Good morning, afternoon, or evening allmy fel low hams and skippers, its onceagain that time of month for me to writesomething! And hey! it looks l ike I have.This months Short Skip is a l ittle shortfrom the norm, while sti l l giving youeverything you want and love. Thereason for this is I have had a busymonth looking for a new QTH and I haveto say it isn't al l that fun. A friend of mine

sent me one of those numbered joke lists and one of them struck home, “Whenshopping for a new vehicle the first thing is look for a space to mount the radios.You end up sitting in the front seat staring blankly at the dashboard area, feel ingunderneath seats, and poking around the back seat for ways to route the coax. I fcaught looking under the hood for holes in the firewall for your power cables, youtel l your wife, "Nothing honey, just checking things under here." This also goes forlooking at new homes! I don't know how many houses I ’ve looked at but mosttend to have problems, other and including where to put an antenna.Anyway I hope you found the Apri l fools joke within the last Issue! I f you hadn'talready guessed it the 1 F class used for Field day. . . was a joke! HEY speaking ofclub events on May 4th, LCARC wil l be participating in the Indiana QSO Party.This event wil l be held at the EMA field, located out and about the same locationwhere we conduct our meetings. . . only yes outside but within LCEMA’scommunications trai ler “Big Blue”. We plan to set up around 1 0:30am and at 11try to work as many indiana stations, states, and DX as possible ti l l about 5pm,bands fal l short, or when we call it quits. I f you're unable to stop by, hit us up on the clubs repeater and we wil l letyou know what frequency we are on. The INQP might sti l l be head up and other stations wil l be looking for a QSOtil l 7pm, so spin that dial around the bands or hit up www.hdxcc.org/inqp/ on the web.

You might also notice that we have no birthdays to announce this month! We want to say happy birthday to eachand every member, so please email us (kc9uns@gmail .com) your birth month, yep thats it just a month.

On June 1 3th we wil l be hosting a fundraiser at Five Guys Burgers in Scherervi l le, tel l your friends and bring thewhole family along, al l you need to do is buy tasty burgers, and our club gets a portion of the takings of the night.Also I wil l be doing the clubs net from the parking lot of five guys, so if you want to see how I operate a net, stickaround ti l l 8pm. Speaking of nets why not check in and join the conversation with the LCARC Information net. Welet you know about upcoming events l ike VE sections, special event stations, weekend contests, a ice breakerquestion that helps mic fright operators, and more. Join the fun every Thursday night at 8PM.Well my fingers are almost to the bone so I ’ l l end it here, I hope to see you at the next meeting May 1 2 or hear youon the net.73, Benjamin Straw KC9UNS - Editor, Short Skip and Secretary, LCARC Inc.

Message from the editorBenjamin Straw, KC9UNS

May 2013, Issue 5, Volume 61

UPCOMING EVENTS

MeetingLake Co ARC

LC Dept Homeland Sec BldMay 1 08th @ 7:30pm

HamfestDayton Hamvention® 201 3

"DX Hamvention"May 1 7-1 9 201 3

ContestsIndiana QSO Party

May 4th 11 -5pm

NetLCARC Weekly Information NetClubs VHF & UHF Repeaters

Every Thursday @ 8pm

In this Issue of Short Skip

Guess None

I f we missed your birthday or

get it wrong, please let us know

ARTICLES NEEDED! ! !I f you have anything pertaining to amateurradio that you would l ike to contribute to,and share with others in Short Skip, wewould be happy to include your offering inany future edition. Anything you would

l ike. Hints and kinks, antennas, technicaltalk, operating tips, public service, classic

radio, club activities, etc. , would behearti ly welcomed!! ! Al l articles must bein by the 20th of every month. Copyright

rules and permission apply to al lsubmissions. Please send your

submission to:KC9UNS / Short Skip Editor

kc9uns@gmail .com

I hope you enjoy this month’s Short Skipas much as I did putting it together!

2. LCARC Meeting Minutes3. Meeting pics and Daton guild4 - 6. Boston Marathon 201 3 – Bombs,Carnage and Amateur Radio Operatorsby Tim Carter, W3ATB7. Breadboard Power supply and Choosinga vanaty callsign

LCARC April Meeting MinutesBenjamin Straw, KC9UNS

2Short Skip

Meeting called to order at 7:35 PM

Attendance:1 4 members 4 Guests.

Reading of Minutes:The minutes of the previous meeting (March 8th, 201 3) wasapproved as read.

