Medical Amateur Radio Council News

ARRL Foundation 2024 Recipient of the MARCO Scholarship

Mon, 30 Sep 2024 23:02:25 GMT

The ARRL Foundation Officers and Board have announced the 2024 recipient of the MARCO Scholarship in the amount of $1000.00. McKenzie Menefee, KI5MHA of Blanchard, OK was selected from an outstanding group of applicants.

The full article about McKenzie can be viewed in our October 2024 version of our Aether publication, click to view. See Mckenzie’s career plans and goals on page seventeen.

The 2025 ARRL Foundation Scholarship application period is expected to open in October. There are over $700,000 in various scholarships available, see https://www.arrl.org/scholarship-program

Congratulations McKenzie!

Students Learn CW as Part of Telemedicine Curriculum

Sun, 18 Feb 2024 23:59:37 GMT

DeVry University Biomedical Engineering Students Learn CW as Part of Telemedicine Curriculum

October 30, 2015
Fremont, CA

The President of the San Francisco Bay Area DeVry University Campus lingered in the doorway of our classroom. She was fascinated yet at the same time annoyed by the blaring sound of Morse code at 16 WPM reverberating throughout the hallways. She watched my students furiously scribbling meaningless strings of letters on notepads and eventually pulled our classroom door closed. (Her office is located directly across from our classroom – I should have anticipated that problem)

How did CW find its way into a DeVry University class room?

CW Never Dies

I am a software developer in the San Francisco Bay Area, a Ham (KT8E) and a member of MARCO. My father is a Ham (4X1LL) and MARCO member as well. I was visiting my Dad last month and out of the blue he asked me if I was working any CW and did I miss it. I have not worked CW lately and I realized that I did miss it. And that planted the seed for an interesting classroom experience.

DeVry University has a long history of revolutionizing education in the electronics field. Over 50 years ago, I sat in the shack with my Dad while he pored over his mail-order DeVry electronics course. Each week, a package would arrive with a workbook and parts. The final project for the course was building an oscilloscope from a kit. Dad is color blind and my job was to read the resistor color codes. That is how I got hooked.

Fast forward to today. As part of my consulting business, I hire student interns from the ranks of DeVry. They are pretty smart kids and cheap labor. My affiliation as an employer evolved into a visiting professorship teaching electronics and biomedical technology courses. BMET 436 is a course that focuses on Tele-Medicine – the delivery of healthcare at a distance. The course includes a series of lab exercises addressing wireless communication and signal modulation.

No Substitute for Hands-on Experience

Education has changed since I was in college. In my day, we wired up scopes, VOMs, signal generators and power supplies with lots of cables. At DeVry, the lab experience has shifted towards virtualization. Students use “virtual” instruments to build signal generators, filters and modulators. Below is a snapshot of a virtual instrument demonstrating AM modulation.

TutorTims Virtual Instrumentation
Illustrating AM Modulation

One of the topics discussed is signal-to-noise ratio and how it impacts the reliability of intelligence modulating a carrier signal. While virtual instruments are interesting and have a place in the curriculum, in my mind there is no substitute for hands-on experience. To illustrate the impact of signal-to-noise on radio transmissions, I thought of the efficiency of CW and how well the intelligence propagates in noisy conditions.

I approached this in two steps. The first step was to teach a few letters of Morse code to the students until they reached a reasonable degree of proficiency. The second step was to mix various types of QRN with the CW and measure how their proficiency was impacted.

The Morse Code Trainer

I used a Windows program written by LB3KB called, “Just Learn Morse Code” which employs Koch’s method and Farnsworth timing.

Koch’s method — Traditionally, Morse code has been taught by struggling through all the codes at a slow speed and then (slowly) progressing towards higher speeds. Koch’s method, on the other hand, dictates that you should start learning at the desired speed – but you start with only two characters. Each session is five minutes long, and whenever you get 90% or more correct, you add another character.

