KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog

KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog

Books and Magazines

Having Fun with Ham Radio: Letting my inner geek out

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Having Fun with Ham Radio: Letting my inner geek outI have a new book out!

Having Fun with Ham Radio: Letting my inner geek out is my third book. It’s a collection of some of the popular blog posts written between November 2002 to February 2005. There are four different chapters:

  1. Antennas
  2. Clubs
  3. Operating
  4. Gear and Gadgets

The antenna chapter includes posts about the Slinky Antenna and the J-pole antenna. The clubs chapter includes my post on the ABCs of Good Clubs. The operating chapter includes my post on casual DXing. The gear and gadgets chapter includes a couple of posts on using an antenna analyzer.

All of the posts have been updated. That was actually a lot more work than I thought. Many links I included in those early posts are no longer, so I not only had to  check that they were still valid, but find alternates, if they were not.

It’s only available as an e-book, and it only costs 99 cents! I’ve already sold a couple of copies on Amazon, but none so far on Barnes&Noble. Click on the links below to download it immediately to your e-book reader

Winter 2012 TAPR Journal now online

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The TAPR PSR Digital Journal, Winter 2012 edition, is now online (www.tapr.org/psr/psr117.pdf). Contents include:

  • President’s Corner
  • iQuadLabs-TAPR Agreement
  • 2011 DCC Video Online
  • TAPR Directors Elections
  • VK5DGR on Codec 2 at linux.conf.au 2012
  • Doodle Labs DL-435
  • Going to Ohio
  • When Digital Was Mechanical
  • Now on YouTube
  • TAPR-ARRL DCC 2011
  • HPSDR Projects
  • Frequency & Time Related Kits
  • The Great Create
  • My Steve Jobs Story
  • LW and MW DX
  • Join TAPR on Twitter & Facebook
  • Write Here!
  • PSR Advertising Rates
  • Still Fixing a Little TAPR History
  • The Fine Print
  • Our Membership App

Digital QST coming soon

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In his last missive to ARRL members in the Great Lakes Division, Jim Weaver, K8JE, reports:

ONE TOPIC MANY members will appreciate is a free, digital version of QST via the Internet.  This version offers the ability to read our membership journal online in a manner quite similar to that in which we read the hard-copy version.  It also offers the ability to include full schematics and other information that sometimes can merely be referenced in the print edition, as well as direct links to items contained in the ads.

Becoming accustomed to the online version may require a little familiarization, but I believe it will become a welcome enhancement to membership.

It is inevitable that two questions regarding digi-QST will arise.  The first is if a member can opt-out of receiving the hard-copy version.  The answer:  yes.  The second question is:  Is there a reduction in dues for members who opt-out of the print version.  The answer to this is no.  The hard-copy version is financed largely by advertisement, not by membership dues.

Digi-QST should be unveiled yet this winter or early spring.

I think this is great, but it sounds to me like we’ll have to read the magazine on-line rather than being able to download a PDF file.  I’ve never really liked these online magazines. Reading them is a real pain, and you often can’t download and archive them. Let’s hope the ARRL thinks about this when they set this up.

Rugged Transistors, Designing Radio Systems

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Here are a couple of links to articles in electronics engineering trade magazines that I’ve run across lately that I think are of interest to amateur radio operators:

  • Some new transistors can withstand VWSRs up to 65:1.Gauging Ruggedness In RF Power Transistors. This article, written by editor Jack Browne, who is himself a ham, covers some of the new power transistors on the market. Some of them are capable of withstanding VSWRs on the output of up to 65:1!
  • The Radio Link: A Tutorial. This series of articles is a bit heavy on math for most radio amateurs, but the point of the series is to think of radio communication as a system whose behavior can be predicted. Thinking about how we use radio in this way could help us to become better radio amateurs.

And here’s something entirely out of left field. Scientists have published a paper that shows that random noise can actually make signals clearer. The process is called stochastic resonance, and while the article doesn’t explain the theory in much depths, and I’m not sure that it’s something that’s applicable to radio communication, it seems like it might be something to look into.

73 Magazine Archive Online

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511 issues of 73 Magazine are now online. Wayne Green started 73 in 1960 after serving as editor of CQ Magazine for several years. It ceased publication in 2003.

Wayne Green is one of the true characters in ham radio, and indeed, in technical publishing in general. Not only did he publish 73 Magazine, but also started Byte and a slew of other computer hobbyist magazines. These days, he seems to be interested in a variety of what some might call “off the wall” topics, including cold fusion and alternative health care.

