AmateurRadio.com

  As the long, dog-days of summer begin to come to an end it marks one of my favorite operating activities and that is the Colorado QSO Party.  While I’m not a native to the Centennial State, I am always proud to represent Colorado and this year marks the 140th anniversary of statehood.

The 2016 Colorado QSO Party takes place on  Saturday, 3 September beginning at 0400 UTC (7 AM to 10 PM MDT).  I have a few mid morning commitments which I need to take care of, but KDØBIK should be on the air shortly after the lunch hour. 

Perhaps it is naïve to anticipate better band conditions for next Saturday.  After all…..

But I for one will be giving it a solid effort from the basement ham shack located in grid square DM79np.  I hope to work you in the 2016 Colorado QSO Party. 

Until then…

73 de KDØBIK

P.S.  Episode 71 of the Practical Amateur Radio Podcast will release Saturday, 27 August.  Thank you for listening!

Jerry Taylor, KD0BIK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Colorado, USA. He is the host of the Practical Amateur Radio Podcast. Contact him at [email protected].

Trevor Holyoak, KD7GHI, grew up in a house full of homemade gadgets that his dad made including clocks, a TV, and radios. He learned basic electronics from him, and practiced on a 150-in-one kit from Radio Shack.

“I watched him do CW and string wire antennas across the yard, and so I was aware of ham radio at a young age,” he said. “He built our first home computer, a Sinclair ZX81, from a kit and that got me started down a path that I’m still on today.”

Holyoak is a professional computer programmer and began creating Android apps on the side a few years ago.

“I got the idea to create the Ham Radio Podcasts app because I had already built a couple of other podcast apps for specific interests, and I discovered that there are a bunch of great amateur radio podcasts out there,” said Holyoak. “I put them all together in an app that makes it easy to listen to them. You can stream the episodes as you listen, or you can download them and listen to them later when you don’t have a data connection.”

A few of the twenty featured podcasts include 100 Watts and a Wire, ARRL’s The Doctor is In, Everything Ham Radio, Ham Nation, Ham Radio 2.0, Ham Radio 360, Ham Talk Live, and HamRadioNow.

Like many hams, Holyoak’s involvement in ham radio throughout his life has waxed and waned. “After a few years I became inactive, although I still kept a radio on hand in case of emergency,” he said.

It wasn’t until last year, when he was asked him to spearhead an emergency communications effort in his local area that he finally became active again. He is now very active and is currently studying for the General test. He purchased an all-band, all-mode base station and was recently elected as an officer for his local club.

“Since I’m currently a Technician, I mostly have been active on 2m and 70cm FM, although I’ve also been dabbling in SSB on 6m and trying to figure out how to reach someone on 10m with a end-fed long wire antenna,” he said. “I’m very interested in getting into digital modes on HF once I get my General license.”

Listening to the popular ham radio podcasts has been an easy way for him to get back up to speed quickly and learn about new aspects of the hobby.

“Personally, I most enjoy the podcasts that are in a particular technical subject that I’d like to learn more about,” he said. “Some of my favorites are ARRL’s The Doctor is In, Everything Ham Radio, and Ham Radio 360.”

The app is available free (ad-supported) on Google Play:
Ham Radio Podcasts

Matt Thomas, W1MST, is the managing editor of AmateurRadio.com. Contact him at [email protected].

Everyone has an “Elevator Pitch” nowadays. The idea is to have something prepared to deliver in a minute or so (during an elevator ride) to a listener or reader.

Ham Radio can use elevator pitches, too, and you don’t even need an elevator!

One possibility is to use social networks or newsletters to do ham radio outreach. Your piece will be aimed at non-hams, and should catch their interest and tell them how to take action.

For example, I edit “Catalyst,” the monthly newsletter of our Oregon church. One of the perks of the job is a monthly column, “Cataclysm,” where I can write pretty much anything I like. In my experience, most community newsletters are perpetually hungry for material. If you can put together a few sentences with both subjects and verbs, you can deliver an effective elevator pitch for ham radio in a page or so. Pictures, even from a cell phone camera, are a plus in most publications.

The “Cataclysm” I wrote today is not meant to tell readers everything they need to know about ham radio or even about “Summits on the Air,” or SOTA. The aim is to give people a quick idea of what SOTA and ham radio are about, to suggest that they take action to find out more, and to tell them how to do that.

That’s not very much, but it’s a lot for one page.

Andrew Ellis, NO6E, is a special contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Oregon, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

I rode my bike to the old Potter Place Railroad Station from Andover this afternoon. I worked Corsica, Oregon, Croatia and Spain. It was absolutely beautiful today.

