I’ve been a bit slow in posting about Field Day, partly because I spent most of Sunday catching up on sleep, worked all day Monday, finished the Field Day video Tuesday night, and still haven’t started editing the still photos. Anyways… I produced a short video again this year of things happening at our Field Day site. The Vimeo video is embedded above, and is also available in sub-optimal quality at YouTube. I think I still like last year’s video better, but I was able to get set-up and antenna raising into the video this year.

The 2010 W0AK Field Day went really well. I ended up at the site at about 10 a.m. Saturday morning to help set up. Station set-up was well underway by the time I had arrived, and the antenna raising was about to commence. It was a hot and sticky day — about 90 degrees with a heat index just shy of 100.

PowerFilm Solar set up their 1 kW military-grade Solar Shade the night before, and a storm had blown through the area at about 5:30 a.m. Saturday, and boy I really underestimated the strength of that structure. It stood up to about 60 mph winds without even batting an eye.

The Solar Shade powered pretty much everything except the logging computers without a hiccup. The solar power was stored in two 120 Ah Humvee batteries, which were more than enough for our needs. Having such a unique, huge structure there for solar power gave us great talking points with visitors to our Field Day site.

We had two dignitaries visit us on Saturday from served agencies (which scored us extra points!): Joyce Flinn, the Readiness and Response Bureau Chief for the Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management Division; and Lt. Col. Kevin Plagman of the Iowa National Guard. Both took a tour of the Field Day site and learned the purpose and goals of the Field Day event, and then visited with operators.

Unfortunately, as in years past, Field Day was competing with other major events in the Des Moines metro area — this year it was the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Drake and the Des Moines Arts Festival downtown, so it’s difficult for amateur radio to compete with these events for news coverage. I did a phone interview with WHO Newsradio 1040 Friday morning but I didn’t get a chance to listen to see if we made the cut.

After dinner, I sat down at our 15m sideband station and called CQ for about an hour and a half, making just over 100 contacts, mostly with stations on the east coast that were booming into Iowa.

At about 2:30 a.m. a storm began to approach our location. There was plenty of lightning to our north and northwest, rendering the bands more useless as they came closer. Eventually the gust front blew through, we gave up with the static, disconnected and powered off, and covered the stations with plastic sheeting before retreating to our cars where most of us took naps until the storm left the area at 5 a.m. Luckily everything stayed dry, but the lightning now to our south was still making the bands too noisy to do any meaningful operating. The air cooled down by a brisk 20 degrees by 5 a.m. — a welcome change from the 90-degree temperatures we had been experiencing late in the week.

With the breakfast crew’s arrival soon after the storm, I decided it was time for me to throw in the towel for the night and go home to get some sleep.

I had made the goal for our Field Day to reach 1,000 contacts this year after making 915 last year. Even with the thunderstorms disrupting the event for a good 4 hours, we accomplished this goal and made 1036 contacts. The only mode that we suffered a decrease of contacts in was PSK31 — last year we made 1 PSK contact, and this year we made none — a sharp decline from last year! Okay, maybe it’s just one contact… but still…

Field Day is the last major event for my club until the chili feed and auction around Thanksgiving time — but planning has already started for next year’s Field Day. In the past year, there’s been a push to move out of our comfort zone at Big Creek State Park, where we’ve held the event for years, to a new, more urban location. We looked at moving the event this year but it didn’t pan out. We are compiling a list of possible locations for next year, and will be narrowed down in the coming months before further planning.

A few months ago, I stumbled upon this little gem on YouTube from amateur radio’s heyday. The uploader writes:

Found in the attic of my dad, the “real” W3PYF, Clarence Snyder – a short piece of 8mm film of a Delaware Lehigh Amateur Radio Club Field Day from, I am guessing from the cars, 1950. I recognize my dad’s 1950 Dodge as one of the “shacks.” The heavy-set guy is the “real” W3OK; my father is the guy running around in the undershirt. I recognize Bill Werner and the faces of a few others. Hope you all enjoy seeing what ham radio was like in the war surplus era; you could buy a pair of “Command” sets for about $10 back then on “radio row” in NYC where the World Trade Center once stood (you could buy them for less at hamfests, if the original owner screwed them up).

