TIME IN THE SADDLE

I didn’t get a lot of time on the bike this past summer.   Though this is not by design, but rather necessity, the amount of time I spend with my butt in the saddle of my motorcycle is taken from what I call my “discretionary time”.   It is the extra time.  It is the time that remains after all the “have-to-get-done” things are done.  I wish it were not so, but that is how it is.  Other things come first… second, and third.  And then somewhere down the list is my “motorcycle” time. 

Oh, I suppose that I could move it up the list a bit, and to be honest, there are times when some pretty important things have been put off to a later time because I could stand it no longer; I had to go for a ride.  Being out on the bike is one of those activities that clears the mind.  This is a contradiction, I know, but it remains a fact. 

One has a lot to consider when riding a motorcycle, if it is to be done safely.  I don’t want to take time here to catalogue everything that has to happen mentally and physically to successfully glide down a stretch of highway at 70 mph without getting killed, but trust me the list is very long indeed.  As odd as it may seem, it is this very fact that makes doing so such a relaxing activity.

However, this fact of motorcycling comes with a very clear danger.  Your see, riding a motorcycle is not a walk in the park.  It is a constant series of alerts and adjustments.  It is hundreds of minute calculations happening with the passing of mere seconds of time.  It is like playing a game of chess in the middle of a freeway.  Anticipating, reading the situation and preparing several moves ahead at all times.  It is living in a constant state of readiness… ready to respond to sudden and unexpected dangers.  All of which is happening at 40… 50… 70mph, or more.  I recall once riding out in the Nevada desert, when I thought I would die from the heat… I decided it was time to get back to civilization.  I watched the needle on the Harley pass 90mph, and I didn’t look at the speedometer again until we rolled into the outskirts of Vegas. 

What then is the very clear danger?  Complacency.  Worse yet, it is complacency coupled with a lack of proficiency which can only come with very regular and repetitive practice.  In simpler terms: with lots of time in the saddle.

What does all of this have to do with Ham Radio?  The fact is that there are a lot of similarities between these two activities.

For the last several months I have found it necessary to severely curtail my time in the Shack.  In a nutshell, life happens.  Regrettably,  stuff happens that demand a shift in priorities.  Sometimes, our discretionary activities take the biggest hit.  I’m not here to suggest that the “stuff” that happens is good or bad.  It is just life.  We adjust the “sails”, catch the prevailing winds, and continue the journey.  It’s just wind.

But here is what I learned about Ham Radio this last week.  If you are not “riding” that chair in your shack on a very frequent and consistent basis, you are going to get “rusty”.  Your skills are going to very quickly be diminished.  Your “HF ears” aren’t going to hear as well.  Your command of q-signs and the phonetic alphabet will begin to waver.  Stuff that you didn’t even have to think about a few months ago, will now require a slight hesitation.  Other stations will “stumble” over your callsign.

Anyone that thinks that they can absent themselves from their radio activities for weeks, months, or even years at a time, and then just sit down and pick up where they left off… that person is sadly mistaken.  It isn’t going to happen.  And herein lies what I believe to be the biggest argument in favor of Traffic Handling.  Traffic Nets happen around the clock, 365 days per year.   I can think of no other Ham Radio activity that can provide the Operator with a predicable, scheduled, disciplined opportunity to practice and maintain their radio proficiency.  And for a VERY busy guy like me, it is this scheduled predictability that may very will be the biggest advantage of all.

ICS-213

This issue continues to intrigue me.  I don’t mean to come across in some weird / brainy / over-thinking-it sort of way but this ICS-213 thing is, I think, going to end up making me a way better Traffic Handler than what I might have otherwise become.  It became very clear to me tonight on the 75 Meter Interstate Sideband Net.

The hard-core reality of what Voice Traffic Handling is all about became all too real tonight.  I realize that the formal structure of the NTS is violated by an Independent Net such as the 75 ISBN, but I also realize that when the schummer hits the fan and I need to get a message to my kids in Missouri, I am going to use whatever Net can get the job done. If that means that an Independent Net can put me within 35 miles of my kids in a single jump, the choice is going to be a very simple one indeed.  However, this is what tonight’s experience confirmed to me once again.

