Planet Ham

Caramba como estaba la cosa hoy 51 manchas y 90 de flujo solar.Y se ha notado,vaya que se ha notado. Las broadcasting llegaban a romper y a la primera llamada han contestado dos estaciones de norteamerica.

Algunas estaciones llegaban muy fuerte59+20.Si usaba el preamplificador por encima incluso.Normalmente en 15 no uso el PRE1 ni el PRE2 del 775 porque el QRM se me pone en 58 o más.

Pero pasaban,incluso algún colega con dipolos. Había unos cuantos spot de estaciones USA que reportaban Europa.

He podido hacer algún QSO largo comentando sobre antenas.A un colega canadiense le he preguntado como iban las stepir con temperaturas super bajas de aquellas latitudes,y me ha comentado que ningún problema.

He trabajado una estación LU pero con señales bajas.

Dando una vuelta por la banda cuando ya no contestaba nadie he encontrado a Jorge EA2YY. Ha sido una buena alegría.Estaba probando una caña y no me llegaba tan fuerte como otras veces,me ha dicho que el también ha visto como estaba la propa.Precisamente me he acordado de él al trabajar a VE2YY a quien le he comentado que tenia un amigo con ese sufijo.

Hemos pasado a 500 y he estado un rato muy agradable charlando con el sobre sus proyectos y la actualidad en las bandas.

Mañana tengo la intención de trasmañanar a ver como se comporta la propa.

¿ Dialogo? solo veo imposición aun a costa de limitar a la gente y falseando la realidad.Un corralito de unos pocos para mantenerse entretenidos y a los demás que les den. Las cosas a su tiempo.¿Cual es el próximo paso? ¿ El negocio de unos pocos?

Pero claro si las cosas vienen dadas como vienen que nos vamos a esperar.Y si se puede nos quedamos con todo y las explicaciones al maestro armero ¿No?

Estaciones trabajadas hoy:W3ORU, VE3XN, K2HQ, KC1MR, VE2YY, W1WBU, N2MEE, LU1FBE, KF4ZZY.

He recibido una muy mala noticia,el fallecimiento de Jacky F5IOU a quien conocí en Marennes,un buen radioaficionado que seguro que dejará un gran hueco en la cuadrilla Dxista del BDXG.

Recuerdo con cariño su estación su coleccion de manipuladores y sus experiencias en una tarde muy lluviosa en Burdeos. Mis mas sinceras condolencias a los colegas de la zona,te conocí poco pero estarás en mi rmemoria.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but I got licensed about four years ago, near the beginning of the bottom of the sunspot cycle. Add to that the fact that I haven't been particularly active for the past couple of years and I don't have a huge beam antenna or an amp, it means I haven't had many European contacts.

That seems to be changing for the better now. Last week I had QSOs with someone in Holland and someone in Switzerland, within about half an hour of each other. They were both new ones for me, believe it or not. Last night I finally had my first contact with an English station, Rich G0BLB, near Bath.

There's several reasons why I was really happy about that particular contact. Firstly, I'm originally from England. Secondly, one of my cousins over there is married to a ham, Andy 2E0HPO in Hertfordshire. And third, my signal wasn't as week as I thought it would be. If conditions keep improving it won't be long before I'll be able to chat with Andy. I only met him for the first time two years ago when my wife Donna and I were over there on holidays.

Actually, with conditions improving now, I'm at that stage in my ham career where a lot of my QSOs are new ones, which makes it more fun.

73 Steve

The AREN Annual meeting took place last weekend in Clonmel County Tipperary. The agenda included:

• Review of previous years activities
• Update on the Major Emergency Management Process
• Update on training materials
• Update on ARENs use of maps and mapping data.
• IARU HF emergency operating procedure workshop
• APRS workshop
• Update on use of NBEMS and Digital Modes on shortwave NVIS

The AREN Mobile Command Post (MCP) was in attendance for everyone to inspect. and a a wide ranging discussion on various aspects of Emergency Communications was had. Many thanks to all who participated and I look forward to working with everyone during 2010.

John Ronan, EI7IG

Como indicábamos días atrás, pero adelantando 1 día el comienzo de la operación ya se encuentran activos, desde la isla.

A esta dirección de correo contact@fo2010.org podéis mandar archivos de sonido en MP3 de contactos que escuchéis realizar con TX4T.

Indican que los correos que lleguen a esta dirección no serán leídos por los operadores por lo que aconsejan no realizar preguntas, ni intentar preparar citas.


