Short Skip May 2013

May 2013, Issue 5, Volume 61

Message from the editor

Benjamin Straw, KC9UNS Good morning, afternoon, or evening all UPCOMING EVENTS my fellow hams and skippers, its once Meeting again that time of month for me to write Lake Co ARC something! And hey! it looks like I have.

LC Dept Homeland Sec Bld This months Short Skip is a little short from the norm, while still giving you May 1 08th @ 7:30pm everything you want and love. The reason for this is I have had a busy Hamfest month looking for a new QTH and I have Dayton Hamvention® 201 3 to say it isn't all that fun. A friend of mine "DX Hamvention" sent me one of those numbered joke lists and one of them struck home, “When May 1 7-1 9 201 3 shopping for a new vehicle the first thing is look for a space to mount the radios.

You end up sitting in the front seat staring blankly at the dashboard area, feeling underneath seats, and poking around the back seat for ways to route the coax. If Contests caught looking under the hood for holes in the firewall for your power cables, you Indiana QSO Party tell your wife, "Nothing honey, just checking things under here." This also goes for May 4th 11 -5pm looking at new homes! I don't know how many houses I’ve looked at but most tend to have problems, other and including where to put an antenna.

Net Anyway I hope you found the April fools joke within the last Issue! If you hadn't already guessed it the 1 F class used for Field day... was a joke! HEY speaking of LCARC Weekly Information Net club events on May 4th, LCARC will be participating in the Indiana QSO Party.

Clubs VHF & UHF Repeaters This event will be held at the EMA field, located out and about the same location Every Thursday @ 8pm where we conduct our meetings... only yes outside but within LCEMA’s communications trailer “Big Blue”. We plan to set up around 1 0:30am and at 11 try to work as many indiana stations, states, and DX as possible till about 5pm, bands fall short, or when we call it quits. If you're unable to stop by, hit us up on the clubs repeater and we will let you know what frequency we are on. The INQP might still be head up and other stations will be looking for a QSO till 7pm, so spin that dial around the bands or hit up www.hdxcc.org/inqp/ on the web.

You might also notice that we have no birthdays to announce this month! We want to say happy birthday to each and every member, so please email us (kc9uns@gmail.com) your birth month, yep thats it just a month.

On June 1 3th we will be hosting a fundraiser at Five Guys Burgers in Schererville, tell your friends and bring the whole family along, all you need to do is buy tasty burgers, and our club gets a portion of the takings of the night.

Also I will be doing the clubs net from the parking lot of five guys, so if you want to see how I operate a net, stick around till 8pm. Speaking of nets why not check in and join the conversation with the LCARC Information net. We let you know about upcoming events like VE sections, special event stations, weekend contests, a ice breaker question that helps mic fright operators, and more. Join the fun every Thursday night at 8PM. Well my fingers are almost to the bone so I’ll end it here, I hope to see you at the next meeting May 1 2 or hear you on the net.

73, Benjamin Straw KC9UNS - Editor, Short Skip and Secretary, LCARC Inc.

In this Issue of Short Skip 2. LCARC Meeting Minutes 3. Meeting pics and Daton guild 4 - 6. Boston Marathon 201 3 – Bombs, Carnage and Amateur Radio Operators

by Tim Carter, W3ATB 7. Breadboard Power supply and Choosing a vanaty callsign

ARTICLES N EEDED!!!

If you have anything pertaining to amateur radio that you would like to contribute to, and share with others in Short Skip, we would be happy to include your offering in any future edition. Anything you would like. Hints and kinks, antennas, technical talk, operating tips, public service, classic radio, club activities, etc., would be heartily welcomed!!! All articles must be in by the 20th of every month. Copyright rules and permission apply to all submissions. Please send your submission to: KC9UNS / Short Skip Editor kc9uns@gmail.com I hope you enjoy this month’s Short Skip as much as I did putting it together!

Guess None If we missed your birthday or get it wrong, please let us know

LCARC April Meeting Minutes Benjamin Straw, KC9UNS

2013 Officers

President: .............. WD9EZB

Meeting called to order at 7:35 PM Attendance:

Bob Wiberg

Vice President: ....... KB9HO

1 4 members 4 Guests.

