AmateurRadio.com

Stories you’ll find in our September, 2019 issue:

TSM Reviews:
Airspy HF+ Discovery: It’s a Whole New World of Radio
By Larry Van Horn N5FPW and Gayle Van Horn W4GVH

While the term “digital radio” has been around since the 1970s in US government circles, it wasn’t until 1984 that the term “software defined radio” first surfaced. At first, many old-timers in the radio hobby scoffed at the idea that any radio that didn’t have a tuning knob and all the circuitry associated with it was a real radio. People pushing a computer-based technology were on the outside looking in as far as major manufacturers were concerned. It did not take long for software defined radio, or SDR, to come out of the shadows and be embraced by the radio hobby industry. Larry takes a look at the Airspy HF+ Discovery, the latest in a series of high-performance, low cost SDRs that are changing the world of HF radio listening.

Digital TV Ten Years Later and ATSC 3.0 Today
By Ken Reitz KS4ZR

The mass migration of analog television transmissions to digital television (DTV) broadcasting in the US officially went into effect June 12, 2009. The run up to the switch was years in development and involved extensive technical testing and a huge investment on the part of broadcast TV interests. There was nothing smooth about the transition. Ten years later, the dream of HDTV with 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound has faded considerably, with few channels actually achieving that benchmark. Now the FCC is preparing to do it again—this time with DTV’s successor: ATSC 3.0, which promises landmark 4K Over-the-Air TV channels and auxiliary channels in HDTV. Unfortunately, ATSC 3.0 is not compatible with any ATSC 1.0 TV sets in use today. Having failed to deliver ATSC 1.0, will the broadcast TV industry be able to deliver on ATSC 3.0.? And, anyway, whatever happened to ATSC 2.0?

The Hunt for the Bismarck
By Scott A. Caldwell

Summer 1941 was a dark time for the British Empire, which in reality was alone and isolated. Nazi Germany was rampant in its military conquest of mainland Europe and now one of the most powerful battleships in the world was ready for a commerce raiding campaign in the North Atlantic Ocean. The pursuit and sinking of the Bismarck was a turning point in naval strategy that was based on the utilization of a central command structure, which acted as a clearing house for intelligence information. Scott examines the communications systems used by both German and British commanders and how mistakes were made on both sides that led to the sinking of both German and British naval vessels and how the eventual sinking of the Bismarck became a turning point in the war for sea superiority.

Zen and the Art of
Amateur Radio Club Maintenance – Part 2
By Cory GB Sickles WA3UVV

If you did your homework from the previous installment, you have some better perspective into the size, finances, direction and overall health of your amateur radio club. Hopefully, you did not find yourself in or on the edge of critical mass, where your organization is about to fail. Even if you did, there is probably time to still be able to turn things around. If not, then perhaps the answer is to reflect on what went wrong and start anew. Cory gives us all more tips on how to save your ham club from itself.

Scanning America
By Dan Veeneman
Scanning Sumner County, Tennessee

Federal Wavelengths
By Chris Parris
Nevada DoE Update; FAA Closeup

Milcom
Larry Van Horn N5FPW
Phantoms in the Desert

Utility Planet
By Hugh Stegman
It’s Summer “Numbers” Time!

Shortwave Utility Logs
By Hugh Stegman and Mike Chace-Ortiz

VHF and Above
By Joe Lynch N6CL
PTRX-7300: A Panadapter Module for the IC-7300

Digitally Speaking
By Cory GB Sickles WA3UVV
Digital Voice Moves On

Radio 101
By Ken Reitz KS4ZR
Hits and Misses: Grace Digital Mondo+

The World of Shortwave Listening
By Jeff White, Secretary-Treasurer NASB
Can the Internet Replace Shortwave? Plus: NASB and SWL Fest 2019 Report

The Shortwave Listener
By Fred Waterer
WWII Radio Commemorations

Amateur Radio Satellites
By Keith Baker KB1SF/VA3KSF
Amateur Radio Satellite Primer (Part V)

The Longwave Zone
By Kevin O’Hern Carey N2AFX
Gearing Up!

