AmateurRadio.com

CONSIDERATE...He/[She] never knowingly operates in such a way as to lessen the pleasure of others.

LOYAL...He/[She] offers loyalty, encouragement and support to other amateurs, local clubs, the IARU Radio Society in his/[her] country, through which Amateur Radio in his/[her] country is represented nationally and internationally.

PROGRESSIVE...He/[She] keeps his/[her] station up to date.  It is well-built and efficient.  His/[Her] operating practice is above reproach.

FRIENDLY...He/[She] operates slowly and patiently when requested; offers friendly advice and counsel to beginners; kind assistance, cooperation and consideration for the interests of others. These are the marks of the amateur spirit.

BALANCED...Radio is a hobby, never interfering with duties owed to family, job, school or community.

PATRIOTIC...His/[Her] station and skills are always ready for service to country and community.

The original version of this was written in 1928, by Paul M Segal W9EEA, and it's been modified over the years as things change with the times. The core message remains the same though, as it's pretty much timeless.

The one trait that I want to touch upon today, is the "Balanced" one.

The Radio Amateur is:

BALANCED...Radio is a hobby, never interfering with duties owed to family, job, school or community.

Sometimes, I think we forget this one the most, and the evidence is not that hard to find. Take a wander on over to Facebook, or listen to a repeater and it's pretty obvious that some of us become seriously preoccupied or obsessed with such activities as NPOTA, contesting, DXing, county hunting, SOTA, etc.

Amateur Radio, on the whole, and these activities in particular are good and wholesome things. For instance, I'm certain that a lot of our wives, husbands and significant others would rather have us in the shack, yakking away on our radios than spending the month's mortgage money in bars,saloons, casinos or race tracks.

But it's easy to lose focus and become obsessed.  Radio sport that involves chasing that elusive country, county, SOTA peak, NPOTA entity or whatever should never become the focus of our lives, or our reason for being.  Just as purchasing that new rig, antenna, or piece of test equipment should never result in being unable to pay the mortgage, rent or put food on the table. It should also never result in the kid's college fund being raided.

Do you enter the shack on a Friday night for a contest, only to emerge late Sunday evening or early Monday morning?  That's not good, my friends.

Even an essential thing can become bad, if you're not careful. Are you that someone who HAS to be at every civic function or training class?  Even public service, as worthy and noble a cause as it is, should never become between you and your family.  Before going out to respond to any disaster or emergency, the health and welfare of your loved ones should always be your top priority. If they're not taken care of, you don't go.

The bottom line is that there's more to life than Amateur Radio. In our quest to satisfy our passion, sometimes we forget that. Family, friends, loved ones and those relationships are way more important, and should always come before getting that high score, or working that 300th country or buying that newest, latest and greatest radio.

Always keep in the back of your mind that the greatest gift you can give your family is your time. If you're doing OK with that, then you're doing a good job with the "Balanced" part of The Radio Amateur's Code.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care 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].

1. Pound out all the letters and numbers correctly.
2. Each group of letters and numbers have to flow smoothly…..for example if the sample text is as follows “ NA4K  49 MIKE ON VE3WDM” and you are a bit slow with a letter or number and your text reads “NA4K 49 MIKE O  N VE3WDM” you will not be able to go to next letter group with the space between “O N” You have to repeat the whole line again with correct spacing. 

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

If there is one thing Kansas is known for, its the wind!  Today was no exception!  We had 26 mph steady winds with gusts to 30-40 mph.  This was really bending the old 31′ Jackite over!  At one point one of the lower sections unleashed and fell into the bottom section during a QSO.  I was able to complete the QSO and then get out of the car and fix the antenna!

Today I continued my quest for more SKCC members, and I was not disappointed.  20 meters was great today for me – working from coast to coast from my normal spot in the park.

I started calling CQ on 14.054…

KA2KGP (1494T): came back to my CQ with a 549 report and some QSB from New York.  He was 599.  If you check out Tom’s QRZ page you will read what he told me, and that is that he is deaf.  How amazing is that to work a deaf member of our ham radio community on CW.  QSB got him a bit, but I believe he said that CW is his main mode since he can’t hear voice.  Tom had a nice fist as well!

K4DJ (11060S): came back to my next CQ with a 569 report from North Carolina.  Rich wished me luck in my pursuit of the Centurion SKCC award.  He was running 75 watts on his end.

W1FJI/p (2182): I was tuning around and heard a very faint CQ about 14.054, about a RST of 539, but very weak.  I got his call, so I answered and Art gave me a 559 in return from Massachusetts.  Art was portable either from his car or a park, not sure.  He was running 3 watts – so this was a nice 2xQRP contact.

NS3C (8284T): Richard and I connected on the SKCC Sked page and met at 14.054 – he answered my CQ.  I had worked Richard last week I believe.  This time he was on his KX3 as well in California.  He had a great signal into Kansas.  So this was a nice 2xQRP and 2xKX3 contact!  Thanks Richard!

After that my 60 minutes was up and it was time to head back to the office.  At the pace I am going I think I will reach my goal of 45 portable operation outings much earlier than expected!

After today I am at 17 unique SKCC members worked.  I hope to work at least for a bit Wednesday night in the monthly sprint, but not sure I will be able to leave the kids and wife for 2 hours solid!

Burke Jones, NØHYD, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Kansas, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

If there is one thing Kansas is known for, its the wind!  Today was no exception!  We had 26 mph steady winds with gusts to 30-40 mph.  This was really bending the old 31′ Jackite over!  At one point one of the lower sections unleashed and fell into the bottom section during a QSO.  I was able to complete the QSO and then get out of the car and fix the antenna!

