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Joined: Mon, Jul 25th 2011, 14:25 Roles: N/A Moderates: N/A

Latest Topics

Topic Created Posts Views Last Activity
Receiver testing Sep 6th 2011, 00:23 7 18,786 on 12/8/12
Two Tone 3rd Order IMD Testing Sep 1st 2011, 19:54 6 17,580 on 10/11/11
Reciprocal Mixing Testing Sep 1st 2011, 19:50 3 18,773 on 18/3/16
Blocking Gain Compression; Sep 1st 2011, 19:45 1 11,201 on 1/9/11
What rigs do you use for AM operation and why do you like using AM? Sep 1st 2011, 00:42 15 12,913 on 23/11/23
Shaking hands while soldering Aug 4th 2011, 20:06 2 8,991 on 5/8/11
QRP fox hunt Thursday, 4 August 2011, 0100 Z, 14.060 +- Aug 4th 2011, 14:18 1 13,818 on 4/8/11
Thanks to all the Elmers here! Aug 2nd 2011, 21:18 1 15,019 on 2/8/11
Welcome to the vintage radio forum Jul 29th 2011, 13:05 1 15,756 on 29/7/11
Members answering other members' questions Jul 26th 2011, 00:30 1 13,988 on 26/7/11

Latest Posts

Topic Author Posted On
Wideband RFI Bursts - Please Help! AC0XU on 9/4/12
Quote by AC0XU
I have searched the arrl.org website for "reporting RFI", and did not come up with a useful link. Does anyone know how to engage the ARRL for assistance in such matters?

When in doubt as to how to contact any HQ staff, you can always either call the main number, 860-594-0200 or send email to hq@arrl.org and describe what you are looking for. If you say that you are having an RFI problem, the staff that answer the phones or email will know to send you to the ARRL Lab.

Most of the RFI cases are handled by Mike Gruber, W1MG, in the ARRL Lab. I'm at home right now, so I can't look up his direct number, but you can reach him through the main number or by email at rfi@arrl.org.

In cases involving cable-television interference, the cable company is correct; they can't go into the house without permission, but they are required to terminate service if leakage above the limits can't be corrected.

Mike Gruber has a contact on the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers Board of Directors who is very instrumental at getting cable companies to address problems. What I suggest in this case, you provide a complete documentation of your attempts to resolve this, written in a way that Mike can forward directly to his contact and hopefully, we can see this get resolved in a much more timely fashion for you.

Ed Hare, W1RFI
ARRL Lab
What is RFI versus QRM? KD4SBY on 9/4/12
QRM is a term that is used to describe interference from another transmitter, typically another ham.

QRN is a term that is used to describe noise from lightning.

RFI ig geneally a term that is used to indicate interference from a man-made noise source other than transmitters, although it is sometimes applied to interference from unlicensed transmitters such as WiFi devices.

73,
Ed Hare, W1RFI
Overseas Membership Fees, no longer such a bargain. G0KZZ on 9/4/12
Quote by G0KZZ
Quote: "Speaking only for myself, I'd have to stretch pretty hard to find a basis to be displeased with this one. I sure wouldn't feel that this was a good example at all of corporate greed."

Nothing personal here, but you can hardly be expected to give an unbiased response when you have been employed by the ARRL since 1986 as their Laboratory Manager!

It is no more logical to say that than it would be for me to say that you can hardly expect to give an unbiased response in the other direction because you don't work for ARRL as staff. People can retain their integrity when they take jobs; in fact, most people do.

My financial success or failure as an employee of ARRL is not related to my views of the usefulness of digital QST; it is related to how well I do my job managing the ARRL Lab. Whether I post on a subject related to another part of ARRL is entirely my personal choice, at my personal discretion. And I can see value in the change to digital QST that is not related to my work in the ARRL Lab. It may be easier for you to believe that I am trying to mislead you because I work in the Lab at HQ, but you would be wrong.

Or why not give members a choice of digital edition OR compilation CD?

I can't completely answer that, except to note that the programming to try to keep track of which members wanted the new, instant access to QST every month and which chose not to want that and wanted to wait a year for a CD may not be trivial to do or manage.

The renewal form shows that international members can opt for a "print and digital QST" membership, so why not a CD and digital QST option?

