How to Twitter for hamradio operator

Twitter? Everyone have heard about it but few hamradio actually use it for real.

Twitter is a microblogging platform, that allow to broadcast a tweet, a short message of 140 characters to share an information.

The platform has proved useful for example during major events, such as Haiti or Tunisia.

For hamradio, the tool can also help to develop new practices and uses.

Some twitter example of uses for OM

– Follow in real time amateur radio news;
– Subscribe to alert services from DX Cluster;
– Share photos, videos and live impressions during a contest, an activation;
– Tell your friends (followers) your geographical position and send a signal online to indicate his activity on air, in real time;
– Relaying weather alerts, emergency messages, support;
– Etc.

Feel free to share comments about other idea to use Twitter for amateurs radio.

Which equipment is required for a twitter amateur radio?

In terms of equipment, a computer course, but also a smartphone, a phone with a camera and an internet connection and for the ultimate equipment, equipped with a GPS for better accuracy for geolocation. During portable radio activity, Twitter takes a special interest.

Equipment and amateur radio transceiver with antennas of course hi!

How to register on Twitter?

Visit the registration page at: http://twitter.com/signup

Choose your username, use your CALLSIGN in capital letters for easy identification, this will also allow you to have a URL like http://twitter.com/CALLSIGN

The first steps on Twitter

A little bit like for radio communication, with the Q code, there is a code on Twitter with a new language, culture, hashtags, behavior, …

To become familiar with Twitter way of life, you should start by LISTEN, like in hamradio 🙂

You will have initially to add people to follow. It will then appear on your wall in real time, all messages sent by people you followed.

To quickly find hamradio, go on my list of amateur radio on Twitter : http://twitter.com/F1JXQ/following

There are also directories of profiles such as We Follow and http://wefollow.com/twitter/hamradio

How to write a message?

A tweet is a message up to 140 characters which requires to be concise.

It may contain a link, however, given the small size of a tweet, it is recommended to use a URL shortener such as http://bit.ly/. You paste the long url to share and get a short link to copy in a tweet. Some software automatically include this feature.

It’s alos recommanded, during events or to indicate topic of conversation, to use hashtag #keyword, and allows to specify the name of a former event, ex. : #vhf-contest or #hamradio.

A tweet can be forward by you or a follower in  Twitter, we call this action ReTweet a message and add RT to mention it.

The RT code is very similar to QSP radio code in fact !

Software for Twitter and Tweeter?

Besides using Twitter from the website, it’s often more convenient to use it with a software on your PC or mobile phone (iPhone, Smartphone).

TweetDeck : both web and mobile and can manage multiple accounts simultaneously,  categorize tweets, shortener URL includes and Tweetdeck is multi-platform: Facebook, Linkedin, Myspace, Foursquare, and Buzz twitter.

Other web / mobile Echofon http://www.echofon.com/

Applications for Twitter

Many tools and apps are being developed around twitter, that has changed its policy for managing passwords and now more security applications from third party tool show here.

Selection of tools and apps for Twitter:

– TwitterFeed To synchronize RSS feed from our blog to your Twitter account.

– Social oomph A comprehensive suite of tools to optimize management of its Twitter account.

– Hootsuite comprehensive dashboards to manage multiple accounts with multiple people.

– Trends map / Interactive map to see keywords by geographic area.

– Twitpic To share photos and TwitVid for video on Twitter.

– Paper.li To create a daily newspaper based on the activity of your account and your friends. F1JXQ example: http://paper.li/F1JXQ

– Tweetbeep to create email alerts for keywords and topics, hashtag.

– TwitterCounter / Provides a set of graphs and statistics of one or more accounts twitter.

– Ustream.tv / To live stream live video from the web and an iPhone or smartphone

– Bulk: Tweetmeme , Twitoaster /

Follow me @F1JXQ 🙂