We have been saying this all along
Ham radio is here to stay!
I remember when I was playing with packet radio in the 1980's and telling everyone how cool it was. None of my friends could understand why it was "cool" to be able to type a short message to a friend nearby, or far away, when you could just pick up the phone and talk to them.
Now that they call it "texting" I guess it is finally cool.
Propagation beacons
Have you ever wondered where the band is open RIGHT NOW? Check out http://www.wsprnet.org and click on the link at the top that says "map"
There are three ways you can get involved: one is by simply clicking the link and looking. Check it out.
Another way is by setting up your receiver and decoding the signals yourself... your computer will decode the data and upload to the site automatically. The third is receiving and transmitting as well. That one is automated also, and you can look at the web page and see who is hearing your signal. Pretty cool.
You can look for my callsign on that web page to see if I have been active lately, and on which band.
Check for your own callsign also, and get a really good idea where in the world the band is open right now.
You can listen to Joe Taylor describe this system in one of our 99 Hobbies podcasts here: http://99hobbies.blogspot.com/2010/10/joe-taylor-k1jt-speaks-at-masscon....
73, Dave KZ1O
