Please Note: The Net is operating on the Danvers Repeater, at 145.470-, (PL of 136.5). We thank the North Shore Radio Association (NSRA), for the use of its repeater during the time when the W1GLO repeater is being upgraded.

Wednesday, April 24th: Topics with KC1HHK: Ham Style and HamFest

What do people talk about on ham radio. What is a typical QSO like for you?

While heading to the CAARA clubhouse last Saturday for the monthly meeting I had my mobile rig on. I was monitoring the local repeaters and Wires-x as I drove north to Gloucester.

I was listening to 2 hams talking and they were discussing working stations using SSB on a variety of HF bands. I was struck by one of the hams comments on his operating “style” while on HF. He basically said that he will never “INVEST any time” talking to distant hams as he is quite sure he will never, ever meet them in person. As such, why bother sharing ANYTHING apart from the basic station details and offer a signal report. Nothing more!

So, what is your “style”.

While operating on HF and not involved with a DX contest, are you a “just the facts” type of operator or are you open to a rag chew?

I know that “repeater based” QSO’s are different as we all know from this net and the “style” lends itself towards a friendlier operating environment. But not always. What is your experience?

Tomorrow and Friday - Near-Fest in Deerfield NH Are you going?

Our Spring 2024 hamfest, NEAR-Fest XXXV, will be held FOR TWO FULL DAYS, on:

*** Thursday April 25th *** and *** Friday April 26th ***

There will be no hamfest activity on Saturday due to an unfortunate scheduling conflict with the Deerfield Fairgrounds.
The gates will open on Thursday morning, at 7:00 AM for PREPAID TICKET HOLDERS ONLY so you might want to buy your tickets online well in advance starting February 1st 2024 on our Web site, www.near-fest.com, or in March at the Ham Radio Outlet store in Salem NH and at Ross Hochstrasser's Clock Shop in Whitman MA and get your favorite spot. NEAR-Fest XXXV will end at 3:00 PM on Friday.

For this event only: Admission per person is $10.00 whether you buy your ticket online or in advance or at the gate. In October admission prices will revert to $10.00 in advance, $15.00 at the gate.
If you buy something big and heavy in the flea market one of our volunteer staff members will be glad to transport it and you to your vehicle at no charge as we have been doing for many years.

As always inside parking for disabled persons is free of charge and they may use a single person 'mobility device' as well. Since NEAR-Fest is a WALKING EVENT we reserves the right to limit the use of golf carts and 'other power-driven mobility devices' due to safety concerns.

Please visit our Web site, https://www.near-fest.com, or our Facebook page, NearFest NH for any further updates. We apologize for any inconvenience that this modified version of NEAR-Fest may have caused but it is only for this time. We appreciate your indulgence and understanding.

Friday, April 19th: Topics with KC1SOO: 1.25m Frequency Band

Do you use the 1.25m / "220" Band?

The 1.25-meter, 220 MHz or 222 MHz band is a portion of the VHF radio spectrum internationally allocated for amateur radio use on a primary basis in ITU Region 2, and it comprises frequencies from 220 MHz to 225 MHz. In the United States and Canada, the band is available on a primary basis from 222 to 225 MHz, with the addition of 219 to 220 MHz on a limited, secondary basis. It is not available for use in ITU Region 1 (except in Somalia) or ITU Region 3. The license privileges of amateur radio operators include the use of frequencies within this band, which is primarily used for local communications.

Net Question:

Do you own any 1.25m equipment?

How often do you use the 1.25m Band?

Wednesday, April 17th: Topics with KC1HHK: Don Kirshner 90th

Happy 90th Birthday Don Kirshner!

Donald Kirshner (April 17, 1934 – January 17, 2011) was an American music publisher, music consultant, rock music producer, talent manager, and songwriter. Dubbed "the Man with the Golden Ear" by Time magazine, he was best known for managing songwriting talent as well as successful pop groups, such as the Monkees, Kansas, and the Archies.

