AmateurRadio.com

I don’t really have time to do a full write-up, but I made a “quick” trip to American Samoa over the weekend to plan a future scientific instrument installation and managed to get on the air for a few hours.  Here are some snapshots from my phone.

Ethan Miller, K8GU, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Maryland, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

See http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2014/october/price_of_70cm_handhelds_falls.htm#.VDP48MnTCSo  .
This is incredible: a 5W handheld for less than £8.

Looking on eBay, just £6.99 ($11) will buy a 70cms unit with charger from Singapore. Tell  me, how can ANYONE make money on these?

Thanks to G1KQH, a link to a review:
http://hamgear.wordpress.com/2012/08/11/review-baofeng-bf-666s-bf-777s-bf-888s-and-look-alikes/

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

“The emphasis is fun. The hope is that it will attract new people to electronic design, measurement and experimentation. Hopefully, this site stimulates interest in QRP homebrew electronics.”

That's how Todd Gale, VE7BPO, described his website. Up until this past weekend, Todd site was one of the Web's premier sources of inspiration, accumulated homebrew knowledge and hands-on experimental wisdom. I was shocked to receive an e-mail from Todd explaining that the site would be taken down because of continued  bandwidth / network struggles with his one and only choice of providers. It truly was sad news for myself and the thousands that regularly visit his site for guidance. However, all is not lost as Todd went on to say:

"....I will convert all the site files into pdf files and stick them on a download site sometime in the future. I may re-emerge with a small-scale site or blog at some point, but don't really know for sure."

Happily, today Todd has informed me that he will indeed begin a new POPCORN QRP  blog in which he hopes to update with his benchwork descriptions that we have all come to enjoy.

I have listed Todd's blog site on My Blog List to the right but you may prefer to set your bookmarks for his site. Don't expect too much until later in the month as he is still working his way up the blogger's learning curve....hopefully we will see him back soon. Best of luck with your new endeavour...and, like the original website, I'm sure it will be great!

Courtesy: VE7BPO

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

See http://www.vlf.it/zevs/zevs.htm .

Quite a few VLF/ELFers attempt to copy the Russian ZEVS transmissions to deeply submerged nuclear subs at around 82Hz, yes, you read right, Hertz. At these frequencies even a few watts ERP penetrate deeply in the sea. The Americans used a similar system called Project Sanguine at around 76Hz , but this has now gone QRT. I think they use green lasers now?

The ZEVS data rate is low and usually there are a couple of transmissions a day. Usually Spectrum Laboratory software is needed for long term stability. Several people have been successful, although I have still to try.

I hope the transmissions are just tests these days!

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

The new 'loop' is not really loop-shaped but is rectangular (10' x 20') and more like a Flag antenna shape. I considered a Flag but really don't need any back-end nulling capability since I'm mainly interested in listening to the east and to the north.


The main boom section is composed of two sections of 1" PVC thick-wall (Schedule 40) pipe joined at the center and reinforced with a 10' section of 2" x 2" Douglas Fir. In addition, the boom has a truss of 1/4" Dacron to take out any end-loading sag. The vertical end sections are 3/4" Schedule 40 PVC pipe, fastened with a T at the boom end. The center mast is made of 2" Schedule 40 ABS pipe with a long section of 1 1/2" ABS nested inside that telescopes upward to anchor the truss ropes and give some additional rigidity to the mast.

Main boom and mast construction

This type of construction would lend itself well to anyone interested in a rotating Flag antenna for the BCB / LF or 160m. The cost are very low, the structure is lightweight and the materials are readily available at most hardware outlets.



Looping E/W

Although the preamp is completely sealed and weatherproofed, I still decided to mount it inside a container. The container also provided a convenient anchor to terminate the loop end wires (PVC-coated #18 stranded) without putting any tension on the soldered terminals.

Although I have not had much time to listen, and conditions are still in 'recovery' mode from earlier disturbances, initial indications are that everything is performing as well, if not better, than expected. It certainly outperforms my 10' active shielded loop by a large margin. I have yet to do any serious S/N comparisons between it and my primary LF receive antenna, a large inverted L, which must be tuned to resonance for the desired listening range. I believe that the very quiet loop / Wellbrook combination will provide an overall S/N improvement.

I have always believed that smaller loops provide deeper and sharper front-to-side nulls so I was pleasantly surprised to measure (using Perseus) null depths from 25-30db, on various groundwave signals....more than expected. Skywave signals also deliver sharp deep nulls in the order of 22 - 25db...again surprising, but I'll take them! A brief listen pointing S-E last evening turned up good signals from 1 kw'ers KYHN (1650kHz) in Fort Smith, Arkansas and KKGM (1630kHz) in Fort Worth, Texas. An early morning listen revealed good audio from JOIK (567) Sapporo, Japan and JOAK (595kHz) in Shobu. Down in the ndb band, little 25-watter 'IP' on 210kHz was an all-time new catch from Mobile, Arizona.

There is still much to learn from this new antenna system but the biggest challenge will be keeping it up all winter. I did lose one of my 10' loops after several years, due to wind when the main (un-reinforced) PVC mast eventually failed from flexing fatigue. I will tie the ends of the new antenna down when the winds get strong to reduce as much mast flexing as possible. I could however, run the risk of violating another long-standing radio tradition..."if your antenna stayed up all winter, it wasn't big enough". I just can't win.

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

Series Seven Episode Twenty of the ICQ Amateur / Ham Radio Podcast has been released. The latest news, Martin (M1MRB & W9ICQ) and Colin (M6BOY) discuss the 2014 JOTA Event and Martin (M1MRB & W9ICQ) reviews a visit to the HMS Belfast Radio Club.

 

• WIA plans a submission on new VK operating conditions
• Beta release of WSJT-X v1.4
• Postage stamp features ham radio satellites
• Brazil proposes 5275 kHz to 5450 kHz allocation
• No Ham Radio 4 metre band for US
• SARL change beacon frequency
• Melbourne man guilty of Radiocommunications Act offences

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

Series Seven Episode Twenty of the ICQ Amateur / Ham Radio Podcast has been released. The latest news, Martin (M1MRB & W9ICQ) and Colin (M6BOY) discuss the 2014 JOTA Event and Martin (M1MRB & W9ICQ) reviews a visit to the HMS Belfast Radio Club.

 

• WIA plans a submission on new VK operating conditions
• Beta release of WSJT-X v1.4
• Postage stamp features ham radio satellites
• Brazil proposes 5275 kHz to 5450 kHz allocation
• No Ham Radio 4 metre band for US
• SARL change beacon frequency
• Melbourne man guilty of Radiocommunications Act offences

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