AmateurRadio.com

The time has come to move onto the next adventure in my life.....retirement. Today was my last day at work, a company were I had been for 30 years. It is going to be a huge routine change for me but I want to make sure in this next phase that I do get into a routine. There is some changes that are coming down the pipe that already have been put into motion. The first change is we are moving from Toronto Ontario to the out skirts of Moncton New Brunswick in Atlantic Canada. Julie and I are not city folks and were really only in Toronto as it was closer to where we both worked. New Brunswick offers a slower pace, lower cost of living, it may sound funny but it's dark at night and quite too. As for ham radio I will be changing to a VE9 call from my present VE3 call. I have always wanted a 2 letter call but here in Ontario it's a very difficult challenge. I noticed on our Federal Governments website that in New Brunswick there are plenty of 2 letter calls available. The other week I was looking at them to see which ones had a nice CW ring to them.
Once settled into the new place with boxes unpacked, furniture setup, the little "oh look at that" stuff around the house that has to be fixed and resting my weary bones once all that is said and done it's time to setup for radio.
I have always wanted to get involved in the CWops CW acadamy program to get my code speed up to some decent contest speed. I had looked at this program in the past but with work I just could not see myself having the needed time they were asking of students. I did not want to take a spot to find I could not complete the demanding program. I would have blocked someone who had the time and could advance. So this is a program I want to look into and get my code moving in the direction I have always wanted it too.
Paying more attention to my blog regarding posting and updating as I am sad to say it has taken a back seat. In the past I did not want to post for the sake of posting something. I hope with retirement and my increase activity in amateur radio with operating, reading and going to club meetings it will spur me on to posting.
Along with the above activities there will projects around the house, getting out to exercise and saying a warm hello to our new neighbours. Then there is the touring around the area that Julie and I can do as well.
I am not sure how many posts I will be pumping out in the near future as our move is at the end of August and before that it's the task we all love....packing. The the next task.....unpacking and setting up.
Thanks to all for your support with the reading and commenting on my blog and as the song goes
 "see you in September"


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

Welcome to the 293rd installment of Linux in the Ham Shack! In the episode, the hosts tackle topics from upcoming RSGB contests on the new, hot FT-4 mode, the origin of "Mayday" as a distress call, magloop antennas, CoreCtrl, the vanishing floppy disk, DMR (Digital Mobile Radio) and much more. Thank you for tuning in and have a wonderful 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].

Here is this week’s space weather and geophysical report, issued 2019 Jul 29 0117 UTC.

Highlights of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity 22 – 28 July 2019

Solar activity was at very low levels with no spotted regions on 22-28 July.

No proton events were observed at geosynchronous orbit.

The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit was at normal levels on 22-28 July.

Geomagnetic field activity reached unsettled levels on 22 July. Quiet levels were observed on 23-28 July.

Forecast of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity 29 July – 24 August 2019

Solar activity is expected to be at very low levels for the outlook period.

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 on 02-03 and 05-17 August due to recurrent coronal hole high speed stream influences. Normal to moderate levels are expected for the remainder of the outlook period.

Geomagnetic field activity is expected to be at active levels on 01 and 05-06 August due to recurrent coronal hole high speed stream influences. Quiet to unsettled levels are expected for the remainder of the outlook period.

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 55 is now available for download.

General Amateur Radio Exam part 26. RMS Voltage, Power Supply Filtering, Tower Safety.
01:03:40

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].

Siglent Technologies LTD in Solon Ohio joins the Homebrew Heroes Award list of corporate prize sponsors. Jason Chonko, Marketing Manager, Applications, announced their participation on Friday, July 16, 2019:

“The amateur radio and maker communities have embraced Siglent since our North American office opened over 5 years ago. Since then, we have been proud to work together with our customers to develop instrumentation that delivers high performance measurements at prices that are within reach for a broad group of people.

One of the highlights of our year is attending HAMVention and getting a chance to meet some of our best customers face-to-face and discuss some really challenging measurements. Siglent is proud to join the Homebrew Heroes award program and will be donating an SDS1202X-E oscilloscope, one of our most valuable products, to the annual recipient.”

The SDS1202X-E Series Super Phosphor Oscilloscope has a 200 mhz bandwidth, Intelligent triggers, 10 types of one-button shortcuts, History waveform record (History) function, 1 Mpts FFT, Large 7-inch TFT-LCD display with 800 * 480 resolution, Multiple interface types (USB Host, USB Device (USB-TMC), LAN (VXI-11), Pass / Fail, Trigger Out, and SCPI remote control commands), Bode plotting function controls external generator, and many other features. Details on the SDA1202X-E are at this link. For Siglent’s complete line of products, go to https://store.siglentamerica.com.

The Homebrew Heroes Award Program is delighted to have another corporate sponsor commit to honoring our recipients. We are sure that this prize will significantly enhance the Hero’s workbench in future work that will benefit the amateur radio community. For more details on the Homebrew Heroes Award program, go to HomebrewHeroes.org.

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

ZSJ - 258 kHz Sandy Lake, ON : source

This coming weekend will see another monthly CLE challenge. This time the hunting grounds will be split:    240.0 - 259.9 kHz and 420.0 - 439.9 kHz.

