on threats. Of course, that’s easy for me to say. So long as the accusation of cheating isn’t made public, libel is avoided- a better solution is probably to “lose” logs from time to time. I imagine that solution has its own set of problems; and in any case, determining who is cheating isn’t difficult from an accounting stance using check logs.  But the other manners of cheating that surely go on, such as too much power, cannot and will not be caught.  If this is the case, then why worry about it?