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Posted on 01/16/2005 5:56:06 PM PST by Denver Ditdat
Big Apple broadcaster amps up ARRL radio spot for Limbaugh network fill (Jan 13, 2005) -- ARRL Media and Public Relations Manager Allen Pitts, W1AGP, says it's nice to have friends in high places. One of the friends of Amateur Radio public relations is Howard Price, KA2QPJ, of New York City's WABC-TV (Channel 7). Pitts says Price--acting president of the Broadcast Employees Amateur Radio Society (BEARS), the ham radio organization at ABC TV and Radio in New York City and an ARRL Special Service Club--heard the League's new radio public service announcement (PSA) and had an idea. "He passed it on to Johnny Donovan, production director at WABC Radio in New York City, who dressed it up in one night and made it available as 'network fill' on The Rush Limbaugh Show," heard on hundreds of radio stations across the US. While most larger stations cover program breaks with paid advertising, many smaller stations don't, "and their listeners will hear this wonderfully enhanced PSA for ham radio," Pitts says. Voicing the beefed-up PSA was Donovan himself, a WABC legend and also a radio amateur. "Folks all over America will recognize his voice from commercial radio," Pitts said. ARRL has obtained permission to make the 30-second version of the radio PSA featuring Donovan's voice available on the League's Web site for audition and distribution to radio stations. A 60-second version of the PSA, voiced by ARRL Media and Public Relations Manager Allen Pitts, W1AGP, and produced by Dave Marthouse, N2AAM, also is available.
Ham Radio Ping ListPlease Freepmail me if you want to be added to or deleted from the list.
Now that the internet has made instant worldwide communication easy for the masses, has the number of ham radio operators decreased? Or has it increased? Bascially, what effect has the internet had on the ham radio world? Thanks.
Increased. We can now use the internet for HAM purposes also. Internet has just opened up a whole other world of HAM activity. :-)
I'm going to back you up on that. Out here in the sticks, radio is great fun. I'm not a Ham operator myself, although I do have several Short Wave receivers, a scanner, and a network of antennas under the roof. I also spend a lot of time in the truck, which, of course, has a CB. CB is also on the rise, in my opinion. It is immensely useful, and the FCC backed down on licensing requirements. If the phones die out, radio is really handy. Cell phones are great as well, but they are dependent on an outside network and things get strange in the mountain passes occasionally.
The Internet may have left ham radio in the dust both technologically and politically (on the Inernet, you can say anything you want; on ham, your speech rights are the lowest common denominator among all the countries that permit hams to operate) - but ham is still unxcelled for emergency communications. The Internet requires an infrastructure, while ham radio does not.
Thanks for your interesting responses!
Bottom line. When the sh&* hits the fan, your cell phone and computer become as useless as a car without wheels.
Ham radio operators are expected to and for the most part speak politely, that is we refrain from profanity. Kind of like here...
That's why I like good ol' analog every now and then. I also have a few vehicles that can run without any electrical system whatsoever.
A technician-class license is a good start, but I'd sure like to understand the dits and dashes I hear when I tune through the CW bands!
Thanks. I'll look into that.
BTTT
Yep. BTW, I'm a General class.
One technology my ARES (Amateur Radio Emergency Service) group is playing with is called "Winlink". Basically, we are using amateur radio to connect to the internet to send/receive email. Boaters and world cruisers have been using it for years with good success. www.winlink.org
Both Mrs. Strzelec & myself earned our General Class tickets using a program called NuMorse, www.nu-ware.com. You can download a demo and play with it a bit to see if you like it. You may also want to read up about a way to learn morse called the Koch method. IIRC it was used to quickly train thousands of radio operators during WWII. Using NuMorse, the Koch method and spending about 20 minutes a day, it took me about four weeks to learn the code well enough to pass the code portion of the test; of course, YMMV.
Re: textbooks. I like the ARRL General Class License Manual; Gordon West also has a good book, but with less detail. Make sure you get the latest edition of the book(s) you select - they both have the complete and current test bank (questions and answers) that will be covered. Don't waste time studying an out-of-date copy.
Good luck!
Make it easy on yourself. Try Code Quick. www.codequick.com
A technician-class license is a good start, but I'd sure like to understand the dits and dashes I hear when I tune through the CW bands!
The licensing structure has been changed as have the code requirements. CW is now 5 wpm for all classes. There is no more Advanced class. As for the code, the KOCH method is really good. Check out QRZ for code programs.
73
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