Dealing with Washington

[WA3VJB]

It's always a good thing to follow up behind the group in Newington when they seem to have buttonholed a federal official in Washington. I found this on an old floppy disc and it's worth sharing here as the new guy takes hold of the doors to the back room at the League.

----

9-17-2002

In a posting on QRZ.com, the ARRL President has mentioned a conversation he once had with Dale Hatfield who at the time was in charge of the FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology. I take from this oft-cited meeting that the League responded with the kind of push for newer technologies that Mr. Haynie has described.

I would like to examine the League’s interpretation, or at least the degree and narrow range of its reaction. Hatfield, in my opinion, was probably “messaging” the League to more strongly encourage hams toward an informed pursuit of technology in all its forms, including that which lends itself to a hands-on approach.

From that impression of him, I discourage the League from hanging its entire fate on the implementation of digital technology, as attractive as that may seem to be.

Experimentation in the hobby compared to years ago has fallen dramatically with today’s plug-and-play radios, and specifically, with microprocessor-based transceivers whose operability comes only through the computer’s predetermined functions.

Few users will try to manipulate software and components on their own, and typically take what’s handed to them to use with no further technical pursuit. That’s why it will not be sufficient for the League to heavily promote the sale and use of advanced, pre-packaged technology and then claim we hams are at the edge of new designs.

I base my impressions about Hatfield on a brief chat I also have had with him about “ham radio”, when he was part of a panel here in Washington reviewing the proposed low powered FM broadcast authorization. Many LPFM folks are individuals with an interest in community service.  There are parallels to amateur radio and the individuals who populate our service.

After the panel, I introduced myself  (he is W0IFO, by the way, and now a professor at the Univ. of Colorado) and we chatted how hams these days are rescuing retired low powered vacuum-tube AM broadcast transmitters and putting them to a new life on the amateur bands.

HE THOUGHT IT WAS GREAT, smiling broadly at the news and reacting that it would be a good way to keep a nuts-and-bolts understanding of circuitry.

Hatfield did not put down the fact these transmitters are 30-40-50 years old, with technology to match. He seemed more impressed that someone who, in my case, wasn’t even born yet when a certain transmitter was made, should today continue to be interested in getting inside the radio and experimenting.

I wondered how a guy who headed a government department overseeing some of the most advanced technology could have been so receptive and enthusiastic with a guy talking about old radios and our storytelling about them. He was not just being polite.

It turns out Hatfield, 64, has said his first exposure to ham radio was through the old Hallicrafters S-38 his dad bought him as a teenager.  With a wire tossed out the window, he quickly heard a station in Morocco ! (Note: the station was on AM) He said this triggered a passion for radio that would translate into his accomplished career. He directly links the two to this day.

With a now broader view of Hatfield’s background in mind, I believe the League would do especially well to remember that the mandate for Amateur Radio most assuredly includes hobbyist experimentation in all forms and not just operating activity (and the modes on which it is carried out). Yet operating events, for now, get the overwhelming emphasis in QST, League promotions, and ARRL educational materials.

The League’s mandate is to protect existing and longstanding strongholds of experimentation, including my cherished “vintage radio” pursuit with all my chums alongside me.

At a time the League has said it faces financial challenges, you won’t find much monetary reward from giving us additional page space and resources, but I believe our facet of amateur radio is a valuable part of the price tag to guarantee the viability of the service and, by extension, the future of the ARRL.

I can suggest quite a few members of the AM Community, Mr. Haynie, who are adamantly NOT members of the ARRL, should you wish to include them in your planned survey to find out why.

Paul/VJB
ARRL member, 1971-76, and from 2001-present.
(you are still on probation)

www.amwindow.org
www.amfone.net

[David, K3TUE]

I just got my renewal notice and was planning on letting it go this year.

[WA3VJB]

David, if it is worth your time, why not telephone the volunteer administsrator for your area, and get a firm committment from him to push for specific and readily identified coverage of AM in League publications, in material written by ARRL staffers?

If he's unwilling, tell him why you won't be renewing, and quote him in a letter to Mary Hobart, the League's subscription recruiter.

I also refer you to this posting as to where your additional money might best be spent (I think you already are on here):

http://amfone.net/Amforum/index.php?topic=7792.0

[Bill, KD0HG]

Experimentation in the hobby compared to years ago has fallen dramatically with today’s plug-and-play radios, and specifically, with microprocessor-based transceivers whose operability comes only through the computer’s predetermined functions.

Few users will try to manipulate software and components on their own, and typically take what’s handed to them to use with no further technical pursuit. That’s why it will not be sufficient for the League to heavily promote the sale and use of advanced, pre-packaged technology and then claim we hams are at the edge of new designs.

