Most hams will remember the first time they spoke on the air, weather it was on an HF radio of an elmer down the street, or a VHF handheld. I was in high school and got interested in the school radio station, KGHP, during my freshmen year. Leland Smith, a teacher, introduced me to the radio station after school one day, and the memory of fading two songs together for the first time was pretty cool.

Peninsula High School is one of very few high schools with a radio station these days. The cost of keeping these stations on the air isn't too attractive to most school districts, but the students, the school district, and members of the community have done a fantastic job at getting some support and funds to keep the station on the air. Spencer Abersold has been at the front of this effort to keep the lights burning at KGHP. Spencer and some of the students involved with the station have managed to get enough money recently to do a station re-model. It makes me happy to see a local radio station going so strong.

I've been spending a bit more time on the repeater database. It's evolved from a simple html table with data from various sources, to a full-blown database-driven system that supports user editing and has more features than you can shake a stick at. You might ask, "Are all these features necessary?" and the answer is no. I didn't do this to try and compete with some ham radio repeater websites. I just did it to learn about databases, and to have some fun, while getting a useful list of repeaters in the area. The database now has a google map for every repeater, as well as websites, and other information in every entry. It's probably overkill, but like I said, it was a learning experience.

Many have long awaited the arrival of the newest band for ham radio. The 600 Meter band was recently allocated by the International Telecommunications Union (aka: ITU) to amateurs worldwide. However, US hams are still waiting for the FCC to domestically recognize and allow operation on this band. There is currently a "Notice of Proposed Rule Making" on the table which would allow US hams to transmit on the frequencies between 135.7-137.8 kHz. However, the FCC is currently waiting for comments regarding these new allocations, particularly comments from power companies who operate some protection equipment in this band. It is expected that the FCC will allocate these frequencies sometime later this year. Amateurs can submit comments to the FCC about this proposed rule, and are encouraged to do so.

Many modern ham radios operate on low voltage DC instead of high voltage AC. This is done for several reasons. First, most of the circuits inside these radios actually run on low voltage DC, so high voltage AC isn't needed. Second, running the radio on low voltage DC saves space inside the radio. This is because the radio can directly accept the low voltage DC it needs, and dosen't need an internal power supply to convert from high voltage AC to low voltage DC. Finally, the last advantage is that these radios can easily be installed in a car or run on a car battery.

So, this leads to the main point. What power supply do I need for my radio if it says it requires DC? The short answer is: Many different supply will be adequate. The two most important things to pay attention to are the following:
Does it produce the proper voltage?
Can it supply enough current?
Many DC power supplies on the market today provide 12 Volts DC (Actually 13.8 Volts is considered "nominal"). It is important to check the specifications and make sure that the output voltage on the supply is close to what your new radio calls for. A few volts difference is usually OK.

Next, check the maximum continuous current rating of the power supply. The power supply should provide at least the amount of current your radio needs plus 10%. The extra 10% is headroom to prevent your power supply from overheating. Most hams follow this extra 10% rule and some go even higher. Remember that you radio will not always need the max current that is listed on the radio's specs. This is usually the current drawn when the radio is transmitting on full power. The current the radio requires when it's recieving is typically much less.

My latest project has been to develop and easy-to-use repeater database for the state of Washington. It is currently filled with repeaters from across the state on bands from 10 meters up to 900 Mhz. I'm in the process of verifiying all of this data which has been collected from various sources on the internet. Some of them are cited with a link, and some were not able to be confirmed. I need help doing this. If you'd like to lend some help by simply getting on the air and trying out the listed frequencies in you're area, let me know! I'll get you access to the database editor right away.

I'm considering launching a full website with publicly available and free-to-download repeater information. I've found several site on the internet that offer this information, but I feel like there not good enough for my taste. The database on this site is a kind of trial run. If the trial is successful I may launch a world-wide database in the next few months. That will depend on how many people offer to help verify the information because I want to have "known good" data in the database.