Stories you’ll find in our October, 2017 issue:

October 4, 1957: The Beep Heard Around the World
By Richard Fisher KI6SN

Listening and peering into the night sky on October 4, 1957, hams, shortwave listeners, scientists, military personnel and ordinary citizens became eye and ear-witnesses to an epic moment in human existence—the dawn of the Space Age. Richard has collected the thoughts and memories of those who were among the first to hear and see the original man-made moon, known as “Sputnik-1.” The historic event not only changed the course of human history, but also changed the lives of many of the individuals who heard those first beeps from space.

A Visual Tour of the Tokyo Ham Fair
By Keith Baker KB1SF/VA3KSF

In early September, Keith had the distinct honor of being an ambassador for the Dayton Amateur Radio Association (DARA) at the big Tokyo Ham Radio Fair in Tokyo, Japan. He writes, “Our mission was to personally invite Japanese hams to join us in Dayton, Ohio, for next year’s big Dayton Hamvention. However, unlike the Dayton Hamvention, which is sponsored by a local (albeit large!) amateur radio club (DARA), the Japan Amateur Radio League (JRRL), the Japanese equivalent of our American Radio Relay League (ARRL), conducts the Tokyo Ham Fair each year.” Keith also visits the Akihabara section of Tokyo known as “Electric Town” and presents a visual tour of both.

TSM Reviews: Digitech AR1780
By Thomas Witherspoon K4SWL

Regular contributor, Thomas Witherspoon, is always on the lookout for interesting, unheralded shortwave radios. This month he takes a look at the Digitech AR1780, a relatively unknown, inexpensive portable shortwave radio that covers longwave through shortwave, FM and even the Air-band and, while it has some quirks, it has more than a few features in its favor. Find out why Thomas says, “For $129.00 AUD (roughly $103 USD), you’re getting a full-featured radio that is, by and large, a pleasure to operate.”

The European DX Council at 50
By Chrissy Brand

It was 50 years ago, in 1967, that the first conference of the European DX Council was held. The EDXC, an organization of leading DXers, is still going strong after all these decades. This is testified by the continued success of its annual conference and through the projects and information sharing that it still carries out. Chrissy reports on this year’s conference held in August in the Finnish city of Tampere.

Tran-Equatorial Propagation: Pillows in the Sky
By John Piliounis SV1OCS

Most radio communications at VHF frequencies happens between different locations in line-of-sight propagation and, more rarely, either through the E or F2 layers’ ionospheric refraction during periods of intense sunspots, or through tropospheric ducting. But Mother Nature has provided VHF communication links that also happen between symmetrical locations to the geomagnetic equator. Propagation of this type has been named Trans-Equatorial Propagation (TEP). John looks at the theory behind this phenomenon and the historic experiments to prove its existence to skeptics.

Scanning America
By Dan Veeneman
Post Falls and Kootenai County, Idaho

Federal Wavelengths
By Chris Parris
Eclipse, Weather Provide Scanner Action

Milcom
By Larry Van Horn N5FPW
Introduction to Military Monitoring:
What Equipment do you need to Monitor HF MilComms?

Utility Planet
By Hugh Stegman NV6H
Summer 2017: Nature Gets the Last Word

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

VHF and Above
By Joe Lynch N6CL
A DIY Hardware Store 2-Meter GOTA/EMMCOM Antenna

Amateur Radio Insights
By Kirk Kleinschmidt NT0Z
The Twists and Turns of Amateur Radio Rotators

Radio 101
By Ken Reitz KS4ZR
Monitoring Emergencies via FTA Satellite

Radio Propagation
By Tomas Hood NW7US
A Last Hoorah?

World of Shortwave Listening
By Andrew Yoder
AM and SW Pirates: Then and Now, Plus: Global HF Pirate Weekend

The Shortwave Listener
By Fred Waterer
BBC Program Notes for October and More

Maritime Monitoring
By Ron Walsh VE3GO
Nothing Remains the Same Except Change!

The Longwave Zone
By Kevin O’Hern and Cary WB2QMY
Get it in the Log!

Adventures is Radio Restoration
By Rich Post KB8TAD
Re-converting a Radio for the Summer of ’42 (Motorola 50P for Pontiac)

Antenna Connections
By Dan Farber AC0LW
Getting High: Antenna Effects and Oddities at UHF and Up

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.

BITX40 Board

I’ve had so much planned.  So many things to work on and write about.  So much that it’s created a bit of a mess in my workshop that needs to be looked through and organized.

If you’re wondering what’s been occupying my time, I’ll tell you.  I decided to go back to school and get the degree that I abandoned over 30 years ago.  We have a new grandson.  Our first!  And, KD2CHE’s little side business has been getting busy.

Now, with degree in hand, and my work schedule getting more routine, I will begin to attack the leaning tower of kits.  Some of the work also has to do with my transistor radio collection, but I will refrain from posting that here.

I wasn’t sure what to attack first, but it may be a QRP-LABS Ultimate 3S QRSS Kit, and then maybe my BITX40.

Then, probably a much needed update to the Radio Kit Guide page.

Stay Tuned!

–Neil  – W2NDG

Judy and I drove over to the beach today to escape the heat. It was almost 90F here. I worked Italy, Finland, Hungary, Cuba and California from the shore.