Reading of Minutes:

Russ McComb

The minutes of the previous meeting (March 8th, 201 3) was approved as read.

Secretary: ............. KC9UNS

Treasure Report:

Treasurer: ................ KF9EX

Treasurer Report read by Jim KF9EX. Jim reported only 3 people haven't paid their dues from last year, he reported we now have 55 members hoping to have more soon.

Benjamin Straw

Jim Harney

Trustee: ..................... WV9O

Marv Boetcher

Committee reports:

RACES: New clock in the EMA’s radio room, problems with Andys repeater 1 45.45 and the ema repeate, plan to move antennas.

Jim Millsap W9CTO was a big help in resolving issues, Thanks Jim!. The Ema might be moving across the street, but is still up in the air.

Red Cross: No contact from them Contests: Indiana QSO Party(INQP) May 4th and Field day will be held at the EMA Field, Ben KC9UNS asked that you please contact him if you plan on attending. April fools to those thinking the club was planning on 1 F as the class for field day. The Team that worked INQP showed off the award received for working the event.

DX: Nick W9UM said get on the air!

VE: Ben KC9UNS reported Porter Co. has a VE session Net: Ben KC9UNS reported we have been breaking records with people checking in and it has been nice to see the faces with in the meetings. He also asked if people would like to become a net control operator please contact him and showed the new paper log for the clubs info net.

Old Business:

David AA9XS reported about the Crossroads Marathon being held on April 1 4th

Directors

Bill Young .................. N9QLS Ken Brown ................ KE9TC Bob Nelms ............. WD9FNY

Mark Skowronski ............ K9MQ John Gianotti ................. W9WY

Editorial Staff

Editor-in-Chief ........ KC9UNS

Benjamin Straw

(kc9uns@gmail.com)

Club Resources

W9LJ/R ....................... 1 47.000 + PL 1 31 .8 W9LJ/R (St. John) ...... 1 47.240 + PL 1 31 .8 W9LJ/R ....................... 442.075 + PL 1 31 .8

Repeater Nets

Thursday Night @ 8 pm: LCARC Weekly Infomation Net

May 1 0, 201 3

Meetings

BOARD MEETING LCEMA OFFICE, 2900 93rd Ave Crown Point (41 .449555,-87.36893) (Across from Gov. Ctr.) 6:30 p.m.

New Business

The Club Has a new W9LJ.org Website.

Ben KC9UNS reported the club will be getting for free signs with “Radio Club” and an Arrows pointing on them to be put on the drive and entrance for direction to meeting or events.

The board of directors decided on purchasing an antenna for use of club sanctioned events, planned is a G5RV. This is due to a May 1 0, 201 3 problem with the emas Alpha Delta C Antenna.

CLUB MEETING

Program:

Video of ‘83 Field day and the move/construction of the clubs tower.

Nick W9UM also talked about buying the clubs tower for $2

2900 93rd Ave Crown Point (41 .449555,-87.36893) (Across from Gov. Ctr.) 7:30 p.m.

Meeting adjourned at 9:1 5 PM local.

LCARC is an IRS-certified 501 (c)3 charitable organization and donations are deductible pursuant to the IRS rules. If you have working radio equipment and ancillary equipment that you can and wish to donate to the club, please contact one of the board members and we will be happy to talk to you about the process. Many companies will either grant or match employee’s gifts to nonprofit organizations like LCARC.Please determine if your company is among these and contact a board member so we may help fund and grow LCARC. We cannot accept certain donations, and have to place some restrictions around them (no hazardous materials, nothing we could not sell, etc.). If you are interested, look me, or any other board member up at one of the meetings, or contact us via email (our addresses at the end of this newsletter)

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F ROM TH E M E E TI N G

Presentations and demonstrations at LCARC are a fun part of our meetings.

Come join us! Not a LCARC member?

It doesn't matter you’re welcome to attend our meetings.

