AH6TD - Amateur Radio Resources from Paradise

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-08-18

2011-08-19T05:30:00Z

#FF @HutchDeLoach @ac0ur @SM0RUX @yv5venet @kg8oc Aloha from Hawaii and have a great weekend, all! #

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Miscellaneous Notes About Ferrite Beads and Baluns

2011-08-08T05:47:43Z

Just some notes I made on a napkin while researching this, and thought I should capture it somewhere.

FB-102 and FB-124 have 1/2″ holes which are the right size for RG-8 Coax.

Mix 77 is better for 80/160 meters
Mix 64 is better for the higher frequencies (10 meters and up?)
Mix 43 is a good all-around general purpose mix

12 of the FB-77-1024 on a suitable length of RG-8 will have enough RF impedance along the outside of the shield to function as a good balun. Type 73 is actually recommended, but seemingly hard to find. Type 77 will work very well.

You’re welcome to share any additional pearls of wisdom with me on this subject by leaving a comment below. Otherwise, as I learn more about this subject, I’ll post my notes here.

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-04-28

2011-04-29T05:30:00Z

RT @RevMeKila I intend to live forever — so far, so good. ~Stephen Wright #

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2011-04-21

2011-04-22T05:30:00Z

Sometimes I think were alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we're not. In either case the idea is quite staggering. Arthur C Clarke #

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I Guess It’s True What They Say About 10 Meters

2011-04-02T00:44:44Z

I’ve been hearing that the higher bands have been open, but have not been able to check it out myself.

Today, I decided to take a moment, and go see. My first stop was 15 meters. It was dead as a doornail. Well, not exactly. I did hear some local sounds that sound like some kind of telemetry going on. I live near a navy base, so you never know what you may hear. I didn’t hear any CW going on. So I moved on.

I next went to 10 meters. I didn’t expect to find much there since 15 wasn’t sharing up any CW QSOs. I tuned around and was getting nothing, then I stumbled upon a ZL1 calling CQ. I would have happily answered back, but he was sending about 3 times faster than I can receive. I tried to get his whole call so I could ask him to slow down, but never could get the suffix. No matter, after he called CQ about 3 times, there were others on him and I felt like finding someone to send slower anyway. So I moved on.

I found 3 or 4 other QSOs going on, but very weak and I wasn’t able to pick out enough of the conversation to know what was really going on. So I found some unused bandwidth, and called CQ myself. At one point, I *thought* I heard a faint wisp of someone responding to my call. I’m still not sure if it was real or imagined. I called CQ a few more times, but wasn’t able to raise anyone. That’s OK. There’s always next time. Besides, I need to study my code a bit more anyway.

I know that there is a good deal of slow code frequencies and slow code nets down on 40 and 80 meters, but at the moment I’m not on 40 and 80 for anything other than NVIS, so I don’t hear them. Oh, if I only had acreage to build out an antenna farm!

My noise level on 10 meters was only about S-3, but the noise on 20, 40 and 80 meters is a lot higher here (S-7 and up). I’m seriously considering an active magnetic loop antenna. Supposed to be less noise prone. I don’t mind weak signals if the noise is down.

73…

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-12-30

2010-12-31T05:30:00Z

I never did a day's work in my life; it was all fun. -Thomas Edison #

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-12-16

2010-12-17T05:30:00Z

The trouble with quotes on the Internet is that you never know if they are authentic. –Abraham Lincoln #

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Propagation Report December 10, 2010

2011-04-02T00:42:28Z

ZCZC AP49
QST de W1AW
Propagation Forecast Bulletin 49 ARLP049
>From Tad Cook, K7RA
Seattle, WA December 10, 2010
To all radio amateurs

SB PROP ARL ARLP049
ARLP049 Propagation de K7RA

Average daily sunspot numbers for the week were up over nine points,
to 35, and average solar flux rose over six points to 87.3. These
differences compare the dates December 2-8 with the previous seven
days. Average planetary A index declined 2.5 points to 2.1, while
average mid-latitude A index dropped 1.1 points to 1.6. These are
nice numbers, with higher sunspot numbers accompanied by lower
geomagnetic indices.

