AmateurRadio.com

It's time once again for The Weekender. This is our bi-weekly departure into the world of amateur radio contests, open source conventions, special events, listener challenges, hedonism and just plain fun. Thanks for listening and, if you happen to get a chance, feel free to call us or e-mail and send us some feedback. Tell us how we're doing. We'd love to hear from you.

73 de The LHS Crew

Russ Woodman, K5TUX, co-hosts the Linux in the Ham Shack podcast which is available for download in both MP3 and OGG audio format. Contact him at [email protected].

Stories you’ll find in our April, 2019 edition:

TSM Reviews: Uniden SDS100 Base/mobile Scanner
By Larry Van Horn N5FPW

On the heels of the release of the SDS100 handheld scanner in the first quarter of 2018, Uniden announced the release of the SDS200 base/mobile scanner in January 2019. Like the SDS100, the SDS200 is a True I/Q™ scanner, that incorporates software defined radio technology to provide improved digital performance in even the most challenging RF environments.

What sets the SDS100/200 series scanners apart from any others in the marketplace is their ability to handle simulcast reception issues while monitoring certain P25 trunk radio systems. Larry takes a look at this talented scanner in part two of “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.”

Bringing Ham Flavored STEM into the Classroom
By Martha Muir W4MSA

Members of the North Fulton Amateur Radio League (NFARL) spent a week working with some seventh and eighth grade students at Mill Springs Academy in Alpharetta, Georgia, teaching them some fundamental concepts of electronics with direct applications related to amateur radio. This is part of a program at Mill Springs called Winter Learning, where students get to take a weeklong seminar on a specialty topic. This specialty topic, “Electricity is Magnetic!” was organized by NFARL members, Chuck Catledge AE4CW and Jim Stafford W4QO. Martha tells us what happens when Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics meets amateur radio in the classroom.

Portable Airband Transceiver Overview
By Cory GB Sickles WA3UVV

The VHF spectrum is full of FM analog and various forms of digital voice and data communications, but also found there are communications based on a technology that goes back a century and then some—AM or Amplitude Modulation. This is the type of signaling shared by commercial and general aviation pilots, as well as the men and women on the ground that communicate with them to keep everyone safe and moving efficiently. If you live near an airport of any size you may have wondered about listening in. Cory takes a look at listening to this small but important slice of the spectrum.

Othernet’s Free Satellite Service Continues to Evolve
By Kenneth Barbi

The free one-way digital satellite service, known as Othernet, has been evolving since its debut in 2017. Othernet had operated first on Ku-band and then on L-band, and though coverage was worldwide, the cost was astronomical, and the throughput was limited to 20 MB per day. By reconfiguring their operation back to Ku-band, costs came down and throughput increased to more than 1 GB per day. But the change required different hardware. Kenneth updates the latest on this non-profit information service.

Scanning America
Dan Veeneman
TETRA System; FCC Actions; Clark County, Ohio

Federal Wavelengths
By Chris Parris
Federal Radios Fading Away?

Milcom Monitoring
By Larry Van Horn N5FPW
Monitoring the Pakistan-India Navies

Utility Planet
By Hugh Stegman
North Korean “Numbers” Messages Continue

Shortwave Utility Logs
By Mike Chace-Ortiz and Hugh Stegman

VHF and Above
By Joe Lynch N6CL
ISS Astronauts are Calling CQ Students

Digitally Speaking
By Cory GB Sickles WA3UVV
Split P Soup

Amateur Radio Insights
By Kirk Kleinschmidt NT0Z
Down to the Wire

Radio 101
By Ken Reitz KS4ZR
ATSC3, 4K and 5G: What Next?

Radio Propagation
By Tomas Hood NW7US
A New Cycle is Born

The World of Shortwave Listening
By Rob Wagner VK3BVW
Hunting Shortwave Schedule Changes

The Shortwave Listener
By Fred Waterer
Slovakia on Shortwave, RNZI, Plus BBC Programming this Month

Maritime Monitoring
By Ron Walsh VE3GO
Winter Winds, Spring Melt and Radio

Adventures in Radio Restoration
By Rich Post KB8TAD
Still a Thrill: The National SW3 “Thrill Box”

Antenna Connections
By Dan Farber AC0LW
Well Grounded: A Down to Earth Station

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.

Ken Reitz, KS4ZR, is publisher and managing editor of The Spectrum Monitor. Contact him at [email protected].

