Al's Blog-o-Sphere

WSJ Article

A short excerpt:

“Ham radios, battery operated, work well when others don’t in part
because they are simple. Each operator acts as his own base station,
requiring only his radio and about 50 feet of fence wire to transmit
messages thousands of miles. Ham radios can send messages on multiple
channels and in myriad ways, including Morse code, microwave
frequencies and even email.”

At the end, a BPL advocate from Motorola is quoted as saying that ham
radio is “pretty close to nothing.” But a ham operator gets the last
word: “…who you gonna call?”

No matter how you feel about the current state of Ham Radio, in disaster situations, it still brings out the best side of Ham Radio.

“When all else fails…”

(Thank God all the power was knocked out – if there was any BPL in the area, it would have gone offline!)

I went to see Flyin’ Blind again at the Lockport Canal Tours. I got there just after they had finished their first set. It was great to see them play again and I still can’t get over how good a band they are and how I missed out on them for so long. I guess you just take the local stuff for granted.

They had their regular harp player back this time and also had another guitar player sit in for the second set. Just a young kid, I think they said 17, but he could play. He kept right up with Benny and they gave him plenty of opportunities for solos.

They had their new CD out, called “Havin’ Fun Feelin’ Blue” – an excellent title for a blues album.

I wish I could post a link, but they don’t have a web site yet. For upcoming shows, the best thing to do is watch The WNY Blues Society web page for info. I’ll keep my calendar posted too.

Some photos from the last time I saw them play are here.

NPR Interview with Ham who assisted in saving some people in New Orleans.

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina and all the flooding, stories are starting to come out about the involvement of Amateur Radio operators in the rescue effort.

As with 9/11, I guess it’s inevitable, even though only the tip of the iceberg ever gets noticed. It did seem for a while that nothing was being done, no FCC declaration of Emergency frequencies being set aside, no pleas for Hams to help out. But that was pretty much the same story as the government and charitable agencies. The whole event was just so massive and so widespread, that there was little anyone could do until things settled down and stabilised.

But now that that has happened, things are swinging into motion. The ARRL has issued a call for volunteer Ham Operators, especially those who are expeerienced in emergency communications or have completed their releatively new training program.

I’m sure we’ll hear many more stories in the next few weeks.

What I’m listening to today:

The entire back catalog of The Signal (The Big Damn Podcast) http://signal.serenityfirefly.com/signal.php a podcast devoted to Firefly/Serenity the TV Show/Movie.

I’ve just begun watching Firefly. Sci-Fi channel has picked it up for syndication and has been playing it Fridays. I caught an episode this week and one earlier and thought it was pretty good. I stumbled on the podcaast somewhere and started listening to it. It is very well-done by a co-operative group of quite a few people and runs over an hour an episode.

I listened all night, laying in bed with my headphones on. I don’t think I fell asleep through much of it, either.

Anyway, I added Firefly to the shows set to record on my Replay-TV. I guess I’m a fan now. Serenity is the movie based on the series and featuring the same cast. It comes out the end of the month.

The writer and producer, Joss Whedon, did the same thing to me with the series Angel. I never heard about that show until it was in syndication and no longer being made. I got caught up in that show and finally can say I’ve seen every episode. The guy’s got something for writing shows that build a passionate fan-base, but Hollywood execs just don’t get.

Also, listening to two John Renbourn albums – The Lady and the Unicorn and Sir John Alot of Merrie Englandes Musyk Thyng & Ye Grene Knygte (sic.)