Predicted solar flux for the near term is right near or slightly
above the average for the past week, at 87, 87, 88, 88, and 88 for
December 10-14. Predicted planetary A index for December 10-14 is 8,
10, 10, 8 and 5. Planetary A index is expected to remain around 5
from December 15-24.

Geophysical Institute Prague has a slightly different prediction for
the next seven days. They predict unsettled conditions for December
10-11, quiet to unsettled December 12, unsettled December 13, quiet
December 14 and quiet to unsettled December 15-16.

Note the period of somewhat unsettled geomagnetic activity centers
around this weekend, the dates for the ARRL 10 Meter Contest,
December 11-12. But only a mild increase in geomagnetic activity is
expected. The Geminid meteor shower peaks December 13-14, and could
provide some ionized trails enhancing 10 meter propagation.

This year’s 10 meter contest is the first time that Mexican states
will be counted as multipliers along with U.S. states and Canadian
provinces, as well as DXCC countries. You can see a map of the 32
Mexican states in PDF format at
http://www.dxxe.org/concurso/xe-mults.pdf. Complete contest rules
are at http://www.arrl.org/10-meter.

Ten meters offers many opportunities for working Mexico from other
North American locations this weekend. For instance, Distrito
Federal, which includes Mexico City, should be workable from Salt
Lake City from 1730-1900z, and possibly from 1700-2100z. The path
from the San Francisco Bay Area looks even better, with the
possibility of strong signals from 1700-2130z. From the Chicago
area, a likely opening is 1700-1830z, possibly open as early as
1630z and as late as 2000z. From Ohio the path looks good 1630-1930,
extending possibly 30 minutes early and an hour later. From
Winnipeg, Manitoba (VE4) the possibilities look excellent
1730-1900z, very good 1630-2030, and possibly extending to
1600-2100z.

If you want to use the predicted smoothed sunspot number with a
propagation prediction program for this month or next, you can find
the latest predicted values in the table on page 11 in issue
PRF-1840 at http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/weekly. The values are updated
there about every 4-5 weeks.

You can also do a peek into the future, as this table shows a
predicted smoothed sunspot number for December 2010 of 38, 74 in
December 2011, and 89 in December 2012. You can download W6ELprop
at http://www.qsl.net/w6elprop and run several instances of the
program at once, and flip back and forth, comparing projections for
2010 with 2011 and 2012. The 10 meter possibilities expand
dramatically during periods of higher solar activity.

During the weekend the STEREO craft will surpass 97.95% coverage of
the Sun. You can calculate an approximation of the coverage by
looking at http://stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov/where.shtml and noting
the number at the bottom, “Separation angle A with B.” When I look
at this early Friday morning, the number is 172.234, which
corresponds to about 97.84% coverage. Subtract the separation angle
from 180, then divide by 360, subtract the result from 1 and
multiply times 100. Or skip the subtraction from 1 to determine the
percent gap in the coverage.

To calculate the coverage at some time in the future, use the
“STEREO Orbit Tool” at http://stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov/where.
Just use any date and time you want to test, and use the same method
described above. At some point in early 2011 after STEREO reaches
100% coverage the gap will begin to grow again, but this time on the
earth-facing side of the Sun. The image will be filled in with data
from the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), which has a web page at
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sdo/main. In fact, the current
STEREO image (see http://stereo.gsfc.nasa.gov) already uses SDO data
for the Earth-facing side of our Sun, even though that may seem
redundant. But this probably assures us that the transition to 100%
coverage will be seamless.

