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Guess my ears are too old and mummified from all those years as a broadcast personality (our favored term for “disk jockey”), but all that hiss and sizzle from the CME and local thunderstorms this weekend sent me in a different direction. I did give some guys Alabama for their QSO parties, and I always enjoy doing that. But the band noise, generally yucky conditions, and my continued depression over not working VK9CZ had me doing other stuff I’ve been putting off. And with all that rain, that stuff did not include antenna maintenance or yard work. I’ve successfully postponed that for a few more days.

What it did involve was my next adventure with self-publishing. I make my living writing books and finally got around to doing one on my favorite hobby for the past 52 years…ham radio! RIDING THE SHORTWAVES: EXPLORING THE MAGIC OF AMATEUR RADIO (http://www.donkeith.com/index.php?p=24). No big-time publishing house was interested in doing the book. Neither was the ARRL. They say non-technical books don”t sell well for them, and I understand. They’ve been kind enough to sell the book in their online bookstore, so bless them!

Anyway, I went a different route and published the book myself. It has been available for a while in paperback as well as for the Kindle e-book reader. But this weekend…while the bands hissed at me like an audience does a villain…I busied myself getting it formatted and uploaded for every other conceivable e-book reader out there. That includes the Apple iPad, Barnes & Nobles’s Nook, and the free-to-download Adobe Digital Editions reader. Success! After a couple of false starts, of course. Man, the technology around book publishing is changing quickly, just as it is in all media and our wonderful hobby. (By the way, I blog on such stuff at http://n4kc.blogspot.com and sometimes here on AmateurRadio.com.) I also finally got around to designing and setting up a store where I can make available shirts, sweatshirts, coffee mugs and other items to help people promote our hobby with the message: “I ride the shortwaves. Ask me about amateur radio.”. It’s at http://www.cafepress.com/shortwaves.

Another bit of good news helped through the CME aftermath, too. I got word from the ARRL that not only will the League be selling my book at Dayton, but they asked me to do some signing events. I look forward to it! Please drop by and say hello if you make the pilgrimage…no purchase necessary!

I’m already going to be hanging around the QRP ARCI “Four Days in May” event on Thursday, May 16. It’s at the Holiday Inn in Fairborn, not far from Wright-Patterson AFB. I’m there with Rich Arland K7SZ, author of the ARRL’s QRP book. Rich has been shoving and pushing me to get deeper into QRP, and I think I may finally be catching the bug. Or maybe it is just the ragweed. I do occasionally turn down the power to 5 watts and see what I can do. The challenge is something of a thrill.

Just not when the A-index is 45!

Don N4KC
www.n4kc.com

And if I wasn’t so tired, I’d probably stay on the air for a little longer; but alas, I am just about ready to call it a day. As soon as I finish this post, I will turn in.

I have read and heard reports of the big flare that occurred, and how we’re supposed to get hit tomorrow with potentially huge geomagnetic disruptions.. Main stream media news outlets are saying that we might see aurora tomorrow night, even here in NJ.  If that  is true, then tomorrow’s HF conditions will probably be, how shall we say, less than optimal?

But tonight was a good night.  20 and 30 Meters were exceptional.  On 20 Meters, I worked E74UB in Bosnia-Herzegovina, LZ1QI in Bulgaria, TF3JB in Iceland (with 2.5 Watts!), and the topper – the prize for the night A71CM in Qatar.  I have never worked Qatar before, ever  -and to get him in the log with 5 Watts had me doing the happy dance.

On 30 Meters, I actually had two honest-to-goodness QSOs with Lin G4DZE in England and Viorel YO6LV in Romania.  When you can have a civil QSO with more details that RST and TU, it’s always special.  Special thanks to Lin and Viorel for that.  I also worked SP6EIY in Poland and UY5BA in the Ukraine.

40 Meters was a little tougher, but I managed to work H70ORO, a special event station down in Nicaraguan to finish out the evening.

For the record, all tonight’s QSOs were completed with the KX3, using the HF9V on 20 Meters and the 88′ EDZ on 30 and 40 Meters.

