AmateurRadio.com

Ham Radio Two-Day License Class

Sat October 18 and Sat October 25 (8 AM to 5 PM) 2014
Location: Tri-Lakes Monument Fire Station 1, Monument, CO

The Technician license is your gateway to the world-wide excitement of Amateur Radio …

• Earn your ham radio Technician class radio privileges
• Pass your FCC amateur radio license exam right in class on the second day
• Multiple-choice exam, No Morse Code Required
• Live equipment demonstrations
• Learn to operate on the ham bands, 10 Meters and higher
• Learn to use the many VHF/UHF FM repeaters in Colorado
• Find out how to participate in emergency communications

There is a $25 registration fee for the class.

In addition, students must have the required study guide and read it before attending the two-day class: HamRadioSchool.com Technician License Course $20.95
(make sure you get the most recent edition of this book, updated for the new FCC exam questions)

Advance registration is required (no later than one week before the first session, earlier is better! This class usually fills up early.)

To register for the class, contact: Bob Witte KØNR
Email: [email protected] or Phone: 719 659-3727

Sponsored by the Tri-Lakes Monument Fire Radio Association
For more information on amateur (ham) radio visit www.arrl.org or www.wedothat-radio.org

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

As many of you are aware, tonight from 0001Z-0700Z (1701- midnight PDT) is the annual 'Night of Nights' reactivation of many maritime CW MF stations operating near the 630m band. With Canadian amateurs recently getting 472-479KHz operating privileges, VE7BDQ and myself will both be operating CW beacons during the event.

VE7BDQ will transmit on 474.00 KHz while VE7SL will be on 473.00KHz. Both stations will be at the 100W power level.

Reception reports of either station would be gratefully received and confirmed by QSL if requested. Hopefully the usual noisy summer conditions will not detere listener activity.

I have more information on the 'Night of Nights' activity posted in an earlier blog if you are not aware of the event.

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

Two things that always pique my interest: ham tales of yore and the backstories of what led a individual to the hobby. I bumped into Jim, K5LAD’s site and found both. If you have a minute or two, dive into Jim’s “50+ Years of Ham Radio Memories” and follow his path through amateur radio. As I am reading through it, I am not sure if there is an aspect of the hobby that Jim hasn’t dabbled in.

Scott Hedberg, NØZB, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Kansas, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

I am still far too clumsy to build this kit. This morning I was going to start on the LPF but I am still far too wobbly and clumsy to do it. Before my brain bleed this would have been a piece of cake, but today it is too much for me. Damn. I shall wait another month to see if I feel better. Blogging and WSPR I can manage. Talking in contests is hard work, but I can just about manage it for short periods.

Maybe I have to conclude it is too much for me and call on the help to build and test the unit so kindly offered? I did check the full pack and the GPS module is definitely not there but a surplus relay board is. I shall have to contact Hans Summers and return the unwanted PCB and request the GPS module that I paid for but that has not been delivered. It is some months since the bits came. I resisted opening the package until I thought I could build it. I photographed the opening and was very careful.

On reflection, I wonder how much they would have charged to build and test the unit for me?

I hate being unable to do this sort of thing: it feels like I am past it. Please no.

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

Friedrichshafen “Ham Radio” 2014 Attendance Tops Last Year’s Numbers, Show Emphasizes Youth.

“Attendance at Germany’s annual international “Ham Radio” exhibition on June 27-29 — the Continent’s biggest Amateur Radio event — was 17,100 this year, up from 15,300 visitors last year. This year’s Ham Radio teamed with the Maker World create-it-yourself exhibition at the Messe exhibition center in Friedrichshafen. The gathering attracted some 200 exhibitors from 34 countries plus 300 flea marketers. Ham Radio 2014 placed an emphasis on youth-oriented themes and activities and also honored one of 2013’s major DXpedtions. DARC chose “Creative Amateur Radio — Build It Yourself” as the theme for this year’s show.”

- via ARRL news

Filed under: Ham Radio Tagged: arrl, convention, europe, hamfest
Jeff Davis, KE9V, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Indiana, USA.

I would suspect that if you have done even a bit of tuning around the HF dial in the last few months, you have probably heard W1AW/0-9 making contacts. This week W1AW, the ARRL mothership in Newington, CT, has been on the air as W100AW in celebration of the ARRL anniversary.

As busy as that sounds, W1AW is consistently on the air with a great variety of activities. Yesterday I took the opportunity to copy their digital modes broadcast. http://www.arrl.org/digital-transmissions

ARRL has various means of promulgating a great deal of information. The primary way I usually receive a good portion of it is via email. I thought it would be interesting if I could try and copy their digital transmission of their bulletin, which I was able to do yesterday.

Every weekday, W1AW sends out a bulletin twice a day on multiple bands while rotating through three different digital modes: Baudot (RTTY), PSK31, MFSK16. The first broadcast kicked off at 5pm (local) which I was able to copy of 17M (18.105 MHz). It appears to be ARRL’s propagation bulletin. Here is what I copied:

Please find my full copy here.

Later in the evening (8pm local), I copied the next broadcast which looks like their DX bulletin:

…. and the complete text is here.

During the 8pm transmission, I was able to copy the bulletin on 10M, 15M, 17M, and 20M. I could not find it on 40M or 80M.

Although these bulletins are easily obtainable via email or from ARRL’s website, I enjoyed copying the broadcast from here in eastern Kansas.

Scott Hedberg, NØZB, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Kansas, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

Courtesy: Maritime Radio Historical Society

This year's annual Maritime Radio Historical Society's event, to mark the anniversary of the end of maritime CW in 1999, will take place Sunday, July 13, from 0001Z until 0700Z (Saturday, July 12, from 1701 until midnight PDT). This year's event may be historic in itself in that it will likely be the final year for any of the U.S. Coast Guard stations to ever be heard again on CW, as the equipment and wiring for this mode is now being dismantled.



Courtesy: Maritime Radio Historical Society

Commercial CW land station transmitters from WLO (Mobile, AL), KLB (Seattle, WA), KFS (San Francisco, CA), KPH (Bolinas, CA) and KSM (Pt. Reyes, CA) should be active near 500KHz as well as on HF.

 (late update: due to operator illness, KLB will not be participating)

USCG stations NMC (Bolinas/Pt. Reyes), NMQ (Cambria /Pt. Reyes) and NMW (Astoria / Pt. Reyes) will also be transmitting below 500KHz as well as on HF. QSL's confirming reception of CG stations as well as for K6KPH and KSM will be available following the event.

K6KPH, the MRHS's amateur radio station located at the Pt. Reyes, CA site, will also be active on the HF bands during the event.

For a nice historical 'look back', the MRHS has some great stories associated with HF and MF maritime operations. Further details of the event detailing times and exact frequencies are available from MRHS newsletter #45.

Lastly, if you never had the opportunity to listen to '500' back in its heyday then you will surely enjoy this recording made by K2NP in March,1966 and presented with thanks to N1EA. Listening to this 500KHz action reminds me of 20m CW during the annual DX contest! What land stations can you identify in the pileups? Hopefully, when all North American amateurs gain access to the band, it will sound like this once again.


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