Actually, although US members can choose to opt out of receiving the print edition, there is no financial advantage to them do so. Overseas members can opt to receive a print edition of QST, at additional cost or can opt to receive the CD at additional cost. The CD was sent to overseas members because it was expensive for them to receive the print edition, but now that the expense to them has been eliminated with the availability of QST on line, the CD option is now treated the same as the print option -- available at additional cost.

So what is this 'wonder format'? The description "...in digital form, readable on any device that can access the Internet..." certainly sounds like a PDF document to me. If not then again I ask what is the format that will be used? HTML? Java? What?

The format is described in the digital-edition FAQ on the ARRL.org website:

http://www.arrl.org/digital-qst-faq

If the digital edition is such a 'wonderhorse' then hey, why not do away with the printed editions entirely? After all, the printed edition doesn't contain "...videos, sounds, etc." So get rid of it.

I disagree strongly with your belief that ARRL should eliminate the print edition for all members because it has chosen to deliver QST to overseas members electronically every month instead of mailing a CD at the end of the year. You are saying that you choose not to receive the print edition, so I don't know why you want all ARRL members to not receive it either.

I am a realist, I know empty hype when I see it.

You do realize how personally insultive that is, I imagine...

I'm sorry that you see the time I have spent offering my personal perspective on the value of digital QST arriving to overseas members at the same time it is available to US members as "empty hype." It was not intended to mislead you in any way, but to offer my own views on the reasons for the change and the overall value of having instant access to QST instead of waiting as long as a year to see the issues.

Ed Hare, W1RFI
Why does this happen? 0001582470H80 on 29/3/12
So on July 4th, a fellow drove to his local town park to take his usual evening stroll. He was dismayed that the parking lot was full and he couldn't find a place to park his car. He finally found a spot on a side street and walked to his favorite part of the park.

He was dismayed again to find a lot of other people there. Everywhere he tried to walk, there were people walking in front of him and sitting down in the places he usually wanted to stroll. Once in a while, one of the people actually jostled hm a bit as they tried to walk around him. After a bit, one of the people told him that everyone was there to see the fireworks.

He hadn't come to the park to see the fireworks, and he just wanted to walk in the places that he usually walked.

That day, it didn't work out very well and he walked off to a part of the park that was just as pleasant, but that seemed to have a lot fewer people.

None of this justifies the "take over any frequency" approach that some in contesting use, but it also drives home a point that in a common resource, there will be times when a lot of people want to use the resource at once to do something different from what we may want to do.

I look at contests the same way that I see the 4th of July fireworks. If I don't want to watch the fireworks, I stay home and clean my shack.

73,
Ed, W1RFI
Overseas Membership Fees, no longer such a bargain. G0KZZ on 29/3/12
Quote by G0KZZ
This so called Digital Edition ploy is a joke. Why not say "Hey! Give me $39 a year and you can download a few PDF documents..."

I do have one advantage over you in making this post because I have seen the digital edition of QST. Of course, I personally would not proclaim something to be "a joke" before I had seen it, but that's just my personal style.

The digital edition of QST is FAR more than "download a few pdf documents." It is the entire content of QST available in digital form, readable on any device that can access the Internet. In addition, in keeping with the digital nature of that format of QST, additional digital content, such as videos, sounds, etc., is being added, and that will get better with time.

Overseas members will now have full access to all of QST at the same time that US members do. IMHO, that is a much more attractive option than having to wait a full year to have access to the magazine electronically via CD.

Far from being the greed your post implied, this is an effort that has cost a fair amount of money to implement, intended to provide better service to ARRL members, especially those that were previously subject to postal delays obtaining QST.

These changes were not made in an attempt to sell a handful of additional CDs to overseas members. In fact, by making the past 3 years available for download, in addition to the older issues which have been available for download, ARRL could see the sale of the annual periodicals CD drop a bit (although many members will still prefer to have the files available directly on their own computers.)

There are some that observe that some hams will complain no matter what ARRL does. In this case, it has undertaken to provide the entire content of QST instantly to members and has made all of the back issues of QST available on line, at no cost to anyone except the organization's costs in file-server size, uploading files and member support for those that need some instruction on how to download a file. Speaking only for myself, I'd have to stretch pretty hard to find a basis to be displeased with this one. I sure wouldn't feel that this was a good example at all of "corporate greed."

73,
Ed Hare, W1RFI

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