It’s interesting to see how technology and Field Day has evolved since then. Thanks for sharing this with us, Mel!

At last year’s W0AK Field Day I decided on a whim to produce a short video with only my Nikon Coolpix P3. It mostly focuses on the ambience and atmosphere of the operation aspect of it. This year I think I’m going to do the same, but hopefully catch some of the setup and some time with dignataries that we have invited. The only thing I’m grimacing about for this year’s video is the audio quality. For a point-and-shoot, the P3′s video quality is very decent (YouTube’s converting lost most of the quality though) but the audio is downright crap, so it’ll be difficult to do interviews or sound bites. I wouldn’t mind receiving a loaner 5D Mk III though…

I’m becoming increasingly interested in learning about the MotoTRBO platform, particularly its use in the amateur radio band (although the nearest amateur MotoTRBO system for me is located about two hours away in Mount Pleasant, Iowa). While searching for YouTube videos demonstrating its capabilities versus other digital platforms, I came across a video about Racing Radios, a company that specializes in supplying radios to track personnel, media, vendors, security, track fire/rescue, and several race teams.

Certainly, I’m no NASCAR fan — but it was pretty neat to hear about MotoTRBO’s success in such an RF-intense environment at a large-scale event like the Talladega 500. Seeing that bank of MotoTRBO radios in the trailer is enough to make my eyes water!

The presentation covers the use of the Big Three — Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube — plus the new myARRL and homebrewed social networking sites that can benefit amateur radio by connecting amateur radio operators together and expose non-licensees to our hobby. Other new online technologies related to amateur radio are discussed in the presentation.

Some of the websites mentioned have been discussed on this weblog before, and other websites will also be discussed on this weblog at a later time.

If you missed the presentation, you can download the presentation in the following formats:

• PPT PowerPoint format (10 megabytes, in a ZIP file)
• PDF Adobe Reader format (42 megabytes)

The websites that were featured in the presentation (plus some bonus websites) are listed below:

• Des Moines Radio Amateurs’ Association
• Amateur Radio Technical Society
• Mid-Iowa Skywarn Association
• Facebook
  • Iowa ARES
  • ARRL
• Twitter
  • DMRAA
  • Mid-Iowa Skywarn
  • Hashtag search for #hamr or #hamradio
  • KC0ZMX’s APRS-to-Twitter gateway
• YouTube
• ARRL
  • How to navigate the new ARRL website
  • myARRL profile management (must be logged in)
• 73s.org
• Ham Radio Nation
• The Practical Amateur Radio Podcast
• This Week in Amateur Radio Podcast
• QRZ
• Google Maps APRS
• K6IB 3D APRS
• K5EHX Repeater Mapping
• callbyTXT
• RadioReference
• DX Clusters
  • DX Watch
  • eHam
  • QRZ
  • ham-radio.ch
  • F5LEN
  • DXFUN
  • 2-meter propagation
• Reverse Beacon Network

KAIT-TV 8 in Jonesboro, Arkansas, filed a rudimentary report about the proliferation of applications to listen to online police scanners via cell phone. One officer in the video said in a sound bite that it was “alarming” and a “high concern” that such scanner apps exist.

Indeed, these apps do make the radio waves more accessible for everyone — not just criminals. The low cost of these apps — sometimes free — makes police radio broadcasts more accessible than in the days of walking into your local Radio Shack and picking up a handheld scanner for a hundred bucks and get help from the store clerks on how to program it.

What KAIT-TV failed to mention is that most, if not all, of the radio streams for cell phone apps are provided through agreements with RadioReference, who had established strict policies for feed providers when RadioReference acquired ScanAmerica to somewhat limit aid for criminals in the commission of a crime. The policies state that the following is not allowed to be broadcast: “SWAT type operations if on dedicated channels or talkgroups” and “Narcotics / CID / Investigations or other tactical operations”

Seems to me that if you don’t want to be heard on the scanner apps, then switch over to the tactical frequency. Moreover, the same police officer that expressed concerns in the video’s opening also expressed concern over, for example, a criminal listening to the scanner app would be able to know when to get out of the area and if the police were setting up a perimeter. But really, wouldn’t sirens and flashy lights give it away? It doesn’t take a genius to be observant. And it seems simple enough that you could look out the window and be able to see if the police are setting up a perimeter. If you’re setting up a perimeter, then you should already be moved off the dispatch channel and on to a tactical channel.

