Welcome TAG IT Readers

I gave a talk (not a presentation - no slides) on Tuesday evening April 6, 2021 to the TAG NW IT Group. TAG NW is a not-for-profit association headquartered in Bellingham, Washington for individuals and organizations interested in or operating in technology fields. It is a very interesting group and I'm enjoying being a member of TAG NW.

My talk was titled "Fundamentals of Wireless Communications" but a little overzealously described:

Our guest speaker for April 2021 is Steve Stroh, a licensed HAM radio operator and electronics enthusiast. Steve will present the fundamentals of wireless communications using amateur radio principles as a foundation for understanding all wireless technologies, including newer technologies such as Bluetooth and wireless computer networking. The result? A general understanding of how all wireless technologies work!

Here are some followup notes for those that attended and would like to know more about the topics I spoke about.

Disclaimer: In my statements below, and my overall activities, I don't claim to represent Amateur Radio as a whole.
There are a lot of aspects of Amateur Radio that do not interest me and that I don't participate in. My personal interests in Amateur Radio are mostly operating on the "VHF / UHF" bands about 50 MHz, and primarily experimenting with and operating data communications and networking via Amateur Radio (formerly called "Packet Radio").

Personally, I find wireless technology overall to be fascinating. I remember watching television programs as a kid in the 1960s, and I focused on the radios in the police cars, the portable EKG transmission unit used on a show about paramedics, etc. Other people enjoy birdwatching, or model trains, or cooking. Amateur Radio is a perfect way to scratch my particular mental and technological itch. 

Why does Amateur Radio still exist? Here's the FCC's justification for Amateur Radio:

§97.1   Basis and purpose.

The rules and regulations in this part are designed to provide an amateur radio service having a fundamental purpose as expressed in the following principles:

(a) Recognition and enhancement of the value of the amateur service to the public as a voluntary noncommercial communication service, particularly with respect to providing emergency communications.

(b) Continuation and extension of the amateur's proven ability to contribute to the advancement of the radio art.

(c) Encouragement and improvement of the amateur service through rules which provide for advancing skills in both the communication and technical phases of the art.

(d) Expansion of the existing reservoir within the amateur radio service of trained operators, technicians, and electronics experts.

(e) Continuation and extension of the amateur's unique ability to enhance international goodwill.

A. Emergency communication - this element is still valid, though as I discussed, there's less need for Amateur Radio emergency communications in 2021 because new, more robust communications technologies have been developed that (unlike previous systems) are likely to remain functioning in an emergency.:

• First Responders Network Authority - FirstNet now provides a hardened, prioritized cellular network to first responders for broadband data and voice services.
• Iridium Next is a significant upgrade to the Iridium satellite system that was really suitable only for voice, and was easily saturated in an emergency. The upgrade in 2020 replaced every 1990's era Iridium satellite and the new satellites resulted in capacity increases and broadband(ish) data capability. In any given area, Iridium has no dependence on ground infrastructure because Iridium satellites can route between satellites in orbit. Thus, if you have a view of the sky, an Iridium (Next) ground terminal, and power, you can communicate.
• Another satellite system that's been used for emergency communications, even though it's currently still in beta trials, is SpaceX Starlink. Starlink offers true broadband (50 - 100 Mbps) almost anywhere in the Northern hemisphere where you have reasonable view of the sky. Like Iridium, all you need for for broadband Internet connectivity is a Starlink ground terminal, sky, and power.

B. Advancement of the radio art. 

C. Advancing communications skills and technical skills.

D. Creating more operators, technicians, and electronics experts.

E. Enhancing International goodwill. For most of the 20th century, Amateur Radio was a significant mode of international goodwill. I'm old enough to remember how remarkable it was that US Amateur Radio Operators were able to exchange pleasantries and signal reports with their counterparts in (what was then) the USSR. Almost every other direct communication between US citizens and USSR citizens was at least borderline illegal. In 2021, the Internet has rendered this element a bit moot.

