Amateur Radio Weekly – Issue 304

Amateur Radio Weekly

New Elecraft KH1 Transceiver demo
Wayne Burdick N6KR Elecraft cofounder talking about the new KH1.
KE6MT

ISS SSTV Verification Test Oct 27-Nov 1
The SSTV system will be activated to attempt to verify a replacement piece of hardware.
AMSAT UK

Being a YL in Ham Radio
A personal experience.
OnAllBands

40th anniversary celebration of the positive impact of Amateur Radio on human spaceflight
Held February 22-24, 2024, at the NASA Kennedy Space Center Visitor Center.
ARISS

Eclipses do odd things to radio waves
An army of amateur broadcasters wants to find out why.
BBC

Linux Packeteering: The full service HF PBBS
How to set up your very own full service HF packet BBS on a Raspberry Pi.
N6CTA

Wind turbines for off grid radio: Pros and cons
Wind turbines, the forgotten stepchild of off grid power, deserves more attention.
Off Grid Ham

Listening to astronauts
All the elements screw together through the boom and so it makes it quick to put away and assemble.
GM5ALX

Video

K1N The Navassa Island DXpedition 2015
The complete video of the 2015 Navassa Island DXpedition.
HamRadioNow

USGS Shakeout exercise 2023 over Winlink: A video report
Participating in the USGS worldwide Winlink exercise.
LB4FH

Tape measure vertical on cheap dowel mast pulley system
Resonant on 5 bands.
HamJazz

Stealth foil antenna designed for a car sunroof
Simple antennas can bring joy and a sense of accomplishment.
Ham Radio Rookie

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Amateur Radio Weekly is curated by Cale Mooth K4HCK. Sign up free to receive ham radio's most relevant news, projects, technology and events by e-mail each week at http://www.hamweekly.com.

Hunting For NDBs In CLE279


Another month has zoomed by and it's CLE time once again. This is a challenge for all newcomers to NDB listening and the ultimate test of your medium frequency receiving capabilities. Can you meet the challenge?

'CLE's are 'Co-ordinated  Listening Events, and NDB DXers around the world focus their listening time on one small slice of  the NDB spectrum.
 
With the number of targets slowly being decommissioned, the hunting grounds have been slightly widened ... this month the frequency range is for the NDBs whose published frequencies are between 335.0 - 349.9 kHz

When tuning for NDBs, put your receiver in the CW mode and listen for the NDB's CW identifier, repeated every few seconds. Listen for U.S. NDB identifiers approximately 1 kHz higher or lower than the published transmitted frequency since these beacons are modulated with a 1020 Hz tone approximately.

For example, 'AA' near Fargo, ND, transmitted on 365 kHz and its upper sideband CW identifier was tuned at 366.025 kHz while its lower sideband CW ident could be tuned at 363.946 kHz. Its USB tone was actually 1025 Hz while its LSB tone was 1054 Hz.

Often, one sideband will be much stronger than the other so if you don't hear the first one, try listening on the other sideband.

Canadian NDBs normally have an USB tone only, usually very close to 400 Hz. They also have a long dash (keydown) following the CW identifier.

All NDBs heard in North America will be listed in the RNA database (updated daily) while those heard in Europe may be found in the REU database. Beacons heard outside of these regions will be found in the RWW database.

From CLE organizers comes the following info:

Hello all


Here are the full details for this weekend's co-ordinated listening event.
It is open to everyone including CLE new-comers:

    Days:       Friday 27 Oct. - Monday 30 Oct.

    Times:     Start and end at midday, LOCAL time at the receiver.

          NB:   Most of us are changing our clocks by one hour this weekend.

                   However UTC time (as shown in our logs) continues unaffected.   

    Range:     335.0 - 349.9 kHz

Wherever you are, please join us and log the NDBs that you can positively
identify that are listed in this busy frequency range (it includes 335.0 kHz
but not 350 kHz), plus any UNIDs that you come across there.

Short and long logs are welcome (in-between ones are good too!)

    Send your CLE log to the List, preferably as a plain text email
    (not in an attachment) with ‘CLE297 FINAL’ in its subject line.

    Please show on EVERY LINE of your log:
       #  The date (e.g. '2023-10-27' or just the day no. '27') and UTC
           (the day changes at 00:00 UTC).
       #  kHz  (
The beacon's nominal published frequency)

              If you don’t know it, please visit https://rxx.classaxe.com

              where you will find all the details.
       #  The Call Ident.

Show those main items FIRST on each line, before other optional 
details such as Location, Distance, etc.  If you send any interim logs during the event, please also send your 'FINAL', complete, log.

Always make your log interesting to everyone by giving details of your listening location (the 6-character Locator) and brief details of the receiver, aerial(s), etc., that you were using.


We will send the usual 'Any More Logs?' email at about 19:00 UTC
on Tuesday so that you can check that your log has been found OK.
Do make sure that your log has arrived on the List at the very latest
by 08:00 UTC on Wednesday 1 November.  We will then hope to 
complete making the combined results within a day or two.

You can find full information about current and past CLEs from the

CLE page https://www.ndblist.info/cle.htm.

You can also find your relevant seeklists made from REU/RNA/RWW by visiting https://rxx.classaxe.com/cle.


Good listening

 

   Brian and Joachim

   (CLE Coordinators)

(Reminder:  You could use any ONE remote receiver for your loggings, stating its location and owner - with their permission if required. A remote listener may NOT also use another receiver, whether local or remote, to obtain further loggings for the same CLE)

 _._,_._,_

CLE's provide several purposes. They:

• determine, worldwide, which beacons are actually in service and on-the-air so the newly-re-vamped Rxx online database can be kept up-to-date

• determine, worldwide, which beacons are out-of-service or have gone silent since the last CLE covering this range


• will indicate the state of propagation conditions at the various participant locations


• will give you an indication of how well your LF/MF receiving system is working


• give participants a fun yet challenging activity to keep their listening skills honed


Final details can be found at the NDB List website, and worldwide results, for every participant, will be posted there a few days after the event.


