AmateurRadio.com

I’ve been writing a few articles for the HamRadioSchool.com web site during the past few months. Most of these are aimed at newly licensed Technicians but other radio amateurs may find them useful.

Click on this link to go directly to the Shack Talk articles:

• A Half-Wave Antenna for Your 2 Meter Handheld Radio
• VHF FM Station At Home
• Yes, Band Plans Do Matter

I also put together a quick reference chart for Technician License Bands and Modes.

Check out the other content available on HamRadioSchool.com.

73, Bob K0NR

 And I’m not sure why.

But Blogger is doing a decent job detecting it and keeping it away from your eyes.  Roughly 50 spam comments are left each day, peddling knock off designer handbags, knock off Ugg boots, knock off Viagra and Cialis among other things.  Many are in languages that I am not even certain as to where they originated! I see some Cyrillic, so some have to be coming from Russia, but there are other languages that I don’t even recognize – although I have seen a few in Polish, too.

Spam, it’s not just tasty meat in a can anymore!

This blog has been spam free since 2005 and will stay that way, if I have anything to say about it!

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

10m WSPR spots @ G4ILO 13 November 2012

Some pretty good propagation on 10m today, though not exceptional. During the morning it was interesting to note several spots of G and GW stations. I was received by fellow blogger Tim G4VXE. I didn’t hear him though.

I took time out to make a few digital contacts. I worked two Russians on 12m (using the 10m dipole) then a few more plus a couple of Americans on 10m. Best contact was NP3IR Hector in Puerto Rico, who has just this minute spotted me on WSPR too!

That’s cool! I can mark and copy lines from my contact log, then paste them into Blogger and they come out formatted. Never knew you could do that.

Today doesn’t seem to be a massive DX day on 28MHz. But actually it’s just as interesting, although the plots are much closer.

Some of the distances of stations that I’ve heard this morning – between 300 and 600km would normally be in the 28MHz skip zone. In the days when I used to see how many countries I could work each year, countries like PA, ON and GW were hard going on 28MHz unless you found some backscatter.

Look at the map from this morning! The PAs, the French station just the other side of the channel, GW3LEW and yes, Julian, G4ILO! Very unusual conditions and I’m absolutely delighted to have copied Julian on his magic loft dipole.

Perhaps some Es around – certainly I was getting some big signal reports from the Ukraine this morning. It’s unlikely that any of the contacts I’ve highlighted here are ‘classic’ Es but maybe some sort of weak scatter from the layer.

I’ve seen hints of this type of propagation in the mornings a few times now, but this is the best example I’ve experienced since I began my 28MHz WSPR activity this year.

The latest episode of LHS is upon you! Prepare to be astounded, mesmerized, blown away and flabbergasted. If none of that happens, perhaps you’ll be entertained and informed. In a music-less episode, we somehow manage to get through without stumbling–more or less. Our foray begins in the world of Linux and computing with some tips on how to make your desktop and your blog look better, at only the cost of your immortal soul. In the middle we touch on Hurricane Sandy and emcomm and follow that up with some Echolink: native on Linux Echolink, yeah! Feedback winds up the episode and then we go back to our respective holes in the wall. Send us feedback, if you get a chance. We’d like to hear from you.

73 de The LHS Guys

A lot has taken place since I first began thinking W3EDP back in October – family events, weather events, work events. In fact, so much has happened throughout this past year, that I am really looking forward to New Year’s Eve and waving 2012 a hearty “Sayonara”. This is one year that I will not miss.

But I digress.

After mulching the leaves yesterday and then raking and bagging the remainder that the mower couldn’t reach, I took the time to grab a spool of 14 gauge wire that I had sitting in the basement.  I had intended to measure out 67 feet and cut it for the construction of said W3EDP.

Guess what – there was EXACTLY 67 feet of wire left on the spool!  Exactly what I need to solder onto the  end of the window line – no need to cut.  How’s that for coincidence?

The extended forecast for this coming weekend is a nice Saturday and a crummy Sunday.  I hope to spend a portion of Saturday getting this wire airborne. The added bonus (if you will) is that since most of the leaves are down, it should be a tad easier to see exactly what I need to do.

The HF9V and the 88′ EDZ are both working well; but I figure it never Hertz (sorry, I couldn’t resist!) to get more wire up in the air.

It seems whenever I want to get something like this done, something always comes up to deter me from completing the project.  I am hoping that I will luck out this weekend, and finally finish!

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

Today was a surprise… 65F. I hiked to the ledges and worked Russia, the Netherlands, Czech Rep and Tennessee.

The woods were gorgeous… but wait ’til you see the view from the top! Judy and I drove up Wadleigh Road until it turned into Class 6… basically an unmaintained logging road. From there we drove into the boonies until we couldn’t go any farther. Then we started hiking.

I haven’t been here for a few years… and was even uncertain about the trail. Several times I thought we were lost only to find a trace of the trail once again. We hiked about a mile and a half up some steep slopes and soon we were at the top. The view is perfect.

We had lunch in the glorious sunshine. It’s been in the 40s for the last couple of weeks, so this was a real treat. The quiet was stunning. Except for the sound of a lone crow soaring over the valley, there was only the sound of the wind in the evergreens.

After lunch I heaved my water bottle into a dead pine tree at the edge of a rock cliff. I missed the first time, and the water bottle came crashing down onto the ledge and cracked. Darn! I made the second throw before all the water leaked out… and it was right on target. I pulled up about 25 feet of wire and used the Elecraft T-1 tuner and the ATS-4 on 20 meters.

There wasn’t a lot of activity on 20 meters, but the signals that were there, were strong. I called PD1DX, Erik in the Netherlands, after he finished a QSO. We exchanged 599 reports and signed. Next, I called Dan OK1DIG in the Czech Republic. Dan gave me a 589 and he was a good 599. I’ve
worked Dan several times before.

Then I had a 10 minute QSO with Bunky, K4EJQ in Tennessee. He was using an Icom 706 with a tri-band beam and was just booming in. “UR GUD CPY 599 PLUS,” he sent. When I told him I was hiking and had a beautiful mountain view, he sent, ” I envy you being able to take your rig with you. I used to mountain top with VHF/UHF, but old age caught up with me X Enjoy your hike.” With that we signed and I made one more quick QSO…. this time with Russia. RU1ZC was calling CQ on 14.017. Wally was a 569 and he gave me a 559. He lives near the Barents Sea not far from Finland.

We were careful on the hike back. It was a bit slippery under foot  with the heavy covering  of leaves on the hillside. We found our way easily this time and returned just as the woods were growing dark.

This may be the last good outing before the snow flies.