AmateurRadio.com

Here is this week’s space weather and geophysical report, issued 2019 Oct 14 0407 UTC.

Highlights of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity 07 – 13 October 2019

Solar activity was very low. The solar disk was spotless. No Earth-directed coronal mass ejections (CMEs) were observed.

No proton events were observed at geosynchronous orbit.

The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit was at moderate levels on 08-13 Oct and at high levels on 07 Oct. The maximum flux of the period was 1,930 pfu observed at 07/1745 UTC.

Geomagnetic field activity ranged from quiet to active levels. The period started off at nominal levels with solar wind speeds in the 350-405 km/s range. by 09 Oct, total field increased to 11 nT at 09/2135 UTC followed by an increase in solar wind speed to approximately 490 km/s as a weak negative polarity coronal hole high speed stream (CH HSS) moved into geoeffective positon. Solar wind speed remained enhanced through late on 11 Oct. The geomagnetic field responded with quiet to active conditions on 09-10 Oct and quiet to unsettled levels on 11 Oct.

Forecast of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity 14 October – 09 November 2019

Solar activity is expected to continue at very low levels.

No proton events are expected at geosynchronous orbit.

The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to reach moderate levels on 16 and 24 Oct and again on 04-09 Nov. High levels are expected on 14-15 Oct and on 25 Oct-03 Nov due to recurrent CH HSS influence.

Geomagnetic field activity is expected to reach unsettled levels on 14-15 Oct due to possible weak CH HSS effects. Unsettled to active levels are expected on 21 Oct and 24-28 with G1 (Minor) geomagnetic storm levels likely on 24-25 Oct due to recurrent CH HSS effects.

Don’t forget to visit our live space weather and radio propagation web site, at: http://SunSpotWatch.com/

Live Aurora mapping is at http://aurora.sunspotwatch.com/

If you are on Twitter, please follow these two users: 1. https://Twitter.com/NW7US 2. https://Twitter.com/hfradiospacewx

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Links of interest:

+ Amazon space weather books: http://g.nw7us.us/fbssw-aSWSC
+ https://Twitter.com/NW7US
+ https://Twitter.com/hfradiospacewx

Space Weather and Ham Radio YouTube Channel News:

I am working on launching a YouTube channel overhaul, that includes series of videos about space weather, radio signal propagation, and more.

Additionally, I am working on improving the educational efforts via the email, Facebook, YouTube, Tumblr, and other activities.

You can help!

Please consider becoming a Patron of these space weather and radio communications services, beginning with the YouTube channel:

https://www.patreon.com/NW7US

The YouTube channel:
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Visit, subscribe: NW7US Radio Communications and Propagation YouTube Channel

Well once the headphones were repaired and I ran through the starting of the radio software and making sure it was speaking politely to the radio I was off to try my hand at FT8. I was calling CQ on 20m and on Hamspots my call was being spotted in Europe and I was thrilled! Back at my condo QTH in Toronto I was only spotted in the U.S. and there was a spot in Iceland as well. It was not long at all until IU8DON from Italy answered my CQ call on FT8!! I was amazed that my signal was making it finally across the ocean. I did not have to much time after the sorting of the software and radio communication testing but the contact with Italy just made my day!
Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

AmateurLogic.TV Episode 135 is now available for download.

October marks the 14th Anniversary of AmateurLogic.TV. We celebrate the event by awarding one lucky viewer an Icom IC-7300 transceiver with all the accessories you need for a complete HF station.
Peter’s back for the party with an update on what he’s been up to and details of his Friedrichshofen Germany Hamfest visit.
Tommy has tips for easily configuring the MFJ-1234 RigPi Stations Server.
Why fatigue your ears unnecessarily? Get the noise out with Emile’s guide to proper RF Gain adjustment.
Enjoy quick and friendly HF operation. George has the details on how to combine a HF Transceiver with a SDR Play and MFJ SDR T/R Switch for complementary interaction.

