AmateurRadio.com

Welcome to the 296th installment of Linux in the Ham Shack. In this episode, the hosts discuss Bill teaching our children (yikes), VHF propagation, the International Lighthouse Lightship Weekend, YOTA, Linux Journal, Huawei, QSSTV and much more. Thank you for downloading and listening to this episode and we hope you all have a wonderful week of amateur radio and open source.

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].

Now that I'm getting up there in age......well heck I was always like this and it really has nothing to do with age! Have you ever put something somewhere so you would not forget where it was.....to only look for it one day saying to yourself " I know I put it somewhere I would not forget but I forgot! Many time with Ham radio I have had items that were used very seldom and when needed it I  just get very frustrated looking EVERYWHERE and just not being able to find it. Oh and I do want to mention that when I do find what ever it is I don't need it anymore. I have found myself looking for certain soldering tips for my Weller soldering station, a nice long DVI cable, wall warts and the list goes on. Most times it has ended in frustration not being able to locate something I know I have and at the time very much needed.
Once I eventually find what I was looking for here is what I do......When originally looking I take note of the first place I went and tried to locate it. This place at the time seemed the most logical place for me to have put it, once I find the item it is returned to this first place I looked . I also with my iPhone take a picture of it in the place I placed it. This may sound silly but for me it really has worked. Many times when I went to look for this item once again I actually looked in this first place that logically comes to mind and there it was. If the spot I was wanting to place it did not seem to be the right fit, for example a Weller soldering tip in a spot were it could easily fall and get lost I put a 3x5 card there with it's location. With ham radio (for me anyway) I have found myself turning the shack upside down for an item I know I have but can't locate and the above ideas help me out a great deal. Are there any ideas my fellow ham's that you can add?
Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

Here is this week’s space weather and geophysical report, issued 2019 Aug 12 0624 UTC.

Highlights of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity 05 – 11 August 2019

Solar activity was very low. No Earth-directed CMEs were observed during the period.

No proton events were observed at geosynchronous orbit.

The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit was at moderate levels on 05 Aug and at high levels from 06-11 Aug. The largest flux of the period was 26,161 pfu observed at 07/1930 UTC.

Geomagnetic field activity was at quiet to G1 (Minor) storm levels over the period. The period began as a positive polarity coronal hole high speed stream (CH HSS) was becoming geoeffective. Total field increased to 23 nT by 05/0855 UTC as the Bz component became variable between +11 nT/-19 nT. Solar wind speed reached a maximum of 745 km/s at 06/0750 UTC. The geomagnetic field responded with four consecutive periods of G1 (Minor) storm levels on 05 Aug followed by quiet to unsettled levels on 06 Aug. Two further enhancements in solar wind speed were observed on 08 Aug and on 09-10 Aug. The first peaked around 575 km/s while the second peaked at approximately 650 km/s. However, no significant increases in total field were observed. Quiet conditions were observed on 07 Aug with quiet to unsettled levels on 08-11 Aug.

Forecast of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity 12 August – 07 September 2019

Solar activity is expected to continue at very low levels for the forecast period (12 Aug-07 Sep).

No proton events are expected at geosynchronous orbit.

The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to reach high levels on12-16 Aug and again on 02-07 Sep due to recurrent CH HSS influence.

Geomagnetic field activity is expected to be reach unsettled levels on 12 Aug, 16 Aug, 26-28 Aug, and 06-07 Sep due to recurrent CH HSS activity. Unsettled to active levels are expected on 01-02 Sep with G1 (Minor) storming likely on 01 Sep also due to recurrent CH HSS activity.

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

HF Signals the small company in India headed by VU2ESE, that has recently brought us lots of fun with the BITX40 and the uBITX HF radio kits, has now done it again with the launch of the Antuino.

His headline for the device is A compact Radio Lab for Antennas and Radio circuits.








I would like to think of it as a mini Radio Test Set that can help us understand what is going on up the antenna, as well as being useful tool to help analyse what is happening within the radio or what problems exist within the RF signal it outputs. The plus of course it is hackable, so anyone can join in the fun and improve it with addons or make it's firmware better.

At $99 this is sure going to be another useful instrument to any Amateurs test equipment toolbox.

For a better understanding pop down to HF signals link http://www.hfsignals.com/index.php/antuino/






Steve, G1KQH, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from England. Contact him at [email protected].

Just a quicky from me to thank you all for your recent  best wishes you sent, some that reached me via email. The same problems still exist, but I am still around, and the Blog maybe quiet while I tackle the stranglehold, but I will be writing some more in the weeks or months to come or even later today, it will not become a dead ended Blog.



All the best to you all!


73 Steve
Steve, G1KQH, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from England. Contact him at [email protected].

