March 14, 2025: Featured this month is Roger Radcliff KE8LCM (the person behind the AmateurWire VoIP service) and the AllScan catalog. If you know SIP and Asterisk, I need help (item 1.2)!
1- I'll look forward to your report on the 440 SignalStik on your Clearnode. Between Allstar nodes and MMDVM-RPi digital voice hotspots I have many opportunities for improvement in reception performance in my stone house which acts as a partial Faraday cage.
2- I totally endorse the impulse to learn by reproducing and then extending another's work; but here I cite Metcalfe's Law: "The value of a telecommunications network is proportional to the square of the number of connected users, meaning the more users, the more valuable the network becomes." and wonder why the next step of offering one's work for general consumption adds value. To the credit of Roger KE8LCM he connects his network to Hams Over ip and that's a good thing.
3- ARRL membership (I recently renewed for 3 years) presents a dilemma since it is the only effective lobbyist for amateur radio at the USA regulatory and legislative (national) level and at the IARU (international) level. Yet for the reasons you cite and because in my opinion the ARRL leadership is increasingly behaving as other corrupt organizations behave: reduced transparency, demands to muzzle elected Directors in various ways; high salaries for the executive of a non-profit and shrinking in membership organization. We need them, especially in light of https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-25-219A1.pdf which looks like cover for high speed securities trading via HF--yes, on our HF bands--it's worth billions of dollars to those seeking it. 73 de K3FZT / Steve
What a wonderfully thoughtful set of comments. Thank you!
I received the SignalStuff 440 MHz antenna today, shut down the ClearNode, swapped in the new antenna, and restarted the node. That's as far as I've gotten as I was busy configuring the ClearNode to work with my SIP phone (see: https://www.randomwire.us/p/technote-connecting-a-sip-phone-to).
I take your point about Metcalfe's Law. Roger choosing to interconnect was, I thought, not only a valuable act but also one that demonstrates respect for the amateur community.
Yes, we need the ARRL (just like my nonprofit association members need my group, even when they don't entirely agree with every single thing we do). The value is still greater than not having them at all. I wrote those thoughts while I metaphorically stared in a mirror. Keeping the membership happy is part of the mission, because without a strong, supportive membership, capacity and effectiveness wane.
Thanks for surfacing AmateurWire. That was a new one to me. Looks like KE8LCM has a lot going on. I'll need to dig on everything being offered.
A few comments on topics in #123:
1- I'll look forward to your report on the 440 SignalStik on your Clearnode. Between Allstar nodes and MMDVM-RPi digital voice hotspots I have many opportunities for improvement in reception performance in my stone house which acts as a partial Faraday cage.
2- I totally endorse the impulse to learn by reproducing and then extending another's work; but here I cite Metcalfe's Law: "The value of a telecommunications network is proportional to the square of the number of connected users, meaning the more users, the more valuable the network becomes." and wonder why the next step of offering one's work for general consumption adds value. To the credit of Roger KE8LCM he connects his network to Hams Over ip and that's a good thing.
3- ARRL membership (I recently renewed for 3 years) presents a dilemma since it is the only effective lobbyist for amateur radio at the USA regulatory and legislative (national) level and at the IARU (international) level. Yet for the reasons you cite and because in my opinion the ARRL leadership is increasingly behaving as other corrupt organizations behave: reduced transparency, demands to muzzle elected Directors in various ways; high salaries for the executive of a non-profit and shrinking in membership organization. We need them, especially in light of https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-25-219A1.pdf which looks like cover for high speed securities trading via HF--yes, on our HF bands--it's worth billions of dollars to those seeking it. 73 de K3FZT / Steve
What a wonderfully thoughtful set of comments. Thank you!
I received the SignalStuff 440 MHz antenna today, shut down the ClearNode, swapped in the new antenna, and restarted the node. That's as far as I've gotten as I was busy configuring the ClearNode to work with my SIP phone (see: https://www.randomwire.us/p/technote-connecting-a-sip-phone-to).
I take your point about Metcalfe's Law. Roger choosing to interconnect was, I thought, not only a valuable act but also one that demonstrates respect for the amateur community.
Yes, we need the ARRL (just like my nonprofit association members need my group, even when they don't entirely agree with every single thing we do). The value is still greater than not having them at all. I wrote those thoughts while I metaphorically stared in a mirror. Keeping the membership happy is part of the mission, because without a strong, supportive membership, capacity and effectiveness wane.