AmateurRadio.com

So many projects, so little time! I have to keep reminding myself that amateur radio is a hobby and not a profession. I’ve got three main projects in the hopper.

My experimentation with AREDN continues to be quite fun. I was able to join the beta team, and I got to flip roles from my day job in Information Technology. Instead of being the project manager, I was a dreaded software tester! The AREDN team put together a thorough set of test cases. Running these resulted in finding a number of bugs, some minor  and some pretty good ones. There are some really neat new features, the most exciting being the new ham only channels – frequencies that aren’t shared with public or commercial users. I’m going to use the software on two $95 off-the-shelf commercial radios to create a 15km link to provide data to a homebrew D-STAR repeater. I really love using amateur radio to solve other amateur radio challenges! If successful, I’m planning on introducing AREDN to our area’s emergency management leadership. Being a volunteer firefighter, I’ve already got an “in” to talk with that team. Bringing them a solution they don’t already have, and one that is already working, will be interesting.

On HF, I’ve got a 160m antenna I need to get up. I keep hearing that I’m missing out by never going below 80m. My buddy Fred, KC9REG, gave me a 160m antenna that I still haven’t gotten up. I need to get this done before winter!

Finally I need to get my Icom 2820 installed in a new-to-me truck. I haven’t installed a radio in such a new vehicle before. There sure is a lot of plastic molding now! After reading numerous blogs and Ford truck forums, I’ve got a plan. Surprisingly I found that there is a simple way to get wires from the engine compartment into the cab. And there’s just as easy of a way to get coax from the bed into the cab. We’ve got an upcoming boating vacation, and I’ll want the radio for the trip. This is one of those must-do projects!

All in all a fun time for me and ham radio.

Michael Brown, KG9DW, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Illinois, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

So many projects, so little time! I have to keep reminding myself that amateur radio is a hobby and not a profession. I’ve got three main projects in the hopper.

My experimentation with AREDN continues to be quite fun. I was able to join the beta team, and I got to flip roles from my day job in Information Technology. Instead of being the project manager, I was a dreaded software tester! The AREDN team put together a thorough set of test cases. Running these resulted in finding a number of bugs, some minor  and some pretty good ones. There are some really neat new features, the most exciting being the new ham only channels – frequencies that aren’t shared with public or commercial users. I’m going to use the software on two $95 off-the-shelf commercial radios to create a 15km link to provide data to a homebrew D-STAR repeater. I really love using amateur radio to solve other amateur radio challenges! If successful, I’m planning on introducing AREDN to our area’s emergency management leadership. Being a volunteer firefighter, I’ve already got an “in” to talk with that team. Bringing them a solution they don’t already have, and one that is already working, will be interesting.

On HF, I’ve got a 160m antenna I need to get up. I keep hearing that I’m missing out by never going below 80m. My buddy Fred, KC9REG, gave me a 160m antenna that I still haven’t gotten up. I need to get this done before winter!

Finally I need to get my Icom 2820 installed in a new-to-me truck. I haven’t installed a radio in such a new vehicle before. There sure is a lot of plastic molding now! After reading numerous blogs and Ford truck forums, I’ve got a plan. Surprisingly I found that there is a simple way to get wires from the engine compartment into the cab. And there’s just as easy of a way to get coax from the bed into the cab. We’ve got an upcoming boating vacation, and I’ll want the radio for the trip. This is one of those must-do projects!

All in all a fun time for me and ham radio.

Michael Brown, KG9DW, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Illinois, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

This will be a very brief blog update.  The last time I updated my blog site was soon after the first of the year.  I provided (or tried to provide) an explanation to my long absence both on the bands, the blogosphere and the podcast airwaves.  I’m not going to go rehash that as you can read that posting here.    However, one thing I did mention in that posting was amateur radio was by no means the cause of my grief, it (among a few other things) just reminded me of it. 

Anyway, last night I had a bit of free time and decided to go down to my basement ham shack and switch on the computers, switch on the radios and see what was happening on the bands.  My Yaesu FT-897 was parked on 14.076 (right where I had left it almost a year ago) and much to my surprise everything still worked.  After syncing my PC clock (it was some 4+ minutes off) I fired up HRD, launched the JT65-HF software and the waterfall began filling up.  It was a good feeling answering my first CQ in almost a year. 

