AmateurRadio.com

10m WSPR spots @ G4ILO 16 November 2012

Julian Moss, G4ILO, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Cumbria, England. Contact him at [email protected].

It was nice to hear from Mark M0DEV following our exchange of WSPR signals on 144MHz. It turned out that I was the most distant WSPR signal that he’d heard on 144MHz at that point. We decided it would be fun to try a QSO and decided that since we both used JT65-HF regularly, we’d use that rather than the more usual variant for VHF/UHF JT65B.

Running 10W at each end, both into collinears, it was an easy QSO over a path of around 140km. Not massive DX of course, but very satisfying. Following a successful exchange of signals we then turned down our power as low as it would go – around 1W in my case and were still easy able to exchange signals. Mark calculated that given the conditions at the time, around 150mW would have probably done the trick. Sadly I can’t run that little power – at least not readily!

Tim Kirby, G4VXE, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Oxfordshire, England. Contact him at [email protected].

Diz, W8DIZ of Kits and Parts dot Com, has come out with a new transceiver kit – The Flying Pigs “PigRig”.

It is a single frequency transceiver.  Sound strange?  Maybe it is, but listen to Diz’s own words:

“This transceiver was designed for Radio Clubs and/or Special Events. You turn the radio on…you listen…you do not tune…you do not switch anything…you do not search. If you hear someone on “your special frequency”, there is a good chance it could be a member of your group.

Here is what it is and is not.

It is a club radio.
It is not another me-too qrp contender
It is a single conversion design
It does not receive 2 sidebands…only one
It does have a full 5 watts output at about 13.6 volts
It does not have any tuning controls
It does have a piggie custom keyer chip
It is like a ham version of Channel 19 using CW only

The size of the PCB is only 2.5″ (63,5 mm) by 3.8″ (96,5 mm), and Yes…it does produce a full 4.99 watts RF out and it is as sensitive as just about anything else that you may have in your radio shack. Custom club/group frequencies are available for 40 meters. The name of this radio shall henceforth be labeled as the “Flying Pig Rig”.

For details – schematic and building guide as well as information on how to order, click here.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least!

Larry Makoski, W2LJ, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Jersey, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

Dr. Bob Heil, K9EID, is the founder of Heil Sound and host of TWiT.tv's Ham Nation which streams live each Tuesday at 6:00pm PT (9:00pm ET) at http://live.twit.tv. Contact him at [email protected].

Pencil is mightier than the keyboard…discuss

I’m a pen and paper kind of guy at heart but thought I’d try and find an electronic solution, just in case my pencil breaks and my phone is the only workable solution.

Bet you’ve never heard that before.

Well after a lot of scratching around I found VK Port-a-log. It is an android solution so tough luck fruit based phone users. A really easy to use solution for those who carry a phone. The screenshot below is pretty neat and from the original website. Well worth checking out. To get it you need to be able to install the .apk from the Yahoo Group. Thats a bit of a pain but hey ho no big deal really.

But I still like a pencil!!

Of course you do, it is the most versatile solution. But adding the data into the SOTA databse can be a slow process. So here is another Windows tool that is really very good. I’ll run through the idea.

Log as normal with a pencil and pen. Instead of getting home and logging via the website. Use Fast Log Entry (FLE) instead. This uber geeky method by DF3CB allows you to type the information as you need and then export a SOTA compatible csv file ready for upload. I found it really quick and easy to use. Here is a screen shot from the authors website so you get the idea.

Type in the left using the tags to identify what it is you are saying. Press F5 and hey presto the log appears on the right of the screen. There is a sample file to crib from.

So thats me sorted for this years mini adventures into the fells. Once again, very happy to use these great tools. Thanks to both the developers for making stuff that works just as we want it.

Alex Hill, G7KSE, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Cumbria, UK. Contact him at [email protected].

Introduction:

• No music this episode.
• It’s the night before Halloween and we’re off to another spooky episode of LHS with our hosts starting with a ramble about horror movies. It’s a trick AND a treat!

Announcements:

• Please consider donating to the podcast or subscribing for #20/year. Also, the free Black Sparrow Media app is at risk of disappearing unless our listeners are willing to provide $15/month to keep the download site alive. Please contact us if you can help.

Topics:

• Creating a desktop wallpaper slideshow in GNOME:

  It’s actually a built-in feature of GNOME. Briefly, here are the steps:

  • As root, create a new directory in /usr/share/backgrounds (any name you want).
  • In that directory, place your desired background images (or links to them).
  • There’s already a directory in /usr/share/backgrounds called cosmos which you can use as a guide.
  • Copy background-1.xml from the cosmos directory into your new directory and edit it to specify your images.

  More information can be found in this askubuntu thread. Be sure to read through all the comments.

• Richard points us to one of many articles about ham radio operators helping out during and after Hurricane Sandy. Our sympathies to the victims of hurricane.
• More about EchoLink and Linux: Richard found the CQiNet project, which includes two applications, Echolinux (an EchoLink client for Linux) and The Bridge, an iLink/EchoLink compatable conference bridge. Of course, there is still the svxlink package, which includes the Qtel Echolink client.
• C’mon, people, where are my Raspberry Pi suggestions? Russ is still looking for good uses for his Raspberry Pis. Send your suggestions!
• Google Webfonts are open source fonts that can be embedded in Joomla, WordPress and others, embedded in CSS, or with Javascript. Visit Russ’ blog page for an example of Google Webfonts in action.

Feedback:

• David, KE0AZ, sent an email about our discussion of antennas in Episode #091. He’s opting for a used 4BTV vertical.
• Tim, KI6BGE, in response to Richard’s computer power supply repair in Episode #092, shares his success story involving a printer repair he attempted.
• Scott, N8VSI, sent this audio report on his experience as the LHS ambassador at the Ohio Linux Fest. (We talked to Scott in Episode 93.)
• Harrison, VE2HKW, made a donation to the Black Sparrow Media app server fund. Thanks, Harrison!

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.

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].

Last Friday we had a "situation" at work that had me working until about 3 a.m. and when I got home I was still all pumped from work and was not ready to jump into bed. The thought came to me about getting on the radio and seeing what DX pileups were out there. I had heard of folks getting on in the wee hours of the morning and catching some rare DX. With great expectations  I turned the radio on....10m dead, 15m dead, 17 and 30 same thing!! Alas on 40m my Elecraft P3 showed some faint signals, I spun the dial to the frequency only to find it was some very weak State side stations. Not that there is anything wrong with that but it's kinda a let down when one is anticipating WILD DX!!!

I did not check the propagation that morning so there could had been a storm brewing or maybe everyone but me was in bed sleeping. As I have blogged about in the past I am trying to get my ARRL Diamond Challenge award (and doing it QRP) at this point I am at 81 DXCC contacts. You only have one year to accomplish this goal and it's now almost December!!!  Having said that I am "really" at 95 DXCC's for 2012 according to Club log. The catch is the ARRL for the Diamond award is not counting ALL DXCC on the list. It is a long story but it's just how the ARRL perculates. I was hoping to bring my K2 or my newly acquired KX3 to work as I was wanting to get some operating time in before work. I am usually in around 5:30 in the morning and I have until 7 to make some contacts. With my Saturday mornings performance I am not to sure if bringing  the rig would be a waste of time.....any ideas out there???

Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].