HRN 509 PROMOre: Repeater Pest Gets No-Contact Order

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He was drunk. He was profane. He was worse than annoying. He wouldn't go away, plaguing a Charlotte area repeater for months. Then he got his ham license... and nothing changed. He was ordered off the repeater (many times). The control ops contacted the FCC - they wouldn't act. Nothing worked. Then he began targeting one individual ham for harassment, and that created an opening for a legal remedy outside the FCC.

Gary also previews a bill in the South Carolina Legislature that mirrors PRB-1, but would extend the protection to HOA residents.

HRN 508: Family v Service (v Podcast)

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East Coast Host Gary K4AAQ had volunteered to do radio at a local Christmas parade. As he was lacing up his sneakers, about to leave home, wife Cyndi KD4ACW called to dispatch him to the hospital where mom had been taken with chest pains. Gary had planned to do some video and interviews at the event for today’s show. Instead Gary and West Coast Host David W0DHG talk about how to weigh conflicting obligations to family and community (and Podcasting). (Mom didn’t have a heart issue, but it was still something serious. She’s OK now)

Gary did it again 😒 10 minutes and 30 seconds with NO AUDIO. It was all pre-show banter, but he is chagrined. Again.

David also had comments on how his favorite event, the Baker to Vegas charity run, has decided to replace ham radio with communications from Verizon (while still urging them to volunteer for other jobs). There’s more to that story, and it’s not isolated to that event. The MS Society is using ham radio less for smaller, more urban walks. And in the Emcomm arena, Auxcom leaders have been saying that hams should be cross-trained for communication on other systems. That’s something to dig into on a future show.

Meanwhile, we noted that the new FCC rule dropping the data-rate restriction of ‘300 baud’ on the HF bands, replacing it with a 2.8 kHz bandwidth limit, has finally been published in the Federal Register, and will take effect on January 8, 2024. So not quite the Christmas present we expected, but Happy New Year!

And a FNPRM (Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking) clock is ticking for comments on how to handle data rate/bandwidth of the VLF, VHF and UHF bands. That spectrum is not covered by the new HF data bandwidth rule.

Finally, no news on the Netflix Watch. HRN Episode 506, How Can We Podcast with All This Light?, is still dark due to Netflix’s copyright complaint. Check Episodes 506 and 507 for details, and listen to the audio version while the video is down.

HRN 507: All the POD You Cannot See🏴

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HamRadioNow Episode 506 is still down on YouTube, by order of Netflix. We’ve filed a ‘dispute’ via YouTube. We’re waiting.

But not patiently. In this episode, David W0DHG and Gary K4AAQ explain what’s happened. And that’s pretty much it… a short show.

[UPDATE] Episode 506 is UNBLOCKED! It’s a longer story, but multiple disputes were filed, triggering a 48 hour timer to unblock the video while Netflix mulls the disputes.

HRN 506: How Can We Podcast With All This Light💡?

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We finally get to the real show based on the Netflix series All the Light We Cannot See. The show is a four-part mini-series about clandestine broadcasting during WWII. It’s set mostly in a small, coastal French town that is occupied by Germany, and is being bombarded by Allied planes coming across the Channel. A young woman named Marie has taken over broadcast duties from her uncle. Her broadcasts contain coded mssages helping the Allies make precision bombing runs. Marie is being hunted by Werner, a reluctant German radio operator, using DF equipment to pinpoint her location.

This is the CENSORED version.

This being the main theme of the series, there is a lot of radio operation, and a lot of gear. Little of it is explained in detail, and what detail they show is usually somewhat wrong. That’s because this is media for the general public, and getting it right would be boring and take too long. So it’s the usual Hollywood license for any technical profession, whether it’s radio, medicine, law, etc. Details get in the way of storytelling.

Our goal is to highlignt the radio operating, and note the errors, while appreciating that a program has this much radio (and radio people) at all. So we pulled about 17 minutes of footage from the series, play it and comment on it.

This will be the full version, if Netflix unblocks it

Or at least we tried.

YouTube had a different idea. Halfway through the show, they start blacking out the video and audio, with a title saying they detected copyright material. When Gary comes back on screen, the video resumes, but the YouTube bot isn’t very precise with its timing. Eventually, YouTube just takes the stream down, noting a copyright violation.

But they give us a chance to appeal. Gary takes it immediately, and to his surprise, within minutes he gets email from YouTube saying they AGREE with his appeal and restore the program.