I’m not sure just how active I will be in the coming weeks or months.  My intention is to enjoy the hobby and see where things lead me.  Regarding my podcast (The Practical Amateur Radio Podcast), I really don’t want it to just fade away.   While it has been 14+ months since I released an episode, the site still gets a lot of traffic and I occasionally still receive emails asking what is going on.  But before PARP ever returns, I need to get engaged back into the hobby.  I’ve always said I was only at my very best podcasting about amateur radio when I was active and involved.

In closing, I want to thank those of you who wrote to me over the past year.  The words of encouragement really helped.  I can’t remember who told me this, but one of the comments or emails I received just simply told me that amateur radio would still be here when I was ready to come back.  Yep…that’s right! 

Until next time…

73 de KDØBIK  aka Jerry

Jerry Taylor, KD0BIK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Colorado, USA. He is the host of the Practical Amateur Radio Podcast. Contact him at [email protected].

There has been a lot of discussion lately regarding the upcoming ARRL's review of DXCC requirements regarding, amongst other things, the use of  "remote" stations. It seems that most folks are either dead against them or all for them, with little middle-ground. But one thing is for certain ... remotes are here to stay and are growing by leaps and bounds.

The biggest controversy seems to be whether DX worked via a remote should count the same as DX worked from one's home station. Many think that DX worked via a remote should still be countable for your DXCC credits but should be in a separate class or have a separate endorsement indicating such ... others see no separation is needed.

I guess a lot depends on how one views the DXCC program overall. Some see it as a competition against other stations while others view it is a personal challenge for one's own satisfaction and the only competition is with one's self.

For example, if a New England 160m amateur spends many years perfecting his system and struggles for those hard-fought Asian or South Pacific contacts, should these contacts be held in the same regard as the New Englander's 160m neighbour who works all of the Asian-Pacific with ease via a remote station on the west coast? Should both DXCC certificates be the same? There is also the question of remote stations "for rent" and the overall ethics or "legality" of such within the amateur radio service.

The only direct exposure I have had to remote station operation is hearing what was clearly an east-coast remote being operated by an amateur on the west coast, while working Europeans. No problem with that, however, the operator was giving his location as CN87, Washington state ... clearly deceptive, as many Europeans were delighted to think that they had just worked a new state in "7-land"!

I suppose that no matter how strict the "rules" for remote operations eventually become, there will always be those willing to play by their own rules, as is human nature.

The genie is out of the bottle and there is no going back. I think the ARRL has some tough decisions to make ... hopefully they will be well-thought out and not based solely on financial interests.
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 20 0508 UTC.

Highlights of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity 13 – 19 July 2015

Solar activity began the period at very low levels on 13 Jul but increased to low levels on 14 Jul with C1 flares from Region 2381 (N14, L=074, class/area Eko/550 on 08 Jul) and 2387 (N17, L=271, class/area Dai/120 on 18 Jul) at 14/0925 UTC and 14/1210 UTC respectively. Very low levels were observed on 15-17 Jul. Ground observatories reported a 22 degree filament eruption, centered near N39E36 at 16/1453-1643 UTC. The associated CME was not geoeffective. Region 2388 (N08, L=024, class/area Cao/020 on 16 Jul) produced a C1 flare at 18/1442 UTC and was accompanied by a Type II radio sweep (est speed 418 km/s). A CME was later observed in SOHO/LASCO C2 coronagraph imagery erupting from the west limb at 18/1512 UTC with an estimated plane of sky speed of 337 km/s. This event is not expected to be geoeffective. A long duration event (LDE) C2 flare was observed at 19/1040 UTC. The LDE was associated with a 23 degree long filament eruption located in the SW quadrant centered near S32W52. CME analysis, and subsequent WSA-Enlil model output, revealed a possible weak glancing blow from the northern flank of the SW-directed CME expected to arrive at Earth early on 23 Jul.

No proton events were observed at geosynchronous orbit.

