AmateurRadio.com

It’s just about time to celebrate another birthday at ALTV. We’ve teamed up with Icom and MFJ for another great giveaway. Get the complete details at: www.amateurlogic.tv/contest
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].

courtesy: VK3BVW

Every once in awhile I get the yen to tune through the international SW broadcast bands as my interest in good old, basic SWL'ing, is rekindled.

These bands are certainly quieter compared to when I first discovered the magic of radio and started DXing at age eleven using a lovely old all band cathedral-style GE set up in my attic-high radio shack ... no longer just a boring attic bedroom, but one with walls plastered with QSLs from all over the world.




It was an amazing experience and one that obviously has left a lasting impression. There were hundreds and hundreds of stations on SW, throughout all of the HF bands but the highest I could tune was 19mc. on the old General Electric beauty ... who knows what was missed up higher as this was the peak of Cycle 19 and HF was on fire!

As the huge decline in international SW broadcasting over the past few years continues, I'm always pleasantly surprised to see that there are still a lot of nice DX targets to hunt for.

I was particularly excited to read Rob's (VK3BVW) just released blogspot, describing his fall listening project from down-under. Being the DX season down in Australia, Rob decided to do daily bandscans of the low HF international SW bands (4.8 - 10MHz) to see what popped-up from day to day, which was actually afternoon to afternoon, since his listening was done between noon and 4PM local time. The project may be viewed here along with a nice introductory video ... in all, a huge effort by Rob with a lot of helpful details to go along with the logs.

While there be sure to visit the rest of Rob's SW blog ... there's a lot of good stuff here to get your SWL juices flowing!

His survey results are very encouraging for those of us that may have thought that there is just not much to be heard when it comes to international SW broadcasting. As Rob points out, even though these logs reflect what was heard in Australia, most, if not all should be hearable in North America as well, even more so as we approach the DX season in North America.

So pull up your chair sometime after dark, grab a cup of your favorite beverage, and take a relaxing tune through the SW bands with Rob's list in hand ... see what you can find, and perhaps rekindle that early fascination in SW radio outside of the ham bands that may have hooked you many years ago. You may also find this broadcast frequency database helpful should you run across something unknown.
Steve McDonald, VE7SL, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from British Columbia, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

courtesy: VK3BVW

Every once in awhile I get the yen to tune through the international SW broadcast bands as my interest in good old, basic SWL'ing, is rekindled.

These bands are certainly quieter compared to when I first discovered the magic of radio and started DXing at age eleven using a lovely old all band cathedral-style GE set up in my attic-high radio shack ... no longer just a boring attic bedroom, but one with walls plastered with QSLs from all over the world.




It was an amazing experience and one that obviously has left a lasting impression. There were hundreds and hundreds of stations on SW, throughout all of the HF bands but the highest I could tune was 19mc. on the old General Electric beauty ... who knows what was missed up higher as this was the peak of Cycle 19 and HF was on fire!

As the huge decline in international SW broadcasting over the past few years continues, I'm always pleasantly surprised to see that there are still a lot of nice DX targets to hunt for.

I was particularly excited to read Rob's (VK3BVW) just released blogspot, describing his fall listening project from down-under. Being the DX season down in Australia, Rob decided to do daily bandscans of the low HF international SW bands (4.8 - 10MHz) to see what popped-up from day to day, which was actually afternoon to afternoon, since his listening was done between noon and 4PM local time. The project may be viewed here along with a nice introductory video ... in all, a huge effort by Rob with a lot of helpful details to go along with the logs.

While there be sure to visit the rest of Rob's SW blog ... there's a lot of good stuff here to get your SWL juices flowing!

His survey results are very encouraging for those of us that may have thought that there is just not much to be heard when it comes to international SW broadcasting. As Rob points out, even though these logs reflect what was heard in Australia, most, if not all should be hearable in North America as well, even more so as we approach the DX season in North America.

So pull up your chair sometime after dark, grab a cup of your favorite beverage, and take a relaxing tune through the SW bands with Rob's list in hand ... see what you can find, and perhaps rekindle that early fascination in SW radio outside of the ham bands that may have hooked you many years ago. You may also find this broadcast frequency database helpful should you run across something unknown.
Steve McDonald, VE7SL, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from British Columbia, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

In March 2013 The Voice of America (VOA) started an experiment called the VOA Radiogram which transmitted digital text and images using the powerful 50 year old analog shortwave broadcast transmitter at the Edward R. Murrow Transmitting Station near Greenville, North Carolina.

The idea was anyone could receive the radiogram on any shortwave radio, even an inexpensive portable one with no SSB capability. By feeding the audio from the radio to a computer, either by a audio lead or even using the a microphone the listener could decode the text and images using simple software.

I had seen mention and reports on social media of people receiving them but somehow never got around to trying it myself.

VOA ended the experiment back in June this year a week before the retirement of the program producer Dr. Kim Andrew Elliott.  An offer to continue the broadcasts on a contract basis was declined^, so a follow-on show called Shortwave Radiogram began transmission from the WRMI Radio Miami International transmitting site in Okeechobee, Florida and Space Line in Bulgaria.