So, my personal interpretation / conflation / estatement of elements B, C, and D, relevant for 2021:

Amateur Radio exists to provide a portion of spectrum for personal, hands-on experimentation with radio technology and systems, as well as training for operation of radio systems and radio-based networks.

One example of Amateur Radio experimentation becoming a commercial product / system is APRS and AIS. Amateur Radio's Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS) beginning in 1984 wasn't a "prototype" for the marine industry's (now required and ubiquitous) Automatic Identification System (AIS), but it was undoubtedly an inspiration for AIS. Vessels equipped with AIS automatically report their position, bearing, and other information via radio transmission - just like Amateur Radio operators began doing with APRS in 1984.

Amateur Radio and Techies
I respectfully suggest that becoming licensed as an Amateur Radio operator and doing various hands-on activities in Amateur Radio is an excellent complement to technical career, especially Information Technology (IT). Through Amateur Radio a techie can develop a thorough understanding of wireless technology instead of being forced to treat wireless systems as an inscrutable "black box" that mostly works, except when it mysteriously doesn't.

A lot of hackers have come to agree with this perspective. It's instructive that the largest Volunteer Examiner (VE) Amateur Radio license testing session was at DEFCON 22 in August 2014 (see pages 8 and 9). 205 hackers took their Amateur Radio test at DEFCON 22; the number that passed wasn't noted in the article.

Obtaining an Amateur Radio license for personal experimentation and hands-on training in radio technology is especially applicable to youth and students interested in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields. Amateur Radio is a very broad field that can touch physics, engineering, design, electronics, communications, hands-on (building), etc. Even physical activity is encompassed within Amateur Radio, including hiking and bicycling.

In the beginning, There Were the (Only) Experimenters
Guglielmo Marconi began demonstrations of the practicality of radio in the 1890s. Before then, all radio activity was experimental - technically curious people playing around. At that time, there was no commercial / business interest in radio. The first practical application of radio was between shore stations and ships at sea. The first regulation of the electromagnetic spectrum in the US was the Radio Act of 1912. Note how closely this correlates with the sinking of the Titanic - not a coincidence. After that, "Amateur" operation was codified into the Amateur Radio Service, with countries coordinating frequencies and other technical issues so that Amateur Radio Operators in all countries could communicate with each other.

In the succeeding century, and continuing, all portions of the electromagnetic spectrum in the US have been allocated to some specific use. Many portions of spectrum are allocated for multiple uses. To put it a different way, there is no "open" portion of spectrum that has not already been assigned some previous, current, or future usage.

Thus to create a new radio-based service, a previous usage of a portion of spectrum has to be changed. The most momentous such change was the reallocation of broadcast television channels 70 - 83 (806 to 890 MHz) to create a dedicated portion of spectrum for cellular telephony (1G, then called "Advanced Mobile Phone Service - AMPS) in 1983.

There are some small portions of spectrum such as the 2.4 GHz band that are allocated for "license-exempt" use included (but not limited to) the Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM) bands (often referred to as "the junk bands"). Radio Local Area Networks (RLANs) - the technology that eventually became Wi-Fi - was permitted in the ISM bands in only in 1985 in FCC Rule Part 15.247.

