ARRL made a comment in an update yesterday about some members “believe [ARRL] should be openly communicating everything [emphasis added] associated with this incident.” That’s not what this member has been suggesting. The update goes on saying “[authorities] […] have directed us to be conservative and cautious with our communications.” I really hate to belabor this, and I’m not trying to Monday morning quarterback the event nor sound condescending, but this is really a teachable moment for ARRL, for whoever may be listening. Here’s my advice, carefully outlined:

1. Post updates daily, even if it’s a short update. Anything.
2. Put a human face with the response effort. This can be quite simple: just post a two minute video every other day with someone on the leadership team or someone tasked with public relations to say “hello”, “this is what we’re doing today”, “these are the challenges we’re facing”, “we got this!, ” and “be patient”. Even add some snarky humor. This is not that hard to do, but it maintains and builds reputation capital and a rapport with the community and stakeholders. I’ve been amazed over my career and in my personal dealings in the online world how far a face, humbleness, self-deprecating humor, and falling on your sword goes in a bad or challenging situation. This isn’t going to silence irrational critics, of which there are plenty, but for 95% of the people out there, it works.
3. Technical details which, if made public, may compromise the investigation are separate from details regarding the restoration efforts. Don’t stand behind an investigation, it just gives a sense of secrecy and a lack of transparency and frankness.
4. Service restoration ETAs should be communicated from day one, and with each update. Even if an ETA is “we don’t know yet” or the ETA is in weeks, rather than hours or days, it’s much better than nothing.
5. Enumerate what services are affected, as soon as the scope is known, and track them throughout the ongoing communications. Initially to the outsider this appeared to be just an LOTW outage. It turned out this also affected the phone system and various administrative systems used to provide other services and publishing of periodicals.

I honestly hope this is my last post on this. For ARRL leadership there are takeaways from this event beyond technical issues. Technical issues can be fixed with expertise, money, and time. Cultural issues are much more challenging.

This article was originally posted on Radio Artisan.

In the realm of IT, there are best practices for managing system outages, and then there are examples of what not to do. The recent actions of the ARRL exemplify the latter. Today, HQ released an update stating that they were “the victim of a sophisticated network attack by a malicious international cyber group” and that they “quickly established an incident response team.” However, it took them 21 days to provide this detailed update.

As an IT professional, I have encountered numerous challenges and learned valuable lessons over the years. One of the most critical aspects of managing an outage is communication—clear, frequent, and transparent communication. It is essential to over-communicate during such times. Additionally, having a visible leader who represents the response effort is crucial. An effective “incident response team” should not only consist of technical experts working behind the scenes but also include individuals who manage communications, reassure stakeholders, and provide key information such as estimated restoration times.

ARRL has often been subjected to unwarranted criticism, but this situation is a result of their own missteps. I question whether the attack was all that sophisticated, sensing that it was a common ransomware attack. We await the final report for details, assuming it is made public. While technical shortcomings can be understandable and even forgivable, the poor communication and lack of transparency in this instance are not. The recurring sentiment from ARRL, echoing past incidents, seems to be, “You don’t need to know.”

This article was originally posted on Radio Artisan.

Having spent nearly 30 years in the IT industry, I’ve experienced my fair share of all-nighters and multi-day outages. Whether it’s been frantically repairing dead hardware, fixing corrupted databases, or resolving perplexing network issues, these stressful situations have taught me a lot. One of the most critical lessons I’ve learned is the importance of communication during an outage. While the technical team works tirelessly behind the scenes to resolve the issue, it’s equally vital to have a team dedicated to keeping customers and stakeholders informed.

Currently, there’s a lot of speculation surrounding the multi-day ARRL LOTW outage. Without insight into the system architecture or the specifics of the outage, speculating about the root cause or assigning blame is futile. However, one area where ARRL is undeniably falling short is in their communication about the outage.

