AmateurRadio.com

Recently, a number of hobby radio magazines have either retired, or have merged into a digital mix of several. Filling that void is the new The Spectrum Monitor, a creation of Ken Reitz KS4ZR, managing editor for Monitoring Times since 2012, features editor since 2009, columnist and feature writer for the MT magazine since 1988. Ken offers this digital, radio communications magazine monthly.  The web site is at http://www.thespectrummonitor.com/

The Spectrum Monitor magazine – get your’s, today.

Ken, a former feature writer and columnist for Satellite Times, Satellite Entertainment Guide, Satellite Orbit magazine, Dish Entertainment Guide and Direct Guide, is also contributing editor on personal electronics for Consumers Digest (2007 to present). He is the author of the Kindle e-books “How to Listen to the World” and “Profiles in Amateur Radio.”

The Spectrum Monitor Writers’ Group consists of former columnists, editors and writers for Monitoring Times, a monthly print and electronic magazine which ceases publication with the December, 2013 issue. Below, in alphabetical order, are the columnists, their amateur radio call signs, the name of their column in The Spectrum Monitor,  a brief bio and their websites:

Keith Baker KB1SF/VA3KSF, “Amateur Radio Satellites”

Past president and currently treasurer of the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT). Freelance writer and photographer on amateur space telecommunications since 1993. Columnist and feature writer for Monitoring Times, The Canadian Amateur and the AMSAT Journal. Web site: www.kb1sf.com

Kevin O’Hern Carey WB2QMY, “The Longwave Zone”

Reporting on radio’s lower extremes, where wavelengths can be measured in miles, and extending up to the start of the AM broadcast band. Since 1991, editor of “Below 500 kHz” column forMonitoring Times. Author of Listening to Longwave (http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/books/0024u.html). This link also includes information for ordering his CD, VLF RADIO!, a narrated tour of the longwave band from 0 to 530 kHz, with actual recordings of LW stations.

Mike Chace-Ortiz AB1TZ/G6DHU “Digital HF: Intercept and Analyze”

Author of the Monitoring Times “Digital Digest” column since 1997, which follows the habits of embassies, aid organizations, intelligence and military HF users, the digital data systems they use, and how to decode, breakdown and identify their traffic. Web site: www.chace-ortiz.org/umc

Marc Ellis N9EWJ, “Adventures in Radio Restoration”

Authored a regular monthly column about radio restoration and history since 1986. Originally writing for Gernsback Publications (Hands-On Electronics, Popular Electronics, Electronics Now), he moved his column to Monitoring Times in January 2000. Editor of two publications for the Antique Wireless Association (www.antiquewireless.org): The AWA Journal and the AWA Gateway. The latter is a free on-line magazine targeted at newcomers to the radio collecting and restoration hobbies.

Dan Farber ACØLW, “Antenna Connections”

Monitoring Times antenna columnist 2009-2013. Building ham and SWL antennas for over 40 years.

Tomas Hood NW7US, “Understanding Propagation”

Tomas first discovered radio propagation in the early 1970s as a shortwave listener and, as a member of the Army Signal Corps in 1985, honed his skills in communications, operating and training fellow soldiers. An amateur Extra Class operator, licensed since 1990, you’ll find Tomas on CW (see http://cw.hfradio.org ), digital, and voice modes on any of the HF bands. He is a contributing editor for CQ Amateur Radio (and the late Popular Communications, and CQ VHF magazines), and a contributor to an ARRL publication on QRP communications. He also wrote for Monitoring Times and runs the Space Weather and Radio Propagation Center at http://SunSpotWatch.com.  Web site: http://nw7us.us/  Twitter: @NW7US  YouTube: https://YouTube.com/NW7US

Kirk Kleinschmidt NTØZ, “Amateur Radio Insight”

Amateur radio operator since 1977 at age 15. Author of Stealth Amateur Radio. Former editor,ARRL Handbook, former QST magazine assistant managing editor, columnist and feature writer for several radio-related magazines, technical editor for Ham Radio for Dummies, wrote “On the Ham Bands” column and numerous feature articles for Monitoring Times since 2009. Web site: www.stealthamateur.com.