Getting up to speed on Amateur Radio

• An excellent book about Amateur Radio in general is Ham Radio for Dummies. As with every "for Dummies" title, it provides an excellent overview and the content isn't actually "dumbed down". The author Ward Silver N0AX is an excellent writer and provides an unbiased overview of Amateur Radio.
• To learn more about getting your Amateur Radio license, start at http://www.arrl.org/licensing-education-training
• If you want a book to study for your Amateur Radio license, Dan Romanchik KB6NU writes good ones - https://www.kb6nu.com/study-guides/
• If you want to just dive in and practice taking your Amateur Radio Test, flash-card like, my favorite such site is https://hamexam.org.
• Shopping at the Ham Radio store - Michael Gan marveled that "stores for ham radio" actually exist, where you can just walk in and buy Amateur Radios. The nearest one to Bellingham is Ham Radio Outlet (one of a chain) in the Portland area - https://www.hamradio.com/locations.cfm?storeid=11. There used to be several Amateur Radio stores in Vancouver, BC but on a trip to Vancouver in 2019, I was curious about them and found that all of them had closed.
• If you want to dive deep down the Amateur Radio rabbit hole, and like books, the ARRL Handbook is published annually with some refreshed content every year. It's kind of an encyclopedia for Amateur Radio, especially the technical aspects of the various operating modes, antennas, some electronic and radio projects, etc.
• Although it ceased publication 40+ years ago, Ham Radio Horizons magazine was just excellent at introducing Amateur Radio to those with no previous exposure. Some of the articles are admittedly dated (home computers were bleeding edge technology then) but many articles in HRH are timeless. If you have the time, reading Ham Radio Horizons is recommended.
• There are many YouTube channels about Amateur Radio. Just search for "Amateur Radio" on YouTube and you can easily lose an entire weekend. From my perspective, for the TAG IT audience, the best Amateur Radio channel on YouTube is AmateurLogic.TV. It's a good mix of intro material, fun projects, and nice hosts.
• Hackaday's $50 Ham series is an excellent tutorial series about Amateur Radio from a techie's perspective.
• "Hamfests" (swap meets / flea markets) are absolute institutions within Amateur Radio. The canonical joke about hamfests is that you bring your electronics "junk" to a hamfest to sell, so you can get money to buy more junk at the same hamfest. In the Seattle area, the largest hamfest is the Mike & Key Amateur Radio Club Swap Meet. It's typically held in March (2021 excepted) at the Western Washington Fairgrounds (Puyallup Fair).
• Amateur Radio Field Day is an annual "emergency communications test" cleverly disguised (in plain sight) as a contest. The idea is to simulate "the big one" that has destroyed power, normal communications, and other infrastructure. To fully embrace Field Day, you carry all of your equipment, including power source (generator, battery, solar panels, etc.) into a field and set up a communications station (typically, in a tent) to communicate with the rest of the world. Field Day is a lot of fun (except for 2020 and 2021, of course).
• Bellingham has several Amateur Radio Clubs. Mount Baker Amateur Radio Club is a pretty traditional general interest Amateur Radio club. A subgroup of MBARC is the Digital Group, which does some pretty interesting things. There's also the Whatcom Emergency Communications Group and  Sudden Valley Amateur Radio Club. The San Juan Country Amateur Radio Society is particularly welcoming, even to us "off islanders" (though they're befuddled by the interest).

The American Radio Relay League - ARRL, QST, and Now You're Talking
The ARRL is omnipresent in US Amateur Radio. Given that the ARRL is now more than a century old, there is some truth in the nickname "American Radio Reenactment League". The ARRL is the largest US national radio society; tthere are a number of others, but they have much smaller membership. Given the average ARRL member's age is well into retirement, it's to be expected that the ARRL focuses on "traditional" Amateur Radio activities such as operating on HF, contesting (it publishes dozens of pages of contest results) and DXing (more pages of DX records). The ARRL publishes QST Magazine, and to subscribe to QST you must join the ARRL; membership and a QST subscription are inseparable. ARRL offers QST in an electronic version in addition to a print magazine, but there's no cost savings with the electronic version - again, not surprising given the membership demographics of ARRL. Candidly, there is not a lot of content in QST of interest to techie Amateur Radio operators, other than getting familiar with Amateur Radio vendors from the many ads in QST. In recognition that QST's content wasn't that "compelling" to many new Amateur Radio operators, the ARRL began a new magazine called Now You're Talking which is a step in the right direction. But, even the title "Now You're Talking" reflects the ARRL's bias of "traditional" Amateur Radio activities like talking on the radio instead of the more progressive activities like data communications - see below. Bottom line is that the ARRL and QST aren't synonymous with US Amateur Radio, and you don't need to be a member of ARRL to get a lot of benefit from Amateur Radio. If you want to get a feel of the content of QST and Now You're Talking, you can purchase recent issues from Ham Radio Outlet.