The issues of 73 that are in the archives are listed in a seemingly random order. I suspect that this is the order in which they were uploaded to the archive. Even so, just scanning the article titles is fascinating. Here’s a sample:

  • Eager for Meager – Try an 11m vertical on 160 (Dec 2002)
  • How to Build A Great Ham Club (Dec 1997)
  • The Schizophrenic Triangle – a split-personality radiator (Dec 1978)
  • RF Sniffer – Snooper sensitive RF detector which you will build (Dec 1960)

When I first went to download an issue—the December 2002 issue—I was excited to see that a Kindle-compatible .mobi file was available. I was quickly disappointed, however. After downloading and copying the file over to my Kindle, I found that it was nearly unreadable. Whoever converted the file must have used some kind of OCR program, and didn’t do any checking before uploading it. So, stick with the PDF version.

If you do download and read some of the articles, please comment here if you find any that are particularly interesting.

CQ to Launch Digital Editions

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CQ Communications, Inc., will launch multi-platform digital editions of all of its magazine titles before the end of 2011, Publisher Richard Ross, K2MGA, announced today. Those titles include CQ Amateur Radio (CQ magazine), CQ VHF, Popular Communications andWorldRadio Online. Many CQ book titles are already available in digital form on CD.

“The digital editions will supplement, not replace, current print editions, and will feature enhancements not possible in the print medium,” said Editorial Director Rich Moseson, W2VU. “Versions will be available for a variety of online and mobile platforms* and will be hosted by Zinio, one of the top names in the e-magazine hosting business. This will assure that our magazines will always be able to take advantage of new technology when it becomes available.”

Examples of features that will be possible in the digital editions include live links to all World Wide Web addresses listed in each issue, as well as supplemental content, such as photo albums, audio and video files, software and more. “Imagine reading an article about meteor scatter and being able to listen to a meteor scatter contact with a click of a mouse,” said Moseson, “or reading an ad for a piece of new gear and being able to click directly to a video explaining its features. All of this and more will be possible in our digital editions.”

“At the same time,” he added, “the print editions will retain their unique characteristics, such as portability, the tactile experience of holding a magazine in your hands, no need for batteries and the ability to continue reading on an airplane after you’ve been told to turn off all electronic devices!”

The digital launch will begin in late October with the November issue of an enhanced, multi-platform, version of WorldRadio Online, which will again become a paid-subscription publication; followed by November CQ, which, appropriately, is the magazine’s first annual Technology Special. The fall issue of CQ VHF and the December issue of Popular Communications will round out the introductions. Digital editions will be available by single copy and by subscription. Details will be in the near future in the magazines and on all CQ Communications websites.

(*Initially, digital editions will be compatible with the following platforms: PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android 2.0 and higher.)

Connect with ARRL and Amateur Radio via Social Media?

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This from the latest ARRL Letter. Do any of you follow the ARRL on Facebook, YouTube, or Twitter?  What do you get out of it?

ARRL participates on many of the popular social networking sites to share news, photos, events and videos. Check out these sites for communities of ARRL members who share your interests in Amateur Radio. We’ll share everything with you — and you can share with us, too!

Find Us on Facebook

  • www.facebook.com/ARRL.org — With almost 20,000 fans, the ARRL’s Facebook page is the largest Amateur Radio site in social media.
  • www.facebook.com/LogbookOfTheWorld — A nifty way to follow the latest LoTW news. LoTW is an exciting way for radio amateurs to confirm two-way contacts they have made and use the confirmations as credit toward various ARRL awards.

Follow Us on Twitter

  • arrl — Find all of the latest information in the Amateur Radio community with this Amateur Radio newsfeed.
  • ARRL_EMCOMM — Interested in Emergency Communications? Then be sure to follow all the latest EmComm and ARES® happenings.
  • ARRL_PR — Geared toward the ARRL Public Information Coordinators and Pubic Information Officers in the League’s Field Organization, this Twitter feed focuses on public relations and media issues involving Amateur Radio.
  • ARRL_DXCC — The Twitter home of the ARRL’s DXCC awards program.
  • ARRL_Youth — For the young and young-at-heart, this Twitter feed delves into how youth can have fun with Amateur Radio.

Watch Us on YouTube

  • www.youtube.com/ARRLHQ — Catch the latest videos from the ARRL – including monthly Product Reviews and event highlights — on the League’s YouTube channel.

Listen to Us on iTunes

  • www.arrl.org/arrlletter/audio/aan.rss — Listen and download the latest ARRL news, uploaded as a podcast to iTunes. Click here for instructions on how to subscribe to this weekly feature.

French Handbook: Gratuit!

