Planet Ham (English)

This blog update shares progress over the last few days on a few fronts. Sorry for the lack of information flow, but I’ve been really busy at ‘the salt mine’.

I’ve made good progress populating the components on my Phoenix alpha build, and am very close to the initial ‘smoke test’, more on this in a future blog update (soon).

I’ve also started to pull together some additional hardware, supplementing my generic PIC development platform, simulating the control hardware for the PA3AKE front end board. The reason for this is to develop some drivers within CCS C to test and maybe even develop my own transceiver controller. I have developed and tested the band / filter selection, I’ve also developed the driver for the band and attenuator selection, but have yet to test the hardware as I’m awaiting delivery of an I2C I/O expander chip, once again more on this in a future blog update.

The main focus of this update is to share the arrival of my new fpga development environment, the MAXII Micro kit. Mentioned in a previous blog, I had to main drivers behind this purchase, one was to give me a USB ByteBlaster capability (I’ll need this initially to configure the fpga code within Phoenix) and secondly to provide a test bed for experimenting with fpga’s. I know I could use my HPSDR Ozy card for this, but realistically Ozy is going to be kept busy as a radio So I needed something else. Below is a picture in all it’s glory. The build quality is outstanding, including a Perspex protective shield.

Following using this for configuring Phoenix, I’ll be working through the included fpga code demonstrations, starting with the obligatory ‘traffic light sequence controller’.

End of update.

This week end I joined the party of European PSK Club. I spent a nice time. Furthermore I never hid my love to digital modes. Even though the propagation was low, I made 500 qso mostly with EPC members and just a few dx. Spiros, SV8CS, just a couple of years ago, took the first place with 451 qso. But the situation has change since then. The members now are more than 5000 and I am afraid that my five hundred qso are not enough for a leading place. Any way I dad a lot of fun ruining the party. Among contacts were members from America Australia Japan and Africa. Well the club is spreading. Last year I had 400 qso but I unfortunately lost my log due to technical problems. Some people lost some points because of that and I feel sorry. But this time my log came safely to the contest manager. Long Live PSK!

SB QST @ ARL $ARLB019 ARLB019 Section Manager Election Results Announced ZCZC AG19 QST de W1AW ARRL Bulletin 19 ARLB019 From ARRL Headquarters Newington CT November 19, 2008 To all radio...

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After being stuck a few days ago with the self compiled wspr.py I was searching the web today to find a breakthrough. I could hit myself for the head when I did see a link to one of my favorite blogs: VK2TPM where I found out that WSJT is just a package in Debian

Of course I installed it right away, but this is WSJT and not WSPR. I don’t now how to create a WSPR-signal from here, but I’ll play around with it.
Then I stumble upon another familiar link: G4ILO created a Asus EEE-PC version of WSPR. Downloaded that binary and it runs almost out of the package right away. Clicking around in this renewed interface I got some new insights. Maybe I didn’t set the right Audio In and Audio Out settings. Maybe that’s why my own compiled version didn’t seem to hear a thing.

Hmmm, let’s get on that horse again tonight when I’ll be home

QRV from 3rd - 28th December 2008 Equipment: Yaesu FT-1000 Mark V + Icom IC 7400, Amp.: SPE Expert 1K-FA (1 KW), Yagi Mosley Pro 96 (10 - 40m), inverted L for 80 / 160m QSL via HB9KNA       

SB KEP @ ARL $ARLK089 ARLK089 Keplerian data ZCZC SK89 QST de W1AW Keplerian Bulletin 89 ARLK089 From ARRL Headquarters Newington, CT November 18, 2008 To all radio amateurs SB KEP ARL...

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The Amateur Amateur: Radiomobile ARRL - Hartford,CT,USA You see, it was the first time that I’d bought a vehicle specifically to fit my Amateur Radio needs. The Geo Prizm on the left and the RAV4 on...

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This past weekend was the ARRL SSB Sweepstakes contest. This is another one of the major contests that are part of the fall contest season. There's something that's far more of a constant during the contest season than anything else. More constant than forgetting to configure some piece of your station properly until the last minute, more constant than some emergency cropping up just when the bands are getting hot, and far more constant than propagation: Complaints.

