It's Raw Power, Baby!

Thought for the day:  The reason lightning doesn't strike twice in the same place is that the place isn't there the second time around.  [Willie Tyler]

[THEME: Amateur radio]

Are you a fan of storms? Do thunder boomers get your adrenaline pumping, and does LIGHTNING make your heart beat faster, and your eyes glow with excitement?

Oh, yeah. Me, too.

You know what lightning is, don't you? Pure unbridled electricity. A single bolt of lightning carries more than enough power to fulfill all your electrical needs for your entire lifetime. Absolutely mind-boggling.  If we could only tame and control it, huh? 

Alas, unless your name is Frankenstein, we can't tame it, but we must always respect it. The most important thing to understand about lightning is it goes where it wants to go. Which means, by the way, in spite of the thought for the day, lightning can and does strike in the same place twice, and has, in fact, caused damage at our address several times. Contrary to what you may think, lightning won't necessarily strike the tallest target, and may very well ignore a perfectly good lightning rod in favor of zapping another spot altogether. It strikes where it wants to strike.

The typical amateur radio operator has multiple antennas in the air, and often has tall towers holding some of those antennas. Talk about tempting  targets in a lightning storm. And as if those targets weren't enticing enough, most of us also have a good bit of amateur radio gear inside our homes. So it's imperative that we do all we can to provide our equipment with a semblance of LIGHTNING PROTECTION. 

Whole books have been written on this subject, but I'm gonna boil it down to a few simple points. First, ground, ground, ground. Ground antennas, ground towers, and ground equipment. And in the event of a thunderstorm,

• Disconnect antennas and
• Pull plugs. (Be advised that surge protectors aren't designed to handle a lightning strike.) 

                              

                                           Oh yeah, and one other highly important point:  

Be very, very careful which hat you wear in a thunderstorm.

Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does the work. [Mark Twain]

A Single Signal

Thought for the day:  Like ripples from a stone tossed into a pond, the actions of a single person can sometimes change the world.

[THEME: Amateur radio]

Think KUWAIT.


Think of August 2, 1990. That's the day Iraq invaded Kuwait.

Iraqi tank on road to Kuwait.

Think of mayhem, terror, explosions. Telephone lines cut. Fear. No way for Kuwaitis outside of the country to know how the rest of their family and friends in Kuwait were doing. Were they alive, or were they dead? When would they know? How would they know? How would the world know what was going on?

Now, meet Abdul Jabar Marafie, amateur radio operator 9K2DZ. 

From the day of the invasion until the liberation of Kuwait nearly seven months later, Abdul, at great risk to both himself and his family, used his radio EVERY SINGLE DAY to send vital information to the outside world about what was going on in his country.

The invading Iraqis confiscated equipment from all Kuwaiti amateur radio operators, but Marafie was able to thwart their efforts by turning over some of his older equipment, while hiding other gear ... gear he could use to feed real-time information to the rest of the world. 

If you watched any news reports about Kuwait during that time and heard a reporter mention "an unknown source" of information, that reporter was talking about Marafie. Although he has received little recognition within his own country for his heroic acts, he received the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) Humanitarian Award in 1992, and is featured in an amazing documentary entitled, The Last Voice From Kuwait. (available on Youtube in three parts)

Oil fires, set by the retreating Iraqis.

Clockwise from top:
USAF planes flying over burning oil wells;
British troops;
View from Lockheed AC-130;
Highway of death;
M728 Combat Engineering Vehicle.











So, yes, think of Kuwait. And when you do, think of Abdul. A single amateur radio operator, who, with the help of a network of other amateur radio operators around the world, made a difference. A real difference.

A Natural Go-Together

Thought for the day:  Scoutmaster- The only way you boys can learn a new skill is to start at the bottom. Scout- But I want to learn how to swim!

[THEME: Amateur radio]

You know how to quiet down an otherwise boisterous Cub Scout? Tell him to say something on amateur radio. HA!

Oh, that isn't always the case, but it's happened often enough to make it funny. (With a little encouragement, even the most mike-shy Scout usually warms up to the task, though.)  Anyway, today I'm gonna tell you a little bit about JAMBOREE ON THE AIR, also known as JOTA.


A jamboree is defined as a joyful, noisy gathering, and when you throw a bunch of Scouts together, that's exactly what you get. JOTA combines the jamboree part with ... amateur radio. The idea is to teach Scouts about radio, and to get them ...

ON the air, as opposed to IN it.

JOTA was held for the first time back in 1957, when a British ham, G3BHK, came up with the brilliant idea. Now, it occurs every year on the third weekend in October, and to give you an idea of how popular this event is, in 2010, more than 700,000 Scouts participated from nearly 6000 amateur radio stations around the world. In addition to Scouts speaking via radio to other Scouts and earth-bound adults, astronauts sometimes get on the air with them, too. In 2010, astronaut Mike Fossum, KF5AQG, participated  from aboard the International Space Station.

Even though many Scout leaders are amateur radio operators, they still rely on the support and assistance of many non-Scouting hams from the community to help teach the kids about electronics and amateur radio, and to help them earn related badges, and even to learn what they need to get their amateur radio licenses.

Nate Maas, Scoutmaster of Troop 308 in San Luis Obispo, California, kindly allowed me the use of the following JOTA  pictures:

About to work on circuit boards.

One of their completed oscillators. 

                                                                   

Learning how to send TV signals via amateur radio.

Alex just talked to a Scout in Idaho!

                                                                                   

Mitchell's ready to go fox hunting with his homemade antenna.

One of my favorite JOTA stories is about a Scout from Albany, Georgia. When a reporter covering  JOTA for the local newspaper heard that he'd gotten his amateur radio license a few days earlier, she asked  him what he thought about being a ham. He told her, I don't know yet.  I was only a piece of bacon last week. 

So, bottom line, you could say that hams and Scouts go together like ... bacon and eggs.