Farnsworth timing — Reducing the speed of Morse code has been done by making everything take longer, i.e. both the sounds and the silent periods between them. Using Farnsworth timing, characters are sent at the same speed as at higher speeds, while extra spacing is inserted between characters and words to slow the transmission down. The advantage of this is that you get used to recognizing characters at a higher speed, and thus it will be easier to increase the speed later on.

We used the software for a series of training sessions that spanned two days of class. Within that time, the students were able to copy one minute straight at 16WPM of the letters “K”, “M”, “R”, “S” and “U” with an accuracy of 90% or better.

DeVry students learning to copy CW

ARRL Sounds of RFI

The second part of this exercise was to mix audio from the CW trainer with various forms of RFI. This was easy to do by saving audio sequences from the code trainer in WAV file format and mixing them with WAV files that reproduce various types of RFI. These files can be found on the ARRL web site at http://www.arrl.org/sounds-of-rfi. The types of QRN include:

Household RFI
RF Emitters
Computers
Electric Utilities
Miscellaneous RFI Sources

ample of Noise from a Light Dimmer

The CW audio level was mixed with the different QRN audio levels at a ratio of 50-50, i.e., the magnitudes of the audio sources were equal.

The Results of Our Experiment

There was no appreciable decline in the students’ accuracy scores when copying code from the trainer with and without the QRN mixed in the audio. Students experienced the ease with which CW can be copied reliably under noisy conditions. In future experiments, I hope to try:

Decreasing the signal to noise ratio of CW to QRN to determine at what point students’ accuracy diminishes.
Mixing QRN with other types of signal modulation (such as AM or sideband) to illustrate how noise impacts communications with wider bandwidths.

Conclusion

CW continues to play a vital role in radio communications and served us well as an educational tool in this biomedical course. And if the aliens do invade (shades of Independence Day), CW will save the planet hi.

Dave, KT8E

References:

The following link was contributed by Corrine Kimball as part of her Famous Inventors and Inventions technology class project:

All About the Telegraph and Deciphering Morse Code Text

TutorTims
© 2004 – 2011 Emona Instuments Pty Ltd.
www.webtims.com

Just Learn Morse Code
© 2005 – 2006 Sigurd Stenersen, LB3KB
www.justlearnmorsecode.com

Sounds of RFI
http://www.arrl.org/sounds-of-rfi

http://www.devry.edu/

2nd US Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation (HamSCI) Workshop

Sun, 18 Feb 2024 23:58:30 GMT

Over the past few years, the Center for Solar Research has been working to build a citizen science collaboration between the amateur (ham) radio and professional space science communities. This has resulted in a collective known as HamSCI, the Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation (hamsci.org). This effort has led to vibrant discussions and participation from both communities, as well as numerous peer-reviewed publications in AGU journals.

From March 22-23, 2019, the 2nd US HamSCI workshop will take place at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH. This is an excellent opportunity to share scientific ideas with citizen scientists and give input to the direction of citizen science in our field.

I would like to invite abstracts, presentations, and demonstrations that would be of joint interest to the professional science and amateur radio communities. This usually includes papers related to the ionosphere, space weather, and radio science and propagation. Any topic that is of interest to both communities will be welcomed.

Participant support is available. Full workshop details are available at http://hamsci.org/hamsci2019. Please e-mail me at hamsci@hamsci.org for information.

Regards,

Nathaniel Frissell

———————

Invited Speakers

Larisa Goncharenko, MIT Haystack Observatory
H. Ward Silver, N0AX, ARRL Author
Carl Luetzelschwab, K9LA, Raytheon (Retired)

Science/Program Committee

Nathaniel Frissell, W2NAF, NJIT, Chair
Phil Erickson, W1PJE, MIT Haystack Observatory
Ethan Miller, K8GU, JHU/APL
Bill Liles, NQ6Z, HamSCI Community

Local Organizing Committee (Case Western Reserve University)

Kristina Collins, KD8OXT, Chair
David Kazdan, AD8Y, Advisor
Nathaniel Vishner, KB1QHX

ARRL Foundation Announces Two New Scholarships

Sun, 18 Feb 2024 23:56:19 GMT

Starting in 2018, the ARRL Foundation will offer two new scholarships for radio amateurs pursuing post-secondary education. They have been established by the Medical Amateur Radio Council (MARCO) and by the Shenandoah Valley Amateur Radio Club (SVARC).