Today I continued my quest for more SKCC members, and I was not disappointed.  20 meters was great today for me – working from coast to coast from my normal spot in the park.

I started calling CQ on 14.054…

KA2KGP (1494T): came back to my CQ with a 549 report and some QSB from New York.  He was 599.  If you check out Tom’s QRZ page you will read what he told me, and that is that he is deaf.  How amazing is that to work a deaf member of our ham radio community on CW.  QSB got him a bit, but I believe he said that CW is his main mode since he can’t hear voice.  Tom had a nice fist as well!

K4DJ (11060S): came back to my next CQ with a 569 report from North Carolina.  Rich wished me luck in my pursuit of the Centurion SKCC award.  He was running 75 watts on his end.

W1FJI/p (2182): I was tuning around and heard a very faint CQ about 14.054, about a RST of 539, but very weak.  I got his call, so I answered and Art gave me a 559 in return from Massachusetts.  Art was portable either from his car or a park, not sure.  He was running 3 watts – so this was a nice 2xQRP contact.

NS3C (8284T): Richard and I connected on the SKCC Sked page and met at 14.054 – he answered my CQ.  I had worked Richard last week I believe.  This time he was on his KX3 as well in California.  He had a great signal into Kansas.  So this was a nice 2xQRP and 2xKX3 contact!  Thanks Richard!

After that my 60 minutes was up and it was time to head back to the office.  At the pace I am going I think I will reach my goal of 45 portable operation outings much earlier than expected!

After today I am at 17 unique SKCC members worked.  I hope to work at least for a bit Wednesday night in the monthly sprint, but not sure I will be able to leave the kids and wife for 2 hours solid!

Burke Jones, NØHYD, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Kansas, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

Here is this week’s space weather and geophysical report, issued 2016 Mar 21 0054 UTC.

Highlights of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity 14 – 20 March 2016

Solar activity ranged from very low to low levels during the period. Low levels were observed on 15, 16 and 19 March due to isolated, weak C-class flares from Regions 2521 (N19, L=029, class/area Dao/080 on 14 Mar) and 2522 (N14, L=078, class/area Cao/040 on 15 Mar). No Earth-directed coronal mass ejections were observed in coronagraph imagery.

No proton events were observed at geosynchronous orbit.

The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit was at moderate levels on 14, 15 and 19 March and high levels on 16-18 and 20 March.

Geomagnetic field activity ranged from quiet to minor storm levels (G1-minor). The period began with quiet conditions, but increased to unsettled to minor storm levels late on 14 March due to the onset of a co-rotating interaction region (CIR) in advance of a coronal hole high speed stream (CH HSS) that originated from a negative extension off of the southern crown. With the CIR, wind speeds rapidly increased from about 360 km/s to near 565 km/s by late on the 14th. The interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) responded with total field (Bt) readings of 23 nT while the Bz component rotated between +18 nT to – 19 nT.

Geomagnetic field conditions remained elevated through 18 March with quiet to minor storm levels. Solar wind conditions also remained enhanced with wind speeds that approached 600 km/s midday on the 17th. Bt and Bz relaxed by early on 15 March with Bt fairly steady at 10 nT with Bz varying between +/- 8 nT. 18 and 19 March saw quiet to active levels due to prolonged periods of southward Bz. During this time frame, wind speeds averaged about 425 km/s.

Forecast of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity 21 March – 16 April 2016

Solar activity is expected to be at very low levels with a chance for C-class activity throughout 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 high levels on 21-22 March, 04-06 April and 12-16 April. Normal to moderate levels are expected for the remainder of the outlook period.

Geomagnetic field activity is expected to reach G2-moderate storm levels on 02 April with G1-minor storm levels expected on 03, 11-13 April due to the influence of recurrent, negative polarity CH HSSs. Quiet to unsettled conditions are expected for the remainder of the outlook period under a nominal solar wind regime.

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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In this episode, Martin M1MRB / W9ICQ is joined by Ed Durrant DD5LP and Andy Mace M0MUX to discuss the latest Amateur / Ham Radio news. Colin M6BOY rounds up the news in brief, and this episodes feature is a review of the Icom IC-2730 Review by Chris Howard M0TCH.

• Radio Ham Licensed for 75 years
• Remote Controlled Short-Wave Receiver
• Belgium gets WRC15 5 MHz allocation and 4m extension
• 434 MHz Balloon Flies over North Africa
• G0KSC Wins RSGB Award Again
• Millions of UK TVs to Become Obsolete
• School SSTV CubeSat to Deploy from ISS
• UK Space Spectrum Strategy Consultation

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

In this episode, Martin M1MRB / W9ICQ is joined by Ed Durrant DD5LP and Andy Mace M0MUX to discuss the latest Amateur / Ham Radio news. Colin M6BOY rounds up the news in brief, and this episodes feature is a review of the Icom IC-2730 Review by Chris Howard M0TCH.

• Radio Ham Licensed for 75 years
• Remote Controlled Short-Wave Receiver
• Belgium gets WRC15 5 MHz allocation and 4m extension
• 434 MHz Balloon Flies over North Africa
• G0KSC Wins RSGB Award Again
• Millions of UK TVs to Become Obsolete
• School SSTV CubeSat to Deploy from ISS
• UK Space Spectrum Strategy Consultation

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