January is now in the rearview mirror and weather wise there was a mix of very warm weather (for January) of plus 12C, days with freezing rain and the occasional snowstorm of 37cm. I had a good month for radio, I was involved in some contests, WRTC competition more on that in another post. Then just some good all-around DX AP5A Barbados, S01SW Western Sahara, 5B4AMX Cyprus and CO8NMN Cuba. 

The space weather has been fantastic of late with some very surprising openings on 10m. Now into February by 2 days we have had cold weather. Last evening it was -25C and on Friday evening -30C with a wind chill of -47! I am staying indoors so bring on the DX!!

Most any Ham you talk to have heard or taken part in Field day that takes place each year in the summer. Over the years I have read blog posts regarding Winter Field Day but had not paid too much attention to it. I am not one to spend time outdoors in the winter on the radio. Winter is nice but not that nice, but this year I did some reading and there is a category for working this event from home! Now my wife did give me some advice telling me to at least open the window and rough it a bit with some cold air. Sorry, not for me I am a summer/warm-weather guy!
I entered CW only as my category and I found the event well attended and very relaxed compared to major CW contests. It is an event that I will add to my contest calendar for next year.

In this episode, we join Martin Butler M1MRB, Dan Romanchik KB6NU, Edmund Spicer M0MNG and Ed Durrant DD5LP to discuss the latest Amateur / Ham Radio news. Colin Butler (M6BOY) rounds up the news in brief and in the episode's feature is Workshop Experiments.

We would like to thank Martin Malley (WØZZK) and our monthly and annual subscription donors for keeping the podcast advert free. To donate, please visit - http://www.icqpodcast.com/donate

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YNE - 207 Norway House, MB (tnx ve3gop.com)

Yes! 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,

Do try not to miss our 288^th co-ordinated listening event - it starts this Friday at midday.  This could be an ideal CLE to try out for the first time, but everyone is welcome, as always, of course!

    Days:  Fri. 27th - Mon. 30th January, Midday-Midday, your local time

    NDBs  on frequencies from 190 - 239.9 kHz

    PLUS:  normal NDBs with carriers on 'half-way' frequencies ( nnn.5 kHz )

                from 190.5 - 999.5 kHz

So for all of us it is a CLE in two parts - the first part is hunting for the NDBs whose published frequencies are lower than 240 kHz.

The second part is hunting for the NDBs whose carrier frequencies are 'half-way'. 

E.g. 282.5 RT (AUI), 284.5 MH (TUA), 312.5 KML (SYR), 328 EGT (NIR), 400.5 COD (ITA).

The seek list below includes the ones that are more likely to be logged.

(Europe listeners will hear few or none from part 1, while the

listeners away from Europe will hear few or none from part 2)

Please send your final CLE log to the List, if possible as a plain text email and not in an attachment, showing 'CLE288' and 'FINAL' in its title.

(Loggings from both parts can be shown in the same list)

Please include on EVERY line of your log:

  #  The date (or just the day 'dd') and UTC (days change at 00:00 UTC).

  #  kHz - the beacon's nominal frequency.

  #  The Call Ident.

It is important to show those main items FIRST - any other optional details such as Location, Distance, etc., go LATER in the same line.

Don't forget to give your OWN location (your 6-character Locator if you know it please) and details of your receiver and aerial(s), etc.   Others will be interested to know, especially new members - and old ones with failing memories like mine!

Listening around the 'half-way' frequencies means we might also catch some interesting non-CLE beacons – you can tell us about those too, but in a separate list. 

Joachim and I will be processing the incoming logs as usual - please look out for our 'Any More Logs?' email at about 19:00 UTC on Tuesday evening, with a list to let you check that your own log has been found OK.

Do make sure that your log has arrived on the NDB List at the very latest by 08:00 UTC on Wednesday.

Good listening

   Brian and Joachim

  (CLE Coordinators)

If you wish you could use any one remote receiver for your loggings,

stating the location and owner - and with their permission if required.

A remote listener may NOT also use another receiver, local or remote,

to make further loggings for the same CLE.

For your full seek list in the 190-240 kHz range just go to Rxx (https://rxx.classaxe.com/cle) for your part of the World.

Below is the seek list which includes the ‘nnn.5’ NDBs that are more likely to be heard.

Hello and welcome to Episode #494 of Linux in the Ham Shack. This is the first episode for 2023. To ease into the new year, the hosts have chosen a topic based purely in fun: playing games on Linux. Several options are explored and we take a quick look at the new LHS Minecraft server as well. Thanks for listening and have a great week.

73 de The LHS Crew

Join the Winter Field Day!

You do NOT have to operate from a cold location; home operation is an allowed category.

Winter Field Day is a communications exercise. WFD is held on the last full weekend in January. WFD can be worked from the comfort of your home or in a remote location. You can participate by yourself or get your friends, family, or whole club involved. Winter Field Day is open to participants worldwide. Amateur radio operators may use frequencies on the HF, VHF, or UHF bands and are free to use any mode that can faithfully transmit the required exchange intact. Similar to the ARRL’s Field Day, bonus points are earned in several ways, including using non-commercial power sources, operating from remote locations, satellite contacts, and more.

Winter Field Day

Winter Field Day is sponsored by the Winter Field Day Association. We passionately believe that Ham radio operators should practice portable emergency communications in winter environments as the potential for freezing temperatures, snow, ice, and other hazards present unique operational concerns. WFD is formatted to help increase your level of preparedness for disasters and improve your operational skills in subpar conditions. Click here to read more about the history and purpose of winter field day.

Do check out the rules, as there are some important things you must know.

During the last weekend in January, ham radio operators worldwide participate in Winter Field Day. We encourage you to grab your radio, get outside and join us during this uniquely challenging event. Click on the links below to view our 2023 Rules and our Resources page. The Resources page has a plethora of information, including FAQs, logging software recommendations, operating aids, and more.

Website: https://www.winterfieldday.com/