Cory Koral K2WV, “Aeronautical Monitoring”

Lifelong air-band monitor, a private pilot since 1968 and a commercial pilot licensee since 1983, amateur radio licensee for more than 40 years. Air-band feature writer for Monitoring Times since 2010.

Stan Nelson KB5VL, “Amateur Radio Astronomy”

Amateur radio operator since 1960. Retired after 40-plus years involved in mobile communications/electronics/computers/automation. Active in radio astronomy for over twenty years, specializing in meteor monitoring. Wrote the “Amateur Radio Astronomy” column for Monitoring Timessince 2010. A member of the Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers (SARA). Web site: www.RoswellMeteor.com.

Chris Parris, “Federal Wavelengths”

Broadcast television engineer, avid scanner and shortwave listener, freelance writer on federal radio communications since 2004, wrote the “Fed Files” column for Monitoring Times.http://thefedfiles.com  http://mt-fedfiles.blogspot.com Twitter: @TheFedFiles

Doug Smith W9WI, “The Broadcast Tower”

Broadcast television engineer, casual cyclist and long distance reception enthusiast. “Broadcast Bandscan” columnist for Monitoring Times since 1991. Blog:http://americanbandscan.blogspot.com Web site: http://w9wi.com

Hugh Stegman NV6H, “Utility Planet”

Longtime DXer and writer on non-broadcast shortwave utility radio. Former “Utility World” columnist for Monitoring Times magazine for more than ten years. Web site: www.ominous-valve.com/uteworld.html Blog: http://mt-utility.blogspot.com/ Twitter: @UtilityPlanet YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/UtilityWorld

Dan Veeneman, “Scanning America”

Software developer and satellite communications engineer writing about scanners and public service radio reception for Monitoring Times for 17 years. Web site: www.signalharbor.com

Ron Walsh VE3GO, “Maritime Monitoring”

Retired career teacher, former president of the Canadian Amateur Radio Federation (now the Radio Amateurs of Canada), retired ship’s officer, licensed captain, “Boats” columnist and maritime feature writer for Monitoring Times for eight years. Avid photographer of ships and race cars.

Fred Waterer, “The Shortwave Listener”

Former “Programming Spotlight” columnist for Monitoring Times. Radio addict since 1969, freelance columnist since 1986. Fascinated by radio programming and history.  Website: http://www.doghousecharlie.com/

Thomas Witherspoon K4SWL, “World of Shortwave Listening”

Founder and director of the charity Ears To Our World (http://earstoourworld.org), curator of the Shortwave Radio Archive http://shortwavearchive.com and actively blogs about short­wave radio on the SWLing Post (http://swling.com/blog). Former feature writer for Monitoring Times.

My WOUXON KG-UV8D handheld radio with faulty keypad just returned from a quick trip to ML&S. The expierience convinced me of the wisdom of buying Chinese radios from a UK dealer. Within a couple of hours of calling them ML&S had arranged the UPS carrier to collect the radio to take it for an exchange. No making the customer pay return postage (other dealers please note). Next day the radio was on its way back to us. Next day it had arrived. Imagine the trouble I would have returning it to a seller in Hong Kong. No more buying radios on eBay for me!

Courtesy of the ARRL:

Several special event stations will be on the air to commemorate the 70th anniversary of D-Day — the Allied invasion of the Normandy Coast of France in World War II.

In France, TM70JUN will be on the air from June 6 — the actual anniversary date — until June 20. Modes will be SSB, CW, PSK, RTTY, and JT65 on HF and 6 meters. Special event station TM70BMC will operate from Mont Canisy June 5-8.

W9D will be active on SSB, CW, and AM on HF through 6 meters June 6-8 from the First Division War Museum in Winfield, Illinois.

VC3JUNO from Canada will be on the air from June 6 until July 31 to commemorate the 70th anniversary of D-Day; “Juno” was the code name for the beach where Canadian forces landed.

The Riverway Amateur Radio Society will sponsor special event station GB70DDL from June 1 until June 28 from the Sea Cadet headquarters in Stafford, England.

On June 6, 1944, 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline to fight Nazi Germany on the Normandy beaches. The attack was a major turning point in the war. More than 5000 ships and 13,000 aircraft supported the invasion, in which more than 9000 Allied soldiers were killed or wounded.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least!

