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#42 – Contests, Ham Radio & TWIT.tv – Ham, Spam, Thank You Ma’am

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  Lots of fun and lots of discussion points this week! We talked about schools, contests, more contests, ham radio, 3D transistors and our first Chip of the Week!

Wowsa! That was a lot! But DON’T PANIC!

Comments

  2. RF is the new black.

    Eagle has at least two 3rd party 3D rendering scripts available: Eagle3D and EagleUP. Neither of them are much chop especially if you want to create and integrate your own models and use PCBs with curves and cutouts. However both of them are free and i salute the efforts made by the authors in any case.

    The last time some of us tweeted about the Element14 site we were contacted by their PR people asking what it was that irked us or what they should change. I didn’t have an answer. I think it’s just the vibe. I still visit it from time to time but find nothing compelling to keep me browsing. I may apply to “road test” something the next time something interesting shows up in the “road test” list.

    JD

  3. Bah. The tuition thing is ridiculous. We may pay just as much as English majors as far as tuition, but look at how much more money the engineering department brings in through grants than the English department! With all the grants our professors bring in, we should pay LESS for education.

    Good luck on getting your ham license Chris! Glad we talked you into it. There are a LOT of people in ham who love to just talk, so you’ll have your ear talked off at ham meetings, but if you’re just in it for the FCC privileges, they don’t tend to be a problem. Even just as a MechE student, I was able to pass ALL THREE tests after just reading through the test books, so I would suggest you borrow or buy all three books and try and do them in one fell swoop; the tests really aren’t that hard. As far as owning the test books afterwards, I only kind of found the Extra book useful, but ideally I’d say you borrow all three test books, then just buy the ARRL handbook. They come out with ARRL handbooks every year, but I found having both a current one (2009) and an old one (1980) useful because they tend to cover different topics (lots of vacuum tube and discrete transistor stuff in the old edition which is just swept under single ICs now).

    • As an additional note, on the show it was said $20 for a 5x5cm, but actually that was the old price, not the new price which is half that 🙂

  6. Totally agree about the HAM radio thing. A large majority of the people I meet go as far as antenna building, and they buy everything else. Some will even just buy a 2m radio, antenna, and leave it at that!

    I want to learn about RF design, and am not sure where to start. I have lots of experience in digital electronics (perhaps not lots compared to Dave, but to hobbyists), and I don’t want to buy a kitset.

    Cheers,

    Dan

        • Actually, I’d like to respond to my own comment. If you’re making stuff and doing English because you love it, more power to you! Hell, I do engineering during the day and come home and do “english” (aka. writing) at night. You and I are like yin and yang! yay!

          • Chris: I’m 60 years old and been a ham since the mid ’60s. 🙂 I was an English Major, then went to law school and I work in litigation. But, in my dreams I’m an engineer. I experiment and build radios and melt solder. I’d rather be poking around with a circuit board, listening to Amp Hour or Soldersmoke! Which reminds me…thanks for all you guys do!

  7. Re. idiot press releases & PR firms – I’ve lost count of how often I’ve had a press release about a new part emailed or linked to on a manufacturer’s website with NO link to the product page or datasheet for the part – idiots!

  8. About the university fees for EE vs English majors.

    When I was in vasity(University of Pretoria) we paid per subject. And all the science and engineering subjects where easily double the cost than BA or BCom stuff. For us that’s just the way it was. It’s interesting to hear how different countries work…

  9. KB9WSA ….. having a ham license lets you play with high power radio, legally. You should. It’s cheap and easy to get your license.

    • Hell, I’m thinking about doing it just for the callsign! It’s like a secret handshake! 😉

      But seriously, it’s the transmitting I care about. That’s just awesome.

      • I like my call sign. Some phonetic alphabet words are more appealing to me than others and the ones I got were all favorites. I don’t care for F (foxtrot) or U (uniform) for example.

          • And this is exactly what I don’t like about hams. They have always invented everything.

            Most of these claims can’t be proven, and even if, the idea that because someone was *also* a ham was the driving force behind a particular invention is ridiculous. The ham license didn’t make them inventors. They were clever guys, did some hard work and had a bit of luck. They happen to have a ham license is a coincidence.

  10. It’s interesting, pentalogix.com doesn’t have any mention on the main page or the ‘news’ about the new element14 eagle integration! Talk about a bad marketing/partnership strategy!

    BTW, who is Jeff Kizer (sp?)?

  11. You said to comment if your university is doing that “higher tuition because they’re paid more” thing, and mine is just starting to do that!

    In the past, it was all roughly the same, but now they’re wanting to do a sudden increase (50% higher or so) in tuition for all “high earning” degrees, not just engineering, but stuff like like the business degrees too, which don’t have the excuse of labs.

    It really seems ridiculous to me…

  12. Chris…tips?

    1. Contact one of your local ham radio clubs. They can tell you about local classes and when the next exams will be given.

    http://www.dxzone.com/catalog/Ham_Radio/Clubs/North_America/USA/Ohio/

    2. Get you a copy of the latest ARRL License Manual. The licenses tend to build on themselves, so I’d suggest getting the Technician and General manuals. You’ve got the electronics down 🙂 , but you need to learn the regulations that these different manuals will teach you. I don’t know, but they might teach you a little about RF too. If you get real ambitious, pick up the Amateur Extra manual too. Extras have a ‘little’ more operating privileges – but you get to strut a little.

    http://www.arrl.org/licensing-education-training

    3. Attend a Hamfest or two. Don’t be put off by the smelly ancient nerds in attendance. This is what you will look like in a few years. Here’s a page that will help you find Hamfests in your area.

    http://www.arrl.org/hamfests-and-conventions-calendar

  14. Hell yes! Even here in the UK, the Dayton Hamvention is seen as the mother of all amateur radio meets. Imagine all those surplus shops from around the US, on one site. Hugely more interesting than any industry show. Kits, components, books, old gear, new gear, you name it. Acres and acres of the stuff. That would make a great blog, and will fill a big chunk of Amp Hour.

