AmateurRadio.com

International Ham Radio News & Opinion

Ham Nation 23

27 October 2011 | by Bob K9EID | Leave a Comment (0)

Leo Works The Pileup

Hosts: Bob Heil (K9EID), Gordon West (WB6NOA), George Thomas (W5JDX), and Leo Laporte (W6TWT)

Indoor antennas, etching your own PC board, transmitting remotely from 3000 miles away, and more. N4PY Software provides the software for the Remote Mirrored Radio setup. The website is at www.n4py.com.

Guests: Terry Schieler (W0FM)

Download or subscribe to this show at http://twit.tv/hn.

We invite you to read, add to, and amend our show notes at wiki.twit.tv.

Thanks to Joe Walsh who wrote and plays the Ham Nation theme.

Thanks to Cachefly for the bandwidth for this show.

Video URL:

http://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp4/twit.cachefly.net/video/hn/hn0023/hn0023_h264b_864x480_500.mp4

Video URL (mobile):

http://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp4/twit.cachefly.net/video/hn/hn0023/hn0023_h264b_640x368_256.mp4

MP3 feed URL:

http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/twit.cachefly.net/hn0023.mp3

People:

Leo Laporte

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].

» Leave a Comment (0)

PARP 48–Now Available

26 October 2011 | by Jerry KDØBIK | Leave a Comment (0)

The Practical Amateur Radio Podcast, episode 48 is now available to download or stream. You can subscribe via iTunes, Zune or stream directly from MyAmateurRadio.com. Want to stream on the go from your favorite smart phone device? You can do that as well from our mobile site.

In this episode I discuss all that awaits those US Technician class operators once they upgrade to the general class license. Of course, I’m talking about the world of HF.

As a member of both the ARRL and RSGB, I share what I feel is the importance of both belonging to and supporting our national organizations. I discuss briefly the RSGB upcoming extraordinary general meeting taking place on 19 November and encourage all RSGB members to educate yourself and vote. Links are provided in the episode 48 show notes available here.

During our featured website segment I introduce listeners to the DXCoffee.com website. Tomas Mesta, K6THM provides the featured Elmer Connection article on MyAmateurRadio.com. Finally I round out some of my own amateur radio adventures in the last month. Thank you for listening.

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].

» Leave a Comment (0)

Handiham World for 26 October 2011

26 October 2011 | by Patrick WA0TDA | Leave a Comment (0)

Welcome to Handiham World.

Experiencing a CME

Remember last week’s praise of the 10 meter band and the great DX conditions? Well, it’s way different this week as the HF communications conditions have been tanked by a CME, or “Coronal Mass Ejection” from the sun.

I subscribe to a service from Spaceweather.com that provides me with a timely email about such solar events. On Monday, the day of the solar event, I was able to communicate on most of the HF bands quite well early in the day, but by mid-afternoon it was clear that something was happening. Sure enough, the email had arrived in my inbox, alerting me to the fact that a CME event had occurred:

“A coronal mass ejection (CME) hit Earth’s magnetic field on Oct. 24th around 1800 UT (2 pm EDT). The impact strongly compressed our planet’s magnetosphere and may have exposed geosynchronous satellites to solar wind plasma. Mild to moderate geomagnetic storms are possible in the hours ahead as Earth’s magnetic field continues to reverberate from the hit.”

Later in the evening on Monday I checked in with a group of friends on 1.902 MHz. It was 20:00 Central Daylight Time, and after sunset. Normally the 160 meter band would be really starting to open up that time of the evening, but conditions were so bad that sky wave communications were almost non-existent. Ground wave contacts were possible, and because several of us live within the range of ground wave communications, we were able to carry on a conversation. It was clear that not everyone knew what was happening, but by this morning the news had hit the popular media, with stories about the Northern Lights being observed even in the southern United States, a rare occurrence. Displays of the Northern Lights are common in the far north, as you might expect, when matter and radiation are ejected from the sun in the direction of Earth reach and disrupt the planet’s magnetosphere. CME events are actually quite common as the sunspot cycle climbs to maximum, and there may be several each day. However, not all of them are as strong as this week’s, nor are they all directed toward Earth. You can find out much more about CME events on Wikipedia or Spaceweather.com, but for our purposes we simply need to know that solar weather can bring a temporary halt to effective sky wave propagation.

It is tempting for those of us who have experienced multiple solar cycles as amateur radio operators to assume that most everyone will know why they turn on their HF radios and find comparative silence. There may be odd swishing sounds or hissing. Tuning around can yield more “birdies” (mixer products generated within the radio) than actual signals. We now have lots of new Technicians and Generals who have never been in this situation. That reminds me of the time when I was a new General and had never experienced the effects of a CME. It was a time of many sunspots, good DX, plenty of activity on the bands, and contacts with low power were “easy pickings”. Imagine my thought processes when I switched on the receiver (we had separate transmitters and receivers in the late 1960’s unless we had lots of money) and there was nothing but a gentle hiss. I immediately assumed that the antenna was disconnected – that’s exactly what it sounded like, so it was a reasonable thing to check. When that idea fizzled, I actually took a hike out into the back yard to look at the antenna. It was till up there in the air, feedline connected, looking fit as ever.

This was a real head-scratcher!

Back inside I went to sit down and puzzle it out. RF gain, check. Antenna switch, check. All vacuum tubes in the receiver lit up, check. Broadcast stations coming in on medium wave, check. Eventually I must have talked with a fellow radio club member and gotten the lowdown on solar weather events like that one, but it always stuck with me that I felt that the antenna must not have been connected – that’s how bad it was. You can well imagine a new ham today experiencing the same thing with this week’s solar weather and thinking that they are either doing something wrong or they have some kind of an equipment or antenna problem.