Treasure Report:Treasurer Report read by Jim KF9EX.Jim reported only 3 people haven't paid their dues from last year,he reported we now have 55 members hoping to have more soon.

Committee reports:RACES: New clock in the EMA’s radio room, problems with Andysrepeater 1 45.45 and the ema repeate, plan to move antennas.Jim Mil lsap W9CTO was a big help in resolving issues, ThanksJim!. The Ema might be moving across the street, but is sti l l up inthe air.Red Cross: No contact from themContests: Indiana QSO Party(INQP) May 4th and Field day wil l beheld at the EMA Field, Ben KC9UNS asked that you pleasecontact him if you plan on attending. Apri l fools to those thinkingthe club was planning on 1 F as the class for field day. The Teamthat worked INQP showed off the award received for working theevent.DX: Nick W9UM said get on the air!VE: Ben KC9UNS reported Porter Co. has a VE sessionNet: Ben KC9UNS reported we have been breaking records withpeople checking in and it has been nice to see the faces with inthe meetings. He also asked if people would l ike to become a netcontrol operator please contact him and showed the new paperlog for the clubs info net.

Old Business:David AA9XS reported about the Crossroads Marathon being heldon Apri l 1 4th

New BusinessThe Club Has a new W9LJ.org Website.Ben KC9UNS reported the club wil l be getting for free signs with“Radio Club” and an Arrows pointing on them to be put on thedrive and entrance for direction to meeting or events.The board of directors decided on purchasing an antenna for useof club sanctioned events, planned is a G5RV. This is due to aproblem with the emas Alpha Delta C Antenna.

Program:Video of ‘83 Field day and the move/construction of the clubstower.Nick W9UM also talked about buying the clubs tower for $2

Meeting adjourned at 9:1 5 PM local.

Vol. 61 No. 5

2013 Officers

President: .. . . . . . . . . . . . . WD9EZBBob Wiberg

Vice President: .. . . . . . KB9HORuss McComb

Secretary: .. . . . . . . . . . . . KC9UNSBenjamin Straw

Treasurer: .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . KF9EXJim Harney

Trustee: .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . WV9OMarv Boetcher

DirectorsBil l Young . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N9QLSKen Brown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . KE9TCBob Nelms . . . . . . . . . . . . . WD9FNYMark Skowronski . . . . . . . . . . . . K9MQJohn Gianotti . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . W9WY

Editorial StaffEditor-in-Chief . . . . . . . . KC9UNS

Benjamin Straw(kc9uns@gmail .com)

Club ResourcesW9LJ/R . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 47.000 + PL 1 31 .8

W9LJ/R (St. John) . . . . . . 1 47.240 + PL 1 31 .8

W9LJ/R . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442.075 + PL 1 31 .8

Repeater Nets

Thursday Night @ 8 pm:

LCARC Weekly Infomation Net

MeetingsMay 1 0, 201 3

BOARD MEETING

LCEMA OFFICE,

2900 93rd Ave

Crown Point (41 .449555,-87.36893)

(Across from Gov. Ctr. )

6:30 p.m.

May 1 0, 201 3

CLUB MEETING

2900 93rd Ave

Crown Point (41 .449555,-87.36893)

(Across from Gov. Ctr. )

7:30 p.m.

LCARC is an IRS-certified 501 (c)3 charitable organization and donations are deductible pursuant to the IRS rules. I f you haveworking radio equipment and ancil lary equipment that you can and wish to donate to the club, please contact one of the boardmembers and we wil l be happy to talk to you about the process. Many companies wil l either grant or match employee’s gifts tononprofit organizations l ike LCARC.Please determine if your company is among these and contact a board member so we mayhelp fund and grow LCARC. We cannot accept certain donations, and have to place some restrictions around them (nohazardous materials, nothing we could not sel l , etc.). I f you are interested, look me, or any other board member up at one of themeetings, or contact us via email (our addresses at the end of this newsletter)

3Short SkipVol. 61 No. 5

For those of you who are planning to attend the Dayton Hamvention, John KE9V wrote his veryown Dayton Servival Guide

The article John wrote is WAY to long to publish here so I wil l be leave you with an excerpt and alink to the original article:

The Radio Amateur is ConsiderateToting valuable old booty out of that massive flea market can be problematic. I 've seen guyspull ing the kind of suitcase that has wheels (l ike you see in an airport) and a handle al l around.I 've seen grocery store shopping carts and two-wheel trucks carry load after load from fleamarket to automobile. Nothing is too surprising but on this point please allow me to climb on mysoapbox about one particular bad practice.