Starting before each contest, with a major peak after each one (though it's worse after the phone contests) the complaint emails will start hitting the reflectors (email lists) about how inconsiderate the contesters are. This usually has to do with a contester jumping on top of an ongoing (non-contest) QSO without even a passing attempt to ensure that the frequency is available. Unfortunately, a large number of these complaints are merited, but there are a number of regular complaints that are not valid. For instance, just because you've met your buddy on the same frequency for the last 42 years at some specific time doesn't mean you "own" the frequency, and someone holding that frequency prior to your arrival has to give it up because you say so. While it may be courteous to do so, in this case, "possession" (use) of the frequency is not 9/10ths of the law.

In fact, the FCC rules governing our hobby in Parts 97.101(b), (c), and (d) specifically say:

(b) Each station licensee and each control operator must cooperate in selecting transmitting channels and in making the most effective use of the amateur service frequencies. No frequency will be assigned for the exclusive use of any station.

(c) At all times and on all frequencies, each control operator must give priority to stations providing emergency communications, except to stations transmitting communications for training drills and tests in RACES.

(d) No amateur operator shall willfully or maliciously interfere with or cause interference to any radio communication or signal.

My interpretation of this is that the only time that someone can "take" a frequency that is in used by someone else is in order to provide emergency communications, and to do otherwise is to violate the rules as specified in subsection (c).

Here's what happened to me, which annoyed me enough to write this. I was busy for much of the day on Saturday, but I had some free time to participate in the previously mentioned SS contest on Sunday. Although I normally "Search & Pounce" (listen for stations calling for other stations, work them, and move on), I decided that it would be fun to try "run" stations, which means that I'd do the calling and let others come to me. This is a lot more fun than having to tune around, can result in a higher rate (the number of stations you work during a given period of time), which in turn generally results in a higher score, though it does mean that you have to be able to find a clear frequency to use. This is particularly difficult for low-power stations like myself, since, due to propagation, often a stronger station will be on the same frequency but in a different part of the country and will eventually overpower me. That's OK when it happens, and I usually just move off the frequency and try elsewhere.

What happened Sunday was that I'd managed to find a clear frequency on 40m to use to "run", specifically 7.244Mhz. I started CQing (calling) at around 20:00Z (see my previous post for more information about why I'm using UTC, not local time!) and had been working stations pretty steadily until around 20:36Z. (I worked 28 stations during that time, which may have been my best rate ever in an HF contest.) Right around then, between CQs, I heard a couple of guys come up on the frequency and start chatting. I said, at least three times between transmissions "gentlemen, this frequency is occupied, please QSY, thanks, K2DBK" (informing them that I was there, and asking them to move), then returned to CQing. They didn't move, and didn't even acknowledge me. I know that sometimes propagation can be stronger in one direction than another, or that they could have been using very high power and couldn't hear me, but I really doubt that was the case. One of the operators was located in North Carolina and I'd been working even QRP (low power) stations there easily.

It's time for some background: The National Traffic System is one of the many public services performed by volunteers all over the country. (Please click on the link for more information, there's far to much to go into here.) I was a very active participant in the NTS until a couple of years ago (I stopped primarily because of conflicts with other responsibilities with work and my family), but I still consider myself a supporter of the NTS system. In order to move traffic (message) around the country, there are regional area nets that meet on the HF frequencies (including 40m) since HF is best for medium and long-distance communications.

At about 20:45Z, one of the stations started calling the 4th Region National Traffic System Net (aka 4RN). (Remember, I'd already asked them, when they were just chatting, to move somewhere else.) Instead of asking me if I'd stand by, or moving up or down a few kilohertz (which is commonly done on HF nets), the net control simply proceeded to call the net, which interfered with my ability to use the frequency.

Although I would have legally been in the right to simply remain on the frequency, I did what I considered to be the right thing to do, which was to move to another available frequency. The net control had done exactly what other non-contesters complain about: They "took" a frequency without asking. While I acknowlege the possibility that neither the net control station nor any other station heard me informing them that the frequency was in use, I remain fairly certain that they did in fact hear me and simply decided to keep operating on "their" frequency. Had the net control station asked that I move because there was a regularly scheduled net there, I almost certainly would have done so. Had he asked that I stand by until the net completed, I would have been even happier to do so. (I would have gotten a short break and would have gotten my frequency back when they were done, probably ten or fifteen minutes later.) Instead, they chose to take the low road and intentionally interferred with my operation.

If I really wanted to, I could have easily recorded everything that happened, and possibly file a complaint with the FCC. (In fact, I may have done so, and honestly haven't checked; my contest logger can be configured to record audio while operating, and while I don't think I left that feature turned on for this contest, I may have. Guess I'll have to check my computer.) But I am not going to do that, since A) There is the chance that this was an honest mistake, B) I would prefer not to have someone performing a valuable service, running an NTS net, get in trouble, and C) I still believe that it's in the best interest of hams to work out these kinds of issues themselves.