What a fantastic day… and the drive paid off. It was nearly 10 degrees cooler at the beach with a nice breeze. We had lunch, rode our bikes and then Judy took a swim… while I set up the KX3 and a 30 foot wire.

I extended a DK9SQ 33 foot mast and attached the wire to the tip. Then I rised the mast and tied it to corner of a bench overlooking the harbor. Voila… I had a station. 17 meters was excellent from the beach, and I made 4 of my 6 contacts there. Here’s my log:

25 Sep-17 1920 18.076 CO8LY CW 599 599 Cuba
25 Sep-17 1922 18.082 IK3VUT CW 559 599 Italy
25 Sep-17 1928 18.085 IK5ZWU CW 559 599 Italy
25 Sep-17 1940 14.034 OH6NVC CW 559 579 Finland
25 Sep-17 1945 14.025 HA8VV CW 589 589 Hungary
25 Sep-17 1950 18.080 N6UOE CW 579 599 CA

Before heading home, we decided to take another bike ride. We went to a little laneway on the other side of the harbor. I got a snapshot of my operating position from there.

Judy and I rode our bikes along the Pemigewasset River today. It was a beautiful, beautiful day. I worked Bulgaria, Italy, Switzerland, and Hungary.

We rode south from Old Hill and stopped at the old bridge to Sanbornton. It was nearly 80F with an unbelievable stillness in the air. Brown, curled-up leaves covered parts of the old road and crunched beneath our bike wheels. The apple trees along the way have begun dropping fruit. Judy stopped to pick up some apples. The road was lined with asters.

I stopped at a huge pine tree a couple of miles down the road. I tossed my wire nearly 40 feet over a branch and sat on some moss. I used the KX3 and a 33 foot wire.

The bands were good. I worked eight stations. Here’s my log:

23 Sep-17 1935 14.014 LZ100SK CW 599 599 Bulgaria
23 Sep-17 1943 18.086 IK5ZWU CW 439 579 Italy
23 Sep-17 1947 14.019 HB0/DL5YL CW 559 589 Switzerland
23 Sep-17 1950 14.028 HA60KNA CW 579 599 Hungary
23 Sep-17 1955 14.030 W5FMH CW 599 599 TX
23 Sep-17 1957 14.032 VE4RAC CW 599 599 MB
23 Sep-17 2002 10.117 W8IX CW 549 599 IND

Today was a perfect day for getting outside and making a few radio contacts. At this time of year, I can count the days like this on one hand. I wish they would never end.

Judy and I hiked up Rattlesnake Mountain overlooking Squam Lake this afternoon. It was gorgeous! And… I worked St. Pierre and Miquelon, Belgium and Florida.

The hike is pretty simple… about 40 minutes. Huge rock ledges cap the peak at about 500 feet above the lake. It was sunny and about 72F. A perfect day for an outing.

I set up on a northern ledge and tossed my line into a stubby pine tree that was about 25 feet above the rock. I had a sloper.

I started out on 30 meters and heard FP/G3ZAY on St. Pierre and Miquelon. These two French islands sit off the coast of Newfoundland… a favorite for small dxpeditions. I was thrilled to work them from Rattlesnake Mtn. because I’d been trying unsuccessfully for a couple of days from home. We exchanged quick 599s and I switched to 20 meters.

As I tuned across the band I heard Bernie KB4JR calling CQ from Florida. He gave me a 559 and we chatted for a few minutes before signing. A little farther down the band John ON4UN was calling CQ from Belgium. He was strong as always and we had a quick exchange. I told him I was QRP on a mountain top and he wished me well.

Judy and I had a snack before packing up. Judy got a quick photo as I enjoyed the view a final time before heading down.

Summer is over and we’re back to work full time. My much anticipated “Antenna Summer” ended rather uneventful. The weather was mostly to blame: it was either too hot to work outside (I burnt myself while working on the metal roof), too wet (two typhoons and a tropical storm passed) or too windy (“Wind! The thing feared most by ham radio operators and stamp collectors”). The only thing I could do was to prepare and prepare more. There are three antennas projects in the pipe-line now, but I still haven’t found the opportunity to put them up. Sigh!

The only antenna project which I could finish indoors was my big loop for medium- and longwave. I started this more than a year ago, but the first iteration was a size too big to be sturdy enough to withstand the strong winds here in Taiwan. A second -smaller- one was build, but not finished before last winter, so I shelved it. When I took it out I found that the wooden spreaders had split due to moisture and the old surplus wire had snapped in several places. Even several coats of lacquer can’t prevent wood from decaying here in the sub tropics, so it was back to the drawing board.

I pulled out my wallet and bought new, thicker wire and PVC pipe for new spreaders. I made a special vice to hold the PVC pipe, templates for the holes and rolled up all of the 180 meters of wire on an old garden hose reel. Being well prepared pays off because I already have half of the loop windings in place. I won’t be able to finish this antenna this summer, but it will be finished this fall.

Currently there are no typhoons heading our way and the temperature has gone from scorching hot to very hot, so the prospects look good. But that leaves me with a conundrum: should I call my next installment on antenna improvement “Antenna Fall” or not?