Many hams strap on a backpack. These seem pretty handy for carrying the smaller parts andbrochures that one would accumulate while surfing the big event for hours at a time. Most evenhave a handy holder for a bottle of water or other cold drink. But whatever you do, do not placeyour hand-held radio in the backpack with the antenna sticking out. More than once I 've beenstanding ten deep in l ine at some booth trying to see the latest and greatest while a fel low infront of me with a backpack nearly pokes my eye out with the rubber duck or telescopingantenna from his radio - that he can't even see.

Find the Dayton Servival Guide at http: //ke9v.net/articles/dayton-survival-guide.html

FFRROOMM TTHHEE MMEEEETTII NNGG

Presentations and demonstrations at LCARC are a fun part of our meetings.Come join us! Not a LCARC member?

It doesn't matter you’re welcome to attend our meetings.No strings, no pressure!

Stay up to date with the current happenings of

the Lake County Amateur Radio Club on Facebook.

To find us type LCARC in the Facebook

search box or http: //www.facebook.com/LCARC

._. . _._. ._ ._. _._. . . . . . . . _ _ _ ._. _ . . . _._ . . ._ _.

._. . _._. ._ ._. _._. . . . . . . . _ _ _ ._. _ . . . _._ . . ._ _.

4Short SkipVol. 61 No. 5

Boston Marathon 201 3 – Bombs, Carnage and Amateur Radio OperatorsTim Carter W3ATB

(C)Copyright 201 3 Tim CarterAll Rights Reserved

“Stop all runners on the course.”Did I hear that correctly on my Charl ie 5 frequency? Stop the BostonMarathon? You can’t be serious?Yes, after 11 6 years of Mother Nature doing her best to stop thisworld-class running event, a terrorist attack was able to do inseconds what She couldn’t do in decades.

I was a ham radio operator working the 11 7th Boston Marathon. I twas the second year in a row for me. Fortunately for myself and myfamily, I was stationed eight miles away from the bombing attack. Theradio communications team assigned me to work at First Aid Station1 2 at the corner of Commonwealth and Chestnut Avenues near thecenter of Newton, Massachusetts at mile 1 8.3 of the race.

This is my third season ofworking public service eventsusing my ham radio skil ls. I haveto tel l you that I wasn’t expectingto become a thread in anhistorical tapestry, but I am now.

I ’ve got the photos to prove it,I ’ve got one of the much-sought-after yel low and blue 201 3Boston Marathon volunteer windbreakers, and an abundance ofpersonal memories to prove Iwas part of the tragic historicday.

The Communications Cascade

I ’ve been told by many seasonedham radio operators that theBoston Marathon is the premierpublic service amateur radioevent. I t’s the World Series. I t’sthe Super Bowl.

I t’s the World Cup. I t’s theDaytona and Indianapolis 500 in one.

I can tel l you it’s as challenging a communications amateur radioevent as you might ever work. Now that I ’ve worked it two years, andthat’s a very short time compared to many operators who haveworked it for well over twenty years, the Boston Marathon deservesthose accolades.

I f you l ike numbers and want to get your head around what’sinvolved, consider this:• Linear Marathon – communications spread out over 26 miles• Nearly 1 50 amateur radio operators on the course and in NetControl• Pre-marathon meeting at 7:00 a.m.• Average time on station for ham operators – 9 hours that couldstretch to 11• Seven primary communication channels, two bus and miscbackup channels

To put this in perspective, I regularly work public service events onMt. Washington in New Hampshire. I t’s a harsh environment withsignificant radio propogation issues compounded by theconcentrated number of commercial radio and television stationtowers at the summit.

But even though running, bike and car races claw their way up the7.2-mile sinuous mountain roadway, we typical ly wil l only have 1 5 –20 ham operators on a single frequency. We have a backupfrequency, but it’s rarely used.

Bedlam Caused By the Bombs

The weather forecast set the stage for an epic day. Sunshine,temperatures in the mid 50’s, l ight wind. I ’m not a runner, but I cantel l you I ’d rather run in that than the record heat of the 201 2 BostonMarathon.