It was a perfect, clear day around 75F. I rode about 2 miles from Andover along the old Northern Rail route. Part way into the ride I passed the old covered bridge at the Blackwater River.

The Potter Place station is a museum now. I set up under a huge pine tree on the south side of the track. I tossed a 30 foot wire over a branch and started with the KX3 on 20 meters. 9A2AJ, Tom from Croatia was calling CQ. I’ve worked him a dozen times before, and when I answered he asked if I was running 5 watts. He gave me a 579. He was 599 and I told him I was on a bike ride and was, indeed QRP.

Next I went to 17 meters where W1VDE, Roger in Oregon was just finishing up a QSO. At first he said I was only S1, but later he said I’d come up a lot and he gave me a 569. I tuned up a bit and was thrilled to work TK3LS on the island of Corsica. Laurent gave me a quick 599. He was very strong to me.

I was about to call it quits when I heard EA5KM in Spain calling CQ on 30 meters. He had a hard time copying my call, even though he was strong to me. We made a quick exchange and I packed up for the ride back. What a glorious day for a quick outing.

Jim Cluett, W1PID, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Hampshire, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

'VR' - 266kHz

This coming weekend will see another CLE challenge, this time in the MF band from 260 - 269.9 kHz plus 440 - 1740 kHz.





'CLE's' are 'Co-ordinated Listening Events', and NDB DXers around the world focus their listening time on one small slice of the NDB spectrum ... but this time around, the range has been expanded.

The lower frequency range covers one my very strong locals, 'VR' on 266 kHz. 'VR' is an outer marker approach to Vancouver International's 'two-sixes' and is located a few miles east of the main runways in a farmer's field. Although running just 50 watts, it is widely reported (as far east as North Carolina), probably due to the excellent soggy ground beneath its somewhat unusual delta-shaped loop.

From CLE coordinator Brian Keyte (G3SIA), via the Yahoo ndblist Group, comes the following reminder:

Hello all,

Our end-of-August Co-ordinated Listening Event will soon be here.
We'll be hunting for normal beacons in two contrasting frequency ranges
and there is also the possibility of hearing several amateur beacons.
As always, first-time CLE logs will be extra welcome.

Days: Friday 26 August - Monday 29 August
Times: Start and end at midday, your local time
Frequencies: 260.0 - 269.9 kHz
plus: 440.0 - 1740.0 kHz

These are interesting frequencies, the same ones that we last used for
CLE191 in February 2015 when 45 of us joined in.

Many of us should be able to hear beacons in both ranges, though Europe
only has a handful in the '260s'. From 440 onwards, North America has a
few, mostly around 520 kHz, while Eastern Europe has several beacons
and some regular UNIDs. Some of the NDBs can also be found among
Europe's Medium Wave Broadcast Stations.

Many of us are within range of amateur beacons on frequencies mainly
around 474 - 478 kHz. We'll be listening for ANYTHING OPERATING IN
BEACON MODE, preferably with normal speed Morse.
(We ask operators who sometimes use QRSS, PSK, WSPR, etc.,
which need software to receive them, to PLEASE CHOOSE THE
SIMPLER MODE during the CLE so that we shall all be able to
receive them and make reports).

Please look out for my final details with advice about log-making, etc.
in a few days.

73
Brian
----------------------------------------------------------
From: Brian Keyte G3SIA ndbcle'at'gmail.com
Location: Surrey, SE England (CLE co-ordinator)
----------------------------------------------------------

These listening events serve several purposes. They:

• determine, worldwide, which beacons are actually in service and on-the-air so the online database can be kept up-to-date

• determine, worldwide, which beacons are out-of-service or have gone silent since the last CLE covering this range

• will indicate the state of propagation conditions at the various participant locations

• will give you an indication of how well your LF/MF receiving system is working

• give participants a fun yet challenging activity to keep their listening skills honed

Final details can be found at the NDB List website, and worldwide results, for every participant, will be posted there a few days after the event. If you are a member of the ndblist Group, results will also be e-mailed and posted there.

The very active Yahoo ndblist Group is a great place to learn more about the 'Art of NDB DXing' or to meet other listeners in your region. There is a lot of good information available there and new members are always very welcome. As well, you can follow the results of other CLE participants from night to night as propagation is always an active topic of discussion.

If you are contemplating getting started on 630m, listening for NDBs  is an excellent way to test out your receive capabilities as there are several NDBs located near this part of the spectrum.

