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Time Lapse Video/ SAT Dishes behind my Office

SATELLITE Dishes Time Lapse. My office under the Chopper Pad on ground level in background. Video shot with a GO Pro Hero 3 (BLACK edition)

Courtesy: My colleague. Photojournalist & Technical Director Wes Tennyson

12 hours of Satellite time from Wes Tennyson on Vimeo.

 

D-STAR Propaganda Post. But It's Fun!

1)

 

Ok, D-STAR (Digital Smart Technolgies for Amateur Radio) is mature, sophisticated and fun. If you have been skeptical or took a look a few years ago as I did, it's gotten way better. It's not Plug n Play. And you'd be bored with it if it were.   That said, D-STAR is a hybrid mode RF with  full world wide, IP  connectivity. It is not the future it is the present. And vital to understand and become operationally comfortable with.  Jump in or be left behind.

Since no single site/link  is comprehensive to learn about this mode. Here's one way to delve into it.

1) Icom owns the commercial space.  Get familiar with their offerings

2) See this excellent siteD-STAR Info.COM

3) Watch the 3 Hour 2012 Dayton Excellent D-Star Introduction with  John WB4QDX

4) Buy the very smart primer Nifty E-Z Guide to D-STAR Operation

5) Cruise the  D-STAR Users. ORG site

6)  Yes see the  DVAP PC Dongle for an IP Portal. This is a must.

7) Last but not least. Go to the RT Systems Web site and become familiar with their product. It's probably a must buy. 

Then you can start on  Raspberry Pi

The ID-51 D-STAR HT (if that is the path you choose) is a feature rich radio, preloaded with reepaters around the world. Memory Management of this tool is critical to making it rock. Call Sign routing, GPS linking, Reflector connectivity all are enhanced with software.

 

 There's all kinds of stuff to learn and enthusiastic users.   I just got in during the past 10 days and I'm having a blast.You will too!

Why Morse Code matters

 
Amidst the zillions of exchanges online, on the air and personal discourse, Hams have debated the merits and/or relevance of CW for decades.  I'm guessing it began in the 60's as Single Side band emerged as a dominant phone mode and the spectrum efficiency wars began with the old school AMers. (I recall fondly the rhetorical insults that used to fly between the slop bucket crowd and the AM purists!)  From there it simmered and then flashed again as talk began of reducing and or out right elimination of Morse as a part of licensing criteria by various governmental bodies.  Of course in the end it faded away as a requirement and we are left with a completely optional choice for the new Ham radio operator as to whether or not to learn this first mode of RF communication.

Morse Code is largely irrelevant  in 2010 as a critical mode of information exchange.  Even World Maritime authorities have largely turned their back on it as a vital requirement.  Despite Morse code's gripping historical beginnings and moments of incredible influence (Think the "Titanic" incident and WW I and WWII), it has been displaced by far more sophisticated methods and tools.

But to the hobbyist it's relevance is more than a mere technical operating choice. Indeed to many (largely elderly) hams, the mode reflects the essence of Amateur radio. Those first moments of CW recognition cutting through the crackle and interpreting the message are the "magic" that many old timers speak of. I would argue that it is also a reflection of the accomplishment and discipline required to learn the mode. 

W7EEO writes convincingly with impressive metrics about CW. His thesis pretty much lays to rest the notion that the mode is  dead.   Yet I would offer, that those who never adopt this first mode of our hobby are not "alive". Indeed in my view they are not "real" hams. They know not of the "thrill of recognition"  and they have not exhibited the necessary conviction to achieve morse competence.  They entered the hobby through the "affirmative action" plan of Ham radio. The "back door" of the hobby if you will.  And they shall forever be  "pretenders" to many coded class hams.

CW's relevance is not in dispute. It matters not as learning criteria for licensing. But the heritage, the soul of the hobby and it's "romance" have been defined by Morse Code.  And it defines what a real ham is in the 21st century.