73´s,Luis
EA1CS

Yes, imagine that! Pete, now W1VG, used to be W1JKS which is now my call sign, sent me one of his old W1JKS QSL cards! A very nice surprise indeed.

I recently sold my Yaesu VX-8E because the lack of APRS RF infrastructure in this part of the world rendered that part of its functionality fairly useless and I didn't need two FM hand-helds. My Kenwood TH-F7E is a more useful radio to me because of its ability to receive CW and SSB. The only thing I didn't like about the Kenwood was the lack of a drop-in charger base. To charge the radio you have to uncover a charging socket and then plug in a lead from a wall-wart charger. That might seem like a small inconvenience, but having to crawl around on the floor plugging in the charger, then thread the charging cable through to a safe place to stand the radio while it charged was a bit of a chore. Most hand-helds offer a base charger as an option; even the cheap and nasty Chinese Jingtong had one. I think Kenwood missed an opportunity to sell an accessory here.

I was sure I wasn't the only one lamenting the lack of a base charger for this fine little radio so I posted a question about it on QRZ.com and was pointed by Mel KS2G in the direction of W & W Manufacturing Company of Hicksville NY, who make a range of replacement batteries and chargers for two-way radios and other devices. They offer battery packs for most amateur radios, including the Kenwood TH-F6A which is the US version of the TH-F7E and all of them are charged using a drop-in charger.

The company didn't respond to attempts to contact it via the contact form on its website, but Mel very kindly phoned and obtained an email address for a helpful lady named Flossie, with whom I placed my order.

It wasn't exactly cheap. Since the stock Kenwood battery doesn't have contacts for base charging I had to purchase a replacement battery as well as the charger unit. By the time I paid VAT and tax collection tax it came to half as much as the actual radio.

The new battery has a 2000mAH capacity compared to the 1500mAH of the standard version. The charger is a universal unit and takes plug-in "cups" for different radios, so if I ever sold the TH-F7E I could keep the charger and just buy a "cup" for whatever replaces it. I was a bit disappointed to discover that when placed in the charger the radio faces to the side rather than the front. It doesn't really matter, since you can't use the radio while it is in the charger, and perhaps they do that to discourage the temptation to switch it on. But it would look better if it faced the front.

Also supplied with the charger was a European 220V switched mode 24V 1A power adapter. I really didn't need that, and would have liked the option to save some cost by not having it. I haven't checked to see if it makes any of the usual switched mode warbly noises and broadband hash. I generally avoid switched mode power supplies at all cost. For batteries up to 7.2V which the TH-F7E is, the instruction sheet states that the charger will run from 15V so I am actually running it from my Diamond shack supply that powers my K3, which normally runs at about 14.2V. It worked fine, and charged the new battery in a couple of hours.

I am very pleased with this smart if rather expensive accessory, which will help me make the most of the TH-F7E by keeping it nicely charged up.

I just finished building this simple kit and thought others might like to know a bit about it. I had not heard about it myself until Bob W3BBO mentioned it in regard to a previous posting to this blog.

In short, it’s the best $15 I ever spent. Build time was an hour & that includes setting up the soldering iron, printing out the manual, etc. Although the video only shows 3 caps being tested, I have since tested about a dozen with equally impressive results. Repeatability from one measurement to the next for any give cap remains dead on, or for you Brits: spot on…

Since the annunciation of a value is audible (in Morse), I thought I’d make a quick video to more accurately demonstrate how it works and how it’s operated.

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Just seen the sunspot number - 51. Things are looking up. If anything, I think that the rate of improvement in sunspot activity is slightly ahead of predictions. Maybe we'll have a bumper cycle 24 peak after all. Only time will tell.

No Delegate fee is charged.

All Hams & SWLs are invited.

Contact Person : Mr. S.K.Vittal, VU2VIT

http://ea5dy.ure.es/nueva/index_8.htm

Nada es lo que parece ¿ O si? Se habla sobre cuestiones bizantinas,se emplean laxantes dialécticos.

A few more people have been making the XBM80-2 transceiver. One is Alan Yates VK2ZAY who has made a de-luxe version with some refinements and additions. See it on his blog at http://www.vk2zay.net/article/238

Segnalo oggi la traduzione in italiano di un bellissimo sito che spiega come ricevere e trovare radiosonde meteo che vengono lanciate ogni giorno nel nostro paese.

http://www.radiosonde.eu/RS00-I/RS00-I.html

The WRTH editorial team is pleased to announce that a file containing 
updates to the Winter/B09 schedules is now available to download from the 
WRTH website: http://www.wrth.com and click on the “Latest PDF Updates” link

You will need the free Adobe Acrobat reader (available from http://www.adobe

Com) in order to view this file. 