Early life

Don Kirshner was born to a Jewish family in the Bronx, New York, United States,] the son of Gilbert Kirshner, a tailor, and Belle Jaffe. He graduated from George Washington High School in Manhattan, and went on to study at Upsala College in East Orange, New Jersey. After graduation he went to work for Vanderbilt Music, a small music publishing company owned by former Tin Pan Alley lyricist Al Lewis. Kirshner brought Lewis together with Sylvester Bradford, an African-American songwriter. Lewis and Bradford wrote "Tears on My Pillow", which was a big hit for Little Anthony and the Imperials in 1958.

Kirshner achieved his first major success in the late 1950s and early 1960s as co-owner of the influential New York-based publishing company Aldon Music with partner Al Nevins, which had under contract at various times several of the most important songwriters of the so-called "Brill Building" school, including Carole King, Gerry Goffin, Neil Sedaka, Neil Diamond, Paul Simon, Phil Spector, Howard Greenfield, Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil, Tony Orlando, and Jack Keller.

As a producer-promoter, Kirshner was instrumental in launching the careers of singers and songwriters, including Bobby Darin, with whom he collaborated on a number of advertising jingles and pop "ditties" - their first was called "Bubblegum Pop". He was also responsible for finding Tony Orlando, Neil Diamond, Carole King, and Sarah Dash of Labelle, as well as discovering the occasional rock act, such as Kansas.

Don Kirshner's Rock Concert

In the fall of 1972, Kirshner was asked by ABC Television to serve as executive producer and "creative consultant" for their new In Concert series, which aired every other week in the 11:30 p.m. slot normally showing The Dick Cavett Show. The following September, Kirshner left In Concert to produce and host his own syndicated weekly rock-concert program called Don Kirshner's Rock Concert. With its long-form live performances, it was a new direction for pop music presentation on television as compared to rehearsed, often lip-synced performances that were the staple of earlier television shows like Shindig!. The last show aired in 1981, the year that MTV was launched.

The program presented many of the most successful bands of the era, usually rock and roll but occasionally from other genres, each time introduced by Kirshner's trademark monotone delivery as the program host. In its final season, Rock Concert was mostly hosted by Kirshner's son and daughter, whose delivery was similar as their father's. Kirshner's "wooden" presentation style was later lampooned on Saturday Night Live by Paul Shaffer, most notably in Shaffer's introduction of the Blues Brothers during the duo's television debut. Shaffer and Kirshner worked together on the short-lived situation comedy, A Year at the Top, which Kirshner co-produced with Norman Lear, and in which Shaffer starred.

Net Question:

Do you remember Don Kirshner?

Friday, April 12th: Topics with KC1SOO: Launch of first Space Shuttle

The first Space Shuttle, Columbia, launched on April 12, 1981 at 7:00:03 AM EST from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The launch took place at 12:00:04 UTC from Launch Pad 39A. The shuttle landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California on April 14, 1981 at 10:20:57 AM PST. The launch was the first shuttle mission, or STS-1, and marked the end of a long period of American space flight. The shuttle became the first reusable manned shuttle to travel into space. The first astronauts to launch the shuttle were Commander John W. Young and Pilot Robert L. Crippen. The shuttle was named after Columbia, the first American ship to circumnavigate the upper North American Pacific coast and the female personification of the United States.

Wednesday, April 10th: Topics with KC1HHK: The Safety Pin & Beatles Break Up

The Invention of the Safety Pin

Mechanic and independent inventor Walter Hunt secured a place in American history when he invented the useful, everyday device known as the safety pin in 1849.

The safety pin was invented while Hunt was twisting a piece of wire and trying to think of something that would help him pay off a debt of fifteen dollars. He later sold his patent rights to the safety pin for four hundred dollars to the man that he owed the money to.

