AmateurRadio.com

This is a question I ask of vendors I order equipment and amateur radio goodies from. You should ask the same of your vendors. If your vendors don’t support Dayton, perhaps you should consider supporting different vendors. Why, you ask? Dayton is the largest amateur radio event in the US and perhaps the western hemisphere. It’s struggled over the years.  However, the visual appearance and condition of Hara Arena tends to tarnish the state of the Dayton Hamvention, in my opinion.  I think the Hamvention is actually doing well.  Attendance was up last year.  Looking at the schedule of seminars this morning, it’s a wonderful collection of varied topics, with something for everyone.  The flea market is huge and it’s exhausting to cover the entire area in the three days.  If your vendor is devoted to amateur radio, they should come to the Dayton Hamvention.  If they can’t make a profit attending and selling products or generating sales leads, perhaps something is wrong with their products, marketing, or business model.  If a vendor devotes the time and effort to come to Dayton with products to sell, buy their warez!  The Hamvention is more than a hamfest, it’s a social event, a gathering, a celebration, and an economic ecosystem for amateur radio.  See you at Dayton!

Anthony, K3NG, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com.

Will Elecraft be introducing something new at Hamvention tomorrow? Seems like it to me. Eric and Wayne posted the following on Facebook:


Notice the use of tomorrow's date in the display. Also - the current black chassis radios in the Elecraft line are the K3 and the KX3.  Both use black screws on the bezel - not silver. AND the last character before the word "Transceiver" on both radios is a "3" ...... not an "s". Lastly, there's no current radio in the Elecraft line (that I'm aware of) that has that little "down arrow" above the VFO knob.

Seems to me that a major announcement is in the offing for tomorrow. I guess time will tell!

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
Larry Makoski, W2LJ, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Jersey, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

As much as I hate to do it, I need to look for a new laptop for the shack. A few months ago, when the family computer gave up the ghost, I pressed my shack desktop into service in that role.  To fill the void in the shack, I resurrected my old Acer Inspire One netbook. It's a small machine with a very small screen, with hardly any processor power. It was performing duties way beyond its pay grade. This is the kind of computer that was designed for looking at e-mails and Facebook, and that's about it. Needing something better, I tried recruiting my even older HP laptop (the one with the broken top lid hinges - thanks, kids!) into service. Alas, it's better than the Acer, but only by the breadth of a hair.  It has a bigger screen, more RAM and a bigger hard drive, but it's still an old XP machine that has grown long in the tooth.

To explain what I mean ..... I went down to the shack last night to add some entries to my main logging program from the HamLog app I use when operating portable. I flipped the on switch at 9:30 PM and by the time it had booted up and the logging program had loaded it was about 9:47 PM.  17 minutes is not good. I wanted to start pulling out my hair by then. I think watching paint dry, or grass grow would have been less stressful and more entertaining.

That exercise in frustration drove me to start searching the Web. At work, IBM issued me a Lenovo T410.  I still use this model every day. Yes, they are slowly being refreshed out with the newer T440 model, but mine has served me decently well at the job over the last few years. I have found a couple places where I can pick up a refurbed T410 with 4G of RAM, a 250 GB hard drive and Windows 7 Professional in the $150 neighborhood.


This model has everything I would need. It can hook up to the Internet wirelessly, it has 3 USB ports (need one for the KX3, one for a mouse, and one for an external keyboard), provisions for adding a second VGA monitor and the standard audio ports, so I can do the digital modes, should I ever be inclined to go down that road. Not planning to go there, but you never know. I'll have to dip into savings to acquire one, but having a computer in the shack has almost become a necessity.

Of course, I could always go native and log strictly with paper and pencil, but I don't think the ARRL would accept mailed in Xerox copies of my log for LoTW.  Also, I like to keep my eye on QRPSPOTS as well as SOTAWatcher.  Can't do that without some kind of computer, although I guess I could always just use my cell phone for those. And having a Telnet DX Cluster at my disposal for confirming that I correctly copied the call of that DX station who was sending at a blistering 45 WPM is a nice thing to have, too. (Was that an "H", or a "5" ? - 37 years of Hamming and my ears still wig out on those two, at times.)

This is another occasion where I'll just have to bite the bullet and take the plunge.  Good thing I wasn't planning on going to Dayton.

Oh, and by the way, as long as I mentioned Dayton .... best wishes to all those heading to Ohio for FDIM and Hamvention. May the weather be good, the traffic light and travelling conditions safe - there and back!