Randy Crews, W7TJ of Spokane, Washington lives 231 miles almost
directly east of my home in Seattle. He’s at the eastern end of
Washington state, 15 miles from the Idaho border. Although his
latitude is slightly lower than mine, the exact beam heading is
slightly north of east at 89.3 degrees, instead of some fractional
amount south. Why is this? Because the shortest path is via the
great-circle route, and at 231 miles it is far enough to put the
path leaving my place just slightly north of east, even though he is
at 47.6017 degrees north latitude and I am at 47.6693 degrees north
latitude.

Randy has looked over his old station logs recently, and has
observations about the progress of Solar Cycle 24.

“Most don’t realize how low we went in the Cycle 23/24 low: Previous
cycles began with a Sunspot Number of 10-12. This cycle began with a
Sunspot Number of about 1.5!

“Usually the cycle bottoms and picks right up within 12-13 Months
from the low. Not the case with Cycle 24.

“This cycle has yet to see the Solar Flux above 100. By comparison,
Cycle 22′s official bottom was September of 1986, and as early as
April of 1987, Solar Flux Values were above 100 on many days (about
6 months later).

“With Cycle 24 (if you measure from the low of the lows (July/August
of 2008) we are past the 2 year point, measuring from October of
2009 (when the number of Cycle 24 spots exceeded the old number of
Cycle 23 spots) we are out over a year.

“I am grateful for what we have thus far. The High Bands are open
(17 meters consistently) which is a nice improvement and the higher
bands from time to time also which is a huge step from the long dry
spell in 2008.

“However, the bands have not really stepped into high gear. Flux
values consistently above 100 (years 2004/2005) would really move us
into the fast lane.”

Thanks, Randy!

If you would like to make a comment or have a tip for our readers,
email the author at, k7ra@arrl.net.

For more information concerning radio propagation, see the ARRL
Technical Information Service web page at
http://arrl.org/propagation-of-rf-signals. For an explanation of the
numbers used in this bulletin, see
http://arrl.org/the-sun-the-earth-the-ionosphere. An archive of past
propagation bulletins is at
http://arrl.org/w1aw-bulletins-archive-propagation. Find more good
information and tutorials on propagation at

http://mysite.ncnetwork.net/k9la/index.html.

Monthly propagation charts between four USA regions and twelve
overseas locations are at http://arrl.org/propagation.

Instructions for starting or ending email distribution of ARRL
bulletins are at http://arrl.org/bulletins.

Sunspot numbers for December 2 through 8 were 32, 27, 48, 47, 35,
34, and 22, with a mean of 35. 10.7 cm flux was 86.5, 86.8, 87.4,
87.9, 88.5, 87.1 and 87.2 with a mean of 87.3. Estimated planetary A
indices were 3, 1, 1, 1, 2, 4 and 3 with a mean of 2.1. Estimated
mid-latitude A indices were 1, 0, 1, 0, 3, 3 and 3 with a mean of
1.6.
NNNN
/EX

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DX Report December 9, 2010

2011-04-02T00:42:09Z

SB DX @ ARL $ARLD051
ARLD051 DX news

ZCZC AE51
QST de W1AW
DX Bulletin 51 ARLD051
>From ARRL Headquarters
Newington CT December 9, 2010
To all radio amateurs

SB DX ARL ARLD051
ARLD051 DX news

This week’s bulletin was made possible with information provided by
NC1L, The Daily DX, QRZ DX, The Weekly DX, the OPDX Bulletin, DXNL,
Contest Corral from QST and the ARRL Contest Calendar and WA7BNM web
sites. Thanks to all.

TONGA, A3. Mike, KJ6BBP is QRV as A35MZ until December 20. He is
generally active on 20 meters using SSB in his spare time. QSL to
home call.

CUBA, CO. Operators CO8CY, CO8AW, and CM8WAL will be QRV as T48T
from Baracoa in the ARRL 10 Meter contest as a Multi Op/Multi
Mode/Low Power entry. QSL via operators’ instructions.

URUGUAY, CX. A group of operators are QRV as CW5R from Isla de
Lobos, IOTA SA-039, until December 13. Activity is on 80 to 6
meters using CW, SSB, RTTY and PSK31. QSL via CX2ABC.