I am making so many typos here that it’s ridiculous – thank God for spell check!

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least!

The DXMaps website run by Gabriel EA6VQ needs your support. This is the site that plots contacts spotted to the DX Cluster on a map, band by band, to show propagation in real-time. It is especially invaluable during the summer Sporadic-E season to track the rapidly-moving band openings.

DXMaps plots DX contacts band by band in real time

The trouble with any web site is that if it becomes very popular the costs of running it grow beyond what most people can afford as a hobby. According to EA6VQ the cost of a new dedicated server for the site will be $250 a month. So he is asking users to become “supporter users” by donating $33 US per year. But any donation is welcome.

If you are an active operator, especially on six metres and up, you will know how invaluable DXMaps.com is. Hopefully hams will step up to the plate and send Gabriel a donation.

I got the chance to get on the air for a short time this afternoon. I took the opportunity to spin the dial around the 10 Meter band.  Around the 28.200 MHz neighborhood, I heard beacons from Mexico, Brazil and British Columbia in Canada.  Encouraged that the band might be open, I continued my spin.

In the CW portion of the band, I was able to work CT1IUA with 5 Watts.  He was 599 and I received a 559 in return.  After that, for the heck of it, I traveled all the way up to the SSB portion of the band.  Here, I heard CT1EHI booming into NJ.  Again, for the heck of it, I pumped up the power to 10 Watts and gave him a call.  He answered me!  When he found out that I was in New Jersey, Marco asked me if I knew where Flemington is.  Heck, it’s about 10 – 15 miles down the highway from where I work.  Marco informed me that he has some friends that live there, and in fact he’s gone to Dayton with them a few times.

I don’t do so much in the way of QRP SSB as CW has always been my first love.  It’s gratifying, though, to make a SSB contact using only 10 Watts and it’s even more gratifying when that contact is overseas.  Marco  gave me a 5X7 signal report, too – not too shabby!  You have to absolutely love 10 Meters when it’s open – pure magic!

15 Meters was also open and I had a nice “chew” with N5XE, Carl in Oklahoma who answered my CQ.  I also had a quick QSO with OX3XR, David in Greenland.  I’ve worked David twice before, once on 12 Meters and once on 20 Meters, so this was a new band for me for Greenland.

On 17 Meters (I was doing a bit of band hopping) I ran into and worked OJØH/MM again.  Last time I worked them, they were travelling the Caribbean.  I have no idea where they were located this time.  They were not as strong as they were last time; but not sure whether that was due to location or just how the propagation was.

When the bands are open and propagation is good – the most fun hobby in the world becomes even more so.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least!

A huge sunspot has formed on the sun – big enough to make the “regular” news.

http://www.weather.com/news/science/massive-sunspot-forms-20130220

So, as an Amateur Radio operator you’ve heard about sunspots, you’ve read about sunspots, you may have even prayed for sunspots ……. but what do you KNOW about sunspots?

I have perused the Internet and have come across several articles by our own Paul Harden, NA5N of Very Large Array (and Zombie Shuffle) fame.  He’s our authority on things of the sun.  I have found the best of his words and are pasting them here for your edification:

From Paul Harden NA5N, some solar weather basics:

We all know the sun goes through a solar cycle about every 11 years. During the minimun, or QUIET SUN, there are few sunspots, the solar flux is very low ( less than100), which means the sun’s ionizing radiation is quite low. As a result, our upper atmosphere, where the E and F layers reside, are not well ionized. This means the E and F layers do not reflect HF radio waves very well … and most of your signals will pass right on through to space to be picked up by Jodie Foster in the sequel to “Contact.” One measure of how well ionized our E and F layers are is the MUF, or Maximum Usable Frequency. During the quiet sun, the MUF is often below 15-18MHz. This is why 15M and 10M are “dead” during the quiet sun, except for local (line-of-sight) communications.

However, during the solar maximum or ACTIVE SUN, there are many sunspots, the solar flux is high, and this highly ionizes our ionosphere. This in turn means our E and F layers become very reflective to HF signals. Virtually all the power hitting the E and F layers will be reflected back to Earth and Jodie Foster will hear nothing out in space. This high reflectivity causes the MUF to rise, often to above 30MHz. And when this occurs, 10M will be open all day long to support global communications by using “skip propagation” … in that your signals are skipping (or being reflected) off the ionosphere back to earth.