During the 201 2 Boston Marathon our first aid station #1 2 at mile1 8.3 ti lted at least two times with runners in different stages ofdistress. I was told that I had the most ambulance calls of any otherham operator at last year’s event. Believe me, I was looking forwardto a day with l ight traffic in our station.

That’s just what we got as the race progressed. Most of the runnershad minor leg cramps and blisters. We did have two runners thatneeded more extensive care. The radio traffic on our frequency wasmoderate to l ight.

But just before 3:00p.m. , the rumorsstarted to fly. Keep inmind that thefrequency I was onwas a mid-coursefrequency. My job is tojust keep my first aidstation supervisor,Mike Tryon, in the loopabout what’shappening around us.

As Mike said to meearl ier in the day,“There’s nice to knowand need to know. Ijust want you to keepme informed withNeed to Know.”

Well , a terrorist or twoor three made surethat soon enoughthere would be plentyof Need-to-Knowinformation.

The Pros in Net Control

The ground zero of the entire communications operation is anoperations center cal led net control. A handful of ham radio operatorsare stationed at net control on radios tuned to specific frequencies.Each frequency covers a portion of the race course.

Think of the race course as a line of l inked sausages. Each sausageis a different frequency and net of its own. I was on C5 and the finishl ine was C7.

Each individual amateur radio operator working at net control has acertain number of water and first-aid stations under his/her control.

The net control operator for the mid-section part of the course I wasworking was Andrew Maroney, W2AJM. He’s an absolute pro netcontrol operator. His messaging is concise, he’s prompt with replies,and he has a mind l ike a steel trap.

Understand that his job is to just feed us information that’s critical tous fulfi l l ing our jobs at our assigned locations. Even if he had accessto widespread facts about what was happening at ground zero at thefinish l ine, that would be nice-to-know information for those of usefarther back from the finish l ine.

Andrew only dispensed information and facts that the race organizerswanted us to know that was specific to our location and/or it wasinformation to be broadcast to al l ham operators. I t’s part of theprotocol.

As best as I can remember, the first real Need-to-Know transmissionfrom Andrew was the Stop-All-Runners message. At that point, weknew that the rest of the day was going to be anything but ordinary

Continued on the Next Page

5Short SkipVol. 61 No. 5

Unintended Consequences

The race officials only invite qualified runners to participate inthe Boston Marathon. This helps maintain the prestige of theevent, but it also ensures that 99.9 percent of the peoplecross the finish l ine.

At the finish l ine, the race organizers have all of the runnerspersonal belongings, blankets, mylar heat-retention capes,water, an abundance of medical support, wheelchairs, etc.

The first aid stations that are spread out on the course, l ikethe one I was working, have many of these supplies, but inl imited supply. After al l , past marathon records indicate wemaybe wil l see only 50 – 1 00 runners in our station during therace.

But when the order was given to Stop All Runners, thatdecision created quite a few unintended consequences. Wewere very lucky at our station, because the vast majority ofrunners were farther down course. Just a handful of runnersand walkers were approaching us after the bombs explodedin downtown Boston.

But further down the course, especial ly in the last mile or two,thousands of runners were sti l l approaching the finish l ine.The bombs created a new set of problems:

How do the runners stay warm?How do the runners get fed?How do the runners get to their belongings?How do the runners discover if their loved ones waiting at thefinish are okay?How do the runners let their loved ones know where theyare?How wil l thousands of runners be transported to who-knows-where?Plus countless other questions…..

But guess what, that’s where all of our training kicked intohigh gear.

Cell Phone Dependence

The spectulation is that government officials, within minutesof the explosion, shut off the cell towers in downtown Boston.I can’t confirm this. But it sounds l ike a good idea as bombersdiscovered years ago that cel l phone towers can be hijackedto help them with their sinister and nefareous deeds.

Cell phones are just radios. For years bombers have usedcell phones as part of the mechanism to detonate bombs. I t’sbri l l iant when you think about it. The bomber can be 1 00 feetaway or a continent away, make a call to the phoneconnected to the bomb and BOOM.

What really is happening? When you call a cel l phone and itrings or vibrates, an electrical energy impulse within thephone happens that causes the phone to ring or vibrate. Thiselectrical energy can be used to ignite a bomb fuse. I t’s thatsimple. But don’t try this at home.

Many runners don’t carry cell phones, and they weredesperately trying to use anyone’s phone, including mine, tocall their loved ones at the finish l ine.

Everyone was getting a busy signal. That could havehappened because the cell networks were overloaded, or

because officials turned off the cell towers.