1:49:44

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YouTube

George Thomas, W5JDX, is co-host of AmateurLogic.TV, an original amateur radio video program hosted by George Thomas (W5JDX), Tommy Martin (N5ZNO), Peter Berrett (VK3PB), and Emile Diodene (KE5QKR). Contact him at [email protected].

In this episode, Martin M1MRB is joined by Leslie Butterfield G0CIB, Edmund Spicer M0MNG and Matthew Nassau M0NJX to discuss the latest Amateur / Ham Radio news. Colin M6BOY rounds up the news in brief and this episode’s feature is Homebrew Heroes.

ICQ AMATEUR/HAM RADIO PODCAST DONORS

We would like to thank David Reid (W6KL) and our monthly and annual subscription donors for keeping the podcast advert free. To donate, please visit - http://www.icqpodcast.com/donate

- OR Prefix Celebrates Belgium Princess Birthday - US radio ham flies to UK to present First Class Operator Club Honor - SOTA Mountain Goat Award - Ofcom 2018/19 Annual Report - GB3JV London TV Repeater - Melbourne QRP by the Bay - HAREC exams at HAMEXPO show 12 October 2019

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

The Homebrew Heroes Award Program announced its first annual recipient, Hans Summers, Call Sign G0UPL. The recipient is the very popular proprietor of QRP Labs and maker of numerous homebrew style projects in amateur radio. He’s been producing them for over a decade now. The details are available at this link, including a video of the award to Hans. Being involved with launching the Homebrew Heroes Awards Program with Martin Butler M1MRB and Colin Butler M6BOY on the Steering Committee has been exciting as we’ve been very busy with development since the idea hatched at Xenia Hamvention this past May. But the payoff is seeing the impact that such attention can bring to a most deserving recpient, like Hero 2019 Hans Summers. “I am just blown away by it all!” said Hans when he received the plaque and customized clothing designating him as Homebrew Hero for 2019. This annual award recognizes persons, groups or organizations who help define the frontiers in amateur radio technology through the long-standing tradition of “home brew” construction. This is the first of the annual awards to be given by the new program, housed at the website address, homebrewheroes.org. A video of the award is available here. A longer feature interview with Hans is available in Episode 308 of the ICQ Podcast which is the promotional partner of the Award Program.
Frank Howell, K4FMH, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Mississippi, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

Our new hobby room

This weekend in Canada is a long weekend as we celebrate Thanksgiving. Today Julie and I agreed to take a break from getting our new place looking how we like it and have a hobby day. For me it's amateur radio and for Julie it's quilting. This past week I finished off our hobby room, Julie and I hobby in the same room. In the picture you can see Julie's sewing machine table and opposite to that is her cutting table and my hobby is in the roll top desk. The walls at this point are still naked  as I want to wait for about a week for the paint to be fully dry before we hang any wall items.

The wire and broken support issue

The window in about 4 weeks is going to be changed out with a new window that is almost twice the size of what is in the picture. That should really brighten up the space. My plan for my hobby day was to make sure the my radio and PC software were still getting along after putting my station back together and then I wanted to just go over the radio manual and re-familiarize myself with the radio. I turned on the Icom fitted on the headphones (Julie does not consider CW to be music to her ears) and low and behold only the right side of the headphones was working! We this side lined the plan for the morning. The headphones are AGK K240 studio headphones and I have had them for about 5 years and they are just great. Upon removing the headphone cover plate (non technical term) I two unfortunate things. The first was two wires that were torn off their termination and the other issue was  a broken support which was the reason the wires were torn off. Since these are the best headphones I have had in a long time I was determined to repair them. With the combination of a glue gun and soldering iron the job was completed and the K240 headphones are back in service. 

Glue gun nicely repaired the support issue.

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

It's now official on paper with my new call sign for New Brunswick. Funny thing the other evening I was calling CQ (CW) and a few times I used my old call without evening noticing it. Old habits die hard I guess.....it's just going to take time to get the new call rolling off the key like the old one did.
Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].