AmateurRadio.com

There is great entertainment value in ABC-TV’s Jeopardy! program. This author sees educational opportunities everywhere; wouldn’t it be great to be able to play a game like this for a club program or for a review session after a licensing- exam course? A student at Siena College provided a template for a quiz game in PowerPoint; our junque box was large enough for construction to proceed. After two full evenings at the workbench, Ham-Radio Jepperdee was born.

My hardware includes push-buttons, lock-out circuitry, lights, and a sounder. DC power is provided by a wall-wart to terminals shown as circles on the left edge of the schematic. I have constructed both a 6-volt version and a 12-volt version of Jepperdee, and I’m currently building a second 12-volt unit. (I gave one to a cousin who is a teacher.)

The electromechanical relays at the heart of the project are not state-of the-art, but they were immediately available. Anyone wishing to build a device like mine may choose to use solid-state circuitry. The speaker symbol on the right of the figure is used to denote an attention-getting alarm.

Although it can stand alone, my quiz-game gadgetry is more fun when paired with Ham-Radio Jepperdee PowerPoint software. Submitted along with this article is a complete game file. Slides 1 and 2 are introductory; slide 3 is instructional; slide 4 is the circuit diagram (perhaps worth describing during a presentation); slides 5 and 6 are the game boards. The rest of the slides complete the game, and they include many features of the familiar TV show.

Left-clicking on any numerical entry on the game board yields a question; the very next frame gives the answer. [Exception: a player may get the Daily Double banner; the slide gives on-screen instructions.] It requires almost no effort to change the wording on any frame of the PowerPoint; the game can be changed as drastically as necessary to suit any purpose.

Ham-Radio Jepperdee (attached) is meant to be entertaining. On ARRL’s web site at http://www.arrl.org/instruction-exam-practice-and-review, one can find several exam-prep Jepperdee games whose questions have been taken from current question pools. These are entertaining and educational.

Bob Raffaele, W2XM, is a special contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New York, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

courtesy: http://www.arrl.org/

I receive a lot of e-mail from both hams and future hams that are struggling with CW. It seems there are a lot of hams that don't operate any CW simply because of their code skills. For myself, learning CW as a pre-teen, was a bit of a struggle, as I learned CW from flash cards ... definitely the wrong way. In my case, the code was learned in order to operate an Aldis lamp signalling system for my scouting activities. When eventually switching to a hand key and buzzer, I had to make the mental switch between the picture of the flash card and the sound of the code, taking me much longer to reach my goals than if I had learned just by sound.

If I were learning the code today, or if advising anyone struggling with CW, I would suggest several ways of making it easier.

1. Too many newcomers want to learn CW using a keyer. Put the keyer away and get yourself a hand key. It need not be fancy or expensive.

2. Use the hand key to practice sending similar-sounding letters (E, I, S, H etc) slowly and correctly. Don't be concerned about sending them fast but concentrate on getting a uniform spacing between each element of the letter. As you slowly learn the letters and how they sound, you will find your sending speeding-up, unconsciously, as you progress.

3. Combine your sending practice with receiving practice and try to do 10 minutes of each during each practice session. One session per day will guarantee success, if you stick with it. If you can't do it every day then try and commit to every other day.

4. For receiving practice, use a much higher speed than what you are sending at. Once again, in sets of similar-sounding letters, try and learn the letters when sent at a speed of at least 15WPM, but with wide spaces between each letter ... so they aren't coming at you as fast. This is the Farnsworth method of learning code. Learning what the letters sound like when sent at a fast speed will eliminate the dreaded 'learning plateaus' associated with learning at slower speeds, when you can get stuck at a lower speed for some length of time. I only wish that I had known of this method when I was a kid, but I don't think it had been thought of back then.

5. There are lots of websites that will help you in Step 4 and one that I have played with seems to work very well. You can set up a slow-speed spacing but have characters sent at 15WPM or faster (start with 15WPM). You can pick only the letters that you wish to practice (T,M,O,A,N etc) and then get a printout of what was actually sent to check your accuracy. The one I tested is by AA9PW and can be found here.

In addition, the ARRL's W1AW, provides nightly code practice on various frequencies and also provides archived CW practice sessions at various speeds via their website here.

Once you become somewhat competent in both sending and receiving, don't be afraid to get on the air and use your new skills. Don't be concerned about sending fast and be careful about sending faster than you can receive, an easy trap to fall into.

There are always several stations around 7.110-7.125 every afternoon and evening that seem very happy to communicate at comfortable speeds. If you don't get on-the-air, then make sure that you still do your daily 20 minutes of practice. You will be amazed at how quickly you can learn the code or increase your speed, with this daily routine. This short daily commitment to practice (on the air or otherwise) is the key to success.

If you aren't using CW, you are missing out on a lot of fun. To this day, CW is still my favorite mode and almost 100% of my on-air operating is on CW ... it's just plain fun! Knowing how to use CW will open up a lot of opportunities to enjoy it ... CW contesting, chasing DX, CW nets, staying in touch with friends etc ... CW will always get through better than phone under most conditions.

courtesy: http://www.arrl.org/

So ... if you have been struggling with the code, or putting it off, there's no time like the present to join the fun. Hopefully you will find these suggestions helpful.


