31 October 19

Voice of America had multiple sites during WW2 and the fall back was located in West Chester Ohio. This station is an operational museum. A division of VOA is the West Chester Amature Radio Club (WC8VOA) they do contesting and other events from the site.

More on VOA which was also known as the Bethany Relay Station can be found at Wikipedia

During the early during the 50’s VOA had plans for a fleet of ships to be known as “Truth Ships”, the first went on the air April 18, 1952 while on a cruise to the Panama Canal Zone. The ships name was USCGC Courier. For the whole story on the Courier (Click Here)

VOA-USIA_Booklet-1965

30 October 19

In what year did the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) authorize amateur radio spread spectrum communications?

A: 1985
B: 1988
C: 1990
D: 1992
Answer A…The ISM bands were first established at the International Telecommunications Conference of the ITU in Atlantic City, 1947. In the U.S., the FCC first made unlicensed spread spectrum available in the ISM bands in rules adopted on May 9, 1985

More at Wikipedia

26 October 19

Amature radio operator Richard C Factor WA2IKL was the first President of

  1. The SETI League 
  2. Eventide
  3. Kings County Amature Radio Club
  4. North Jersey DX Club

Answer is “1”… Richard felt the world’s radio amateurs might be just the resource needed to keep SETI research going. He founded the SETI League as a non-profit, membership-supported, educational and scientific organization, and now serves in a volunteer capacity as the League’s first president. He also has a seat on the corporation’s Board of Trustees.

Richard C Factor WA2IKL on SETI 

QSO Today Interview with Richard Factor, WA2IKL. He tells his ham radio story and how he uses is Toyota Prius as a backup power supply for his house. Click Here for the Interview

A short page of his life on radio as well as WABC music radio in New York as an engineer and filling in as a radio personality, very interesting… Click Here

Richard Factor was one of the many Music radio WABC engineers
who made the over air sound of the station so smooth and tight.
In addition, he worked with Dan Ingram who nick named him the “Evil Ox”.
Here’s an air check of Dan working with Richard utilizing one of his innovations known as “The Heen and the Hern”:

25 October 19

Wayne Overbeck, N6NB and Gregory Campbell, W6IT broke the microwave 2.3 meter and 3.4 meter microwave SSB distance record that stood for 20 years. From what 2 locations and year did they do this

  1. Alaska and California 2014
  2. Philippines and Hawaii 2015
  3. Japan and Midway Island 2014
  4. Hawaii and California 2015 

Answer is 4… The record-setting contacts occurred on June 19 (June 18 in Hawaii) on 2.3 GHz at 0257 UTC and on 3.4 GHz at 0300 UTC. W6IT was in grid square DM13cs, while N6NB/KH6 was in BK29hq. According to the database of distance records maintained by Al Ward, W5LUA, the old records were 3982 km, set on by N6CA and KH6ME on July 14, 1994, on 2.3 GHz (CW) and on July 28, 1991, on 3.4 GHz (SSB).

More can be found in ARRL’s  artical

N6NB’s website Click Here

24 October 19

This trivia question started with an article on QRZ.com “Rock & Roll technology innovation  from Amateur Radio” Pay attention due to the fact it led to more about other amateur operators…. More links about Ken Schaffer are below today’s trivia question….

Trivia

Amature Radio Operator Ken Schaffer N2KS what was his most notable innovative advancement that covered from the music business to space exploration

A. Wireless microphone and instruments 
B. The TV2ME system
C. Sound Engineering panel
D. Publicist for rock bands and NASA projects
Answer is A…

Although he was a publicist for many rock bands and a few other things like a Meteor. He also did invent TV2ME. The first TV2Me unit was purchased by musician Sting, who used it especially to follow his team, Newcastle United as he toured.

The early wireless microphones would pick up broadcasts from anything nearby, this happened one night while on tour with the rolling stones in Italy. 2 years later in 1975 Schaffer invented the Schaffer-Vega Diversity System, the first bands to adopt the Schaffer Vega Diversity System were the Rolling Stones, KISS, and AC/DC. Additionally, NASA used Schaffer’s wireless microphones to improve astronaut voice communication…

More articles on Ken Schaffer  N2KS, the 2 best are in Guitar Player, and NutCom (from a print artical in the New Yorker…. Small blurb but sums it up on Wikipedia

19 October 19

From the ARRL page, Ham Radio History

Ham: a poor operator; a ‘plug’ (G. M. Dodge; The Telegraph Instructor)

The first wireless operators were landline telegraphers who left their offices to go to sea or to man the coastal stations. They brought with them their language and much of the tradition of their older profession. In those early days, every station occupied the whole spectrum with its broad spark signal. Government stations, ships, coastal stations and the increasingly numerous amateur operators all competed for time and signal supremacy in each other’s receivers. Many of the amateur stations were very powerful. Two amateurs, working each other across town, could effectively jam all the other operations in the area. Frustrated commercial operators would refer to the ham radio interference by calling them “hams.” Amateurs, possibly unfamiliar with the real meaning of the term, picked it up and applied it to themselves. As the years advanced, the original meaning has completely disappeared.

From RF Magazine Article

Why radio amateurs are called “HAMS”
(from Florida Skip Magazine – 1959)

Have you ever wondered why radio amateurs are called “HAMS?” Well, it goes like this: The word “HAM” as applied to 1908 was the station CALL of the first amateur wireless stations operated by some amateurs of the Harvard Radio Club. They were ALBERT S. HYMAN, BOB ALMY and POOGIE MURRAY.