The file is 234kb in size and contains schedule updates for international 
and Clandestine/Target broadcasters plus details of 3 new stations. 

We hope you find this a useful accompaniment to the printed WRTH. 

Regards, 

Sean Gilbert - WRTH International Editor

Resultados CQ WPX 2009 CW en http://www.contesting.at-communication.com/cqwwdxcwcontest2009_zayavlennye_rezultaty/

El otro día estábamos comentando en la ultima reunión con Eduardo EA2ANW de lo difícil que era contactar con Haiti.Con lo del terremoto se ha puesto de actualidad y hemos podido ver unos cuantos vídeos de estaciones USA monitorizando tráfico de emergencia hacia la zona de la catástrofe.

After visiting the Winter Field Day operations last weekend the ops could certainly have used some hi-tech clothing. In –20C weather prevalent here in Ottawa and the actual temperatures measured at the winter field day site, this clothing would have been a boon to the operators’ endurance. I see Martin VA3SIE has been on another arctic trek with Roy VA3CKD operating portable yesterday during the Arizona ScQRPions QRP Club 2010 FYBO (Freeze Your B___s Off QRP contest). Temperatures and wind are always issues to be taken seriously in these northern climes.

Here’s an excerpt about this winter gear:

The heat is on

From the "why didn't I think of that" files, Mountain Hardwear (mountainhardwear.com/ardica) has just introduced the first pre-wired winter sportjacket that not only provides heat on demand but also powers and recharges your iPhone and other hand-held gadgets. Called the Refugium (for men) and Radiance (for women), these stylish, insulated jackets are designed to accommodate the optional Ardica Moshi power system to generate heat (up to 37 C) via integrated circuitry woven throughout the jacket. Toss in the $60 Tech Connector Kit for iPhones (or MP3 players, GPS units or cameras) and you're ready to rock 'n' talk while braving the Canadian winter.

Now I’m not sure if the power pack could be re-wired to power the KX1 or the FT-817 but I’m sure hams can find a way.

Links:

http://www.ardica.com/enabled/enabled.html

http://mountainhardwear.com/ardica

N0AR’S Winter QRP FYBO Shelter

I have been a subscriber to the Elecraft email reflector almost continuously since 1999 when I ordered my K2, and for most of that time have found it useful. But over the last few weeks I have come to the conclusion that the best thing the company could to do would be to close it.

The reflector has been a good forum for communication between Elecraft and its customers. But postings about the K3 have swamped postings about other Elecraft products, making it a frustrating forum for kit constructors. Now that the K3 has reached maturity there are very few useful suggestions for improvements to be made about it. Instead, most postings now seem to be nit-picking complaints, which often result in ill-tempered responses from others who feel there is nothing to complain about, which generate further ill-tempered replies suggesting that some people don't use their radios and don't even understand the problem.

The overall impression conveyed to any would-be K3 purchaser who subscribes to the reflector is that the K3 is a very flawed radio with some serious problems. That isn't how I see it. The K3 isn't a perfect radio but I don't think there is anything better around at the moment.

The obvious thing to do would be to unsubscribe. Except for the fact that the reflector is the only way to keep up to date with news from Elecraft. If you want to know about new firmware releases and what's in them, or know when new products like the P3 panadapter are ready to be released, the only way to get that information is to subscribe to the reflector. I have repeatedly suggested that Elecraft should create an "elecraft-announce" mailing list that contains only news from the company, and they have equally repeatedly ignored my suggestion.

Because the Elecraft reflector is an email list, every subscriber receives a copy of every posting, including every complaint, whinge, gripe and fanboy denial of the criticisms. This tempts everyone to have their say in topics regardless of whether their contribution is useful. Even if you resist the temptation to comment, reading of these "issues" sows seeds of doubt that perhaps there really is something wrong with the radio after all.

I think the reflector is turning into a public relations disaster for Elecraft that also serves to unnecessarily alarm its current and would-be customers. I think the best thing to do would be to put it out of its misery. But I doubt they will take my advice on this either. :)

17 Meters was open again this afternoon. I worked Eduardo CO8LY in Cuba. He was calling CQ DX and was way over S9. He sounded more like he was down the block; than all the way just south of Florida. Unfortunately, it was one of those "599 TNX" kind of QSOs. We have worked several times before; and I wanted Eduardo to know his signal was really carrying. I guess New Jersey wasn't the kind of DX he was looking for.