The bottom line is there were several hundred people whowere able to continue to communicate during the disaster.Police, fire and others l ike me who had radios were sti l ltalking.

Keep that in mind. Perhaps this wil l be the wakeup call toconvince you to get your amateur radio l icense and discoverwhat hundreds of thousands of us already know. We knowhow to stay connected in disasters and other situations wheretraditional communications systems suddenly don’t work.

Youthful Enthusiasm

Working at First Aid Station 1 2 with me was a gifted radiooperator, Noah Goldstein, KB1 VWZ. Another ham operatorwas also with us named Shirley Dulcey, KE1 L.

Mike Tyron, at our morning organizational meeting, requestedthat I stay at the First Aid station al l day acting as hisconnection with the outside world. Noah and Shirley wereassigned to the mobile medical teams.

I f runners need assistance at any part on the course betweenour station and the next closest first aid stations either up ordown the course, a two-man medical team runs to their aid. Aham radio operator goes with them in case they need torequest an ambulance or additional help.

Noah is a young man, I guesstimate to be around 20 yearsold. He was bursting with energy and enthusiasm. I t’scompletely understandable because he’s participating in aworld-class amateur radio event.

As the anxiety ballooned after the blasts, Noah becamerestless. Not only was he concerned about a friend at thefinish l ine, he wanted to also ratchet up his participation as aradio operator.

Twice I had to remind him of the structure of thecommunications team. I t was important for Noah to realizethat the leaders at net control knew more than we did aboutwhat was going on. They were counting on us to remain onlocation at our station. We were known assets at a givenlocation, and if we were to be re-deployed farther down thecourse to help, net control would make that cal l , not us

Noah got his wish. Within 90 minutes, he was told to movedown the course to First Aid Station 1 3 that was set up justwest of the Newton, MA City Hall . Within a short time, therace organizers moved many of the runners to the city hal lbui lding. This got them out of the weather and into a coveredbuilding with plenty of chairs and real toi lets.

Buses were arriving bringing runners from other locations tothe Newton City Hall . Noah was stationed at the City Hallbui lding and was final ly released about 6:45 p.m. He did amagnificent job all day, and there’s no doubt it wil l be a day henever forgets.

Continued on the Next Page

6Short SkipVol. 61 No. 5

I dont know about you but I think BK violatedTwo Part 97 FCC rules.

Video Discription: The Burger King BurgerFest is so big, it'sout of this world! A Burger King associate uses a ham radio to

communicate with space people. However, her managerdoesn't seem to think they eat burgers, unti l he turns aroundto see an astronaut who is waiting for the Chipotle Chicken

Sandwich.

Watch the Commerchal herehttp: //www.ispot. tv/ad/7o0K/burger-king-chipotle-chicken-

sandwich-al iens

The Temptation

Each radio operator in the field has enormous responsibi l ities.You could have a person’s l ife in your hands at any time. Arunner may be in desperate need of help and the stationsupervisor may ask you to request an ambulance withadvanced life support capabil ities.

What does this real ly mean? It means you MUST be able tocommunicate. This means you probably should come to theevent with two radios.

I had two radios. I could tune to two different frequencies. Infact, each of my Yaesu VX-7R radios is equipped to monitortwo separate frequencies at the same time.

I knew the frequency the finish l ine radio operators wereusing. I could have brought it up on either of my radios togather nice-to-know information at any time.

But I didn’t. I t would be a distraction. I ’m sure I wasn’t alone.My job was to keep Mike informed and listen to my net controloperator in case he had a direct message for me, or an area-wide message for al l operators.

After Action

I ’m sure that right now the leaders of the communicationsteam are meeting, or have scheduled a meeting, to discusswhat we did right and what we did wrong. Professionally it’scal led an after-action report.

I can tel l you from my persepective that just about everythingwent right. Immediately after the bomb blasts, the radio trafficintensified. I t continued to ratchet up as new challenges wereexposed.

But each time, the race organizers and communications teamrose to meet the challenge. On my frequency, and I imaginethat used for the finish l ine, there was never chaos.

The reason was simple. Amateur radio operators thatvolunteer for the Boston Marathon are anything but amateurs.That moniker just means we’re not paid to perform on theradio. I t’s i l legal for us to accept compensation if we use theamateur radio bands.

