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Club Log Receives $4000 Yasme Foundation Grant
11 December 2012 | by “Club Log represents a unique innovation that has quickly become established in the culture of our hobby. By providing free access to features such as leagues, online QSL requests and expedition management tools, Club Log has expanded the state of the art of DXing and has grown quickly as a result. The Foundation’s grant to Club Log gives the team the means to install backup servers and keep this precious resource online for everyone to enjoy into the future. We look forward to seeing more innovations from the Club Log team.”
Rusty, W6OAT, the Yasme Foundation
LoTW Web Page Now Features Daily and Hourly Status Updates
However, when LoTW either crashes or delays processing for more than a day, then, what about the viability and resilience of traditional QSL cards?
There will be something to be said about an analog backup when chasing coveted awards like DXCC, 5BDXCC, or WPX first five hundred.
Think about analog?
Logbook of The World Web Page Now Features Daily and Hourly Status Updates: The ARRL has created a new informational page to issue daily status updates and information of interest to the Logbook of The World (LoTW) user community. These updates will include planned downtime and changes that will impact LoTW operations. In addition, LoTW’s processing queue is now updated hourly, telling how many logs and QSOs have been uploaded to the LoTW system and are awaiting processing. New hardware that will improve LoTW’s throughput is on order and is expected to be running in six to eight weeks.
Rick Murphy, K1MU, and Dave Bernstein, AA6YQ, have been charged with rebooting the Trusted QSL open source project. If you have demonstrably strong C++ development skills that you’re interested in applying toward improving LoTW’s usability and efficiency, please contact Bernstein via e-mail…
A bug in KComm
Today started off with me continuing to compare the two morse decoders MRP40 and CW Skimmer in view of PC4T Paul’s insistence that the latter was the better morse decoder. When I heard someone calling CQ with no takers I took pity on them and returned their call. JY4NE and C6AKQ went into the log very quickly, in fact so quickly I was left wondering if I had actually worked them. Some people moan that all digital mode operators do is exchange macro files, but in a lot of CW QSOs you barely exchange anything!
Next I replied to a Russian station who was a bit more chatty. Unfortunately my logging program KComm locked up in mid-QSO. It was embarrassing because I was sending from the keyboard and didn’t even have a key plugged into the transceiver so I couldn’t continue. I’m sure there will be people who would add me to a blacklist for this, but these days I tend to treat CW as just another digital mode. Hence my interest in good decoder programs. 🙂
KComm has a feature where you can insert the answer to a multiple choice question into the outgoing text. It is expressed like this: %?question|answer 1|answer 2|answer3? which would cause a box to pop up saying “Question” and you click on the answer you want inserted. It was this feature that was causing the program to lock up.
After a couple of hours tracing code in the debugger I could not see what the error was, unless it was a bug in the Lazarus library software. The feature had been in KComm since many versions ago, but this current version was compiled with a new version of Lazarus, so that was a possible explanation. Eventually I managed to modify my program code to avoid the error, with the result that this afternoon there is now a version 2.02 of KComm.
I tested the update by having a QSO with Mik EW8O in Belarus. Then I decided it was time for a rest – I find debugging code these days is mentally exhausting!
Julian Moss, G4ILO, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Cumbria, England. Contact him at [email protected].
Cobwebb at a price
Lamco have added a new product to their range. A Cobwebb antenna. It goes under the name of a MyHam HF-7B and it is specified as an antenna with a useful range of 20/17/15/12/10/6/4m bands.
I noticed this in the latest Practical Wireless and thought I’d email a copy to Mike Corke, ZS1RJQ who has now made 6 of these. We are both users of the Cobwebb but both of us have homebrewed versions. I was interested to see how much his cost to make and like me, he spent about £40 making each of his. Mine was a little dearer on account of me making a few experiments along the way. We both had a little chuckle at the cost of this commercial version at £249.
If you need an HF antenna then it seems that the commercial versions are very expensive and homebrew antennas cost a bit in time but a lot less in terms of £. I buy my bits and pieces from all sorts of places but AMTools / Spratreader on eBay has all the bits you need for the hardware for a much lower price. If you don’t see what you need then just email him and I’m sure he’ll be able to help.
If homebrew isn’t your thing then there isn’t much of an option. But it seems it’ll cost you for a simple piece of hardware. I’m sure if I were to every build my own rig it’ll look like a dogs breakfast and perform in a similar fashion but simple bits of wire shouldn’t cost that much.
(Just to clarify I’m not singling out any one supplier, but just observing that off the shelf stuff can cost a fortune compared to home made stuff.)
Alex Hill, G7KSE, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Cumbria, UK. Contact him at [email protected].
My take on 63 Degrees of Propagation: The 2012 ARRL 10 Meter Contest
My take on 63 Degrees of Propagation: The 2012 ARRL 10 Meter Contest – Like Eggnog: In the end, I made well under half of the contacts I did last year. I’m certain I did not work anything new to me this weekend but I was sure hoping. Running low power, I sure had plenty of stations CQ’n in my face but that’s all part of the challenge when the bands are tough. But a bad day of contesting is still better than a great day in the office!
Contest on, Brother!
My 10,000 Hour RadioSport Challenge | 9,398 – 20 = 9,378 To Go
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| 2012 ARRL 10 Meter Mixed Mode Results |
Good morning from the #hamr shackadelic zone where I’m listening to Hans Zimmer score from The Dark Knight film. If any one composer can establish a mood for writing then Zimmer’s passionate heroic tracks gets my, “Roger, that.”
