AmateurRadio.com

 I try to keep track of  the last time I cleaned my desktop PC. I would imagine most of us out there depend on PCs for most of our tasks as well as entertainment. For me, it's very important once a year to remove my desktop PC from service and give it a good cleaning and once over. In the past, I have found loose connections, inoperative cooling fans and poorly seated cards. It's very surprising the amount of dust that can build up on components. Not always do I find a surprise when I open up the sides of the PC tower but it's better to find something at an early stage as opposed to waiting for a failure. As we all know these failures happen at the most inappropriate times. This time around nothing that needed attention was noticed and I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of dust inside.....but this is all part of the yearly look-over of the PC. At my station the PC is part of my operations as I use it for logging, contesting and for integrating my radio with the PC. On top of that not to mention blog posts, reading blogs and YouTube.

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

 I try to keep track of  the last time I cleaned my desktop PC. I would imagine most of us out there depend on PCs for most of our tasks as well as entertainment. For me, it's very important once a year to remove my desktop PC from service and give it a good cleaning and once over. In the past, I have found loose connections, inoperative cooling fans and poorly seated cards. It's very surprising the amount of dust that can build up on components. Not always do I find a surprise when I open up the sides of the PC tower but it's better to find something at an early stage as opposed to waiting for a failure. As we all know these failures happen at the most inappropriate times. This time around nothing that needed attention was noticed and I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of dust inside.....but this is all part of the yearly look-over of the PC. At my station the PC is part of my operations as I use it for logging, contesting and for integrating my radio with the PC. On top of that not to mention blog posts, reading blogs and YouTube.

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

In this episode, Martin Butler (M1MRB) is joined by joined by Chris Howard (M0TCH), Martin Rothwell (M0SGL), Frank Howell (K4FMH) and Leslie Butterfield G0CIB to discuss the latest Amateur / Ham Radio news. Colin (M6BOY) rounds up the news in brief and in the episode's feature Amateur Radio Resources.

We would like to thank Walter Washburn (KT0D), Patrick Ainge (WM2A) and our monthly and annual subscription donors for keeping the podcast advert free. To donate, please visit - http://www.icqpodcast.com/donate

• Ukraine Maintains Ham Radio Silence in State of Emergency
• Online Training for Ham Radio Exam in Spain
• Amateur Radio, ISS and STEM
• Successful QO-100 Ham Radio Emergency Communications Exercise
• FCC to Consider Radio Receiver NOI in April
• Workshop for Amateur Radio Operators Working to Advance Science
• St Patrick's Day Award 2020
• World's Oldest Radio Amateur

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

The bands seem to be improving and it's a nice thing to see. Today I flipped the switch on in the early afternoon. I also loaded DX Heat a site that is my go-to as it lets me know what's going on in and around the bands. There were some nice dx spots on 15m and I thought I would spin the dial over to 15 meters in the CW section. The first station I tuned in was TZ4AM in Mali and Jeff was working split but with (that I could hear) not much of a pileup. I listened to his receive frequency (my calling frequency) to find out who he was working and how he was either moving up or down the frequency. I very soon got the hang of his operating and I called him and was in the log in no time. He gave me 569 and returned with 559 signal reports. 

A little further down on 15m I heard 7X3WPL in Algeria. I checked out the call on QRZ.COM and this is a very active club called Sahara DX radio club. I gave them a call and I think they were not working split (can't remember) but there was a bit more of a pile-up. I decided to come back in a little while and see if things had calmed down. I came back about 5 minutes later and the log jam had cleared. I worked 7X3WPL and we exchanged signal reports. 

I then came across another Algerian station 7X4AN he was calling CQ with no answers but he was just above the noise floor so I put the APF on (audio peak filter) and this helped out a great deal. I gave him a call and we did some repeats but contact was made and he was in the log. After my contact, he was spotted and the pileup began. It was good I got in when I did. 

