Author Archives: N2EST

Extra! Extra! (Class, that is)

Posted on by

N2EST cartoon for Gordon West Extra class study guideI’ve been licensed nearly 43 years but have a shameful confession to make: I’ve been stuck at General for about 42 of those years. The good news? A recent project finally inspired me to go all the way to Extra.

Last year I was commissioned to create new illustrations like this one for the latest Extra Class study guide by master instructor Gordon West, WB6NOA (along with my friend Eric Nichols, KL7AJ). Well, the new question pool just came out — and so did the book. And the book is so readable I now have no excuse not to upgrade. I plan to take the test before the year is up. All it took was this nudge.

For your own copy of the new study guide, you can order online at the W5YI website or by calling 800-669-9594. Or you can visit your favorite local ham-radio dealer where amateur-radio study guides are sold and pick up a copy.

YL power!

Posted on by

AB4YL ham radio cartoon QSL by N2ESTAllison, AB4YL, has just about the coolest call ever for a YL. She’s also a friend; my wife Gail, N2ART, and I know her through our home club, the Alford Memorial Radio Club in Stone Mountain, Ga. That’s also where Allison serves as secretary. Being asked to create her QSL was an honor.

The QSL cartoon had to have three things in it: Allison (natch); her olive-green Jeep Wrangler; and her beloved dog, Matsi. I hope I did all three justice. The back of her card has two logos: Alford’s, and the logo of the Young Ladies Radio League. If you’re a YL and don’t yet belong, check it out.

Have you ever caused a pile-up?

Posted on by

Who do I answer?When that rare DX station appears, we’ve all had the experience of trying to be heard in the ensuing pile-up. But have you ever caused a pile-up?

Of course, operators of DX stations are used to sorting out calls in pile-ups. But what if you’re a new operator who’s just called his first CQ and more than one station answers?  For the novice ham — like this one in a cartoon I drew for “W1FB’s Help for New Hams” — the effect can be overwhelming and seem like a pile-up.

If you’re a DX station on the receiving end of pile-up, how do you pick who to answer? And how would you advise a new operator to handle multiple answers to a CQ?

 

 

Hitting warp speed with Morse code

Posted on by

high-speed CW cartoonThis cartoon I drew for “Morse Code: The Essential Language” by L. Peter Carron Jr., W3DKV, reminded me of how you know you’ve hit warp speed copying CW: You hear whole words instead of just letters.

When I earned my Novice ticket in 1973, it was all I could do to count the dits and dahs to copy CW. It kept me slow — but, fortunately, there were lots of other newbies in the Novice bands at the time who were just as slow as I was to keep me company.

At some point, I started recognizing whole letters, and I got a little faster. But it wasn’t until I started hearing whole words — at least, the short common ones like “the,” “it” and “for” — that CW started to feel comfortable.

These days, when I’m not on PSK31 I operate CW almost exclusively. I rarely use my microphone on HF. As a casual ham, I’m hardly a speed demon, but I am fast enough (around 20 wpm when I work at it) to have fun with a key. It’s also made me very popular at Field Day (CW contacts score higher).

How do you get that fast? It’s the same way you get to Carnegie Hall: practice, practice, practice.

“Morse Code: The Essential Language” was published by the American Radio Relay League but has long since gone out of print. It’s still available online, often in used editions. If you’re into CW, it’s worth seeking out.

The ears have it

Posted on by

WB4SQ-ham-radio-cartoon-QSL-by-N2ESTGary, WB4SQ, keeps both radios and rabbits — and he wanted one of his favorites, a bunny named Benjamin, pictured on his QSL.

Here, Benjamin is seated at the control position of a cartoon version of Gary’s shack, surrounded by logos for the Southeastern DX Club and the North Fulton Amateur Radio League, Gary’s Atlanta-area home clubs. (North Fulton, by the way, was the Dayton Hamvention’s 2010 Club of the Year.)

Gary also came up with the punchline in the word balloon. Benjamin is no dumb bunny — like any good DXer, he listens more than he talks.

TuBE or not tuBE …

Posted on by

Shakespeare and vacuum tubeI drew this a few years ago for “The Opus of Amateur Radio Knowledge & Lore,” an excellent book by my friend Eric Nichols, KL7AJ. It visualizes a chapter title about vacuum tubes — yes, vacuum tubes — that explained them and a lot of other stuff with intelligence and style.