No strings, no pressure!

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Stay up to date with the current happenings of the Lake County Amateur Radio Club on Facebook.

To find us type LCARC in the Facebook search box or http://www.facebook.com/LCARC

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For those of you who are planning to attend the Dayton Hamvention, John KE9V wrote his very own Dayton Servival Guide The article John wrote is WAY to long to publish here so I will be leave you with an excerpt and a link to the original article:

The Radio Amateur is Considerate

Toting valuable old booty out of that massive flea market can be problematic. I've seen guys pulling the kind of suitcase that has wheels (like you see in an airport) and a handle all around.

I've seen grocery store shopping carts and two-wheel trucks carry load after load from flea market to automobile. Nothing is too surprising but on this point please allow me to climb on my soapbox about one particular bad practice.

Many hams strap on a backpack. These seem pretty handy for carrying the smaller parts and brochures that one would accumulate while surfing the big event for hours at a time. Most even have a handy holder for a bottle of water or other cold drink. But whatever you do, do not place your hand-held radio in the backpack with the antenna sticking out. More than once I've been standing ten deep in line at some booth trying to see the latest and greatest while a fellow in front of me with a backpack nearly pokes my eye out with the rubber duck or telescoping antenna from his radio - that he can't even see.

Find the Dayton Servival Guide at http://ke9v.net/articles/dayton-survival-guide.html Vol. 61 No. 5

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Boston Marathon 201 3 – Bombs, Carnage and Amateur Radio Operators Tim Carter W3ATB (C)Copyright 201 3 Tim Carter All Rights Reserved

During the 201 2 Boston Marathon our first aid station #1 2 at mile 1 8.3 tilted at least two times with runners in different stages of distress. I was told that I had the most ambulance calls of any other “Stop all runners on the course.” ham operator at last year’s event. Believe me, I was looking forward Did I hear that correctly on my Charlie 5 frequency? Stop the Boston to a day with light traffic in our station.

Marathon? You can’t be serious?

Yes, after 11 6 years of Mother Nature doing her best to stop this That’s just what we got as the race progressed. Most of the runners world-class running event, a terrorist attack was able to do in had minor leg cramps and blisters. We did have two runners that seconds what She couldn’t do in decades. needed more extensive care. The radio traffic on our frequency was moderate to light.

I was a ham radio operator working the 11 7th Boston Marathon. It was the second year in a row for me. Fortunately for myself and my But just before 3:00 family, I was stationed eight miles away from the bombing attack. The p.m., the rumors radio communications team assigned me to work at First Aid Station started to fly. Keep in 1 2 at the corner of Commonwealth and Chestnut Avenues near the mind that the center of Newton, Massachusetts at mile 1 8.3 of the race. frequency I was on was a mid-course This is my third season of frequency. My job is to working public service events just keep my first aid using my ham radio skills. I have station supervisor, to tell you that I wasn’t expecting Mike Tryon, in the loop to become a thread in an about what’s historical tapestry, but I am now. happening around us.

I’ve got the photos to prove it, As Mike said to me I’ve got one of the much-sought- earlier in the day, after yellow and blue 201 3 “There’s nice to know Boston Marathon volunteer wind and need to know. I breakers, and an abundance of just want you to keep personal memories to prove I me informed with was part of the tragic historic Need to Know.” day.

Well, a terrorist or two The Communications Cascade or three made sure that soon enough I’ve been told by many seasoned there would be plenty ham radio operators that the of Need-to-Know Boston Marathon is the premier information. public service amateur radio event. It’s the World Series. It’s The Pros in Net Control the Super Bowl.

The ground zero of the entire communications operation is an It’s the World Cup. It’s the operations center called net control. A handful of ham radio operators Daytona and Indianapolis 500 in one. are stationed at net control on radios tuned to specific frequencies.

Each frequency covers a portion of the race course.

I can tell you it’s as challenging a communications amateur radio event as you might ever work. Now that I’ve worked it two years, and Think of the race course as a line of linked sausages. Each sausage that’s a very short time compared to many operators who have is a different frequency and net of its own. I was on C5 and the finish worked it for well over twenty years, the Boston Marathon deserves line was C7. those accolades.