What KAIT-TV also failed to show are those departments that believe scanner listeners can be an asset to their crime prevention and neighborhood watch objectives. While criminals using scanners can create bad relationships between police departments and law-abiding scanner hobbyists, there are other departments who enjoy mutual relationships with scanner hobbyists.

In fact, RadioReference has actually partnered with some public safety agencies to provide “official feeds” — feeds that are supported and provided by the agencies themselves. Just ask a senior officer how many times they have found a scanner being used in the commission of a crime and you’ll find the whole truth about how rare it is.

The feeds could be broadcast on a time delay of maybe 30 minutes to an hour to avoid aiding in the commission of a crime. But I believe a widespread time delay like that wouldn’t be implemented unless a law is enacted to require it.

Only in very few instances would a feed otherwise be delayed, such as in 2008 when the FBI and Minnesota law enforcement requested RadioReference to delay the feeds by 30 minutes for the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis.

So, the Cliff’s notes: not all scanner listeners are criminals, not all police hate scanner listeners, and there are safeguards in place on online radio feeds to limit the abuse of the feeds by criminals.

As the president of MISA, I feel compelled to write a post and denounce the actions of the Tornado Intercept Vehicle (TIV), the Discovery Channel support teams, chase tour vans, and other personnel that were caught on tape by Steve Miller’s crew in Oklahoma yesterday.

It’s ridiculous that I’m even talking about this, really… the TIV crew and the Discovery Channel crews, and the paid tornado alley tour groups are professionals. They get paid to do it. So why aren’t they acting professional?

They were caught on tape driving a rural two-lane road, passing on the left. Not just passing on the left, but passing in no-passing zones. Not only were they passing in no-passing zones, but they were driving in the lane of oncoming traffic when they approached the crest of the hill.

This is completely unacceptable. The VORTEX2 operations manual — whether the TIV and/or the Discovery Channel officially abide by it or not — explicitly states that the safety of the research teams and other drivers is certainly more important than getting in place to intercept a tornado.

VORTEX2 will send over 40 vehicles and 100 people to the field, and we will drive about 10,000 miles each season. VORTEX2 will operate and ferry through regions experiencing severe weather including heavy rain, hail, lightning, and high winds, not to mention tornadoes. We will be sharing the roads with numerous other vehicles driven by storm chasers, media, local residents, other travelers, and emergency personnel. Traffic jams will occur, particularly during weekends, near metropolitan areas, and when storms are isolated and/or long lived. Driving ability and confidence varies greatly in sub-ideal weather conditions. Many people who are watching our target storms will be only marginally aware of their surroundings. Therefore, we must be aware of them.

…

To summarize, no tornado, no data set, no arrival time at a hotel is worth injury. Common sense behavior will go a long way towards keeping you and the rest of VORTEX2 safe. If it doesn’t feel safe, dont do it. If it doesn’t feel polite, don’t do it.

While MISA is technically a spotter group and not a chaser group, the public eye doesn’t discern the two. This incident gives both groups a terrible reputation that we are reckless adrenaline junkies.

Storm chasers or spotters are not more important than anyone else on the road. There is such a thing as being too aggressive. Emergency personnel in the area was already dealing with a tornado outbreak — if any of those vehicles passing unsafely had happened to lose control and/or collide with another vehicle, emergency responders would have one more thing to worry about.

I found this gem on YouTube while searching for other Skywarn videos late one night. While the premise and goals of the Skywarn program have remained unchanged, this video from nearly 40 years ago emphasizes how far the science of weather and personal computing has brought the activity.

Instead of chalkboards, meteorologists now use PowerPoint, videos, pictures, and diagrams on a projection screen to teach the general public (read: not meteorology students). Spotters in the field now have laptops, netbooks, aircards, APRS/GPS, and a whole array of wireless technology to assist them in the field and communicate back to the NWS, EOC, or to other spotters.