The ARRL often faces criticism, sometimes unjustly, but frequently due to its own actions. The LOTW outage is a prime example of a situation where effective communication could mitigate criticism and even garner support. Regular, sincere updates with technical details would go a long way in keeping their stakeholders informed and engaged. Given that many of these stakeholders have technical backgrounds, they would appreciate and understand the specifics.

Moreover, humanizing the recovery effort by showcasing the dedication and hard work of the personnel involved could foster empathy and support. Highlighting the individuals and the tremendous effort they are putting into resolving the issue can turn a frustrating situation into an opportunity to build trust and rapport.

In summary, effective communication during IT outages is not just about transparency, but also about building and maintaining trust. The ARRL’s current communication strategy regarding the LOTW outage is lacking, but there is a clear path to improve it. By providing regular updates and humanizing the effort, ARRL can turn this challenge into an opportunity.

This article was originally posted on Radio Artisan.

Unfortunately, a few days after Carl W3HC (ex-W3HCW) celebrated his 100th birthday, he fell ill, declined rapidly, and passed away. We can’t complain as he lived a full life and got to enjoy a beer at his birthday party.

Photo credit: Karen Vibert-Kennedy, Williamsport Sun Gazette

Carl was an avid photographer all his life. The Williamsport Sun Gazette featured an article and video on his time in Berlin during World War II, taking photographs. While in a bombed out home, he found a roll of film which he took home and later developed. He was shocked to discover the photos were taken by a German photographer and even included pictures of Himler, who was the #2 in Germany at the time. Many of his photos are featured on his Flickr site.

I owe my grandfather a lot of gratitude as he’s the one who got me into amateur radio which led to me getting my first two jobs in wireless and communications, and laid the foundation for a rather successful career. I continue to be active in amateur radio, with QRP, field operation, circuit design, open source software development, and homebrewing equipment being my favorite activities.

Carl was first licensed in 1956 as WN3HCW, back when Novice calls had the WN prefix. After upgrading to Technician, the FCC dropped the N and he became W3HCW. Later in the 90s when he upgraded to Extra he shortened his call to W3HC. During my time with him as a youngster and teenager, he operated nearly all HF phone and enjoyed DXing, but he also did a lot of 6 meter AM work in the 60s. He operated the W3HCW QSL Fund which funded QSL cards for DX stations, and he was a QSL manager for about 130 stations over the years.

Carl McDaniel, W3HC, SK at 100 years and 6 days. dit dit

This article was originally published on Radio Artisan.

My grandfather, W3HC (ex-W3HCW), is 100 years old.

Grandson Kevin, Mac W3HC, great-granddaughter Eliza, grandson K3NG.

Grandson Kevin and W3HC having some 807s.

Mac (then W3HCW) in his shack in Williamsport, PA, USA sometime around 1956-57.

My grandmother, Gladys, K3JJN (SK), and my mother, Sherry, who passed away in 2000. Photo from around 1959 or 1960.

Mac in Whales, WWII, 1945.

This is the most difficult article I’ve ever had to write, not only because I lost a very good friend, but also because it’s so hard for me to put into words and express the impact this person had on my life and others.

I met Rob about 25 years ago. Rob lived in Philly working long hours programming minicomputers. He developed various medical issues and had to retire early, relocating to the Poconos here in Pennsylvania. He tended to be a night owl, sleeping all day and relentlessly pursuing amateur radio projects at night. We served at our struggling local ham radio club for several years, me as president, him as vice president. He joked his callsign should be VP4LIFE. Rob was an ever-present friendly voice on the local 2 meter repeater, welcoming beginners and having conversations with other night owls well into the morning. We spent many a night at Field Day, operating the CW station and we both substantially improved our CW skills over the years.

