AmateurRadio.com

Today we went on a day return by train to London to be with our son Tim, his wife Jo and our grandchildren Lucien and Amandine. Tim met us and took us back to Kings Cross. Booking in advance and with Senior Rail Cards if works out cheaper than driving. At present I cannot drive because of my brain bleed last year.  It was good to spend time in their home again after so long.

With the grandchildren in London today

Totally by accident, we sat next to Nick G4IKZ on the train back from London. I’d not seen Nick since work days over 6 years ago. Many years ago we worked together in several Cambridge companies. Nick is one of the brightest minds I’ve had the privilege to know. There are few better RF engineers. We compared notes on 6m WSPR of course. He confirmed his 6m antenna is a horizontal Moxon.

Being late back, I decided not to turn the rigs on tonight.

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

I was up in Kasabonika, Ontario last week June 25th and 26th. I was up there doing Chainsaw training in this remote fly-in only Native Reserve. Kasabonika is located about 575kms North of Thunder Bay, Ontario. I took along my HB1B MKII with built in battery, my Elecraft T1 tuner, Chameleon Hy-Brid Micro coil and my PRC-271 whip along with a 15′ counterpoise and jaw mount to attach Hy-Brid coil to.
I called CQ for what seemed a long time while battling black flies and mosquitoes. A tune down the band on 20 meters showed W1AW loud in this community that is very much quiet in the way of line noise and other man made QRN. I tuned up just a bit to hear Peter OX3XR calling CQ with no takers, here is the information on that QSO.
Time: 2314z
Date:06-25-2014
Freq: 14052.5
Pwr:4 watts
Rig:HB1B MKII
Key:Micro switch
Antenna: Chameleon Hy-Brid Micro and PRC271 whip and 15’counterpoise with jaw mount
Location: Kasabonika, Ontario
Station worked: OX3XR
Name: Peter
His report:559
My report:539

Needless to say the contact made my day all the way around. Thanks Peter for the great contact.

Fred VE3FAL

Fred Lesnick, VE3FAL, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Thunder Bay Ontario, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

Courtesy: DXMAPS.COM

Having been on 6m now for over 40 years (yikes!), like most 6m operators I've come to expect a fairly good number of Es openings by the end of June. This summer's Es season has been beyond poor, with far too many days looking much like Saturday morning's 6m propagation map (above) from DX Sherlock.

So far, the only bright spot for me has been a very short twenty-minute opening to Argentina and a CW QSO with LU5FF on May 24 at around 1500 hours local time.



Most 6m ops feel that sunspot cycle peak years also produce poorer than normal Es activity so maybe this is all just normal...or perhaps our global climate shifts are having an effect on the triggering mechanisms for Sporadic-E, just 60 miles above our heads.

Real-time 6m propagation can be followed here; Region 2 for North America and Region 3 for Europe.

After so many summers on six, I personally believe that the best propagation usually happens during the first week of July, so there is still hope for a really terrific month ahead and still time for whoever controls the magic to yet redeem themselves.



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

Series Seven Episode Thirteen of the ICQ Amateur / Ham Radio Podcast has been released. The latest news, Martin (M1MRB & W9ICQ) and Colin (M6BOY) remember Amateur / Ham Radio Podcaster Tom Samacicio KB4HQA of HQA Radio who is now Silent Key. Martin (M1MRB & W9ICQ) interviews Sue Pycroft, G6DDS regarding Museums on the Air.

• Revalidation Figures of UK Amateur / Ham Radio Licences
• 13cm Amateur Radio Band Threatened in Holland
• New mode trial for VK medium wave beacon
• 27 MHz SSB CB legal
• Changes to Amateur Service Part 97 Rules
• Queen Shown Radio Ham’s Raspberry Pi Balloon  

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 Thirteen of the ICQ Amateur / Ham Radio Podcast has been released. The latest news, Martin (M1MRB & W9ICQ) and Colin (M6BOY) remember Amateur / Ham Radio Podcaster Tom Samacicio KB4HQA of HQA Radio who is now Silent Key. Martin (M1MRB & W9ICQ) interviews Sue Pycroft, G6DDS regarding Museums on the Air.

• Revalidation Figures of UK Amateur / Ham Radio Licences
• 13cm Amateur Radio Band Threatened in Holland
• New mode trial for VK medium wave beacon
• 27 MHz SSB CB legal
• Changes to Amateur Service Part 97 Rules
• Queen Shown Radio Ham’s Raspberry Pi Balloon  

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

I was too busy and tired yesterday to update my blog, that's because it was a busy day. I attended the Ham Fair in Friedrichshafen for the first time and was favorably impressed. The Ham Fair is very well organized and in addition to the goodies I was able to meet some old friends and make some new ones.
Mike Crownover, AD5A, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Texas, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

The excellent Southgate News page reports that SSB and AM is now legal on UK CB from June 27th 2014.

I have only briefly operated on CB many years ago and was very disappointed.  I suppose 12W pep of SSB will greatly increase the DX potential on CB. AM is also legal.

We need to watch out for more reports of TVI and hi-fi breakthrough as FM, especially at 4W legal limit, is rarely a problem whereas SSB and AM make such issues more probable. Of course,  some CBers like to use (illegal) add-on amplifiers making matters worse.

I don’t think this move will encourage me onto CB any time soon, but it may result in lower cost 10m rigs.

UPDATE 2015z:  Nevada are now selling the President Lincoln 2  (3rd improved version of this model) covering 10m only (as sold – but expandable illegally to cover CB bands) with a £10 discount.

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