AmateurRadio.com

Welcome to Episode #148 of Linux in the Ham Shack! In this installment, your hosts discuss Art Bell and the radio of kooks everywhere, free newsletters, Linux terminal utilities, FreeDV, FlexRadio, loggers and a whole bunch more. Thanks for listening, and enjoy all the information we cram in your earholes.

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].

A recent posting on the ON4KST 6m Chat page brought up the question of QRN coming from  fluorescent lighting.

Lefty, K1TOL, had a lot of QRN coming from his neighbour's garage, about 1,000 feet away. He solved the problem by changing the ballasts, purchased at Home Depot. This is the ballast that solved his problem, so if you are having similar difficulty, perhaps this will be of benefit.

Sometimes just changing to a different bulb type (manufacturer) will solve the problem as well but from what I have read, you get what you pay for and likely the bargain-bin bulbs are not the quietest.
Steve McDonald, VE7SL, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from British Columbia, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

In this episode, Martin M1MRB / W9ICQ is joined by Ed Durrant DD5LP ,Martin Rothwell M0SGL and Matthew Nassau 2E0MTT to discuss the latest Amateur / Ham Radio news. Colin M6BOY rounds up the news in brief, and this episodes feature is  - Running a Special Event.

• Passing (SK) of Bill Pasternak WA6ITF
• New VK balloon Circumnavigates the Earth
• German Museum Joins Museums on the Air
• The Morse Mouse - Educational Fun with Ham Radio
• Britain's Pirate Radio Stations
• Tytera TYT MD-380 DMR handheld
• Radio Call Saves SOTA Climber
• Bletchley Honour for Morse Code Interceptor
• Australian Foundation Licence due for Review
• Lotto Grant to buy Radios for Blind
• Swedish 160m Proposal

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 ,Martin Rothwell M0SGL and Matthew Nassau 2E0MTT to discuss the latest Amateur / Ham Radio news. Colin M6BOY rounds up the news in brief, and this episodes feature is  - Running a Special Event.

• Passing (SK) of Bill Pasternak WA6ITF
• New VK balloon Circumnavigates the Earth
• German Museum Joins Museums on the Air
• The Morse Mouse - Educational Fun with Ham Radio
• Britain's Pirate Radio Stations
• Tytera TYT MD-380 DMR handheld
• Radio Call Saves SOTA Climber
• Bletchley Honour for Morse Code Interceptor
• Australian Foundation Licence due for Review
• Lotto Grant to buy Radios for Blind
• Swedish 160m Proposal

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

AmateurLogic.TV Episode 79 is now available for download.

Tommy puts the DHAP MiniMega together. Peter visits Adelaide. George builds the Scope Squid Plus your viewer emails and more.

1:11:00

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].

10m has always been my best band. I have lost count of the DXCC totals with QRP SSB. Chasing countries has never been a real activity of mine, although I still get a “kick” from working a new country.

At sunspot peaks it supports world-wide DX with QRP and simple wire antennas. Even in the quiet solar years there is often some DX to be found and usually late April to September there is sporadic-E (Es) to be found with good signals over ranges up to around 1500km and sometimes further. These are for the northern hemisphere.  There tends to be a smaller Es peak around December/January.  It is the reverse in the southern hemisphere. It is quite normal to hear USA stations by Es in the summertime, but usually openings are not for long.

If 10m is quiet it is worth checking CB frequencies (11m) as a “band open” sign. Often CB can be busy when 10m is quiet due to lack of activity.  Thanks to Steve VE7SL for this good advice.

At night and in the quiet years it is an ideal band for local nets on FM or AM. At 1.7MHz wide it is big band so all modes can be supported.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/hf/10m_op .

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

Yes, it is possible to hear a long way on a crystal set. The equipment needed can be extremely simple too.  What is needed are a good pair of ears and sensitive headphones.   My ears are getting old and if I can hear this DX then younger ears certainly can. I have found a low cost very high impedance crystal earpiece worked well. You may have better headphones?

Copying amateurs, most of whom use SSB, is more difficult. Remember, a simple crystal set is only able to envelope detect, although in the USA 75m AM signals are regularly copied at great range. Some SSB signals on 10m Es should be strong enough to envelope detect. Based on my tests, if stronger than 500uV to 1mV the signals should be copyable. Quite a few signals can be this strong.

See  https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/hf/crystalset .

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