And so it begins

I sure do hope this is the last move for a very very long time. Today it was time to pack up the shack equipment and all the millions of cables. I was very fortunate I kept the boxes for most of the gear as packing it in the OEM box is the way to go and make sure it arrives in one piece at the other end. For the past few weeks I would not had been able to get on the air anyway as the room where the radio is has been over run with packed boxes. Once we get down to the new place in New Brunswick time will be spent setting up the house and fixing little odd's and ends that the home inspector made us aware of. Once all these jobs have been taken care of then it will be time to set things in motion and
begin the setup of the radio. As for an antenna I am for the short term going to use the MFJ 1788 loop unit I get my bearings regarding an antenna. One thing I am looking forward to is getting on WSPR and finding out where my signal carries from the new location on the east coast. Before all this happens I will look into my new 2 letter VE9 call not sure how long this application process will be. I will look after this as soon as we move, by the time the boxes are unpacked and we are settled in I hope to be sporting a new VE9 call. The Icom 7610 in it's own OEM box will be riding the trip in my SUV and not the truck. As well as the other 2 boxes of goodies that will be not in the truck but the smooth ride of the SUV. Once things were all packed it was hard to believe all the power and control cables I had. When you slowly add items to the shack you just don't see all the cables you really do have. One thing I always took the time to do was label each cable. When you pull and pack everything no matter how sharp you are it's impossible to remember where each cable goes. The labeling of each cable has made a possible grey hair experience way more pleasurable.

To top off the box...cables and cables.

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

The following blogspot was originally published in July, 2016. Hopefully some will find this of interest as the topic is still very relevant.

***************


A recent posting on Yahoo's Perseus SDR Group inquired about the use of external or PC-based DSP manipulation of signals partially masked by noise to improve readability. The most interesting part of this short discussion was the result of one response indicating:


"BTW one of the best and most simple noise reductions is to lower the volume."

to which the original inquirer responded:

"BTW, lower the volume to reduce noise ... ?? That was a joke, right ??"

Other comments soon followed, including my own, initially:

"Actually, for whatever reason, this works...at least when copying very very weak CW signals. I think it is more of an ear-brain thing where the noise
gets more focus than the signal when listening at moderate levels but
cranking everything down to a very low level has always improved copy for
me....not sure why this works as well as it does."

From Roelof Bakker, PAØRDT:

"The ear brain system works much better at low volume as it is easily
overloaded by strong signals. Similar like too much direct light in 
your eyes will degrade contrast. I guess this is getting worse with
age, but I am not sure about that.

I have been watching many videos on YouTube which demonstrate ham
radio gear and most if not all use far to high volume settings,
which degrades readability. I believe it is a normal habit to raise
the volume for weak signals, but this is often contra productive.

When listening for weak signals at low volume settings, a quiet room
is mandatory. I have taken considerable effort in building a quiet
PC, that is aurally quiet.

What does wonders for copying weak signals with the PERSEUS is to
switch off the AGC."


"No it's not a joke and it's not the RF Gain. It's one of the capabilities of the human ear.

Of course qrm can be limited and reduced but noise is difficult. What you often see is that with all those noise reduction things is that the volume drops. Make an audio recording of a part with and without a (white) noise limiter switched on. Open it into an audio editor and you will see that the amplitude of the part where the noise reduction is on is lower. Now amplify that part to the same level as where the limiter is not active and play it back. You will be astonished how little the difference is.

It's probably also a thing that can differ from person to person but I've never seen tools that can make an unreadable signal readable. Most of the time they sound just different, not better."

Likely there is a ton of data showing how our ear / brain link deals with noise or tones buried in noise. With audio levels set to anything above bare minimum, I think it's very easy for your brain to react mainly to the noise and not to the tone. Reducing this level possibly puts the two back on even levels ... even though there really has been no change in signal-to-noise ratio.

When trying to copy very weak, difficult signals, I've always found that turning audio levels down to bare minimums helps me personally. As Roelof mentioned, the entire environment must be dead quiet as well so that there are no outside distractions. Even the sounds of the headphone cord, brushing against clothing or the table top, can make the difference between copy and no copy. Decades of copying very weak ndb CW idents buried in the noise as well as spending several years on 2m CW moonbounce, has taught me that my ear-brain connection works best when audio inputs are very, very low.

courtesy: http://justagwailo.com/

As an interesting aside, my years of copying weak CW tones, has shown itself in other ways as well. Before retirement as a high school tech ed teacher, staff were required to have their hearing checked annually, as part of the medical plan's requirement. Each year the mobile audio lab would roll-up for the tests. I would always make sure to sit perfectly still, with no headphone cord wires brushing against my clothing. The tones varied in frequency and intensity and were often extremely weak, not unlike the weak echoes I was used to copying from the lunar surface. The reaction from the examiner was always the same, every year ... complete astonishment when checking the results and usually a comment that I had the hearing of a teenager! Thankfully my hearing, which I've always been careful to protect, remains exceptionally good, for which I am truly grateful ... so often this is a genetic thing and there is little one can do about controlling hearing-loss as one ages.

I shudder anytime I see a young person with headphones or earbuds firmly in place and with the music volume cranked up to unbelievably high levels. Sadly, many of them will likely pay the price for this later in life as such hammering-away at the delicate auditory mechanism has a cumulative rather than a short-term effect.

So ... the next time you find yourself trying to copy that ultra-weak signal just riding along in the noise, try turning the audio way, way down. Take a deep breath and listen to the tone, not the noise. If you ask me, the best signal filter is still the one between our ears.
Steve McDonald, VE7SL, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from British Columbia, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].