NewsLetter for September
(with apoligies to Russ)

 


NORTH GEORGIA AMATEUR RADIO CLUB
September 2001

On June 17, 2000, Dale Hatfield, W0IFO, talked about Amateur Radio at AMRAD's 25th Anniversary Dinner.

Dale is Chief, Office on Engineering and Technology, FCC, and I think it would be good for us to review some of his remarks. You can scan his entire speech at www.fcc.gov/Speeches/misc/dnh061700. You might also check out www.amrad.org to find out more about this organization.

The part of Dale's speech about "hams have got to walk the walk, not just talk the talk" got my attention. The radio spectrum is a non-renewable natural resource, and it is under tremendous pressure from commercial interests of all sorts. Dale was alluding to 97.1, Basis and purpose, the rationale for the Amateur Radio Service when he made this comment. We must do a better job of satisfying these elements. Refer to FCC Rules, Part 97.1
  1. emergency communications
  2. advancement of the radio art.
  3. advancing skills in communications and technology
  4. provide reserves of trained operators, technicians and electronics experts.
  5. enhance international good will.
So? What can the North Georgia Amateur Radio Club do about this? Well, my apologies to Dale, but we could start by talking about this situation, and perhaps identify things that we could do to get some of us started on the "walk". We have members who are already walking the walk, but the rest of us, myself included, should get in step.

To begin, I recognize that everyone does not hold each and every one of the five elements as a primary field of interest. One operator may like DX, which would seem to address item (5), but care somewhat less about item (3) the engineering aspects of the hobby. And so on. Suppose
that you let me know your field or fields of interest and we could feature that element in the news letter. You might have a question.Others could submit the answers or offer suggestions, having "been there, done that".

Suppose we revive the weekly net on 2 meters and concentrate on training in this important skill, item (1). This could be supplemented with a monthly feature here on Emergency Communications. Those
operators who have experience in this field could critique our performance in the net sessions and help us to improve our skill as emergency communicators.

I would have fit in with item (3) when I was a Boy Scout before I discovered Ham Radio. I liked semaphore and Morse, and I liked to build electronic stuff. Then I found out about Amateur Radio. Bingo! Been building stuff ever since. However, I am about to fall off the wagon and get left behind. Digital technology, already an integral part of communications, is advancing rapidly while I am distracted by other activities here on Long Mountain. I need to get back in the program.

Digital Signal Processing is red hot. Do we have any DSP experts in the club? Optics is another field of electronics that we had better pay attention to. Optics is not just about camera lenses and telescopes. It is about signal switching and processing and things that will make our hottest radios of today look pretty slow some day. Nanostructure technology will fit right in there too. Hang on! We are in for quite a ride into the future! Let's not loose our seat in the radio spectrum.

Tell me what you want to do. Tell me what you want to learn more about. We have fifty members in this club. If you are new to Ham Radio, there is an "Elmer" in this group ready to work with you.

73,
Russ

BICYCLE RIDE
The sponsors of the bicycle ride are calling for more communicators. We have only about half as many volunteers as needed. Contact K4PTT, Duane, and sign up. By land line: 706-864-5071.
We also need some radios. If you can loan a dual bander or 2 meter for APRS, please contact K4SZ, Bob.

CLUB MEETINGS
Meetings will be held monthly beginning in October. There is some interest in alternating meeting places between El Maguey and Caruso's. Let me know your thoughts on this.

EMERGENCY NET
Would you like to be net control and conduct some practice message handling.
FEEDBACK
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