AMRAD discussion and challenge

[wb4jfi at knology.net]

Lest my email from last night be taken wrong, I did not mean to go after 
Andre personally, and if it reads that way, I apologize to him.  I think 
that I an still somewhat in shock at the death of Dave Borden, K8MMO, and I 
have recently been recalling our collective times together working on AMRAD 
projects.  I miss those times of having a group within AMRAD that worked 
together on significant projects.

You see, Dave was one of the early pioneers and contributors of AMRAD.  We 
used to retire to Dave's QTH after Saturday taco sessions (which started as 
pizza sessions at Tysons Corner BTW), and work on whatever project we were 
into at the moment.  Then, throughout the week we would often discuss 
progress on the local AMRAD repeater.  We have had many long-term projects: 
computerized bulletin boards, ASCII over the air, packet radio, DSP, 
seismographs, spread spectrum, LF, to name a few.  We even built a WORKING 
SATELLITE!  If it wasn't for the digipeater function WE built into AX.25, 
APRS would not be what it is.

As time moved on, the repeater became less of a glue.  Projects dwindled. 
When the tacos email reflector came about, it seemed to be a global 
replacement for the repeater.  Aha, now we can easily connect hams outside 
our area to work on current projects.  But not long ago, when the IRLP link 
was still working, the only person that I regularly found on the repeater 
was Sandy.  And the tacos reflector no longer carries very much project 
"meat".

Over the last few years, it seems like AMRAD has become less interested in 
advancing amateur radio technology, and more on doing "simpler" things. 
Maybe I am misreading this, but I think not.  Even when I was still in DC, 
the weekly tacos sessions were less about what we were working on.  Now, 
most of what I see about AMRADers projects is via the mailed newsletter and 
the tacos email reflector.  And that's individual, simpler things.  There 
hasn't been a cohesive "group" project in the past several years.

I have tried to develop interest in a few group projects over the last few 
years, such as SDRs.  At first there was interest, such as in the Charleston 
SDR receiver, but that faded out.  SDRs are too difficult and/or 
complicated.  DSP is too difficult.  Linux is too complicated.  Mesh 
networking is too difficult.  These new-fangled microcontroller boards are 
too hard to learn.  Never mind what new, inventive things these boards could 
let us accomplish.  IT'S TOO DARN HARD.  Instead, let's recreate things that 
were done ten to forty years ago.  Hence, my comments about dumbing-down 
things.

Recently, I've seen on tacos:
A couple of hams using Arduinos.
A couple of hams interested in Digital Voice.
A couple of hams somewhat interested in mesh networking.
A couple of hams interested in EME.
Maybe one or two other individual projects.  That's it.

I have heard rumors of people working on more Arduino stuff, people playing 
with FPGAs, people playing with cheap SDRs (DVB-T tuners).  I see almost 
nothing about them on tacos.  So, my FIRST CHALLENGE (and positive spin 
here) is:  Let's start at least letting others know what you are working on 
here on the tacos reflector.

My SECOND CHALLENGE is to see if there is a group project or projects that 
can once more bind AMRAD into a somewhat less unidentifiable group, working 
toward improving amateur radio technology.  It does not have to be a cold 
fusion reactor.

Maybe, like the college football jock that misses his "better" youth, I am 
missing what I perceive that we once had.  But, I think not.  I still enjoy 
learning, experimenting, building, and testing "radio stuff", and I miss 
doing that with like-minded others.

I still design and build things, such as based on SDRs, Arduinos, Pis, etc.. 
Mel and I have a dozen or so mesh-network nodes here in Charleston.  Being 
retired, I have a more limited budget these days.  But within that, I'm 
willing to invest in other projects that fellow AMRADers might be interested 
in becoming involved with.

I hope this clarifies where I am coming from.  I want AMRAD to still be 
relevant, and fulfill its stated mission.
73,
Terry, WB4JFI