TechComm Labs

It looks like Apple has stimulated some renewed interest in signal reports. Their latest cell phone has an antenna that is placed to keep the brain cancer folks happy but it can be easily hampered depending upon how you hold the phone. One problem Apple has was the phone signal strength indicators. Most cell phones use a 5 bar weak to strong signal indicator. This is like the Ham’s S meter. They can be deceptive.

cnet FAQ: What does the 5-bar signal strength icon really mean? has a good rundown on the issue.

With old time radios, signal strength was based on what the radio could pull out of the background noise. These days, a common power level to get a readable signal may be -100 dBm which is about a tenth of a trillionth of a watt (1e-13). A billions of a watt, -60 dBm, would usually be considered an excellent signal. By IARU standards a radio S-9 (very good signal) is equivalent to a power of -73 dBm for frequencies below 30 MHz. Each S unit is 6 decibels

My cable modem is reporting -12 dBmV down and 54 dBmV up. To convert volts to watts, you need to use the 75 ohm impedance of the cable. See From dB to S-point : Learn to play with power units (ON4SKY) for more on calculating signal strength in various units.

It calls itself a “revolutionary new idea” and that may be the case. Amateur radio beacons of the old school are automated radio transmitters at various frequencies that an amateur could listen for to determine band conditions. Reversing this situation is creating a real time listening network that reports, via the I’net, who hears what. See Reverse Beacon Network ht Southgate ARC.

From a cursory inspection of the web site, it appears that the effort has a long ways to go. It depends upon proprietary software to seek out and parse CW signals to determine who can be heard.

Where could it go?

• Towards an integrated FOSS project would be a start. It also needs RSS support.
• It should incorporate all digital modes as well as CW with some effort towards voice recognition to include those modes as well.
• Coordination with a call sign database would allow geographic analysis
• Short term propagation analysis linked with longer term logbook results could aid planning

There is a lot of opportunity for innovation like this that is within reach of the AR community. Pete Smith, N4ZR
and Felipe Ceglia, PY1NB have got it off the ground. What can we do to help make it fly?

K9EV talks about how communications infrastructure has been enhanced and hardened over the years in When Failure is Not an Option. Amateur Radio is no longer the option when failures in communications are remote.

There are stories about how Amateur Radio operators were first to hear the news of the Haiti earthquake but there is also the reality that one of the biggest disasters there is the failure of communications that even Amateur Radio could not fill. When all else failed, Amateur Radio wasn’t there, either. In the US, many cities or counties have extensive emergency preparedness plans that include communications capabilities. Amateur Radio no longer needs provide equipment or operating facilities as these local governments have specially prepared vans or trailers with equipment and supplies ready to go for emergency communications.

Then there’s the commercial communication infrastructure K9EV describes. Not only are cell phone towers being hardened for better security and capabilities to operate for up to a week in disaster scenarios plus redundancies to survive contingencies. That is supported by back-haul links to central exchanges and network redundancy that is also hardened. And the cell network is not the only ‘last mile’ link between consumers and the network as cable and other alternatives to the traditional battery operated hard wired telephone have become more reliable as well.

One big deal was in 1982 or thereabouts when the telephone company was required to allow connections of alien equipment to their POTS network. That had been a big problem for the autopatches hams used to facilitate connection between their radios and the commercial network. It was also an issue in the modem equipment used to connect computers for remote data access.

Behind the scenes was the telcos moving from traditional hard linked connections with embedded control signaling towards digital circuit systems with segregated controls systems. The old system was why ‘phreakers’ with ‘blue boxes’ could use tones to hack the system and get free long distance. The new system, the SS7 system, helped block this misuse and provided the opportunity for the telco to provide many new features.

Then there was the telecommunications act of 1996 that allowed ‘competitive’ local exchange carriers (CLEC) to access the switching facilities of the incumbent carriers (ILEC) that provided the wire link to the consumers. That paved the way to alternatives to the traditional telephone system and the integration of the SS7 backbone to the IP based I’net. That, in turn, made VOIP feasible.