Adventures in Radio Restoration
By Rich Post KB8TAD
Reviving a “Poor Man’s Collins” The Heathkit SB-301 Receiver

Antenna Connections
By Dan Farber AC0LW
Top Band: Antennas for 160 Meters

The Spectrum Monitor is available in PDF format which can be read on any desktop, laptop, iPad®, Kindle® Fire, or other device capable of opening a PDF file. Annual subscription is $24. Individual monthly issues are available for $3 each.

Hello to my friends and Directors of the ARRL,

I noted with pleasure that the ARRL Board has passed a motion addressing HF data bandwidth.

For many years, there has been an outcry from HF AM operators to have the ARRL Board address the situation of the original ‘Gentlemen’s’ agreement that was set up – basically from the stations that operated AM. In the mid 50’s, SSB became more in use, the “wars” began and I can attest, personally that there were actual wars. I was not a part of the physical ‘wars’ but knew some that did get involved. All of this came to the end when both sides met and formed a ‘Gentlemen’s agreement which – at the time, the ARRL helped to adopt and publish the agreement. Everything became calm. The two modes worked side by side, respecting each other.

The ‘agreement ‘ on 75 meters was originally 1.885 – 1.900, 3.870 – 3.890. 7.290 – 7.295. 14.280 – 14.290 This ‘Gentlemen’s’ agreement worked for more that a decade but as new license holders came on the scene, they knew nothing of this verbal agreement as the ARRL no longer published or admonish the original ‘Gentlemen’s’ agreement. Little was said of it – nor the need. If they did publish, one had to dig deep to find any of the information about the AM window. To answer some of the complaints , the ARRL set out to publish their own band plans… however most of the times the band plan is published, the AM Window is never mentioned…. Perhaps just a calling frequency. The DX windows, the SSTV windows have all been rewarded the strength of the ARRL to help publish their operating window and helped to keep those published and policed. Why has the ARRL not continued what was set forth back in the late 1950’s ?

With the advent of the newer transmitters and SDR equipment that all work beautifully on AM, there is a resurgence of the mode joining the scores of vintage operators that have been operating in those windows for many years….. usually having to put up with many unruly operators that could care less about a’window’. Little is published or talked about from the ARRL, so why should they worry? The respect of other operators has certainly dwindled. The other issue of maintaining these windows, is that new operators are invited to join an entirely new form of Amateur Radio communication. Without your help, AM operation sometimes become a vast wasteland of SSB operators that feel they can land anywhere, thus causing very unwelcome places to operate. Each of us work hard to bring young operators onto the frequency bands, but I know – first hand that when some of these brilliant, inquisitive young minds are looking into modes that have never worked they sometimes discover some very unpleasant conversations. All of this can be corrected by publications, articles and some policing by the new Volunteer Observers organization. Without the help of the Board of Directors to maintain this ‘Agreement’, the VOO have no ’teeth’.

I, along with many AM operators truly believe that if the Board of Directors would address THIS situation as they have the data bandwidth situation, it will further the development of new operators to join fellow AM operators and brings yet another aspect of Amateur Radio without conflict.

I look forward to being of any help to bring the ‘Gentlemen’s Agreement’ back into play.

Regards,

Dr. Bob Heil, K9EID

A few days ago I was tuning 40 meters, I heard some slow CW, about 8 wpm. As I mentally copied the CW, my mind drifted back to 1956 when I first became a ham. Back then, to be a Novice, you had to know CW at 5 wpm and pass a written test. Well, the anticipation of being able to communicate with people by radio from your home was a tremendous turn-on for me.

At an early age, I built crystal radios, and would listen far into the night, sliding my contact arm on the home wound coil and using a cat whisker to peck around in the crystal. My earphones gave just enough volume to hear baseball games, storytellers and even picked up some stations with languages foreign for a ten year old.

Later, I would pull my red wagon up and down alleys, and gather anything that was remotely connected to electricity. Motors from washing machines, junked radios, and on one occasion I hit the jackpot with a television!

