On the Web : July 2007

If you enjoy reading 'On the Web', your ham radio club can publish this column on an exchange basis with SJRA. Contact Ted, , for the exchange details.

Our contributions to the South Jersey Radio Association club bulletin "Harmonics" includes lengthy Web addresses. As the URL's can be difficult or a nuisance to type into your Web browser, the postings here should make it easier to get to the Web sites SJRA members are interested in. Look for the posting at w2xq.com at the time "Harmonics" is scheduled for delivery in the south Jersey area. Questions, suggestions or contributions are always welcome.

July 17 Deadline for ARRL membership survey

The Atlantic Division, Delta Division and Great Lakes Division Directors joined together in running a survey to seek member input to enable them to better represent our members at the July 2007 ARRL Board meeting. The 20 or questions are answered by checking radio buttons and takes just a few minutes to complete. While most of the question are about your current operating habits, it apears to me the sigificant question asks if you have read the bandwidth petition filed by the ARRL as RM-11306. If you'd like to participate, and it is not yet July 18, dial up www.bestvote.org/phpQ/fillsurvey.php?sid=11 and have a read.

Mobile in motion exemption for NJ amateur radio licensees

Sam, W4OAE, passes along (via K2QIJ) an ARN news story on New Jersey legislation — Assembly Bill A 4146 and Senate Bill S 1099/2764 — to restrict cell phone use and text messaging while driving. The twin measures were passed on June 21st and await the governor's signature. The wording would have effectively banned amateur radio mobile operations. A hard-fought exemption makes the amateur radio service the only service exempt from the all-inclusive ban: "For the purposes of this section an 'electronic communication device' shall not include an Amateur Radio." The Amateur Radio Newsline reporter K2SSQ suggests hams keep a copy of the signed legislation in your car's glovebox.

Lightning Data

Snap, crackle, pop, bang, sizzle. No, not July 4th fireworks. Lightning is the bane of amateur radio operations. All of us have suffered damage at one time or another. My friend K2UBG passes along a link to a lightning strike Web page, showing the data for the last two hours. Unfortunately there is a 20-minute delay, but we get the idea... and the warning to unplug, cover up and ground antennas. Bookmark https://thunderstorm.vaisala.com/tux/jsp/explorer/explorer.jsp and be sure to read the explanatory information from Vaisala. The link has also been added to our Weather Links page available the trsc.com and w2xq.com home pages. Thanks, John, for the information.

The Apple and the Blackberry

On the cell phone front, the Apple iPhone is atop all the chatter in the technical news sites, but the problem is that the phone only works on one network in the USA. And if the network doesn't cover the areas you travel, the new toy does no good. But then, check one story of a hacker that has figured out the engineering to put the phone on any network. A search via your search engine of choice will turn up all these stories, and more. I recently changed the BlackBerry from a 7250 to the 8830 — the new "world phone" — to gain the voice-activation call control and I dropped a 2 GB — or go for the gusto with a 4 GB — memory card into the internals. The built-in media player audio sounds great on a set of headphones and the battery life is quite good. I often dump a 110 MB 2-hour old time radio show — the M-F 8-10 pm block on WNAR reported a month or two ago — into the phone; I can carry a week's worth of programming and some photos with room to spare on the card.

Is AOL's AIM a resource hog?

W2TAG tells me that the current version of the Windows' AIM instant messaging (IM) program is grabbing system resources and slowing down the Windows XP system. Don't forget that there is an alternative multiple-IM program in Trillian and Trillian Pro. The last time I used Trillian, before going to the Mac, the application worked quite well. Read about it at ceruleanstudios.com and give it a try. Another trick to try is to use the Windows-based 'AIM Express' that runs inside your browser, rather than as a standalone application on your fixed disk. Go to the AIM home page and read on. If you are using a Mac and OS X, get Adium from adiumx.com. Or you and your friends switch to Google Talk (any platform) and the resource problem goes away.

Quickies

Did you know the US Military created an artificial ionosphere? In the height of the Cold War all international communications was sent through underseas cables or bounced off the natural ionosphere. In 1963 the US Air Force launched 480 million tiny copper needles to create an artificial ionosphere. It was called Project West Ford, and took place at the end of the highest solar cycle ever recorded. (Remember the Propagation Research Project during the IGY of 1957-58?) Read about the artificial experiment at www.damninteresting.com/?p=516 and follow the links to related stories.

Google Earth Blog — gearthblog.com — for 6 July 2007 reports a finding of an image of a new class of a Chinese nuclear submarine. And back up to 20 June for a Google Earth file of the 2007 Tour de France race course (the TDF airs on the Versus cable channel until almost the end of July). Fascinating stuff.

I found some good computer toy buys in the last few weeks. Maybe these may be of interest to you. Staples has the Sandisk memory sticks for $10 per GB; I grabbed the 4 GB for $40 to offload and store data through the USB port. Great little toy. And needing to solidify the signal of the network router in the house, I removed the PCMIA card and added, from CompUSA, a Belkin Wireless G Plus USB Network Adaptor to listen to the weak signals. On the laptop at the far end of the house, the lights jumped from 2 bars to all 5 bars and the thoughput increased. The sale price kept the adaptor's cost under $50 (before taxes).

Have a good summer. It's too hot out to do much of anything except nap in the shade of a pitch pine. On yeah, take the slingshot or BB gun and nail a few mosquitos and greenheads before you get carried off into the woods.

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Revised 9 July 2007

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