But the program they restore is the one with big segments blocked out, and ending early, where they terminated the live stream. Thanks for nothing!

Gary recorded the episode locally, and uploaded it to our YouTube channel, thinking A) they won’t file a copyright claim on this one, because they already agreed that it was Fair Use, and B) Don’t believe that for a second.

Yep, the upload was not only flagged but fully blocked, worldwide. Gary filed a dispute… we’ll see if this one is handled with the speed that Netflix responded to Episode 504. They filed a copyright claim there, too, based on us showing their trailer. Gary filed a dispute, and Netflix relented in less than 24 hours.

[UPDATE] Nope… a few days later, and it’s still down. And for good measure, they also blocked the Live, Censored version that YouTube had restored😒. For more, move on to Episode 507: All The POD We Cannot See

[UPDATE #2] The show is unblocked! Gary had to file a few more disputes, and that triggered a 48 hour timer to allow the program to air, even if Netfilx hadn’t responsed to the dispute yet (they haven’t, as of 12/16/2023). That timer ran out today, and the show is visible again.

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HRN 505: Podcasting at the Speed of Light💡

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First… I’m giving everything a new number - episodes, promos… if I far… sneeze, I’m giving it an episode number.

So, we had planned to do the episode that we Promo(re)d last Sunday sometime during the week. Well, we couldn’t. It’ll be on this coming Sunday, December 3 at 3pm Pacific, 6 pm Eastern, 2200Z. We’ll be reviewing and picking apart the radio mistakes in the Netflix series All the Light We Cannot See.

So what are we doing here in 505? (Besides piling up episode numbers?) Mostly celebrating that I was able to win another Fair Use battle. We played the trailer to the show last Sunday. Netflix filed a Copyright claim and demonetized it (even though we don’t monetize). That didn’t affect anyone’s ability to watch the show, but there’s a principle involved. I disputed the claim based on Fair Use. Netflix caved… er, agreed in les than 24 hours, a new speed record.

We kept this show fairly short. No such promises for Sunday. -Gary K4AAQ

HRN 504 PROMO: How Can We See With All This Light💡 PROMO

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This episode is a PROMO for an upcoming HRN show. This one comes with homework:

We like watching shows that have ham radio in them. Sometimes it’s just for the show, and sometimes it’s to pick at how much they got wrong 😒. Netflix has a new, four-episode limited series titled All the Light We Cannot See, based on a novel by the same name. It looks like it should be one of those ‘based on a true story’ stories, but it’s not. But it does have a lot of radio in it. Not ham radio specifically, and ham radio isn’t mentioned – it’s more of an amalgam of ham radio and DIY shortware broadcasting, with a bit of spy-radio in the mix.

Your homwork is to watch the four-episode series on Netflix, and we’ll do a ‘book club’ episode to discuss it. Gary K4AAQ is pulling some clips of the radio-specific parts to get a YouTube takedown (which he will fight and win on Fair Use grounds). If you don’t have Netflix, well, sorry, there is no free trial (we speculated there was in this Promo, but there isn’t). They have a $7/month plan that you can sign up for, then cancel, so the show would cost you $7 (you can watch everything else on Netflix for that month, or course). The $7 plan is their ‘ad supported’ level, so you’ll see some commercials.

And we’re not sure when we’ll produce this show. Could be Monday or Tuesday… stay tuned and click the Subscribe button on YouTube (and the Notifications bell). Audio listeneres… it’ll just show up in your feed when we’ve done it.

David reacts to gary’s show title

HRN 503: Pavement Police 👮‍♂️

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East Coast Host Gary K4AAQ played radio (and Pavement Police) at a local Christmas parade on Saturday with the Cabarrus Amateur Radio Society, and made a little movie of it.

Before that, West Coast Host David W0DHG was playing hooky from the show, out doing a POTA event with his WaveTalkers co-host Chris W6AH. They were live on 17 meters, and after we announced the frequency, a few members of our live audience jumped on 17 and worked them!

HRN 502: 2.8 kHz Jumps the Gun

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The FCC jumped the gun on releasing the Report and Order on RM-11708, replacing the old “300 Baud” data limit on the Amateur Radio HF bands with a bandwidth limit of 2.8 kHz instead.

They told us it would be part of their November 15 meeting, aired live on YouTube. Instead, they sent notice of the approval in a press release two days early, on November 13. So YAY, it’s approved with no drama. But we kinda wanted to hear them talk about us a little.

