K9ZW - A few housekeeping things going on here. First I will be taking down the two sister blogs to “With Varying Frequency – Amateur Radio Ponderings” or at least making them private while I decided what content to archive before they disappear. Reason? I simply lack time to use the outlets effectively. What I do have [...]

KE9V - Cornbread Road Episode Six Heart of the Matter Got a secret, can you keep it? Swear this one you’ll save Better lock it, in your pocket, taking this one to the grave. If I show you then I know you won’t tell what I said Cause two can keep a secret, if one of them is dead… Cornbread Road #6.mp3 Subscribe to the podcast feed: http://ke9v.net/podcast.xml Cornbread Road is a different kind of ham radio podcast. It’s an audio experiment, an episodic mystery in thirteen parts being released between the Solstice and the Equinox in 2010. Don’t miss it!

WSPRnet - Dave, G0DJA and I had a go with WSPR on 23cm today. Dave transmitted today & I listened. We only tried a few transmit cycles. I received good strong traces with little drift and with rx well time-synched. On 4m, Brian's signals from Liverpool way often show doppler reflections & distortion, but decodes are reliable. On 23cm there were similar doppler effects on Daves' signals with one trace showing significant reflections + or - 80Hz either side of the transmission. The signal also looked to be wider bandwidth, but this might be a side effect of Daves strong local signal. None of the packets decoded.

Eastern MA ARRL - Hello to all.. Please see the notice below on the Cranberry Trifest from Roland Daignault-N1JOY. Please also note that this is the same weekend as the New England ARRL Division Convention and Hamfest in Boxboro, Massachusetts: *_Cranberry Trifest Aug. 28th & 29th_* * Volunters Needed! Team HAMCOW will again be supporting the Cranberry Trifest on both days. *Cranberry Trifest offers a terrific weekend of racing including a sprint distance triathlon, a kids duathlon and the "classic" olympic distance triathlon which has been selected as the 2010 USAT Northeast Regional Club Championship. *Event Dates, Times and Location: *Saturday, August 28, 2010: Sprint triathlon (9:00AM start) and kids duathlon (12:00PM start). Sunday, August 29, 2010: Olympic triathlon (8:00AM start). The site of the Cranberry Trifest is the Ted Williams Camp in Lakeville, MA with entrances off Precinct Street and Rte 18. *Ted Williams Camp, 44-47 Precinct St., Lakeville, MA Beneficiaries of the 2010 Cranberry Trifest:* A portion of the proceeds from the Cranberry Trifest will be donated to the Ted Williams Camp. Other beneficiaries include the Kiwanis of Bridgewater, West Bridgewater Drama Club and the Freetown-Lakeville Aquatic Program. Many racers participate in the DetermiNation program to raise funds for the National Cancer Society and the fight against cancer. We all know somebody touched by cancer, so this is a good opportunity to have some fun and fight back by supporting those who are donating their efforts to fund research. *Event Distances: *Sprint: Swim: 0.5 mile; Bike: 11.5 miles; Run: 3.1 miles Kids Duathlon: 1km, 2km, 1km** <http://www.active.com/triathlon/lakeville-ma/cranberry-trifest-kids-duathlon-2010> Olympic: Swim: 0.9 miles; Bike 26.3 miles*; Run: 6.2 miles Please check out the Cranberry TriFest web page at: http://www.cranberrycountrytri.com/ The HAMCOW will be our net control station and operators will be needed around the course at checkpoints, water stops, course rovers, and people to stay at the camp to monitor the swim, bike, and run transition areas. Camping on site will be allowed for the radio operators, so please consider joining the gang and staying for the Friday and Saturday night activities. After Sunday's olympic triathlon, a nice catered meal will be provided for everybody. We also receive nice sports T-shirts and occasionally hats. Free stuff is always cool! Radio ops can use 2 Meters, 440, HT's or mobiles. We have plenty of locations along the course to accommodate everybody. I'm going to say it here so everybody is aware; this event falls on the same weekend as the Boxboro Hamfest, which puts extra pressure on getting volunteers for the triathlon. Please pass the word along to anybody you might know who would be interested in supporting us at the Cranberry, even for only one day. I have always tried to be accommodating to folks who need to depart early, so I can assign them to a checkpoint that will clear out early, but we do need folks to stay the duration. If you are interested, please contact me via e-mail (n1joy@arrl.net) or on my cell phone at (617)-839-9081. Thanks! Roland - N1JOY

