In this episode, we join Martin Butler (M1MRB), Chris Howard (M0TCH), 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 Your Ideas and Comments.

We would like to thank Roy Jones (VK6RR), Walter Washburn (KT0D), Gary Bridges (WA0VMV), John Bartlett (HK3C) and our monthly and annual subscription donors for keeping the podcast advert free. To donate, please visit - http://www.icqpodcast.com/donate

• Students Achieve Radio Surfer Awards
• Amateur Radio Fun in the Colorado Mountains
• URE Seeks Community Assistance with URESAT-1
• Presenter Opinion : CHOTA 2023
• FCC Recruiting Field Agents
• ARRL Membership Dues Increases from 2024
• BiWota - British Inland Waterways on the Air 2023

Ham College episode 103 is now available for download.

Extra Class Exam Questions – Part 41
E8C Digital signals: digital communication modes, information rate vs. bandwidth,
error correction.

Download
YouTube

Hello and welcome to Episode #511 of Linux in the Ham Shack. In this short topics episode, the hosts discuss the National Boy Scout Jamboree, SOTA activations in Colorado, volunteerism in amateur radio in Sacramento, commercial radio in the HF bands, Snowstorm, Linux on the desktop, COSMIC, Proton Pass and much more. Thank you for listening and have a great week.

73 de The LHS Crew

YZS-362 Coral Harbor, NU (ve3gop.com)

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?

From CLE organizers comes the following info:

Hello all,

Our 294th Co-ordinated Listening Event is almost here.

First time CLE logs too?  Yes, please! 

Short logs are always as welcome as long ones.

 Days:     Friday 28 July - Monday 31 July

Times:   Start and End at midday, your LOCAL time

Range:   350.0 - 369.9 kHz   

Please log all the NDBs you can identify that are listed in this range (it includes 350 kHz but not 370) plus any UNIDs that you come across there.

Send your final CLE log to [email protected], preferably as a plain text email, not in an attachment and - important - with 'CLE294' and 'FINAL' in its title.

Please show the following main items FIRST on EVERY line of your log:

#   The Date (e.g. 2023-07-28) or just the day (e.g. 28)

#   The Time in UTC (the day changes at 00:00 UTC).

#   kHz - the beacon's nominal published frequency, if you know it.

#   The Call Ident.

Optional details, such as Location and Distance, go LATER in the same line.

Please make your log useful to everyone by including your listening location, its 6-character Maidenhead Locator if you know it, and brief details of the receiver and aerial(s).

We will send the usual 'Any More Logs?' email at about 19:00 UTC on Tuesday so you can check that your log has been found OK.

To be included in the combined results, do make sure that your log has arrived on the List by 08:00 UTC on Wednesday 2 August at the very latest.

 We hope to make all the combined results within a day or so.

 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 & Joachim

(CLE coordinators)

(Reminder:         If you wish you can use a remote receiver for your loggings, stating its location and owner -  with their permission if required.

CLE's provide several purposes. They:

The MFJ loop covered and ready to go into service.

 In part 2 of antenna challenges, I want to dive into living in a condo and getting on the air. Many amateur operators at some time have found themselves moving into an apartment to save for a home or downsizing into a condo when the house has grown too big. 

This lifestyle does not mean the radio hobby is tossed. Most of us find our radio hobby adds pleasure to one's day. For me when I was in a condo it meant just another hurdle to overcome toward getting on the air. In my readings, I have seen hams who have erected wire, mobile whips and so on. I have never tried any of these and if you have please do share what you have tried. The condos that I have lived in were heavy on condo cop protection and the list was long as to what could and could not be on a balcony. One of the items on the list was antennas and as for me, I look at that as where there is a will there is a way!

Yearly checkup

 In all the condos I have lived in I have always had a balcony to take advantage of for an antenna. After investigating many antennas the best solution (a pricey solution) was a mag loop antenna for the balcony. It offered a small size, if needed it could be taken in and out from the balcony and as well its multi-band antenna. In the past, I have had mag loops such as an AEA isoloop, Chameleon P-loop and Alex loop. I planned to leave the loop on the balcony and not have to run in and out to tune the loop. I ended up purchasing the MFJ 1786 mag loop and this loop gave me the desired remote band tuning I wanted. I then purchased a tripod to mound the loop and next was how to conceal the loop. I ended up getting a patio furniture cover which looked great and to the condo cops, it was just another piece of patio furniture on the balcony. I was thrilled the cover did not affect the SWR at all as I was prepared to remove the cover during operation and then cover it once done. The mag loop had to be moved around the balcony for the best overall SWR. This took some time and once done I marked the balcony floor with a permanent marker. Also in the front of the loop is a round copper wire and by changing its shape also can help with improving the SWR.

Changing the shape improves SWR

This way when it was stored in the corner during non-use I was able to put it in the right spot for best operation. The loop was very fussy and putting the loop in the exact spot was important for the best possible SWR. The loop was tried both in the vertical and horizontal position. I was not able to get a decent SWR when the loop was mounted vertical. I ended up using it in the horizontal position. This was also great for the cover as it looked like a patio table I was covering. I used the Comet CTC-50M (flat coax cable) to feed out the sliding glass door so the coax would be permanent as well. This setup allowed me to place the antenna in position and start operating. Again in this configuration, I was strictly CW and I also added digital communications as well. I admit it is not an ideal situation but it got me on the air and making contact.
In my third and final antenna challenge post I want to share some other antennas I have tried some failed, some worked and others were crazy and worked. After using the loop for a short while I became very fast at tuning the loop. I also found in the summer if the humidity was high it would affect the SWR. Once a year I took the loop in for an inspection and remove any bugs that made the loop home.

The Ham Nation folks invited me on to talk about the Colorado 14er Event last night. Thanks for the invite! This turned out to be a concise look at the 14er event with lots of great photos of past operations.

Here’s the video (my segment was 20 minutes long):

We have lots of information on the event at ham14er.org.

73 Bob K0NR

The post Colorado 14er Event on Ham Nation appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site.