At first they called their station “HYMAN-ALMY-MURRAY”. Tapping out such a long name in code soon became tiresome and called for a revision. They changed it to “HY-AL-MU,” using the first two letters of each of their names. Early in 1901 some confusion resulted between signals from amateur wireless station “HYALMU” and a Mexican ship named “HYALMO.” They then decided to use only the first letter of each name, and the station CALL became “HAM.”

In the early pioneer days of unregulated radio amateur operators picked their own frequency and call-letters. Then, as now, some amateurs had better signals than commercial stations. The resulting interference came to the attention of congressional committees in Washington and Congress gave much time to proposed legislation designed to critically limit amateur radio activity. In 1911 ALBERT HYMAN chose the controversial WIRELESS REGULATION BILL as the topic for his Thesis at Harvard. His instructor insisted that a copy be sent to Senator DAVID I. WALSH, a member of one of the committees hearing the Bill. The Senator was so impressed with the thesis is that he asked HYMAN to appear before the committee. ALBERT HYMAN took the stand and described how the little station was built and almost cried when he told the crowded committee room that if the BILL went through that they would have to close down the station because they could not afford the license fees and all the other requirements which the BILL imposed on amateur stations.

Congressional debate began on the WIRELESS REGULATION BILL and little station “HAM” became the symbol for all the little amateur stations in the country crying to be saved from the menace and greed of the big commercial stations who didn’t want them around. The BILL finally got to the floor of Congress and every speaker talked about the “…poor little station HAM.” That’s how it all started. You will find the whole story in the Congressional Record.

Nation-wide publicity associated station “”HAM” with amateur radio operators. From that day to this, and probably until the end of time in radio an amateur is a “HAM.”

18 October 19

The ITU standards were upgraded to grant the entire “K” prefix to the US, in addition to the existing “W” and “N” prefixes. (Remember that Germany had the “KAA” to “KCZ” prefixes issued previously). The Navy was reserved the “N” prefix, while starting in 1928 the “W” and “K” prefixes were authorized for civilian services, such as amateur radio. As new amateur licenses were issued, and old ones were renewed, the “W” prefix was simply added to the existing call sign. For example, the call sign of 6UO, (or the unofficial nu6UO), became W6UO. The “K” prefix at that time was reserved for US possessions, such as Alaska, Hawaii, and other islands. (Note that “A” block letters were unassigned until 1947, when the US received the “AA” through “AL” prefix blocks). The US amateur radio call sign had finally taken its modern shape we all know today.

More at Eham

17 October 19

The National Carbon Company was founded in 1886 by the former Brush Electric Company executive W. H. Lawrence, in association with Myron T. Herrick, James Parmelee, and Webb Hayes, son of U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes, in Cleveland, Ohio.  In 1890, National Carbon merged with Thomson-Houston, Standard Carbon, and Faraday Carbon.

The American Chemical Society designated the development of the Columbia dry cell battery as a National Historic Chemical Landmark on September 27, 2005. The commemorative plaques at Energizer in Cleveland and at Energizer headquarters in St. Louis read:

In 1896 the National Carbon Company (corporate predecessor of Energizer) developed the six-inch, 1.5 volt Columbia battery, the first sealed dry cell successfully manufactured for the mass market. The Columbia, a carbon-zinc battery with an acidic electrolyte, was a significant improvement over previous batteries, meeting consumer demand for a maintenance-free, durable, no-spill, inexpensive electrochemical power source. Finding immediate use in the rapidly expanding telephone and automobile industries, the Columbia launched the modern battery industry by serving as the basis for all dry cells for the next sixty years.

More At Wikipedia

14 October 19

Much more is at Wikipedia, below is the section on Israel….

Israel

The September before the creation of the State of Israel, the station ZC6AA identified its location as “Tel Aviv, Israel.”

4X and 4Z were activated when the state of Israel was proclaimed, however afterwards some individual operators adopted call signs assuming that the territory was still “Arab Palestine”. The UN Headquarters signed “Jerusalem” in 1947 and “Jerusalem, Palestine” in 1957, with callsigns ZC6UNJ and ZC6UNU.

During the Suez crisis in 1957, some Israeli operators signed in the Sinai with an Israelis prefix, but with a /SINAI appended to their call sign.

Israel can issue a National Israeli call sign in the series 4Z8 to foreign amateurs whose countries participate in the CEPT Recommendation T/R 61-02.

The Israeli Amateur Radio Club (IARC) was founded on February 18, 1948, and is a member at IARU.  Presently call signs are issued within Israel by the Ministry of Communications according to this table:

Call sign block License Category
4X0, 4Z0, 4X2, 4Z2, 4X3, 4Z3, 4Z6, 4X7, 4X9 Special Events
4X1AA–4X1ZZ, 4Z1AA–4Z1ZZ Extra/Class A
4X4AA–4X4ZZ, 4Z4AA–4Z4ZZ, 4Z5AA–4Z5ZZ, 4X5AA-4X5ZZ, 4X6AA–4X6ZZ General/Class B
4Z9AAA–4Z9ZZZ Novice/Class C
4Z7AAA–4Z7ZZZ Technician/Class D
4X8AA–4X8ZZ Honorary
4Z8AA–4Z8ZZ Foreign

In July 2012 a 4Z5 operator was upgraded to class A without a callsign change.