The other day I was very pleased to work a new one using FT8  Kazakhstan UN7CBY Vladimir. I had seen him in the waterfall in the past but was very happy to get him in the log on 30 meters.
Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

In this episode, Martin M1MRB is joined by Ruth Willet KM4LAO, Edmund Spicer M0MNG, and Leslie Butterfield G0CIB to discuss the latest Amateur / Ham Radio news. Colin M6BOY rounds up the news in brief and this episode’s feature is - Is it worth building a SMALL contest/DX station?

ICQ AMATEUR/HAM RADIO PODCAST DONORS

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

- ARRL - Dare to Imagine - Radio Amateurs Aid in Rescue in Remote NZ park - RSGB Earthing and the Radio Amateur Leaflet Updated - Radio Theory Handbook - 2nd Edition - GB7PY Repeater Stolen - New Irish Beacon on 60 MHz Now on the Air - VO2AC - Canadian Lighthouse Operation

Colin Butler, M6BOY, is the host of the ICQ Podcast, a weekly radio show about Amateur Radio. Contact him at [email protected].

Getting the AT-100pro ready to sell.

About a month before the New Year I had a look around the shack and realized that I moved some items down to our new home that I used just as much as when they were at my old QTH.......these items were only taking up space and gathering dust. I decided it was time once again to put some radio items up for sale and send them on their way to someone who can use them. This gave me some "ham bucks" and to be honest I did not need much but what I did get was a new LDG 200proII antenna tuner and a new Endfed antenna which was the Ultimax DXtreme Endfed antenna   I did have the LDG AT-100pro (not the proII)  I say "did" because the LDG AT-100pro was sold. The reason I sold it was the LDG AT-100pro tuner is rated at 30 watts when operating digital modes. With propagation being what it is these days I have moved some of my operating toward FT8 digital. I would like to move a bit beyond 30 watts and the only way that can be done was to change out the LDG AT-100 pro to the LDG AT-200 proII tuner. A nice surprise was the LDG AT-200proII was able to tune a great match better than the LDG AT-100pro did. For example, I never had a decent SWR on 60M and for some reason when I switched to the LDG AT-200proII the tuner was able to tune 60m to a very decent SWR. I can now operate on this band without any SWR issue.  On the bands were a tuner was needed the AT-200ProII outperformed the previous AT-100pro. I have the interface cable from LDG that connects the tuner to my Icom 7610. This makes using the LDG tuner a breeze. The tuner when in tune will automatically reduce the Icom 7610 power to 10 watts. When a match is found it's stored in the LDG tuners memory using this interface cable I am able to operate on 30m and then go to 60m and when I start to transmit the LDG tuner reverts to the memory tuned position for 60m is a split-second, and I am good to go. If the band I chose does not have a stored memory tune then the tuner will perform a full tune at a reduced wattage of 10 watts. I just have to operate and the interface cable looks after the LDG tuner and getting me the best SWR. In my next post, I will look at the Ultimax DXtreme Endfed antenna.
Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

This is the raw, unedited video from the New Years Eve 2019 live stream. It is over 6 hours long contains plenty of bloopers and mishaps (the kind of stuff you’ve come to expect from us). The first 2 hours are a replay of an earlier episode and the team getting set up to go.
The live show actually began around the 2:13:30 mark.

Appearances by:
George Thomas, W5JDX
Tommy Martin, N5ZNO
Emile Diodene, KE5QKR
Andy Anderson, AA0WX
Laird Nigel P Lawrence, G0MEJ/KG0PL
Dan Vanevenhoven, N9LVS
Ray Novak, N9JA
Peter Berrett, VK3PB
Amanda Alden, K1DDL
Jeff Carrier, K0JDX

George Thomas, W5JDX, is co-host of AmateurLogic.TV, an original amateur radio video program hosted by George Thomas (W5JDX), Tommy Martin (N5ZNO), Peter Berrett (VK3PB), and Emile Diodene (KE5QKR). Contact him at [email protected].