The MARCO scholarship will provide financial assistance for the educational expenses of a radio amateur pursuing higher education in the healing arts and who is performing at a high academic level (grade point average of at least 3.0).

The applicant’s field of study may include, but is not necessarily limited to, medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine, nursing, pharmacology, emergency medicine (EMT), or radiology. Preference will go to undergraduates and to those in certificate programs, but graduate students also may apply.

Applicants should provide details regarding their involvement in Amateur Radio-related volunteer and/or public service activities. If possible, they should demonstrate a desire to encourage others in the healing arts to become Amateur Radio licensees.

The scholarship award of $500 annually is to cover the costs of tuition, books, fees, and other educational expenses.

The Shenandoah Valley Amateur Radio Club Scholarship will provide financial assistance for the educational expenses of a radio amateur enrolled in an accredited 2- or 4-year college or university and pursuing a degree in a business, science, math, engineering, or technology-related field. Preference will be given to applicants who live in the Virginia counties of Page, Shenandoah, Warren, or Clarke, or in the City of Winchester, or living in the West Virginia counties of Hampshire, Jefferson, or Berkeley. If no qualified applicant is identified, the scholarship may be awarded to any applicant residing in Virginia who meets the other eligibility requirements.

The award is intended exclusively to cover the costs of tuition, room, board, books, and/or other fees essential to the advanced education of the recipient.

The ARRL Foundation shall determine award recipients to be academically superior and the best among the scholarship applicants. The scholarship award will be $1,000 annually, with one scholarship grant each year.

Established in 1973 by ARRL as an independent and separate IRS 501(c)(3) organization, the ARRL Foundation administers programs to support the Amateur Radio community. Visit the ARRL Foundation web page for more information on scholarships the Foundation administers.

ARRL Letter for June 29, 2017

Local dentist accomplishes a lot in expedition to central Pacific

Sun, 18 Feb 2024 23:54:44 GMT

Local dentist accomplishes a lot in expedition to central Pacific

By Christopher Baldwin
Correspondent
Published: Saturday, January 18, 2014 at 7:23 p.m.

On Oct. 28, 2013, Dr. Jay Garlitz flew from L.A. to Fiji, where he met up with a 19-member international team of amateur radio operators, or HAMs, who were traveling to the central Pacific island of Banaba — which is known by HAMs as one of the world’s most sought-after locales.

Garlitz, a dentist and president of Gator Dental Associates P.A. in Hawthorne, was asked to be a part of the expedition not just because he is a HAM, but because the island’s Rabi Council of Leaders requested they bring a dentist to provide much-needed services to its citizens.

Garlitz spoke this week to the Gainesville Amateur Radio Society about his experiences during the first such expedition to Banaba since 2004. The presentation
was just one of many he has and will be giving over the course of the next few months.

Garlitz said he received the request to be part of the expedition through his involvement with the Medical Amateur Radio Council and decided to accept the challenge, finding it important enough to take a month off work for the expedition. At first, however, he didn’t even know where the expedition was headed.

“They didn’t even tell us what the expedition was because it was only in the planning stages and was hush, hush at that point,” he said.

The expedition team arrived in Fiji on the Oct. 30, 2013, then took a flight from Fiji to Betio, Tarawa, which is perhaps best known for World War II’s Battle of Tarawa.

A Catamaran charter boat then took them to Banaba Island on Nov. 3, 2013.

“A lot of the expeditions never get off the ground because the boats don’t show up,” he said. “If that happens, you have to scrounge around for another boat and hope that you can find someone to get you there.”