On the other hand, it looks like I am making some kind of progress with the PFR3A. I rewound T1 for the second time and re-installed with no improvement. So I decided that everything in the receiver circuit is probably pretty much just as it should be. That leaves the DDS.

With my trusty VOM and schematic in hand, I began to take some voltage measurements. I checked the 78L05 regulator; and everything seemed fine there. Then I went to check U10, the 812C35 chip. Lo and behold! No 3.5V at the positive leg of C35! This led me to believe of course, that U10 might be defective; or perhaps soldered in badly (it is one of the SMT devices).

So I went to the PFR3 Yahoo group and posted a question; as I was not really sure of the pin out configuration of this device:

Doing some troubleshooting as to why my receiver isn't working; I've come to believe there may be a problem with U10 (or a connection involving U10). I am currently not getting the 3.9V at the positive lead of C35 - only about .9V.

Now, bear with me for a second. If you look at U10, there are 4 solder connections - the "top" and then the three "bottom pins". Using my VOM to check for continuity, I get a short from the left most bottom pin to ground. I am getting a short from the right most pin to the positive lead of C35.

I am not getting a short from the middle lead to the cathode of D5, which I am assuming I should. Is the middle pin the input?

Tnx in advance,

Larry W2LJ

A few minutes later, I received a reply from none other than KD1JV himself:

The center pin of U10 is indeed the input and is connected to the metal tab on the top end of the part. In the PFR-3A, power to this pin comes from the +5V regulator. In the earlier 3 model, it comes from the raw DC via D5.

Your the second one to have a problem here. I wonder if the 50 Mhz clock chip is in upside down? If you look carefully at the silver box between the regulator and the AD9834 chip, you should see a little dot near the upper left corner. If it is in the lower right corner, it is in upside down and could be pulling the regulator output low, since it sounds like its trying to forward bias a diode.

KD1JV

Sure enough, the clock chip is indeed, upside down. I sent another e-mail to the list asking Steve for any recommendations in rectifying this. I have a feeling that I already know what this entails - and it's probably not going to be a simple fix. I do have some QuickChip hanging around somewhere in the shack to help me unsolder this chip.

Maybe there's some light at the end of the tunnel?

73 de Larry W2LJ

Just a few weeks ago, having played with the iBCNU application for APRS, I was thinking that Echolink would be a great application for the iPhone. I did a quick search and there wasn't anything there.

Chatting to Jerry, KD0BIK on Twitter this evening, he mentioned that an Echolink application for the iPhone had been released last Friday!

I downloaded it this evening (it's free!) and was delighted to find that I could connect to the GB3TD repeater along in Swindon - where I was able to surprise Rob, G4XUT with how I was connecting to the repeater.

So, I'm hoping that this will allow some QSO possibilities from the phone where I can't make an RF connection.

Como siempre navegando he llegado a una entrada de la wikipedia, que en forma de anexo, da un listado de los Faros de España. (ver Diploma FEA)

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faros_de_Espa%C3%B1a

Muy recomendable para tenerlo en favoritos.

Dopo averlo installato basta semplicemente portarci sull’album da scaricare di qualche contatto amico, clickare col tasto destro del mouse e selezionare l’opzione Download album with FacePAD

Leggi anche altro su Max Laconca's weblog

Come scaricare le foto dell’album di un amico su Facebook

I'm catching up on hours including North American QSO Party, British Columbia QSO Party, and North American Sprint CW. What is the difference between winter and summer propagation in the northern hemisphere? Has anyone who is operating low power into sub-optimal antenna system(s) analyzed seasonal RadioSport results at the station?

Draft Analysis of Low Power Production Totals.
2007 NA Sprint CW Winter = 7
2007 NA Sprint CW Summer = 43
2008 NA Sprint CW Winter = 43
2008 NA Sprint CW Summer = 42
2009 NA Sprint CW Winter = 9
2009 NA Sprint CW Summer = 29
2010 NA Sprint CW Winter = 7

Total winter -Q production = 66 in the log.
Total summer -Q production = 114 in the log.

Average Winter -Q production = 16.5
Average Summer -Q production = 38

Winter frequency distribution is 43, 9, 7, 7 and summer distribution is 43, 42, and twenty nine. My first observation suggests summer propagation produced two times as many -Qs when compared against winter.

