Hamfest, Gainesville Style

By Charles E. Roop

A weekend ago, I decided to check out the Gainesville Hamfest, a place where amateur (“ham”) radio operators and the like check out the vendors and meetings. It was very small, unlike the Orlando Hamfest (which is around every mid-February).

I found someone trying to sell this old radio with an eight-track player. Man, those are like tapes for my generation (and like CDs for the kids in K-12).

Some antennas and an anemometer on a small search and rescue trailer. I should start a weather instrument photo book.

A small mobile ham radio set on 20 meters (14 MHz) inside that trailer.

Ham Festin’

By Charles E. Roop

it was a geeky day for me. Erin and I took a trip to the Orlando Hamcation and Computer Show at the Central Florida Fairgrounds on Saturday. It’s a place for amateur radio operators and like-minded people take a look at the latest gear and attend seminars. It was the third time I have attended the event since I became a ham in 2002. It was fun.

I brought my camera along to get a few photos. I think next year, I might get a little more crazy with the photography and do a small photo story. We’ll see.

Some hams try to sell their stuff.

Amateur radio transceivers at a mobile emergency operations unit .

Odd merchandise…

The view on the way back to Gainesville

Experimenting with slow shutter while driving. Yes, I am taking photos like this while driving.

Erin on the way home. I am very glad she supports my geeky side.

Field Day!

By Charles E. Roop

Saturday was another interesting Field Day. The event, which is held in the last weekend of every June, gives amateur radio operators across the country the chance to test out emergency communications using only back-up power. Below are some photos from Gainesville’s event at Santa Fe Community College Saturday afternoon and evening.

Smokin’

By Charles E. Roop

A view of the smoke on Southwest Archer Road looking northeast Tuesday afternoon.

Erin and I were on the way home from her grandmothers in Dunnellon (southwestern Marion County) last night when two things happened. I received a Civil Emergency Message on my cellphone and witnessed a huge plume of smoke from the north. It turns out that a brush fire broke out near the Alachua and Bradford County border.

Right now, I am monitoring the situation from my apartment looking for any media reports and relaying any news on the local repeater when necessary. Here in Gainesville, it’s smoke city. It reminds me a lot of the 1998 wildfires.

For those living in the area, check out the Gainesville Sun where they are making updates every few hours: http://gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070508/SUNFRONT/705080332

Also, keep any eye on NOAA Weather Radio, radio (either AM 850 WRUF or "The Sky" 97.3), TV or other media outlets for the latest information on the fire. 

Be back later.

Watching the Texas Weather.

By Charles E. Roop

Erin, her father and I just got back to Conroe from a day out in town. I’ll elaborate more on what we did later, but it’s weather time.

To our west is a Severe Thunderstorm Watch in effect until 7 p.m. CDT. However, I think they might issue a watch for our area later on this evening. Currently, there is a batch of rain over south-central Texas with embedded thunderstorms moving in an easterly direction.

From looking at the skew-t charts in the southern Texas area, Lifted Indicies are anywhere between -5 and 0.7. This reinforces the severe weather threat. Also, the CAPES are a little high the further west you go.

As of this entry posting, there are five counties in Texas that have severe thunderstorm warnings.

Currently here in Conroe, the weather is slowly deteriorating with some lightning and rain coming from the southwest. I am currently monitoring the N5HNE (I think that’s the right call) repeater in Conroe for any reports. I’ll keep in touch.

Here is what you have been waiting for…

By Charles E. Roop

..a full post.

As I have stated in the blog entry this morning, life has been a little busy and was kind of hectic last week.

Reporting Blues.

""Hello, I’m Lowell Bergman from 60 Minutes.’ You take ’60 Minutes’ out of that sentence, no one ever returns your calls."

              – Al Pacino as he plays Lowell Bergman in the movie "The Insider."

