Ham College episode 11 is now available for download.

Tommy and George discuss ‘Your First Radio’. More questions and answers from the Technician class question pool. Learn how you can win an Icom T-shirt and cap.

01:06:14

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George Thomas, W5JDX, is co-host of AmateurLogic.TV, an original amateur radio video program hosted by George Thomas (W5JDX), Tommy Martin (N5ZNO), Peter Berrett (VK3PB), and Emile Diodene (KE5QKR). Contact him at [email protected].

Amateur Radio Weekly is curated by Cale Mooth K4HCK. Sign up free to receive ham radio's most relevant news, projects, technology and events by e-mail each week at http://www.hamweekly.com.

Vibroplex Bug Morse Keys 

Vibroplex Original Semi-automatic Bug

The Vibroplex semi-automatic Bug is considered a manual key by the SKCC (Straight Key Century Club) so it counts in SKCC contacts.

Wrap the pendulum weight with solder to slow it a bit

Here is a video running through the keys to see if learning a Vibroplex messes up my ability to use a paddle with an electronic keyer The Vibroplex Bug next to a Kent Hand Key.

Manual Morse Code Keys

Richard Carpenter, AA4OO, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from North Carolina, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

All aboard for ADVENTURE! I purchased this book a while back and I finally dug it off the shelf. Kay Everett Calls CQ, by Amelia Lobsenz, is about a young college girl who takes a summer road trip from North Carolina out to the West with three friends, a travel trailer, and ham radio. For me, this book has several things going for it: (1) strong female protagonist (I have two daughters), (2) HF mobile (I need to get my rig installed in my new vehicle), and (3) a travel trailer trip to Yellowstone National Park, Idaho, and the Colorado Rocky Mountains. The plot centers around a jewel thief, who is also roaming the West, and Kay learning about the amateur radio hobby. Ham radio plays a critical role in several places and the author has the main characters explore several aspects of the hobby (… they even go to a hamfest).

The author, Amelia Lobsenz, was an experienced ham, licensed in 1941. After a stent in publishing, she ran her own public relations firm. She based some of the characters on her actual friends, to include Theresa Korn, K7JGU. In the story, Terry, a YL and pilot, takes two of the girls flying over Idaho (aeronautical mobile, where they end up directing smokejumpers into a wildfire). The protagonist, Kay, is named after Ms. Lobsenz’s own daughter.

Ms. Lobsenz used a 1940’s trip out West to serve as inspiration for Kay’s trip. Among the many places the girls go include:
– National Elk Refuge National Wildlife Refuge
– Grand Teton National Park
– Yellowstone National Park
– Craters of the Moon National Monument
– The Great Salt Lake in Utah
– Rocky Mountain National Park

Amelia became a Silent Key in 1992, but I think her written work will live on.

Scott Hedberg, NØZB, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Kansas, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

Ahhh the old setup along with a great antenna............

The blog keyboard has been quiet these past few weeks but I am coming along with my digi adventure! I did have some long evenings with trying to get the PC software and rig to talk and get along with each other. I really find the Yahoo groups to be a great help when Im ready to throw in the towel. There seems to be a group for most ham radio applications and very willing and knowledgeable folks out there more than happy to help. This weekend is the CQ CW contest and I have been spending some of my downtime getting things ready. The software I be using is N1MM+ I have not as of yet used this version in a contest I had been sticking with just plan old N1MM. As for rig software I migrated to Win4K3 and am very happy with it more on that in another post. Finally my logging software has changed as well I have just started to use Log40M again more on that in another post. I never planned it this way but it seems that all is new for the contest and that can be both exciting and a disaster!! I have spent time testing out N1MM+, Win4K3 and Log40M and all seems to be going just fine.....but then again there is Murphy. Some of my goals for the contest are:
1.  Stay with the contest and not to get frustrated.
2.  Try not to use the morse code reader and do most by ear....see how that works out.
3.  Have fun and not worry about the score as with my setup placing anywhere for anything is most likely out of the question.
I will keep you posted as to how things go in the contest.....oh and the new setup as well....maybe I will hang some garlic close to the shack to keep Murphy away....:)
Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

courtesy: http://wsprnet.org/

It seems that the 630m WSPR digital crowd is growing quickly, with more new stations showing up every evening on the web's WSPRnet activity page. Most nights see activity from 80 or more stations, either transmitting or listening in WSPR mode on 630m!

WSPR is the 'Weak Signal Propagation Reporter' beacon-only mode being used by many of the stations presently transmitting on 630m, especially the U.S. experimental stations.

Those with the WSPR software (freeware and easily installed) usually have the program automatically upload their spots (stations being heard) to the WSPRnet page so that the transmitting stations are able to see where their signals are being heard. It also becomes quickly apparent, when examining the various spots, just how good or bad propagation might be at any given time.

