AmateurRadio.com

RIDGELAND, MS September 2, 2019. A very popular podcast about the ham radio workbench scene has joined the donor list for the Homebrew Heroes Award Program. George Zafiropoulos KJ6VU, co-host of the Ham Radio Workbench show, said, “While we were aware of the Homebrew Heroes Awards Program being organized shortly after Hamvention this year, we were not sure how we could help, other than to promote it on our own podcast. But when Digilent Inc. led the corporate donor list by committing to donate their very popular Analogue Discovery 2 test gear to the recipient, it became very clear. Our new Benchduino kit, which connects directly to the AD2 for design development, is a perfect addition for the 2019 recipient!”

Martin Butler M1MRB, HHA Steering Committee Member, said, “I’ve used the Digilent device, the AD2, and this donation by these innovative chaps just hits the spot for the prize package. The many test and measurement tools in the AD2 when it’s connected to the Benchduino platform just help the homebrewer get things done properly and in short order.” Frank Howell K4FMH, also of the Steering Committee, said, “This addition to our prize donor roster is most appreciated. It exemplifies the spirit of the Award that we are offering: helping others by example, including the fruits of one’s labor at his or her own workbench.” Colin Butler, M6BOY, the third member of the HHA Steering Committee emphasized, “The lads on the Hamradio Workbench show are demonstrating what this Award is about. There addition just underscores the reception of it by the homebrew space in amateur radio.”

Jeremy Kolonay KF7IJZ, co-host of HRW, added, “This just works out perfectly. Our show focuses on what the Homebrew Heroes concept is about: helping the homebrewer and maker audience in amateur radio learn more about the science and craft of designing and building new things.” The podcast has committed to donate multiple Benchduino sets so as to cover the various development platforms the Homebrew Heroes Award 2019 recipient might use.

Our new Benchduino kit, which connects directly to the AD2 for design development, is a perfect addition for the 2019 recipient!

George KJ6VU, co-host of the Hamradio Workbench Podcast

The Benchduino is a new project developed and offered for sale by the two co-hosts of the Ham Radio Workbench podcast. An active community of homebrewers have joined the support group at Google.io. The technical specifications are as follows, taken from the HRB website:

The BenchDuino is a development platform for building projects based on the Arduino, Raspberry Pi and PIC microcontrollers. The platform defines a common foot print for processor and expansion boards to make it easy to expand the functionality of the system. The BenchDuino motherboard includes many commonly used peripherals which can be connected to the CPU pins with jumper wires or plug in shunts. The BenchDuino is an open platform and we encourage the development of plug-in CPU and expansion boards.

CPU Boards Available: Arduino Mega, using a RobotDyn Embedded 2560 high end 8 bit MCU; Raspberry Pi Zero; PIC – 40 pin 18F series processor such as the 18F4620; and Adafruit Feather common foot print.

Built-in Peripherals include: (Jumper selectable 5v or 3.3v operation), 4 push button switches, 3 slide switches, 4 LEDs, 2×16 Character I2C or parallel LCD display, 1.3″ I2C OLED bitmap display, 1 Potentiometer, 1 Rotary encoder, Xbee data radio socket, Digilent Analog Discovery II test equipment jack, and various jumper blocks.

The Homebrew Hero Award details can be read at it’s website, homebrewheroes.org. Questions or interesting in joining the corporate prize donor list can be submitted through the website. The promotional partner for the HHA is the ICQPodcast. Martin M1MRB, Colin M6BOY and Frank K4FMH are Presenters on the podcast, now in it’s 12th year with over 300 episodes. The podcast home is at ICQPodcast.com.

Frank Howell, K4FMH, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Mississippi, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

Here is this week’s space weather and geophysical report, issued 2019 Sep 02 0207 UTC.

Highlights of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity 26 August – 01 September 2019

Solar activity was at very low levels. New Region 2748 (N14, L=205, class/area Bxo/010 on 01 Sep) emerged on the disk, but remained quiet and stable. 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 moderate levels on 26 Aug, normal levels on 27-30 Aug, high levels on 31 Aug and very high levels on 01 Sep. Electron flux reached a maximum of 53,007 pfu at 01/2015 UTC.