My story on a discovery of an abrupt climate shift that occurred around 33 million years ago went south. After attempts to reach my main source, I never got a response. Therefore, I changed my story idea at the last minute and decided to cover a speech presented by ACCENT and Islam on Campus.

This was the second story I have done where I got stiffed by experts. I think they have this "oh-your-just-a-reporting-student-and-who-gives-a-flying-monkey-about-your-story-or-grade" attitude. It’s about as annoying as hearing a Kelly Clarkson song seven times in a row.

However, one interesting thing happened Thursday. My Reporting lab was canceled due to an illness my lab instructor had. It sucked for the professor, but it was good for most of the 20 students in our lab. During the weekend, we were told by our professor that a story was not required for the week. So, it’s been a nice break, but tomorrow is my lab and that will soon change.

I hope to get better story ideas…and better stories. I feel that most of my stories – except for the Lady Lake tornado aftermath – sucked and were not worth publishing. I have one story idea I might do and it’s a beat I covered in high school and at Central Florida Community College I will discuss it with the proper people soon.

Alligator Awesomeness.

This is my third week supplying the Florida Independent Alligator photos. During this time, I have covered events from speeches to a downtown party.

The most interesting was a trip to Tallahassee. Yep, no joke. Weather and Forecasting was canceled Monday and that left me with a void day. When I was at the Alligator office Sunday night dropping off photos, I was given the opportunity to ride shotgun with a reporter and head over to Tallahassee to take pictures of a press conference at the Florida capitol building. The conference would feature UF President Bernie Machen and State Sen. Steve Oelrich (R) discussing a proposal to the senate which would let the Board of Governors have the power to approve requests from universities to add fees outside of tuition.

The trip was a little long, but it was cool. I got to converse with a cool and talented reporter and, in the end, got to go into the Senate Rotunda where the press conference was held. It was an awesome experience. However, I think the reporter was a little more enthused than I was.

By the way, click here and read the story and see the photo.

Last night’s photo assignment was a little difficult, but I ended up getting a photo published. Fat Tuesday and other area restaurants and bars held a Mardi Gras celebration. When I got there, there were very little people there. However, when it picked up, my deadline was near. I got what I could – photos, names and all – and got out of there. It was in page 4 of today’s Alligator and on the index page of the online edition.

So far, eight photos have been published. I am having way better luck with photos than with my writing. Maybe it’s a sign. Who knows.

By the way, I will be updating my published photos set on my Flickr account soon. I’ll post the link on here when it’s updated.

Haming It Up.

Thursday was the first day of my amateur radio General license class. The first class was relatively easy with administrative stuff to go over as well as some basic Part 97 rules to know from the Federal Communications Commission. The class runs until early April and I hope to pass the test soon after. HF, here I come.

Weather!

How can I end a post without talking about the weather. Gosh!

My predictions for tomorrow (Thursday, Feb. 22) for the Gainesville area is as follows…

Low: 52   High: 77   Precip: 0.15 inches   Max High Time: 3 p.m.

Rain chances are close to good tonight, but it does not look like it will be potent enough to bring a lot of rain.

Also, Jeff Gammons, a south-Florida storm chaser, has noticed some interesting possibilities for some severe weather early next week according to his blog entry. I guess that’s something to watch. Who knows, I might even get some lightning still shots. Ha! If I were that lucky.

More to come later.

Happenings for Monday, Feb. 12.

It’s been a while since I blogged on this site. Then again, life has been a little busy and this week is expected to be worse.

Wednesday was pretty interesting for the fact that not only I had a second photo published in the Alligator, but it made it on the front page. I basically did a portrait of a UF med student in the library. I took nearly 45 shots of this person – the most I ever took of one person at one time. It all worked out.

Thursday was a little breather on me…for the moment. I received my grades back for my fourth in-lab story for Reporting as well as my Lady Lake tornado article. For the tornado, it was a 73 percent, the highest grade so far while I got a 90 percent in the in-lab story. Things are starting to look a little better in that class. However, once again, I have an interesting story assignment that requires an expert on campus. I emailed the source Friday at around noon, but I have yet to receive a reply. I’ll call this afternoon to try to get a hold of the source. If I can’t get an interview, I am screwed and I might have to find some last-minute story idea. God help me if that happens.