With an old coal bin in the basement turned into my “shack,” I would spend hours tearing apart motors, radios, vacuums and getting them running. My greatest accomplishment was repairing a TV, as at that time my parents did not have one! What a surprise when they returned home from work and found me watching a RCA 9″ TV with Howdy Doody!

The year before I entered High School I took my Novice test and passed and became a Novice. With money from my paper route I had bought a used SX-99 Hallicrafters receiver and a Heathkit transmitter. I strung a dipole between my neighbors house and mine. With a few fixed crystals I was ready to talk to the world. Hour after hour I would send out CQ’s and tune up and down for reply’s. I made hundreds of CW contacts from all over the US and even some DX!

I was now ready for the big time. Phone! Voice! AM! Time to get my General. Aha! 13 wpm CW and a technical test on vacuum tubes, power supplies, receivers, transmitters, rules, and operating procedures. Well I had read, studied, used, and practiced CW till I was blue in the face. Test time came and as I set in the cold, dreary FCC testing room in St. Louis, my palms sweated and my hands trembled. What was this 13 year boy trying to do? Fourteen other adults and me.

Then came the CW test. We had to copy 13 words error free out of a 5 minute test. The tape was turned on. The first sounds were like the blast of a machine gun. Just one continuous stream of ‘dits’ and ‘dahs.’ After about one minute I had a jumbo mix of letters and numbers that made little or no sense. Trying to focus I let my mind start leading my fingers with little or no thinking about what I was copying. I did not look back at the words, I just kept copying and writing.

Suddenly the tape ended. The silence was almost deafening. Out of the 15 in the room, four got up and left without turning in their CW copy. I quickly scanned the crooked letters on the paper. There were words! Real words five letters long. Did I have 13 in a row? The monitor quickly gathered the papers. He said that we could not take the written test unless we passed the CW portion. Two more got up and walked out!

Time passed as I watched the second hand on the clock seemingly stop, and at one point it appeared to actually click backwards! The monitor called each individual up to the front. He mumbled a few words and the individual either returned to his seat or if he had failed he would walk out. Then with a thundering roar like God from Mount Sinai, I heard my name! This was the do or die, the beginning or the end, to fly like an Eagle or sink like a rock. I slowly rose, my knees felt weak, a sicken feeling rose from stomach. Did I pass? Would I have to do this all over in 3 months? He looked in my eyes and raised the test paper. Here it comes. “You managed to pass.” he mumbled. Return to your seat for the written portion.

I had not really let it sink in. I had actually passed! I had actually passed! As I fell limply into my seat I knew that I was going to be a General Class Amateur. The technical test would be a no-brainer. In about an hour, he said the magic words. “Congratulations K9LLY.”

Today I am still active with an Extra Class License and former President of a radio club in Florida. I still love the hobby and find the new technical modes exciting. We are getting young people involved again, despite the competition from cell phones, games and PC’s.

Welcome to Episode 301 of Linux in the Ham Shack. In this episode, the hosts have an in-depth talk with Andy Taylor, MW0MWZ, the author and maintainer of the Pi-Star project. Pi-Star is a Linux operating system and application suite for single-board computers which creates a hotspot for digital VHF and UHF operation. We quickly discover this topic requires more than one deep dive so this will be the first in a series on Pi-Star and digital operation. Thank you for listening!

73 de The LHS Crew

Here is this week’s space weather and geophysical report, issued 2019 Sep 09 0301 UTC.

Highlights of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity 02 – 08 September 2019

Solar activity was at very low levels. Region 2748 (N14, L=205, class/area Hsx/020 on 02 Sep) was quiet and stable and decayed to plage on 03 Sep. No Earth-directed CMEs were observed.

No proton events were observed at geosynchronous orbit.

The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit was at very high levels on 02-04 Sep and high levels on 05-08 Sep. Electron flux reached a maximum of 87,900 pfu at 04/1835 UTC.

Geomagnetic field activity ranged from quiet to G1 (minor) storm levels on 02 Sep due to effects from a large, recurrent, positive polarity CH HSS. From 03-06 Sep, quiet to active levels were observed as HSS effects continued. Quiet to unsettled levels were observed from 07-08 Sep. Wind speeds began the period near 750 km/s, but slowly decayed to end the period near 400 km/s.