The Shortwave Radiogram transmission schedule is (at the time of writing and all times UTC)
Saturday 1600-1630 9400 kHz
Sunday 0600-0630 7730 kHz
Sunday 2030-2100 11580 kHz
Sunday 2330-2400 11580 kHz
All via WRMI except for 9400 kHz, which is via Space Line in Bulgaria.

I spotted a tweet a few weeks back (can't remember who from) mentioning the @SWRadiogram so my interest was piqued, I wasn't around for this weekends Saturday transmission in Europe but had a go on Sunday for the one from America. I wasn't expecting great things due to the levels of noise and poor conditions of late.

I have the decoding program FLdigi already installed on my computer for other datamodes and for information on how to decode the radiograms (sent using MFSK32) visit this page

On the 0600UTC transmission I managed just one poor image


 but during the Sunday 2030UTC transmission I got four decent images, the fifth was lost to QRM





I also made two short videos (on hand held mobile phone so a bit shaky) which show the incoming text and images.

Andrew Garratt, MØNRD, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from East Midlands, England. Contact him at [email protected].

Welcome, everyone, to another very late episode of Linux in the Ham Shack. This time around, our topics include the ARRL, the ARRL, the ARRL, patent trolls, tax evasion, Solus, PyQSO, operational best practices, the N1MM logger, peat, peat and peat. We hope you enjoy this and all of our episodes and we look forward to your feedback.

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].

Judy and I rode our bicycles from Andover to the Potter Place railroad station. I operated in the Worked All Europe contest and managed 9 countries in 20 minutes. The weather was perfect and 20 meters was in good shape.

What a day for a bike ride… a perfect August afternoon. It was nearly 80F with a nice breeze. We arrived at Potter Place around 3:00 pm. I tossed a half wave wire over a maple tree on the hill over looking the old station. There was a picnic table directly underneath. I used the KX3 on 20 meters.

The band was full of stations operating in the WAE contest. I had no trouble making contacts. I’ve changed my log to show the countries worked.

13 Aug-17 1925 14.041 SN7Q CW 599 599 Poland
13 Aug-17 1927 14.036 OM3RM CW 599 599 Slovak Rep
13 Aug-17 1928 14.031 RU1A CW 599 599 Russia
13 Aug-17 1930 14.030 DM6V CW 599 599 Germany
13 Aug-17 1933 14.030 HG5F CW 599 599 Hungary
13 Aug-17 1935 14.019 S500R CW 599 599 Slovenia
13 Aug-17 1936 14.021 DP6A CW 599 599 Germany
13 Aug-17 1938 14.023 R6AF CW 599 599 Russia
13 Aug-17 1942 14.033 ED2A CW 599 599 Spain
13 Aug-17 1944 14.039 YO9HP CW 599 599 Romania
13 Aug-17 1945 14.043 9A1AA CW 599 599 Croatia

After nearly a dozen QSOs, I packed up for the return ride. The results from operating QRP out of a backpack with a short wire must be the closest thing to pure magic. Combined with a glorious bike ride… well… it’s fantastic!

Jim Cluett, W1PID, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Hampshire, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

Ham Cram is accepting registrations for an online guided-study Extra Class licensing course. The course begins in late September and is co-sponsored by the Gloucester County Amateur Radio Club, GCARC.

The W1UL ham cram method has four distinguishing characteristics:

• Incorrect answers are not studied
• Only those questions most likely to be on the VE test are studied
• It’s the fastest and most reliable path to a license or upgrade
• It’s free!

This course differs substantially from the normal Ham-Cram.com independent study license prep because the Extra class pool is 50% larger than the Technician or General Class pools, making associations between question and answers more difficult. In addition the Extra subject material is more challenging.

A required book is offered for free but donations are requested. The donations will be exclusively used to enhance the ham-cram.com website. The purpose of the book is showing pool questions and answers in context.

Here is the normal (non-context) display:

(E0A05) What is one of the potential hazards of using microwaves in the amateur radio bands?

The high gain antennas commonly used can result in high exposure levels

The answer follows the question.

Here is the same question in context:

(E0A05) What is one of the potential hazards of using microwaves in the amateur radio bands?

An antenna creates by taking energy that would normally radiate from the side or back of the antenna and concentrating it in the desired direction. Microwave frequencies have exceptionally short wavelength allowing development of antennas having substantially higher amounts of radiation (gain) raising the effective radiated power in the desired direction.

Contextual usage does not make you an expert but it gives you additional insight into the question and answer pair.
Candidates complete and report on their results of assignments and participate in discussions on a dedicated email reflector. The pace of the course is initially targeted at one subelement (out of 10) per week but actual progress depends upon the pace of candidate assignment completion.

For those with commuting distance of the GCARC clubhouse in Mullica Hill, NJ (across the river from Philadelphia), the course will terminate with a two hour review session immediately followed by a VE test. However, W1UL will conduct a review session and VE test for any club in the ARRL SNJ section or any location within 70 miles of Tuckerton, NJ provided there are at least three candidates, (not all necessarily from the same club), a club furnished location for the review/VE session and the club provides two additional Extra class VEs. For people not in the Southern NJ area the email reflector used for the rest of the course will host the review.

Reserve a virtual seat for the course now since reservations may be limited.

Email urb at ham-cram dot com with reservations request and questions.

73 Urb W1UL – 67 Years a Ham

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].