Date: Sun, 28 Nov 93 04:30:01 PST From: Info-Hams Mailing List and Newsgroup Errors-To: Info-Hams-Errors@UCSD.Edu Reply-To: Info-Hams@UCSD.Edu Precedence: Bulk Subject: Info-Hams Digest V93 #1396 To: Info-Hams Info-Hams Digest Sun, 28 Nov 93 Volume 93 : Issue 1396 Today's Topics: Chicken Fat Ops commercial exams CONELRAD-what was it? Fun with Radio Shack Packet Repeater Info? Send Replies or notes for publication to: Send subscription requests to: Problems you can't solve otherwise to brian@ucsd.edu. Archives of past issues of the Info-Hams Digest are available (by FTP only) from UCSD.Edu in directory "mailarchives/info-hams". We trust that readers are intelligent enough to realize that all text herein consists of personal comments and does not represent the official policies or positions of any party. Your mileage may vary. So there. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 28 Nov 93 07:20:46 GMT From: amiserv!vpnet!mpecen@uunet.uu.net Subject: Chicken Fat Ops To: info-hams@ucsd.edu Regarding question on how to get involved with the high speed CW group known as "chicken fat ops" or CFO: Yes, you should be conversant at 40 WPM or more by ear, since everyone sort of bounces in and out of the QSO on very fast QSK and are not necessarily zero beat with one another, which is a factor that prohibits the use of a CW reader type system. Most of us use keyboards or keyers for sending. In order to get involved, just show up and join in a CFO QSO on 7033 KHz on 40 Meters, and during the winter months sometimes on 80 Meters at 3533 KHz. There is also an SSB gathering on 40 at 7233 KHz on the weekends, but I haven't checked into that for several years so I can't remember if it is held on Saturday morning or Sunday morning. After chatting with the people on 7033 for a few months, like about 4 to 6 months if I can recall, you can then send a modest fee, like $20 or something to the treasurer and become a member. The people on the frequency will tell you who the current treasurer is and the amount of dues, etc. You'll then be assigned a CFO number and be entitled to receive the CFO publication, 'Key Clucks' from time to time. CFO'ers also get together at hamfests like Dayton and so on. It's a group of really decent people with a leaning toward technical stuff, but anyone is welcome. Hope this helps. Mark, kc9x -- Mark Pecen : mpecen@vpnet.chi.il.us || mpecen@safe.chi.il.us ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 27 Nov 93 21:35:08 GMT From: mnemosyne.cs.du.edu!nyx!rhalprin@uunet.uu.net Subject: commercial exams To: info-hams@ucsd.edu De K1XA As you know, the FCC recently privatized commercial radio exams along the lines of the ham VEC program. I have been appointed the Hartford, CT, test center manager for commercial exams by one of the private-sector organizations, National Radio Examiners. The Hartford Test Center will conduct its first exam session shortly. Due to the holiday season, the specific date has not entirely crystallized, but it will be on an upcoming Saturday either prior to Christmas or shortly after the first of the year. Any potential applicant should feel free to contact me for further details about taking the General Radiotelephone Operator License or the Marine Radio Operator Permit (apparently the most popular) or the other licenses/ permits in this program. I can be reached directly via e-mail at either HALPRINR@CCSU.CTSTATEU.EDU or 0005582789@MCIMAIL.COM in addition to NYX. There appears to be significant interest in the ham community about these commercial exams, hence this posting. Thanks/73. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1993 05:34:34 GMT From: dog.ee.lbl.gov!overload.lbl.gov!agate!spool.mu.edu!torn!nott!cunews!freenet.carleton.ca!Freenet.carleton.ca!ab510@network.ucsd.edu Subject: CONELRAD-what was it? To: info-hams@ucsd.edu I have an early 50s bc reciever with triangular symbols at 640 and 1240 khz. I have been told that these were for CONELRAD. Are there any old timers out there who can fill me in on this? TNX. -- GEORGE ATTALLAH-"THE LAST SURVIVOR OF THE GROUP OF ONE" ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 21 Nov 93 19:51:00 -0500 From: dog.ee.lbl.gov!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!pipex!sunic!psinntp!psinntp!channel1!ken.smith@network.ucsd.edu Subject: Fun with Radio Shack To: info-hams@ucsd.edu RANDALL@INFORMIX.COM typed this about Re: Fun with Radio Shack R>A catalog is a form of advertising. Its purpose is to make people R>aware of your products and boost sales. If you make people R>pay for it, far fewer people will have one. That defeats its R>purpose. Tandy might as well start making people pay for the monthly R>sales flyers instead of asking us for our address, so they R>can send it to us. Also many people have not realized that this whole 'event' was a publicity stunt. It got more curious people to walk into their local Radio Shack than ever before. With all the discussion about this lately....it seems that they have succeeded in doing exactly what they planned. Ken Internet: ken.smith@channel1.com AX.25 Packet: AA1DR @ K1UGM.MA.USA.NA --- CmpQwk #UNREG UNREGISTERED EVALUATION COPY ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 21 Nov 93 19:47:00 -0500 From: dog.ee.lbl.gov!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!pipex!sunic!psinntp!psinntp!channel1!ken.smith@network.ucsd.edu Subject: Packet Repeater Info? To: info-hams@ucsd.edu I would like to hear from people who have set up packet repeaters. I am talking about full duplex repeaters, like most of us use on 2 meter FM. I am interested in hearing about any problems with this and also any reports on the throughput improvement using a packet repeater. Ken Internet: ken.smith@channel1.com --- CmpQwk #UNREG UNREGISTERED EVALUATION COPY ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 25 Nov 1993 13:33:51 GMT From: ucsnews!