AmateurRadio.com

Sad news......

VP6TC/VR6TC, Tom Christian, longtime famous ham from Pitcairn Island, who probably gave most of us that "new one," has passed away, peacefully, on July 7th.  Tom was diagnosed with possible Parkinson's and early signs of Alzheimer's/dementia in December, 2009, while on a family visit in New Zealand.

His wife, VP6YL/VR6YL, Betty Christian, says his health "deteriorated all too quickly," and the last few months were "cruel ones to watch such a strong, vibrant man reduced to where he was not really aware of his surroundings and then was unable to walk and swallow food or liquid."

Tom was buried July 8th in the cemetery on Pitcairn.  Lack of available transportation prevented most of Tom and Betty's children making it back for the funeral.  Tom was known as the "Voice of Pitcairn," was an M.B.E., Member of the British Empire, and served on the Pitcairn Island Council as the Governor's Representative for 40 years.
Mike Crownover, AD5A, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Texas, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

Radio legend Art Bell, W6OBB, has announced that he will be returning to the air via satellite and Internet streaming starting Monday, September 16, 2013. His new show will be carried by SirusXM Channel 104 Monday through Thursday from 10pm to 1am Eastern time. The new show will be called “Art Bell’s Dark Matter” and will explore the paranormal and unexplained, according to a SiriusXM press release and his website.

At his peak in the late 1990s, Bell’s show Coast To Coast AM had nearly 15 million listeners and was syndicated on 500 AM/FM stations. Since his surprise retirement in October, 1998, he has left and returned to the air a number of times. His most recent hiatus from broadcasting, over 6 years beginning in July, 2007, was the longest break Bell has had from regular broadcasting. Coast To Coast AM did continue after Bell’s retirement, but I honestly never found the new hosts to be as enjoyable — probably because Bell is so talented.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSm-eYaQJa8

Working overnight shifts in the 1990s, I would enjoy listening to Bell’s show. I enjoyed the sometimes bizarre and almost always intriguing topics he would cover. Listening to the show in the car at 2am had a bit of a spookiness to it. It’s hard to explain.  Maybe someone else can comment on why Bell was so successful.  I can’t be the only one here who listened to his show on a regular basis.

If you’ve never had the chance to listen, you can hear random shows from Bell’s career on a show called Somewhere In Time which features a random show from Bell’s broadcasting career.

I don’t have SiriusXM service, but I may just have to take advantage of their 30-day free trial to hear if Bell still has the radio magic he had 20 years ago.

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

Just a little piccy from Hannah moor. My contest station for an hour or so. Biggest dx was EA3EVL about 1500 miles on 5w.

I’m really enjoying the UKAC contests and had to cut this trip short because of thunder but the 2 element Nuxcom lightweight antenna on a decorating pole did the business.

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

Distracted.

That’s the best word that I can think of to describe my effort for Flight of the Bumblebees 2013.

The weather was certainly a distraction. With the forecast (all week long) calling for a 60% chance of rain on Sunday, I was not surprised to find that it was raining when I left Mass yesterday morning. That sealed the deal for me regarding my operating position. Right then and there, I decided that I would be a home station this year, and would forgo using my Bee number. As it turned out, it ended up being sunny, then rainy, then sunny, then rainy in small cycles just about all afternoon. Thunderstorms and torrential downpours waited until the 5:00 PM hour, just when I would have been tearing down.

Operating from home has its conveniences and creature comforts, but it also comes with its share of distractions. The phone rings when you don’t need it to, spouses and children ask for things like they always do …. it’s just a bit different than an evening Sprint, which are generally shorter and occur when things have already pretty much settled down for the night.

But the biggest distraction of all was this little guy (and I am definitely NOT complaining!). Meet Harold, the newest member of the W2LJ family, who came to live with us on Saturday.

We met Harold last Sunday, when we went to the local Petco store to pick up a bag of cat food for Sandy. Happy Paws Rescue was there with a full compliment of dogs looking for homes. Harold was not down on the floor with the other dogs, he was sitting in one of the volunteer’s laps. We didn’t even see him at first.

The first dog we were interested in was a retriever mix named Tia. She was a very playful and friendly little girl, and most importantly, I was informed that she was cat friendly. But it turned out that someone was already filling out papers for her while we were looking at her. There was another retriever mix there, a little older and a little bigger, named Hershey. However, the volunteers weren’t able to tell me if he was good around cats, or not.