In fact, the whole book is like that; it explains not only how to be a ham, but also why to be a ham. If you haven’t fired up your rig in awhile (and if you have only a tube rig, we’ll assume it’s been awhile), you’ll want to after reading “Opus.” I know Eric’s text inspired me to get back on the air and enjoy the hobby after too much time bruised by its club politics and not enough time just playing radio.

The book is already in a second printing, this time with extra material by the inimitable Gordon West, WB6NOA. It’s also available at your better candy stores (I know our Atlanta-area Ham Radio Outlet carries it). I highly recommend this book.

Sometimes simple is better …

Posted on by

KG5JQT ham radio cartoon QSL by N2ESTSusan, KG5JQT, is a cat lover, so she wanted simply cats on her QSL: “Yellow tabby cat sitting operating ham radio. Headphones on, one paw on straight key, other paw holding mike. View is from behind, showing back of cat. Maybe show a kitten playing with her dangling tail.”

I love visual puns, so when I saw that the “Q” in Sue’s call sign could look like a cat and its tail, I simplified it further. Sue’s response: “Very inventive! I like it!”

So did I. In fact, so did my wife, Gail, N2ART. We have two cats, and Gail wants one of them incorporated into the “2” in her call when I finally get around to drawing her QSL card.

This is one of the very few QSLs I did not sign — but only because I couldn’t find a place to hide my call sign that wouldn’t spoil the design’s simplicity. In my opinion, simple is almost always better.

These are the cards from Garry’s shack, the cards from Garry Shandling’s shack …

Posted on by

WN7BKG QSL Garry ShandlingWA7BKG Garry Shandling QSLShortly after comedian Garry Shandling died last week, I was given these gems while researching a story for Amateur Radio Newsline: Shandling’s first QSL as a Novice, and likely his second QSL from when he upgraded to General. Both are from the 1960s when Shandling was a teenager and new to the hobby.

By now, most of you know that Shandling was a licensed amateur-radio operator for much of his life. He apparently let his license lapse some time in the 1990s.

The General QSL is especially interesting because it shows Shandling’s affiliations. ARRL (American Radio Relay League) and RCC (Rag Chewers Club) were obvious — but what about OPRC? That almost certainly stands for Old Pueblo Radio Club, still in existence and billed as “Tucson’s Oldest Radio Club.” The source for my research told me that young Shandling and his teenage ham buddies would attend meetings of an unidentified local club, where they’d sit in the back row and make fun of the Old Timers. It got them kicked out of meetings more than once. I suspect that club was Old Pueblo.

My Newsline report on Shandling’s teenage years — along with an excellent interview by Kent Peterson, KC0DGY, with one of Shandling’s over-the-air friends — will release tomorrow, April 1. If your repeater isn’t already carrying Amateur Radio Newsline’s weekly news reports, it should be. (They also can be downloaded as podcasts.) For more information, visit Newsline’s website, www.arnewsline.org.

Rifles and radios

Posted on by

N4BRR cartoon QSL by N2ESTSean, N4BRR, belonged to the elite Blue Ridge Rifles drill platoon when he attended the University of North Georgia. It’s still a big part of who he is, so he wanted it featured on his cartoon QSL, right down to the unit’s logo and a real rifle, all set in a cartoon version of his work cubicle.

He wanted a lot of other details as well: A gnome (it rhymes with his last name). A gun target (it’s on the right monitor) A picture of his children (it’s on the middle monitor). A picture of a squirrel drinking Guinness beer (it’s on the left monitor). The logo of one of his favorite bands, Nine Inch Nails (it’s on his t-shirt). And … a University of North Georgia calendar with the date of his wedding anniversary, circled, as a gift to his wife (it’s on the right end of the card).

I’m not sure I did justice to the details of the rifle, but I did my darnedest to get everything else right. It’s a fun QSL.

Wearing of the green, amateur-radio style

Posted on by

W1LGU cartoon QSL by N2ESTCarol, W1LGU, already had a cartoon QSL that reflected her phonetics — “Little Green Umbrella” — but wanted something more polished. That’s when she contacted me.

I used Carol’s basic design, refining its composition and adding touches specific to her station, including cartoon versions of her Heil microphone and Kenwood TS-590 transceiver. I also ensured that her code key was front-and-center because she’s a hardcore CW operator. Finally, I put as much green into the card as humanly possible.

I finished it yesterday, to Carol’s delight: “It is definitely exactly what I had hoped for in a QSL card,” she told me via email. “I can’t tell you how happy I am to have found you!”

Coincidentally, this almost-all-green-card went to press today — on St. Patrick’s Day. Were leprechauns responsible? Probably.