Hello and welcome to the latest short-format episode of Linux in the Ham Shack. In this episode, the hosts discuss improvements to the Nano editor, Indian satellites with amateur radio payloads, Puerto Rico bracing for a year of emcomm, add-on applications for WSJT-X, network time protocol (NTP) and much more. Thank you for listening and supporting our program!

73 de The LHS Crew

Russ Woodman, K5TUX, co-hosts the Linux in the Ham Shack podcast which is available for download in both MP3 and OGG audio format. Contact him at [email protected].

Just as my shelf space for new projects keeps expanding (and quickly running out!), so does my main web site, "The VE7SL Radio Notebook". I have just added a new page to the site describing the construction of my newly-completed Jones Power-Oscillator using a pair of 6L6s.

If you might be thinking of building a 'Jones', you may find something helpful or perhaps find inspiration for a new project. The new page may be found here.

I'm presently building the final version of my RK-39 crystal power-oscillator ... but I have no idea where I 'll put it when finished!



Steve McDonald, VE7SL, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from British Columbia, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

The FCC has invited public comments on two proposals to change the licensing requirements for amateur radio operators. Both of these proposals are aimed at attracting and retaining new amateur radio licensees.

Tyro

The first one is the “Tyro” license proposal from Gary/AD0WU that creates a new license class with minimal licensing requirements and operating privileges on the 70 cm band. See the complete proposal on the FCC website.

I find this proposal severely flawed with way too many details that would need to be written into Part 97. For example, the proposal establishes 99 specific repeater/simplex channels in the 430 MHz portion of the band. Oh, and the repeaters use a non-standard 9 MHz offset. There’s lots more in the proposal that make it a non-starter.

Still there is a nugget of an idea in here: a GMRS-like entry-level amateur radio license that is super easy to get. This could be an easy-peasy gateway into ham radio for kids, spouses and family members. However, I expect the FCC to just dismiss this petition without serious consideration.

Enhanced Technician

The second proposal is from the ARRL (see this ARRL news item):

The FCC has invited public comments on ARRL’s 2018 Petition for Rule Making, now designated as RM-11828, which asks the FCC to expand HF privileges for Technician licensees to include limited phone privileges on 75, 40, and 15 meters, plus RTTY and digital mode privileges on 80, 40, 15, and 10 meters.

The proposal would “add limited High Frequency (HF) data and telephony privileges to those currently available to Technician Class Amateur licensees.” The objective is to sweeten the Technician privileges to both attract new licensees and to retain existing Technicians (and maybe get them interested in moving up to General). There is an assumption/belief/hope that providing some HF telephony and digital privileges will accomplish these goals.

I am disappointed in the lack of data-driven analysis in support of this proposal. The ARRL filing claims that they “studied the comparable entry level license class operating privileges of other countries” but provided no data. There are different licensing schemes around the world…maybe we should compare and learn something from them. The data they did provide was survey data of ARRL members…which is really just an opinion poll: what do you think we should do with the licensing structure? This is not a great way to create public policy.

What’s the Objective?

Let’s start with the objective, which the ARRL petition says is “developing improved operating capabilities, increasing emergency communications participation, improving technical self-training, and increasing growth overall in the Amateur Radio Service.” I think this is a reasonable goal.

For some reason, every time there is a concern about improving and growing amateur radio, the proposed solution is a change in the licensing structure (usually to make it easier to obtain operating privileges). If the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. While the licensing structure should be improved over time, it should not be the first (or only) tool to apply. The ARRL needs to take a much more strategic approach to working towards the objective. Fortunately, I see positive signs they are moving in the right direction. See ARRL CEO Howard/WB2ITX Speaks.

Back To Licensing

There is a worthy idea in the ARRL proposal:
Change the entry level license (Technician) to provide a taste of HF phone and digital privileges, so it attracts more people to the hobby AND get them more deeply engaged. This might actually work.

I am not an unbiased observer because I have plenty of fun playing around with radios on frequencies above 50 MHz. I originally thought I would be a Technician for life but gradually got pulled into the fun below 30 MHz. So part of my brain says “Technicians just need to figure out how to have fun on VHF/UHF.” There is a lot to be said for having the entry level license be focused on VHF/UHF to learn basic radio operating. HF can come later.

Another part of my brain sees the excitement and growing popularity of the WSJT-X digital modes, especially FT8. Why do Technicians get to use CW on some of the HF bands but not other digital modes? That seems kind of silly in the year 2019. And making HF contacts with other states and countries on SSB is lots of fun, too.