Rob and I tended to be mentors to each other. We frequently had multi-week email conversations going about projects. Rob would get interested in a topic and he’d call or email me. Rob always seemed to know the right questions to ask. I would research the topic and inevitably get interested in it. We went down many technical rabbit holes over the years, some going nowhere, others resulting in some sort of rig, circuit, or antenna. I would often wake up in the morning to one or several 10,000+ word emails with pictures showing what Rob was experimenting with. Rob never bought a few components for a project, he’d buy 1,000 of each, and stockpile the unused parts in case he wanted to build more of something or give the parts away to others. Our last major conversation was about making vacuum tubes from scratch, with him collecting the necessary tooling and materials to do this. We complemented each other well, with Rob having the energy, curiosity, and ability to create the spark, and me with the technical know-how to figure things out and fan the spark to become a fire. I can honestly say I am a better radio amateur and person today because of Rob.

I’m still in shock over the loss of Rob. I often see some neat project and think that I should email Rob, but realize he’s no longer around. I open my email each morning expecting to read a long diatribe about some late night experiments, but there is nothing there.

Robert Roomberg, KB3BYT, 63 years old, Silent Key. Dit dit.

This article was originally posted in Radio Artisan.

I have been working on a homebrew 40 meter CW transceiver for over a year now. It’s a superhet design, with all discrete components built ugly style on copper clad board. I’ve taken various circuit designs I’ve built in the past and added some new ones. The project has been a great opportunity for me to use and learn about the NanoVNA. Every stage I built, tested, and tweaked with the NanoVNA, and recorded results in my lab notebook. The rig features a 4 Mhz IF, mainly due to me having a ton of these crystals. I built wide and narrow filters, just futzing around with various crystal and capacitor combinations, and implemented diode switching of the filters. The filters aren’t commercial grade, but they’re definitely good enough. The final PA uses an IRF510. I had to do several iterations of this before I got something to work. At 12 volts I get 4 or 5 watts, but I normally run it at 24 volts to get 10 watts. I’ve had it up to 36 volts, outputting 20 watts. I’ve been wanting to try 48 volts.

For the longest time the rig was just PC boards on my bench interconnected with alligator clips, but a few months ago I made it a bit more respectable and mounted the PC boards on a pine board and completed some permanent wiring. There are still several alligator clips jumpering things to make it work. I tend to leave the rig on all the time and just listen to it in the background while doing other things in my office/lab/shack. I even leave it on when I’m experimenting with or adding a new circuit, if possible.

I’ve made several contacts here and there when I stumbled upon someone calling CQ for POTA, a contest, or SKCC. I honestly haven’t been doing any logging or any paper code copying. There’s something satisfying about just walking over to the rig, tapping the alligator clip-connected straight key, and having a quick contact. There’s no keyboard, no waterfall, and nothing to navigate with a mouse. It’s just me and a bunch of components communicating over the ether.

The ARRL Ethics and Elections Committee has recused a director for publishing a book that competes with ARRL publications, creating a conflict of interest. I find this strange as ARRL is a non-profit amateur radio advocacy organization, not a for-profit company driven by shareholders’ financial interests. I thought, perhaps naively, the goals of ARRL publications were to promote and enable the hobby, and not primarily be a line of business or product offering that competes in the marketplace.

I find the framing of this really troubling, with the “ongoing conflict of interest” being caused “through the creation and publication of a book which competes with one or more ARRL publications”. If the book was published in the public domain and available for free, it still would compete with ARRL publications, and arguably would still be considered an ethics violation, despite such publication being totally altruistic and compatible with ARRL’s mission of amateur radio advancement. Such competition could perhaps also be claimed for publishing a website of antenna designs, or volunteering for a non-ARRL VE organization.

There is a conflict of interest here, however it’s ARRL’s interest in publication offerings that is in conflict with its primary mission of advancing amateur radio.

This article was originally published on Radio Artisan.

Found in my grandfather’s ham radio stash….

This article was originally posted on Radio Artisan.

My favorite amateur radio event of the year, by far, is Field Day. Each year ARRL issues a new Field Day logo. Let’s take a look at logos of years past.

First, let’s get the mediocre ones out of the way.

Now let’s look at some good logos.

2007 and 2013 had cute cartoon logos. Not bad.

2005 and 2014 were yagi antenna years.

