- 2024 10 Metre SOTA Challenge
- Hams Help Community Radio Station Get Back on Air
- Global Response to Signals from Irelands 1st Satellite
- Tradition Carries on in Sweden
- A DXPedition Before a DXPedition
Amateur radio videos: Carry a 2m Yagi in your pocket, conventional current vs. electron flow, W1SFR: made in Vermont
This is a great project. It’s simple, cheap, and looks like it works great.
I received an email this morning from a fellow who had downloaded my study guide. He wrote:
On page 5 you state, “In Figure 1, the letter I stands for current. Current flows from the positive (+) terminal of the voltage source through the circuit to the negative terminal of the voltage source.” Is this correct? I’ve read a couple of other places that it is from negative to positive.
I get this question all the time. I think that this video does a great job of explaining that while electrons do flow from negative to positive, we still use the convention that current flows from positive to negative.
Steve Robert, W1SFR, makes some great keys. His keys are unique in that they use torsion bars for tensioning instead of springs or magnets. After watching this video, I think I might want to pick up one for myself.
Challenge will test your decoding skills
I’ve written about numbers stations before. They’re fascinating to me. And, although I haven’t heard one in a while, sometimes they even pop up on 30 meters. Supposedly, these transmissions are nearly un-crackable coded messages to secret agents in foreign countries.
Well, if you’ve ever wanted to pretend that you were a secret agent, you’ll want to make sure to participate in this challenge from the Maritime Radio Historical Society. Their web page says,
On January 20 2024, KPH will transmit a coded message consisting of 5-digit groups. The message will be encrypted using typical Cold War numbers station cryptographic procedures. All KPH listeners are invited to try their hand at receiving and decrypting the message. Certificates will be awarded to those who successful decode the message. Additionally, a special certificate will be awarded to the first person to decode it.
…
For helpful instructions on decoding numbers messages and related one-time pad procedures, please visit the Mission Critical Information page.
The secret transmissions will emanate from KPH on the U.S. west coast on a variety of frequencies. The CW transmissions will start at 2100Z. RTTY transmissions will follow. Let’s hope for good radio conditions that day.
Anyone want to help with the 2024 Extra Class study guide?
As many of you know, the U.S. amateur radio license question pools get updated every four years. In 2024, it’s the Extra Class question pool’s turn. The National Conference of Volunteer Examiner Coordinators (NCVEC) released the new question pool on December 7, 2023, and surprisingly, I’ve already started on updating the No Nonsense Extra Class License Study Guide. I’m already done with the first three (out of ten) chapters.
What I’m looking for is some help with the proofreading and editing. In the past, I’ve hired professional proofreaders, but honestly, they didn’t do a very good job. One of them was even a licensed radio amateur.
The first part of the job would be to check that I’ve included all of the questions in the question pool for a particular chapter. Believe it or not, I’ve missed questions in the past. The second would be to critique the text to help ensure that I’m explaining the answer to a question properly.
I don’t expect you to do it for nothing, but I’m not sure what proper compensation would be. We can discuss this.
If you’re interested in helping me out, please email me at [email protected]. You could also leave a comment below. Thanks!
ARRL Board Annual Meeting to take place January 19-20, 2024
The draft agenda for the ARRL Board of Directors Annual Meeting was published today. See below. The meeting takes place on Friday, January 19, and Saturday, January 20, 2024.
You can’t really tell what will be discussed from the agenda. So, if you’d like your directors to address some specific issues, get in touch with them beforehand. If you’re not sure who your director is, visit the ARRL Divisions page.
100, 50, and 25 Years Ago in QST
Here are some interesting articles from QST in December 1923, 1973, and 1998.
Shortwave Tuner Design by K.E. Hassel, 9ZN
Most, if not all new designs, are now software-defined, digital radios, but if you ever decide to build your own receiver, this might be a good article to consult. 9ZN gives a lot of good advice on how to make good coils and variable capacitors. This article caught my eye because of the call 9ZN because Bill Crane, W9ZN, a fellow who was a great CW operator, recently became an SK.
A High-Performance 20-, 40-, and 80-Meter Vertical System by J. Sevick, W2FMI
Jerry Sevick, W2FMI, wrote many articles and books about short vertical antennas. Here, he describes his design for a three-band antenna system consisting of one vertical for 80 meters and one for 20 meters/40 meters. He notes that they could be built separately. This article is worthwhile reading if you’re considering how to work more DX, especially on 80 meters.
Low Power, Crummy Antenna by Rob Henderson, KB7PWJ
Rob writes, “Ingenuity compensated for a limited budget in the Golden Age of Radio, and it’ll do the same today. The tools and techniques to make radio magic are everywhere. If your wallet is a bit thin, it’s time to indulge your creativity. According to Rob’s QRZ.Com page, he’s still using crummy antennas 25 years later.