So what do you do about it?

This is simple, and the method preferred by lazy operators: Just wait and do nothing. Band conditions will slowly improve, though it may take several days. You can have fun keeping an informal log of stations you hear on the various bands, perhaps even charting the return to normal conditions band by band, starting with 160 or 80 meters, where sky wave will return quickly, often within 24 hours. It will probably take longer for activity to return on bands like 10 meters. By yesterday 75 meters had cleared up pretty well and regional nets were back in operation.

For Handiham World, I’m…

Patrick Tice
[email protected]
Handiham Manager

Pat Tice, WA0TDA, is the manager of HANDI-HAM and a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com. Contact him at [email protected].

» Leave a Comment (0)

Update on New Carolina Windom

26 October 2011 | by Todd NØIP | Leave a Comment (0)

Dale and I stringing the long leg of the New Carolina Windom.

Well, it’s almost done! The antenna is in place, optimized, and operational. Last night my son helped me finalize the connections at the ground rod and string the coax and ground wire into the house. There are only a couple of details to take care of before winter sets in, but they shouldn’t take much time — I hope to be done with them by next Monday’s end if not sooner. I hope to find time soon to write up some of the lessons I learned.

I couldn’t have done it without the help of my son Antonio and my friend Dale (“half squirrel, half monkey”), not to mention the encouragement my wife kept giving me. My son was my constant companion, “go-fer,” and an indispensible helper on many tasks. And Dale might have saved my life since I’ve no business being on the roof with a bum leg. He did the lion’s share of the work up there the day we put up the masts and the antenna. He’s so good on a roof I think he could have run laps around the perimeter, while I clung for dear life to a safety line when getting on and off the ladder.

SWR is below 2:1 across all of 40m, 20m, 17m and 10m (except for the first 100 KHz of 10m, but even there it’s still below 3:1). It’s high on 30m, 15m, and 12m, but I’ve read that this can be improved by running radials from the bottom of the RF choke. I’ll let you know how that works.

Last night I made one contact after tidying up the connections in the shack: TX7M, a DXpedition in the Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia. That was a first for me, working a DXpedition. It was decidedly unsatisfying — the ultimate antithesis of a ragchew with a worthless signal report (just a recorded “599″ that goes to everybody, regardless of their true readability, strength, and tone). But it was still encouraging, especially since it was on 17m, a band I’ve never even touched before I built this antenna.

Todd Mitchell, NØIP, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Minnesota, USA. He can be contacted at [email protected].

» Leave a Comment (0)

Ham Radio in China

26 October 2011 | by Rich KB2MOB | Leave a Comment (5)

I have never been off the continent before, and the only other country I have been to is Canada. So I think my travel experience is kind of lacking. But I can live through Randy, K7AGE, vicariously! Randy went to China some time ago, and he posted a video on his YouTube channel.From the description on the video:

I visited Beijing China during the first week in March 2008. I was able to visit with several Beijing hams, their homes, the CRSA and a club station. I had a great day. Hams are great the world over!

There is also a link to an article written by Larry, KH6ITY, that talks more about Ham Radio in China, but it seems to be a dead link. If anyone knows where to find the article now, please let me know.

73.

Rich also writes a Tech blog and posts stories every Tuesday and Thursday on Q103, Albany’s #1 Rock Station website, as well as Amateur Radio stories every Monday thru Friday on AmiZed Studios and hosts a podcast called The Kim & Rich Show with his fiance’ Kim Dunne

Rich Gattie, KB2MOB, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New York, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

» Leave a Comment (5)

Great idea but bottom line…the cost…

25 October 2011 | by Mike VE9KK | Leave a Comment (0)

Each year I go in search of a calender to mark down all the contests I would like to take part in each season. It is hung on the wall in the radio room and allows me to plan for the big all weekend contests right down to the 1/2 day short ones. I know there are some very good contest calender online like WA7BNM's and I have this as a bookmark on all my P.C.'s. But seeing a month's overview on the wall helps me make sure the contest does not sneak up on me. Nothing like surprising my wife with a 48 hour contest!!! Not sure why I never thought about this before but the ARRL has a calender with their contests as well as other major contests in it. I went to the website to order it with the exchange rate it came to 15.00. That is not bad at all considering the time I spend putting the contests in the calender each year. I then was shocked to see the shipping was 15.00, when I add the taxes to be paid and any duty the total for a calender is around 34.00!!!! It's looks like this year I am either going to print off WA7BNM's calender or make up another one.

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

» Leave a Comment (0)

Broadband “Weekend at Bernie’s” Continues at FCC

25 October 2011 | by Anthony K3NG | Leave a Comment (5)

The FCC has released a second Report and Order, affirming its rules for Broadband Over Powerline (BPL). The document is available here. It’s quite a lengthy mind-numbing read, but skimming through it, it appears the FCC has rejected changes to its previous findings over the past several years. Undoubtedly ARRL will have much reporting and analysis over the next few days.

After eight years of trying to take hold, Internet access BPL has for all intents and purposes become a dead technology, not even being mentioned in recent FCC broadband reports. The BPL industry has been attempting to make inroads into so-called Smart Grid technology which will upgrade and automate electrical distribution networks. I haven’t been following this industry closely, but last I had looked they didn’t appear to be having much success. However the love affair with BPL at the FCC, and the OET in particular, lives on.

» Leave a Comment (5)