While in Tarawa, Garlitz delivered a plaque honoring those who had fallen in the Battle of Tarawa that was given to him by the American Legion Post 230 in Hawthorne to be displayed for the 70th anniversary memorial of the battle, which was to take place on Nov. 20, 2013.

Though he said he couldn’t find a place to post the plaque, he gave it to a friend he had made who worked for a travel agency in Tarawa. She made arrangements to have it posted in the arriving terminal of the airport, where arriving dignitaries got to see it displayed as they arrived for the memorial tribute.

“It actually turned out to be the ideal place to put it,” he said.

The 40-hour boat ride to the Island of Banaba was difficult, Garlitz recalled. There was nothing to do for almost two days, but that wasn’t the worst of it, he said. “The worst part of it (was) it (was) hot, there (was) no air conditioning, it was stagnant (and) there was no real air flow, specifically on the (boat’s) lower section.”

Once on Banaba, there were three celebrations held in the expedition’s honor, and island denizens often came to the Banaba House, a house in disrepair that was used to house visitors. The house was left over from the British occupation of the island.

“It was just like being a part of one community and being accepted in this community,” he said. “You just had friends that treated you like family.”

Members of the expedition quickly got to setting up the radio equipment atop the soccer field, which marked the island’s highest elevation, and in the house where the members slept, which took almost two full days.

During their two-week stay on the island, the group, which had broken up into six teams of three who worked in shifts, connected with 22,300 unique contacts over a total of 83,000 total contacts in 190 countries, Garlitz said.

“There were 23,000 contacts who spoke to us 83,000 times, essentially,” he said.

Of those, 1,515 HAMs made their first-ever contact with Banaba, which Garlitz said is the 25th most sought-after country for amateur operators. The reason it is so sought? Of all the awards HAMs can earn, the DXCC Honor Roll, which is achieved when a HAM has made contact with every active country in the world, is considered the ultimate one.

“It’s an exclusive club,” he said. “And a lot of amateur operators strive for that.”

On the third day, Garlitz visited the island’s medical clinic to make preparations for providing dental care to those in need over the coming days.

Over the span of about a full work week, Garlitz performed 165 extractions on 65 patients, or about 1 in 5 of the island’s denizens, while working out of the island’s medical clinic — all without running water or electricity, which did not allow him the use of modern electrical equipment.

“Sometimes, I took 12 or 13 teeth out on a patient,” he said.

Though the clinic houses no physician, it is normally staffed by a medical assistant. That assistant, however, was not on the island during Garlitz’s time there, so he trained his own assistant, who lined up patients, helped sterilize tools and assisted with procedures.

It turned out that it might have been a good thing that the clinic’s assistant wasn’t present because, after seeing the first few patients of the five who lined up on the first day, Garlitz noticed that the line had grown exponentially. He then asked his assistant if she had scheduled all of them.

“She said, ‘Oh, no, no, no, word got out: You don’t hurt,’ ” he said. “ ‘With the medical assistant, they don’t come here because he hurts people’ because he doesn’t know how to do anesthesia comfortably.”

Garlitz also visited the island’s elementary and middle school, where he gave out toothbrushes, performed exams and fluoride varnishes, and talked to the children about preventive care. He also provided educational materials to the school and medical clinic, he said.

Those are but a few of the gifts he took to Banaba Island. In addition to leaving his medical supplies in both the medical clinic on Banaba Island and the hospital in Tarawa — enough to provide dental care for two and eight people a day — he also took donated shoes, sunglasses, soccer balls, hats and T-shirts sporting Gator logos.

He said he Gatorized the island, because the island is now also the home of a Gator car flag and a homecoming banner taken from the Gator Amateur Radio Club, of which he is a faculty adviser, that reads: We Take the Gator Nation Worldwide Every Day.

“It was just an opportunity to take a little Gator pride and to leave a little bit of Gainesville behind,” he said. “It just gives them an opportunity to interact with a part of the world they weren’t familiar with.”