AmateurRadio.com

In this episode, Martin M1MRB / W9ICQ is joined by Martin Rothwell M0SGL, Dan Romanchik KB6NU and Matthew Nassau M0NJX  to discuss the latest Amateur / Ham Radio news. Colin M6BOY rounds up the news in brief, and this episodes feature is Trouble with Mobile Antennas

• FO-29 20th Birthday
• NIST’s Rolling Wireless Net Helps Improve First-Responder Communications
• 18th World ARDF Championship
• Illegal GPS Sea Buoys on 10m
• UK Amateur Radio Club 50 Years on the Air
• Latvia Gains Two New Amateur Radio Bands
• Ham Radio Around the World Balloon

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

View from the portable op's position.

It was another amazing day weather wise up this way and with winter soon coming I wanted to hit the trail again with the KX3. I was up and out around 10 am local time and off to search out on my bike a nice spot on the lake to operate. (Lake Ontario) The spot I found was right at the lake and I could see the police boats setting up their perimeter for the air show that would be happening around noon. I planned to be done my portable op's before the air show starts, the noise of the low flying jets (which is a very cool sound by the way) drowns out my CW coping skills. I set my endfed antenna in a sloper configuration as I found the inverted V was just not doing the trick. The CW open contest was in full swing and that sure was a bonus for making contacts. I checkout the Contest rules and they were looking for a serial number and name. I was able to make 8 contacts in the contest:
N4OX on 20m from FL
AF4RK on 20m from FL
K5WK on 20m from MS
N6ER on 20m from CA
KZ5D on 20m from LA
N5XZ on 20m from TX
W9ILY on 40m from IL
AA3B on 40m from PA
N8BJQ on 40m from OH
I found the contacts on 40m were no repeat backs and all the info was conveyed on the first try. As for 20m I was asked for repeats on my call, name and serial by most if not all the contacts. I raise the output of the KX3 to 10 watts and the external power supply seemed to handle it just fine.
Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

View from the portable op's position.

It was another amazing day weather wise up this way and with winter soon coming I wanted to hit the trail again with the KX3. I was up and out around 10 am local time and off to search out on my bike a nice spot on the lake to operate. (Lake Ontario) The spot I found was right at the lake and I could see the police boats setting up their perimeter for the air show that would be happening around noon. I planned to be done my portable op's before the air show starts, the noise of the low flying jets (which is a very cool sound by the way) drowns out my CW coping skills. I set my endfed antenna in a sloper configuration as I found the inverted V was just not doing the trick. The CW open contest was in full swing and that sure was a bonus for making contacts. I checkout the Contest rules and they were looking for a serial number and name. I was able to make 8 contacts in the contest:
N4OX on 20m from FL
AF4RK on 20m from FL
K5WK on 20m from MS
N6ER on 20m from CA
KZ5D on 20m from LA
N5XZ on 20m from TX
W9ILY on 40m from IL
AA3B on 40m from PA
N8BJQ on 40m from OH
I found the contacts on 40m were no repeat backs and all the info was conveyed on the first try. As for 20m I was asked for repeats on my call, name and serial by most if not all the contacts. I raise the output of the KX3 to 10 watts and the external power supply seemed to handle it just fine.
Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

The park setup

With the fall fast approaching which signals colder weather that is just around the corner and with that an end to outdoor op's for another year I decided to get outside today. It's a long weekend up this way with Monday being a holiday. I decided to use up some of my time off and took Thursday, Friday and Tuesday off as well. I went to our local park this afternoon and with it being a work day I did not find it too busy there I was able to get a nice spot under a shady willow tree. My first setup was an inverted "V" configuration. I was out last weekend and used the same configuration and was not spotted anywhere on 20m or 40m. I was reading this week that it's best to setup the inverted "V" with an angle greater than 90 degrees. I was not sure if that was my issue last weekend  but I decided to try again today but making sure my angle was greater than 90 degrees. I ended up having the same results with no spots. I then changed it up to a sloper configuration and I was able to contact K8DSS from Florida on 20m. Ed gave my 5 watt signal a 539 and I was happy with that but for the day that was all I had time for. It was soon time to pack things up and head home. While in a QSO with Ed his CW signal was in competition with practicing air show jets ( CF-18's and FA-18's) and the jets were

New power config

winning!  During the summer I have had on to many occasions battery issues. I have had AA cells in the KX3 not last more than a 1/2 even after a full charge. I have a Tracer lithium Polymer power pack that is an 8Ah pack. I decided to purchase the same item again and parallel the two 8Ah packs. This gives me a solid 16Ah's of power and a nice steady 12 volts. I have been using this arrangement for the summer and am very pleased with the performance.
Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

