GSMA Mobile World Conference | 16-19 February | Barcelona

Mobile World Conference (link)

• "NETGEAR®, Inc. will demonstrate its Femtocell Voice Gateway (DVG834GH) delivering converged network services at the world's leading mobile communications industry event."
• "This will be the first live public demonstration of the company's residential gateway that integrates ADSL2+ modem, router, Ethernet LAN, Wi-Fi access point, Voice over-IP (VoIP), and a miniature 3G base station known as a femtocell (link)."

Is femtocell technology much like an Alinco DR-605T 2meter/440 mobile base radio (link) with internal antenna duplexer, independent ultra high frequency (UHF)/very high frequency (VHF) TX/RX indicators, set and forget squelch control, and cloning capabilities (9600 bps)?

An opportunity exists for a digital camera built into a handheld capable of digital transmission, I'm conceptualizing Icom's D-Star protocol paired for example with an Alinco DR-605T 2meter/440 mobile base radio connected to the Internet (link).

73 from the shackadelic.

KH6LC Confirmed USPS

Mahalo.

Make DXAnywhere Your K5D Cluster Mashup Destination

K5D Spots as of 2009.02.13

Total HF Spots as of 2009.02.13

Ham radio is busy this weekend with CQ World Wide WPX RTTY (link), North American Sprint SSB (link), and RSGB 1st 1.8 MHz CW Contest (link) to mention a few. And team K5D Desecheo DXpedition is pumping radio frequency (RF) into the ionosphere as well.

Are social activities eclipsing weekday spectrum activities? A quick glance at DXAnywhere statistics suggest a significant shift in one's operating habits to the weekend weighted by RadioSport and DXpeditions.

An opportunity exists for ham radio related businesses whose advertisement dollars might feed into cluster mashups like DXAnywhere (link). Why not run text advertisements after every 10th, 50th, or 100th spot? Additionally, given the available data, one is more likely observing a cluster during the weekend in comparison to a weekday. Likewise, one can measure their return on advertisement according to the number of return clicks. Dot com era advertisements on portal like websites offer low social interaction.

I'm watching DXAnywhere this weekend given three major RadioSport events and a highly sought after DXpedition.

73 from the shackadelic.

K5D Desecheo Island Pumps Ionosphere Via Twitter

I wondered how K5D Desecheo Island DXpedition (link), (link) planned on deploying Twitter in support of their operation. My answer arrived this afternoon. The team daily news update (link) as well. It appears the team is using VE3SUN's DX Monitor (link) with Twitter interface?

An excerpt from VE3SUN (link) who stated,

• "Many people use twitter to keep in touch and share what they are doing with their friends. In this case, you can share the DX you are hearing (or not hearing) by tweeting spots and chatting with others on the bands right now."
• "This is an experiment in applying new social media tools to amateur radio."

I'm receiving spot updates without its concurrent commentary. The data is straightforward with frequency, number of spots per band, and band last worked. Stellar deployment of Twitter in support of K5D Desecheo Island DXpedition.

Chase DX.

NQ4I Gets Twitter

The 'first' of the 'first' Multi-Multi RadioSport titans, NQ4I, gets Twitter. I was surprised to find a follower email in the ebox this afternoon. Rick is on the cutting edge while the list of ham radio operators and organizations continues growing each day.

73 from the shackadelic.

NASA Gets Twitter Shorty Award

If NASA gets Twitter, why not ham radio? The latest press release has NASA receiving a Shorty Awards (link)

• "The Mars Phoenix Twitter delivered more than 600 updates during the 152 days the lander was operating in the north polar region of Mars. By the end of the lander's mission in early November, more than 38,000 people were following its reports, called "tweets.""

Watch out Emmy and Oscar. Read press release (link).

73 from the shackadelic.

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) On The Move

According to NASA's press release Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is moving toward Kennedy Space Center with a 24 April launch date. Let's giddy up.

Read press release (link).

73 from the shackadelic.

My 10,000 Hour RadioSport Challenge | 10,000 - 2.5 = 9,997.5 To Go

Now is the time for challenge and mine is 10,000 hours dedicated to the science and art of RadioSport. One can fret about a low-power, low-profile RadioSport station whose antenna is sub-optimal and least likely to break into the vaunted box. I could sit on the bench or get on the ionospheric playing field. That is why I'm taking the 10,000 hour challenge quietly floated on CQ Contest Digest.

What does this mean? It is a personal challenge shared with this audience.

• “The idea that excellence at performing a complex task requires a critical minimum level of practice surfaces again and again in studies of expertise."

I like to keep in mind a motto shared by an Air Force NCO early in my career, "We play the way we practice."

Our critical quality assurance evaluations paved the pathway to future success at an individual and organization level. There is nothing like a Strategic Air Command Inspector General evaluation where evaluators observed, measured, and feedback one's performance according to specific standards. Either one was highly qualified, qualified, or unqualified. And leadership did not settle for just qualified either.

We practiced. And practiced again. The essential disciplinary techniques and skills are etched into the neuronal circuitry of my brain. I return to this simple question, "Why not?"

My 10,000 Hour RadioSport Challenge is underway. What is your ham radio challenge?

Contest on.

NA Sprint CW 2009 | Results

Call: KA3DRR
Operator(s): KA3DRR
Station: KA3DRR

Class: Single Op LP
QTH: CA
Operating Time (hrs): 2.5

---------------------
80 | 0 | 0
40 | 9 | 2.5
20 | 0 | 0
---------------------
Total: 9
Mults = 6
Total Score = 54

Club: Northern California Contest Club (link)
Team: NCCC Team 4

My toughest contest thus far as winter propagation (link) and rain storm foiled my low-power, low-profile station. I'm learning there is a seasonal difference in scoring. Summer/Fall produces better scores in contrast to winter especially on the domestic side of contesting. Additionally, my geographic challenge effectively shut down signals from eastern locations. I did not note a score difference related to season until this year. My learning curve.

I figured given time of day, season, and SFI numbers that starting on 20m would be difficult at best. Additionally, station configuration w/ antenna suggested a Sprint start on forty meters instead.

I opted 40m as best signal possibility going into near sunset start. My doublet (link) has better performance characteristics on this band. I salute those operators who dug deep into there headphones. No doubt, they copied my low-power signal with concurrent QSB effects. I struggled on this band.

An S7-to-S8 noise level on 80m when 40m effectively closed down reduced my opportunity to gain a few more Qs/mults for the contest log. Typically, regional stations within California, Oregon, and Arizona are loud yet Saturday's conditions made a score difference.

I'm keeping in mind a 10,000 hour goal (link), (link) and operating 2.5 hours brings that number towards zero. I benefited from my goofs at the keyboard and discovered a mental block when copying an operator name. For some reason, I wasn't processing that block of information, during the exchange. I managed but need improvement.

Contest on.