DX World of Ham Radio - Published today is the Clipperton DX Club’s Expedition of the Year selection.

frrl.net - Ever see lightning in increments of microseconds? – take a peek at the link below. Don’t think lightning travels up?  – then watch Don’t think lightning strikes the same place twice? - then watch 15 separate strikes to same place over a time period of about 1 second. http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1939264

DX World of Ham Radio - As per Spaceweather.com: In short, we have just witnessed a complex global magnetic eruption involving almost the entire Earth-facing side of the sun.

DX World of Ham Radio - Yoshi, JK2VOC will be active as 9M6/JK2VOC between September 2 – 6 from East Malaysia. He will take in the All Asian DX Phone contest when there. QSL via H/C.

K3NG - Almost ten years ago I installed my first tower at my radio artisan lair.  I was really worried at the time that I would get verbal static from the neighbors.  So at first I installed a 30 foot Rohn 25 tower against the house with a hinge base.  I placed an FM broadcast antenna at the top in order to have some aluminum up there to get the neighbors and everyone passing by used to the visual anomaly.   No one said a word. About six months later I had an antenna party and installed another ten foot of tower and a Lightning Bolt two element five band HF quad along with a Yaesu SDX-1000 rotator.  The thing was a monster, a three-dimensional monstrosity measuring about 16' x 16' x 8' with a four inch diameter boom.  Lightning Bolt, now a defunct company, must have been in a garage.  The antenna went together well, but you could tell it was very homebrew.  The element wire holders were made out of plastic brake line tubing and hose clamps.  The balun was a PVC plumbing end cap with plastic poured in it.  The boom end caps which held the fiberglass spreaders on to the boom were probably the most professional looking components as they were thick, welded aluminum. I selected a quad at the time because I knew on this lot I wasn't going to be able to go much above 40'.  I didn't have to get a building permit, but a township official told that the fall zone had to be within the property line, so I wasn't going to push the height issue.  According my antenna modeling and articles I had read, the quad had a lower angle of radiation than a yagi at the same height.  Today I know the difference is negligible but a quad requires much more maintenance than a yagi and it takes up too much vertical real estate, especially on a short tower like my 40 footer. But the antenna was magical.  Folks could have sworn my QRP signals, both phone and CW, were hundreds of watts.  In contests I could really stack the multipliers on 20 meters.  I got QRP DXCC in about two months after ARRL started the award.  My best catch was Bhutan, netting a contact with the first call on CW running a barefoot 100 watts. The first two weeks I had the antenna I would drive home from work and see the top of the quad peeking up out of the trees from a mile away.  It made me somewhat sick seeing how big the antenna  was behind my house, despite understanding its technical beauty as a radio artisan.  People drove by and would rubber-neck looking at the huge antenna.  I know some folks called the thing a big fly swatter.  Eventually I got used to the appearance of it. The neighbors on either side didn't seem to mind the antenna much.  I was concerned about the ones behind us.  It was their vacation home and they were usually there every other weekend.  The antenna was almost right in the middle of their view of the lake.  I would visit them maybe three or four times in the summer, bringing fresh vegetables from the garden.  The were friendly couple, but I thought the antenna might change that. The first weekend they were at their vacation home after the quad went up, I made a visit with some fresh tomatoes from the garden.  We engaged in the normal conversational stuff: home projects, local news, and the weather.  The man, in his mid 60s, brought up the topic of the antenna.  Oh no, I thought, he's going to give me an earful about the quad. "Does your new antenna do 40 meters?" he asked. Slightly caught off guard I paused and said "Uh, no, it does 20, 17, 15, 12, and 10.  Ummm, how do you know about 40 meters?" "Oh, I got a novice license bac