WSPR Waterfall Displaying Detected Signals

Since WSPR is a non-QSO mode, the ability to observe propagation conditions, is its major feature. With transmission periods of just under two-minutes, and a very narrow FSK data information stream, WSPR can dig into the noise and copy signals that are often inaudible by ear ... some 15dB or more, past the audible level. Of course, audible signals are also demodulated as well, and will appear on your list of spotted stations, on the WSPRnet data page.

If you choose, you can also see your spotted stations in a Map mode, as shown at the top. This map shows the stations that I was hearing last night on 630m.

Along with the call and grid locator of the station being heard, the WSPR software also indicates several other bits of information, including the signal-to-noise ratio as heard at your location. Shown below is the decoded output from several stations following the two-minute transmission period.

06:58	WH2XXP	0.475662	-13	0	DM33	5	VE7SL	CN88iu	1909
06:58	WG2XXM	0.475709	-6	0	EM15lj	5	VE7SL	CN88iu	2610
06:58	WG2XKA	0.475723	-9	0	FN33lq	1	VE7SL	CN88iu	3833

Note the SNR reports ... usually, signals stronger than around -14dB will be just detectable by ear with anything in the + range being pretty strong.

Shown below are the Tuesday night reports of local station, VE7CNF, and indicates the extensive area over which his WSPR beacon was reported. Toby is running a modest 5W eirp station from a suburban-sized lot. Analyzing the reports, it is apparent that many of these stations rose to audible signal levels at various times throughout the evening and would have probably been workable on normal CW mode ... even from the 'burbs!

courtesy: http://wsprnet.org/

There are probably many of you already listening to WSPR signals on HF and have yet to venture down to 630m to see what can be heard. The improved propagation conditions of late make this an ideal time to have a peek at 630m and see what you can spot.

Your low-band wire antennas can often hear surprisingly well below the broadcast band and you may be surprised at what WSPR can detect. Use the USB mode with your receiver set to 474.200 kHz and, if possible, upload your 630m MF spots to the WSPRnet. You can also follow up-to-the-minute activity on the 2200m/630m ON4KST Chat page which is always interesting.
Steve McDonald, VE7SL, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from British Columbia, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

Earlier this year, I was talking ham radio stuff with Brian Hutchison, AI6GH. Brian mentioned that his father was a Prisoner of War (POW) in World War II and built a radio while in a Japanese prison camp. I’ve read articles about vintage and spy radios from WWII, but I’ve never been that interested in the topic. When Brian told me about his father, I thought “Holy Grid Current! He built a radio as a POW? Now that’s interesting.” The more I learned about the story, the more I became fascinated by it.

Brian pointed me to some great resources that tell the story. I started with the March 2013 Newsletter of the Palo Alto Amateur Radio Association. Hiro Kato AH6CY has an interesting article describing two different clandestine radios, one of them built by Captain Russell J. Hutchison, Brian’s father. It was a one-tube shortwave receiver intended to keep the prisoners informed about the progress of the war. Mostly, they wanted to know when the invasion of Japan would occur. The radio was built into and disguised as an ordinary water canteen, obtaining its power from an electric light socket.

The book Prisoners of the Japanese: POWs of World War II in the Pacific by Gavan Daws provides some insight into Hutchison’s parts procurement:

At Davao the Japanese camp commandant put out a call for a prisoner who could fix radios. Hutchison got the job, plus a commission from the senior POW officer to build a secret shortwave set. The camp machine shop was a happy hunting ground for him. He fixed the commandant’s personal radio, an American Zenith. The other Japanese brought in their looted sets, Sears, Roebuck and Montgomery Ward brands, also a 35-millimeter Simplex movie projector with a sound amplifier that needed work. Every chance Hutchison got, he liberated parts. From a broken-down car radio he lifted a couple of tube sockets. He scrounged capacitors and condensers and resistors and a voltage meter, a headset that had survived a fire, everything up to four new tubes still in their packages.

My next stop was the website of Tim Sammons N6CC,  who built a replica of the shortwave canteen receiver. This single-tube regenerative receiver has a regeneration control, a main tuning capacitor, bandspread tuning capacitor and an antenna tuning capacitor. See N6CC’s webpage for a schematic and other interesting technical details.

This book is available online: The Signal Corps: The Outcome by Thompson and Harris that provided further background (and the figure at the top of this article). Another valuable resource is First Into Nagasaki: The Censored Eyewitness Dispatches on Post-Atomic Japan and Its Prisoners of War. 

This is a intrigung story of technological innovation under the most extreme circumstances. Most of us have never experienced such adversity that these POWs endured. Some of them managed to also built clandestine radios. A truly amazing story to consider as we enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday.

73, Bob K0NR

The post POW Canteen Radio 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].