AmateurRadio.com

Not really this bad

It's not ground breaking news to any ham who has had their rig on and searching for contacts that the conditions are not all that great. I have seen the SF index hit over 100 but the low sunspot numbers  are really not supporting a sustained up swing in conditions. I was on the radio this past weekend and was very surprised that my CW QRP signal was not making it to the East coast. That has always been an easy contact for me. I then tried to contact a K6 station calling CQ and I was not even heard! There is this very dusty knob on my K3 and it's called "RF power" knob. I am going to be venturing beyond the QRP limits and jacking things up to 10 watts. It's not a real drastic move but I want to make sure I am not causing any RF issues here at the condo. Having said that I have read of ham's who are in condos using 100 watts without any issues. I'm not going to take that change, not into the "lets see what happens" way of doing things.  So let's see what doubling my output from 5 to 10 watts nets me.
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 2016 Apr 25 0446 UTC.

Highlights of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity 18 – 24 April 2016

Solar activity was high on 18 Apr due to an M6/1f flare observed at 18/0029 UTC from old Region 2529 (N09, L=342, class/area Eki/850 on 11 Apr). Type II (1869 km/s) and Type IV radio sweeps were observed in conjunction with this event, as well as a 120 sfu Tenflare. Activity dropped to low levels on 19 Apr with a C1/Sf observed at 19/2302 UTC. Very low levels were observed for the remainder of the period after the region departed the disk.

No proton events were observed at geosynchronous orbit.

The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit was at normal to moderate levels throughout the period.

Geomagnetic field activity was mostly quiet on 18-21 Apr. Quiet to unsettled conditions were observed on 22-24 Apr. Isolated active periods were observed on 22 and 24 Apr along with an isolated minor storm period on 23 Apr due to CH HSS effects.

Forecast of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity 25 April – 21 May 2016

Solar activity is expected to be very low to low for the majority of the period with a chance for M-class flares from 03-16 May due to the return of old Region 2529.

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 the exception of 01-03 May and 10-13 May following recurrent CH HSS events.

Geomagnetic field activity is expected to be quiet to unsettled on 25-26 Apr as CH HSS effects subside followed by quiet conditions on 27-28 Apr. Quiet to unsettled conditions are expected on 29 Apr to 01 May with active periods likely due to effects from a recurrent, negative polarity CH HSS. An isolated minor storm period is possible on 30 Apr. Mostly quiet conditions are expected on 02-08 May with unsettled to active periods possible on 04 May due to a SSBC. Quiet to active levels are expected on 09-11 May with minor storm periods likely due to negative polarity CH HSS effects. Mostly quiet conditions are expected from 12-18 May. Isolated unsettled to active periods are possible on 14 May due to another SSBC. Quiet to unsettled conditions are expected from 19-21 May with isolated active periods possible due to effects from a recurrent, positive polarity CH HSS.

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/

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Greetings and salutations. We have another fantastic episode of Linux in the Ham Shack for you this fortnight. In it, the hosts discuss World Amateur Radio Day, UFOs, the Mumblehard botnet, programming, Git, pulseaudio, QSSTV and so...much...MORE. Thanks for tuning in; and please don't forget our Generosity Campaign. Donate if you can. We'd love to see everyone in Dayton this year.

73 de The LHS Crew

P.S. Sorry, we had some audio jitter in the recording this time around. Hopefully the episode is still listenable. We'll get it straightened out for the next one.

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].

NPOTA, that is:


I actually have about 1/2 a dozen more that haven't been confirmed yet. According to LotW, those stations have not uploaded logs since their activations.  A few were a while ago, so I guess it's possible that maybe they won't.

While working a few today, it was extremely embarrassing and saddening to see so may out there have no clue on how to handle themselves in a pileup.  Guys ..... YOU HAVE TO LISTEN!

Throwing out your call sign ad nauseum without taking a moment to listen is the number one earmark of lid-dome. Seriously, if you send out your call ten times without taking a breath, how are you going to know if the activator is calling you back? By the time you've stopped sending your call, the activator has worked someone else and is calling QRZ again (and everyone else in the pileup has taken note of your call sign - you can count on it!). DON'T BE AN ALLIGATOR!  You know, all mouth and no ears! Throw out your call once - maybe twice max, and then open up those ear holes and listen!

Which leads to a second and related problem.  If you can't hear the station you are trying to work, you have NO business sending out your call, in the first place.  If you can't hear the station well enough to know that he's answering someone else - or worse, is in QSO with someone else; but you keep sending your call anyway ..... bad scene, man, bad scene.  You've marked yourself as a QRM generator and no one likes those. Don't rely on the Cluster. Just because DX Summit says Joe Ham is on 7.034 MHz at NPOTA NP256 ..... if you can't hear him, then don't even try.  It's a waste of your time and everyone else in the pileup is going to think you're an idiot.

