AmateurRadio.com

 Finally, it has started to warm up here and on Saturday temps hit a nice 7C, and we celebrated by burping the house. It ended up raining all day, but that helps melt the snow faster which is ok with me. I was in the radio room doing some this and that, I decided to check (again) the DX Heat cluster and see what if anything was going on with 3Y0K on Bouvet island. As way of background I have seen them many times on the cluster followed by a huge pile up but never could hear them. 

As I was looking over the spots on the cluster 3Y0K just popped up with a new spot on 20m. I flipped the switch on the 7610 and ventured down to there spotted frequency on 20m. For the first time I could hear them at about S3, even better there was next to no pileup.....YET!  The Icom 7610 was on CW,  I tapped Dual then split and joined the fray. 

In the right ear I could hear the pileup and was looking at the waterfall to see where the lonely signal was who answered 3Y0K's beck and call. Very fast I caught on to how they were working the pileup. One issue was 3Y0K would reach out to a caller BUT still many would continue to send their call sign. Once 3Y0K worked a station many like me have a waterfall display and could see were the action was. Then all of a sudden that small wedge of the frequency became very busy. What I noticed was 3Y0K moved down frequency a bit more than normal to get away from the clump of callers.  I decided to do the same. I noticed that 3Y0K now had moments of fading in and out, also the pileup was starting to grow fast. But after only 3 tries I was in the log. 

During my attempt there were those calling on 3Y0K's frequency, someone for about 30 seconds or more sending a carrier over top of 3Y0K and those who just sent their call continually no matter who 3Y0K was working. Oh well just part of the fun I guess. 

1. Open HamClock

• Feature-rich: Offers extensive customization and configuration.
• Spotting Control: Ability to turn off spotting to de-clutter the map.
• Setup: Easy setup process; remembers your preferences if saved.
• Full Screen: Can be run in full-screen mode.
• Updates: Regular updates with clear notifications and instructions.
• VOACAP Display: Improved propagation prediction display.

2. Hamtab

• Web-based: Runs in your browser for all OS’s.
• HamClock Themes: Includes a theme similar to Elwood's HamClock theme.
• Fewer Options: Less configurable than Open HamClock.
• Spotting Limitation: No clear option to remove all spots from the map.
• Map Interaction: Limited ability to click on the map for DX/solar info; can only click on spots.
• Solar Overlay: Not as detailed as Open HamClock, Open HamClock-backend or Bruce W4BAE HamClock.

3. HamVision

• Early Development: Still under heavy development; site is often in maintenance mode.
• Limited Configuration: Little to no configuration is possible at this stage.
• Updates: Latest info and updates are shared on their Facebook page.

4. HamClock me Online

• Web-based Version: Another browser option.
• Limited Testing: I haven’t explored this one deeply, but it’s worth checking to see if it meets your needs.

     GitHub-Based Projects

• General Note: These require familiarity with GitHub, Docker, and self-hosting.

1. Open HamClock Back-end

• Actively Updated: Closest in spirit to Elwood’s original HamClock.
• Setup Challenges: Can be tricky to get running if you’re not comfortable with GitHub/Docker.

• Mixed Results: I couldn’t get this running on my Pi4; the Mac OS version didn’t work due to OS version issues. Your experience may vary.

     3. Keeping HamClock Alive

• Resource: Bruce (W4BAE) has compiled a detailed guide and history at his website.
• -b Flag: Elwood’s last version (4.22) introduced a back-end override (-b flag) letting HamClock point to an alternate server.
• Easy-to-Follow Instructions: Bruce’s guide makes it straightforward to implement this workaround, and he’s responsive to questions.
• Result: I was able to set up a working HamClock on my Pi3b using this method. I kept my Pi4 still running Elwood's HamClock until I am happy with alternatives.  
•  Summary
  While Elwood’s original HamClock will stop functioning, there are multiple alternatives and ways to keep similar functionality alive. Your best option depends on your technical comfort level and preferred features. For those wanting a near-identical experience, Bruce W4BAE’s method is highly recommended along with Open HamClock-Back-end. As for a one stop shopping I would recommend Open ham clock. Enter it in your browser and you are ready to go. 

 While taking part of my morning brew I noticed an issue with my blog. I have a list of the blogs that I follow and blogger calls it a blog list gadget. The little squares beside each of the blogs I follow is supposed to be a solid color and it is not. That is not a big deal but at the bottom of the blog list is a link that says "Show all". Now when I click on it the remainder of the followed blogs do not appear, nothing happens. I tried it both on my Windows and Mac pc with the same results. The max blogs you can show it 10 that you follow. When the Show all link is clicked the rest of the followed blogs should appear. I went to the gadget and played around with different settings and nothing was successful. I then went to AE5X blog  who has the same setup for followers as mine. His too the squares were not a solid color and the link at the bottom of the blog list did not work either. Now I am not sure if it is just an issue here or if it is wide spread across all blogger blogs? If you have a blogger blog with this gadget give it a try, give the link on my blog a try at your end and if this is a wide spread issue does anyone have a fix.