On April 10, 1849, Hunt was granted US patent #6,281 for his safety pin. Hunt's pin was made from one piece of wire, which was coiled into a spring at one end and a separate clasp and point at the other end, allowing the point of the wire to be forced by the spring into the clasp.

It was the first pin to have a clasp and spring action and Hunt claimed that it was designed to keep fingers safe from injury, hence the name.

The Safety Pin in Sports

Given the huge amount of money spent on sports wear and team outfits, why has no one come up with a better solution for attaching the competitor’s numbers to their vests other than using safety pins?

Well, it’s a matter of logistical convenience, says Andy Dixon, editor of Runner’s World. All the bibs [in the Olympics this year] are produced and controlled by Locog in London, and athletes are only given their bibs in the first call-room, about 40 minutes before the start of their event, where all of their kit gets checked to make sure it complies with Olympic rules (for example, it doesn’t feature any unauthorized logos). Their uniform will have been manufactured months in advance.

“Safety pins still trump self-adhesive labels, as the latter still depend upon how dry the material is when applied, and can sometimes come unstuck during rain or when the athlete gets sweaty,” says Dixon. “For all their low-tech utilitarian nature, safety pins are clearly a successful product design – they have been around since before the first modern Olympics were even a glint in Baron de Coubertin’s eye.”

The Safety Pin Today

Although more modern fasteners like velcro have been introduced in the 20th century, the safety pin remains an everyday necessity throughout the world.

Its simplicity, elegance and household presence made it not only an item of utility, but also of culture and tradition. In some places in India, for example, safety pins and sewing needles are kept for generations and passed from mother to daughter. In the Ukraine it is still a practice today to pin safety pins to the inside of a child’s clothing, to ward off evil spirits. In many European countries, finding a safety pin is good luck, and a portent of good fortune.

1970 The Beatles break up as Paul McCartney leaves the band

In their ten years of existence, the British rock group became one of the most successful bands of all time, selling over a billion albums, according to EMI. McCartney's announcement came a week before the release of his debut solo album, the starting point of a successful solo career.

The Daily Mirror broke the news on the morning of 10 April: “PAUL QUITS THE BEATLES”. John Lennon was riled because he'd wanted to announce the band had split over six months earlier.

John had his revenge at the end of the year when he gave a lengthy interview to Rolling Stone magazine, which tore down all the Beatles myths: “You had to be a bastard to make it and The Beatles were the biggest bastards on the earth," he snarled. He also ripped into his bandmates’ attitude towards Yoko: “They all sat there like a f**king jury and judged us… I’ll never forgive them”.

McCartney tried to avoid any public slanging matches, but still wrote to the letters page of the Melody Maker to say: "In order to put out of its misery the limping dog of a news story which has been dragging itself across your pages for the past year, my answer to the question 'Will The Beatles get together again?' …is no.”

Net Discussion

The safety pin…when was the last time you used one?

Paul McCartney were you or are you a fan?

Wednesday, April 3rd: Topics with KC1HHK: Pony Express, MLK, Letterman, Cell Phones

The Pony Express lasted just 18 months!!

On April 3, 1860, the first Pony Express mail, traveling by horse and rider relay teams, simultaneously leaves St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California. Ten days later, on April 13, the westbound rider and mail packet completed the approximately 1,800-mile journey and arrived in Sacramento, beating the eastbound packet’s arrival in St. Joseph by two days and setting a new standard for speedy mail delivery. Although ultimately short-lived and unprofitable, the Pony Express captivated America’s imagination and helped win federal aid for a more economical overland postal system. It also contributed to the economy of the towns on its route and served the mail-service needs of the American West in the days before the telegraph or an efficient transcontinental railroad.

The Pony Express debuted at a time before radios and telephones, when California, which achieved statehood in 1850, was still largely cut off from the eastern part of the country. Letters sent from New York to the West Coast traveled by ship, which typically took at least a month, or by stagecoach on the recently established Butterfield Express overland route, which could take from three weeks to many months to arrive. Compared to the snail’s pace of the existing delivery methods, the Pony Express’ average delivery time of 10 days seemed like lightning speed.

