Wednesday, December 28, 2005

The Handiham Weekly E-letter for December 28 2005 - January 4 2006

transceiverGreetings, everyone!

In this edition you will find:

Dilution hits everything, not just ham radio
Avery's QTH: Resolutions for 2006
New & upcoming articles of interest
New web poll debuts this week
Just days left to give by year-end
Handiham office hours change for New Year holiday
California Radio Camp is full
Elmer takes the week off, the lazy bum
Internet access by telephone

... and even more good stuff. Tune in to the Podcast now!

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

The Handiham Weekly E-letter for December 21 - 28 2005

transceiverGreetings, everyone!

In this edition you will find:

Holiday greetings from Handihams
Avery's QTH: Taking an ARRL Message
New & upcoming articles of interest
Another "Dummies" book makes the scene
Handiham office hours change for holiday
Only two more spots left at California Radio Camp
Elmer gives some portable antenna advice
TIPS net to feature the main man at EchoLink: K1RFD

...and even more good stuff. Tune in now!

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

The Handiham Weekly E-letter for December 14 - 21 2005

transceiverGreetings, everyone!

In this edition you will find:

  • Feds encourage large gifts to charity
  • Avery makes a "mistreak"
  • Learning to use Audacity
  • Johnny's Gone Away
  • December Events by N1YXU published
  • Only five more spots left at California Radio Camp
  • We are getting snowed in at HQ
  • Elmer tells us about software to copy Morse with a computer
  • RekkyTec links features helpful links
Tune into the podcast now!

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

The Handiham Weekly E-letter for December 7-14 2005

transceiverGreetings, everyone!

In this edition you will find:

Does Santa come to your house?

Avery: Black & White TV days teach us a lesson
Linux open-source screenreader updated
Remember us in your gift-giving
We are a day early this week with the Weekly E-Letter
Katrina article in audio now available to blind members
AB7HW shows us a QRZ trick

Tune in to the podcast now!

Wednesday, November 30, 2005

The Handiham Weekly E-letter for November 30 - December 7 2005

transceiverGreetings, everyone!

In this edition you will find:

  • Code debate brings out ghosts of Morse past
  • Avery's QTH: WX and ham radio
  • EchoLink problems show up with repeater linking
  • One more month of this
  • Bob Zeida, N1BLF, has completed reading of VoIP book
  • California Camp applications are ready now
  • Repeater builder website offers tips
...and even more good stuff. Tune in now! Hear Barry Goldwater weigh in.

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

The Handiham Weekly E-letter for November 23-30 2005

transceiverGreetings, everyone!

In this edition you will find:

  • What we are thankful for
  • Avery's QTH: Special Thanksgiving edition
  • Holiday closings
  • Bob Zeida, N1BLF, to retire from Q & A pool reading
  • Politician "Disses" Amateur Radio
  • More thankfulness and more begging
  • Ham Radio Study podcast reminder
  • California Camp applications are ready now
  • Backup software for Windows has free version
...and even more good stuff. Tune in now to our audio podcast.

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

The Handiham Weekly E-letter for November 16-23 2005

Greetings, everyone!

In this edition you will find:

  • Change is in the air
  • Avery's QTH: Changing your records at the FCC
  • Some specifics of the ARRL bandwidth proposal from ARRLweb
  • Reply Comment period on NPRM 05-235 ended November 14
  • Now let's see... where is that checkbook?
  • Updates to audio underway
  • Ham Radio Study podcast debuts
  • California Camp applications are ready now
  • Elmer takes the week off
...and even more good stuff. Tune in now!

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

The Handiham Weekly E-letter for November 9-16 2005

Greetings, everyone!

In this edition you will find:

Newly blind? Don't sell your ham gear!
Avery's QTH: Making keyer and VOX adjustments
Forgot Your FCC Password? Reset it Online!
Reply Comment period on NPRM 05-235 ends November 14
Dick & Scotty address QSL cards and email!
Knock, knock.
Updates to audio underway
California Camp applications are ready now
Elmer takes the week off

...and even more good stuff. Tune in now!

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

The Handiham Weekly E-letter for November 2-9 2005

Greetings, everyone!

In this edition you will find:

More ham radio safety rules
Avery's QTH: Scanners
ARRL forwarding outage
Comment period closes for code NPRM
Dick & Scotty say, "Club membership is important."
Don't forget your friends. Us.
Loss of staff member at Courage saddens us
California Camp applications go out this week
Elmer diagnoses an intermittent tuner

Last week I shared my "10 commandments of ham radio safety". Over the past week I got a response from W6KHS, who says, "When soldering, make sure you grab the soldering iron by the right end. This is most important when it is plugged in and you are blind or visually impaired."

Tune in now!

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

The Handiham Weekly E-letter for October 26 - November 2 2005

Greetings, everyone!