I was in the company of nearly 1 50 professional radiooperators that stayed focused, they didn’t clog thefrequencies with unneeded requests, and they fol lowedestablished protocols set up years in advance for just thisdreaded situation.

To be honest, it was a thing to behold. I t’s my hope that al l ofthe communications of the day were recorded for eachfrequency, and that they’re released one day so you can hearwhat I heard in my earpiece.

I heard calm, focused and concise radio requests. I heardvirtural ly no frustration. I didn’t hear any screaming. I didn’thear any frantic requests for supplies.

I ’m sti l l recovering mental ly from the day. I ’m very sad for

those three innocent people who’s l ives were snuffed out bythe calous act of the cowards who set down the satchelscontaining the bombs. My guess is that at least two peoplewere involved, with each person casually setting down thebag and seemingly forgetting to pick it up as he/she walkedaway. I ’m also concerned about al l those injured and thecollateral damage caused to all those that know the dead andinjured.

I can tel l you I ’d go back tomorrow to work the BostonMarathon again. I ’ l l be even more vigi lant. I f you’re a hamradio operator, you should volunteer too. I f you’re not anoperator, consider becoming one. You can even volunteer todo other tasks non-radio related. I can tel l you withconfindence that many, if not al l , of us wil l return. Theterrorists wil l not take control of my destiny. No, it’s going tobe the other way around.

There wil l be a new awareness about being able tocommunicate when cell phones don’t work. I was luckyenough to be one who could communicate clearly, even withsomeone around the world, when tens of thousands of peoplecouldn’t.

I was lucky enough to be in a position to help many whoneeded help. That’s why all of us ham radio operatorsvolunteered to be in Boston along with the thousands of otherBoston Marathon volunteers.

Believe me, we’l l be back.

Author’s Note:

Hours after this post was published, I participated in a one-hour Skype interview with Gary Pearce, KN4AQ, the founderof HamRadioNow.TV.

I urge you to watch this video to discover more about whathappened at the Boston Marathon. You’l l also discover morefacts about the operation.

Tim Carter, W3ATB is a entrepreneur and aspiring blog writer visit W3ATB.com for more adventures .

7Short SkipVol. 61 No. 5

Breadboard Power SupplyRoberta X - RetroTechnologist.Blogspot.com

One of two identical units needed for the ARRL rig in "Buildingan Amateur Radiotelephone Transmitter" and a nice exampleof later breadboard construction. Mine fol lows the original asclosely as I could manage, with the addition of a fuse andfront-panel switch.

Sti l l dangerous, despite a smear of white paint on the neutralside of the AC plug so you can get it in the socket right wayround and a ground terminal connected to the shells of thetransformer and choke to hook tostation ground. Making it chi ld- andpet-safe can be done but you'dneed some ingenuity, especial ly if

maintaining a period look is a goal.

This one checked out at over 500V with a capacitor-input fi lter --those 630 Volt Solen Fast fi lter condensers suddenly don't seemall that extravagant! I changed to choke-input (look closely andyou can tel l) and the output is sti l l too high for the application: thetransformer dates to before Hammond changing to a tapped 11 5-1 25VAC primary and the HV secondary was high-ish to start with.So it'l l have to be replaced by the next step down. Good thing Ihadn't bui lt both of them.

Too bad I 'd already bought two transformers. Hey, extras for the next project -- might even be big enough for the Harvey-WellsBandmaster power supply that needs built.---Roberta is a Retro Technologist who just so happens to be an extra class ham! Visit her blog at RetroTechnologist.Blogspot.com

Choosing Your Ideal Vanity Call SignAnthony A. Luscre K8ZT

You have decided to change your call sign.Maybe you just upgraded your l icense,moved to a new call area or decided youwant a shorter cal l . Maybe you wantsomething easier to use in contests, a callthat is easier for your friends to rememberor just plain don't l ike the way your call"sounds" or "looks". Hams treat cal l signswith a special reverence, attaching a wholepersonality to a short sequence of numbersand letters, so changing your call can be anintimidating event. No matter the reason,this article can help you choose your "ideal"vanity cal l sign.First, before we get started on choosingyour call sign, a l ittle "how-to"information.There are five great sites thatwil l give you all the information you need toknow to be successful in applying for andobtaining your selected call sign:

http: //www.vanityhq.com/ by Mike . N4MCCarrol l (yes, it is back on-l ine)

http: //www.ae7q.com by Dean Gibson,AE7Q

http://www.radioqth.net/ by Eldon Lewis,K7LS

ARRL site athttp: //www.remote.arrl .org/arrlvec/vanity.html

andhttp: //www.fcc.gov/wtb/amateur/vanity.htmlprovided by FCC.