The problem of cell phones in schools also demonstrates a part of this. School children are no longer amazed by simple crystal set radios and can-on-a-string intercoms. They have cell phones with cameras and music players and I’net access that their parents can used to keep track of them and that they can use to constantly communicate with their circle of friends using voice, text, or even video.

Obviously amateur radio will continue to stand in the gap providing emergency communication services wherever and whenever it is requested, … But we seem to have entered a phase where … our radio gear and communication know-how doesn’t add as much value as it did when our kind of wireless was the only wireless available.

I think we’re in need of some re-branding if we want to remain relevant.

The first commonly available public and popular wireless facility was citizens band radio (CB) that took off in the seventies. Since then, the Heathkit era faded as fabrication of electronic and electrical appliances became modular, integrated, and inexpensive and software took over many hardware functions. Many communications methods have become popular, useful, and reliable. Even the picture phone hypothesized as future tech in the 60′s has become reality with a miniature camera mounted at the top of a flat screen computer monitor that has enough picture quality to be embarrassing.

Since the rise of the CB era, the ‘Amateur Radio’ brand has needed a focus and direction that has not occurred. A unique and inexpensive way to chat over distance? gone. A resource for ‘when all else fails?’ handled. A build-it-yourself for cheap high grade equipment? can’t compete with COTS (commercial off the shelf). Leading edge communications technology development? you just try to build a GHz capable microchip that is software driven in your garage.

There is something left for a focus. That is people: operator training and public educations. Unfortunately, that aspect has also been diluted by government policy and tactical thinking.

The questions “who am I?” and “where, now?” are well overdue for the amateur radio community and the societies that allow them use of radio spectrum and other considerations.

KL7AJ wonders at QRZ.COM

I know what the main difference between my generation of radio amateurs and the Emcomm weenies.

In OUR day, it was our job to CREATE emergencies. The new Emcommers are intent on “fixing” emergencies.

It’s all so clear now. And the answer is on its way!

How many of the new EMCOMM weenies ever stuck a screwdriver into a wall socket when they were toddlers? Not a one, I’d venture to bet.

How many wackers in their youth set the carpet, the ceiling, or the family cat on fire while attempting to build a Tesla coil or Jacob’s Ladder in their bedroom? Nary a one, I dare say.

Too much amateur radio “promotion” literature is wasted on trying to portray amateur radio as “civilized” and “safe.”

I say, let’s put the mad scientist back into ham radio where he belongs.

Ham radio should sizzle, crackle and bang!

Not to mention, SMELL! How many of this new generation of “HAMS” (eeesh!) even know what Ozone smells like?

Come on people! Let’s have some explosions! The EMT’s should be racing to OUR doors….not the other way around!

The responses in the discussion also have some very interesting stories to tell. Childhood is too safe anymore.

The Department of Product & Systems Design Engineering – University of the Aegean has a maritime tracking web site that is a Google mashup of ship collision avoidance data. This is AIS data (What is AIS?) That is collected by VHF receivers feeding a PC connected to the I’net. The software used is FOSS and handles the NMEA (same as often used for a GPS to PC connection) reports.

Since receivers connected to the I’net are rather difficult to arrange mid-ocean, the mashup is best for coastlines and port areas. The website has a lot of pictures to go with ship names and course or position information.

The Wikipedia entry on the Automatic Identification System notes that the International Maritime Organization has condemned the irresponsible publication of AIS data as a safety issue.

In Ham Logging as a Service, KE9V describes the idea of amateur radio activity logging as an I’net cloud service and mentions the ARRL as a potential sponsor of such an effort.

The log idea is excellent. The ARRL mention describes a weakness in leadership. The Logbook of the World does exist but it is not interactive and has limited goals (“create awards credit”). It may also suffer from a security paranoia.

The Amateur Radio community, via its established organizations, should be leading in activities like this. Instead, it is individuals, such as KE9V, that have to push and it will likely be some other individual (like FindU.com did with APRS) that implements the ideas.

UPDATE: thinking about this one … this would be an excellent application of an APRS network on amateur frequencies. That way, an I’net connection would not be needed. It could currently be done via the usual I’net gateway used by findu.com but it seems the logbook itself could have a totally I’net free access point as well.