KB9MWR - There is an interesting HSMM/ Asterisk VOIP network in Spain: http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.bicubik.net/hsmmn/ Alex EA5HJX, Andres EA5HIQ, Pepe EA5SW, Paco EB5HTC, Javier EB5BXA, Boletin EA5SW, Paco EB5EA, Sergio EA5HFB, Ernesto EB5JDY and several other hams are researching new technologies and telecommunication systems. Can you explain are in street language, What is Intended and this project will bring to ham radio and its benefits? So we can all understand, a HSMM network is just one of many highway lanes that can move large amounts of data at high speed. What would be technologically wireless broadband network of high capacity in her ability to integrate all technologies: RF, VoIP, multimedia, data .... What are the Objectives of the Project HSMMN? To promote knowledge and new technologies to the general public: The HSMM project has not only a technical aspect but also a social aspect, with aims to bring new technologies and their application in the real world to the public with expertise or not. Disseminating knowledge and new technologies to the general public: The project has HSMMN Not Only But Also to Technical aspect of social aspect, with aims to bring new technologies and their application in the real world to the public with expertise or without them. We intend that anyone interested can collaborate, learn and practice the knowledge acquired. Anyone interested can collaborate, learn and practice the acquired knowledge. To this end, talks and workshops are planned in various radio clubs and associations interested in the project. To this end, talks and workshops are planned in various radio clubs and Associations interested in the project.      Creation of a research group developing new technologies to the world of amateur radio: This project not only aims to develop the network, which is the chief end of it, but to bring together people interested in researching and learning about new technologies to help amateur radio operators and emergency services communications. Unifcar technologies: using computer systems and hardware elements to create an IP data highway you can travel by all types of information: audio, video, telemetry, APRS, etc ... Collecting, processing and sending information through a variety of different technologies such as for sending APRS weather information (winds, rainfall, air pressure, barometric pressure, etc) Ability to provide automated voice announcements from a centralized control room radio repeaters as required. Capacity to Provide automatic voice announcements from a centralized control room radio repeaters as required. Creating an information service of communications systems available by region, by using a geographic number to gain access from the fixed, mobile and IP (VoIP). Integration of other communication networks: IRLP, DSTAR, WIRES-II, E-QSO, etc. Interconnection of repeaters using wireless technologies: Wireless, WiMAX. Each repeater could put a computer capable of processing all the telephony and transform it into Voip (voice over IP) that is transported through the network to reach another repeater HSMMN and is decoded by joining together all repeaters creating a mesh. Each repeater Could put a computer capable of processing all the telephony and transform it into VoIP (Voice over IP). That Is Transported through the HSMM network Reaches Another repeater network and is decoded by joining together all repeaters creating a mesh. The whole process will be use Free Software. Entities in the world of emergencies communications in Spain have shown interest in this project as an additional operational tool to consider for future medium to lon

N4KC - I know.  Two amateur radio posts in a row.  But several interesting things lately prompted me to break my "variety" rule. One was the receipt early this morning of a press release from my friend, fellow ham and writer, Wayne Long K9YNF.  He will be celebrating his golden anniversary in the hobby by operating from Fox Island, Alaska, on August 16 through 20.  He will be using solar power, operating mostly around 14.260 mhz on the 20-meter band and 18.128 on 17 meters.  Wayne maintains a very interesting and entertaining web site at http://www.longshortstories.com/.  This comes on the heels of an operating event called Islands on the Air in which amateur radio types get on the air from islands--big and small--all over the world.  I spoke with folks on big islands like Australia, New Zealand, and Great Britain, and tiny ones, such as one in Long Island Sound off Norwalk, Connecticutt, and another in the South Cook Islands in the South Pacific.  Great fun and interesting people! Just this weekend, and in only a few hours available for getting on the air, I have spoken with a trucker as he went from the Texas Panhandle into New Mexico, another very nice fellow who lives in the suburbs of Paris, and a ham in an aircraft over Kansas headed for an air show in Illinois.  I also spoke with what we call a "special events station," on the air from the famous Oshkosh, Wisconsin, airplane fly-in.  I also had brief chats with folks in Greece, Herzogovina, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Finland, and Argentina. When I flip that "ON" switch, I never know what or where I will hear or who I will meet! Don Keith N4KC http://www.n4kc.com/ http://www.donkeith.com/ www.facebook.com/donkeith