Oh, well… the new rules take effect 30 days after publication in the Federal Register, and that hasn’t happened as of ‘press time’ (12 noon, November 15). If you go there, search for WT Docket No. 16-239.

LINKS:

HamRadioNow Episode 502 poster

HRN 500🎇: From 300 to 2.8k In (only) 38 Years!

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Happy Episode 500, everybody!

And now back to work.

The FCC is about to release a Report and Order abolishing the antiquated 300 ‘baud’ limit on data rates on the HF bands, replacing it with a 2.8 kHz bandwidth cap instead . The draft R&O was released last week, and Gary K4AAQ picks it apart. It should be finalized at the Commission meeting on November 15, 10:30 am Eastern, with video available live (and on Memorex for later).

In the last half of the episode, Gary opens up the Discord and chats with Jeff N4POD, and a brief visit with David W0DHG

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HRN 499: K1N Navassa — the YouTube Movie

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DXer and video producer Bob Allphin K4UEE released the K1N Navssa DXpedition documentary on DVD in 2015, a few months after the highly successful DXpedition itself. HamRadioNow’s Gary K4AAQ did the editing and voiceover for the production. DVD sales were good enough, but now it’s time to release the program to the world on YouTube, free to watch for everyone. Yep, that’s the link, right here.

In this episode, Bob and Gary chat about the show, and about some of the DXpeditions Bob has been on, particularly the Bouvet Island attempt he led that had to abort, and the subsequent attempt that was only partially successful. And Bob announces that he’ll be offering a clearance sale of his remaining DVDs - 3 for the price of 1 - coming soon to his web site.

Before that, though, NorCal Host Jim NO1PC gives us a short tour of this weekend’s Pacificon hamfest, which was reduced in size some from the recent past.

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HRN 498: The 60 Meter Q-File (Gary's Genius Plan)

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Gary’s Genius Plan for 60 Meters gets filed with the FCC. He reads it to you.

And Gary K4AAQ notices that ICOM has added FM to their 3rd Generation D-STAR Repeaters. He thought he saw that they were doing a D-Fuzion thing, with DV/Analog IN, Analog OUT, but no… as he reads it live, he discovered that it was an either/or thing… DV or FM, but no Fuzion. So close.

LINKS:

Episode 498 Poster. Gary and the Episode title slide

HRN 497: Chicago Marathon... Keeps On Running🏃‍♀️

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The Chicago Marathon ran last weekend. It’s one of the Big Six marathons worldwide, and uses ham radio extensively for communications in support of the medical crews.

Rob Orr K9RST is the ham radio coordinator, and he’s one of our guests on this week’s show. And this time (because we’ve done this before, back in 2017), he’s joined by Jeff van Buren KD9IPG. Together they fill in hosts Jim NO1PC and Gary K4AAQ (with a cameo from David W0DHG) on this year’s events and updates.

HRN 496: Yo... 60... You're UP!

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Last spring, the FCC issued an ORDER and NPRM covering a lot of stuff that originated with the 2015 World Radio Conference (WRC 2015). Um… checking our calendar, we see that it’s 2023 and ¾. But who’s counting?

For hams, we care mostly about the part concerning 60 meters. And apparently not all that many of us care about that, but we’re pressing on anyway.

Back at the WRC, they officially approved a band plan for worldwide Secondary status for ham radio on a 15 kHz wide band between 5351.5 – 5366.5 MHz. With an effective power level of 9 Watts. Ugh.

In this NPRM, the FCC is asking if that’s what they should do. Or if they should thumb their nose at the world (as many other countries have done… especially Canada) and keep the existing 5 ‘channels’ and 100 Watt (EIRP) power level. Or some combination of the above.

That NPRM was issued last April. We’ve been waiting for ‘publication in the Federal Register’ to make it official, and begin the 60-day comment period. And waiting. And waiting. That shoe finally dropped on September 30. But even though the NPRM promised 60 days, the FCC says you have until October 30 to file comments. We did the math. That’s 30 days. We can handle that, but it is curious.

Meanwhile, it’s our chance to review East Coast Host Gary K4AAQ’s Genius Plan for 60 Meters once again (because we’ ve done like two shows about that just this year). And this is the first time West Coast Host David W0DHG gets to weigh in. David thinks it’s too complicated. You decide… and file your comments by October 30.