SOLAR FLUX (SF) is a number that attempts to describe the total power output of the sun at radio wavelengths, which in turn helps describe the total ionizing power delivered to our ionosphere. The higher the SF, the more ionization, and the more reflective our ionosphere is to HF.

An SF of less than 100 is fairly poor propagation, the MUF  will be lower than 15MHz.  An SF of more than 150 is fairly good propagation, the MUF will be greater than 25MHz

A general rule of the thumb is 10M is open when the solar flux is greater than 150.

IONIZATION. The solar radiation reaching the Earth contains IONIZING radiation. This means the incoming solar radiation can rip electrons away from the oxygen molecules high in our atmosphere. So now you have all these “free electrons” roaming around that makes the upper atmosphere (or ionosphere) more dense. Now the mass or weight doesn’t change, it’s just denser. This density causes your RF signal to not pass onto space. In the real case, your RF signal strikes all these free electrons, and that is what reflects them back to earth … DURING DAYLIGHT HOURS when ionization occurs.

This is why the higher bands, such as 15M and 10M, are open (that is, signals being reflected back to earth) during the DAYLIGHT HOURS, but these same bands go dead (no reflective propagation) nearly as soon as the sun sets – because the sun’s ionizing radiation goes away.

This is also why these same bands tend to be completely dead during the quiet sun, because there is insufficient ionizing radiation to cause ionization for reflection. This is a phenomenon of the active sun, the period we are well into right now. And, during a quiet sun, the ionization can be so low, that the MUF drops below 14MHz at night, which is why even 20M can go dead at night. During an active sun, the MUF almost always remains above 15MHz even at night, which is why 20M often becomes a ’round-the-clock band during the active sun.

So what about 40M? Truth is, the solar cycle has virtually no effect on 40M or below. Propagation on 40M remains pretty much the same during the active sun as it does the quiet sun, because the MUF seldom drops below 10MHz. This is why 40M is the main nighttime band, year in and year out. Even with low ionization, the very long wavelengths of the lower frequencies will be reflected by the ionosphere. This would be like rolling a basketball through the popcorn balls … while the high frequency RF (the marbles) pass through pretty easy, certainly the low frequencies (basketball) would not. Quiet sun or active sun.

The active sun DOES effect 40M in that absorption to RF can be very good to very bad, or very high noise levels from geomagnetic storms … both due to solar flare activity that occurs only during an active sun. A large solar flare sends an extra dose of ionizing radiation to the Earth. This can raise the MUF to very high frequencies (greater than 100MHz), but this radiation can also penetrate far into our atmosphere to ionize the lower D-layer. RF signals must pass through the D-layer on their way to the upper E and F layers, where the reflection occurs. The more ionized the D-layer is, the more collisions that will take place with your RF signal, absorbing or attenuating some of its power. Thus, high absorption to HF signals can occur during and after a solar flare. Your poor little QRP signals just vanish on their way to the E and F layers!

80M signals are almost always highly or fully attenuated by the D-layer, and what “propagation” that occurs on 80M is actually by the signals traveling across the Earth’s surface, or “ground wave” propagation. The wave front is confined between the Earth’s surface and the D-layer, which causes attenuation to the power as it travels along the ground, skims the D-layer, and propagates through the dense atmosphere near the surface. This is why QRP on 80M is challenging at best since the absorption rates are fairly high – day and night, quiet sun or active.

The other major effect to HF propagation during the active sun is geomagnetic storms. Very briefly, this is caused by a shock wave from a solar flare hitting the Earth’s magnetic field, causing it to compress and wiggle for awhile. And while it’s wiggling, it’s generating huge electrical currents, which in turn creates gobs of noise on HF.