Radio waves are a common theme, as seen in the 2006, 2015, 2019, 2010, and 2022 logos. In 2008 we had Ride the Waves, but with a sine wave representation. (Hey, why are there two of us transmitting on the same frequency?) This logo is nice. It is visually appealing, free-flowing, yet more sophisticated than a lot of the logos. But ditch the yellow. Please.

2016 and 2017 had monochrome style designs. I like both of these as they have a simple, yet cool feeling. 2017 was another yagi year, though we got stacked yagis as a bonus. Are those more radio waves, and emanating from a boot? In any case, I give FD16 an A+ for the outdoorsy color choice and the hiking boot footprint. Well done.

And now for the best logo, evar…

This article was originally posted on Radio Artisan.

Late last year I applied an operating system update to my Macbook and my solid state hard drive peed all over itself. Long story short, I was unable to boot from the drive or read it and I had to start all over with a different hard drive and a fresh OS installation. I was able to recover all my files from the cloud except a recent backup of my logbook. It appears backups of my logbook, which MacLogger DX apparently stored in a hidden directory not in the Documents folder, was not being backed up to the cloud. The last logbook backup I can locate is from 2015.

But honestly, I don’t care. I’m declaring logbook bankruptcy and starting over. I already have some plaques on the wall for DXCC and WAS. I’m not in any race or competition. I’m not contributing any more to the radio art if I’ve made 10,000 QSOs rather than 500.

It’s a new day, and a fresh new logbook. It’s rather refreshing.

This article originally appeared on Radio Artisan.

ARRL reported on continuing efforts to “counter the continuing threat to Amateur Radio’s secondary use of the 3 GHz band” in response to a “provision in the $3.5 Billion Budget Reconciliation Bill that would have required approximately 200 MHz of the 3.1-3.45 GHz band be reallocated to the use of 5G vendors.”

Meanwhile, FCC Auction 110, which has for sale 100 MHz of spectrum from the neighboring 3.45 to 3.55 GHz band, in the first round of bidding has generated $1B in bids. The total minimum reserve price for Auction 110 is $14.7B.

Let’s just be real for a moment. A lot of people hate FT8. You all have seen it in social media and on the air. It’s a popular mode, so popular in fact that one report citing Club Log data recently showed that 80% of HF contacts in their tracking nowadays are FT8. This increase has come at the expense of other mode activity, especially CW. What’s worse in the minds of some, is that accomplishments like DXCC which used to take several to many years to reach is being significantly shortened with the use of FT8.

I’ve often thought it’s a fait accompli achieving DXCC, one just needs to sit in a chair long enough.  FT8 has given a means to bypass a lot of that chair-sitting.  I think FT8 just exposed an inconvenient truth that there really wasn’t a whole lot of skill involved in DXCC.  Skill may lessen the amount of time it takes.  FT8 just automated the process and significantly reduced the time needed and totally removed any skill advantage.

FT8 or another similar mode was going to happen sometime.  It’s like the concept of steam engine time.  The idea or theory is that the steam engine would have been invented at probably the same time in history by anyone or several people simultaneously in the world, even if many inventors were isolated and not in contact with each other.  It was just bound to happen at some point given the progression of technology and the availability of materials and know-how to do it.  We all knew (well, those of us with engineering know-how) that a semi-synchronous extremely low baud rate, low signal-to-noise ratio mode would work and be quite robust.  It’s Shannon’s Theorem applied. What is at issue is the way Joe Taylor packaged it.  We could do great things with low baud rate/low S/N modes.  How about a TCP/IP link to a BBS on the moon or an open global resilient messaging network that works on every band in the lowest of the low sunspot cycles? Instead, it was packaged as a low effort point-and-click QSO slot machine, unable to convey anything intelligent.

There are fully automated FT8 stations out there where the operator just clicks a button and the station makes contacts all day. We all know it, we just don’t know the extent of it. This I think is the crux of the problem. FT8 has become something akin to Bitcoin-mining, but it’s QSO-mining, and FT8 with automation which is undoubtedly happening has devolved pursuit of accomplishments into a virtual QSO Battlebots competition.