Forecast of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity 09 September – 05 October 2019

Solar activity is expected to be 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 be at high levels from 09-13 Sep, and again from 27 Sep – 06 Oct due to HSS effects. Normal to moderate levels are expected on 14-26 Sep.

Geomagnetic field activity is expected to be at mostly quiet levels on 09-26 Sep. Isolated unsettled periods are possible on 23, 26 and 30 Sep, and 01-03 Oct. G1 (minor) to G2 (moderate) geomagnetic storm levels are likely on 27-29 Sep due to positive polarity 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

– – – – – – – – – – – – –

Be sure to subscribe to our space weather and propagation email group, on Groups.io

https://groups.io/g/propagation-and-space-weather

Spread the word!

– – – – – – – – – – – – –

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:
https://YouTube.com/NW7US

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Back in 2014, Joyce/K0JJW and I did the first activation of W0C/SP-089 (also known by its elevation: 10525). See the trip report here.

As noted in that trip report, we never did find much of a trail so we had to do some serious offtrail bushwacking. Being on the summit was great but bushwacking up was not. Later Walt/W0CP found a much better route using the Davis Meadow Trail. We definitely wanted to try this route and get back on top of that summit.

We approached the Davis Meadow Trailhead from the east via Highways 285 / 24. We took FS 311 from Trout Creek Pass to FS 373, then FS 373A. FS 311 starts out in good condition, passable by high clearance 2WD vehicles. Later it turns into “easy 4WD” but it gets very steep in spots which may be a problem during wet weather. You can also approach from the west side coming up from Buena Vista. Check the San Isabel National Forest map for the complete picture.

Just to the east of the unnamed summit is a natural arch, marked on some maps as Aspen Arch. We’ve hiked up the arch on numerous occasions, often with visitors from out of state. So we’ve started referring to this unnamed SOTA as Aspen Arch, to differentiate it from the other unnamed summits in the area.

The Davis Meadow Trailhead is marked by a sign. Trail 1413 heads north and loops around the north side of SP-089. The trail is well laid out with plenty of switchbacks, much more than indicated on the Trails Illustrated map.

We followed the trail until it looped around the north side of SP-089. Marmot Peak, another SOTA summit (W0C/SP-063), sticks out prominently to the north and is a good landmark to use for navigating. As shown on the map above, we left the trail and bushwacked south up to the summit. I don’t claim that our route was optimal. It was classic offtrail hiking with some areas quite open and others clogged with plenty of downed trees and rocks. (Next time, I think we’ll try to stay a little further east of our recorded track. It looked a little better over there.)

The GPS app on my phone recorded the one-way hike as 2.7 miles and 1100 vertical feet.

We arrrived at the summit around noon and thunderstorms were moving into the area. We both made four quick radio contacts on 2m FM to get the activation points, then headed back down the trail.  The summit is exposed and very rocky but once we got off the top, we were hiking in trees with limited lightning danger. Thanks to Bob/W0BV, Jim/KD0MRC, Larry/KL7GLK and Kevin/KD0VHD for working us.

After our first bushwack adventure on this summit, we were not motived to activate this one again. However, using the Davis Meadow Trail has changed our opinion.  (Thanks Walt/W0CP!)  This route still has some offtrail bushwacking but it is not bad. We will be back!

The post A Better Route Up SOTA W0C/SP-089 appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site.

In this episode, Colin Butler (M6BOY) discusses training, licencing and growing the amateur radio hobby with Martin Butler (M1MRB/W9ICQ), Chris Howard M0TCH and Dan Romanchik (KB6NU).

ICQ AMATEUR/HAM RADIO PODCAST DONORS

We would like to thank Donald Gover (KC9ZMY ), Nigel Wells (2w0cgm) and John Baggott (K2BAG) and our monthly and annual subscription donors for keeping the podcast advert free. To donate, please visit - http://www.icqpodcast.com/donate

• International Air Ambulance Week 2019
• Eddie De Young (AE7AA) Named CQ Awards Editor