AmateurRadio.com

Halloween is just around the corner. It is far and away one of my favorite holidays and I am looking forward to spending it with my family this year. Beyond the Trick-or-Treating, costumes, Halloween decorations, and pumpkin carving, I like telling my two young daughters ghost stories. This got me to thinking if there were any stories out there that had to do with both amateur radio and Halloween. And sure enough, there are.

So now its time to dim the lights…..

The first story is by Brian, N4TRB, and was inspired by an October 1932 article he read in QST by Don Mix. Brian’s story is called Whisky November Papa: A Tale for Halloween and is worth a read.

The next story was discovered by Dan, KB6NU, and is called Haunted Ham Radio. It is more amusing than scary, but still worth the read for a chuckle or two.

For those of my ham radio brethren who will be out and about on Halloween helping provide communications for a safe and sane holiday – I salute you! And if you are in my neighborhood this year, stop by for some Trick-or-Treat, pumpkin pie, and hot apple cider… and maybe a quick tour of the hamshack.

Scott Hedberg, NØZB, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Kansas, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

Although the map looks quite similar to yesterday, in fact, it felt quite different. There was no sign of VK/ZL this morning for me, the band opened with Eastern Europe and Russia, although a VK5 was received here around midday – I was not heard there.

Also, many periods went by without my signals being spotted – very different to yesterday. I did wonder if the aerial had a problem, but I am certain it was just slightly poorer conditions. The afternoon did improve slightly with a few reports from the USA, with KE7A being the furthest west.

I’ve noticed this with low power WSPR before – you are very much at the mercy of conditions – where as with higher power you’d ride out the peaks and troughs.

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

10m WSPR spots @ G4ILO 21 October 2012

I have spent much of the last few days taking advantage of the fantastic conditions on 10 metres. But it is Olga’s birthday today so I stayed out of the shack leaving the K3 free for WSPR duty. That produced some rather impressive results as you can see from the map. (Note for newcomers to the blog, this was achieved with 2 watts to an attic dipole.)

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

This weekend it was my intention to get some DXCC's into the books and the weekend is not over yet and there is still time....but.....the bands were alive with the Worked all Germany contest. On Saturday morning and mid morning 10m was alive with DL calls. I have been reading over the past few weeks how great 10m  WSPRing has been. I wanted to give QRPp operations a shot and 10m seemed wide open to Europe. Below are the result from my Saturday and Sunday morning QRPp contacts.
1. HA3FTA ( I know it's Hungary not Germany) 200mWs          22,776 miles per watt.
2. DK9PY                                                          100mWs           39,565 mpw.
3. DJ1MM                                                          500mWs            8,405 mpw.
It was now time to start dropping the power lower.
4. DL2DX                                                              50mWs         82,857  mpw
Below was the best distance of the day for Saturday the conditions started to change on 10m and contacts were getting harder and harder to make. Besides it was time to get some things done around the house. 
5. DL1NUX                                                           40mws        101,702   mpw.

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

Series Five Episode Twenty-Two of the ICQ Podcast has been released. News Stories include :-

• New IARU R3 Chairman
• FCC to allow additional emission types
• 14 year-old Indian ham gets Diamond DXCC
• ILLW draws attention to lighthouses
• Conway Reef DXpedition
• GB3NC back in service
• Spring VHF-UHF Field Day

Listener mailbag and Tom Samacicio (KB4HQA) from HQA Radio and Martin (M1MRB) reports from the RSGB convention.

Colin Butler, M6BOY, is the host of the ICQ Podcast, a weekly radio show about Amateur Radio. Contact him at [email protected].

Series Five Episode Twenty-Two of the ICQ Podcast has been released. News Stories include :-

• New IARU R3 Chairman
• FCC to allow additional emission types
• 14 year-old Indian ham gets Diamond DXCC
• ILLW draws attention to lighthouses
• Conway Reef DXpedition
• GB3NC back in service
• Spring VHF-UHF Field Day
• Qatar to host Ham Radio Festival

Listener mailbag and Tom Samacicio (KB4HQA) from HQA Radio and Martin (M1MRB) reports from the RSGB convention.

Colin Butler, M6BOY, is the host of the ICQ Podcast, a weekly radio show about Amateur Radio. Contact him at [email protected].

Michel F6FEO sent me a link to his website. Many projects of QRP interest will be found there. The site is in French but Michel has provided Translate links for each of the articles. Definitely worth a visit.

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