AmateurRadio.com

Normally, 1660 KHz is dominated here by Spanish format KTIQ in Merced, California. I was surprised to tune past 1660 early on Saturday evening to hear Country & Western music. The top-of-hour ID was "Willie 1660 AM" who turned out to be KQWB in Fargo, North Dakota ... state #29 for me on the broadcast band! Not only was it dominating the frequency with an S9 +10db carrier, there were no other stations to be heard ... not even a whisper of KTIQ, normally heard weakly, even when looping to the east.

courtesy: https://www.google.com/maps/

Their 5 tower array is evidently doing a good job, when  propagation favors the eastern path as the antenna pattern has a strong western component while nulling the east.

courtesy: http://radio-locator.com

"... all country legends. This is a Taylor Swift-free zone, Willie at 1660 AM".

KQWB was logged at 0300Z (7 PM local time) using the 10' x 20' loop and Perseus SDR.



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

So the site went down again and it managed to destroy a bunch of boring old posts and a few photos. No big deal as its all back together again

Alex Hill, G7KSE, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Cumbria, UK. Contact him at [email protected].

Remember that album from Mike Oldfield? A user on YouTube found out that this album contains a hidden and unintentional CW message.

This was caused by a powerful VLF station located next to the recording studio, which interfered with the recording equipment. Because the signal is very weak nobody ever noticed it — until now.

The video below shows you how to receive VLF signals with nothing else than an antenna plugged into the microphone input of your sound card and SDRSharp to make it visible and audible.

The decoding of the the Tubular Bells signal is shown at 9:54.

(via Reddit)

Hans, PD0AC, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Almere, The Netherlands. Contact him at [email protected].

Today, March 8, 2015 at 1732z, I made my fourth QSO from Peak 9431, W5N/PW-019 with N4EX. That QSO qualified the activation and thus earned me my SOTA Mountain Goat award. After 2 years and 2 days my point total is now 1,007, hallelujah!!

Peak 9431 was also  the second activation I ever made and I activated it with Fred, KT5X and John K1JD, both of which were with me today. Also this was my first activation using snow shoes the entire way, which actually was sort of fun. I made 37 QSO's and had a nice run of Europeans on 15m. It was a great day. Below is a video and a couple of pictures of today's activation.




Mike Crownover, AD5A, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Texas, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

Today, March 8, 2015 at 1732z, I made my fourth QSO from Peak 9431, W5N/PW-019 with N4EX. That QSO qualified the activation and thus earned me my SOTA Mountain Goat award. After 2 years and 2 days my point total is now 1,007, hallelujah!!

Peak 9431 was also  the second activation I ever made and I activated it with Fred, KT5X and John K1JD, both of which were with me today. Also this was my first activation using snow shoes the entire way, which actually was sort of fun. I made 37 QSO's and had a nice run of Europeans on 15m. It was a great day. Below is a video and a couple of pictures of today's activation.




Mike Crownover, AD5A, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Texas, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

CIAO Antenna courtesy: https://maps.google.ca/

In spite of the high K index, the broadcast band was in good shape Friday night, with a nice signal from CIAO in Brampton, Ontario. Like many of the new stations out on the west coast, this is a multi-lingual broadcaster, with most programming in Punjabi or Hindi.

Courtesy: https://maps.google.ca/

It is supposedly limited to 250 watts at night but from the sound of their signal, this regulation may not be being followed ... either that or conditions were even better than I thought.

My recording was made at 0600z (10PM local time) while looping E-W with the 10'x20' loop and the Perseus SDR.


See if you can detect the telephone numbers being given. All have an area code assigned to the Toronto region. As well, there is a second station riding beneath. I suspect one of the Cubans, Radio Reloje or Radio Enciclopedia, both on 530. There also appears to be a top-of-hour short time 'pip' ...either from the Cuban or from CIAO.

Perhaps some more experienced readers can help fill-in the blanks for me.


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

On the topic of operating events for Summits On The Air (SOTA) activations, Guy N7UN suggested focusing on six major events for 2015. Most of these are VHF-oriented but HF activity can also occur on these days.

• Jan 24-26: ARRL Jan VHF Contest + NA SOTA Winter Activity Weekend
  (oops, I guess we already missed that one)
• Apr 18-19: North America SOTA Spring Activity Weekend
• Jun 13-15: ARRL June VHF Contest + NA SOTA Summer Activity Weekend
• Jul 18-19: CQ WW VHF Contest + optional for SOTA
• Aug 1-2:  Colorado 14er Event + NA SOTA Rocky Mtn Rendezvous + W7 SOTA Activity Weekend + ARRL UHF Contest
• Sept 12-14: ARRL Sept VHF Contest + NA SOTA Fall Activity Weekend

Of course, any day is a good day for SOTA activity. I also think six weekends are a great way to focus our operating activity and create S2S (summit to summit) radio contacts. The August 1-2 weekend looks to be the alignment of the planets with four events happening on that weekend. Early August usually offers excellent conditions for hiking the highest peaks in Colorado, so come on out and play.

For more info on VHF SOTA, see How To Do a VHF SOTA Activation.

Get off the couch, put on your hiking boots, grab your backpack, grab your radio but most important: get on the air!

73, Bob K0NR

The post 2015 SOTA VHF Activity Days appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site.

Bob Witte, KØNR, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Colorado, USA. Contact him at [email protected].