    Despite having 2 degrees and loads of experience, it is almost always amateur radio that I get asked about at job interviews. Especially if you are in analogue electronics, you will find that the majority of people you meet are hams. You got it right about it being a secret handshake, that and a college tie all rolled into one. When it comes to job interviews, you are instantly “one of us” (if you see what I mean). Despite having been a ham since I was 17, I have transmitted very little, mostly just to test stuff, but I wouldn’t be without my license. It provides the best framework for learning about RF that I can think of, and there is such a vast amount of info out there, both in formal books and on web sites. Just try to avoid getting swept along with the race to get better equipment. That gets really expensive very quickly!

    • It is interesting to see the perception of a ham license in different circles and countries. As an engineer I work with big modern RF stuff for a living. I don’t have a ham license, most of my colleagues don’t. I never got asked for one in job interviews and never in my job.

      Here a ham license is what the amateurs have, not the professionals, if you get the idea. I don’t know why it is that way. I occasionally looked at what is required to pass the test and was always put of by the amount of regulations and procedures one had to learn, compared to what they require in the technical area. Yes, I am a lazy guy.

      I think that it even got worse over the years. I seem to remember that there was more electronics and technology in the tests in the past. But still too much regulation stuff for my liking.

      I have also the impression that the ham clubs here are more obsessed with regulations, political affairs, bemoaning the past, endlessly reiterating how great hams are, instead of modulating/demodulating some RF.

      I do buy SW receiver gear and general electronics stuff at hamfests. More than once I have experienced that hams looked down on me when they figured I didn’t have a license. One once tried to argue that I wasn’t allowed to touch a soldering iron without a ham license. The guy shut up when I told him what I do for a living 🙂

      A ham license is just not my cup of tea, not required for my job, and one can legally do a lot of fancy stuff without one.

      • Like many hams here, I have a commercial license (GROL) as well as amateur. A hobbyist and professional may inhabit the same body without multiple personality disorder being diagnosed.

      • I’d be interested to read more of what is legally allowed (transmitting-wise). I’m not sure how far I would go, but it still seems that starting out getting a ham license will serve me well. Mostly I think of it like a drivers license…the test didn’t teach me how to drive, but I sure felt better being out on the road when I had it…

        • Chris:
          Transmitting is three things, frequency, power and mode (Video, AM, FM, Morse (CW), Digital, etc.). Generally, power output is “limited” (heh) to 1500 Watts. Here’s a current “band plan” of frequencies and mode (pdf):

          http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Hambands_color.pdf

          The regs give us a sampling of every RF frequency “between DC and daylight.” Your access to various modes and frequencies is limited by your license level. Technician class is generally limited to VHF (some exceptions). General and Extra have that, plus all-mode privileges in the [worldwide] shortwave bands. Hope this helps.

  16. Johan: You’re right, it is a “cup of tea” thing. But, it’s a great portal into electronics for the hobbyist. I’d venture that many hams know more RF theory than alot of EEs (especially since many many hams are also EEs). Hobby interest can sometimes fuel a great desire to learn. Right now I’m watching tutorial videos on how to use Smith Charts [poor, poor confused English Major]. Even for the “pros,” ham radio can provide you with some learning opportunities you might find hard to access otherwise. Hams can play with satellite communications, we can do “moon bounce,” we do tons of different digital communication modes. There’s always the mysteries of Software Defined Radio to play with (and you get to transmit too!). Or, we can do what I do: build our own radios, toss them in a backpack, wander into the woods, throw a wire in a tree and sit back and talk to the world. But…to each his own.

      • Something happened again. Either I am straight heading for the madhouse, or Touchstone changed the rule again. Now item 5 reads:
        .
        > 5. While Touchstone Semiconductor recognizes that design entrants own all intellectual property rights that they may have in their submission, Touchstone Semiconductor assumes ownership of, and is under no obligation to return, all design entries.
        .
        So excuse me while I make an appointment with my doctor.

        • Wha?? Yeah, they definitely had it saying otherwise yesterday. I’m supposed to talk to their marketing dude about the contest, I’ll try to make sure they clear things up.

  19. Working after the redeye flight is preparation for having kids. 🙂

    I enjoyed Dave’s rant about poorly designed forums.

    Maybe our Good’ay is “hey”, at least in my area. For some reason when foreigners think of the US, they think of Texas more than the Midwest.

    Regarding ham raido, the test is easy now. You might pass it without studying on your knowledge of electronics. You don’t need it, though, to tinker with RF.

  20. Great podcast as always. I have a suggestion for Chris about HAM radio. If you want to get your feet wet, as far as operating goes, the last weekend in June is the ARRL Field Day. There will be stations nationwide (and Ohio of course) set up in parks and public places to communicate with as many other stations as possible in a 24 hour period. These are open to the public and there are stations set up for those curious about the hobby to give it a try. Check out http://www.arrl.org/field-day to learn more. It’s a great way to get to know your local club(s).

    73 from Robert AC8GE

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