The park setup

With the fall fast approaching which signals colder weather that is just around the corner and with that an end to outdoor op's for another year I decided to get outside today. It's a long weekend up this way with Monday being a holiday. I decided to use up some of my time off and took Thursday, Friday and Tuesday off as well. I went to our local park this afternoon and with it being a work day I did not find it too busy there I was able to get a nice spot under a shady willow tree. My first setup was an inverted "V" configuration. I was out last weekend and used the same configuration and was not spotted anywhere on 20m or 40m. I was reading this week that it's best to setup the inverted "V" with an angle greater than 90 degrees. I was not sure if that was my issue last weekend  but I decided to try again today but making sure my angle was greater than 90 degrees. I ended up having the same results with no spots. I then changed it up to a sloper configuration and I was able to contact K8DSS from Florida on 20m. Ed gave my 5 watt signal a 539 and I was happy with that but for the day that was all I had time for. It was soon time to pack things up and head home. While in a QSO with Ed his CW signal was in competition with practicing air show jets ( CF-18's and FA-18's) and the jets were

New power config

winning!  During the summer I have had on to many occasions battery issues. I have had AA cells in the KX3 not last more than a 1/2 even after a full charge. I have a Tracer lithium Polymer power pack that is an 8Ah pack. I decided to purchase the same item again and parallel the two 8Ah packs. This gives me a solid 16Ah's of power and a nice steady 12 volts. I have been using this arrangement for the summer and am very pleased with the performance.
Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

This past weekend's CLE saw typical summer conditions ... poor propagation and lots of lightning noise. The MF NDB band was noisy on all three nights, almost everywhere.



As usual, I put my Perseus SDR to work, recording the assigned frequency slots and came away with 24 catches, including some of the 630m experimental stations.

28 11:00 260.0 YSQ Atlin, BC, CAN
27 08:00 260.0 AP Sedalia, CO, USA
27 07:00 261.0 7J Forestburg, AB, CAN
27 09:00 263.0 OAY Norton Bay, ALS
27 08:00 266.0 VR Vancouver, BC, CAN
27 09:30 266.0 SL Turner, OR, USA
27 09:30 266.0 SAA Saratoga, WY, USA
27 09:30 266.0 ICK Annette Island, ALS
29 12:00 266.0 BZ Bozeman, MT, USA
27 09:30 268.0 ZWL Wollaston Lake, SK, CAN
27 12:00 269.0 ZW Teslin, YT, CAN
27 09:30 269.0 YK Castlegar, BC, CAN
27 09:30 269.0 UDE Delta Beach, MB, CAN
27 08:30 512.0 HMY Lexington, OK, USA
27 08:30 515.0 SAK Kalispell, MT, USA
27 08:30 515.0 CL Cresent Beach, WA, USA
27 08:00 521.0 INE Missoula, MT, USA
29 11:30 524.0 MNL Valdez, ALS
29 11:00 525.0 ICW Nenana, ALS
27 11:00 529.0 SQM Big Level Isl, ALS
27 07:30 473.8 WI2XJQ Edmonds, WA
27 07:30 475.0 VA7MM Coquitlam, BC
27 07:30 475.2 WG2XSV Vancouver, WA
27 07:30 477.6 VE7CNF Burnaby, BC
29 13:00 474.0 VE7BDQ Delta, BC

One nice surprise was the strong showing from Alaska towards dawn on night three. Not a peep was heard from the mainland Alaskans on the first two mornings and I was fully expecting to find the same thing on Monday morning but that was not the case.

The last time that this frequency range was covered was during CLE 191 in February, 2015 ... prime winter conditions. At that time I logged 42 beacons compared to 24 this time. The furthest one heard was 4023km away while this time the best was at 2873km. My average distance back then was 1670km compared with 1046km this time.

From Brian Keyte's (G3SIA) summary posted via the Yahoo ndblist Group, come these stats:


In last weekend's CLE we were listening for NDBs in the range
260 - 269.9 kHz and above 440 kHz, including several Amateur beacons.

Here are the combined results tables for listeners away from Europe,
attached as CLE210a5.xls. Soon they will also be available
from the CLE page http://www.ndblist.info/cle.htm

19 Reporters
37 Radio Countries heard
83 different beacons heard
212 reports supplied

Most Heard NDBs:

Rprts kHz C/S Location Cou.
=============================================
9 512 HMY Lexington OK USA
9 260 AP Denver CO USA
9 521 INE Missoula MT USA

8 266 VR Vancouver Lulu Is. BC CAN

7 269 YK Castlegar Brilliant. BC CAN

6 515 SAK Kalispell Smith Lake MT USA

Missing NDBs? (not including Amateur beacons)

The following list shows NDBs with 6 or more loggings in
the similar event in Feb. 2015, but not reported this time.
They may have been withdrawn, changed frequency or ident,
be temporarily out of service or just be inaudible due to conditions.

