I did a part-time effort in the Canada Day contest on the weekend. I  wanted to take it easy as I just had minor surgery and sitting in one spot for long periods hurts. The contest was from Sunday at 00:00 or 9 pm local time until 00:00 Monday. I was on and off during the day Monday and noticed the number of contesters was on the low side. I attribute this to Monday only being a holiday in Canada and most others were working. In the Canada Day contest you have the option of CW and SSB or a combination of both. As you may have guessed I was CW-only and unassisted. 

The solar forecast was predicting a Kp index maxing at 4 but the good news was the maxed at Kp2. I still found deep QSB (fading) on all bands (for me 10m-40m). I did manage to beat last year's score and total contacts. As always I found this contest more relaxed CW speed-wise, I was calling CQ in around 30wpm but dropped it to 26-28wpm. I found at times I would be calling CQ RAC for 5 or minutes without an answer. Because of this I had some web pages up on my other monitor and was doing some reading. Funny when an answer to my CQ did come back to me it would startle me out of my reading trance. 

This years score

My contacts during the contest

Hello summer...

With another big Summer issue. The July-August 2024 Communicator, digital periodical of Surrey Amateur Radio Communications is now available for viewing or download.

Read in over 150 countries, we bring you 120+ pages of Amateur Radio content from the Southwest corner of Canada and elsewhere. With less fluff and ads than other Amateur Radio publications, you will find Amateur Radio related articles, projects, profiles, news, tips and how-to's for all levels of the hobby.

You can view or download it as a .PDF file:  

Previous Communicator issues:

Search for past Communicator issues

and a full index is HERE.  

As always, thank you to our contributors, and your feedback is always welcome. 

The deadline for the next edition is August 15th.

If you have news or events from your club or photos, stories, projects or other items of interest from BC or elsewhere, please contact us at [email protected]

73,

John VE7TI
'The Communicator' Editor

We present you with a dilemma! Whether to watch Euro 2024, the headliner act at Glastonbury, study the manifestos of the UK political parties, or . . . to sit back and watch the latest episode from TX Factor. The choice is yours. However, this latest show will keep, so there’s no need to rush. In this programme, we look at the latest device from Icom. It’s the IC-R15 communications receiver. Bob and Mike discuss how best to configure the Anytone BT-01 bluetooth microphone with your Anytone AT-D578 – a boon for mobile operating. And, of course, part 2 of our two-part feature on operating via the QO-100 satellite with the Groundstation 2 from DX Patrol. We hope, the best team wins (political party and the football!).

TX Factor is sponsored by the Radio Society of Great Britain. http://www.txfactor.co.uk

In this episode, we join Martin Butler M1MRB, Chris Howard (M0TCH), Bill Barnes (WC3B) and Leslie Butterfields (G0CIB) to discuss the latest Amateur / Ham Radio news. Colin Butler (M6BOY) rounds up the news in brief and the episode's feature is Beginners Fault Finding.

We would like to thank Philip Heckingham (VK6ADF) and our monthly and annual subscription donors for keeping the podcast advert free. To donate, please visit - http://www.icqpodcast.com/donate

• ARRL Teachers Institute Kicks Off Summer Cohorts
• PRESENTER OPINION - Do Hams Still Listen to Shortwave? They do in Canada!
• YLS Ascend Summits To Be "Queens Of The Mountains"
• US Military To Improve Tracking Of Hobbyists' Balloons
• Would AM Mandate Force Carmakers to Scrap Safety Features?
• Meme Appreciation Month is on the Air
• GR2HQ Challenge

Turning back time to virtually witness a critical historic method of shortwave communication using the fundamental mode of continuous wave modulation. This is a film from 1944, teaching the basics of Morse code, for military comms.

What is the proper (and most efficient) technique for creating Morse code by hand, using a manual Morse code key? Ham radio operators find Morse code (and the ‘CW’ mode, or ‘Continuous Wave’ keying mode) very useful, even though Morse code is no longer required as part of the licensing process. Morse code is highly effective in weak-signal radio work. And, preppers love Morse code because it is the most efficient way to communicate when there is a major disaster that could wipe out the communications infrastructure.

While this military film is antique, the vintage information is timeless, as the material is applicable to Morse code, even today.

Credits: National Archives and Records Administration

Department of Defense. Department of the Army. Office of the Chief Signal Officer. (09/18/1947 – 02/28/1964)

ARC Identifier 36813 / Local Identifier 111-TF-3697. PRINCIPLES AND BASIC TECHNIQUE FOR GOOD, RHYTHMIC SENDING 0F MORSE CODE BY OPERATING THE HAND KEY.

Made possible by a donation from Mary Neff.

AmateurLogic.TV Episode 194 is now available for download.

The excitement, skills and sweat of Field Day 2024 at W5SLA and W5AXC. Find out what worked and what didn’t. Plus, Tommy shows the M5 Stack voice keyer for his IC-705.

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