I'm also looking within groups and what factor(s) in the winter of 2008 spiked production total?

I observed an effect of gray line on 20m this weekend and the same phenomena occurred during the North American QSO Party. The band went silent shortly after gray line passed over the state of Texas. In fact, five of the seven -Qs in the 2010 NA Sprint CW log, were located in Texas as gray line approached and passed over.

A low power, low profile operator may consider the following 1.) Which band provides the best propagation opportunities given height of antenna in relationship to angle of received reflections, 2.) Where is my station located in relationship to skip zones and major metropolitan centers when comparing high/low angles of reflection in summer/winter and, 3.) What improvements can be implemented after comparing seasonal differences?

Subsequently, does a correlation between sub optimal antenna system(s) and seasonal propagation exist? Or is there a correlation between antenna system(s), seasonal propagation, and skip zones into major metropolitan areas?

I deployed my vertical this year whereas my doublet produced nearly the same winter totals across three bands in previous years. I operated 20m only for additional data harvesting this year with potential thunder storms in the local area.

73 from the shackadelic on the beach.

QTH: Inis Mor, Aran Islands, Co. Galway, IOTA: EU-006

EJ6DX will be used during the CQ WPX SSB contest in March 2010. Mike, UA1OMX is joining me on the trip. We are going to compete in the Multi-Single category this year. EJ6DX antenna setup will include 3 band yagi, HF2V for 40 and 80 and Inverted V for lower bands. QSL via RX3RC. More…

Update on 6W QSLs: Roman, RX3RC has replied to all QSL requests that he received directly. I am waiting for a batch of new cards to arrive in Dublin in February and will reply to all “directs” by the end of the month. QSLs received via the bureau will be replied to later this year.

I've been listening to competitors in the Black Sea Cup contest this evening. If you're one of those people competing, especially if you're in ITU zone 31, I've got a tip on how you can do better next year.

Shut the f%*& up and listen!

Seriously, I'm not an experienced contestor, but calling CQ contest, then waiting a maximum of two seconds for a reply is not going to get you many contacts. I timed most of the stations I heard and two seconds was the most that they were waiting, that's just long enough for me to hit the PTT and say Victor Kilo. By the time I finished and started listening again, they were half way through their CQs again. Those that were getting contacts were getting them maybe one out of ten CQs. God knows how many people were trying to call them and weren't getting through, I know I gave it a god try. Those that were getting contacts were getting mainly EU stations, or other stations in their area, ie, not the high scoring ones they'd like.

Now, I don't know if this is relevant or not, but 75% of the guilty stations had a nine in their callsigns. Yes, I did count them, I studied statistics at university last year as part of my science degree.

73 and good luck in the contest, Steve VK4VSP

Anatoly, UA9PC llamaba CQ Contest desde Siberia como RC9O en 21212, había llegado yo hasta allí por que el scope del IC 756 reflejaba una señal muy fuerte, pensé que sería alguien de Avilés haciendo qso.

Nada más lejos de la realidad, a pesar de que estoy momentáneamente sin antena y el amigo Anatoly trabajaba en contest no pude resistir la tentación de saludarle , ya que son numerosos los contactos que tengo con él.

Ajusté la bajada y enseguida me saludo hello Luis.
Le dije que estaba trabajando solo con el cable de la bajada y le pase un 59+40 db reales el a mi 57.

Al comentarme el sistema de antenas con las que trabajaba comprendí, que a pesar de estar con la bajada, la señal que desde Siberia marcaba en mi smeter.

20 elementos para 15mts repartidos en 5 over 5 y 5 over 5.
Aprovechando que Anatoly estaba dicharachero le pregunte por las antenas de 160 y 80 mts ya que siempre se le escucha allí también muy fuerte:
para 160 mts 3 elementos y en 80 otros 3 elementos.

Desde luego cuando escuchamos una señal así en las bandas a mas de uno se le soltaría la clásica frase , ASÍ CUALQUIERA, pero también debemos pensar el trabajo que hay detrás de una buena estación, como es en este caso RC9O.

73´s,Luis
EA1CS

A great local newspaper piece on Amateur Radio, Haiti support, and Harold Kramer, WJ1B. Check out the video, too.

Recibido de IK7JWX

I inform all of next 2 activations 5C2.. (16 > 23 MARCH 2010) + TS8P iota AF-083 + AF-092 (27 APRIL 2010 > 4 MAY 2010) : see the file included.

We need good sponsors !