Band conditions started out bad and turned to worse.  As each minute passed it became more and more of a challenge.  I hate to admit it, but I was moments away from QTAing my Florida traffic (something that I am loath to do), when a station in Missouri (I’m in Detroit) suddenly became available between me and Florida.  KC0M turned on his linear and a game changer had come to play!  As conditions worsened a station in Illinois stepped in to help.  We were all running power and everyone was in it to win it.  What we had was what I would call a quad-station relay going on… and it was a blast.  Every word became a challenge.  Every successful fill was a feel-good victory.  We were moving the ball down the field.

What I learned was this:  If I am ever called upon to move emergency traffic (and I don’t care if the sender is my next door neighbor or FEMA or my SEOC), and the message has to get to its destination rapidly and accurately, and I’ve got 6 properly formatted 25 words-or-less Radiograms and a 150 word ICS-213, the winner is going to be the Radiograms.  All other things being equal, (that is to say, message precedence being equal) it is a very easy choice.  Six messages or one; which will I choose?  The answer is obvious.  I’m going to smile and tell the person with the ICS-213 novella, “Thank you very much”, and then I’m quietly going to move them to the bottom of the pile.  

There is probably someone out there that is going to tell me that is not the way the system works, and you my be correct.  But this is where my heart is tonight, so please indulge me.  Thanks….

Those who think that it makes any sense whatsoever, when band conditions are what they were tonight, to move 1 message when I can move 6, they are going to have to be a really good salesman to get me to buy it.  The bottom line is this, and I suspect that Traffic Handlers that long ago became SKs probably knew very well, message brevity is at the very heart of what makes us successful.  

CHAOS

This post comes from a discussion that I was having on an Amateur Radio Yahoo Group that I moderate. I thought there might be some insights contained herein that might be relevant to this Blog. Enjoy.

I am going thru a bit of a "change" here in the world of KD8LZB. This change
has a much larger sphere than just Amateur Radio, but Amateur Radio holds a very
significant place in the bigger picture. I have of course been following with
great interest the various discussions. There is a lot of GREAT going stuff
going on here. But the more I follow the discussions here, the more I am
convinced that I need to get my Shack in order.

When the proverbial crap hits the fan, and I'm convinced that here in SE MI it
is just a matter of time, all of our fancy dancy opinions about modes and
training and promotion won't mean a thing! I need to be completely ready to
receive traffic from my neighbors and figure out a way to get those messages out
of my community and to their destination. My thoughts on this matter are in
part being driven by what is happening… or perhaps better said… what is not
happening in NY. I have to be ready to serve my neighborhood when the Cavalry
doesn't show up. When all of our plans fail… when all of our favorite modes
fail… when the back-up for the back-up fails… I need to be ready.

I wish like everything that there was some way to organize the chaos of what
will certainly be chaos… and we can train and prepare and strategize… but when
it happens… and it most certain is going to… all of our plans won't even begin
to handle the chaos. I am going to have to be ready think… and improvise… and
make do with less resources than what I have. I am going to have to be smart
and innovative. I am going to have to figure out a way to keep my station safe.
I am going to have to improve my people skills. I have to figure out a way to
do what I do when I'm the only guy doing it.

Has anyone ever figured out how to set up a Traffic Net with little more than a
mobile / portable radio in the middle of an Interstate Highway that is nothing
more than a parking lot cluttered with out of fuel cars and trucks that were
trying to evacuate a city that has collapsed into rioting and looting? Has
anyone ever figured out how to set up a Traffic Net that is prepared to handle
medical emergencies when Hospitals are burned to the ground? Has anyone even
begun to consider what it would be like to try to move a message from one point
to another when politicians have declared that only "approved" radio messages
can be sent?

What is my point in bring up these ridiculously absurd questions? It seems to
me that many of our discussions only tend to prove that we can't agree on how to
handle predictable disaster scenarios. How in the world can we then expect to
deal with the ridiculously unpredictable scenarios that may very well be a part
of our future?

Thanks for letting me vent… This is what happens when I'm tired. I'll try to
be more happy and positive, and much less crazy with my next post.

KC
KD8LZB