Al's Blog-o-Sphere

Well, I got rid of the entry page I had on the server. It was annoying me. I put it up there at first to just be a place holder, but it looked so weird compared to the clean lean look of the WordPress blog, I hated to make everyone hop through it.

So you can just use http://gritzmacher.net from now on to get here. No more /wp … it will add that for you.

You can still see the old page if you’re curious. Another copy of it is at http://ae2t.net where it has been sitting for a year or so. Before that, it has been here and there as my ‘homepage’ for many years with few changes. You can see the photos of my kids snowboarding in 2000. The page was already old when I added them…

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.