Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Handiham World for 03 March 2010

Welcome to Handiham World!

SOHO solar image from 2 March 2010 showing 4 spot groups.

As we head into the longer daylight hours here in the Northern Hemisphere, band conditions will begin to favor the higher frequencies of the High-frequency (HF) spectrum and thunderstorm static and absorption will get worse with more hours of solar energy hitting the “D” layer of the ionosphere. HF radio waves are not reflected by the D layer but do lose energy as they pass through.

As explained by Wikipedia, “This is the main reason for absorption of HF radio waves, particularly at 10 MHz and below, with progressively smaller absorption as the frequency gets higher. The absorption is small at night and greatest about midday. The layer reduces greatly after sunset, a small rest remains due to galactic cosmic rays. A common example of the D layer in action is the disappearance of distant AM broadcast band stations in the daytime.”

This, of course, means that amateur radio operators will have to stay up late into the night to make contacts on bands like 160 and 80 meters once the long days make those bands difficult to use for all but a few hours out of 24. That same solar energy heats the ground, causing convection and building thunderstorms that make those same bands crackle with noise all summer long. On the plus side, the conditions are still acceptable on 160 and 80, so you still have some time to collect some DX contacts. Don’t wait too long though, because the days are getting longer by a few minutes each day. (Exactly how many minutes depends on your location.)

Fortunately, 20 meters is coming back to life and will improve with the upcoming season. Sunspot numbers are up. Today, we see four groups: 1045, 1051, 1052, and 1053. Higher sunspot numbers are associated with better long distance propagation conditions on the higher frequencies of the HF spectrum. 20 can be a crowded band, but soon 17, 15, 12, and 10 will open up for DX and the fun will really begin for a lot of our newly-licensed Generals. These operators have never experienced the fun of a solar maximum!

When conditions are good on 14 mHz and above, you can work great distances with low power and surprisingly simple antennas. Even that plain vanilla wire antenna that never seemed to hear much of anything on 10 meters can come to life with DX. Mobile antennas can be used to work the world. QRP, or low power operation, becomes practical for daily use. Furthermore, because the length of an antenna like a vertical or dipole is inversely proportional to the frequency at which it will be used, the return of the higher frequencies means that you can perhaps finally fit a shorter, but highly effective, antenna into limited space. A dipole for use on 3.925 mHz is around 120 feet (37m) long, whereas a dipole for use on 28.310 mHz is only about 16 and a half feet (5m). This makes balcony and attic antennas practical.

As conditions begin to pick up on the 10 meter band, Handiham members who hold Novice or Technician licenses can take advantage of SSB phone operation between 28.300 and 28.500 mHz. Since most will be Technicians whose only experience on the air will have been with 2 meter FM repeaters, it will be a fantastic change for them – and a lot of fun! Imagine not having to depend on a repeater to talk to other stations far from your own location. Imagine not having to wait for drive time to be over before you can use a repeater. Imagine being able to tune with your VFO up and down the band instead of being stuck on a single repeater frequency. Imagine making new friends around the world and collecting QSL contacts for Worked All States and DXCC.

With the additional fun comes new responsibilities. Working the HF bands is different than repeater operation in other ways that newcomers might not realize. For example, while a repeater is silent for a period of time, that means that the repeater is not in use and you can usually just throw out your callsign to look for a contact. On HF, just because you don’t hear anything on a given frequency does not automatically mean that the frequency is clear. In HF operation, you may not be able to hear both sides of a QSO because of propagation conditions. If you just grab the frequency and start calling CQ, you may be informed that the frequency is already in use! On HF you have to listen even more than usual, and once you are fairly sure the frequency is probably clear, it may be prudent to ask, “Is this frequency in use?”, after which you give your callsign.

Another difference between repeater operation and HF is that you can generally count on being able to complete the contact on a repeater, because the system is set up to maintain solid copy as long as both stations remain in the repeater’s coverage area. On HF you can begin a QSO with excellent copy, only to find that changing band conditions suddenly cause you to lose the other station or sometimes cause other stations to “skip in” from far distances and cause QRM. Under such conditions, you have to be sure to trade essential information about yourself and your station before conditions change.

Contests are another feature of HF operation that will be new to those who have cut their teeth on repeaters. On contest weekends, the band can literally fill with stations eager to rack up points, making it either really hard to enjoy a long QSO with a friend or, to make the best of it, a fun way to make a lot of contacts and improve your operating skills. You can find out what contests are going on at any given time by visiting ARRL.org and following the “Operating Activities” link.

So to those of you who have not been on HF, let me extend a warm welcome to a whole new kind of operating. We are going to have a lot of fun in solar cycle 24!

For Handiham World, I’m…

Patrick Tice, [email protected]

ROS: "Run Other Software"

Just when I thought the ROS story couldn't get any crazier, it does.  The author of ROS contacted the FCC and explained the mode with more clarity (i.e. it's not really spread spectrum like he said it was before) and FCC Secret Agent 3820 now agrees that the ROS mode is legal in the US.  (No word from ARRL that I have seen, but frankly I don't think it matters at this point.)

Now, in a strange turn of events, the ROS author has threatened legal action against N3TL for merely asking the FCC if the mode was legal in the US and posting the FCC response on the 'zed and perhaps elsewhere.  G4ILO was also told that it would be illegal for him to use ROS for blogging about the issue.  The threat was later retracted.  And to top things off, there's now a persona non grata list on the ROS blog of those who are supposedly prohibited from using the ROS mode and software.

I'm not on the list yet, but it probably won't be long.  Not to worry, I won't be installing it in this lifetime.