Since then, scientists have improved the understanding and reliability of weather forecasting. While weather is a science, humans don’t have it “down to a science” quite yet. But I wonder where we’ll be 40 more years from now?

Here’s a video I found months ago, and just now found again buried in my draft box. Most of us are familiar with the 10-codes that were designed to abbreviate radio transmissions made by emergency personnel aren’t so great after all?

In today’s quest for interoperability, 10-codes are going by the wayside to reduce confusion among different agencies that are working together on one channel during an incident, whether it’s a high-speed pursuit, or a natural or man-made disaster. 10-codes can vary greatly among departments, and the federal government has suggested to agencies that they eliminate the 10-code system altogether.

CB has keydowns.

What’s a keydown? I too scratched my head the first time I heard it. When I clicked on over to Google to find out more, I didn’t find much on the subject due to outdated websites and broken links, apparently because 90% of CB users online used the now-defunct Geocities to host their sites. When I did stumble upon a site with information, I was wading hip-deep into the cesspool that is CB slang. I had to veer off the course to find out what words like “mudduck” “Watergate tapes” “two-pill” and “swing” meant. By then, I was in too deep to not find out what the hell a keydown competition is. After all, they had their own rap song and music video about this hobby.

After I spent a few late nights delving into CB radio culture, I was intrigued at the pieces of the puzzle I put together.

Apparently, keydown competitions are where CB users gather at an outdoor location, typically in the southern states, to show off their rigs with fellow hobbyists. The rigs are usually early-model dark-colored Chevy Suburbans outfitted with a CB radio, amplifiers that sometimes occupy the entire vehicle cabin, and usually a very large vertical antenna array attached to the front bumper via a heavy-duty steel beam. These outfits require so much power that the engines are upgraded to include four or more alternators. These rigs are clearly intended to transmit with more than the 4 watts of power that is allowed by the FCC.

So what’s the point of a keydown competition? Contestants compete two at a time by parking at a line side-by-side, very much like the starting line for a drag racing competition. Contestants are given directions and a CB channel to tune to. The “flagger” — the person that signals the start of the competition — will raise his or her hands to signal the beginning of the competition (and to begin keying using full power) and then will lower his or her hands to signal that the competition is over and to stop keying. The loser of the competition can request his or her competitor for a rematch.

While the contestants are keying down, each contestant usually yells his or her handle into the radio (usually resulting in over-deviation). The winner of the competition is decided by which contestant can be heard over the radio, as identified by the handle they were yelling into the radio or another identifier (the winner in the embedded video above was identified by saying ONE ONE ONE repetitively). The more power, the better.

In the case that neither contestant was heard, there is usually one person designated to keep an official “Watergate tape,” which means that person records the audio of the competition. Whichever contestant is heard on the Watergate tape wins. No other tapes can be accepted as a Watergate tape.

A frame grab from a keydown video. Excessive RF caused audio bleedover into the video camera and caused image distortion before the RFI forced the camera to eject the VHS tape and shut the camera's power off.

What does the winner receive? Depending on the event, the winner will receive a cash reward or a trophy, but he or she will always win the bragging rights. There are indeed contestants with targets on their backs — the Brett Favre, the A-Rod, the Dale Earnhardt of CB radio. “Sha Sha,” “Blue Gill,” and “T-Bird” seem to be the people to beat. You can view a video of Sha Sha beating T-Bird here.

While a lot of my colleagues in the amateur radio community can easily discount CB’ers (or “chickenbanders” as they may affectionately call them), generally, the engineering and creativity that keydown contestants surprised me. The know-how required to modify radios, amplifiers, and vehicle engines to achieve such outrageously illegal accolades is impressive. I don’t condone violating FCC regulations, I’m not the one doing such things, but really, I was surprised to see this level of engineering. That’s just my opinion, and I’m sure that my amateur radio buddies are grinding their teeth right now reading this.

Regardless, I found this activity intriguing because of it’s simplicity and relative unfamiliarity here in the northern states. It would be interesting to see these vehicles and to watch a few competitions — but I would have to bring a lead apron along.