March 13, 2023

HRN 469: Fallow Communications Commission

March 13, 2023/ Gary Pearce

There’s no Promo(re), just the show

The FCC has been MIA for some time in ham radio. RMs (Requests for Rulemaking) and a couple of NPRMs (Notices of Proposed Rulemaking) have been dormant for up to 10 years! We look at some of the important ones, and some that are important only to the guy who proposed them.

If you want to make comments on any RM or NPRM, review any of the proceedings (read the comments), or file one yourself (please don’t), this is the place: https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/search/search-filings

March 06, 2023

HRN 468: Way Too Much PowerPoint 😮

March 06, 2023/ Gary Pearce

East Coast Host Gary K4AAQ is working on a slide deck for a hamfest talk next weekend (Charlotte Hamfest - see him live at 9 am Saturday, March 12). The topic is Digital Voice - VHF/UHF edition. Gary’s still working on the slides. He’s in the 70s. A good PowerPoint talk has maybe 30 slides, tops, say the experts. Do we have a problem? What do they know?

West Coast Host David W0DHG is the audience as Gary rehearses the talk. At the one hour point,
Gary was in the 60s. So close? We’ll watch the playback to see how it paces. David tried hard not to fall asleep.

February 26, 2023

HRN 467: Ode to a Decibel

February 26, 2023/ Gary Pearce

A decibel is 1/10 of a Bel. By rights, this should be 1/10 of a show, but it’s at least 1/3. So bonus.

We did it again! NO AUDIO for the first 3:45, so slide on down.

Well, at least we didn’t resort to an Ask Me Anything 🙄. Instead, Jim NO1PC and David W0DHG scraped Gary K4AAQ’s Facebook feed for Elmer questions that he answered in his usual “here’s how to build a clock” complexity. Or not! The dB answer was an attempt to simplify, to explain decibels without any math. Almost no math. Because Gary doesn’t know the math. He does it all by remembering 3 dB and 10 dB. Everything else slides between those two markers.

Then there’s a dual band antenna mystery to solve, some background on just how unique your call sign is, and a review of tone decode. All with a low grade fever.

Episodes