One major criticism I have with the ARRL is that despite their ostensible mission to promote and grow Amateur Radio in the US, almost all of their content is sequestered behind a paywall. You must be a (paid) ARRL member to access their archives. In 2021, that stance makes no sense, and the ARRL is diminished by persisting with that paid membership requirement instead of making their content publicly accessible for the overall good of Amateur Radio.

You don't have to talk on the radio to be an Amateur Radio operator
Speaking of The $50 Ham series, this excerpt from Digital Modes with WSJT-X in that series is particularly applicable and poignant to techies thinking about getting into Amateur Radio:

As it is generally practiced, [most activities in] ham radio [are] a little like going to the grocery store and striking up a conversation with everyone you bump into as you ply the aisles. Except that the grocery store is the size of the planet, and everyone brings their own shopping cart, some of which are highly modified and really expensive. And pretty much every conversation is about said carts, or about the grocery store itself.

With that admittedly iffy analogy in mind, if you’re not the kind of person who would normally strike up a conversation with someone while shopping, you might think that you’d be a poor fit for amateur radio. But just because that’s the way that most people exercise their ham radio privileges doesn’t mean it’s the only way. Exploring a few of the more popular ways to leverage the high-frequency (HF) bands and see what can be done on a limited budget, in terms of both cost of equipment as well as the amount of power used, is the focus of this installment of The $50 Ham. Welcome to the world of microphone-optional ham radio: weak-signal digital modes.

Author Dan Maloney N7DPM really nails this aspect of Amateur Radio! It is uncomfortable trying to strike up conversations with random strangers; that you're "broadcasting" on the radio as a new Amateur Radio operator can make such conversation attempts really awkward. "Get licensed, buy a radio, talk on the air" is the conventional advice on getting started in Amateur Radio, and Dan and I are here to tell you that as techies, there are a lot of other ways to enjoy what Amateur Radio has to offer than uncomfortably trying to strike up conversations with random fellow Amateur Radio operators.

Some interesting (data communications) projects / experiments going on in Amateur Radio:

• WSPR on a Raspberry Pi - The Raspberry Pi's high clock speed means that it can "modulate" (toggle) one of the Raspberry Pi's General Purpose Input / Output (GPIO) pins fast enough for that pin to create a signal within the Amateur Radio High Frequency (HF) (aka, shortwave) bands. The beauty of WSPR is that you can  see where your transmission been received around the world. The first link is to a $32 Raspberry Pi HAT that cleans up the signal coming from the Raspberry Pi GPIO pin. (You must be licensed as a General or Extra class Amateur Radio operator to use WSPR on the HF bands.)
• New Packet Radio (good overview) (details) is a new TCP/IP radio system from a techie Amateur Radio operator in France.
• Hams in Space! Amateur Radio has its own satellites in orbit, including a payload on a geostationary satellite above Europe and Africa. There’s an amateur radio station on the International Space Station. You can also build your own ground station to receive data from experimental research satellites.
• Amateur Radio Emergency Data Network (AREDN) is firmware for Wi-Fi and Wireless ISP hardware that enables mesh networking and uses some Amateur Radio only spectrum.
• APRS.fi is a worldwide aggregation of position reports from Amateur Radio APRS transmissions. It's not just vehicles - in the "Track Callsign" box, type in W5KUB-26. That's the callsign of an amateur high altitude balloon with an APRS "tracker" onboard. As I compose this article, it's above Northern Florida.

Winding up

The blog you're reading - SuperPacket.org is my blog for discussing "the big picture" of Amateur Radio. I try to post at least one article per week here.

My other Amateur Radio blog is N8GNJ.org where I discuss what I'm doing in my Amateur Radio activities, especially my experimentation with data modes, and my Amateur Radio station. For example, I'll discuss new developments about AREDN (see above) on SuperPacket.org, but my AREDN activities will be written up on N8GNJ.org. The posting frequency on N8GNJ.org is whenever I have something interesting to report.

I hope I've convinced you that Amateur Radio in 2021 isn't (just) old white guys sitting in the basement tapping on a Morse Code key.

Please reach out if you're interesting in the topics I've discussed above.

Thanks for reading!

Steve Stroh N8GNJ
Bellingham, Washington, USA
2021-04-08