You need not be an ndblist member to participate in the CLEs and all reports, no matter how small, are of much value to the organizers. 'First-time' logs are always VERY welcome!

Reports may be sent to the ndblist or e-mailed to either myself or CLE co- ordinator, Brian Keyte (G3SIA), whose address appears above.

Please ... give the CLE a try ... then let us know what NDB's can be heard from your location! Your report can then be added to the worldwide database to help keep it up-to-date.


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 2016 Aug 22 0524 UTC.

Highlights of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity 15 – 21 August 2016

Solar activity was at low levels on 15 August due to an isolated C1 flare at 15/0023 UTC from Region 2578 (N09, L=084, class/area Cro/020 on 18 Aug). Very low levels were observed from 16-21 August. Although Regions 2574 (N05, L=173, class/area Dho/290 on 09 Aug), 2576 (S15, L=160, class/area Hsx/140 on 10 Aug), 2577 (N03, L=164, class/area Dso/130 on 12 Aug), and 2578 were on the visible disk during the period, the regions appeared to be in slow decay. No Earth-directed coronal mass ejections were observed.

No proton events were observed at geosynchronous orbit.

The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit was at high levels on 15-16 August, moderate levels on 17 and 19-21 August and normal levels on 18 August. The largest flux of the period was 9,570 pfu observed at 15/1605 UTC.

Geomagnetic field activity was at mostly quiet to unsettled levels with an isolated active period observed on 21 August due to a pair of weak, negative polarity coronal hole high speed streams (CH HSS). Quiet levels were observed on 15 August under a nominal solar wind regime. By early on 17 August, solar wind speed increased to 435 km/s while total field increased to near 9 nT. Quiet to unsettled levels were observed from 16-18 August with quiet levels on 19-20 August. Solar wind speed decreased slowly until midday on 21 August when another CH HSS became geoeffective. The geomagnetic field responded with quiet to active levels on 21 August.

Forecast of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity 22 August – 17 September 2016

Solar activity is expected to be at very low to low levels through the forecast period (22 Aug-17 Sep).

No proton events are expected at geosynchronous orbit.

The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to be at normal to moderate levels with high levels likely on 26-28 August and from 31 August-12 September as a result of recurrent CH HSS activity.

Geomagnetic field activity is expected to be at unsettled to active levels from 23-25 August, 29 August-08 September, 13-14 September, and again on 17 September with G1 (Minor) storm levels likely on 30-31 August 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: + https://Twitter.com/NW7US + https://Twitter.com/hfradiospacewx

Get the space weather and radio propagation self-study course, today. Visit http://nw7us.us/swc for the latest sale and for more information!

Check out the stunning view of our Sun in action, as seen during the last five years with the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXN-MdoGM9g

We’re on Facebook: http://NW7US.us/swhfr

Visit, subscribe: NW7US Radio Communications and Propagation YouTube Channel

Some very welcome news popped into my inbox this morning from my friend Bob Greenberg, W2CYK.  Bob is the owner and founder of RFinder the Worldwide Repeater Directory.  

I had the opportunity to meet Bob via social media many years ago when RFinder first launched and have been a fan and supporter of RFinder ever since.  I even discussed RFinder in episode 55 of the Practical Amateur Radio Podcast back in May of 2012.  

For several years I used the ARRL repeater directory along with their TravelPlus digital version to search for and program my transceivers.  While this solution worked very well, it was limited to just the ARRL database.   For the traveling ham, this meant being at the mercy of the internet to find information on repeaters in the region and countries visited and this information was not always accurate.

In the time I’ve known Bob and been a user of RFinder, it’s grown to become a truly worldwide solution with partnerships with many national radio societies including the Radio Society of Great Britain, Amateur Radio Society Italia, Deutscher Amateur Radio Club, Radio Amateurs of Canada and the American Radio Relay League (just to name a few).  Finally, the current database contains current and validated repeater information from over 175 countries. 

RFinder the Worldwide Repeater Directory is available in app form for both the iOS and Android platforms and is also supported by both RTSystems and CHIRP radio programming software.  Normally the cost for an annual subscription is $9.95 USD, but for a VERY limited time an RFinder Lifetime Membership is available for $99.99 USD.   When I say VERY limited time, I truly mean this offer will not last long.  It’s a very good deal.

Until next time…

73 de KD0BIK (Jerry)

Jerry Taylor, KD0BIK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Colorado, USA. He is the host of the Practical Amateur Radio Podcast. Contact him at [email protected].