AmateurRadio.com

Friday
9:15 – 10:50 TAPR Forum
10:30 – 11:30 Instructor’s Forum
Noon – 1:00 D-Star Forum
1:00 – 2:15 Techniques of Best Operators Forum
2:30 – 5:00 Antenna Forum

Saturday
9:15 – Noon Youth Forum
10:45 – 12:15 AMSAT Forum
1:30 – 2:30 MESH Forum
2:15 – 3:30 System Fusion Forum
3:30 – 5:00 DX Forum

Sunday
9:15 – 10:15 West Mountain Radio Forum
10:30 – 11:30 Tower Safety Forum

Matt Thomas, W1MST, is the managing editor of AmateurRadio.com. Contact him at [email protected].

Dayton is often the place where ICOM and Yaesu announce new products. I’d like to see a replacement to the FT817 from Yaesu, but have all but given up hope. Certainly a few years ago they would have released at a time of sunspot peak. As it is, we have years of falling conditions, so not the best “window of opportunity.”

Roger Lapthorn, G3XBM, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Cambridge, England.

AmateurLogic.TV Episode 104 is now available for download.

Peter upgrades his BitX40. Tommy meets Buster D-Star for the Mac. Emile experiments with D-Rats. George tests the MFJ Receiving Loop Antenna. Plus a New Zealand Taste Test.

1:17:38

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].

G3XBM's 5W Earth-Mode Tx (courtesy: G3XBM)

My interest of late has been piqued by the ongoing VLF experimental work by several European amateurs.








Recalling that Roger, G3XBM, did some VLF experimenting a few years ago, I have been reviewing some of the excellent hands-on information gathered and published in his ham radio blog and to some of his other VLF pages.

It's not the first time that I have found project-inspiring reading within Roger's blogs. They really are a treasure-trove of useful information, construction notes and accumulated test data gathered from his methodical approach to so many interesting topics ... experimental amateur radio at its very best.

A few years ago I was immediately hooked by his experimental lightwave work, both line-of-sight and clear-air / cloudbounce scatter ... so much so that I also became involved in some lightwave work with other locals who were also inspired by Roger's information, culminating in our own West Coast Lightwave Adventure.

Roger's VLF experiments are also proving hard to resist, especially those of the earth-mode type and I may find myself falling victim to his detailed Sub 9kHz Amateur Radio pages and the Earth Mode pages in particular.

It seems that most amateur VLF work is being done in the vicinity of 8kHz since this part of the frequency spectrum is unassigned. I gather that one can conduct earth-mode tests in any portion of the VLF spectrum since no signal is being 'radiated' as is typically done via antennas. Further investigation remains to see if I need a 'developmental licence' to conduct some radiated (non-earth-mode) experiments in the 8kHz range as well.

Getting a VLF signal from here on Mayne Island across Georgia Strait via earth-mode or via conventional methods would make an interesting challenge and would certainly result in some new homebrewing opportunities.

courtesy: https://www.google.ca/maps

Here on the island, I often hear audio associated with the container terminal and ship-loading operations near Tsawwassen, directly across the strait from here. I feel that this may be aided somewhat by the solid sandstone of the island being directly connected to the other side, so perhaps an earth-mode system utilizing the ocean as one-leg of a buried loop might be an interesting experiment to tackle ... or groundwave transmissions across the ocean via an antenna, to the other side, providing I could find someone to listen.

I see just two Canadian amateurs experimenting on VLF ... VO1NA (Joe) and VA3VVV (John) near Toronto. Any VE3's in the area who are interested in VLF may wish to contact John and exchange notes. He has a Facebook page showing his VLF setup. Interestingly, Joe's 30W VLF signal on 8.270 kHz has just crossed the Atlantic! Joe is documenting his VLF experiments here.

All of G3XBM's VLF blogs can be downloaded for reading or for printing via this link. Similarly, his lightwave experiments can all be found here ... both links will yield several pages of material if you click on the 'Older Posts' link at the bottom of each page.

The best way to follow these is chronologically which requires going all the way to the end of the final 'OlderPost' link and follow along with Roger as he gradually develops, evaluates and improves the gear that he needs to make progress. This is fascinating reading.

But be suitably warned ... you may readily fall victim to his experimental work as well and suddenly find yourself with another exciting project!
Steve McDonald, VE7SL, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from British Columbia, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

G3XBM's 5W Earth-Mode Tx (courtesy: G3XBM)

My interest of late has been piqued by the ongoing VLF experimental work by several European amateurs.








Recalling that Roger, G3XBM, did some VLF experimenting a few years ago, I have been reviewing some of the excellent hands-on information gathered and published in his ham radio blog and to some of his other VLF pages.

It's not the first time that I have found project-inspiring reading within Roger's blogs. They really are a treasure-trove of useful information, construction notes and accumulated test data gathered from his methodical approach to so many interesting topics ... experimental amateur radio at its very best.