 

For those unfamiliar with this monthly activity, a 'CLE' is a 'Co-ordinated Listening Event', as NDB DXers around the world focus their listening time on one small slice of the NDB spectrum.



If you've been meaning to participate in  CLE, then maybe this weekend is a fine time to try! Lately, we've had a lot of first time submissions so you won't be alone!

As well, if you're trying to learn CW, copying NDBs is perfect practice as the identifier speed is generally slow and the letters are repeated again every few seconds!

A nice challenge in this one is to hear ZSJ - 258 kHz. 'ZSJ' is located at Sandy Lake, in northwest Ontario.

'ZSJ' runs 500W into a 150' vertical and is well-heard throughout North America. It has been reported in Hawaii and in Europe. Listen for its upper-sideband CW identifier (with your receiver in the CW mode) on 258.404 kHz.

At this time of the season, summer lightning storms may provide additional listening challenges but maybe we will get lucky. Propagation can often be as good as mid-winter if the lightning cooperates.

When tuning for NDBs, put your receiver in the CW mode and listen for the NDB's CW identifier, repeated every few seconds. Listen for U.S. NDB identifiers approximately 1 kHz higher or lower than the published transmitted frequency since these beacons are modulated with a 1020 Hz tone approximately.

For example, 'AA' near Fargo, ND, transmits on 365 kHz and its upper sideband CW identifier is tuned at 366.025 kHz while its lower sideband CW ident can be tuned at 363.946 kHz. Its USB tone is actually 1025 Hz while its LSB tone is 1054 Hz.

Often, one sideband will be much stronger than the other so if you don't hear the first one, try listening on the other sideband.

Canadian NDBs normally have an USB tone only, usually very close to 400 Hz. They also have a long dash (keydown) following the CW identifier.

All NDBs heard in North America will be listed in the RNA database (updated daily) while those heard in Europe may be found in the REU database. Beacons heard outside of these regions will be found in the RWW database.

From CLE organizer Brian Keyte, G3SIA, comes the details:


Hello all,

These are the final details for our 246th co-ordinated listening event
this weekend.  We'll be listening in two contrasting frequency ranges.
First timer logs too?  Yes, please!

    Days:      Friday 26 July  to  Monday 29 July
    Times:    Start and end at midday, your LOCAL TIME
    Range:    240.0 - 259.9 kHz  plus  420.0 - 439.9 kHz
                     (BOTH ranges are for ALL listeners)

Please log NDBs that you can positively identify in the ranges, plus
any UNIDs that you come across there.
The lower frequency range will be really hard for most listeners in
Europe, the higher range not at all easy for most others.

Send your final CLE log to [email protected]  if possible as a plain text
email and not in an attachment.
Show  CLE246  and  FINAL at the start of its title to help us find your log.
Show on EVERY LINE of your log:

   # The Date (e.g. 2019-07-26, etc.)  or  day (e.g. 26)
   # UTC  (the day changes at 00:00 UTC).
   # kHz  - the beacon's nominal published frequency (if you know it).
   # The Call Ident.

Please show those main items first on each line, BEFORE any optional
details (Location, Offsets, Cycle time, Distance, etc.)
If you send interim logs, do make sure that you also send a 'FINAL' log
containing all your loggings.  As always, do make your log useful and
interesting to everyone by including your own location and brief details
of the receiver, aerial(s) and any recording equipment that you used.

We will send the usual 'Any More Logs?' email at about 19:00 UTC on
Tuesday so that you can check that your Final log has been found OK.
Do make sure that your log has arrived on the List at the very latest
by 08:00 UTC on Wednesday 31 July.  Joachim and I hope to complete
making the combined results within a day or two.

To help you with your search you can find lists and maps showing the
target NDBs for your part of the World at http://www.ndblist.info/cle.htm
Select the  CLE SEEKLIST  link there.

Good listening
      Brian
--------------------------------------------------------------------
From:      Brian Keyte G3SIA       ndbcle'at'gmail.com
Location:  Surrey,  SE England     (CLE coordinator)
--------------------------------------------------------------------

(Reminder:  You could use any one remote receiver for your loggings,
stating its location and owner - with their permission if required.
A remote listener may NOT also use another receiver, whether local
or remote, to obtain further loggings for the same CLE).



Steve McDonald, VE7SL, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from British Columbia, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

Here is this week’s space weather and geophysical report, issued 2019 Jul 22 0209 UTC.

Highlights of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity 15 – 21 July 2019

Solar activity was very low on 15-21 July. No spotted regions were observed on the visible disk.

No proton events were observed at geosynchronous orbit.

The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit reached high levels on 15-21 July.

Geomagnetic field activity was at quiet levels on 16-20 July. Quiet to unsettled levels were observed on 15 and 21 July.

Forecast of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity 22 July – 17 August 2019

Solar activity is expected to be very low throughout the forecast period.

No proton events are expected at geosynchronous orbit.

The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to be at moderate to high levels on 22, 27-30 July and 06-17 August. Normal to moderate levels are expected for the remainder of the forecast period.

Geomagnetic field activity is expected to be at unsettled to active levels on 05-06 August due to recurrent coronal hole high speed stream influences. Quiet to unsettled levels are expected for the remainder of the forecast period.

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