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
Larry Makoski, W2LJ, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Jersey, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

I was out running errands over lunch and I had my VHF radio scanning the local ham repeaters. It was almost noon, which meant it was time for all of the talking controllers to start telling me the time. It’s a bit annoying – some of these systems only transmit to tell the time, as their users have either passed away or moved away. Even more annoying to me was the fact that none of their clocks were synced to an accurate time source. And then one of the repeaters started rebroadcasting the NWS severe weather outlook for this afternoon.

What may be annoying to me is experimentation and fun for others. I’m sure that the repeater builder that did the NWS radio interfacing had a good afternoon, weekend, or even week of experimentation to get it all to work. And the ham that programmed his custom macros into his controller probably had a hoot getting it all setup and customized.

I got to wondering…are all of these automated and retransmissions legal? This led me down one of my favorite rabbit holes – www.repeater-builder.com. There I found this posting from WA6ILQ, The article is about weather radio interfacing to repeaters….but the fun part is near the bottom where he quotes an old ham about don’t asking for permission…just go do it.

> The words were "Don't even (expletive deleted) THINK about it".
> As in don't make that (expletive deleted) phone call, don't write 
> that (expletive deleted) letter. Just build your wondertoy and use 
> it - but do it carefully, and cleanly (as in spectrally clean), and 
> make sure that you have your technical and legal arguments worked 
> out well in advance. Make sure that you aren't doing the A, B, or C 
> that the FCC forbids amateurs to do. If the FCC does't like your 
> brand new wondertoy or it's effects or emmissions they will send a 
> certified and return-receipt-requested cease-and-desist letter telling 
> you to stop doing it. At that point you stop doing it and send a 
> registered and certified and return-receipt-requested letter back  
> the next day (call in sick to work if you have to). In that letter 
> you say "I received  your letter on date (X) and at time (Y) 
> and at time (Y+5 minutes) I shut off the offending transmitter and I am sorry, 
> I didn't realize it was illegal and my thinking was (yadda yadda yadda) 
> and (yadda yadda yadda) and (yadda yadda yadda) and how can we resolve this?".
> (and you thought that those creative writing classes in college and 
> university were a waste of time...)

Words to live by. In ham radio, don’t ask, just do. And who am I to complain? I can always update my scan list. I’m glad I’m a part of a hobby that lets this stuff happen!

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

I was out running errands over lunch and I had my VHF radio scanning the local ham repeaters. It was almost noon, which meant it was time for all of the talking controllers to start telling me the time. It’s a bit annoying – some of these systems only transmit to tell the time, as their users have either passed away or moved away. Even more annoying to me was the fact that none of their clocks were synced to an accurate time source. And then one of the repeaters started rebroadcasting the NWS severe weather outlook for this afternoon.

What may be annoying to me is experimentation and fun for others. I’m sure that the repeater builder that did the NWS radio interfacing had a good afternoon, weekend, or even week of experimentation to get it all to work. And the ham that programmed his custom macros into his controller probably had a hoot getting it all setup and customized.

I got to wondering…are all of these automated and retransmissions legal? This led me down one of my favorite rabbit holes – www.repeater-builder.com. There I found this posting from WA6ILQ, The article is about weather radio interfacing to repeaters….but the fun part is near the bottom where he quotes an old ham about don’t asking for permission…just go do it.

> The words were "Don't even (expletive deleted) THINK about it".
> As in don't make that (expletive deleted) phone call, don't write 
> that (expletive deleted) letter. Just build your wondertoy and use 
> it - but do it carefully, and cleanly (as in spectrally clean), and 
> make sure that you have your technical and legal arguments worked 
> out well in advance. Make sure that you aren't doing the A, B, or C 
> that the FCC forbids amateurs to do. If the FCC does't like your 
> brand new wondertoy or it's effects or emmissions they will send a 
> certified and return-receipt-requested cease-and-desist letter telling 
> you to stop doing it. At that point you stop doing it and send a 
> registered and certified and return-receipt-requested letter back  
> the next day (call in sick to work if you have to). In that letter 
> you say "I received  your letter on date (X) and at time (Y) 
> and at time (Y+5 minutes) I shut off the offending transmitter and I am sorry, 
> I didn't realize it was illegal and my thinking was (yadda yadda yadda) 
> and (yadda yadda yadda) and (yadda yadda yadda) and how can we resolve this?".
> (and you thought that those creative writing classes in college and 
> university were a waste of time...)

Words to live by. In ham radio, don’t ask, just do. And who am I to complain? I can always update my scan list. I’m glad I’m a part of a hobby that lets this stuff happen!

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

My 99-cent Amazon Dash Button arrived today and I was excited to get a look at it. The little device feels very sturdy. Unfortunately, my wife told me she had no interest in ordering laundry detergent by pressing a button, so I had to figure out what to do with it.