A few years ago I was immediately hooked by his experimental lightwave work, both line-of-sight and clear-air / cloudbounce scatter ... so much so that I also became involved in some lightwave work with other locals who were also inspired by Roger's information, culminating in our own West Coast Lightwave Adventure.

Roger's VLF experiments are also proving hard to resist, especially those of the earth-mode type and I may find myself falling victim to his detailed Sub 9kHz Amateur Radio pages and the Earth Mode pages in particular.

It seems that most amateur VLF work is being done in the vicinity of 8kHz since this part of the frequency spectrum is unassigned. I gather that one can conduct earth-mode tests in any portion of the VLF spectrum since no signal is being 'radiated' as is typically done via antennas. Further investigation remains to see if I need a 'developmental licence' to conduct some radiated (non-earth-mode) experiments in the 8kHz range as well.

Getting a VLF signal from here on Mayne Island across Georgia Strait via earth-mode or via conventional methods would make an interesting challenge and would certainly result in some new homebrewing opportunities.

courtesy: https://www.google.ca/maps

Here on the island, I often hear audio associated with the container terminal and ship-loading operations near Tsawwassen, directly across the strait from here. I feel that this may be aided somewhat by the solid sandstone of the island being directly connected to the other side, so perhaps an earth-mode system utilizing the ocean as one-leg of a buried loop might be an interesting experiment to tackle ... or groundwave transmissions across the ocean via an antenna, to the other side, providing I could find someone to listen.

I see just two Canadian amateurs experimenting on VLF ... VO1NA (Joe) and VA3VVV (John) near Toronto. Any VE3's in the area who are interested in VLF may wish to contact John and exchange notes. He has a Facebook page showing his VLF setup. Interestingly, Joe's 30W VLF signal on 8.270 kHz has just crossed the Atlantic! Joe is documenting his VLF experiments here.

All of G3XBM's VLF blogs can be downloaded for reading or for printing via this link. Similarly, his lightwave experiments can all be found here ... both links will yield several pages of material if you click on the 'Older Posts' link at the bottom of each page.

The best way to follow these is chronologically which requires going all the way to the end of the final 'OlderPost' link and follow along with Roger as he gradually develops, evaluates and improves the gear that he needs to make progress. This is fascinating reading.

But be suitably warned ... you may readily fall victim to his experimental work as well and suddenly find yourself with another exciting project!
Steve McDonald, VE7SL, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from British Columbia, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

Here’s some more wonderful stuff flowing from the internet.

The FCC slams police radio jammer with a $400k fine. Yay, FCC.

Gary KN4AQ (HamRadioNow.tv) explains that YOU SHOULD NOT CALL CQ ON A REPEATER. Or something like that.

Remember, if Summits On The Air is taking over your life, SOTANA May Be Right For You. Ask your doctor before taking any medication.

Here’s a fun video from Keysight Technologies that explains electrical current. What is Electric Current?

Check out the Yaesu FT-65 product review on HamRadioSchool.com.

If you are using DMR, take a look at this list of DMR talkgroups on the Utah DMR web site.

I wrote a Shack Talk article about radio frequency nomenclature: HF/VHF/UHF…stuff like that. What the Heck is UHF Anyway?

The Dayton/Xenia Hamvention is coming up next weekend. There’s some good info available on the Hamvention web site.

Field Day is coming up June 24-25, see the full information here.  Get your Field Day supplies from the ARRL here. Check out the professional Field Day promotional video from the ARRL. Nice job, ARRL HQ!

The post This Spewed Out of the Internet #34 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].

An update from my last post regarding my Chameleon CHA P Loop antenna, the antenna bag zippers were repaired and the cost was 40.00 Canadian. I decided  to have some heavy duty zippers installed and I emailed DX Engineering and we agreed the cost would be 50/50. I submitted the bill to Maria at DX Engineering and to my surprise the total amount was covered! I emailed Maria about this and she told me she took the bill to her boss and he informed Maria to cover the whole cost. DX Engineering for sure is a class act!!
Lets move along to another class act.....I have been using Win4k3 suite software for rig control for over a year now. Tom VA2SFQ has software what will work with the Elecraft K3,K3S, KX3 and KX2. Tom has been updating the software on a very consistent basis. The software is very stable one just has to read Eham to see it's rated 4.9 out of 5. I have emailed Tom with some questions and he has replied very fast with a solution. Recently I had some issues and we were emailing back and forth to try to bring things to a resolution. On the weekend Tom asked me if I had Teamviewer (and I do) he wanted to use Teamviewer to take control of my PC and solve my issue once and for all. On Saturday evening I received a call from Tom on my cell and we linked my PC via Teamviewer and Tom took control. Tom stuck with me for 40 mins and he solved my issue and I was up and running again. I have never in all my days had this type of customer service. It is very obvious that Tom is committed to not only his software but to his customers. Tom was very pleasant on the phone as he sorted out the problem.
Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].