Posts in "experiment"

Ham on a bike v0.1

For 40 years, I’ve been a bicycle rider, but I’ve only been a ham operator for nine months. Inspired by the dedication of Jim “Ham on a Bike” N4JAW and seeing AI6YR Ben rock the same yellow pannier I have during a bike activation, I tried combining my life-long and brand-new hobbies on a recent commute to work.

Blue bike at a bike rack with a clear handheld transceiver mounted to the handle bars. The handle bars are wrapped in red tape.

This is an after action report of an activation attempt that had near zero technical cost and almost no planning. That is, lots of things didn’t work but it was a fun learning experience because I didn’t put much effort into it. I had nothing to lose and an antenna with gain.

Gear

I simply grabbed my:

Evaluation

I’ll use a simple plus, minus, delta framework to evaluate what went well, what did not, and what I could change for next time.

➕ Plus

  • Fun. No surprise, strapping a radio to your handlebars and hearing what you hear is a thrill.
  • Additional visibility. Having a red Signal Stick jutting out conspicuously makes you feel like the narwhal of bikes, cutting through an ocean of traffic. I turned heads. Getting attention is good when you’re on a bike. I could take advantage of this and put pro-radio stickers on my gear that encourage others to join me.
  • Additional audibility. I blast music from my phone so when people are busy not looking for bikes, they might hear me instead. Music coming from your handlebars is like having those spooky sliding chords the sound branders came up with for electric vehicles. Sound of da Police turns heads OK, but the H3 turned up to 5 was louder than my iPhone SE turned up to 11.
  • Patriotic. This is a tounge in cheek reference to the nearly century old Amateur’s Code: “The radio amateur’s station and skills are always ready for service to country and community.” Having a radio on my bike commute is another way to, uh, let people know I’m ready for patriotic service.
  • Normal biking benefits. Exercise, zero carbon, not being in a car, etc.

➖ Minus

  • Antenna at 45 degrees. The rubber nubber’s mounting point on the handlebar stem meant the antenna angle couldn’t be adjusted. I was so proud of my daughter. The first thing she said when she saw the set up was “You’re antenna’s not straight.”
  • Didn’t copy much. The most interesting thing I heard was construction workers talking in Spanish on FRS frequencies. But my Spanish is not that good.
  • Receiver overload prevented making out many signals. I biked through downtown in a metropolitan statistical area of about 1.5M people. This is common for me when mobile in my car when using my Tidradio H3 or H8, so this wasn’t unexpected.
  • Couldn’t talk. I did not have a way to PTT. I did not actually think to try a voice-activated ‘vox’ mode but I don’t think that would have worked well in an urban environment with my mouth a couple feet away from the mic.
  • Holder made it hard to use HT because the H3 is small and my rubber nubber was in the way of the screen and buttons.

🔺 Delta

  • Verticalize antenna to reduce connector stress and improve reception.
  • Decide what listening goals are. Do I just want to be audible to others or do I want to hear actual chatter?
  • Decide on goals for talking. Am I trying to ham it up with others?
  • Find a way to talk. What equipment and settings would allow me to operate a bike and mic at the same time?
  • Advertise a cause. I could promote one of my ham clubs on my bike somehow to take advantage of eyeballs watching the weird guy with the antenna on wheels.

🟰 Conclusion

This was a ‘failed activiation’ in the did-you-communicate-with-anyone sense but a valuable experiment that provided first-hand knowledge I could easily build upon. I could have spent more time researching and designing a more functional v0.1 rig, but just strapping an HT on the bike and taking off was a much more fun first experience. I will work through my Delta list to make a v0.2 rig, but one belief about radio operation has been reinforced: always take the path that leads to experimental fun.