NEW DIRECTIONS RADIO

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Needed immediately are gathering places where we can meet likeminded folks. Table 1 represents a first attempt at establishing such spots. Since some frequencies may not work out, for one reason or another, the list will be kept as up-to-date as possible in future issues of MOTHER. Remember that these are target frequencies subject to prior occupancy by other hams. If "our" location is occupied, tune a few kilohertz to either side.

We also need a distinctive call. How about "CQ New Directions"? As our numbers grow we can get more specific with signals such as "CQ Homesteaders" or "CQ Wind Power". ("CQ" is a general call inviting any station to answer.)

A serious thought, gentle folk: Let's be good neighbors to our more tradition-oriented brethren on the ham bands. Those who have lived a life 40, 50 or 60 years long based on a certain set of values and assumptions will naturally feel threatened and upset whenever their beliefs are questioned or challenged. If we care about these people as fellow human beings, we'll gently encourage openness while remaining open and avoiding a smug attitude ourselves. (Once we're convinced we have "the" answer, it's all over for us too.)

Let's be on guard, then, against drifting into the righteous self-satisfaction of a new elitism. The truths I accept today I accept tentatively, and increasingly realize that they will no doubt prove to be partial. The tradition-oriented hams are into some valid partial truths too. The task is to stay open to all inputs, and keep sifting.

SOME BASICS

"Hey! What's with this 'frequencies', 'kilohertz', 'CQ' and all that?"

OK—now that the message to the "already" hams is out of the way—gather 'round, all you "want to become" hams. First subject: technical terms and abbreviations.

When we're first exposed to a concept that is new to us, it generally takes a number of words to get the idea across. Once the meaning is grasped, however, the whole explanation can be replaced by a word or two—a technical term—and it's not necessary to use the long-winded statement every time we want to refer to the concept.

I intend to use plain English as much as possible in this column and to minimize the technical jargon, but there are some common timesaving expressions and abbreviations that you'll want to know. My intention is to define these new terms the first time they appear, if their meaning isn't made clear by context.

Let's begin with frequency, something that most of us already understand in musical terms. For example, middle C struck on the piano makes some of the strings vibrate up and down 256 times per second. The motion causes the air to compress and decompress at this same rate, and we hear a sound which some can identify as middle C. If the note A is struck, we hear a tone of 440 cycles per second or 440 hertz. (About 10 years ago some erudite group did away with the very descriptive term cycles per second and substituted hertz in honor of Heinrich Hertz, one of the founders of radio.) We perceive vibrations in the air at frequencies ranging from 20 hertz to 15,000 or 20,000 hertz (15 or 20 kilohertz ) as sounds.

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