The NDB List Group is a great place to learn more about the 'Art of NDB DXing' or to meet other DXers in your region. There is a lot of good information available there and new members are always very welcome. As well, you can follow the results of other CLE participants from night to night as propagation is always an active topic of discussion.

You need not be an NDB List member to participate in the CLEs and all reports, no matter how small, are of much value to the organizers.

Remember - 'First-time' logs are always VERY welcome!

Reports may be sent to the NDB List Group or e-mailed to CLE co-ordinator, Brian Keyte (G3SIA), whose address appears above. If you are a member of the group, all final results will also be e-mailed and posted there.

Please ... give the CLE a try ... then let us know what NDB's can be heard from your location! Your report can then be added to the worldwide database to help keep it up-to-date.

Have fun and good hunting!


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

Rainy weekend adventure.

 


This weekend was the running of the Worked All Germany contests or WAG. This contest supports both CW and SSB within the same contest. As for me, it was strictly CW....go figure eh!. As happens now and then just before the contest there was an atmospheric burp and the K index moved to 5! The good thing about this is everyone is affected so your still kinda on the same playing field more or less. 


 

This is a 24-hour contest that starts at noon Saturday my time. With the poor solar conditions, there was lots of fading in and out (QSB). This resulted in lots of repeats and contacts that started at S7 and ended somewhere in the dust. I take this as an opportunity to sharpen my CW skills and learn more about the Icom 7610 filtering. This time around I took advantage of the two independent receivers the 7610 has. I had a split screen of the band I was on and the next band that could in time show some excitement. This came in very handy today when I noticed 10 meters coming to life. I swapped out 15m for 10m as it seemed to just jump to life. I had 51 contacts in just 1.5 hours and that was during so-so band conditions. I entered the contest as single operator/all band / low power (100 watts). It was a very rainy weekend here so that made it very easy to stay in the radio chair and plug along.


 


Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

ICQ Podcast Episode 415 – The Importance of WRC Agenda 9.1B

In this episode, we join Martin Butler M1MRB, Chris Howard (M0TCH), Martin Rothwell (M0SGL), Frank Howell (K4FMH), 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 in the episode's feature is The Importance of WRC Agenda 9.1B

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

  • Jamboree on the Air (JOTA)is on 20-22 October 2023
  • Presenter Opinion : Updating the Amateur’s Code
  • Web-based Antenna Designer and Calculator
  • ARRL Urges Comments to FCC on 60-Meter Band
  • ARRL Launches The NTS Letter
  • A book for all About POTA (Parks on the Air)
  • Using Amateur Radio to Play Chess
  • GigaParts Expands Facilities

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

AmateurLogic 186: 18 Years of AmateurLogic


AmateurLogic.TV Episode 186 is now available for download.

AmateurLogic.TV celebrates 18 years on the air.
George reviews the Craftsman Battery Powered Soldering Iron.
Jocelyn demonstrates the MFJ-1898 Portable HF + 6 Meter Antenna.
Emile introduces Outlook Package Message Manager.
Mike explores OpenWebRX +.
Announcing the winner of our 18th Anniversary contest and Icom IC-705 prize package giveaway.

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].

Amateur Radio Weekly – Issue 303

Amateur Radio Weekly

US Congressional Amateur Radio advocate not seeking reelection
Rep. Debbie Lesko recently introduced legislation to remove FCC symbol rate limit.
ABC 15

Revision of the RST standard for signal reporting
The time has arrived to adopt a new signal reporting system.
K8EBR

Meadow Day Experiment
Working Amateur Radio Operators using broadband Internet connectivity via Starlink.
N8GNJ

ARDC seeking committee members for 2024
ARDCs mission is to support, promote, and enhance communication science and technology, promote Amateur Radio, scientific research, education, development, open access, and more.
ARDC

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex
Live analog TV within voice bandwidth.
ZL2AFP

Signals – Museum of Information Explosion
New museum aims to foster appreciation for communication technology.
Signals

Using a municipal flagpole for an antenna
My municipal flagpole antenna was doing fine business.
Ham Radio Outside the Box

Madeira HF beacon CS3B destroyed in wildfire
The CS3B was part of the International Beacon Project.
EI7GL

Video

Ham Radio saves stranded motorist in New Jersey
There was no cell service to dispatch emergency services during Tropical Storm Ophelia.
KD2GIY

My Simple HF Ham Radio antenna and shack apartment setup
How I setup a 10m dipole, an MFJ BigStick and a shack with limited space, to produce the results I was looking for.
KI5IRE

2 meter band tape antenna is lightweight, portable
Duct tape, copper foil tape, and a way to connect to it can make for a amazing J-pole antenna.
Ham Radio Rookie

How to POTA and SOTA on VHF with a Technician License
Bring a chair, relax, enjoy the views, and most important have fun.
W6IWN

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Amateur Radio Weekly is curated by Cale Mooth K4HCK. Sign up free to receive ham radio's most relevant news, projects, technology and events by e-mail each week at http://www.hamweekly.com.

LHS Episode #520: Raspberry Jam

Hello and welcome to the 520th installment of Linux in the Ham Shack. In this short-topics episode, the hosts discuss several open source and ham radio topics. Topics include: student contacts with the ISS, solar eclipse studies, proposed changes to the 60-meter band, the latest Raspberry Pi OS, OpenWebRX and much more. Thanks for listening and have a great week.

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].

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