Closing out 2019, here are the top five blog posts at k0nr.com during the year. Some people may see this as a lazy way of creating one more blog post for the year without much work. This may be true, but I still claim it is a worthy effort to take a look at what content got the most attention for the year.

Leading the list is this blog post…a perennial favorite that seems to make the top five each year.

Getting Started on 2m SSB

Another popular post that just keeps on going is…

Choose Your 2m Frequency Wisely

A new post this year about VHF propagation comes in third. I am glad to see some new content getting attention.

The Myth of VHF Line-Of-Sight

A bit of a surprise that this post about two proposals for changes to the FCC licensing scheme is in the number four slot:

FCC Considers Changes to Amateur Radio Licensing

Editor’s Choice  

This last one was published in December so it didn’t actually make the top five for the year. However, every time I look at this photo, it gives me a chuckle, so I am including on the list as the Editor’s Choice.

Innovation in Vehicle Labeling

Happy New Year!

73 Bob K0NR

The post Top Five K0NR Blog Posts for 2019 appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site.

Bob Witte, KØNR, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Colorado, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

Ham College episode 60 is now available for download.

General Amateur Radio Exam part 31. The final episode covering the General pool. General question pool updates 3 of 3.

01:05:36

Download
YouTube

George Thomas, W5JDX, is co-host of AmateurLogic.TV, an original amateur radio video program hosted by George Thomas (W5JDX), Tommy Martin (N5ZNO), Peter Berrett (VK3PB), and Emile Diodene (KE5QKR). Contact him at [email protected].

Here is this week’s space weather and geophysical report, issued 2019 Dec 30 0435 UTC.

Highlights of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity 23 – 29 December 2019

Solar activity was very low. New Region 2753 (S29, L=122, class/area Bxo/010 on 25 Dec) developed on the visible disk on late on 23 December while Region 2754 (N25, L=191, class/area Axx/010 on 25 Dec) developed on 24 Dec. Both regions were inactive and decayed to plage on 26 Dec. No Earth-directed CMEs were observed during the period.

No proton events were observed at geosynchronous orbit.

The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit was at normal levels on 27-29 Dec and reached moderate levels on 23-26 Dec. The maximum flux of the period was 462 pfu observed at 25/1810 UTC.

Geomagnetic field activity ranged from quiet to unsettled levels. A slight enhancement in solar wind parameters occurred beginning late on 25 Dec as a weak negative polarity coronal hole high speed stream (CH HSS) became geoeffective. Total field increased to a maximum of 9 nT at 25/1920 UTC while solar wind speed reached a maximum of 415 km/s at 26/1435 UTC. The geomagnetic field responded with an isolated unsettled period early on 26 Dec.

Forecast of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity 30 December – 25 January 2020

Solar activity is expected to continue at very low levels.

No proton events are expected at geosynchronous orbit.

The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to be at normal levels on 06-14 and 23-25 Jan while moderate levels are expected on 30 Dec-05 Jan and 15-22 Jan.

Geomagnetic field activity is expected to reach unsettled levels on 30 Dec-01 Jan due to weak CH HSS activity. Unsettled to active levels are expected on 14-15 Jan due to recurrent CH HSS activity.

Don’t forget to visit our live space weather and radio propagation web site, at: http://SunSpotWatch.com/

Live Aurora mapping is at http://aurora.sunspotwatch.com/

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Links of interest:

+ Amazon space weather books: http://g.nw7us.us/fbssw-aSWSC
+ https://Twitter.com/NW7US
+ https://Twitter.com/hfradiospacewx

Space Weather and Ham Radio YouTube Channel News:

I am working on launching a YouTube channel overhaul, that includes series of videos about space weather, radio signal propagation, and more.

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You can help!

Please consider becoming a Patron of these space weather and radio communications services, beginning with the YouTube channel:

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