So keep in mind that courtesy isn't a one-way street. There will always be situations where one person is using a frequency that for some reason another person wants to use. Don't try to "take" the frequency, at least ask if the person who was there would be willing to move or to stand by if the use is expected to be short. There is enough animosity in the world, let's try to make make our hobby more pleasant than that.

LEONID METEOR WATCH: The Leonid meteor shower peaks this year on Nov. 17th and 18th. Bright moonlight will probably spoil the show, but not necessarily. Researchers who study Comet...

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Sometime ago I reported about a cool building project of the Team Thunderbox, some guys from England. I’ve noticed the link is dead right now. But no worries! Arend, PA2AWU did read that article on my blog and send me a message. He wanted to build this cubicle quad for 40m himself and so he needed the fiberglass telescopic poles. If I was interested in participate to get a few for myself.

Of course I was! So Arend ordered a few and build the cubical quad for the CQWW SSB this year. He send me an e-mail a few weeks ago to let me know that the cubical quad worked perfectly and he was surprised about the performance! 1400+ QSO’s where made on 40m. He also send me a picture of their quad (inserted in this message). Very cool!

Now I’ve got my four fiberglass telescopic poles and as promised I would build a Skywire Loop Antenna with them. The wire is already prepared, all the connectors are there. The only thing I need to figure out is how to keep the poles up in the air. Then I will take the whole package to a area where I can build the thing. Reports will be online shortly after of course!

Well, I decided, this weekend, to contact K2NNY, a station operated from Northern New York by some members of the Rochester DX Association for the 2008 ARRL Sweepstakes Phone. So, I heard them, and tried to call them, but they weren’t answering, so I decided to make some contacts and try later. Before I knew it, I had 144 contacts, and it was the next day!

So, without further ado, here are my stat’s from this year’s sweepstakes, my first ever:

Contacts Made: 144

Bands Operated: 80, 40, 20

Sections Worked: 45 unique, as follows: 18 VA, 16 MDC, 10 IL, 9 OH, 7 MI, 5 MO, 5 IN, 4 WMA, 4 WI, 4 STX, 4 NC, 3 SD, 3 MR, 3 ME, 3 LA, 3 ENY, 3 EMA, 2 WNY, 2 TN, 2 SNJ, 2 SJV, 2 SF, 2 SCV, 2 RI, 2 NH, 2 MN, 2 GA, 2 CT, 2 CO, 2 AL, and singles from WWA, WVA, WPA, WCF, SDG, NTX, NNY, NNJ, NM, NJ, KY, KS, EPA, EB, and BC.

So, I had quite a bit of fun! They have all been added to the ham radio log page on this website. A full list of the contacts made during the contest follows the break.

td {padding:4px;} .qsos {background-color:#d9ef86} .qsos:hover {background-color:#95a94f}

Q#	Callsign	Date	Time On	Freq	Check	Section
1	NC1I	2008-11-5	21:32	7208	73	WMA
2	W3IDT	2008-11-5	21:35	7219	57	MDC
3	W8RC	2008-11-5	21:37	7235	48	MI
4	K2PLF	2008-11-5	21:38	7235	55	MDC
5	N4ZZ	2008-11-5	21:39	7240	57	TN
6	K9CT	2008-11-5	21:40	7243	67	IL
7	WA1BXY	2008-11-5	21:42	7246	06	RI
8	K9MOT	2008-11-5	21:46	7250	96	IL
9	N8MRC	2008-11-5	21:47	7266	96	MI
10	K9MV	2008-11-5	21:48	7266	99	IN