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The 2011 Big ‘French Handbook’ by F6BCU is now free to download

 

According to Jean-Nicolas, F6BCU, it contains numerous technical articles, including many home-brew projects.

A Google translation of the handbook description reads:

Better than a handbook on the issue and receiving amateur radio, which always reminds own grand theories and basic principles of radio -electricity, this compilation (2100 A4 pages, 225 articles) building radio already published, to be published and unpublished, is the essential traveling more than 45 years (1966-2011) of activities and technical achievements of OM F6BCU.This new CD to download (exclusively on Onlineradio) includes all editions radio techniques of the Blue Line, consisting mostly of original articles constructions of the author of historical articles reconstituted according to existing assembly … This new CD does not stop there because the building “Home-made” continuous for future constructions book is already full for the future. The Handbook of the Blue Line is must-have, and that’s good, because Download it free here! Author’s website: http://f6bcu.monsite-orange.fr/ Any reproduction in part of the CD is prohibited without the express permission of the author (F6BCU) or Onlineradio.fr

 

My Latest Electronic Toy

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KindleMy latest electronic toy isn’t a QRP rig, nor is it an antenna analyzer or a new paddle. It’s a Kindle e-reader!

Even though I’ve had a Kindle version of my study guide for about six months now, I never saw how it looked on a Kindle because I didn’t own one. On Easter Sunday, though, my brother brought his to the family gathering, and I was finally able to get a first-hand look not only at my study guide, but at the Kindle itself.

I was duly impressed. Reading on the device is a lot easier than on my iPod due to the e-ink technology. It really does look a lot like an actual book. Shortly after, I bought my own Kindle.

Using it is a breeze, and it really has changed the way I read things. One of the first things I did was to subscribe to the Wall Street Journal. Every morning, the latest issue is downloaded to my Kindle and is ready to read as I eat my breakfast. How cool is that? I’ve since also subscribed to the Detroit Free Press.

One thing I’ve been pleasantly surprised with is the number of free books available for the Kindle. Sure, most of them are old and in the public domain, but many publishers offer their recently-published Kindle books for free for a limited time. For example, I downloaded several free books on investing that were published in 2010. I also snagged several recently published books on writing and publishing for free.

Surfing around the Amazon site this afternoon, I found several free books for ham radio operators–at least ham operators of the early 20th century:

  • Letters of a Radio Engineer to His Son. This book, published in 1922 is written as a series of letters from father to son, each letter explaining some aspect of radio. It goes so far as to even explain how atoms work and how current flows on an atomic scale.
  • Electricity for Boys. This book was published in 1915 is part of the “How-To-Do-It” series. As the name implies, it does concentrate mostly on electricity, but hams should find it interesting, too.
  • The Radio Amateur’s Handbook. No, this isn’t the venerable handbook published by the ARRL. The first edition of the ARRL Handbook was published in 1926, while this book was published around 1915. If you want to build a spark gap transmitter, get this one instead of the ARRL edition. In this book, for example, you will find instructions on how to tune your spark-gap transmitter so that it transmits a 200m signal.

I’m not sure how useful these books are, per se, but they are a lot of fun to read. You get a real feel for the history of amateur radio by reading them. And, while you might actually find a printed copy in some dusty, used-book store, the chances of that happening are very  small. With the Kindle, these books are literally at my fingertips.

No-Nonsense Guide to DXing

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No, the New DXers Handbook by Bryce K. Anderson, K7UA, isn’t the latest in my series of No-Nonsense guides to amateur radio, but it could be. This free e-book lays it all out for new DXers in much the same style that I have tried to lay it all out for those trying to get into the hobby.

The book takes this no-nonsense approach right off the bat. K7UA couldn’t put it more simply, “Listening is the key to successful DXing.” It’s not watching the DX clusters, or reading DX bulletins. It’s listening.

Further down, K7UA maintains that an important skill for a DXer is persistence. You have to be in your shack when the DX is on the air. As the author says, “You can’t work them if you are not there!”

My one quibble with the book is that I think he gives short shrift to CW operation. Although K7UA concedes that CW is perhaps the most efficient mode, he also says, “SSB might well now be the DXer’s primary mode.” I’m not so sure about that. All of the recent DXpeditions and many, if not most, DX stations operate CW.

I’ll even go a step further, and say that your chances of working a DXpediition are better on CW than on phone. This is mainly because they can work them faster on CW than on SSB, and this gives you a better chance of making contact, especially when conditions aren’t optimal.

At any rate, the New DXers Handbook is a great read, and you can’t beat the price. It’s FREE!