AmateurRadio.com

Fritz Raab (W1FR), the ARRL's 600m Experiment Coordinator, has indicated that this year's '630m Special Operating Event' will be held on the weekend of November 13 / 14. Mark your calendars if you plan to participate as it looks as though, once again, along with the numerous U.S. experimental stations beaconing and coastal maritime stations, several Canadian 630m stations will be active and looking for realtime CW 'crossband' contacts! Canadian stations will 'CQ' on specific frequencies and will listen for calling stations on designated HF (80/40m) answering (QRSS) frequencies.

Unlike last year, the Canadian stations will be operating for several hours on both nights, since there will be no conflict with the ARRL's CW Sweepstakes Contest as in 2014. Please stay tuned as there will be further details to follow regarding specific stations, frequencies and times ... notifications will be published on both the ARRL and RAC web 'news' pages as well as on numerous ham radio reflectors.

There's still lots of time to tweak up your 630m receiving capabilities ... it should be an interesting weekend, especially if the mid-November propagation cooperates.

A summary of last year's Friday night crossband activity can be found here.
Steve McDonald, VE7SL, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from British Columbia, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

Each month brings three Amateur journals, two arriving via the post. I get used to the time of the month when they arrive. QST is always the later one, but since it changed some years ago to bulk shipping for it's distribution (Shipped to the UK then redistributed by another company over here) it has never arrived any later than the 23rd of the month..

Of course I receive the automatic email telling me I can read the electronic version of QST, somehow though this method never has the same appeal as the real paper version.

September was nearly at the end, the leaves were falling off the trees Autumn was well in process, but still no QST. I knew it was lost, can we even trust the postman these days to deliver our mail? I contacted the circulation department at the ARRL, I soon received a quick response to my email. I was asked to hold fire until the 1st of October and contact them again, which was only a few days more to wait, a bit more patience never hurt anyone. The 1st came, still no QST, so I was back on the keyboard again, I was informed one would be sent out straight away from the USA. Today it arrrived 7 days later..




After many years of being an overseas ARRL member this is the first time I have never received QST. It is good one can send an email and get sorted very "quickly" well done ARRL! 




     
Steve, G1KQH, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from England. Contact him at [email protected].

Each month brings three Amateur journals, two arriving via the post. I get used to the time of the month when they arrive. QST is always the later one, but since it changed some years ago to bulk shipping for it distribution (Shipped to the UK then redistributed by another company over here) it has never arrived any later than the 23rd of the month..

Of course I receive the automatic email telling me I can read the electronic version of QST, somehow though this method never has the same appeal as the real paper version.

September was nearly at the end, the leaves were falling off the trees Autumn was well in process, but still no QST. I knew it was lost, can we even trust the postman these days to deliver our mail? I contacted the circulation department at the ARRL,  I soon received a quick response to my email. I was asked to hold fire until the 1st of October and contact them again, which was only a few days more to wait, a bit more patience never hurt anyone. The 1st came, still no QST, so I was back on the keyboard again, I was informed one would be sent out straight away from the USA. Today it arrrived 7 days later..




After many years of being an overseas ARRL member this is the first time I have never received QST. It is good one can send an email and get sorted very "quickly" well done ARRL! 




     
Steve, G1KQH, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from England. Contact him at [email protected].

The next world radio conference (WRC-2015) is drawing close to opening. Worldwide, radio amateurs are hoping for a contiguous 5MHz allocation, rather than the channelised allocations common in many countries. A 60m band would be really useful as the sunspot numbers decline and the higher HF bands become far less useful for DX. Whether this contiguous allocation will happen remains to be seen. Most of the lobbying has been done, so I guess we now have to wait and hope.

Roger Lapthorn, G3XBM, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Cambridge, England.

My new copy of RadCom is due towards the end of next week. I wonder, if as in PW, there will be a “tight lipped” policy as appears to be the case for all advertising in PW a few weeks ago? You can almost hear ICOM saying, “do NOT sell the IC7300, as this is for NEXT year, if at all”.

Certainly the UK selling price of the Yaesu FT991 has, as predicted, dropped some way. This will go lower still in the months ahead. If the IC7300 has had to be delayed (software issue maybe, or are they afraid the lack of 2m/70cm will be a problem, or is there a major design issue, or are they worried about the selling price versus the Yaesu FT991?) this would be a great shame.

I was expecting to see this in the UK by Christmas and selling for less than the FT991. I now have my doubts. The next RadCom may give us some clues.

See http://www.cqdx.ru/ham/new-equipment/icom-ic-7300-hf-50-mhz-transceiver/ .

Roger Lapthorn, G3XBM, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Cambridge, England.

courtesy: http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/

After more than a week of horrendous geomagnetic activity, due mainly to coronal-hole streaming, it looks as if things are starting to settle down once again. One would never know it from looking at the sun's image as the source of the streaming is largely invisible in the visible light spectrum. Viewing at a different wavelength however, reveals the source of the disruption, now about to rotate out of view for a few weeks.

courtesy: http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/

courtesy: http://wdc.kugi.kyoto-u.ac.jp/dst_realtime/presentmonth/index.html

courtesy: http://www.noaa.gov/

With the DST heading upwards and the planetary K numbers dropping it looks like we are returning to a good place and just in time ... October is often one of the best months of the year for LF propagation.


Steve McDonald, VE7SL, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from British Columbia, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

Two more VE7's are well on their way to getting in on the lightwave fun in the Vancouver lower mainland region. Toby, VE7CNF, and Mark, VA7MM, are constructing stations similar to the ones built by myself and Markus, VE7CA.

Toby and Mark live close enough that a clear-air scatter QSO between them might also be a possibility. Having another near-by amateur, or even in the same city, is a great source of motivation ... not to mention having someone else to actually talk to, once the system has been built.

Except for the LED focusing sled, Toby's fine-looking transmitter box and LED driver / modulator, are now complete. The receiver is next on the list. I believe this will use one of the inexpensive ($5) fresnels lenses, purchased locally at Princess Auto, that seems to work very well for the price.

photos courtesy VE7CNF

At this pace, perhaps a four-way VE7 lightwave QSO will soon be in the making!
Steve McDonald, VE7SL, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from British Columbia, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].