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 2015 Jul 27 0117 UTC.

Highlights of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity 20 – 26 July 2015

Solar activity reached low levels this period. Region 2389 (S11, L=164, class/area=Dai/80 on 25 Jul) produced three low-level C-class flares throughout the period which were the largest observed events. Region 2389 produced a C1 flare at 24/0315 UTC, a C2/Sf flare at 24/1444 UTC, and a C1 flare at 26/1234 UTC but none of these events resulted in coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that were Earth-directed. Region 2390 (S15, L=198, class/area=Dac/130 on 26 Jul) underwent moderate penumbral development and increased in magnetic complexity late in the period, but remained largely unproductive. No Earth-directed CMEs were detected in SOHO/LASCO coronagraph imagery throughout the period.

No proton events were observed at geosynchronous orbit.

The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit reached high levels on 20, 26 Jul with moderate levels observed on 21-22, and 24-25 Jul. The electron flux decreased to normal levels on 23 Jul in response to enhanced geomagnetic field activity attributed to a combination of CME and coronal hole high speed stream (CH HSS) influence.

Geomagnetic field activity reached active to G1 (Minor) geomagnetic storm levels on 23 Jul due to a combination of the arrival of the 19 Jul CME (filament eruption) and the onset of a weak positive polarity CH HSS. Active conditions were observed at 23/0300-0600 UTC and 23/1800-2100 UTC and G1 storm conditions were observed at 23/0600-0900 UTC. The geomagnetic field was at quiet or quiet to unsettled levels for the remainder of the period under an ambient solar wind environment followed by weak CH HSS influence.

Forecast of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity 27 July – 22 August 2015

Solar activity is expected to be at very low to low levels throughout the period with a slight chance of M-class (R1-R2/Minor-Moderate) flare activity between 28 Jul-10 Aug due to the return of Region 2381 (N14, L=074) which produced two M-class flares last rotation.

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 on 29 Jul, 01, 07, and 17 Aug with high levels expected throughout the remainder of the period.

Geomagnetic field activity is likely to reach G1 (Minor) geomagnetic storm levels on 07 Aug with active levels expected on 29 Jul, 02, 08-09, and 19 Aug, all in response to the influence of recurrent CH HSS. Quiet to unsettled geomagnetic field activity is expected throughout the remainder of the period under an ambient solar wind environment.

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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 I've written multiple times in this space about the magic of ham radio. It will always be magic to me.

This past weekend I was testing portable configurations for a trip I will be taking to Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron, New Mexico next week. I am the President of the Alamo Area Council of the Boy Scouts and will be going through some training there. So, this trip I will not operating from a summit, but rather I need to work an IOTA Island that I need that will  QRV the week I am there.

I use EFHW's from summits all the time, but at QRP power levels, this time I will be running ~100 watts from a battery, so I thought an on air test would be a good idea. I conduct such tests in my backyard "Outdoor Radio Laboratory". I test portable configurations in an outdoor environment to simulate the conditions I will be operating in. I was running ~100 watts from an old Yaesu FT-100D to the EFHW  on a 30' pole tied off in a tree. I was tuning on 17m and I found and was able to work VK2SSI on OC-194, Solitary Island. So a portable to portable QSO would bode well for the capability of the set up.

Below is a video of the set up.


I think I have more fun in my backyard than in my regular shack.
Mike Crownover, AD5A, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Texas, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

 I've written multiple times in this space about the magic of ham radio. It will always be magic to me.

This past weekend I was testing portable configurations for a trip I will be taking to Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron, New Mexico next week. I am the President of the Alamo Area Council of the Boy Scouts and will be going through some training there. So, this trip I will not operating from a summit, but rather I need to work an IOTA Island that I need that will  QRV the week I am there.

I use EFHW's from summits all the time, but at QRP power levels, this time I will be running ~100 watts from a battery, so I thought an on air test would be a good idea. I conduct such tests in my backyard "Outdoor Radio Laboratory". I test portable configurations in an outdoor environment to simulate the conditions I will be operating in. I was running ~100 watts from an old Yaesu FT-100D to the EFHW  on a 30' pole tied off in a tree. I was tuning on 17m and I found and was able to work VK2SSI on OC-194, Solitary Island. So a portable to portable QSO would bode well for the capability of the set up.

Below is a video of the set up.


I think I have more fun in my backyard than in my regular shack.
Mike Crownover, AD5A, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Texas, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

Greetings! We have a super episode for you this time around. It's 151 Proof and packed with information on the Dayton Hamvention, NASA launches, lightweight Linux distributions that might be great in your ham shack, Android apps for amateur radio use and a whole lot more. Thanks for tuning in, and we hope you enjoy this episode. If you have comments or questions, please don't hesitate to send us voice mail or e-mail feedback. We'd love to hear from you.

73 de The LHS Guys

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].

Ham College episode 7 is now available for download.

Ham College, the new show for those new to the hobby and those wishing to get into Amateur Radio.

In episode 7 we talk about and demonstrate Radio Waves. More questions and answers from the Technical class question pool.

52:28

Download
YouTube

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].