The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit was at moderate levels on 13 Jul. High levels were reached from 14-19 Jul due to effects from a coronal hole high speed stream.

Geomagnetic field activity reached minor storm levels on 13 Jul due to effects from a positive polarity coronal hole high speed stream. Mostly quiet conditions with isolated unsettled periods were observed from 14-16 Jul as coronal hole effects subsided. Quiet conditions were observed for the remainder of the period.

Forecast of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity 20 July – 15 August 2015

Solar activity is expected to be very low to low from 20-27 Jul. Moderate levels are likely from 28 Jul through 10 Aug due to the return of old Region 2381 followed by a return to very low to low levels for the remainder of the period.

No proton events are expected at geosynchronous orbit.

The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to remain at high levels from 20-22 Jul before an anticipated glancing blow from the 19 Jul CME is expected to redistribute. Normal to moderate levels are expected from 23-26 Jul followed by a return to high levels from 27-30 Jul following elevated wind speeds from a combination of the CME and a positive polarity coronal hole high speed stream (CH HSS). High flux levels are expected from 03-05 Aug and 10-15 Aug following recurrent negative and positive polarity high speed streams respectively.

Geomagnetic field activity is expected to be at quiet to active levels on 20 Jul due to influence from a positive polarity CH HSS followed by quiet conditions from 21-22 Jul as effects subside. Unsettled to active conditions are expected from 23-24 Jul due to a possible glancing blow from the 19 Jul CME followed in close succession by a recurrent positive polarity HSS. Quiet conditions are expected to prevail from 25-30 Jul. Unsettled to active conditions are expected from 31 Jul-02 Aug due to a recurrent negative polarity CH HSS, with minor storms likely on 01 Aug when the HSS is at its peak strength. Mostly quiet conditions are expected to return from 03-05 Aug. Minor storm conditions are likely from 06-07 Aug due to another recurrent positive polarity HSS, followed by a steady decrease to active and then unsettled conditions from 08-10 Aug as effects wane. Mostly quiet conditions are expected for the remainder of the forecast period.

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I think the RSGB must be getting short of articles for RadCom.

Last month they reviewed a linear that cannot be legally used in the UK because of its high power. There were a couple of critical letters about this in the August RadCom. Why did the RSGB print this review at all? We, in the UK, have a power level of 400W pep on most bands and we should encourage UK amateurs to keep to this. I have rarely used more than 5-10W pep and even 100W sounds like incredibly high power! No, let us have more articles in the spirit of amateur radio. Not everyone is interested in big, overpriced radios, linears, towers and huge HF beams. Just a few watts is enough to span the globe.

Anyone can work the world with 1000W and an HF beam on a tower. You can also video conference world wide for free with Skype!

QRP is a real challenge. High power rigs, big HF beam and linears are more about egos. Personally they do little for me.

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

I have added a 'Quick Links' section along the right side of my blog. Here you will find links to noteworthy blogs on my site without having to sleuth through the entire listings. Those of you reading my blog on amateurradio.com will not see these but they can be viewed on my actual blog page here.
                                                                
Now that my two major outdoor summer projects have been done, the re-roofing of my yard shed as well as the woodshed roof, I can get back to concentrating on more benchwork soon.



The hardest part of the roofing job was stripping the old cedar shakes (23 years old) and then sheathing the roofs with plywood. The actual laying of the new asphalt shingles (Malarkey) went very quickly. This was my first exposure to shingling and I learned a lot ... hopefully growing some new brain cells in the process. It's a good thing that 6m hasn't been open much at all this summer as I'd still be up on the roof.


I've just checked the progress of Andy's PS-46 'PicoSat' balloon. It left the east coast of South Africa several days ago, streaking towards the Indian Ocean at 40,000 feet ...  however it has not been reported for two days now.

When last heard it was 500km south of Madagascar heading SE. It had maintained 27,000 feet after leaving the African coast but then suddenly starting losing altitude over a 7 hour period. It was at 6,000 feet on the last report.

Hopefully PS-46 is just in a radio-quiet zone in the south Indian Ocean and will pop-up again as it nears Australia. It was well on the way to completing its third circumnavigation of the planet but one wonders just how long PS-46 can go on.


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