In this edition you will find:

10 commandments of ham radio safety
Avery's QTH: Choosing a rig
Is there a BPL system in your area?
Time change will affect nets
Enunciator files for use with EchoLink
Money is evil, so guess who you should send it to?
EchoLink noontime and Monday nets return to standard time schedule October 30
Cassette Magazine digests are in the mail
Elmer has advice on gaining acceptance
It's Halloween, and Billy Beeper is back

Tune in now!

Comments or tech support: wa0tda@arrl.net

Thursday, October 20, 2005

The Handiham Weekly E-letter for October 19-26 2005

Greetings, everyone!

In this edition you will find:

What is Part 15?
Avery's QTH: ESP? No, ESD!
The "find the call guy"
The "Making Contacts, Making Friends" video is online!
CB'er gets socked with forfeiture
It's not a want, it's a need.
EchoLink noontime and Monday nets return to normal connection status
Elmer gets feedback on antennas for mobile use

Tune in now!

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

The Handiham Weekly E-letter for October 12-19 2005

Greetings, everyone!

In this edition you will find:

Ham Radio season
Avery's QTH: Spook Patrol
KB0FWQ named Interim Director of Courage Camps
Did you guess who will be licensed 50 years?
Our year-end begging continues
MTN and MNINTER.NET addresses go away soon
Change in EchoLink noontime and Monday nets
Elmer compares mag mounts and through-glass

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

The Handiham Weekly E-letter for October 5 2005

Greetings, everyone!

In this edition you will find:

ARICC and TIPS promote Handihams in special net sessions
Avery's QTH, in which Avery says, "ready, net, go!"
Ham radio ISS school contacts this week
Guess who will be licensed 50 years
We're on a mission
We get high-speed Internet at W0ZSW
Elmer tackles a transfer of Ham Radio Deluxe

Tune in now!

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

The Handiham Weekly E-letter for September 28 2005

Greetings, everyone!

In this audio edition, you will find:

New talking logbook in beta release
Bobbo, KC0HSM, retires
Avery's QTH, in which Avery reminds us to be ready for the next one
International Space Station contact with school to be on EchoLink
Google Talk works with screenreaders
We're on a mission
California Camp dates are discussed
Unwelcome guests plague Elmer

Tune in now!

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

The Handiham Weekly E-letter for September 21 2005

Greetings, everyone!

In this edition you will find:

Listen but stand down when emergency nets come on the air
Advocacy video out in DVD format
Avery's QTH, in which Avery recalls the T-R switch
Radio clubs drop print newsletters
Don't get overwhelmed by blind-hams list postings
NPRM has embedded text
TIPS net correction
N0VOE plans to be at CA Radio Camp

Tune in now!

Sunday, September 18, 2005

The Handiham Weekly E-letter for September 14 2005

The latest from Handihams!

Greetings, everyone!

In this edition you will find:

Life in the service economy
Some ARRL dot net users may look like "spam"
Avery's QTH: finding a club
ESA looking for ham volunteers (don't worry, you don't have to blast off)
CME heads our way
Tech and General Q & A pools to be revised early, Extra revisions to be delayed
TIPS net on EchoLink

...and even more good stuff!

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

The Handiham Weekly E-letter for September 7 2005

Greetings, everyone! In this edition you will find:

We get slowly back on line
ARRL dot net says "NO" to junk email
Avery's QTH returns, with Avery at the microphone
Blind RDF event planned
More about the new California Radio Camp location

And even more good stuff. Tune in now!

Monday, September 05, 2005

The Handiham Weekly E-letter for August 31 2005

Greetings, everyone! In this edition you will find:

Radio Camp point by point
A tale of woe
New CA Camp announced
Report on the live radio show on the W0KIE satellite network

And even more good stuff.

Sorry to be late with the audio. Danged lightning... it did a number on our computer.

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

The Handiham Weekly E-letter for August 17 2005

Greetings, everyone!

In this edition you will find:

* Radio Camp schedule
* Avery wonders if Hamfests are obsolete
* A new talking multimeter
* KZ2G publishes his autobiography
* New ARES E-Letter released by ARRL
* We plan a live radio show on the W0KIE satellite network

The main hall at Courage NorthThe big news this week is really next week's news, which is that we will be at Handiham Minnesota Radio Camp. Avery, K0HLA, will be stuck in the office while Jerry, N0VOE, and I get to enjoy ham radio with our campers for a week at Courage North, deep in the pines of Minnesota's lake country. Poor Avery; boo-hoo! Nancy will also be available help our members who call headquarters through the week. We may or may not get an e-letter out, depending on the time available at camp. But you can keep checking www.handiham.org, which we promise to update regularly.

We can be reached at camp via radiocamp@courage.org. And be sure to read further for more about camp activities.

Patrick Tice
wa0tda@arrl.net
Handiham Manager

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

The Handiham Weekly E-letter for August 10 2005

Greetings, everyone! In this action-packed edition you will find:

A dog in a tuxedo
Avery has ham (radio) for lunch
We ramp up for Minnesota Radio Camp activities and give you some frequencies
Podcasting news
Blind? Dick & Scotty walk you through your first EchoLink contact using JAWS
8P9HC DXpedition news
Retirement party time for a repeater
Linux openSUSE project announced

Tune in now!