Geomagnetic field activity ranged from quiet to unsettled levels on 26-27 Aug due to influence from a weak, negative polarity CH HSS. Quiet conditions persisted from late on 27 Aug through midday on 30 Aug. From midday on 30 Aug through 01 Sep, field activity increased to unsettled to G1 (minor) and G2 (moderate) levels as Earth came under the influence of a large, recurrent positive polarity CH HSS. 30 Aug saw a SSBC from a negative to a positive sector in advance of a CIR, all preceding the CH HSS. 31 Aug and 01 Sep observed active to G1 and G2 storm conditions. Wind speeds averaged about 750 km/s during this time frame with a peak of 835 km/s observed early on 01 Sep.

Forecast of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity 02 September – 28 September 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 to very high levels on 02-13 Sep and again on 27-28 Sep. Normal to moderate levels are expected on 14-26 Sep.

Geomagnetic field activity is expected to be at G1 (minor) storm levels on 02 Sep and G1 (minor) to G2 (moderate) storm levels on 27-28 Sep due to positive polarity CH HSS influence. Unsettled levels are expected on 03, 07-08, 23, and 26 Sep 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

– – – – – – – – – – – – –

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

..

Visit, subscribe: NW7US Radio Communications and Propagation YouTube Channel

Ham College episode 56 is now available for download.

General Amateur Radio Exam part 27. Meters, Batteries, RF Exposure.
Plus surprise visit from Ray Novak, N9JA live in the Icom booth at Tokyo Hamfair 2019. Preview ground breaking new technology.
01:30:26

Download
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].

Presenting the new Icom-705. Recorded live from Tokyo Hamfair 8/31/2019 during Ham College episode 56. Thanks to Erii JP3JZK and Ray Novak, N9JA from Icom.

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].

Recorded live from Tokyo Hamfair 8/31/2019 during Ham College episode 56. Ray Novak, N9JA shows us what’s been going on with new product development at Icom.

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 Chris Howard M0TCH, Martin Rothwell M0SGL, Ed Durrant DD5LP, Frank Howell K4FMH and Bill Barnes N3JIX to discuss the latest Amateur / Ham Radio news. Colin M6BOY rounds up the news in brief and this episode’s feature is the GB55RC activation onboard Radio Caroline at the start of August.

ICQ AMATEUR/HAM RADIO PODCAST DONORS We would like to thank Joe Ferguson (W4JF) and our monthly and annual subscription donors for keeping the podcast advert free. To donate, please visit - http://www.icqpodcast.com/donate

- Parks on the Air Come to England - World's First FT8 Contact on 122 GHz - VRT Withdraws Slur Against Radio Amateurs - BBC Service to Kashmir on Shortwave Increased - Ideas Sought for the Next FUNcube Satellite - Hiram Percy Maxim 150th Birthday Celebration - Radio Hams Continue Support of RNLI - Automated Contacts Prohibited - RSGB Release Mock Exam Papers

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

Packed to the back door

Well we have completed our move to just outside of Moncton New Brunswick! I applied online with the government of Canada for my new call sign for New Brunswick and my choice was VE9KK. I felt this had a good ring for CW, because I am in New Brunswick I will be a VE9 but the KK seemed a good mix for CW. My rig, desk and PC are all still packed up as I wanted to clean and setup the new home before any ham radio "stuff" made it's way out of any boxes. Julie for sure would not be thrilled if the home was not setup and I was already into my ham radio boxes. As for an antenna I am going to for the short term use the MFJ mag loop until I get my bearings with regards to a  permanent   antenna. We decided to do the move from Ontario ourselves instead of getting a pro mover. The cost was well under half price and was it worth it.......yes it was. I was told by the pro mover that our belongings would take up to 28 day to make it's way down to use as we would not fill a full 45 foot trailer (not even close) so we would have to wait until the trailer was loaded and they would head down and thus the 28 days. I did look at some smaller move companies but the reviews were just horror stories! Julie and I decided that renting a truck and me driving it down was our best way. This way we had control our arrival time and I could only blame myself if stuff was damaged.
So we loaded up the truck ourselves and I drove the truck down down from Toronto to Moncton.....now Goggle maps says its about 12-15 hours. Well let me tell that is under PERFECT conditions. BUT we ran into major traffic issues and then rain like I have never seen for a long long time. The drive with two over night stop overs was 22 hours. We had two stop overs and the longest  drive as day 2 at 15 hours!
Since we are somewhat in the country I am looking forward to a lower noise floor that in the city of Toronto. I am excited to see what DX is available from the east coast as well as exploring HF antenna opportunities. In the mean time I may dig out one of my active antennas and connect it up to my small KX3 and see how the bands and noise floor is like down here.
Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].