11	WT9U	2008-11-5	21:49	7266	75	IN
12	N4YSA	2008-11-5	21:50	7266	90	VA
13	N9JF	2008-11-5	21:51	7266	65	IL
14	K4HR	2008-11-5	21:52	7266	65	VA
15	KJ8O	2008-11-5	21:52	7266	06	MI
16	KD9LEO	2008-11-5	21:53	7266	05	WI
17	W1VRY	2008-11-5	21:54	7266	79	ME
18	K8PO	2008-11-5	23:24	3813	55	ME
19	K0FG	2008-11-5	23:26	7192	70	MO
20	KY0G	2008-11-5	23:30	7188	76	MO
21	VE7IN	2008-11-5	23:31	7120	60	BC
22	KC0MO	2008-11-5	23:47	7257	82	MO
23	K8ZZ	2008-11-5	23:56	3840	92	MI
24	WX3B	2008-11-5	23:59	3808	76	MR
24	W3GRF	2008-11-6	00:00	3805	36	MDC
25	KD4D	2008-11-6	00:03	3824	71	MDC
26	W9YK	2008-11-6	00:08	3823	67	IL
27	N8AA	2008-11-6	00:09	3837	54	OH
28	N3DC	2008-11-6	00:10	3845	73	MDC
29	KT3Y	2008-11-6	00:14	3864	70	VA
30	W0SD	2008-11-6	00:24	7185	62	SD
31	W9IU	2008-11-6	00:31	3851	55	IN
32	KD0S	2008-11-6	00:49	7295	86	SD
33	KG5VK	2008-11-6	01:06	7203	72	LA
34	W5KFT	2008-11-6	01:08	7205	93	STX
35	W0NO	2008-11-6	01:11	7254	99	KS
36	K6NT	2008-11-6	01:15	7270	62	SCV
37	W3YY	2008-11-6	02:07	3855	58	VA
38	K4BAI	2008-11-6	02:16	3864	54	GA
39	K4TS	2008-11-6	02:19	3849	97	VA
40	AC8Y	2008-11-6	02:20	3833	76	VA
41	W3UL	2008-11-6	02:22	3815	54	MDC
42	NN3W	2008-11-6	02:23	3803	86	VA
43	N9NC	2008-11-6	02:31	3836	75	NH
44	K1LZ	2008-11-6	02:35	3837	69	EMA
45	WB1GQR	2008-11-6	02:46	3807	69	VA
46	W2GB	2008-11-6	02:47	3819	67	ENY
47	N3UM	2008-11-6	02:51	3868	52	MDC
48	K3ZO	2008-11-6	02:55	3827	52	MDC
49	N3KS	2008-11-6	03:05	3813	75	MDC
50	W8WTS	2008-11-6	04:13	3866	75	OH
51	K9BGL	2008-11-6	04:16	3851	55	IL
52	K4ZGB	2008-11-6	05:27	7181	60	AL
53	K6NA	2008-11-6	05:31	7269	89	SDG
54	W5WW	2008-11-6	05:34	7243	90	NTX
55	WC6H	2008-11-6	05:51	7239	71	SJV
56	W6XU	2008-11-6	05:59	7262	72	SF
57	K6RIM	2008-11-6	06:00	7245	58	SF
58	K0UK	2008-11-6	06:10	7176	60	CO
59	NR5M	2008-11-6	06:11	7179	66	STX
60	WP2Z	2008-11-6	06:15	7176	58	NJ
61	W7WA	2008-11-6	06:18	7237	70	WWA
62	K5RQ	2008-11-6	06:24	7284	59	WCF
63	W2RE	2008-11-6	06:38	3839	88	ENY
64	W3GH	2008-11-6	06:42	3831	53	WPA
65	N4MM	2008-11-6	06:44	3837	52	VA
66	W1AW	2008-11-6	06:53	3820	38	CT
67	N4CV	2008-11-6	06:55	3860	01	VA
68	W1XX	2008-11-6	06:57	3863	54	RI
69	WB4FDT	2008-11-6	07:02	3922	67	MR
70	N4RR	2008-11-6	07:04	3845	65	VA
71	K2CC	2008-11-6	07:05	3821	22	NNY
72	W3LL	2008-11-6	18:35	7175	61	MR
73	K3AU	2008-11-6	18:36	7188	56	MDC
74	KX9DX	2008-11-6	18:41	7266	78	IL
75	NT8V	2008-11-6	18:43	7282	61	MI
76	NS3T	2008-11-6	18:44	7287	81	MDC
77	K3AN	2008-11-6	18:47	7222	61	SCV
