AmateurRadio.com

The IARU 2012 contest has come and gone it was not without atmospheric grumblings. High solar wind at times over 700, Kp index topping out at 6 and this being the aftermath of the class X flare last week. On a brighter note (no pun intended)  the sunspot numbers are up along with the flux readings.

 So how did all this solar mumbo jumbo affect the contesting goals at VE3WDM?? My first goal and last goal of having fun and enjoying the contest was accomplished. As for adding to my DXCC count I only was able to grab one DXCC. The spotting networks were alive with South Pacific and Asia but at VE3WDM nothing at all was heard. My openings seemed to be centered around Europe with the occasional South American tease.

 This contest for me was not about gathering points and contacts. It was taking advantage of a large amount DX and working them with the least amount of power as possible. This meant the contest was slow going and not worrying about total contacts and points. 99% of my contacts were made with QRPp power and some with QRP. Each potential contact started with trying to make the contact with as little as 50Mw's. I had to stop at 50Mw's as my LP100A meter will not measure any lower power output. Back when I ordered and built this meter I never thought I would ever be operating as low as 50Mw's......my thinking was "an attic dipole antenna at QRP of 5 watts I am pushing it" funny how things change over time. I have a device on order that will allow me to measure power output into the nano watts...not that I will ever go there......but you never know!! I was not able to top my all time miles per watt high of  45,868 well maybe next time.



Contacts                    16                   Six contacts 100mW's or much less
ITU                               9
HQ contacts                6
Points                         46 UPDATE: score was actually 690 have to stop using that new math!!


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

For one reason or another, I’ve not heard an aurora for ages! Being in the south of the country with fairly little aerials means that it’s not a particularly productive propagation mode for me. However, if a big one comes along and I hear something….

Like this afternoon! I knew there was an aurora going on – but hadn’t really worried about it much. I tuned across 144MHz and to my surprise there were some auroral signals. GM4BYF was loudest and I was delighted to work him. Other G stations were heard tone-A including G0CUZ, G7RAU and G3LTF none of whom are very far from me! Missed Clive GM4VVX who it would have been nice to work. GM0HTT on Orkney was a decent signal on SSB, but had quite a pileip, so I didn’t get involved.

I heard GM3WUX weakly on 50MHz also, but he didn’t come back to a couple of calls. An hour or two later, I tuned across 50MHz and found PA2M calling CQ with an Auroral tone. Despite my little signal from the vertical – not ideal for an Auroral QSO – we completed the QSO. Good ears, Frank – thank you!

I wonder if the Aurora will be visible this evening.

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

Put my birthday gift (an RealTek RTL2832U based TV stick) in the suitcase to bring along with me on my family visit to the Netherlands. It worked fine in Taiwan but it was DOA when we arrived here. A pity since everyone is now talking about great sporadic E conditions. Only US$11, so no major monetary loss. I still have my HT and APRS setup to play with, but now my tracker is also not responding any more! Luckily the HT is still working fine and I’m having a good time talking to fellow hams on the local repeaters.

Hans "Fong" van den Boogert, BX2ABT, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Taiwan. Contact him at [email protected].

The bits to make up the adapter between the the SDR dongle and the external antennas here were all in place by Friday evening, so I did a hasty bit of construction on Saturday morning. Tested the adapter and it was fine. Unfortunately though, hooking up the SDR to the external antenna revealed very little activity. I have a feeling that in some of my tests, transmitting physically close to the dongle, I’ve blown the front end up! Ooops!

However, great to hear from David G4ASR who has been getting on really well with his. He hooked the SDR up during yesterday’s excellent Es opening on 70MHz and was hearing a number of stations including an Estonian on FM. It’s working well on 144MHz too and Dave was getting good results from the GB3VHF beacon. Sean, G4UCJ was also doing well with his and receiving stations on 70MHz – including the wideband FM which was very strong yesterday. Dave reckoned that his dongle was about 7KHz off ‘calibration’ on 70MHz. I found mine was about 20KHz off at 145MHz. You can cope with this using the ‘shift’ feature in SDRSharp.

Given that it’s only £11, I’ve ordered another dongle and hopefully that will behave better if I don’t transmit close by!

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

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

• G3PSM Receives DARC Award
• Brunei chases Pirates
• KiwiSAT hoping for launch mid-2013
• UK HF Propagation charts for July 2012
• Farewell to RNW's shortwave broadcasts
• 35 Years of Amateur Radio Newsline
• Italian HF special event commemorates Apollo space program
• OSCAR-7 DX record broken again
• 420-430 MHz in Australia
• GB2012MV - Manchester Venue
• GB2VET Veterans special event station
• Police Explorers begin Amateur Radio classes

Listener mailbag and Martin (M1MRB) answers questions.

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

Monument, Colorado
Saturday Sept 29 and Saturday Oct 6 (8 AM to 5 PM) 2012
Location: Tri-Lakes Monument Fire Station 1
Sponsored by the Tri-Lakes Monument Fire Radio Association

 The Technician license is your gateway to the world-wide excitement of Amateur Radio…

• Earn your ham radio Technician class radio privileges
• Pass your FCC amateur radio license exam right in class on the second day
• Multiple-choice exam, No Morse Code Required
• Live equipment demonstrations
• Learn to operate on the ham bands, 10 Meters and higher
• Learn to use the many VHF/UHF FM repeaters in Colorado
• Find out how to participate in emergency communications

There is no cost for the class (donations accepted)
However, students must have the required study guide:
HamRadioSchool.com Technician License Course $19.95
And pay the FCC Exam Fee: $15.00

Advance registration is required (no later than one week before the first session, earlier is better!)

To register for the class, contact: Bob Witte KØNR
Email: [email protected]  or Phone: 719 659-3727

For more information on amateur (ham) radio visit www.arrl.org or www.wedothat-radio.org

Bob Witte, KØNR, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Colorado, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

I haven’t blogged in a few weeks.  Work has kept me busy and I’m still making solid progress on the new basement ham shack, home office, podcast studio and just general all-round man-cave.  I’ll try to get an update on the new ham shack published soon.  However, I wanted to take some time to write a quick blog post to tell you about some really fantastic news.  A friend of mine and fellow club member, Stu Turner W0STU debuted his HamRadioSchool.com license course system today.

The HamRadioSchool.com license course is an integrated learning system, combining the best of proven traditional methods with new media to provide an overall learning experience never experienced before in amateur radio. 

The Book – The HamRadioSchool.com Technician License Course, is honestly the missing book we’ve been looking for.  This material contains more than just the public domain questions.  When used, the student will actually learn and not just memorize. 

The Website – The HamRadioSchool.com interactive website offers a fun and highly informative electronic magazine for new hams.  New features and new content will be introduced frequently. 

The Apps – The HamRadioSchool.com tablet and smart phone apps provide book-coordinated question pool quizzes and full exam practice from anywhere and at anytime.   The HamRadioSchool app will also track progress to ensure the student sees all of the pool questions and remembers areas of weakness so you know exactly where you need to focus your attention.

Yes there are other study materials and methods available, however these often encourage memorization and leave the student without truly understanding the content.  The HamRadioSchool.com Technician License Course material promotes true understanding with simplicity in an easy to follow program. 

If you are interested in earning your US FCC Technician class amateur radio license, skip the rest and go for the best!  Please visit the HamRadioSchool.com website to learn more about the program.

Until next time…

73 de KD0BIK

Jerry Taylor, KD0BIK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Colorado, USA. He is the host of the Practical Amateur Radio Podcast. Contact him at [email protected].