Comments and programming suggestions to wa0tda@arrl.net

Thursday, August 04, 2005

Republish - The Handiham Weekly E-letter for August 3 2005

Oops... This didn't publish right the first time. It turns out you've got to have the right filepath! Duh! Anyway, here it is again.

We go to the County Fair this week with station W0JH, NPR talks up ham radio, Avery has more good ideas about how to operate even with antenna restrictions, Dick & Scotty put in a second sound card, and even more good stuff.

Tune in now!

Wednesday, August 03, 2005

The Handiham Weekly E-letter for August 3 2005

We go to the County Fair this week with station W0JH, NPR talks up ham radio, Avery has more good ideas about how to operate even with antenna restrictions, Dick & Scotty put in a second sound card, and even more good stuff.

Tune in now!

Dang - we made a mistake in the path to the file. Hope this works!

Comments to wa0tda@arrl.net

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

The Handiham Weekly Eletter for July 27 2005

The FCC says "No" to the Morse code requirement, Avery wears more than one hat, we find a new place for our noon EchoLink net, last call for Radio Camp registration, and even more good stuff.

Tune in now!

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

The Handiham Weekly Eletter for July 20 2005

Some of the older hams whose careers included the "AM", or amplitude modulation equipment popular after the second world war will remember that the transmitting equipment was really big and heavy, and if you wanted to get on the air with a kilowatt, you pretty much designed and built rack-mounted gear. I'm not so sure hefting all those heavy modulation transformers around would be a fond memory of the good old days, but you can bet home brewers got their exercise - by weight lifting!

And even more good stuff. Tune in now to the Handiham podcast.

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

The Handiham Weekly Eletter for July 13 2005

We return after vacation, talking meter goes off the market, six astronauts are hams, Avery's QTH, and even more good stuff.

All in this week's Podcast.

Wednesday, June 29, 2005

Weekly Podcast for 6-29-2005

This is the working feed. I hope!

Pat
wa0tda@arrl.net

History of the Courage HANDI-HAM System

The Courage HANDI-HAM System was "born" in Rochester, Minnesota in 1967; the idea of Ned Carman, W0ZSW. Ned worked for a clinic, and, in the course of his work, would visit people with severe physical disabilities. As he spoke with his clients, who often had few opportunities to leave their homes, he realized that Amateur Radio would be the perfect hobby for them. Here was a hobby that could open a window to the world! A person with the most severe disabilities could stand as an equal with fellow hams in the world of Amateur Radio!

Ned enlisted the help of a group of local nuns, the Sisters of St. Francis, on April 30, 1967. Although their first action was as weather watchers during a thunderstorm that passed through Rochester that day, the Sisters were committed to helping Ned with his new project, and several received their licenses. Among them was Sister Alverna O'Laughlin, WA0SGJ, the former Educational Coordinator for the HANDI-HAM System, now retired.

The first HANDI-HAM was Edna (Eddy) Thorson, N0YL, who took her General Class license exam in December, 1967.

Very soon the Rochester Amateur Radio Club, and a little later the PICONET of South Eastern Minnesota took up the torch of service that Ned had lighted. Word of the HANDI-HAM System spread rapidly throughout southern Minnesota and northern Iowa.

By 1969 it was very evident that the expansion of HANDI-HAM services could not continue without some rather substantial financial support. This support came from the non-profit Minnesota Society for Crippled Children and Adults (whose name would later change to "Courage Center"). The Society granted full affiliate status to the fledgling System and helped with money and equipment.

Word of the HANDI-HAM System spread throughout the Upper Midwest, then across the country, and around the world. It became impossible to continue the work of the System as a volunteer organization... Something had to be done, or HANDI-HAMS would be a victim of its own success. The answer emerged when Courage Center agreed to accept the System as a program, and in 1975 the Minnesota HANDI-HAM System merged with Courage Center to become a full service, providing help wherever there was a need.

The Courage HANDI-HAM System, now a fully-integrated service of Courage Center, is able to call on the resources of its parent organization, from accounting and counseling to rehabilitation medicine and physical therapy, in order to better serve its students and members.

HANDI-HAM stations are now in operation at Camp Joan Mier, Malibu, CA; Courage St. Croix, Stillwater, MN; Camp Courage, Maple Lake, MN; Courage North, Lake George, MN; and at Courage Center in Golden Valley, MN. Radio Camp sessions and other HANDI-HAM services serve members from everywhere in the United States and around the world. Members learn radio, electronic theory, and computing, but they also learn that they can accomplish what they set out to do!

Ned Carman is a silent key, but the Courage HANDI-HAM System's headquarters station bears his callsign, W0ZSW, and an organization of volunteers and paid staff carries on his good work of sharing Amateur Radio with people who have physical disabilities.