Each individual amateur radio operator working at net control has a If you like numbers and want to get your head around what’s certain number of water and first-aid stations under his/her control. involved, consider this: • Linear Marathon – communications spread out over 26 miles The net control operator for the mid-section part of the course I was • Nearly 1 50 amateur radio operators on the course and in Net working was Andrew Maroney, W2AJM. He’s an absolute pro net Control control operator. His messaging is concise, he’s prompt with replies, • Pre-marathon meeting at 7:00 a.m. and he has a mind like a steel trap.

• Average time on station for ham operators – 9 hours that could stretch to 11 Understand that his job is to just feed us information that’s critical to • Seven primary communication channels, two bus and misc us fulfilling our jobs at our assigned locations. Even if he had access backup channels to widespread facts about what was happening at ground zero at the finish line, that would be nice-to-know information for those of use To put this in perspective, I regularly work public service events on farther back from the finish line.

Mt. Washington in New Hampshire. It’s a harsh environment with significant radio propogation issues compounded by the Andrew only dispensed information and facts that the race organizers concentrated number of commercial radio and television station wanted us to know that was specific to our location and/or it was towers at the summit. information to be broadcast to all ham operators. It’s part of the protocol.

But even though running, bike and car races claw their way up the 7.2-mile sinuous mountain roadway, we typically will only have 1 5 – As best as I can remember, the first real Need-to-Know transmission 20 ham operators on a single frequency. We have a backup from Andrew was the Stop-All-Runners message. At that point, we frequency, but it’s rarely used. knew that the rest of the day was going to be anything but ordinary

Bedlam Caused By the Bombs The weather forecast set the stage for an epic day. Sunshine, temperatures in the mid 50’s, light wind. I’m not a runner, but I can tell you I’d rather run in that than the record heat of the 201 2 Boston Marathon.

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Unintended Consequences

because officials turned off the cell towers.

The bottom line is there were several hundred people who were able to continue to communicate during the disaster.

Police, fire and others like me who had radios were still talking.

Keep that in mind. Perhaps this will be the wakeup call to convince you to get your amateur radio license and discover what hundreds of thousands of us already know. We know how to stay connected in disasters and other situations where traditional communications systems suddenly don’t work.

The race officials only invite qualified runners to participate in the Boston Marathon. This helps maintain the prestige of the event, but it also ensures that 99.9 percent of the people cross the finish line.

At the finish line, the race organizers have all of the runners personal belongings, blankets, mylar heat-retention capes, water, an abundance of medical support, wheelchairs, etc.

The first aid stations that are spread out on the course, like the one I was working, have many of these supplies, but in limited supply. After all, past marathon records indicate we Youthful Enthusiasm maybe will see only 50 – 1 00 runners in our station during the race.

Working at First Aid Station 1 2 with me was a gifted radio operator, Noah Goldstein, KB1 VWZ. Another ham operator was also with us named Shirley Dulcey, KE1 L.

But when the order was given to Stop All Runners, that decision created quite a few unintended consequences. We were very lucky at our station, because the vast majority of runners were farther down course. Just a handful of runners and walkers were approaching us after the bombs exploded in downtown Boston.

But further down the course, especially in the last mile or two, thousands of runners were still approaching the finish line.

The bombs created a new set of problems: How do the runners stay warm?

How do the runners get fed?

How do the runners get to their belongings?

How do the runners discover if their loved ones waiting at the finish are okay?

How do the runners let their loved ones know where they are?

How will thousands of runners be transported to who-knowswhere?

Plus countless other questions…..

But guess what, that’s where all of our training kicked into high gear.

Cell Phone Dependence

The spectulation is that government officials, within minutes of the explosion, shut off the cell towers in downtown Boston.

I can’t confirm this. But it sounds like a good idea as bombers discovered years ago that cell phone towers can be hijacked to help them with their sinister and nefareous deeds.

