KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog

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Amateur radio in the news: lots of hams in eastern IA, Winter Field Day in
MA, reaching out to law enforcement

Posted: 03 Feb 2021 06:07 AM PST
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/kb6nu...m_medium=email


Whod a thunk it? But, eastern Iowa is where Collins is locatedDan
2nd-largest per-capita group of amateur radio operators in the world call
Eastern Iowa home
When a derecho packing winds of 80 to 100 miles per hour — and gusts
topping 140 miles per hour — hit Eastern Iowa in August, about 400,000
Iowans were left without power and many had no cell service.Â*That meant no
television news, no cable updates, and for many that rely heavily on
cellphones rather than landlines, limited phone access.Â*The Cedar Valley
Amateur Radio Club has a motto for those times: “When all else fails,
radio.�
read more


Local radio club braves cold to compete in international contest

On Saturday, people huddled around radio transmitters in Community Park in
Effingham to participate in a worldwide competition put on by ham radio
enthusiasts.Â*The event is called Winter Field Day and was organized by the
Winter Field Day Association. Running 24 hours, from 1 p.m. on Saturday to
1 p.m. Sunday, the event is centered around making connections with other
people.Â*Throughout the event, radio operators turned their dials to
different frequencies, searching for other radio operators. If they find
someone calling “CQ,� which is a radio-style invitation to talk, they
briefly exchange information like their call sign and location and then get
back to hunting for others.
read more


Reaching out to community groups is always a good idea.Dan
President and VP of Lawrence County Amateur Radio Club speak at BRTC
Glendall Floyd and Ray Maynard, president and vice president of the
Lawrence County Amateur Radio Club, were guest speakers for the Law
Enforcement Training Academy at Black River Technical College on Jan.
11.Â*Floyd and Maynard discussed the uses of amateur radio, also known as
ham radio, and provided a list of “22 things you can do with amateur
radio.� Among those listed, the speakers emphasized that ham radio can be
used for public service.
read more
Â*

The post Amateur radio in the news: lots of hams in eastern IA, Winter
Field Day in MA, reaching out to law enforcement appeared first on KB6NUs
Ham Radio Blog.


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Study scores rigs on price, performance, and consumer satisfaction

Posted: 02 Feb 2021 01:51 PM PST
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Frank, K4FMH, is one of my fellow presenters on the ICQPodcast. He is also
Professor Emeritus at Mississippi State University, where he taught
statistics, survey research methods, and GIS/Remote Sensing over four
decades. In other words, hes a pretty smart guy.

His latest effort is a study that compares a list of popular HF
transceivers and receivers sold in the last 50 years by these three
criteria:

retail price
measured receive performance by Rob Sherwood NC0B
overall satisfaction as reported in the reviews on eHam.Net.


The full report will appear in the National Contest Journal in two parts,
with Part IÂ* in the current issue. Frank has, however, agreed to let me
publish the chart below that summarizes the results. (Click on the chart
for the full-size version.)



These are pretty interesting results. I currently own a Flex 6400 and an
Elecraft KX3, and my previous rig was an IC-7300, so Im feeling pretty good
about my selections.

I think the one criterium that could be a bone of contention is the eHam
reviews. One could argue that theyre not a great indicator of customer
satisfaction, and whenever I read reviews there, I take them with a BIG
grain of salt. As Frank points out, however, they are our only consistent
source of such consumer satisfaction measures across a wide array of ham
radio products, including HF rigs. In other words, its really the best we
have.

Anyway, what do you think about the study? How does your rig rank? What nit
would you like to pick with this study?



The post Study scores rigs on price, performance, and consumer satisfaction
appeared first on KB6NUs Ham Radio Blog.