78	N2MM	2008-11-6	18:52	7197	60	SNJ
79	N4GG	2008-11-6	18:54	7183	61	GA
80	W8II	2008-11-6	18:56	7199	70	WVA
81	K0MPH	2008-11-6	18:57	7212	57	MN
82	WZ8P	2008-11-6	18:59	7211	62	OH
83	N3OC	2008-11-6	19:02	7262	73	MDC
84	N9XT	2008-11-6	19:05	7268	85	NC
85	KA1VMG	2008-11-6	19:07	7268	90	CT
86	WB8BPU	2008-11-6	19:08	7268	68	MDC
87	KI3O	2008-11-6	19:09	7268	68	VA
88	N3JT	2008-11-6	19:10	7268	60	VA
89	N8TXI	2008-11-6	19:10	7268	94	OH
90	K4EET	2008-11-6	19:12	7268	74	MDC
91	NS9I	2008-11-6	19:13	7268	62	WI
92	KC8YEJ	2008-11-6	19:16	7268	03	MI
93	K8ROX	2008-11-6	19:17	7268	83	OH
94	KB1OWT	2008-11-6	19:19	7268	07	ME
95	N1PGA	2008-11-6	19:20	7268	93	WMA
96	KA2RVO	2008-11-6	19:21	7268	83	NH
97	K3QX	2008-11-6	19:21	7268	04	MDC
98	W1TI	2008-11-6	19:22	7268	89	EMA
99	W3ZV	2008-11-6	19:22	7268	89	EPA
100	K1UR	2008-11-6	19:23	7268	74	EMA
101	W8DYY	2008-11-6	19:23	7268	62	OH
102	W2PV	2008-11-6	19:24	7268	59	WMA
103	KB8OCP	2008-11-6	19:26	7268	91	OH
104	N4FX	2008-11-6	19:27	7268	62	VA
105	WA3JMV	2008-11-6	19:28	7268	68	SNJ
106	W1YK	2008-11-6	19:29	7268	16	WMA
107	N2QT	2008-11-6	19:29	7268	70	VA
108	W8VCK	2008-11-6	19:30	7268	74	MI
109	KD8ELX	2008-11-6	19:30	7268	06	OH
110	W4PFM	2008-11-6	19:31	7268	54	VA
111	W2VQ	2008-11-6	19:31	7268	73	NNJ
112	N9FC	2008-11-6	19:32	7268	79	IN
113	K9OR	2008-11-6	19:33	7268	62	IL
114	WR9Y	2008-11-6	19:34	7268	59	WI
115	KS9W	2008-11-6	21:26	7199	76	IL
116	W4MYA	2008-11-6	21:31	7214	58	VA
117	W5WMU	2008-11-6	21:34	14227	52	LA
118	AE5T	2008-11-6	21:38	14248	89	LA
119	N5YA	2008-11-6	21:39	14251	69	STX
120	K5WA	2008-11-6	22:16	14225	65	STX
121	W4PV	2008-11-6	22:24	7237	65	TN
122	WE9V	2008-11-6	22:26	7244	90	WI
123	NB7V	2008-11-6	22:31	7283	74	MO
124	K0KX	2008-11-6	22:32	7290	71	MN
125	KD4SN	2008-11-6	22:33	7284	78	KY
126	K0CL	2008-11-6	22:42	7205	64	CO
127	N6BV	2008-11-6	22:44	7196	59	EB
128	AD8P	2008-11-6	22:47	3815	65	OH
129	WT4Q	2008-11-6	22:49	3807	80	ENY
130	WA3EKL	2008-11-6	22:50	3801	64	MDC
131	KB9WQJ	2008-11-6	22:53	3836	00	IL
132	W2LC	2008-11-6	22:55	3855	96	WNY
133	N2JDQ	2008-11-6	22:55	3871	88	WNY
134	K6SV	2008-11-6	00:19	7162	69	SJV
135	N2IC	2008-11-6	00:38	7250	68	NM
136	K0DEQ	2008-11-6	00:49	3894	55	MO
137	W4MR	2008-11-6	00:55	3858	76	NC
138	KE9I	2008-11-6	00:56	3845	75	IN
139	K0HW	2008-11-6	01:03	3831	61	SD
140	WK4P	2008-11-6	01:25	3856	92	NC
141	KC4HW	2008-11-6	01:29	3864	78	AL
142	K4XD	2008-11-6	01:31	3852	06	NC
143	NM4M	2008-11-6	01:36	3816	01	VA
144	KM9M	2008-11-6	01:44	3828	79	IL