Cell phones are just radios. For years bombers have used cell phones as part of the mechanism to detonate bombs. It’s brilliant when you think about it. The bomber can be 1 00 feet away or a continent away, make a call to the phone connected to the bomb and BOOM. What really is happening? When you call a cell phone and it rings or vibrates, an electrical energy impulse within the phone happens that causes the phone to ring or vibrate. This electrical energy can be used to ignite a bomb fuse. It’s that simple. But don’t try this at home.

Many runners don’t carry cell phones, and they were desperately trying to use anyone’s phone, including mine, to call their loved ones at the finish line.

Everyone was getting a busy signal. That could have happened because the cell networks were overloaded, or

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Mike Tyron, at our morning organizational meeting, requested that I stay at the First Aid station all day acting as his connection with the outside world. Noah and Shirley were assigned to the mobile medical teams.

If runners need assistance at any part on the course between our station and the next closest first aid stations either up or down the course, a two-man medical team runs to their aid. A ham radio operator goes with them in case they need to request an ambulance or additional help.

Noah is a young man, I guesstimate to be around 20 years old. He was bursting with energy and enthusiasm. It’s completely understandable because he’s participating in a world-class amateur radio event.

As the anxiety ballooned after the blasts, Noah became restless. Not only was he concerned about a friend at the finish line, he wanted to also ratchet up his participation as a radio operator.

Twice I had to remind him of the structure of the communications team. It was important for Noah to realize that the leaders at net control knew more than we did about what was going on. They were counting on us to remain on location at our station. We were known assets at a given location, and if we were to be re-deployed farther down the course to help, net control would make that call, not us Noah got his wish. Within 90 minutes, he was told to move down the course to First Aid Station 1 3 that was set up just west of the Newton, MA City Hall. Within a short time, the race organizers moved many of the runners to the city hall building. This got them out of the weather and into a covered building with plenty of chairs and real toilets.

Buses were arriving bringing runners from other locations to the Newton City Hall. Noah was stationed at the City Hall building and was finally released about 6:45 p.m. He did a magnificent job all day, and there’s no doubt it will be a day he never forgets.

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The Temptation Each radio operator in the field has enormous responsibilities.

You could have a person’s life in your hands at any time. A runner may be in desperate need of help and the station supervisor may ask you to request an ambulance with advanced life support capabilities.

What does this really mean? It means you MUST be able to communicate. This means you probably should come to the event with two radios.

I had two radios. I could tune to two different frequencies. In fact, each of my Yaesu VX-7R radios is equipped to monitor two separate frequencies at the same time.

I knew the frequency the finish line radio operators were using. I could have brought it up on either of my radios to gather nice-to-know information at any time.

But I didn’t. It would be a distraction. I’m sure I wasn’t alone.

My job was to keep Mike informed and listen to my net control operator in case he had a direct message for me, or an areawide message for all operators.

After Action

I’m sure that right now the leaders of the communications team are meeting, or have scheduled a meeting, to discuss what we did right and what we did wrong. Professionally it’s called an after-action report.

I can tell you from my persepective that just about everything went right. Immediately after the bomb blasts, the radio traffic intensified. It continued to ratchet up as new challenges were exposed.

But each time, the race organizers and communications team rose to meet the challenge. On my frequency, and I imagine that used for the finish line, there was never chaos.

The reason was simple. Amateur radio operators that volunteer for the Boston Marathon are anything but amateurs.

That moniker just means we’re not paid to perform on the radio. It’s illegal for us to accept compensation if we use the amateur radio bands.

I was in the company of nearly 1 50 professional radio operators that stayed focused, they didn’t clog the frequencies with unneeded requests, and they followed established protocols set up years in advance for just this dreaded situation.

To be honest, it was a thing to behold. It’s my hope that all of the communications of the day were recorded for each frequency, and that they’re released one day so you can hear what I heard in my earpiece.

I heard calm, focused and concise radio requests. I heard virturally no frustration. I didn’t hear any screaming. I didn’t hear any frantic requests for supplies.

