May 05
Playing with my new Radio…
Yesterday I went to the CARA Hamfest. I went because I wanted to train on the TOAD. I did the training with Greg, KC5ZGG. It was great and I learned a lot. Thanks Greg.
While there, I entered their raffle. I spent $20 for 24 tickets. The grand prize was a FT-817nd. Guess what? I won!!
So tonight I thought I would set it up for a couple of Nets. 
Apr 28
May Days in the Park…
Directions
From I-10:
1) Take I-19 South from Tucson about 18 miles to Exit 75, Sahuarita Road.
2) Head East on Sahuarita Road.
3) Either take the Second or Third Left and continue to parking.
4) Days in the Park will be set-up right in front of the District Auditorium.
From Tucson (Old Nogales Highway):
1) Head south on Old Nogales Highway.
2) Turn Right on Sahuarita Road.
3) Either Park in the parking lot just North of the Administration building (right turn)
or continue to the next light (right turn) into the Middle School parking lot.
4) Days in the Park will be set-up right in front of the District Auditorium.
Days in the Park - Facebook
Days in the Park – Weebly
Days in the Park – Radio Society of Tucson
Days in the Park – Yahoo Group
Sahuarita Unified School District – Facebook
Sahuarita Unified School District - Twitter
Sahuarita Unified School District
Apr 28
When Cell Phones Fail…
From AR Newline (4/26/13):
RESCUE RADIO: CELLPHONE FAILURE AT THE BOSTON MARATHON
Neither the Federal government nor any Massachusetts state
agency or the Boston police ordered a shutdown of cellular
telephone service in the Boston area following the terrorist
bombing of the Boston Marathon on Monday, April, 15th. The
systems simply failed of their own accord because too many
people trying to use them at the same time. Amateur Radio
Newsline’s Norm Seeley, KI7UP, explains:
–
On April 18th outgoing FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said
the FCC would follow up on cellular service issues at the
Boston Marathon. This while emphasizing that broadband
services had not been shut down after the bombings.
Genachowski conceded that the event again raised issues of
communications and public safety like those the FCC has been
working on for some time. However he went on to acknowledge
that wireless networks were so overwhelmed by the temporary
surge in traffic, that there were incorrect media reports
that mobile services had actually shut down when they had
not been.
What appears to be a fact is that most cellphone subscribers
erroneously believe that the phone in their pocket should
function perfectly 100 percent of the time. The reality is
that the no cellular system currently in use can handle 100%
of all of its subscribers at any one time. Or even 50% for
that matter.
Most experts say that when most cellphone systems reach
between 15 to 20 percent of its subscribers simultaneously
using the service that it is at a point of limited network
density. In other words it cannot handle any more
subscribers more until those on-line hang up.
And that’s what appears to have happened in Boston after the
two bombs at the marathon finish line went off. It’s also
why the autonomous Boston Marathon ham radio communications
networks continued to function flawlessly even when the
cellphones failed.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I’m Norm Seeley, KI7UP, in
Scottsdale, Arizona.
-- Genachowski said that the FCC will certainly pursue this issue along with other agencies. He called it an institutional imperative for the FCC. Meantime an excellent reference guide on what you can really expect from your cellphone including in emergency situations has been published on-line by the FCC. You can find it on the web at tinyurl.com/cellphone-reality. (FCC, Wikipedia, published news reports)
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