Stories you’ll find in our March, 2018 issue:

The Air Show Experience
By Brian and Jo Marie Topolski KA1VCA

Veteran air show attendees, Brian and Jo Marie, recount the various aerial acts they saw during last year’s air show schedule, including some they had never seen before, and they let you know what frequencies they were monitoring along the way. You’ll also get tips on attending air shows near you—when to arrive, what to bring, what not to bring, where to set up for the best view and why you shouldn’t leave early.

Air Show 2017:
My Flight in a B24 Liberator and Flying with the Geico Skytypers
By Kevin Burke

Over the years, as a veteran air show attendee with media credentials, Kevin has found himself in the air in some amazing air show aircraft. Last year he had the chance to fly in a WWII-era B24 Liberator as well as the chance to fly in a WWII-era Navy SNJ-2 trainer with the Geico Skytypers, both of which gave him unforgettable rides. He gives us some terrific photos he took of the vintage aircraft he saw.

TSM Guide to Monitoring Air Shows
By Larry Van Horn N5FPW

Anyone who has attended an air show will tell you it is thrilling to watch the close quarter flying of the Blue Angels delta formation or the hair-splitting maneuvers of the Thunderbird opposing solos. But there is a way you can add to the experience by monitoring the performing teams’ radio communications. With a radio scanner in hand, you will experience a whole new perspective of the show that few attendees will get—the radio communications from the aircraft cockpit of the show performers. Larry gives you the frequencies you need to complete the air show experience.

Drones 101: Learning to Fly Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems
By Mario Filippi N2HUN

Over the past few years, drones, known to the Federal Aviation Administration as small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS), have exploded onto the consumer scene, and their popularity keeps growing. Once found only in hobby shops, drones can now be purchased at big box stores or on-line ready to go, batteries included. So where does one start? How does one navigate the process of selecting a drone, buying one, and obtaining some basic training? It’s a little more complicated than you might think, as Mario explains.

TSM North American Air Show Schedules

This year there’s an air show coming to an air field near where you live. Take a look at the 2018 TSM Air Show schedule for some of the more popular aerial acts on this year’s tour.

Scanning America
By Dan Veeneman
Scanning Stark and Tuscarawas Counties (Ohio) and Dakota County, Minnesota

Federal Wavelengths
By Chris Parris
Super Bowl 52 On Scene Report

Milcom
By Larry Van Horn N5FPW
Military Aerial Refueling: Extending the Reach

Utility Planet
By Hugh Stegman NV6H
Canadian Coast Guard Broadcasts

Shortwave Utility Logs
Compiled by Hugh Stegman and Mike Chace-Ortiz

VHF and Above
By Joe Lynch N6CL
Review: InnovAntenna’s 2-element 50MHz LFA-Q Super-Gainer Quad Style Yagi

Digitally Speaking
By Cory Sickles WA3UVV
NXDN: Icom and Kenwood’s other DVs

Amateur Radio Insights
By Kirk Kleinschmidt NT0Z
KH6-A-Rama and Other Low-Band Takeaways

Radio 101
By Ken Reitz KS4ZR
Mysteries of the Expanded AM Band and Travelers’ Information Service

Radio Propagation
By Tomas Hood NW7US
Can You Hear Me Now?

The Shortwave Listener
By Fred Waterer
Listening to Argentina on Shortwave

Amateur Radio Astronomy
By Keith Baker KB1SF/VA1KSF
Another New AMSAT Satellite is Commissioned

The Longwave Zone
By Kevin O’Hern Carey WB2QMY
600 Meters Awaits You!

Adventures in Radio Restorations
By Rich Post KB8TAD
A Different Hallicrafters Model 8R40

Antenna Connections
By Dan Farber AC0LW
Receive-Only Antennas: Can You Hear Me Now?

The Spectrum Monitor is available in PDF format which can be read on any desktop, laptop, iPad®, Kindle® Fire, or other device capable of opening a PDF file. Annual subscription is $24. Individual monthly issues are available for $3 each.

I just received some good news from Mike, WA9PIE.  He writes in an email:

The first release of Ham Radio Deluxe for 2018 (Ham Radio Deluxe version 6.4.0.794) is now available for download. Please download it from the Download pages on our website at:

https://www.hamradiodeluxe.com

This release includes a number of important changes including the addition of the Icom IC-7610, resolves a Logbook exit problem, resolves “sort on LOTW date”, API for QSO Forwarding now populates Logbook with My Station data, a number of fixes for the Kenwood TS-480, applications remember screen position, enable CI-V address to be entered directly, and a number of stability enhancements.

The full release notes can be found here:

http://ReleaseNotes.hamradiodeluxe.com

I would like to acknowledge and thank Mike Blaszczak (K7ZCZ) and our beta team on their hard work in getting this release out.

All those who have purchased Ham Radio Deluxe at any time in the past should download and install this version in order to benefit from all bug fixes. You are entitled to them. Our clients who are covered by an active Software Maintenance and Support period are entitled to Feature Enhancements.

As announced previously, we expect to release as many as 9 releases in 2018. There will be no releases between 1-Nov and 1-Jan. We continue to focus on reducing our development backlog with five developers dedicated to all applications in the suite.

Please watch these newsletters for updates. Pass these updates along to your friends. Newsletters will also be posted on our website’s blog at:

https://www.hamradiodeluxe.com/blog

Thank you es 73 de Mike, WA9PIE

HRD Software, LLC

NooElec and AmateurRadio.com have picked the winners of our
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 Claiming Your Prize

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Here is video footage of the journey to Antarctic Bouvet Island, made by the 3Y0Z amateur ham radio team. This footage caught a few moments on the deck of M/V Betanzos.

As you can see in the last moments of this footage, the weather conditions contributed to the decision to abort the DXpedition, as it was far too dangerous to continue this expedition.

As reported by ARRL:

“Our captain has decided that it is in the best interest of safety and expediency to proceed directly to Capetown, South Africa, rather than Punta Arenas, Chile. We are now heading north to avoid the possibility of encountering ice. Currently, there is no ice in sight or on radar. In due time, we will head easterly toward Capetown. Our entire team is safe. Most are resting in their bunks and in good spirits. We will keep the amateur radio community and our families informed, as we continue our journey.”

In a huge disappointment for the DX community and the members of the 3Y0Z Bouvet Island team, the DXpedition’s leaders announced at 2000 UTC today (February 3) that a decision had been made to abort the DXpedition and head back to Chile.

“During the last 72 hours, we continued to experience the high winds, low clouds, fog and rough seas that have prevented helicopter operations since our arrival at Bouvet,” said an announcement on the 3Y0Z Bouvet Island website. “No improvement was predicted in the weather forecast for the next 4 days. Then, last night, an issue developed in one of the ship’s engines. This morning, the captain of the vessel declared it unsafe to continue with our project and aborted the DXpedition. We are now on our long voyage back to Punta Arenas. As you might imagine, the team is deeply disappointed, but safe. There is already talk about rescheduling the DXpedition.”

Bouvet Island currently is the third most-wanted DXCC entity, behind Kosovo and North Korea. The 3Y0Z DXpedition, comprised of top operators with considerable DXpedition experience, has been in the planning stages for 2 years and had attracted contributions from clubs and individuals around the world.

A dependency of Norway, Bouvet is a subantarctic island in the South Atlantic. The last Bouvet activation was 3Y0E, during a scientific expedition over the winter of 2007-2008.

Video Author: Nodir Tursun Zade, EY8MM

This copy is used BY PERMISSION from EY8MM, given in writing on 23 February 2018

NooElec and AmateurRadio.com
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