I’m still recovering mentally from the day. I’m very sad for

those three innocent people who’s lives were snuffed out by the calous act of the cowards who set down the satchels containing the bombs. My guess is that at least two people were involved, with each person casually setting down the bag and seemingly forgetting to pick it up as he/she walked away. I’m also concerned about all those injured and the collateral damage caused to all those that know the dead and injured.

I can tell you I’d go back tomorrow to work the Boston Marathon again. I’ll be even more vigilant. If you’re a ham radio operator, you should volunteer too. If you’re not an operator, consider becoming one. You can even volunteer to do other tasks non-radio related. I can tell you with confindence that many, if not all, of us will return. The terrorists will not take control of my destiny. No, it’s going to be the other way around.

There will be a new awareness about being able to communicate when cell phones don’t work. I was lucky enough to be one who could communicate clearly, even with someone around the world, when tens of thousands of people couldn’t.

I was lucky enough to be in a position to help many who needed help. That’s why all of us ham radio operators volunteered to be in Boston along with the thousands of other Boston Marathon volunteers.

Believe me, we’ll be back.

Author’s Note:

Hours after this post was published, I participated in a onehour Skype interview with Gary Pearce, KN4AQ, the founder of HamRadioNow.TV. I urge you to watch this video to discover more about what happened at the Boston Marathon. You’ll also discover more facts about the operation.

Tim Carter, W3ATB is a entrepreneur and aspiring blog writer visit W3ATB.com for more adventures .

I dont know about you but I think BK violated Two Part 97 FCC rules.

Video Discription: The Burger King BurgerFest is so big, it's out of this world! A Burger King associate uses a ham radio to communicate with space people. However, her manager doesn't seem to think they eat burgers, until he turns around to see an astronaut who is waiting for the Chipotle Chicken Sandwich.

Watch the Commerchal here http://www.ispot.tv/ad/7o0K/burger-king-chipotle-chickensandwich-aliens

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Breadboard Power Supply

Roberta X - RetroTechnologist.Blogspot.com One of two identical units needed for the ARRL rig in "Building an Amateur Radiotelephone Transmitter" and a nice example of later breadboard construction. Mine follows the original as closely as I could manage, with the addition of a fuse and front-panel switch.

Still dangerous, despite a smear of white paint on the neutral side of the AC plug so you can get it in the socket right way round and a ground terminal connected to the shells of the transformer and choke to hook to station ground. Making it child- and pet-safe can be done but you'd need some ingenuity, especially if maintaining a period look is a goal.

This one checked out at over 500V with a capacitor-input filter -those 630 Volt Solen Fast filter condensers suddenly don't seem all that extravagant! I changed to choke-input (look closely and you can tell) and the output is still too high for the application: the transformer dates to before Hammond changing to a tapped 11 51 25VAC primary and the HV secondary was high-ish to start with.

So it'll have to be replaced by the next step down. Good thing I hadn't built both of them.

Too bad I'd already bought two transformers. Hey, extras for the next project -- might even be big enough for the Harvey-Wells Bandmaster power supply that needs built.

--Roberta is a Retro Technologist who just so happens to be an extra class ham! Visit her blog at RetroTechnologist.Blogspot.com

Choosing Your Ideal Vanity Call Sign Anthony A. Luscre K8ZT You have decided to change your call sign.

Maybe you just upgraded your license, moved to a new call area or decided you want a shorter call. Maybe you want something easier to use in contests, a call that is easier for your friends to remember or just plain don't like the way your call "sounds" or "looks". Hams treat call signs with a special reverence, attaching a whole personality to a short sequence of numbers and letters, so changing your call can be an intimidating event. No matter the reason, this article can help you choose your "ideal" vanity call sign.

First, before we get started on choosing your call sign, a little "how-to" information.There are five great sites that will give you all the information you need to know to be successful in applying for and obtaining your selected call sign: http://www.vanityhq.com/ by Mike . N4MC Carroll (yes, it is back on-line) http://www.ae7q.com by Dean Gibson, AE7Q http://www.radioqth.net/ by Eldon Lewis, K7LS ARRL site at http://www.remote.arrl.org/arrlvec/vanity.ht ml and http://www.fcc.gov/wtb/amateur/vanity.html provided by FCC. What makes an "ideal call sign"? First of all there is no universal "ideal call sign".