RadioSport Pain
Sometimes, RadioSport is a game of pain, when hours seem to punish my lower back, muscles stiffen, and my brain rings from automated CQs generated by N1MM Contest Logger. Meanwhile sunny skies beckoned and I wondered if the challenge is worth my time? This weekend was remarkable because I experienced propagation vagaries especially skewed path toward South America, radio black outs, and long path out of no where.
Friday Night
Friday night was a radio frequency adventure because Australia and New Zealand started populating my log as SL’s five element beam pointed 75 degrees toward the East coast of the United States. Likewise, Japan and China are in sun light however not a signal heard inside the cans. This was the start of strange propagation where I did not beam energy in otherwise normal directions.
Am I logging Victor Kilowatts and Zulu Limas via long path? Where is Japan and China? I have not heard a single Yankee Bravo either? Fascinating.
Waterfall
I paid attention to the position of the sun in the southern hemisphere. It was like a gargantuan magnetic pulling electromagnetic waves over the equator. The rush of energy probably surprised many Papa Yankees, Lima Uniforms, Charlie Whiskeys, Hotel Kilowatts, and Charlie X-rays. My situation was a midwest-to-easterly radio blackout throughout Saturday with zero signals radiating out of the Caribbean basin and vapor out of Europe.
I’m thinking this is remarkable because my normal strategy does not apply.
Es
South American stations carried my log all day Saturday after a brief opening to the East coast shortly before West coast noon. In contrast, perhaps, an E cloud of significant size focused my signal toward the south eastern section of the United States specifically Georgia and Florida. I realized six straight Georgian stations and seven Floridian stations in the log within an hour after sunrise.
The record for consecutive state Qs goes to Florida. Amazing! In contrast, I logged only one 0-land station from Colorado during my 20 hours of operation. It was complete radio silence from the heartland including Texas.
South America Roars
Perhaps mid-western latitude and longitude significantly impacted by the lack of ionospheric ionization created a skip zone between both coasts? Wireless skip did not approach a latitude of 60 degrees or greater throughout Saturday at least from the central coast of California. Additionally, I pointed SL’s 5 elements at 310 degrees in the afternoon instead of 110 degrees or greater and South America roared inside my cans. Skew path is fascinating.
I was grateful that so many in South America kept the game in the game for North America especially for this operator on the central coast of California!
It is evident that the go-to mode this weekend was definitely Morse code. I could not establish any ionospheric traction using single side band and calling human generated CQs was punishing enough. Instead, with less ionospheric absorption soaking up energy, I focused on the code. My hours matched the rush of shooting Class V white water with peaks at 4 Qs per minute or 1 Q every 15 seconds.
In Sum
Yes, as painful as a RadioSport weekend can be this was one, however; let’s not overlook the lemonade from lemons. It was strange propagation that made 20 hours in the pilot’s seat a learning experience. The reward was knowledge gained from practice, practice, practice.
Contest on!
Show Notes #096
Introduction:
- Welcome to another edition of the Super Happy Crappy Hour!
Announcements:
- The Black Sparrow Media mobile app is again hosted thanks to listener donations. Visit the BSM website to download the app and enjoy all of the BSM affiliated shows.
- CafeNinja and the Tin Foil Hat Show have joined the Black Sparrow Media network.
- If you’d like to participate in the chat room, point your IRC client at the irc.freenode.net server, and join the #lhspodcast channel.
- You can listen to the live show by pointing your media player (VLC, Totem, or whatever) to http://stream.blacksparrow.net:8008/lhslive.
- Our live recording night will be moving to Wednesday evenings (CST) beginning with Episode 97, scheduled for December 12th, 2012.
- Welcome Gnorman to the LHS staff.
Topics:
- TLF Contest Logger.
- Our hosts then embark on several digressions about Gnorman, Lua, and other podcasters.
Feedback:
- Torsten, DL1THM, sends an email describing his use of a Raspberry Pi as an APRS digi using aprx software and as a D-Star repeater using a DV-RPTR board. Thanks, Torsten.
- Greg responded to episode 94 about uses for the Raspberry Pi, including a media PC with Raspbmc and perhaps as a weather station. Thanks, Greg.
- Russ and Richard also talk about D-Star stuff, and D-RATS. (D-RATS has been mentioned in LHS episodes 17, 32, 56, 71 and 90.)
- Comment from the Web site from Leif, KC8RWR, in response to episode 91 where Russ rants about the lack of speakers in the head units of mobile radios. Thanks, Leif.
- Fred, DH5FS, sent a suggestion to consider TLF as a Linux contest logger. Thanks, Fred. Your email inspired tonight’s topic.
- Bill, KJ4KNI, on Facebook expressed his appreciation for help getting Linux Mint 13 with the MATE desktop running on his main computer. He also provides several reasons a ham might wish to use RG6 (75 ohm coax) in radio applications. Thanks, Bill.
Contact Info:
- Contact Richard at [email protected], Russ at [email protected], or both at the same time at [email protected].
- Listen to the live stream every other Tuesday at 8:00pm Central time. Check the LHS web site for dates.
- Leave us a voice mail at 1-909-LHS-SHOW (1-909-547-7469), or record an introduction to the podcast.
- Sign up for the LHS mailing list.
- Sign up for the MAGNetcon mailing list.
- LHS merchandise is available at the Merch link on Web site. Check out the Badgerwear or buy one of the other LHS-branded items at PrintFection.com/lhs or Cafe Press. Thanks!
- Thanks to Dave from Gamma Leonis for the theme music.
Music:
- “Crooked Smile Girl” by Heather Pierson, from her album Make It Mine.
- “Agnostic” by Daniel Bautista from the album 15, courtesy of Jamendo.
Russ Woodman, K5TUX, co-hosts the Linux in the Ham Shack podcast which is available for download in both MP3 and OGG audio format. Contact him at [email protected].
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