Saturday was another geek trip for me as Erin and I drove to Orlando for the annual HamCation – the Orlando ham fest sponsored by the Orlando Amateur Radio Club. It was a little bigger than the last one I went to in 2004. The main building had vendors and reps trying to sell their latest product while the outside was more like a mini-flea market with hams trying to sell their old gear and then some for outrageous prices. I met up with members from the Gator Amateur Radio Club along with other local hams. I also ended up buying some stuff. I purchased my second radio – the first in five years. It’s nothing too special or expensive (I did not want it to be expensive). It’s a Yaesu FT-8200 mobile/base 2-meter (144-148 MHz) transceiver with a max transmit power of 65 watts. I also purchased a power supply for the new radio (10 amps continuous, 12 amps surge) and a speakermic for my Icom IC-T7H hand-held. From buying my stuff at the show instead of their online stores, I saved nearly $70. It was nice.

When I got back to Gainesville and checked my mail, I discovered some bad news: I’ve been summoned for jury duty. Argh! I can’t do that. Not when I am a full-time student with one hell of a course load. I sent in a excuse and I hope that will exempt me for it. If I was working, I think that my employer would be understanding towards this issue. However, I doubt UF professors will be so understanding.

Sunday was a little bit of studying, Weather and Forecasting preparations and taking photos for the Alligator. I took some photos of the Women’s Leadership Conference in the Reitz – no, J. Wayne Reitz – Union at UF. They were not my best under the circumstances, but it made it in page 3 of today’s Alligator.

Weather and Forecasting is looking to be a little more difficult. After being first place for the first two weeks of the forecasting contest, I am now at third place. The first, second and third are neck and neck on the overall ranking. I have to find ways to improve if I want to be at the top.

Speaking of weather, the Storm Prediction Center has parts of north central Florida – including Gainesville – in a slight risk category for severe weather Tuesday. I’ll be keeping an eye on this and might make a post about it in the near future.

The week looks busy and scary. I’ll be in touch.

I Am Alive and Well.

By Charles E. Roop

A lot has happened in the last few days – well, not too much. As of the last post, I felt like 100 percent, USDA-graded crap. Now, I all I have is a possible, slight sinus infection; however, that is about it.

The weekend was nothing but work. From Friday to Sunday, it was at least 8 hours per day of straight hell. The students are back and business has picked up. However, I am happy to say that I have two more workdays at "Hell" until my leave of absence takes effect. Finally, a break. Now I can focus on my school studies and get some journalism stories written without any schedule conflicts.

Speaking of journalism, my first week ended with some stuff to be done. I had to find out what to write for my outside story. I eventually decided to cover the UF Student Government meeting on Tuesday night. I went to the meeting (and, unfortunately, had to cut my attendance short at the GARC meeting). It was nearly 90 minutes long with some interesting stuff. I went home, listened to the audio files of the event and stayed up until 2 a.m. writing this story, checking AP and looking at it one more time before I see it returned to me with red ink. I hope I did well enough not to embarrass myself.

In amateur related news, I just got word of a Thursday night class being offered by hams in the area for the General class license. I am highly interested in that because independent study has not worked out too well, so far. Also, I forgot to mention on this blog is that back in December, the Federal Communications Commission decided to drop the Morse Code requirements for all ham classes. That’s right, no more code required for people getting their General and Extra Class licenses. The code scared the hell out of me, so I am happy that it is done with. However, I feel at the same time that some standards should be kept and that the requirement should have stayed for the Extra Class. Then again, if you want to know the code, study it yourself.

Expect some posting within the next couple of days. A lot has happened in the news locally and nationally that I want to discuss. Keep checking back.