AmateurRadio.com

For less than a fiver. CPC shows how far I haven’t come with my minima build. Still the PCB stand looks good. That should make it easier at least.

Available here

Alex Hill, G7KSE, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Cumbria, UK. Contact him at [email protected].

Here’s some more good stuff flowing forth from the interwebz.

HamRadioNow has a video of Laura Smith’s (FCC) talk at Pacificon. There’s lots of good info here on FCC enforcement activity. Gary KN4AQ produces some of the most valuable amateur radio video content on the web. How else are you going to see someone from the FCC speak about ham radio?

Sterling/NØSSC and Marty/KC1CWF have started the Phasing Line ham radio podcast, talking ham radio with a younger person’s perspective. They are on episode two…give them a listen. Look for them on the usual podcast feeds, or go here: n0ssc.com

I was interviewed by Eric/4Z1UG on QSO Today. Yeah, probably boring as heck but you’re reading this blog so your standards must not be very high.

The ARRL is cranking up an initiative to encourage collegiate ham radio clubs. Good idea.

DX Engineering visited the new venue (Greene County Fairgrounds) for the Dayton Hamvention. See DX Engineering visits the NEW 2017 Hamvention® venue and the drone video by Greg/W8WW that provides an aerial tour of the fairgrounds. I am looking forward to attending Hamvention next spring, the first time in many years.

Use Phonetics: HamRadioSchool.com republished their classic article on the use of phonetic alphabets. Also, take a look at my Shack Talk article on the same subject.

While reviewing the Technician license exam questions, I noticed that SWR is referred to as “2 to 1” or “1 to 1”. I see this as old school terminology…a ratio can be expressed as a single number: “my SWR is 2.” This triggered some discussion and a KB6NU blog posting.

That’s it for now. Happy interwebzing.

73, Bob K0NR

The post This Spewed Out of the Internet #33 appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site.

Bob Witte, KØNR, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Colorado, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

courtesy: http://www.arrl.org/

This weekend's ARRL 160m CW was a ton of fun.

Conditions were unusually good, which always makes things more interesting.




I ended up with 412 contacts in 78 out of 83 ARRL sections. If I was attempting a WAS on Topband, I would have made it to 48, missing just Nebraska and Rhode Island. Oddly enough, RI was my 50th state when I completed my original 160m WAS, back in 1984, which was certificate #225.

That was done from my tiny 33' wide suburban lot, using the same antenna that I have now, a half-sloper. My radials were strung around all four edges of the property line and just lay on the ground or were stapled to the fenceposts. The power came from a pair of 6146's and was just a little less than I used in the contest this weekend as I entered in the Low Power (150W) category ... however, back then it took me several winters to finish my Topband WAS as there was a lot less activity than there is nowadays it seems. The only other sections missed during the contest were Puerto Rico, Newfoundland and North New York.

With a fairly dormant Sun and the 'almost-quiet' geomagnetic conditions of late, good propagation continued into the week ... in fact, Sunday night was the best I have ever observed on 630m!

Such stable conditions here on the west coast always favor the east-west and polar paths and Sunday proved that in spades. Overall, 53 different stations reported reception of my 630m signal, more than any previous overnight period.

The highlight however, was the reception of my signal in Europe, with five decodes from LA2XPA on Kalvoya  Island off the southwest coast of Norway. Rolf has an exceptional location and nice beverage antennas so most of the heavy-lifting was being done on his end. However, without the co-operation of the propagation gods, none of this would be possible. To make things even better, John, VE7BDQ, also made it across to Norway as his small station continues to perform amazingly well. As I mentioned in an e-mail earlier today, his is the textbook example of what can be done on 630m with a small suburban backyard, some homebrewing skills and a small antenna system.

courtesy: http://wsprnet.org/drupal/wsprnet/map

The WSPRnet map shown here illustrates just how many folks are tuning in every night to this part of the spectrum ... with many getting instantly hooked. Hopefully this great propagation is just a small taste of what lies ahead for us over the next several years of low solar activity.
Steve McDonald, VE7SL, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from British Columbia, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

courtesy: http://www.arrl.org/

This weekend's ARRL 160m CW was a ton of fun.

Conditions were unusually good, which always makes things more interesting.




I ended up with 412 contacts in 78 out of 83 ARRL sections. If I was attempting a WAS on Topband, I would have made it to 48, missing just Nebraska and Rhode Island. Oddly enough, RI was my 50th state when I completed my original 160m WAS, back in 1984, which was certificate #225.

That was done from my tiny 33' wide suburban lot, using the same antenna that I have now, a half-sloper. My radials were strung around all four edges of the property line and just lay on the ground or were stapled to the fenceposts. The power came from a pair of 6146's and was just a little less than I used in the contest this weekend as I entered in the Low Power (150W) category ... however, back then it took me several winters to finish my Topband WAS as there was a lot less activity than there is nowadays it seems. The only other sections missed during the contest were Puerto Rico, Newfoundland and North New York.

With a fairly dormant Sun and the 'almost-quiet' geomagnetic conditions of late, good propagation continued into the week ... in fact, Sunday night was the best I have ever observed on 630m!

Such stable conditions here on the west coast always favor the east-west and polar paths and Sunday proved that in spades. Overall, 53 different stations reported reception of my 630m signal, more than any previous overnight period.

The highlight however, was the reception of my signal in Europe, with five decodes from LA2XPA on Kalvoya  Island off the southwest coast of Norway. Rolf has an exceptional location and nice beverage antennas so most of the heavy-lifting was being done on his end. However, without the co-operation of the propagation gods, none of this would be possible. To make things even better, John, VE7BDQ, also made it across to Norway as his small station continues to perform amazingly well. As I mentioned in an e-mail earlier today, his is the textbook example of what can be done on 630m with a small suburban backyard, some homebrewing skills and a small antenna system.

courtesy: http://wsprnet.org/drupal/wsprnet/map

The WSPRnet map shown here illustrates just how many folks are tuning in every night to this part of the spectrum ... with many getting instantly hooked. Hopefully this great propagation is just a small taste of what lies ahead for us over the next several years of low solar activity.
Steve McDonald, VE7SL, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from British Columbia, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

I was operating in the CQ WW CW contest the other weekend and all was going well. I left my operating  post for a short time and came back to see my P3 screen shown in the above shot. I was not sure what was going on but I did know it was wiping out the entire band. In an instant the CW WW CW contest I was in was on hold. After a very short time I found out it was the mixer my wife was using to make some holiday short bread cookies. I showed my wife and once the short bread mixing was done I was back in the contest again.  I thought I would never say it but "I think it wise to buy my wife an appliance for Christmas. Truth be told I think I am buying it for myself.
Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

I was operating in the CQ WW CW contest the other weekend and all was going well. I left my operating  post for a short time and came back to see my P3 screen shown in the above shot. I was not sure what was going on but I did know it was wiping out the entire band. In an instant the CW WW CW contest I was in was on hold. After a very short time I found out it was the mixer my wife was using to make some holiday short bread cookies. I showed my wife and once the short bread mixing was done I was back in the contest again.  I thought I would never say it but "I think it wise to buy my wife an appliance for Christmas. Truth be told I think I am buying it for myself.
Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

In this episode, Linux in the Ham Shack discusses diverse topics including 915MHz operation, a new cube satellite, "smart" ham radio, a new Ubuntu distro with Budgie as the default desktop, games, ssh honeypots, a PHP-based logger and much more. Thanks for listening and all the best. Happy holiday season to all.

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].