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!emory!kd4nc!ke4zv!gary@network.ucsd.edu To: info-hams@ucsd.edu References , <1993Nov23.113409.29442@ke4zv.atl.ga.us>, Reply-To : gary@ke4zv.atl.ga.us (Gary Coffman) Subject : Re: CONELRAD-what was it? In article levin@bbn.com (Joel B Levin) writes: >Some time back (I'm talking about 20+ years ago, the last time I >actually signed onto a broadcast station's operating or transmitter >log), the signal was actually a single tone (I think) transmitted for >15 seconds, with a five second period of carrier off in the middle (so >it sounded like tone-silence-tone, except the silence was actually >no-carrier). I don't believe we generated the signal; it was recorded >on the EBS test tape. We ran the test once a week and logged it once >a week from the station we monitored. The envelopes with the secret >authorization codes were kept in the picture frame holding the station >license (this was in the control room) and changed monthly (I think). Yes, that was the old way. We don't drop carrier anymore. The signal is now a very specific tone pair, so tight that we can't play a tape of it, too much flutter and wow, we have to actually trigger the tone generator. We use a GPI pulse recorded on the test tape to start and stop the alert tone generator. If we ever get into the 1990s and go to a digital audio library, we won't need to do this, but the old Spotmasters just won't cut it. The alert generator is directly in the line to the transmitter and automatically overrides normal programming when activated. For real emergencies, we have a direct UHF link to the State EMA center, or we can put our Primary, WSB-FM, directly on the air via our EBS receiver. I think Atlanta may be unique in having an FM station as the regional Primary station. Everywhere else I've been, it's been an AM station. We had to build our own EBS receiver because the manufacturers only offer AM. Gary -- Gary Coffman KE4ZV | Where my job's going, | gatech!wa4mei!ke4zv!gary Destructive Testing Systems | I don't know. It might | uunet!rsiatl!ke4zv!gary 534 Shannon Way | wind up in Mexico. | emory!kd4nc!ke4zv!gary Lawrenceville, GA 30244 | -NAFTA Blues | ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 27 Nov 1993 19:44:02 GMT From: news.Hawaii.Edu!uhunix3.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu!jherman@ames.arpa To: info-hams@ucsd.edu References <1993Nov23.194146.9573@es.dupont.com>, <1993Nov24.000437.11069@cnsvax.uwec.edu>, <1993Nov27.143615.17244@ke4zv.atl.ga.us> Subject : Re: Miss Manners in the Novice Sub-bands? G's silliness. In article <1993Nov27.143615.17244@ke4zv.atl.ga.us> gary@ke4zv.atl.ga.us (Gary Coffman) writes: >In article <1993Nov24.000437.11069@cnsvax.uwec.edu> whitemp@cnsvax.uwec.edu writes: >> >>The best way to see if something is a language, is do an MRI on a fellow, >>and see if Brocha's (or is it Wernicke's...) and other speech processing >>areas of the brain are active at the time of hearing the code. I would >>believe that they are. > >You could verbally *spell* the words to the person and their language centers >would be active too, but that doesn't mean that spelling is a language. >It's the natural language *words* being spelled that are units of language >(when coupled with grammatical structure). Stepping back one level further >to an aural encoding of the alphabet used to spell words, Morse is certainly >even further divorced from language. > Only because your code speed is slow; at faster speeds one hears not the individual letters but entire words, and no mental translation into English is necessary. When I hear _ .... . I hear one unit of sound, not 3 or 6, and I don't think ``the'' - it's an article in its own right. And no writing is necessary - the process is the same as if I were listening to someone talk - there's nothing mechanical about it. You've got to get out of the straightjacket-type thinking you've locked yourself into. Your hostility towards code makes you say some weird stuff. Jeff NH6IL ------------------------------ Date: 25 Nov 1993 15:42:56 GMT From: ucsnews!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!avdms8.msfc.nasa.gov!news.larc.nasa.gov!grissom.larc.nasa.gov!kludge@network.ucsd.edu To: info-hams@ucsd.edu References <1993Nov23.113409.29442@ke4zv.atl.ga.us>, , <1993Nov25.133351.10311@ke4zv.atl.ga.us>arc.nasa Subject : Re: CONELRAD-what was it? In article <1993Nov25.133351.10311@ke4zv.atl.ga.us> gary@ke4zv.atl.ga.us (Gary Coffman) writes: >Yes, that was the old way. We don't drop carrier anymore. The signal >is now a very specific tone pair, so tight that we can't play a tape >of it, too much flutter and wow, we have to actually trigger the tone >generator. We use a GPI pulse recorded on the test tape to start and >stop the alert tone generator. If we ever get into the 1990s and go >to a digital audio library, we won't need to do this, but the old >Spotmasters just won't cut it. The alert generator is directly in >the line to the transmitter and automatically overrides normal >programming when activated. Actually, the signal always was a very specific frequency (once a single tone, now a tone pair to prevent falsing), and playing the tone off of a cart was _never_ legal, even back in the CONELRAD days. That's not that a lot of stations didn't do it.... I know of one station right now that plays their EBS tone with a Tapecaster, and I can hear audible frequency shifts on the thing. Sure hope they don't get inspected... >For real emergencies, we have a direct UHF link to the State EMA >center, or we can put our Primary, WSB-FM, directly on the air via >our EBS receiver. I think Atlanta may be unique in having an FM station >as the regional Primary station. Everywhere else I've been, it's been >an AM station. We had to build our own EBS receiver because the manufacturers >only offer AM. That's odd! WSB-FM is the primary, and not WSB-AM? I used to work at WREK as a student, and I believe that we triggered off of WGST, which was probably fairly high up in the heirarchy.... --scott -- "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." ------------------------------ End of Info-Hams Digest V93 #1396 ****************************** ******************************