K3 for sale

A K3 is for sale on the Elecraft reflector by Dan in Florida, who gives the reason for sale as “large unexpected medical bills.”

I’m sorry for Dan and hope my linking to his ad from here will help him to get a good price for his radio. And I thank God that here in Britain we have a National Health Service!

Letter to RadCom

Dear Sirs.

I understand that the trend in amateur radio these days is towards self regulation. However, recent events in the digital sub-bands lead me to believe that this is just a recipe for chaos. I refer to the recent appearance of ROS, a 2.2kHz wide digital mode apparently developed for weak signal work.

Soon after the ROS software was made generally available, chaos ensued with ROS users causing interference to IBP beacons, established APRS and ALE networks and Olivia users, not to mention other ROS users. Any chances of making DX low-power contacts were dashed by the number of people trying to use a limited number of frequencies to make short range QSOs that could have been accomplished using PSK31 and one twentieth of the bandwidth.

The band plans do not set aside specific sections of the digital sub-band for different modes. I am told that this is so as not to hinder experimentation. However, many popular modes such as PSK31, WSPR, Olivia etc. have established their presence on various parts of the bands and this is normally honoured by “gentleman’s agreement.” This all goes out the window when someone posts on the net that a new mode is available and hundreds of people download software and go mad with their new “toy” without any authoritative guidance as to where to operate.

The experience with ROS throws into question whether different digital modes can co-exist in the same band space. Many digital users seem to treat signals in another mode as QRM to be transmitted over rather than somebody else’s contact. The problem in the case of ROS is exacerbated by the fact that the transmission of this mode is 2.2kHz wide, which makes it harder to avoid causing interference to somebody. I think we should also be asking if there ought to be a limit on the width of digital modes that can be used on the HF bands, because there just isn’t enough space in the digital sub band for many people to each have a clear 2.2kHz wide channel.

I am not against experimentation, and would suggest that a small part of each band be set aside for experimental modes, experiments being conducted by the developer and a few chosen testers. However, before a mode can be made available for general use it should be approved by an international committee which would take into consideration the benefits of the mode, the amount of bandwidth it occupies and what frequencies it may be used on.

Julian, G4ILO

CC: Andy Talbot, G4JNT, Data Modes columnist

ROS developer issues G4ILO with an ultimatum

I visited the ROS Digital Modem Group on Yahoo! and found the following message:

ROS ULTIMATUM

For Julian, G4ILO,
Has a period of 24 hours to correct the news about the legality of ROS in your blog or it will be illegal to use it yourself. Am I making myself clear enough.

Several hours ago I posted about the news that the FCC had reversed its decision regarding the legality of the use of ROS in the US. Is that not good enough for him?

A week ago, when I posted that ROS was illegal in the US, that was what the FCC believed and what I wrote was true at the time. I am not in the Soviet Union and I am not rewriting history to suit someone else’s convenience. Moreover, if someone has an issue with me or anything I write, would not the correct way to proceed be to send me an email, not issue an ultimatum in a public forum that I may or may not read?

I am so angry I can barely type.

Update: Jose has now seen my post of this morning and issued an apology. He wrote:

Sorry, i did not see the new post.

I apologize and I hope you put yourself in my place and understand my indignation.

I don’t wish to have any ill-feeling so I have accepted his apology. But I am still pretty angry and upset about the manner in which he chose to express his indignation. Even if I hadn’t yet written about the changed ruling, an email would have been all that was needed to obtain my assurance that I would as soon as I could.

I will not be using the ROS digital mode any more.

ROS digital mode now legal in USA

José Alberto Nieto Ros, the developer of the new ROS digital mode, has submitted the technical specification of the mode to the FCC, as a result of which they conclude that ROS can not be viewed as Spread Spectrum and would be encompassed within the section 97.309 (RTTY and data emissions codes).

Now, all that needs to be resolved is the issue of where to use it without causing complaints from users of existing nets and other modes. Anyone with experience of getting quarts into pint pots please apply now.

Happy hamiversary to me


Today is the 10th anniversary of me getting my first ham radio license, which was officially issued by the FCC on March 1, 2000. My original callsign as issued was KC2FZT, though I changed to the current vanity callsign (K2DBK) later that year, just before I upgraded to my General license. At the time I was licensed, I had to take both the old Novice and Technician written tests to receive a Technician class license. (Major license restructuring occurred on April 15, 2000, when they reduced the number of license classes from 6 to 3 (Technician, General, and Amateur Extra). I didn’t take a Morse code test at the time (which would have given me “Technician Plus” privileges), but I did take a 5wpm test later that year as part of the General Exam. And no, I didn’t have to go to the FCC office in New York City as used to be the process, I took my exams in Joyce, KA2ANF‘s basement from a dedicated group of Volunteer Examiners.

I first got interested in getting onto the HF bands after participating in Field Day that year. Alan, KG2MV, helped me work the 15m phone tent (and yes, the bands were a whole lot better then, so we were pretty busy) and I got hooked. In addition to friends in my radio club (the 10-70 Repeater Association), I also had a lot of encouragement from a co-worker Jim, WK8G, and of course from my good friend Larry, N4VA, who continues to encourage me today.

Reflecting back on 10 years as a ham, there are a number of things that I’ve come to realize are why I so enjoy the hobby. There is always something new to try, be it a new digital mode, a new contest, or operating from a new location, although you can always go back on something you already know well and with which you are comfortable. The hobby is there when I’m ready for it; I don’t have to depend on good weather or some particular location. And of course, there are good friends and good times for those of us drawn together by a common avocation.



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  • Matt W1MST, Managing Editor