Paul NA5N posted the preliminary results of QRP to the Field 2014 to QRP-L last night.  For the whole enchilada, you can go here: http://www.zianet.com/qrp/qrpttf/2014/ttf.htm

As you can see, W2LJ came firmly in the middle of the pack – a mere mosquito (Skeeter – Hi!) on the butt of the esteemed leaders.  So, rule of thumb ……. if you ever hear me in a QRP Sprint or any other QRP contest – have no fear! I am a Giver Of Points only, and will most likely never threaten your lead.  😉

Oh, and many, many thanks to Paul Harden NA5N for hosting this really fun QRP event year after year and doing all the hard work that it takes to keep something like this running.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least!

AmateurRadio.com and BuyTwoWayRadios.com
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Leave a comment to enter!

This 2M/440 transceiver features 999 programmable channels, a large LCD screen, full duplex, cross-band repeat, and much more!

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It’s simple!
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Giveaway Duration

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You may enter only once until
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Winner Announcement

Tuesday, 3 June 2014

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The winner will be chosen at random (using random.org) from all valid comment entries to this post received by the contest deadline. Entries will be deemed valid at the sole discretion of AmateurRadio.com and may be rejected for any reason, including inappropriate comments. Entries received after the deadline will not be considered. The prize may not be transferred. The prize may not be exchanged for cash. Winner agrees to allow AmateurRadio.com to use their name and callsign to announce them as a winner on our site, and to share their contact information with the sponsor for the purposes of awarding the prize.  E-mail addresses of all other entrants will not be shared with any third party, including the sponsor, unless required by law. No purchase necessary to win. Odds of winning dependent on total number of entries received. Winner is responsible for any applicable taxes or fees imposed by their jurisdiction. Void where prohibited by law. 

My two kids, Joey and Cara had a half day at school today.  A friend’s sister drove them home, so early this afternoon I started a text conversation with Joey:

Me: Home?

Joey: Now we r.

Me: Good! You got a ride.

Joey: Yes!

Me: I guess Cara’s happy.

Joey: Yes she is.  Guess what place I got in science fair.

Me: 1st

At this point, I wasn’t getting an answer, so I texted again:

Me: ???

The reason I wasn’t getting an answer is that Joey was sending me this photo:

If this golf shirt that I’m wearing had buttons on it, they’d all have popped by now.  I am so proud of Joey and Cara, they are both great kids.  God has truly blessed me.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least!

ARISS to the MAX… a four part series

Have you ever participated in an ARISS contact? While they are common today (more than 30 so far this year, sometimes several in a single day), for any single school, club or ham, they are pretty rare. A Once-In-A-Lifetime experience is the phrase that keeps coming up.

I’ve been lucky enough to have been part of four of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences. So when the latest came up and I decided to do a HamRadioNow program about it, I wanted to do more than the typical video of the contact (plus maybe a quick interview and news story). I’m not deeply involved in ARISS, but I’ve learned a few things that don’t get discussed much. I wanted to get that story out, told by the people who lived it. My “Senior Executive Producer” Cliff Broughton W4FT and I drove down to Dixon Elementary School on April 21 to shoot the contact (giving it the full HamRadioNow three-camera video and top-notch audio treatment), and we grabbed a few quick interviews along with the rest of the media. That’s all in Part One.

And then we went back a week later to have a “panel discussion” with Betty Bigney, the STEM teacher who pulled it all together; Joey and Aubrey, two of Betty’s students who got to ask the questions; Frank Divinie W4UOR, President of the Onslow Amateur Radio Club and leader of the team of hams who made the contact happen; and Suzie Ulbrich and Janice Hopkins KJ4JPE, both Public Information Officers (Suzie for the Onslow County School System, and Janice for the ARRL NC Section covering coastal North Carolina). We got into this thing a lot deeper than you’ll hear in just about any video or news story about an ARISS contact. That’s Part Two and Three.