SolderSmoke News - We're still in a temporary apartment, waiting to move into our new place. The new QTH has some good tall trees suitable for wire antenna support. I have my eye on a room for the shack. Not much radio activity this summer. I do have my Sony shortwave receiver with me -- I've been listening to 75 meter AM. My Heathkit VF-1/DX60 combo will be coming out of storage, so I may soon be joining in. My

DX World of Ham Radio - Message from Seb, F8IJV I plan to be in Fiji during next 2011 October. Definitive dates are not fixed yet. I will try to be active during my free time (I won’t be in “DX’pedition”) and I got 3D2JV license delivered a few days ago. I will be active from 3D2AG Tony QTH from Liti Levu [...]

W4KAZ - Operating under special event call N4A, for the fourth year we once again activated the South Core Banks from Cape lookout a few miles up the beach from the CALO lighthouse.  Fun facts on the N4A operation on its web site.  Additional photos on flickr. An operation on the beach as an expedition is always a [...]

DX World of Ham Radio - From Pierre, ZS8M Hi All. Marion Island’s 3 Wise Men! Left: Simon, the Mayor of Marion Island and Minister of MedicalAffairs (Team Leader and Medic) Middle: Vincent, Minister of Energy Affairs and Organised Labour (Diesel Mechanic and Handyman / Bust pipe fixer) Right: Pierre, Minister of Telecommunications (Radio / ElectronicsTechnician) Between us, we are very wise!

G3XBM - Stefan DK7FC is testing his 600W VLF transmitter into a 200m high kite supported vertical today (Aug 1st). He expects to radiate about 10dB more than in his last test (on 8.97kHz) and may transmit at a slightly lower frequency today (around 6.5kHz) depending on where the antenna is best matched. You can check progress on his grabber at http://www.iup.uni-heidelberg.de/schaefer_vlf/DK7FC_VLF_Grabber2.html .  Results from his last tests were amazing with reception across Europe in DFCW600 mode (dual frequency slow CW). For a summary of the reports (screen grabs) see http://abelian.org/vlf/ss100321/.  To copy his signal you will need a decent low noise/high dynamic range receiver (E-field probe or loop with preamp and filters) at VLF feeding into a PC running a package like Spectrum Lab, Argo or Spectran using narrow 3...5 mHz FFT settings and about 1 minute per pixel running speed. You also need to know precisely where to look, so calibration will be very important.

G3XBM - This is a video showing the 2W QRP beacon for QRSS3 on 136.93kHz. Using a 20m spaced earth electrode transmit "antenna" it has been copied 8.6km away using an E-field probe antenna.

G3XBM - Today I increased the power from my QRSS3 136.93kHz beacon to 2W out of the PA into the 20m spaced earth electrodes. Another "ride about" test locally with the deaf FT817 and E-field probe RX antenna gave the following results: At 2.4km good copy on the Spectran displayAt 4.6km clear copy on the Spectran display.At 8.6km the signal was detectable, but weak (see picture attached from Spectran screen). These reports are roughly "end on" to the electrodes and I've yet to try other directions such as orthogonal to them. No attempt was made to match the PA output to the impedance presented by the earth electrodes which are around 40-60 ohms below 10kHz; I've not measured it at 136kHz yet. Even with true QRP it looks like a range of at least 10km should be possible on QRSS3 (and probably WSPR) with a half decent receiver (better than my crude set-up) using just a 20m earth electrode TX antenna on 136kHz.  I'll leave the QRSS3 beacon running over the weekend on 136.93kHz from my QTH in Burwell, Cambs (JO02dg) and any reports and screen shots would be much appreciated.

GB2RS Podcast - Propagation

GB2RS Podcast - Intro, main News