Maker Faire booth ramped up

I started trying to get things going for the Maker Faire booth in July. As opposed to previous years I did not wait until a call goes out 2 weeks before again.

The work has paid off. We will have an amazing array of Ham Radio demonstrations. We need to show the technology side of things. We need to encourage people in their 20's, 30's and earlier to take up the hobby. I'm 47 and feel like I'm on the younger side of the population. That needs to be fixed.

Foot Hills Amateur Radio Society is the primary sponsor. They have pledged equipment, the Society's station, money and support. The ARRL has stepped up to the plate and will be paying many of the expenses of the faire. Palo Alto Amateur Radio Association is loaning us equipment.

A number of clubs are participating.

• FARS will be operating their club station as a special events station.
• The Kings Mountain Amateur Radio Club is bringing their emergency communication van on Saturday.
• The Burlingame Red Cross is bringing theirs on Sunday.
• K6BEN Silicon Valley Amateur Television Group will be at the faire both days.
• Mad Scientist Amateur Radio Club will be demonstrating Slow Scan TV(SSTV).
• Lunar will talk about the use of Ham Radio in Model rocketry.
• A member will talk about how Ham Radio is used for RC planes.
• A group will be talking about Automatic Packet Reporting System using the Marauder map concept from Harry Potter.
• I hope to have Scott Miller from Argent Data showing a new SSTV camera/tnc and a Arduino TNC shield. No promise from him yet.
• After the show, BAERS wil offer a ham cram 2 weeks after the faire so those who became insterested in ham radio can get their license with one day of study.

We have quite a booth planned. The first draft of the proposal is being reviewed so we can turn it into the maker Faire folks in a week or two. We will need quite and area. Hopefully all goes well. I will try to keep everyone posted.

There is also a yahoo group for this event, Maker Faire Hams.
If you are a HAM and want to participate, just click on the link and jump in. the water is fine.

Becoming a Ham

While I was at the maker faire, the ARRL guys convinced me that I should get an amateur radio license. When an emergency hits, it will be working. Cell service is taken down and used for emergency use only. Land line can be knocked out for a few days. But amateur radio will be available. I looked into it and found it was a simple read a book and pass a 35 question multiple choice test. I'll have my technician amateur radio license this Saturday I hope.

As opposed to when I took my solaris and cisco ccnp tests, the FCC publishes the questions. One of the books I bought are all the questions with explanations. I read the book in a day and I am getting only 1-3 questions wrong on the 6-8 practice tests I take each day. So I will pass. But to be sure, I am going to the 8AM test in Cupertino. If I fail, I'll head to the Redwood city location for the 10:30 this Saturday. Wish me luck. I'll post my call sign and the repeaters I'll lurk on when I get it next week.

I have the radio already. A Yaesu FT-60R. No, I am not transmitting. I've been listening to a palo alto repeater, 145.230, N6NFI.

The have been some conversations I've want to put my 2 cents in and just am not allowed yet.

As a side note, I am typing this out on a ASUS eee 900. Yes, for the $550, there are more powerful machines. But for blogging, twittering, checking email, google reader, reading PDFs, this is a great small lite machine. I do wish the battery has more umph. It is only supposed to last 2 hours. This I will keep in the backpack.