Another question to ask is “what harm could be done by this proposal?” We could see a lot more activity in the portions of the HF bands Technicians are given. Maybe so much that those subbands get overrun with signals…seems like a potential problem. Some people have argued that giving Technicians these HF privileges will cause them to not upgrade to General. That seems like a low risk…if they get hooked on HF operating, they will upgrade to get access to additional spectrum.

There are really two assumptions in play here:

1. Attract Assumption: More people will be attracted to ham radio due to the expanded Technician HF privileges.
2. Retain Assumption: That Technicians will be more engaged in ham radio activity due to the expanded HF privileges (perhaps upgrading to higher license classes).

The distribution of US amateur radio licenses is roughly Amateur Extra (20%), General (23%) and Technician (50%), the remaining 7% are Novice and Advanced. So roughly half of US radio amateurs have decided to get their “VHF oriented” license while the other half have gone on to get an “HF privileged” license. Frankly, I don’t see the General license exam as a big barrier…I see people studying for it in our license classes and 90% of them are successful on the exam. But the exam is yet another thing to do, so it does represent an obstacle to overcome, just not a big one. What I do see them struggling with actually getting on the air with HF. See Getting On HF: The Fiddle Factor. Easier licensing is not going to address that problem.

Who Wants HF?

A lot of Technicians are just fine with the operating privileges they have. I even noted some Tech’s complaining they are tired of OF hams telling them they need to fall in love with HF. Interesting. I don’t have reliable data on what Technicians think but I see several types of Technicians that are quite happy with their existing privileges:

• Family/Friend Communicators – these folks are not hard core radio amateurs but they got their license to communicate with friends and family.
• Outdoor Enthusiasts – these folks use ham radio to augment their outdoor activities: hiking, biking, offroad driving, camping, fishing, etc.
• Emcomm and Public Service Volunteers – these hams are involved in local emergency response, support of served agencies (Red Cross, Salvation Army, etc.) or providing communications support for marathons, parades, charity walks, etc.
• Technical Experimenters – many radio amateurs are into experimenting with technology and the bands above 50 MHz offer a lot of opportunity for that.

I don’t know what percentage of Technicians are unconcerned about HF privileges but it is significant (half of them? perhaps more?) Providing HF privileges to this group will not have much of an effect. It seems like the ARRL should have data on this before serving up a proposal to change the licensing structure.

My Thoughts

What do I think? I think this proposal most likely will not make a significant difference with regard to attracting and retaining new radio hams. Something else is needed to do that, such as effective training programs, strong local clubs and mentors available to help newbies get started and build skills.

But it might just work. Maybe HF is the bright shiny object that will motivate people to pursue amateur radio.

So count me as agnostic on this proposal. I won’t be filing comments with the FCC. What do you think?

73 Bob K0NR

The post FCC Considers Changes to Amateur Radio Licensing 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].

Prologue…

I was born in 1932, which by definition made me a depression baby. This episode in the life of Urb the emerging nerd, demonstrates that people were totally capable of doing economically irrational things during the height of the depression. They would throw things away needing only simple repairs.

How it all began…

At the time my trash picking started I was in 7th grade and I was the only student living far enough away from school that I couldn’t make it home for lunch, and back, in the allotted hour. I was a brown bagger.

On an early beautiful spring day I was walking leisurely to school and there in front of me was a beautiful floor lamp. I realized that if I waited until school let out the lamp would have been long deposited in a landfill (we call them junk yards back then.) I picked it up and started walking toward school. About two blocks from school was an empty wooded lot. I put my lamp in the lot and camouflaged it with a few branches and continued to school. I agonized all day worrying that someone would abscond with my lamp.

After school, there is was. I took it home and showed my father and he determined that the lamp had a switch that was not functioning, we went to a local hardware store and purchased a new one. (Home Depots didn’t appear for many decades into the future.) Lamps similar to my trash pick find were selling for about five dollars of 1940s money.

A new switch cost about 20 cents. Although my knowledge of the consequence of the depression was very limited I still found it strange that people would throw away a five dollar lamp because it needed a 20 cent switch. The lamp, with a new shade, occupied a place of honor in the LeJeune household for years to come. My mother, God rest her soul, was very excited about anything I did not requiring a trip to see the principal of my school.

After the experience with the lamp, I started leaving for school about a half hour earlier that I usually did on trash day. One day someone threw away a pair of roller skates (the type you attached to your shoes and tightened with a key.) I fashioned a wagon with a milk box and the skates. I was now ready for the big time of trash collecting. I made a camouflaged den in the lot close to school and was in the trash picking business.