Voice from above greets local Ham radio operators Lake of the Woods Enterprise - Kenora,Canada Amateur radio enthusiast Woody Linton has logged untold hours talking to other Ham radio operators...

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I have sent large batches of QSL Cards to the bureau and also direct today. Most of the bureau cards were for GH6UW (Les Minquiers Islands, September 2007).

The OMS utility monitor project is now called HAUS (Home Automatic Utility System). Going for the big time, here! The Python software is available now on my "static" site: http://aa6e.net/software/HAUS/index.html More information about operating experience and preliminary conclusions for the project will be coming. Original blog post: http://blog.aa6e.net/2008/10/

This weekend I participated in the ARRL November Sweepstakes contest. This was my first time participating in the contest as I have only been a HAM since May. Being that it was my first time and I just started using a new logging program (N3FJP's AC Log) I was a bit slow and didn't make a whole lot of contacts. I started out on 40 meters and made about 20 contacts or so. I took a break long enough to take the XYL(Robin - AJ4IJ) and Harmonic (Ashby - KJ4EGJ) back to the house.

Robin and I had let Ashby go over to her Peepaw's (KU4ME) to play radio for the W4H special event while we put up some of our many Christmas lights. Anyway, after I dropped them off I went back over to dads and started contesting more. This time I switched over to 80 meters and I ended up with about 15 more contacts.

Altogether, I ended up with 35 contacts and 25 sections. 1 contact was a duplicate so I figured my score was around 1700 points. Nothing major and definitely not award worthy, but I did have fun and am starting to like contesting more and more.

As for the W4H special event, Robin and I didn't work it any more than what we had the last two weekends. We figured we'd let dad and Ashby get their fill. I think dad ended up with over 30 contacts and Ashby ended up with 20 over the weekend. Robin and I ended up with 51 and 88 respectively for a grand total of at least 189 QSOs for the special event. I know that Rick (N4JTQ) and I think Cathy (KI4YPO) ended up working the event a little bit. Other than that I'm not sure if anyone else did or not.

Anyway, to all the stations that worked us, thanks for making this a fun and special event. Also be on the look out for us as we celebrate the 4th of July as W4H 470 ARG July 4th special event and catch this time next for our 2nd Anniversary of the 470 Amateur Radio Group.

Here's a picture of Ashby working W4H

dynamite, a gun, barbed wire etc....
Possession is all strictly prohibited in our country.
All for many good reasons. But after our latest 'experience', reason is a bit lost here.
Oh well.... get over it !



Above picture shows the result of our burglar visit.

What happened?
02:30 AM; I wake up because of a crackling loud sound. I switch on a bedroom light and go downstairs to the living room. There I find nothing abnormal; all doors are correctly locked, all windows seem OK. So back to bed again. I sleep quickly, so QSY zzzzz...
02:45 AM; again this loud noise. Instead of going downstairs, I put aside the window curtain, look downside left at my parking lot.....to see a guy in total black tight clothing, hand gloves and baseball cap. Upon detection he winks his fellow man and both run away quickly. There's an attempted burglary going on.
I jump into my hobby overalls, put on a pair of sneekers, open my front door and run into the direction they went off. I spent some 7 minutes looking at several cars, checking alleys and several roads.
It is not my intention to force a confrontation being alone without any arms whatsoever, but at least I want them to know that I do not just sit back and p*** my pants. And besides, I was being just a bit upset...

Burglar result
Using a 200m glass sucker, they tried to break the lock of the sash windows, which are on the side of my house where the parking lot is. They needed several attempts before the plastic window-chassis broke.
Only one lock of the outer windows is broken before they were detected while performing their profession.
No other damages have been found.

Police assistance
I call the alarm number at 02:55 AM and report the attempted burglary. At 03:30 they arrive, look at the window and enter my house to write a report. Upon their leave I ask if there have been any other attempts recently in my area; "no, not that we would know".
Later that day,I'm visited by two officers of the forensic research who take prints of the glass sucker and a hand glove on the second inner window.

Property owner action
Since I never open these windows, I decide to fixate the window permanently using glue. Next, I have cut some 25x25mm bars to block the windows:




More protection is needed; a Halogen floodlight with motion detector is mounted on the bottom of my antenna tower. It switches in after dark automatically.

The back fence can use an upgrade too; so I add a new layer of treated plywood. The most vulnerable part is done first. Next week I will do the rest.



Next to installing extra safety-locks, there are some more tricks&tips I will
be implementing this week.

Neighbourhood monitoring
A quick check at the closest neigbours revealed that there was a succesfully burglary 6 doors away, just the other week. Talking to these people and others across the street I learned that 2 more houses in our area have been victims last month. Would have been nice if there had been a short informing letter to everyone. Let's start doing that ourselves.

