{"id":44144,"date":"2020-07-05T09:51:54","date_gmt":"2020-07-05T13:51:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=44144"},"modified":"2020-07-05T09:51:54","modified_gmt":"2020-07-05T13:51:54","slug":"radio-waves-sealands-caretakers-bitcoin-ham-radio-cw-training-and-50-years-ago-casey-kasem-started-at-40","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2020\/07\/radio-waves-sealands-caretakers-bitcoin-ham-radio-cw-training-and-50-years-ago-casey-kasem-started-at-40\/","title":{"rendered":"Radio Waves: Sealand’s Caretakers, BitCoin & Ham Radio, CW Training, and 50 Years Ago Casey Kasem Started AT 40"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Radio Waves:\u00a0 Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio<\/h2>\n

Because I keep my ear to the waves, as well as receive many tips from others who do the same, I find myself privy to radio-related stories that might interest\u00a0SWLing Post<\/em>\u00a0readers.\u00a0 To that end:\u00a0Welcome to the\u00a0SWLing Post\u2019s<\/em> Radio Waves<\/em>, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio.\u00a0<\/strong>Enjoy!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many thanks to\u00a0SWLing Post<\/em> contributors Tony, Mike Terry,\u00a0 and the Southgate ARC for the following tips:<\/p>\n

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Sealand’s caretakers (Boing Boing)<\/a><\/h3>\n

Sealand is an unrecognized micronation off the coast of England, established in the 1960s and issuer of stamps, passports and occasional offshore business shenanigans (“BECOME A LORD<\/a>“). But Sealand is also a rotting sea fortress in need of constant maintenance. Atlas Obscura\u00a0met the two caretakers who spend two weeks at a time doing what they can to keep the statelet running smoothly<\/a>. Dylan Taylor-Lehman’s feature article is a great introduction to the place, if you’re not familiar with it or its wild history.[…<\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

How Bitcoin Is Like Ham Radio (Coindesk.com)<\/a><\/h3>\n

Understanding bitcoin is difficult. And so we cast around for the perfect metaphor. Bitcoin is email. Digital gold. eCash.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a new one. Bitcoin is ham radio.<\/p>\n

Bitcoin is old-fangled. It takes days to download the Bitcoin blockchain, just like it took forever to download software back in 1994. In an age of instant email and real-time Zelle payments, a bitcoin transfer takes 60 minutes to safely settle. It\u2019s more volatile than gold, a relic of our previous monetary system. Thousands of computers are constantly replicating each others\u2019 work, making it vastly inefficient. And lastly, there\u2019s no privacy. Like a medieval marketplace, everyone can see everybody\u2019s holdings.<\/p>\n

All of these features are anachronistic. But they do sum up to something unique. What exactly is that thing?<\/p>\n

A ham radio allows its operator, otherwise known as an amateur radio operator, to use certain bands in the radio spectrum to communicate by voice or code. This is an old technology. Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi became the first ham radio operator in 1897 when he transmitted Morse code across Salisbury Plain in England.<\/p>\n

It seems odd that something as archaic as ham radio continues to exist in a world with email, Snapchat, iPhone and Facebook. A ham transmission can only be used over a couple of kilometers. No emojis. No video. No gifs. Forget about privacy! Anyone can listen into your radio conversation.<\/p>\n

Yet, ham radio is a very active niche. Associations all over the world keep the hobby going. According to the American Radio Relay League, there are some 764,000 ham radio operators in the U.S. Japan has more than a million. The International Amateur Radio Union pegs the global number of amateur radio licensees at 3 million.<\/p>\n

Like ham radio, Bitcoin is for hobbyists. I\u2019m not talking here about all of the frenetic speculators who keep their coins at Coinbase. I\u2019m talking about users who can run a full node, use Lightning, securely store their own coins and make frequent transactions with the stuff. This pool of bitcoiners is tiny. It\u2019s probably smaller than the number of active licensed ham radio operators.[…<\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

CW Training Program (Southgate ARC)<\/a><\/h3>\n

In this video\u00a0Howard WB2UZE<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0John K2NY<\/strong>\u00a0of the Long Island CW Club talk to David W0DHG about their CW training program<\/p>\n

The club started in 2017 offers over 45 hours of CW classes EACH week, and has grown to over 600 members from all 50 states and 15 countries all over the world.<\/p>\n

HRN423 Long Island CW Club<\/p><\/blockquote>\n