What makes an "ideal cal l sign"? First of al lthere is no universal "ideal cal l sign".Everyone's choice wil l be personal for themand limited by the group of call signsavailable to them based on their l icenseclass, geographic location, previouslyissued call signs, etc. Your first step shouldbe to check http: //www.vanityhq.com/ ,http: //www.ae7q.com and/orhttp: //www.radioqth.net/ for available andsoon to be available call signs.

Selection of your "ideal cal l sign" can firstbe divided into 3 categories based on yourreason for wanting a new call . I havedivided these into Personalized, Cute andOptimized Characters.

1 ) Personalized call sign choices caninclude initials, name, location, nickname,club name, etc. Selection of these is

usually pretty easy, simply browse throughavailable call signs to see if one matchingyour choice is available. In order toincrease your chances of finding somethingthat matches do not forget to check allcombinations, not just suffixes (e.g. , K3JIM,KJ3IM, WQ5RP, etc.).

2) Cute choices can include a wide varietycalls that are visual ly (W0XX), phonetical ly(K4BFT - "big fat turkey"), initial ly (K4FBI ,W6USN), acronyms (K2LED), spell wordsor abbreviations (K8PIE, K4YL, K7OM).Often the numbers 1 and 0 visual similarityto i and o are used to "spell" cutecombinations (K1 TE, K0RN, etc.)

3) Optimized Character (OC) call signchoices are based on selecting a set andsequence of letters and numbers thatbenefit the call holder with one or moreadvantages including easier to send, easierto receive, fewer errors by receiver, quickerexchanges, etc. OC calls can be the mostchallenging to select as criteria can be verysubjective and personal. I stewed for longtime on selecting my new OC call sign. Ifinal ly made up a spreadsheet and rankedall the potential cal ls in a number of criteriacategories then ranked their scores. Thecriteria used was collected from a numberof sources including articles byexperienced contesters and DXers,phonetics studies, psychology and learningstudies, graphic arts and marketing studies,personal experience and subjective inputfrom fellow hams.

The criteria considered for OC included:

Number of characters- total letters andnumber(s)Number of CW elements- total dits & dahs

Total length of weighted characters- totalnumber of dits x 1 plus the total number ofdahs x3

Visual appearance- (how wil l it look on aQSL card or Vehicle License plates)

Letter clarity- how clear are sound of letterson voice contacts without phonetics (b, d,e, t and other sound alikes are bad; r, x, o,etc. have their on very unique sounds andare easier to distinguish)

Phonetic clarity- how the call sounds in

phonetics and how easy and clear eachphonetic is to pronounce

Emphasis letters for DX pile ups both inCW and SSB (hard consonants sound bestat end of call in SSB and ending on a dahis preferable in CW but some letters suchas "K" can be confused as prosign orabbreviation of part of contact instead oflast letter of cal l sign)

How the rhythm sounds in CW (I put cal lsinto my keyer's memory and "played themback" at various speeds to l isten to them)

Other criteria you could use might includedifficulty in sending a letter in CW, lettersdifficult in certain foreign languages,similarity to "well known" call signs, etc. . Irated my selected calls on 1 (best) to 1 0basis for each category (either subjectivelyor by numerical value depending oncriteria) then found average score for eachcall . Well , this may sound obsessive (andmy wife told me it definitely was!), but I hadmy old call for 1 9 years, used it manythousands of times and hope I do not needto change my call again soon.

After you have selected and ranked yourcall sign selections, you need to completeyour FCC Vanity Application. For invaluablehelp with this process, please refer to thefour urls presented near beginning of thisarticle. Then the wait begins as you hopethe FCC grants you one of your topchoices. Fortunately the process usuallytakes less than one month. I hope to hearyou on the air soon with your "ideal cal lsign".

Use My New Online Spreadsheet for CallComparisons

or Download a Spreadsheet for CallComparisons (in MS Excel Format) frommy FTP Directory- cal lsign.xls

You've got your new call sign, so show itoff. Want a suitable for framing version ofyour l icense information? Visit AE7Q'shttp: //amateur.mailpen.net/Generate.html

All rights reserved - Anthony A. Luscre2007

Visit the Lake County ARC on the web at http: //www.w9lj.org