Now everyone makes an honest mistake now and then, and that's OK,  But you can tell when someone has no clue as to what they're doing. And frighteningly, it seems to be becoming more and more common.

It's OK to be excited and enthusiastic. It's not OK to be reckless or use poor operating practises. Use common sense, read the DX Code of Conduct and you'll be OK.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you call to send the very least!


Larry Makoski, W2LJ, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Jersey, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

NPOTA, that is:


I actually have about 1/2 a dozen more that haven't been confirmed yet. According to LotW, those stations have not uploaded logs since their activations.  A few were a while ago, so I guess it's possible that maybe they won't.

While working a few today, it was extremely embarrassing and saddening to see so may out there have no clue on how to handle themselves in a pileup.  Guys ..... YOU HAVE TO LISTEN!

Throwing out your call sign ad nauseum without taking a moment to listen is the number one earmark of lid-dome. Seriously, if you send out your call ten times without taking a breath, how are you going to know if the activator is calling you back? By the time you've stopped sending your call, the activator has worked someone else and is calling QRZ again (and everyone else in the pileup has taken note of your call sign - you can count on it!). DON'T BE AN ALLIGATOR!  You know, all mouth and no ears! Throw out your call once - maybe twice max, and then open up those ear holes and listen!

Which leads to a second and related problem.  If you can't hear the station you are trying to work, you have NO business sending out your call, in the first place.  If you can't hear the station well enough to know that he's answering someone else - or worse, is in QSO with someone else; but you keep sending your call anyway ..... bad scene, man, bad scene.  You've marked yourself as a QRM generator and no one likes those. Don't rely on the Cluster. Just because DX Summit says Joe Ham is on 7.034 MHz at NPOTA NP256 ..... if you can't hear him, then don't even try.  It's a waste of your time and everyone else in the pileup is going to think you're an idiot.

Now everyone makes an honest mistake now and then, and that's OK,  But you can tell when someone has no clue as to what they're doing. And frighteningly, it seems to be becoming more and more common.

It's OK to be excited and enthusiastic. It's not OK to be reckless or use poor operating practises. Use common sense, read the DX Code of Conduct and you'll be OK.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you call to send the very least!


Larry Makoski, W2LJ, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Jersey, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

With several QSL's from last month's EME action now arriving, April's 'best days' have just concluded. For me, operating with no antenna elevation, 'best days' mean those with northern-most lunar declinations (these put the moon rising clearly and almost directly out in front of the house, not in the neighbour's trees); not having the moon near the sun and also, having the moon closer to perigee (closest approach to earth) rather than apogee (furthest from earth). With just a single 9 element yagi, every db is precious.

A website that helps determine when these good days occur, is the Making More Miles On VHF eme page. A graphical display of several important elements will easily determine which days might be best to operate ...

courtesy: http://www.mmmonvhf.de/eme.php

... but I have also found success on days that don't look particularly great, with the moon approaching apogee and it's subsequent higher db path loss. As with most radio propagation, there is also some magic involved and, just like on any band, some days are simply 'better' and for no obvious reason.

This month saw six EME contacts, some with stations worked previously, in 2007, and not 'new uniques', while three were new, bringing my uniques total to 73, with this small, horizon-gain assisted system.

G4SXW John 4 x 16el array #71 ... answered my CQ
KB8RQ Gary 24 X 13el array!! worked with moon at 1 deg high
UX5UL Oleg 4 x 16el array #72
UT6UG Val 4 x 32el array #73 Val and Oleg both live in Kyiv, Ukraine
RK3FG Anatoly 4 X 15el array
K9MRI Joe 8 X 28el array - Indiana

G4SWX  4 x 16 el EME Array

KB8RQ 24 x 13 el EME Array

As summer approaches, it will be interesting to see how favorable the above mentioned variables will come into play as many of the best northerly declination days will also closely follow the sun and its increased background skynoise ... not so much a problem for me but for those bigger stations trying to hear a very weak signal in a noisier sky.
Steve McDonald, VE7SL, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from British Columbia, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

So here I am again. Still young in the amateur radio field. I made that microphone switch and that worked wonderfully. So I decided I’d try my hand at a beam antenna.

I’m not sure what spurred my desire for a 6 meter beam, other than size, maybe. I think my first bits of material didn’t amount to enough to make a 10 meter beam, so a 6 meter would have to suffice.

The start of this project involved deciding where to get my materials. I researched all over the internet and didn’t like the cost of either a complete 6 meter beam, nor the cost of materials to make one. I mulled over materials I may have laying around and found an old deep fringe television antenna, long forgotten in the weed near the fence in the back yard.

Read the rest of this post

Greg Walters, KK4TIX, is a special contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Kentucky, USA.