I also had CN8KD in Morocco booming in on 15m he was operating simplex and had a huge pileup. I did give it a go here and there but the number of stations calling him made it a waste of time for me to sit there and try. I moved on but he had a great signal at my QTH. 

DX Heat was also showing 10m to be pretty active. Now up to this point, I have seen many spots for 10m and when I have always tuned there at my end it is just plain dead, no signals at all. This time there was a spot for 7Q6M in Malawi. To my surprise, he was there and with a signal of S7! He was operating split and I could hear some of the stations trying to contact him but not many. I did try a few times but no luck but just hearing some DX on 10m was a huge step! 

Well, that was my afternoon on the radio. I was using my Icom 7610 at 100 watts into a multi-band End-Fed antenna about 30 feet off the ground. All contacts were CW with filter settings at 250 and now and then using the APF. Having the 2 independent receivers in the 7610 is a great help. I have VFO A in my left ear and VFO B in my right. When operating split it's a great help to hear both sides.

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

The bands seem to be improving and it's a nice thing to see. Today I flipped the switch on in the early afternoon. I also loaded DX Heat a site that is my go-to as it lets me know what's going on in and around the bands. There were some nice dx spots on 15m and I thought I would spin the dial over to 15 meters in the CW section. The first station I tuned in was TZ4AM in Mali and Jeff was working split but with (that I could hear) not much of a pileup. I listened to his receive frequency (my calling frequency) to find out who he was working and how he was either moving up or down the frequency. I very soon got the hang of his operating and I called him and was in the log in no time. He gave me 569 and returned with 559 signal reports. 

A little further down on 15m I heard 7X3WPL in Algeria. I checked out the call on QRZ.COM and this is a very active club called Sahara DX radio club. I gave them a call and I think they were not working split (can't remember) but there was a bit more of a pile-up. I decided to come back in a little while and see if things had calmed down. I came back about 5 minutes later and the log jam had cleared. I worked 7X3WPL and we exchanged signal reports. 

I then came across another Algerian station 7X4AN he was calling CQ with no answers but he was just above the noise floor so I put the APF on (audio peak filter) and this helped out a great deal. I gave him a call and we did some repeats but contact was made and he was in the log. After my contact, he was spotted and the pileup began. It was good I got in when I did. 

I also had CN8KD in Morocco booming in on 15m he was operating simplex and had a huge pileup. I did give it a go here and there but the number of stations calling him made it a waste of time for me to sit there and try. I moved on but he had a great signal at my QTH. 

DX Heat was also showing 10m to be pretty active. Now up to this point, I have seen many spots for 10m and when I have always tuned there at my end it is just plain dead, no signals at all. This time there was a spot for 7Q6M in Malawi. To my surprise, he was there and with a signal of S7! He was operating split and I could hear some of the stations trying to contact him but not many. I did try a few times but no luck but just hearing some DX on 10m was a huge step! 

Well, that was my afternoon on the radio. I was using my Icom 7610 at 100 watts into a multi-band End-Fed antenna about 30 feet off the ground. All contacts were CW with filter settings at 250 and now and then using the APF. Having the 2 independent receivers in the 7610 is a great help. I have VFO A in my left ear and VFO B in my right. When operating split it's a great help to hear both sides.

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

Hello and welcome to the 457th episode of Linux in the Ham Shack. In this episode, the hosts invite co-host Conor Murphy of the Linux Lads podcast to talk about their show and a bunch of other topics related to Linux and Open Source. Also discussed is the Linux community in Ireland, specifically Dublin, and its global outreach. It's an entertaining and informative talk and we hope you enjoy it. Thank you for listening and have a great week.

73 de The LHS Crew

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].

It's time once again for The Weekender. This is our bi-weekly departure into the world of amateur radio contests, open source conventions, special events, listener challenges, hedonism and just plain fun. Thanks for listening and, if you happen to get a chance, feel free to call us or e-mail and send us some feedback. Tell us how we're doing. We'd love to hear from you.

73 de The LHS Crew

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].