The Pony Express Company, the brainchild of William H. Russell, William Bradford Waddell and Alexander Majors, owners of a freight business, was set up over 150 relay stations along a pioneer trail across the present-day states of Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Nevada and California. Riders, who were paid approximately $25 per week and carried loads estimated at up to 20 pounds of mail, were changed every 75 to 100 miles, with horses switched out every 10 to 15 miles. Among the riders was the legendary frontiersman and showman William “Buffalo Bill” Cody (1846-1917), who reportedly signed on with the Pony Express at age 14. The company’s riders set their fastest time with Lincoln’s inaugural address, which was delivered in just less than eight days.

The initial cost of Pony Express delivery was $5 for every half-ounce of mail, $187.00 in 2024 dollars. The company began as a private enterprise and its owners hoped to gain a profitable delivery contract from the U.S. government, but that never happened.

The demise of the Pony Express is commonly attributed to the telegraph. The completion of the telegraph network and the termination of the Pony Express occurred within a one-month period.

With the advent of the first transcontinental telegraph line in October 1861, the Pony Express ceased most of its operations. However, the legend of the lone Pony Express rider galloping across the Old West frontier to deliver the mail lives on today.

Today in History: April 3

Martin Luther King Jr. makes final speech

On April 3, 1968, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. delivered what turned out to be his final speech, telling a rally of striking sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee, that “I’ve been to the mountaintop” and “seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land!” (About 20 hours later, King was felled by an assassin’s bullet at the Lorraine Motel.)

Letterman decides to retire

On April 3, 2014, David Letterman announced during a taping of the “Late Show” on CBS that he would retire as host in 2015. (Stephen Colbert (kohl-BEHR’) was named as his replacement a week later.)

51 years ago, he made the first cell phone call

On April 3, 1973, Martin Cooper stood on a sidewalk on Sixth Avenue in Manhattan with a device the size of a brick and made the first public call from a cell phone to one of the men he’d been competing with to develop the device.

“I’m calling you on a cell phone, but a real cell phone, a personal, handheld, portable cell phone,” Cooper, then an engineer at Motorola, said on the phone to Joel Engel, head of AT&T-owned Bell Labs.

While cell phones would not be available to the average consumer for another decade, anyone walking by Cooper on the street that day could have seen history being made.

For months before that first call, Motorola was racing to build a cell phone against Bell Labs, the legendary research arm of AT&T that had developed the transistor and other innovations.

“They were the biggest company in the world, and we were a little company in Chicago,” Cooper recalled. “They just didn’t think we were very important.”

As he recalls it, his rival wasn’t quite as excited to get the call as Cooper was to call him.

It would take a decade for a version of that DynaTAC (Dynamic Adaptive Total Area Coverage) phone to hit the market, for a hefty $3,900. The phone, like the one Gordon Gekko wielded in the movie “Wall Street,” weighed 2.5 pounds and was about a foot tall.

Compare that to the iPhone 14, which weighs 6 ounces and is just under six inches, or to any number of Android budget smartphones that cost $200-$300.

Looking back on the past 50 years, however, Cooper is largely approving of where the phone has taken us. An iPhone user himself (and a Samsung user before that), he loves using his Apple Watch to track his swimming activity and connect his hearing aids to his phone. And Cooper said he sees the technology’s advancement as being net positive for society.

“I’m an optimist. I know there are disadvantages to the cell phone. We do have people that get addicted to it. We have people walking across the street talking on their cell phones,” said Cooper. “Overall, I think the cell phone has changed humanity for the better and that will continue in the future.”

Net Discussion Questions

Did you know that the Pony Express was only an 18-month operation?
Did you know that MLK’s famous and last speech occurred the night before he was assassinated?
Letterman or Colbert?
Cell phones – have they changed humanity for the better?