…BAND…. THE QUIET SUN………. / ……….THE ACTIVE SUN
——————————————————————–
….80M…. Seldom has skip propagation…..Seldom has skip propagation
….40M…. Open around the clock……………..Open around the clock
….30M…. Open daylight hours………………….Open around the clock
….20M…. Open daylight hours………………….Open around the clock (usually)
….15M…. Dead – no skip propagation……….Open – daylight hours only
….10M…. Dead – no skip propagation……….Open – daylight hours only
——————————————————————–

See also – http://www.gqrp.com/SOLAR_HO.pdf  This link explains the A and K Indices and other phenomena associated with solar weather. It also contains other pertinent links to other valuable solar weather sites.

Thank you, Paul!

So to recap (and this is a very general nutshell, and in W2LJ’s words)

High Solar Flux and sunspot numbers = increased ionization of the ionosphere =  good propagation = happy Hams.

Keep in mind that giant sunspots can be too much of a good thing, though, causing geomagnetic disturbances and solar flares which can muck everything up.

High A and K Index values = higher noise level on the bands and higher chance for signal absorption and a lowering of the MUF = bad propagation = sad Hams.

In the end, like everything else in nature, it’s all a fine balance.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least!

I picked up the office chair that I had ordered from Staples on Saturday. It is their Lockridge Manager’s chair which is currently on special. It normally goes for $89.99, but is $50.00 off for an online price of $39.99.

It is definitely filling the bill. I spent 90 minutes behind the key tonight hunting Foxes on 40 Meters. Not only did I bag two pelts, but when I got out of the chair to head upstairs, my back and hips gave nary a whimper. This sure is a far cry from that folding metal chair that I was using. When I would get out of that thing, I felt like I was ready for either a walker or a chiropractor.

Band conditions were so-so. Both Foxes were loud for a good portion of the hunt, but at times the QSB was tough to deal with.  I am also pretty sure both Foxes had high local QRN to deal with as each one was asking for multiple repeats of exchange information. Once again, persistence paid off and both Foxes were worked. Hats off to Paul K4FB and TJ W0EA.

I am going to be placing an order in the next few days with either Mouser or Jameco for some parts.  There are plans in the latest Sprat for a rather simple 40 Meter WSPR transmitter. I don’t plan to get too involved with the mode, but it looks like a rather easy build, and I am itching to really homebrew something.

I haven’t built anything in a while that wasn’t pre-kitted. I enjoy the process of buying and gathering the parts. From the looks of the article, this seems to be a project that lends itself well to perf board construction. I already have an ample supply of NE612s, so this will be a purchase of various needed resistors and capacitors, depending on whatever is not already in my junk box.

The final cost should be way under what I have seen some kit prices going for.

73 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least!

I received two e-mails, that I’d like to share – the first is from Andreas, IZ3NYT:

“Hi dr om,

I built a new beacon on 30 meters, I would like your participation, I hope you have fun. receive the signal if I’d like your QSL card.
the frequency is 10139,2 khz cw wpm 8, power 100mw.

The layout and the pictures you can see on my site http://iz3nyt.altervista.org/.

73 de Andrea IZ3NYT”

Keep a listen out for Andreas’ beacon – this would be an excellent way to know if the band is open to Europe

The second e-mail was from Blaine KØONE, pointing me towards a new Website : MorseFusion.com.  They are touting themselves as a new way to learn Morse Code:

“You begin by listening to a novel (over 20 available) spelled out in English (not in code). Then you select which letters, numbers, and punctuation marks you want to gradually start hearing in code. Proper character speed and word rate are maintained during all stages of training.”

and

“Throughout the learning process you focus your attention entirely on listening to a novel, NOT on learning Morse code. Learning takes place gradually and in the background.”

Interesting concept – but not cheap. A subscription of $19.95 per month is involved.  But, if all other methods of learning the Morse Code have failed for you, this might be something you could look into.

I have to admit, the list of novels that have is intriguing. Classics such as “Pride and Prejudice”, “Moby Dick”,  “The Picture of Dorian Gray” (had to read that in High School) and books that are a bit more fun, such as “War of the Worlds” and “Tom Swift and his Wireless Message”.

The Tom Swift and Hardy Boys books were staples of my youth.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least!