Then Now kHz C/S Cou Location
=====================================
13 0 260 AVZ USA Terrell TX
11 0 260 BVQ USA Glasgow Beaver Creek. KY
6 0 260 GHJ USA Gastonia NC
9 0 261 2H CAN Lebel sur Quevillon QC
6 0 261 D6 CAN Fairmont Hot Springs BC
7 0 263 JDN USA Jordan MT
6 0 263 LB USA Angleton Lake Jackson TX
10 0 264 ZPB CAN Sachigo Lake ON
6 0 269 AR USA New Iberia LA
11 0 269 CII USA Choteau MT
6 0 269 PK USA Park Rapids MN

10 0 515 OS USA Columbus OH
6 0 521 GM USA Greenville SC
6 0 521 TO USA Topeka KS

Overall conditions should be much better by this time next month as September propagation can often be superb, as long as the lightning activity has died down. Over the past few seasons I have noticed that it seems to be hanging in a few weeks longer than in the past, hopefully not a long term trend but with all of the bizarre weather changes we are seeing, I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case.
Steve McDonald, VE7SL, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from British Columbia, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

Stories you’ll find in our September, 2016 issue:

TSM Reviews:
Elad FDM-Duo: A QRP SDR Transceiver with or without PC
By Mark Haverstock K8MSH

Elad has taken the best of their diminutive software defined receiver (SDR), the FDM-S2, added a transmitter and fit it inside a stylish, compact case. It can be used as a standalone unit by connecting to an external 13.8-volt DC power supply and antenna. It can also be controlled by your computer using the FDM-SW2 software also shared by the FDM-S2. That makes this one of the most versatile radios that can be used for as a portable, mobile, or base station. And, like many recent rigs, the Elad is upgradeable through firmware and software, which means you’ll get the benefit of future improvements as they become available. Mark put the FDM-Duo to the on-air test.

TSM Reviews: Icom IC-R6 Sport 16 All-band Hand-held Receiver
By Thomas Witherspoon K4SWL

Readers have asked Thomas about the Icom IC-R6 Sport 16; a compact handheld receiver that covers from 100 kHz to 1309.995 MHz. What makes the IC-R6 appealing is that––at just $175 US––it is one of the least expensive wideband handhelds/scanners on the market that not only covers the shortwave bands, but also the AM broadcast, Longwave, FM broadcast, Public Service as well as NOAA weather frequencies. Thomas puts this handheld giant to a real world reception test.

The Hacking of FLTSATCOM 8
By Bob Grove W8JHD

For more than a decade, enterprising Brazilians have been making use of an aging US military satellite parked over the Atlantic Ocean to talk sports, play music and, some say, engage in legitimate and illegitimate business activities. In a country as vast as Brazil, lacking infrastructure to huge parts of the country, this satellite, once a mainstay in the Navy’s global communications network, has helped long distance truckers, families, hobbyists and possibly even criminals in their daily lives. Bob shows us how easy this is to do and why other satellites may also be vulnerable.

GMRS: The “Other” Citizen’s Band – Part 1
By Cory GB Sickles WA3UVV

General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) is sometimes equated with Family Radio Service (FRS) because of the inexpensive, dual-use portables sold today in every discount store. And, although it is easy to find FRS radios with GMRS capabilities, they are not the same service. GMRS still requires a license and carries other restrictions, but with the license comes flexibility that’s more akin to the amateur radio service.

TSM Reviews: Sangean HD-18 AM/FM/HD-Radio Tabletop Set
By Ken Reitz KS4ZR

In recent years, radio manufacturers appear to have abandoned the concept of HD-Radio in anything except car radios. Even in the automotive environment, HD reception capability is included only in the higher end models. Now, Sangean has hit the market with a trio of HD-capable radios at three different price points. This month we take a close look at the HD-18; Sangean’s mid-priced AM/FM/HD-Radio. Now listeners all over the US have the chance to explore the multicast digital world of HD-FM at home.

Scanning America
By Dan Veenaman
Enabling Interoperability; Erie (PA) and Denton (TX) Counties

Federal Wavelengths
By Chris Parris
Political Conventions Wrap Up

Utility Planet
By Hugh Stegman NV6H
Identifying US Military on ALE

Digital HF: Intercept and Analyze
By Mike Chace-Ortiz AB1TZ/G6DHU
African Peacekeeping and Police Networks

HF Utility Logs
By Mike Chace-Ortiz and Hugh Stegman

Digitally Speaking
By Cory Sickles WA3UVV
Controlling Influences

VHF and Above
By Joe Lynch N6CL
SOTA Loop Repurposed Through Innovation

Amateur Radio Insights
By Kirk Kleinschmidt NT0Z
The ‘Deserted Island’ HF Antenna

Radio 101
By Ken Reitz KS4ZR
Solar Cycle 25 or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Maunder Minimum

The World of Shortwave Listening
By Jeff White, General Manager WRMI
NASB Brings Shortwave Broadcasters and Listeners Together in Music City

The Shortwave Listener
By Fred Waterer
Radio Ukraine, RFI and Radio Syria

Amateur Radio Satellites
By Keith Baker KB1SF/VA3KSF
Summer: Satellite Antenna Experimenting Time

The Longwave Zone
By Kevin O’Hern Carey WB2QMY
Improve Your LW Antenna; a Visit from KR61SS; SAQ on the Air; Readers’ Logs

Adventures in Radio Restoration
By Rich Post KB8TAD
Restoring a Classic: The Philco 60B “Baby Grand” Cathedral

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.

Ken Reitz, KS4ZR, is publisher and managing editor of The Spectrum Monitor. Contact him at [email protected].