Disappointed, we were about to head to the checkout with our cat food, when I decided to ask if they had any dogs that were cat friendly. They immediately told us that Harold was being fostered in a house that had cats and that there were no problems. Interested, they put Harold on a lead for us, and allowed us to take him for a walk around the store. That’s when the volunteer told me about Harold’s background.

Harold is a nine month old beagle pup who was bred to be used as a test animal at either a pharmaceutical or cosmetics company. The inside of his ears are tattooed with a serial number, as a testament to this fact. Lab dogs like him are never really “named”. It turned out that Harold was never used for testing, and was just an extra dog that was going to be offered for adoption. A secretary at the company found out about this and got him put into the custody of Happy Paws.

And now, he’s with us. He’s a very friendly little fellow, who like Jesse before him, seems “to not have a mean bone in his body”. He loves to be held and played with, and right now, is a bit of a “nose and stomach on four legs”. While he’s a tad underweight, this little guy eats his meals so thoroughly, and with such gusto, that we briefly kidded about changing his name to Hoover. He loves to join you in whatever chair you’re sitting in and totally relax next to you, in essence becoming a “puppy puddle”.

So far, Sandy our cat, has made a few wary attempts at getting familar with Harold. With Jesse, she was used to an older dog who really paid her no mind. She is not quite sure what to make of this little brown, black and white furball of energy. They have been getting closer and closer to each other (nose to nose at one point, in fact) without any bouts of barking, hissing or chasing. If they don’t end up becoming best friends, I am fully confident that at the very least, they will become quite comfortable with each other’s presence.

So while I was making a few paltry contacts on 20 and 40 Meters yesterday afternoon, my head just wasn’t in the game this year. My head and my heart were more fixed upon Harold, and also Jesse, whom I think would approve of his successor, very much. Even though he is a totally different breed and a much smaller dog, each time I look at Harold, I can see Jesse shining through him. And that’s a very good thing, because now it really does feel like Jesse is still right here with me.

As for the news about the Skeeter Hunt – Brady AC0XR wrote a logging program specifically for the Skeeter Hunt this year.  It can be found at http://www.qsl.net/ac0xr/skeeterhuntlogger.html  Some of you may remember Brady from last year’s hunt.  He was one of the few entrants who built a homebrew key for the event for bonus points.

I feel like we’ve hit the big time!  Our own logging program – thanks, Brady!

By the way, as of tonight, we’re up to 94 entries.  I’ll be issuing Skeeter numbers right up until the morning of the event – but don’t wait for the last minute.  And remember, this year SSB has been added as a mode. So if Morse Code’s not your thing?  You can join us anyway and get in on the fun!

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].

Did you ever hear a DX station calling KQ, all stuck together like a prosign, instead of calling CQ?  I’ve heard this several times in recent years and I’ve wondered what’s up with that.  Is it too difficult to throw the extra dit in there?

But I digress….

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

The attic dipole is working it's magic agian!

It's Sunday afternoon and thought I would flip the K3 to the on position. The RSGB IOTA contest is in full swing but I was only able to hear  few stations. As I spun across the band I came across G0PZA/EU11 in London area. I gave him a call at 500 mW's but it was just not going to happen. As I slowly raised my power I was able to make the contact with 1 watt for a 3594 miles per watt contact. I then moved around the band but was not able to hear all that much. I was pleased with this contact as the bands over the last couple of days have not been really all that great. Last night I heard a station calling CQ from Nova Scotia and even with full power at 5 watts I was not able to raise this station. I consider this evening to be an accomplishment with a 1 watt DX contact as compared to almost a local call and being shut out with 5 watts. It's 5 o'clock in the evening and I am very tired (considering I pulled an all nigher at work on Saturday) so it's soon time to hit the hay and looking forward to another week at work....NOT!!!
Have a good week everyone
 
Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

Series Six Episode Fifteen of the ICQ Amateur / Ham Radio Podcast has been released. The latest news, Listener Mailbag, North American report from Frank Howell, K4FMH and Martin Butler (M1MRB & W9ICQ) improves your handy talkie.

• Radio hams get access to 18m EME dish
• The dangers of lithium batteries
• Special event station - PA1813A
• 70-year-old Radio Ham's epic voyage
• EMCOMMWEST 2013 cancelled
• HAARP facility shuts down
• Australian Remembrance Day Contest 2013
• Ham radio couple in Ghana
• Ham Radio satellite operation from Guernsey
• Radio Communication Exam Syllabuses

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