W7GRR Blog

I love the way the ham community has embraced the digital age. There are lots of examples of integration between computers, the Internet, and ham radio. Some are just technically interesting, others are significant advances in communication. My new favorite is Weblink.

Weblink supports Internet-free email. Hams can send and receive email via radio and/or the Internet. This is super useful. Imagine that a storm, wildfire, or earthquake has wiped out cell towers, electricity, and the Internet. Other than a satphone (too expensive for most of us), communication with the outside world is cut off.

Weblink allows a ham to create and send emails via radio. The Weblink Foundation provides an interface with the Internet. There are many scattered around the world. A ham station can send and receive emails. I can imagine a situation where my wife and I are separated when a disaster occurs. Weblink provides a way for us to reconnect. Unlike direct radio contact, we don’t have to be on the air at the same time.

I think that’s a critical benefit. One of email’s significant advantages is that it is stored until the recipient can pick it up. Weblink’s independence from the Internet keeps email safe from natural or governmental interference.

This isn’t the ham radio world of my youth. My HF radio isn’t so much radio as computer. It’s an SDR, software-defined radio. Incoming analog radio signals are converted to digital information. All processing is done with software. The same is true of transmissions. The signal is generated digitally, converted to analog RF, and amplified at the output.

This design allows amazing signal processing ability. It also integrates with my PC flawlessly. Weblink extends the radio’s capability. Best of all, you can use weblink for free. They ask for a $24 contribution to register. I paid it. They deserve the money.

Welcome to my blog. I’m very happy to be on the air after a sixty-year hiatus. I have to admit that a lot of the reasons to be a ham have disappeared over the last six decades. Almost everyone carries a two-way radio that allows instant contact with voice and video to anyone in the world. Technology has made our hobby a quaint throwback to simpler times.

It isn’t that we haven’t changed too. Echolink and AllStar let us use our computers and the Internet to broadcast on connected radios around the world. Amateur TV is still around for people who like to tinker with analog video. Let’s face it, we like to play with radios. The biggest change I’ve noticed is that the bands seem empty. Back before cell phones and Zoom, it was hard to find a frequency to use for CQ. Now, even with my DX Champion antenna, I find it hard to hear more than a few conversations on any band. This is disappointing. I hoped for a rich opportunity to connect with hams across the world.

My single non-two-meter conversation was on 20 meters with a guy in North Carolina. I haven’t heard any local hams on HF. Two-meter and 70 cm have provided my primary opportunities to connect. I could have saved a lot of money and just stuck with my VHF/UHF transceiver. My IC-7300 isn’t doing much at all.

I want to offer sincere thanks to Kirk, WA7KS. He generously came over and set up my DX Champion. I’m disabled and couldn’t do it on my own. My wife was willing to try, but she isn’t skilled at things like this. Kirk spent a day here setting up and tuning the antenna. Thanks to him, I have access to HF bands. My wife, Kim, put up my Comet GP-6 2-meter/70 cm antenna. She also ran and, where needed, buried the coax to the two antennas. Without Kim and Kurt, I wouldn’t be on the air.

One of the most difficult things for me to accept is the limitations my disabilities place on me. Over the last five years, I’ve lost nearly all of my vision. Spinal surgery made my balance difficult. I’ve never been dependent on others before. I hate imposing on others.

Kirk is a member of the Lake Washington Ham Club. I joined too. It’s only $10 a year and the club offers a lot to both members and Seattle-area hams. It operates three linked repeaters (70 cm, 2-meter, 6-meter) open for public ues. It has monthly Zoom meetings and hosts daily nets on the repeaters. I put out a request for help with my antenna on the club mail list. Kirk replied and came to my rescue.

Meeting the good people of the LWHC is a wonderful benefit of getting my license. Maybe one of these days the HF-band gods will smile on me and let me talk with some folks in other places.