In Part Four, I dusted off some video from my vault that’s over 20 years old, and has never seen the light of YouTube. Before there was a Space Station (and ARISS), there was SAREX, the Shuttle Amateur Radio EXperiment that flew on many of the Space Shuttle flights. Like ARISS, there were some random contacts between astronauts on the Shuttle and hams on Earth, but the project was mostly for scheduled contacts with schools. The first was in late 1990, and they remained rare for several years. The one I was part of (as PIO for the Raleigh Amateur Radio Society) in 1992 may have been just the fifth SAREX contact ever (the list I saw on the ARRL web site doesn’t claim to be complete). I was a video editor for a small production company, so I assembled a volunteer crew to shoot the event (on VHS and Hi-8 video), and edited two videos using what’s now considered stone-age tools at my company. The first video is our “dry run” rehearsal, and the second covers the actual contact. That is, it covers the failed contact on day one, and the successful contact on day two.

So what did I learn?

For NASA, ARISS is very much a PR event. It’s not only a PR event – they do want to encourage STEM education and give schools and students a hand-on experience that will spur interest in space science. But they also want to get the word out. NASA doesn’t get a lot of publicity outside of disasters, scandals and funding issues. And while ARISS won’t bring them national headlines, it usually generates some great local publicity on TV, in the papers, and now online. There is a lot of competition for an ARISS contact, and a successful application hinges on being able to involve a lot more than one class of students. A whole school, and preferably a whole school system, needs to be engaged. And the school and the hams are encouraged to seek as much media attention as they can get.

So it’s a show, and NASA wants the show to go off well. Local hams are always involved, but ARISS provides mentors and sometimes equipment, so the local hams don’t have to reinvent the process every time. There are a lot of practice runs, for the hams and the students, including some full “dress rehearsals” with a ham simulating the astronaut as the students ask their questions over the air. You’ll see a little of that in Part One, and you’ll see the full (one and only) rehearsal from our 1992 event in Part Four.

Most ARISS events today involve about 10 to 20 students. They are usually selected by submitting the questions they’d like to ask, and perhaps by other criterion that’s not really specified (a reward for good scholarship?). Back in 1992, we didn’t have a good handle on the overhead pass time (in my voice-over, I speculated that the contact would last maybe 4 minutes – they are usually more like 10 minutes). So we selected only four students, and only one of those was chosen by a teacher. One was a ham already, and two were the children of hams in the club. Back then, SAREX was more ham-driven. The hams applied for the contact, and found a school to ride along. In Onslow County, teacher Betty Bigney applied (and was turned down twice before she was finally accepted… involvement and publicity were the key) and then she went hunting the local hams.

In 1992, we didn’t have a clue what the contact would be like. Each student was armed with two or three questions. When they used them up, they (and their parents) had to ad-lib. If you watch many ARISS contact videos, you’ll see some unique and unusual questions, but you’ll see many are variations of the same theme (medical emergencies and hygiene see to be popular topics).

In Part Two, I asked Aubrey and Joey what they studied in preparation for the contact. “We practiced the questions” was their ready answer. Betty Bigney supplied some more detail – they learned about the space station, orbits, etc. But “we practiced the questions” was a big deal. NASA wants the show to go well!

And it goes maybe a little too well. These days, the contact itself is very regimented. Students line up, and walk (or run) up to the mic to ask their quick question. As the astronaut is giving his quick answer, the next student is rushing up to the mic. The orbit dictates that there’s no time for a leisurely conversation, and involving a lot of students means no follow-up question or any real dialog. In fact, the astronaut has the list of questions in advance, so he or she can come up with quick replies.

All the students remember their question (it’s been drilled), but none of the students I asked had a clear memory of the answer they received. In this case, much of the reason was because Koichi’s voice was piped to the audience over the PA system, and the students on stage couldn’t hear him very well. Now I’m not saying that the students are just props in this play, but with all the attention to the performance, a little of that can creep in. Future ARISS contact participants might want to keep an eye on that.

I know that the discussion programs are a lot to digest. I’m pretty sure most of you will enjoy the contact (Part One), and the old SAREX contact (Part Four). I’d really like you to hear the kids at the top of Part Two. We hams don’t get to hear much about how we’re perceived by “the public,” especially the young public. You’ll hear some of that in this show.

73, Gary KN4AQ