In most cases, the "software" in those radios is actually firmware. It cannot be manipulated. And, if the microprocessor dies in one of those riceboxes, you are left with a $3,000 doorstop or, in the case of the IC-756 series, a $1,300 paperweight. Of course, Tokyo Rose is paying the freight for the League these days (witness the high percentage of QST devoted to advertising) and the League certainly wouldn't want to do anything to jeopardize such lucrative advertising accounts.

The plug-and-play radio hobby isn't the real amateur radio, especially when combined with today's dumbed-down licensing. It's much more like CB.

Phil, that makes me think that what's needed is some entrepeneurs selling modified and replacement chips for the things...That would be an interesting cottage business.

Nevertheless, why should ham rigs be any different than all of the rest of consumer electronics today? What's the upside for building a durable, repairable radio?

I saw this coming 25 years ago when I worked for a ham store in Chicago for a while and we started seeing a lot of "Extra Class" hams walking in the door actually paying me to wire connectors on mics for them. Or an hour to remove the top cover from a rig to plug in an IF filter..Or changing blown fuses..I realize that not everyone is a technical type, but even many CBers show more hands-on willingness to experiment and learn in their hobby.

Yes, we can make jokes about CBers leeneears and audio effects boxes, but I respect someone that's at least tried and failed to build one more than someone willing to pay $60 to have someone wire a plug on their new mic for them.

..

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

I don't know about 'most' software radios, since there are very few on the market. But there are quite a few that can be programmed BY THE USER. Check out Gnu Radio for one. TAPR has numerous projects along these lines. And there are many soundcard based demodulators (and in some cases modulator) projects, almost all of which are user programable.

Software defined radios are the future (actually already here - just take a good look at your cell phone). Get used to it.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Most of the Japanese junk on the market nowadays isn't really user-programmable. A microprocessor and firmware chip control the entire rig. If that goes bad, you are stuck with a very expensive doorstop.

Irrelevant. I wasn't referring to any Japanese junk, since none of it qualifies as SDR. Same goes for any of the American made junk, i.e. Ten-Tec.

[WA3VJB]

That note to Haynie that I posted was written a few years ago and before the SDR1000 was really on the market. I actually think its pretty cool radio.

I don't believe tuning a radio, whatever that means to you, is the same as scrolling through a menu, or having a virtual radio portrayed on the monitor of a computer terminal.

That's why I won't be getting a Flex radio or it's descendants, even as I acknowledge SDR's capabilities

Before that rig, I also did not sense there would be much satisfaction from selecting among pre-determined functions in a microprocessor based radio that did not lend itself to creative input from the user.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

You are correct on Paul's initial point. I presented SDR as an alternative. So any reply to my points about SDR citing Japanese non-SDR radios is irrelevant. The broader point is that most of the 'new stuff' being created and experimented with in amateur radio these days has a huge software component, often exclusively software. Hams can experiment in this area and it should be considered a valid area of technical pursuit. Whether Japanese radios offer such experimentation is quite extrinsic.

[Art]

Hi Paul,

"I don't believe tuning a radio, whatever that means to you, is the same as scrolling through a menu, or having a virtual radio portrayed on the monitor of a computer terminal.

That's why I won't be getting a Flex radio or it's descendants, even as I acknowledge SDR's capabilities
"

One of the options for the SDR-1000 is a nicely weighted and excellent feeling tuning knob. . . that can be programmed to do a number of things . . . The feel of the knob is almost SXesque . . . That being said, I agree a PC display is not my idea of a radio that I would view a 'keeper'

The Ft. Collins station is not quite set up yet . . . still working on it . . .

-ap

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

I don't believe tuning a radio, whatever that means to you, is the same as scrolling through a menu, or having a virtual radio portrayed on the monitor of a computer terminal.

That statement is a red herring anyway. How much tuning is required when you operate on one or two frequencies. Your RX might as well be crapstal controlled. As many R-390As as Paul has, he could have one tuned to each of his operating freqs and never have to tune a bit! No one in their right mind would want to do much tuning on a R-390A. 

[WA1GFZ]

I knew this Navy guy who drove a R390A for years at a monitoring station.
When he stood his hand was always in the shape of the tuning knob.
TAPR/HPSDR is a collection of the smartest guys I've ever run into they include Mr. Ulrich Rohde.
They will make the SDR1000 look like a toy in the future. Rohde's latest product still has plenty of analog with a nice knob....only about $9K
He has shared some of the circuits and pictures of the guts.
Lurk and learn