Personally, I’ve become indifferent to the whole FT8 debate, and frankly anything that involves DXing, DXCC, contesting, or collecting wallpaper. I don’t hate FT8, but I get the discontent about it that is expressed in amateur radio circles. I have always been one to tell others to not be mode bigots, or put down other modes. The FT8 mode itself is not bad technology, or detrimental to amateur radio. The mindless fashion in which it is in use I’m not so sure about.

This article was originally posted on Radio Artisan.

Since the pandemic started up over a year ago, I haven’t done any air travel and have been driving to all business functions. Luckily all my work has been in The Northeast and within a reasonable driving distance of my home, though I often have six to eight hours of driving in a day. So, needless to say, I’ve had a lot of windshield time on interstates the last 12 months.

In this past year, I think I’ve counted perhaps three or four amateur radio license plates on vehicles, total. I’ve identified maybe three other vehicles that didn’t have amateur radio license plates, but looking at the antennas on the vehicles and deducing from bumper stickers and the driver, it was an amateur radio operator.

A decade or two ago I can remember seeing perhaps four or five amateur radio plates on a single eight hour trip alone. I know some people don’t get amateur radio license plates these days because of the relative ease of identifying the owner using a web search. I think you see this with the younger generation who is very Internet savvy and aware of the dangers of self-doxing by providing to much identifying information to the public. We still have a majority of older radio amateurs and with increasing numbers of licensees one would think we would see more amateur radio license plates on the road today.

Has anyone else noticed a decline in amateur radio plates in their neck of the woods?

This article was originally posted on Radio Artisan.

The theme of this year’s Dayton Hamvention is The Gathering, not to be confused with the annual Insane Clown Posse event of the same name. Out of an abundance of caution, Insane Clown Posse cancelled their 2020 event, prompting several folks to call them Reasonable Clown Posse.

This article originally appeared on Radio Artisan.

In social media circles there has been much discussion about Field Day in light of COVID-19 restrictions.  Many traditional club operations are going to be cancelled this year due to social distancing requirements and the need to protect ourselves and especially vulnerable members of our population, of which there are many in amateur radio.

Folks are going to continue to participate from home this year.  Many people undoubtedly are going to recreate the “traditional” FD experience they are accustomed to, operating in their backyard, perhaps in a tent with temporary antennas, emergency power, a grill, and some cold 807s.

Participants operating at home must operate either as D or E class.  D class stations use commercial power while E class uses emergency power sources.  D class stations cannot contact other D stations for points.  E class stations can contact any other class station.  For those wanting to operate in their backyard with tents, emergency power, and temporary antennas, with the way the rules are currently written, they are required to operate as E class.  This puts them in competition with other E stations that choose to operate in the comfort of their homes using permanent antennas.  This would include antennas like a rotatable beam on an 80′ tower. So participants choosing to operate in their backyard with what would otherwise be a common field station, as 1E are at a disadvantage.  It would be more fair to allow backyard stations to operate as class B.

There have also been calls for ARRL to remove the D class contact limitation.  This would give D stations more opportunities to make contacts than they usually could, but considering the unprecedented situation this year and the likelihood of a large majority of D class stations, it would seem removing the restriction would make sense.

ARRL has noted they will not publish aggregated club scores.  Doing so would be a benefit for clubs that are unable to have their normal FD operations and have members operating from home.  There could be an “Aggregate Club Home Score” reporting category created.  Considering that all FD score data is probably stored in a database, producing such a reporting category would be trivial.

Undoubtedly there are other one time tweaks and adjustments that could be made this year in light of the situation we’re in.  I can’t understand why ARRL hasn’t been more flexible and creative this year and used the circumstances as an opportunity to officially recognize the flexibility and creativity of participants, and instead has ironically asked participants to be creative, but stay within the lines of the current rules.

 

This article was originally posted at Radio Artisan.