With regard to possible psychological effects
I experience no anger, extreme frustration or other negative effects. In fact I went to bed again 30minutes after the police left the house that morning. But I do understand very well that such might show up sometime. For now let's just say that at this point I regard the whole story a 'negative business encounter'; they want something from me, I want to avoid that deal as much as possible. I need to put more effort in my work there.
The story is different for my girlfriend though. Thank god she slept through the whole story. But she's seeing burglars everywhere and she hasn't slept well ever since. I'm doing my best to bring back that comfort to her.
Let's end this with the simple fact that there are other more serious issues in life and we will grow over this too.


If you have any tips or remarks, please feel free to add any comment

Amateur Radio Military Appreciation Day: eHam.net - USA ARMAD, Amateur Radio Military Appreciation Day, is very simple. It is just a way to use our hobby to allow Amateur Radio Operators to show...

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By and large I don't do much on 160m - the Butternut doesn't work particularly well. However, I can usually work the stronger signals if I tune the aerial with the FT1000MPs ATU.

Actually the tuning process is a bit tricky. If I tune on 100w, the rig's internal ATU just hunts and never tunes. If I tune the power down to micropower and try and tune it there it generally gets close enough to be able to run something close to 100w!

Anyway, remembering that last night was the RSGB 1.8MHz CW contest, I thought I'd pop on quickly and work whoever was loud. First in the log was MD0CCE and second was near neighbour Bob, G0ADH. GM4FAM was a fine signal but had more people calling, so I didn't make it through the pileup for the couple of times I called.

I was a little alarmed to see a tab in Firefox entitled 'Ars Telegraphia', but on closer inspection, it turned out to be Paul Evans, VP9KF/G4BKI's blog.

Paul's a very dedicated CW operator and he's currently operating from Bermuda (VP9). His blog shows the trials and tribulations that he goes through to make contacts and the very great amount of enthusiasm he has for the hobby.

Check out Paul's blog here and his comprehensive website here

Ham radio. Girlfriends. Somehow I figured they wouldn’t go together. And Gordon West’s presentation didn’t help that perception much either! He says that you’re not a REAL ham radio operator unless your neighbors look at your antenna - roll their eyes and say, “What the HECK is THAT?”. Well – I had a brand new extra class license that was itching to be used. So I put a big ‘ole HF antenna on my car. Not exactly a babe magnet I figured…

Fast forward a year or two. I met a really nice lady via e-Harmony.com. First glimmer of hope was that we both used technology to find each other. But ham radio? She’s gonna think I’m a geek I thought. Well – she kind of did. But she said she found it interesting because it was different. We went out on dates and I gently showed her my radio and what I listened to and why. We did some sight seeing and on some trips I kept the radio on. Even made a contact on 2 meters across Lake Michigan that sort of caught her attention. She asked a few questions and it didn’t seem to bother her.

We became more serious and she asked me at one point what the tests were like and if I expected her to some day pass them. I said no, and sent a link to www.qrz.com ‘s practice exams so she could see what sort of material there was. Well, she sort of thought that was a hint and was curious, so she started taking some of the practice exams. And guess what? On the second time around she was doing quite well!

Now this person is a 4th grade teacher with basically no radio experience except for the stereo in the home and car. Well, being a teacher she wanted to get GOOD grades. So she studied. I sent her my audio CD’s from Gordon West and she bought his license exam prep book. She even told me at one point to stop bugging her because she had to study! I thought it was all in good fun until she said she had registered for the exam.

She passed her technician license exam. The first time. With 100%! Smoked me! I was so proud of her – not that she had to pass it – but that I knew she put the time and effort in to it and was not disappointed. So with pride I introduce to the ham radio community Ham Radio’s Perfect Woman – Jane – KD8JPW. Jane is currently active on EchoLink working both PC to PC and on the airwaves via PC to Repeater. We are working out the details on a HT for later in the year. Seeing an 8 in her license, you would find her in Area 8 of the listings in EchoLink in Explorer View. She is currently thinking about an upgrade to at least general class so she can work HF. For those wanting more information on what EchoLink is and how you can use your PC and an inexpensive regular PC mike to connect to ham radio repeaters and computers around the world with digital sound quality better than cell phones, go to http://www.echolink.org/ . For those purists that say that this is not “real” ham radio – welcome to the year 2000 and thanks for helping to make your hobby a stale old dying hobby! Sorry if that offends – but someone needs to say it.

Jon Kreski, AB9NN
Owner http://www.HamRadioResources.com

MCMC (Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Comittee) has updated Malaysian Amateur Radio Apparatus Assignment and Callsign database, which can be viewed here - http://www.skmm.gov.my. The updated database include details of newly registered hams who’ve recently passed RAE 2008-1 examination in April.