TAPR Mini-DCC Video Now Online
TAPR held what they called a virtual Digital Communications Conference, or “mini-DCC,” on Saturday, December 9. The recording of this event is now on YouTube, but you can play it right here, if you like.
- 14:00 – TAPR Issues and Updates, Dave Larsen KV0s
- 26:50 – Moving to High Throughput Interfaces, Dave Witten KD0EAG
- 53:50 – GERT: A Low-Cost GNSS Frequency Reference, John Ackerman N8UR, George Byrkit K9TRV
- 1:09:45 KA9Q-Radio: Update and Demonstration, Phil Kart KA9Q
- 2:12:30 Digital Voice Over HF: Codec2 and FreeDV, Walter Holmes K5WH
- 3:15:15 Introducing ezDV, Moorer Salem K6AQ
- 3:54:00 ESP32-APRS Tracker, APRS Mini-Tracker, and LoRA, Jason Rausch K4APR
These talks are all pretty interesting and worth watching if you’re interested in some of the new things going on in digital communications.
58% of Mastodon hams belong to a club
Since our club, ARROW, had our December meeting last night, I posted the poll below on Mastodon:
I’m not sure that these results are all that significant, but I found it interesting that more than half of those that did reply belonged to a club. I’d have guessed fewer. How would you have responded to that poll?
Mastodon, by the way, is the open source community’s Twitter replacement. If you’re already on Mastodon, you can follow me by going to https://mastodon.radio/@kb6nu. If you’re not, try it out. You can sign up by going to https://mastodon.radio.
Things I’m working on and things I should be working on
As usual, I have a lot of projects that I’m working……and a bunch that I should be working on.
Projects that I’m currently working on include:
A chapter on POTA for the next edition of the RSGB Radio Amateur Operating Manual. I don’t have to write an entire book on the topic—it’s only going to be a few pages—but sometimes deciding what to include and what to leave out is harder than just writing more.
- Ham evangelist. What’s a ham evangelist, you ask? Well, I got a grant from ARDC, my former employer, to take my one-day Tech class on the road, brining amateur radio to places that should have more amateur radio. We’re in the process now of identifying those places.
- Raspberry Pi Pico version of the K3NG Keyer. I’m going to try to make a Raspberry Pi Pico do what the Arduino Nano does and more. Right now, I’m just focusing on learning Python.
Projects that I should be working on or will shortly have to start working include:
- The 2024 edition of the No Nonsense Extra Class License Study Guide. The NCVEC has just published the updated question pool, and I’ll need to get started on that sooner or later.
- An outline for a book on microcontroller projects that I’ve been talking to the RSGB about.
- Lining up panelists for a forum at Dayton 2024 on different methods for learning Morse Code.
- Various projects around the house. There are enough of those to keep me busy for years.
Random thoughts: The case for paper, CB for youth engagement, POTA/SOTA safety
The case for paper
As most of you know by now, the ARRL is going to start charging extra for the print version of QST in January—even if your membership expires after that date. While I am generally in favor of magazines going digital, paper does have its advantages.
For example, I’ve recently been plowing through my stack of paper QSTs, looking for interesting things before I toss them. In the process, I’ve come across several items of interest, including articles on building an inline RF current sensor and building a short vertical for 160 meters.
I’m not sure that you’d get this kind of serendipitous occurrence with digital magazines.
CB for youth engagement?
On reddit, someone asked if anyone had any information on successful programs for youth engagement. Someone replied, “Heard of a ham club that gave out old CB radios to young people in the area, and helped them with setting them up. Within 2 years, most of them were licensed hams!”
I think that in addition to just helping them get set up, you might also want to give the kids some structured activities, like showing them how to run a net or maybe do a hidden transmitter hunt, if such a thing is possible with CB radios. You’ll also want to be available if, or should I say when, there are problems with the radios.
This sounds like an interesting idea to me. I asked for more details. Have any of you heard of something like this?
SOTA/POTA Safety
A couple of weeks ago, I joined a Long Island CW Club Zoom meeting on portable operation. It was a great meeting, and a lot of good ideas were mentioned.
One of the best, I thought, was the reminder to be safe when doing a Parks on the Air (POTA) or Summits on the Air (SOTA) activation. One of the things that I do is to attached caution tape to my inverted-V antenna where there’s any chance that someone could come into contact with it.
Another fellow mentioned that he wears a blaze orange vest when he heads into the woods. This had not occurred to me, as I have been operating from open areas where no hunters are allowed. But, if there’s any chance that you might come into contact with hunters on your POTA/SOTA adventures, the orange vest is a good idea.