Everyone's choice will be personal for them and limited by the group of call signs available to them based on their license class, geographic location, previously issued call signs, etc. Your first step should be to check http://www.vanityhq.com/ , http://www.ae7q.com and/or http://www.radioqth.net/ for available and soon to be available call signs.

Selection of your "ideal call sign" can first be divided into 3 categories based on your reason for wanting a new call. I have divided these into Personalized, Cute and Optimized Characters.

1 ) Personalized call sign choices can include initials, name, location, nickname, club name, etc. Selection of these is

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usually pretty easy, simply browse through available call signs to see if one matching your choice is available. In order to increase your chances of finding something that matches do not forget to check all combinations, not just suffixes (e.g., K3JIM, KJ3IM, WQ5RP, etc.).

2) Cute choices can include a wide variety calls that are visually (W0XX), phonetically (K4BFT - "big fat turkey"), initially (K4FBI, W6USN), acronyms (K2LED), spell words or abbreviations (K8PIE, K4YL, K7OM).

Often the numbers 1 and 0 visual similarity to i and o are used to "spell" cute combinations (K1 TE, K0RN, etc.)

3) Optimized Character (OC) call sign choices are based on selecting a set and sequence of letters and numbers that benefit the call holder with one or more advantages including easier to send, easier to receive, fewer errors by receiver, quicker exchanges, etc. OC calls can be the most challenging to select as criteria can be very subjective and personal. I stewed for long time on selecting my new OC call sign. I finally made up a spreadsheet and ranked all the potential calls in a number of criteria categories then ranked their scores. The criteria used was collected from a number of sources including articles by experienced contesters and DXers, phonetics studies, psychology and learning studies, graphic arts and marketing studies, personal experience and subjective input from fellow hams.

phonetics and how easy and clear each phonetic is to pronounce Emphasis letters for DX pile ups both in CW and SSB (hard consonants sound best at end of call in SSB and ending on a dah is preferable in CW but some letters such as "K" can be confused as prosign or abbreviation of part of contact instead of last letter of call sign) How the rhythm sounds in CW (I put calls into my keyer's memory and "played them back" at various speeds to listen to them) Other criteria you could use might include difficulty in sending a letter in CW, letters difficult in certain foreign languages, similarity to "well known" call signs, etc.. I rated my selected calls on 1 (best) to 1 0 basis for each category (either subjectively or by numerical value depending on criteria) then found average score for each call. Well, this may sound obsessive (and my wife told me it definitely was!), but I had my old call for 1 9 years, used it many thousands of times and hope I do not need to change my call again soon.

After you have selected and ranked your call sign selections, you need to complete your FCC Vanity Application. For invaluable help with this process, please refer to the four urls presented near beginning of this article. Then the wait begins as you hope the FCC grants you one of your top choices. Fortunately the process usually takes less than one month. I hope to hear you on the air soon with your "ideal call The criteria considered for OC included: sign".

Number of characters- total letters and Use My New Online Spreadsheet for Call number(s) Comparisons Number of CW elements- total dits & dahs or Download a Spreadsheet for Call Total length of weighted characters- total Comparisons (in MS Excel Format) from number of dits x 1 plus the total number of my FTP Directory- callsign.xls dahs x3 Visual appearance- (how will it look on a You've got your new call sign, so show it QSL card or Vehicle License plates) off. Want a suitable for framing version of your license information? Visit AE7Q's Letter clarity- how clear are sound of letters http://amateur.mailpen.net/Generate.html on voice contacts without phonetics (b, d, e, t and other sound alikes are bad; r, x, o, etc. have their on very unique sounds and All rights reserved - Anthony A. Luscre are easier to distinguish) 2007 Phonetic clarity- how the call sounds in

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Visit the Lake County ARC on the web at http://www.w9lj.org