Turning Trash into an Art Form…

Even I was amazed at the quality and variety of things thrown away despite the economic conditions . When a discarded item contained gears I was in Trash-Land heaven. If a discarded item contained a motor, functioning or not, I was in paradise. Thrown away items with gears were especially prized, I used gears mounted on a piece of plywood to make Christmas presents. My relatives told me how creative I was but my artwork typically wound up on their basements wall.

At Christmas time I loaded some of my artwork into wagon and traversed my neighborhood selling my wall hangings. When people asked how much? I replied, “whatever you think it’s worth.” I made enough money to get nice presents for my mother and father.

Spare Parts…

Growing up my family lived in half of a farmhouse. I had a corner of the basement all to myself. My little den served as workshop, storage area, and a laboratory for perform experiments. My attempt at making artificial diamonds was a barn-burner but an article for the future.

Epilogue…

An event viewed through the key-hole of currency frequently takes on a greater meaning when viewed through the rear-view mirror of realism. As an example, the fact that I lived at a greater distance from school than any other student probably lead me to trash pick. If I walked to school with other students I doubt I would not have trash picked.

I went through a period between jobs, a nice euphemism for being unemployed, and money was tight so I put my trash picking days to good use. On the bulletin boards of local super markets I posted notices, “Small appliances repaired , no fix no pay.” The results were a God-send when satisfied customers recommended me to neighbors and friends.

When times are tough we frequently receive the emotional help to give us the strength to get through these period, if we are alert to them.

Urb LeJeune, W1UL, is the creator of Ham-Cram, a ham radio test preparation website. He writes from New Jersey, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

At our old condo the loop loops like a covered piece of furniture.

Good afternoon everyone, it's time to have a look at getting on the air from a condo. I have been living in a condo for about 6 years now and really have only had one antenna BUT I have tried some that really did not work at all and some that did a so so job. Operating from a condo does have it's challenges:
- most likely you are in a highly populated area with other large condo's around you.
- very small foot print for an antenna.
- In some cases the condo unit is small which limits your space for the ham radio "stuff".

Well now that I have you listing your radio on QRZ.COM for sale lets look at some of the advantages of being in a condo.
- In most cases you are high up as for me in one condo I was 60 feet up and in this one I am 160 feet up.
- Your balcony as most are made of metal make a good ground plane for some antennas.
- Your ham skills are challenged with regards to antennas, power output and mode of operation.
OK the last two points above I was really stretching for some positives but for sure height is in most cases a major advantage.

In this post lets look at some antennas that may work from a balcony. The antenna I use as you may already know if you are a regular reader of my blog is the MFJ 1788 mag loop. Now I have had many comments as well as emails saying that the mag loop is pricey. It's very true it is and most mag loops are not cheap as I also have the Chameleaon CHA P loop 2.0 mag loop for portable op's which also is a pricey antenna. I did save my pennies and spent some coin on the MFJ 1788 and not to turn this post into a review of MFJ but quality is not noted on the Eham review site with regards to most MFJ products. I did have a small issue with my loop but I repaired it and since that time (6 years ago) the loop has given me no issues at all. In no way am I saying that the mag loops are the only way to go.
A very unique looking antenna that is great for balcony operation is the Isotron antennas  these antennas get a very decent review on Eham and I know of a ham who uses one and has had great success with it. These antennas are small, no ground plain needed and they can be purchased as mono band or multi band. Also they really don't look like an antenna. With antenna when you want to use it you put it out and when done take it in. In the present condo I am in this is how I use my MFJ loop it's only out when I am using it.

The loop at our new location

Another antenna worth mentioning is the new Elecraft AX1 for 20/17/15m and rumors are they may be extending the band coverage soon.  It comes with a 13 foot radial wire and has a max output of 30 watts.
Depending on the size of your balcony a wire antenna dipole antenna can be used. When we were looking at condos some balcony's were huge and could support a homemade wire dipole antenna. Two antennas I have tried that did not seem to work for me is a mono whip antenna mounted vertically  with pre-cut radials...did not work at all. I also could not get the MFJ 1788 to work horizontally at my new place I had to mount it vertically. I also tried mono whip antennas in a dipole configuration and it did work but way to large for the balcony.
In my next post I am going to talk about what modes of operation I found to work best for me and how it opened a new door for me in ham radio...........oh and by the way from my condo setup as I was writing this post I was able to make contact with IK4UPB on 20m.
Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].