O hai, I haz n00z

Yeah I know, ti's been a while since I put anything up, so I have a bunch of news to report: First up, Norwescon, then a ham radio post, broken up so those who want to skip one or the other will find it easier to do so.

Norwescon was great! My set went over quite well for the small but appreciative audience. It would have been a good tuneup for Conchord, but, well, Conchord is still six months away, so tuneup isn't really the right word. I think the set list I used is probably going to be very similar to the one I'll do at Conchord, except that I will drop in the Batman song Igor the Younger helped me write and I might substitute one of my own songs for Michael Longcor's "Privateer," which I used to open the set. Depending on the length of the set I may also throw in "Roll Down The Water", "Batman's Really Cool" (a/k/a "Boofy's Batman Song") or one of the other songs I didn't have time for on Friday.

The set list, as best I can remember:

Privateer
Colour
The Dragon Riders' Toast
Ghosts
You're A Hack
Half The Battle
Powders And Signs
Dark Lullaby
Crossroads

The order might not be 100% correct but I think that's all the songs.

Batman's Really Cool went over very well in the Saturday open filk. Everybody laughed in the right places, at least, and I got at least one unexpected laugh. I love when that happens. I told Igor the Younger I sang his song at the convention but I don't know if he really has a handle on what that means.

I have a couple of other songs I like but that are probably still better suited for open filk, like "Fishing For Suckers" or "Bo Diddley Died Today," not to mention the covers and trads I do like "Filkers Are Strange" or "Been All Around This World." "Bo Diddley Died Today" is a most excellent song (if I do say so myself) but to be honest it really, really, really needs someone who can do the Bo Diddley Beat on a guitar, which would not be me. I fake it with the banjo but that's about the best I can do.

And of course who can tell what songs I might get written by October?

Meanwhile, over in the radio shack...

I have finally broken out of the ham radio groove/rut I was in by making contacts outside the relatively narrow area I was working into. By my last report I had made contacts in the Seattle area, one or two in New Mexico and Arizona, and a bunch in California. Over the last few days I've worked Nevada and Utah, and then Nebraska, Michigan and Colorado. I've been experimenting with something called "JT65a." It's a way to connect to other stations using the sound card on my PC to create a signal that can be interpreted under very adverse conditions – sometimes when you can't even hear it. (It's a bit weird to see someone calling you on your computer screen when you didn't see or hear any indication of a signal. Cool and fun, but a little spooky.) I still have yet to make it outside the continental United States, although yesterday I did hear a station from Japan. He was busy contacting someone in Chile, though.

The good thing about JT65a is that you can make contacts with low power and modest equipment. Kind of like the station I have going. It is however sort of the "speed dating" of ham radio contacts, because a typical QSO (end-to-end contact) goes something like this:

Hi, anyone out there? This is WA7KPK somewhere near Seattle
O hai WA7KPK, this is NE1HAM in eastern Massachusetts
NE1HAM, your signal is pretty good.
I copied that, your signal is also good.
OK, I got that, I confirm that we made contact.
OK, best regards!
Best regards to you too!

Except that, end to end, it looks like this:

CQ WA7KPK CN87
WA7KPK NE1HAM FN42
NE1HAM WA7KPK -05
WA7KPK NE1HAM R-07
NE1HAM WA7KPK RRR
WA7KPK NE1HAM 73
NE1HAM WA7KPK 73

Actually for JT65a this is pretty wordy. JT65a was originally designed for contacts over very difficult paths, like bouncing off meteor trails or the moon, and in a meteor scatter QSO the body of the QSO might just be "-05 / R-07 / RRR / 73 / 73".

So contact gets made, but the exchange above takes seven minutes, one minute for each "leg," and the information exchanged is minimal. Just call signs, locations, signal reports, reception verification and "73"s (a traditional ham greeting). None of the traditional stuff like a more specific location (a grid square like "FN42" or "CN87" is 1° of latitude deep and 2° of longitude wide), weather, what gear we used or even names is exchanged. It's the "anti-ragchew" – "ragchewing" being the ham term for just sitting and talking (or these days, texting) over the air.

JT65a has been good for finding out that I can get out to places that aren't California. Not that there's anything wrong with California, mind you, but there are plenty of other hams out there in plenty of other places. But for making friends over the air? Not so much. I'm sure I'll stay with it, at least sometimes, but I do enjoy just picking up the microphone or a key or a keyboard and going on at length about my grandkids, or the weather, or whatever else is on my mind.

Stop The Presses! Radio Update

Well, apparently my signal gets out somewhere besides California. Today I had two contacts with Japanese amateurs. The second, in the area of Osaka, was a distance of about 5000 miles.

I'd say JT65a works for DX. Even with my sad sack dipole.

W00t!