Hobby Thread - Aug 17, 2024 [TRex]

Welcome hobbyists! Pull up a chair and sit a spell with the horde in this little corner of the interweb. Got your ears on? A spin of the Ace of Spades wheel of hobbies has come up with a theme of amateur radio for this week.

Are you a ham operator? Do you SOTA or POTA? Do know the difference between CB, FRS, GMRS, MURS, and WTF? How do you connect with others? How did you get into the hobby? There are many different flavors of amateur radio - what is yours? Do you have fancy equipment? If you are not active now, were you active previously? What great stories does the horde have that involve a radio communication?

TRex is not wise in the ways of amateur radio, so looking for horde help to make this work. We're here to talk about amateur radio. As usual, keep this thread limited to hobbies. Politics and current events can wait for other threads. Play nice. Don't feed the trolls. No pants required. Copy?

Special welcome to the lurkers or those catching up on the thread later. Nice to have your eyeballs. You're always welcome to join in. Post anytime or drop an email in the hobby thread email box.

Top photo - Did you know that Alf (Alien Life Form) owes its story line to ham radio? Willie Tanner is a shortwave radio enthusiast. After his home planet Melmac exploded, Alf followed his shortwave radio signals with his spaceship and crashed into Willie's home. When Willie uses his homemade ham radio to call somebody, he uses the callsign K726 XAA. He was arrested by the FBI after Alf made radio calls to Air Force One, but after another call came in while Willie was in custody, his innocence was determined as he could not have been two places at once and Willie was released by the President.

Horde member in good standing PabloD has generously contributed knowledge about a radio-based hobby of his called SOTA - Summits on the Air. It sounds like a scavenger hunt with a radio where people find each other and use Morse Code to communicate. The challenge is finding people who are long distances away. It also gives people an excuse to get out into the world and physically check out locations they would have no reason to visit otherwise.

There are activators and chasers. The activator sets up shop and starts looking for chasers. Chasers on the hunt are listening for messages from activators. If they find each other, they briefly exchange call signs, strength of signal, and location.

The SOTA organization assigns points to different geographies and participants upload their activity into the magic SOTA database. The database reconciles the activity and awards points. If an activator makes four (or more) contacts from a one point summit, they get one activator point. If an activator makes four (or more) contacts from a six point summit, they get six points. Points range from one to ten. The distance between activator and chaser is not a factor in scoring but seeing how far away you can make connections is part of the fun. People who score enough points as activators can earn the mountain goat award. People who score enough points as chasers can earn the shack sloth award. There are other smaller awards and badges and the evidence is a little graphic pinned on the users database home page.

Below is a typical exchange between an activator and a chaser. I'll use a voice example, since the Morse Code version is full of abbreviations and more difficult to understand:

Activator: CQ SOTA, CQ SOTA, this is KB4XYZ calling CQ SOTA.
Chaser: W6ACE.
A: W6ACE, good morning, your are a 5-9 on Mt. McLoughlin, 5-9. Back to you.
C: QSL, you are a 4-7 in Texas, 4-7 in Texas. Good luck. Back to you.
A: Roger, Texas, thanks for the 4-7. CQ SOTA, this is KB4XYZ.

The exchange is usually limited to your call signs, a signal report (how well or not well you're being heard), and the location of the chaser. This is for two reasons: (1) the activator is usually trying to get as many contacts as possible in a short amount of time; (2) atmospheric conditions can change rapidly, and what was an open band can become completely closed and shut down your activation in a split second. The connection is the main goal. Part of the interest is seeing where your signal goes from day to day. Some days I mostly hit states that are adjacent (300-600 miles); other days I get lucky and shoot a signal 2000+ miles.

There are a few rules: (1) You have to be on portable gear. Even if you drive your Jeep to the summit, you have to get out and not use any part of the vehicle or its power supply. (2) Not all hilltops count - there's an online atlas showing which summits count for activating. Some are easy; some require mountaineering skills. The harder the climb, the more points you can get. (3) Just because the summit is in the database, you don't have the right to access private property without permission. Stick to public grounds or talk to the owner before going.

Youtube has a number of videos on SOTA. Remember, TRex doesn't know much about this, so the selected videos may or may not be shining representatives for the hobby:

If you like Summits on the Air, you might also like Parks on the Air. Similar concept except with national and state parks and other outdoor locations of interest.

SOTA and POTA in action - the main event is time stamps 4:20 to 10:40. The rest is transit by Jeep to and from the target location by an activator:

NASA ham radio from the space station?

Is CB radio dead? Do truckers still use it? Does anyone else?

The Rich History of Ham Radio Culture

Amateur radio history through 1930

Where does the term ham come from?

Another origin story exists: In 1908, members of the Harvard University club created the worlds first amateur radio station. Their names were Albert S. Hyman, Bob Almy and Peggy Murray, and their first callsign was HYMAN-ALMY-MURRAY. Translating it into Morse code is hard, and it was shortened to HY-AL-MU. But a Mexican steamship used a similar callsign, HYALMO, and they began to mix on the air. Then the Americans further abbreviated their call sign to HAM.

A special committee of Congress in Washington created a law project that severely limited the activities of radio amateurs. In 1911, Albert Hyman proposed his version of the law on the telegraph without wires in his dissertation for Harvard University. The reviewer sent a copy to senator David Walsh, a member of the relevant congressional committee. The theses impressed the lawmaker so much that he invited the author to a commission meeting. Hyman told the members of Congress how much effort and labor it took to build their small amateur radio station and he argued that the commission's project would force amateurs to close their radio stations.

During the debate, HAM became the symbol of all the small amateur radio stations in the country, desperately resisting the pressure and threats of powerful professional radio stations. During the discussions, all speakers came to the defense of hams. The project was rejected, and the abbreviation became the symbol of all amateur radio stations.

Great story, but apparently none of it is true...

Did you miss the hobby thread last week with a painting and animation theme? The horde shared some great stories. The comments may be closed, but you can re-live the content.

Notable comments from last week:

Words of wisdom:

"Because despite all our troubles, when things are grim out in that wide round world of ours, that's when it's really important to have a good hobby." Posted by: tankascribe at June 22, 2024 07:41 PM (HWxAD).

If amateur radio is not your thing and you have trouble finding something in the content or comments that resonates with you, hijack the thread for your hobbying as you see fit. We will feature a different hobby next time around. Send thoughts or suggestions to moronhobbies at protonmail dot com or just email to say hello. Over and out.

posted by Open Blogger at 05:30 PM

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