Alternatively you could try the experimental AJAX web interface from ashamradio callsign project. Thanks to 9M2CIO for making the database available to use freely.

Sorry for the regular outage of my website. It seems my shared webhosting provider are having problem with high load right now. If the problem persist, I think I might move my blog to some place else which could service this website.

I just felt pitty that all local webhosting company that i’ve tried, ended up overselling their bandwidth and load up until the service availability is compromised.

I’ll continue updating my website as usual as soon I sort out this problem

This Week in Amateur Radio - Edition # 814 Air dates: 10.04.08 > 10.11.08 -- North America's Premier On-The-Air Amateur Magazine Service -- TWIAR is available on the web via download, ...

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Radio tower still doesn't sit well with Penn Township neighbors Pittsburgh Tribune-Review - Pittsburgh,PA,USA Another issue is if federal and state laws governing amateur radio operators supercede...

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A group of amateur radio enthusiast has setup a Reunion day to commemorate 80 Years of  Amateur Radio Operation in Malaysia which started from 1928 ~ 2008.

It will held at Port Dickson from 13th Dec ~ 14th Dec.

Place: Beach front Bungalow in Port Dickson, hosted by 9M2PD.

At this moment there are 30 participation mostly 9M2 has confirm to join in.
 
For more information you can head on to their website.

Amateur Radio Reunion Day

I will be attending this special event and will go together with some 9M2/JA station.

If you happen to be vicinity of Port Dickson or Seremban, do join in and have fun.

Updates
1. Up to this blog updated release this event has close to 100 participation will be joining this event.
2. This could be the first held major event and I can classify as International eyeball.
3. Take a look at this Brochure that share by 9W2PD email to me - Click HERE 
4. Please fill up this form that also email to me by 9W2PD - Click HERE

73!

For commemorating the 90th Anniversary of their Independence, Poland is using many interesting prefixes like :

SP1918PR, HF1918PR, SO1918PR, SQ1918PR, SN1918PR, SO90PR, SN90PR, SQ90PR, HF90PR, SP90PR, etc.,.

Try working as many as you can, There may be some special award for working these special calls.

Source : VU2UR, OM ARASUJI

Japan already has 10m FM repeater to be use by Amateur Radio who stay around Kobe, Japan. This 10m FM repeater install at Top of Mount Rokko.

Rokko-san (六甲山) is about close to 1000m height, good idea for DXing! and for visitor, this mountain is one of the 300 famous mountain in Japan.

Here is the details of the 4th 10M FM repeater that is working now.
Uplink: 29.52Mhz
Downlink: 29.62Mhz
Tone: 88.5Mhz
Mode: FM
Output power: 50W
ID: JP3YHY in CW

Please use it gently!

Over here in Malaysia, we are still stick to 2m and only KL and Penang has 70cm repeater. Comparing to Japan, 2m are no longer as main repeater, they are switching it to 70cm and much higher frequency.

When can Malaysia can have more challenging accessing repeater for frequency such as 10m or 6m repeater or Giga herts or fully 70cm repeater?

Something to think about?

73!

If you listen on 14.10000 MHz (20m band) you can hear several beacons around the world. I always find it fascinating to listen to. When the conditions are good you can hear a whole lot of them.

You can listen to a snip of mp3 I’ve made this morning: ncdxf_iaru-beacons

This morning the QRM-levels where very low and I was listening to the beacons when I got a funny idea. How would this frequency sounds on another part of the world? That’s when I got the idea of tossing around the “Beacon Stick”! It seems funny to me if all the blogging HAM-operators would record a complete round of NCDXF/IARU beacons on 14.10000 Mhz and post it as a mp3 on their blog!

Let me kick off and I pass the Beacon Stick to……. one of my favorite HAM blogs: VK2TPM.
Of course I curious who Peter passes the Beacon Stick to!

I had an enjoyable QSO with Ray, M0WGA (WA4WGA) in the week. We chatted a little about D-Star and Ray brought me up to speed on what had been happening since we last talked.

Of particular interest to me was the further development of adaptors to work with existing analog radios to make them work with the D-Star system. I just had a chance to take a look at one of these adapters, designed by Satoshi Yasuda, 7M3TJZ/AD6GZ

See the details here

I would gladly try out D-Star with an adapter, but would be less keen on investing in a whole new radio and I'm guessing many would feel the same.