I decided to open it up and do a teardown. For science, of course.

The FCC ID is 2ACBE-0610. Documents in the FCC filing appears to confirm that this is indeed an 802.11b/g/n device (not Bluetooth, as initially thought).

It has a large white button with a red/green LED.

FCC ID: 2ACBE-610 / Model JK76PL

Removing the back of the case reveals a Li-ion AAA battery

Can anyone identify the wireless radio chip?
Other interesting components?

Whether or not you find it useful to order your laundry detergent at the touch of a button, this has to be one of the least expensive 802.11 devices ever produced.

I wonder what the actual component costs are? I think it’s safe to say more than the 99 cents that I paid for it.

Update 5/12/15:

It looks like Matthew Witheiler @ Bit of Cents has figured it out:

At the heart of the Dash is a USI (Avnet) 850101. The 850101 is a combination wireless module (Broadcom BCM43362) and micro controller (ST Microelectronics STM32F205). This makes the Dash capable of connecting to 802.11 b/g/n networks with its 120MHz ARM Cortex-M3 processor. It also happens to be exactly the same chip used inside the $19 Spark Photon.

 

Matt Thomas, W1MST, is the managing editor of AmateurRadio.com. Contact him at [email protected].

Here is this week’s space weather and geophysical report, issued 2015 May 11 0537 UTC.

Highlights of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity
04 – 10 May 2015

Solar activity ranged from low to high levels during the period. The
largest and most active regions on the solar disk this period were
Regions 2335 (S15, L=192, class/area Eac/310 on 04 May) and 2339
(N13, L=129, class/area Fkc/900 on 08 May). Region 2335 began the
period reaching its peak in area and magnetic complexity
(Beta-gamma). On 05 May it produced two M-class flares; an M1 at
05/1425 UTC and an M2 at 05/1724 UTC. By 06 May, Region 2335 was in
decay and ended the period as a simple Cro spot class with a beta
magnetic configuration. Region 2339 was in a growth phase since it
rotated around the NE limb on 05 May. This region was responsible
for multiple M-class flaring spanning 05-06 May and an impulsive X2
flare at 05/2211 UTC with an associated Type II radio sweep (1163
km/s), a 590 sfu Tenflare and a non-Earth directed coronal mass
ejection (CME) first observed in SOHO/LASCO C2 imagery at 05/2224
UTC off the NE limb. Solar activity declined to low levels from
07-10 May.

No proton events were observed at geosynchronous orbit.

The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit was at
moderate levels on 04-05 May and at normal levels from 06-10 May.

Geomagnetic field activity ranged from quiet to minor storm levels
during the period. The period started off with quiet conditions on
04 and 05 May under a nominal solar wind regime. At 06/0053 UTC, a
shock was observed at the ACE satellite associated with a 02 May CME
that occurred as a result of an 18 degree filament eruption observed
between 02/1500-1830 UTC. Total field increased to a maximum of 18
nT at 06/0614 UTC while the Bz component went southward to a maximum
of -13 nT at 06/1216 UTC. Solar wind speeds increased from 363 km/s
to around 490 km/s. A geomagnetic sudden impulse was subsequently
observed at 06/0143 UTC with a 31 nT deviation in the Boulder
magnetometer. As a result, quiet to minor storm levels were observed
on 06 May. By late on 06 May and through 07 May, the Bz component
deflected north and remained so as CME effects diminished. Nominal
solar wind conditions prevailed through 10 May when the total field
became enhanced once again. Total field increased to 14 nT with
prolonged periods of southward Bz. No appreciable increase in solar
wind speed was observed with this event, however. The geomagnetic
field was quiet on 07 May, quiet to unsettled on 08 and 09 May and
quiet to active on 10 May.

Forecast of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity
11 May – 06 June 2015

Solar activity is expected to be at low levels with a chance for
M-class (R1-R2, Minor-Moderate) flares from 11-18 May as Region 2339
transits the visible disk and again from 31 May-06 June when Region
2339 returns.

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 with high levels
possible from 13-18 May and again from 21-23 May due to coronal hole
high speed stream (CH HSS) activity.

Geomagnetic field activity is expected to be at unsettled to active
levels from 11 through 14 May with periods of minor storming
(G1-Minor) likely on 12-13 May due to a combination of a co-rotating
interaction region followed by a CH HSS. Unsettled to active levels
are also expected from 18-19 May and 02 -03 June with possible
periods of minor storming on 18 May due to multiple recurrent CH
HSS.

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Live Aurora mapping is at http://aurora.sunspotwatch.com/

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