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Poster frame for HRN 496 with Gary and David and the episode title

PROMOre for HRN 496: Yo... 60... You're Up (But mostly a BPL Story)

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On the ‘Big Show’ we’ll talk about the 60 Meter NPRM from the FCC, but this is the ProMore, with East Coast Host Gary K4AAQ talking about his experience investigating and documenting BPL in the early aughts. Cameo appearances by David W0DHG and Marty NN1C (Marty apparently butt-texted the show group, so Gary called him on the phone).

HRN 495: ConFuzin' After All These Years (Yaesu FT5D Review)

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Back in 2014, East Coast Host Gary K4AAQ did a HamRadioNow show titled System Confusion, with a look at Yaesu’s new C4FM mobile and handheld radios that he had just reviewed for QST. In that show, Gary and some friends from the Charlotte Digital Radio Group did a comparison of DV modes using handheld radios on D-STAR, DMR, P25, and those new C4FM Fusion handheld radio. The episode is our most-watched HamRadioNow show, with nearly 48,000 views (one TAPR DCC show in our catelog has more views). And although the show was a fair look at all the radios, the title alone seems to have cememted Gary’s place on Yaesu’s black list.

Fast-forward to 2023, and Gary has finally added some Fusion radios to his arsonal of mobile, base and handheld radios, with a pair of FTM300s (mobile, base), and an FT5D handheld. In this episode, he reviews the FT5D, with help from hosts David W0DHG and Jim NO1PC, neither of whom see themselves signing on to System Fusion anytime soon.

The fun begins with a look at the Yaesu FT5D Facebook Group, where Gary posted what he considered to be some innocent questions about his new radio (search the group for ‘Gary Pearce’ to find his posts). That led to some snarky replies from a few members of the group, and the ‘discovery’ that he was that Gary Pearce, of System Confusion fame. You be the judge.

And bottom line: Gary likes the radio just fine (and the FTM300s). There are a few things he’d do different, and a thing or two he considers a bug or an oversight in design, but no dealbreakers. And at this point he doesn’t expect Yaesu to take any of his suggestions into consideration because… well, he’s the Confusion guy. And damn proud of it!

HRN 495 PROMO: ConFuzin' Vacation

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One show… two episide entries.

Gary K4AAQ did a long ‘Promo’ for HRN 495 ConFuzin’ After All These Years that was really a slide show of the vacation he just took to Utah and a Rocky Mountaineer train ride. Our web host, Squarespace, only lets us put one audio file in an episode, and we want to publish this one separately, so… two Episode entries for one… OK, we did say it was Confuzin’. All the way around.

HRN 495 PROMO Poster - Gary with show title

HRN 493: Obsessive Public Service

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East Coast Host Gary K4AAQ here (the 👑 of HAM)…

You can operate public service effectively with a single mobile radio (I recommend a dual-band, dual-display radio, though), and probably a dual-band HT. So that's why I have 5 mobile radios and a scanner, and 10 or so handhelds, all programmed and ready to go. Obsessive. Borderline compulsive.

A short, live ‘broadcast’ from Sunday - audio’s ok, video’s pretty bad.

This episode is a mini-doc of my prep and some operation during my big annual Public Service event, BikeMS New Bern. I was just going to shoot a few snippits on my phone (Goole Pixel 6 Pro). I ended up with lots more than I expected - enough to make a show! And look 👀 it’s less than 30 minutes long!

HRN 493 Episode Poster - the WARNING light on top of the Q-Mobile

HRN 492: When, Jessica?

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It’s fun to see Ham Radio bantered about in the halls of Congress. At the end of a 3-hour hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s subcommittee on Communications and Technology last June, Arizona Congresswoman (and friend of Ham Radio) Debbie Lesko ‘grilled’ FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel about the status of the proposal to replace the long-obsolete rules on HF data rates in Amateur Radio with something more modern… perhaps a 2.8 kHz bandwidth limit, and anything you can stuff into it. When’s that gonna happen, Jessica?

Rosenworcel acknowledged the need, but noted that the FCC’s inquiry, back in 2017, is now ‘stale’. This seems to imply a renewed proposal (NPRM?), another round of comments, and finally maybe some action? In other words, don’t hold your breath.

Anyway, we’ve got the clip from the end of the meeting. Again, fun to hear us mentioned.

This show is a solo anchor effort by East Coast Host Gary Pearce K4AAQ. David W0DHG and Jim NO1PC had family obligations. So after taking care of business, Gary brought in the HRN Discord Server’s Studio 73… an audio/video room for our viewers to come chat.

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