SOUTH COOK ISLANDS, E5. Compton, VK2HRX will be QRV as E51HRX from
Rarotonga, IOTA OC-013, from December 13 to 20. He plans to be
active on 40, 20 and 6 meters. QSL to home call.

PHILIPPINES, DU. Peter, DK2PR is QRV as DU9/home call from
Mindanao, IOTA OC-130, until January 3, 2011. He may activate other
IOTA groups in this time. QSL to home call.

THAILAND, HS. Charly, K4VUD will be QRV as E2E in the ARRL 10 Meter
Contest using CW and SSB. QSL via HS0AC.

AUSTRIA, OE. Special event station OE40ADXB will be QRV from
December 15 to 31 in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the
Austrian DX Board. Activities will be on 80 to 10 meters using CW,
SSB and digital modes. QSL via OE1XBC.

CURACAO, PJ2. Operators K2PLF and N4RV are QRV as PJ2/home calls
until December 14. They will be active as PJ2T in the ARRL 10 Meter
contest as a Multi Op entry. QSL to home calls and PJ2T via N9AG.

BANGLADESH, S2. Operators JH1AJT, JJ1LIB, KL2A, DS4EOI and A51HI
will be QRV as S21FGC from Dhaka from December 16 to 21. Activity
will be on 160 to 10 meters, with an emphasis on 160, 80 and 40
meters, using CW and SSB. QSL via JH1AJT.

PALAU, T8. Operators JA1LPH and JG1IDX are QRV as T88SC and T88SQ,
respectively, until December 12. Activity is on 20, 15 and 10
meters. QSL to home calls.

BELIZE, V3. Robin, K4VU is QRV as V31RG and will be an entry in the
ARRL 10 Meter contest. QSL to home call.

AUSTRALIA, VK. Craig, VK4LDX will be QRV as home call/p from
Magnetic Island, IOTA OC-171, from December 10 to 12. Activity will
be on the HF bands. QSL to home call.

TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS, VP5. Noll, W9RN is QRV as VP5/home call
until December 13. In addition, he and other operators will be QRV
as VP5WW in the ARRL 10 Meter contest as a Multi Op entry. QSL via
operators’ instructions.

INDIA, VU. Special event station AT16BSG is QRV until January 10 in
commemoration of the 16th National Jamboree and Centennial Year of
Girl Guiding. Activity is on 40 and 20 meters. QSL via operators’
instructions.

CAMBODIA, XU. Nob, JA1FMZ is QRV as XU7FMZ until December 22. This
includes an entry in the ARRL 10 Meter contest. QSL direct to home
call.

LAOS, XW. Hiroo, JA2EZD is QRV as XWPA until January 9. There is
no number in his call sign. Activity will be on four HF bands. QSL
direct.

OPERATIONS APPROVED FOR DXCC CREDIT. The following operations are
approved for DXCC credit: Equatorial Guinea, 3C9B, 2010 operation;
Annobon, 3C0C, 2010 operation; Tunisia, 3V0A and 3V9A, 2010
operations; Democratic Republic of the Congo, 9Q/DK3MO, operations
commencing in 2007 to current dates; Tunisia, TS7TI and TS8P,
including their /p operations, 2010 operations; and Tunisia, TS9A,
2009 operation. If you had any of these operations rejected in
recent applications, send an email to dxcc@arrl.org to have your
record updated.

THIS WEEKEND ON THE RADIO. The ARRL 10-Meter Contest, QRP CW Fox
Hunt, NCCC CW Sprint Ladder, Feld Hell Sprint, MDXA PSK DeathMatch,
International Naval Contest, SKCC Weekend CW Sprint and the CQC
Great Colorado CW Snowshoe Run are all on tap for this weekend. The
QRP CW Fox Hunt and NAQCC Straight Key/Bug CW Sprint are scheduled
for December 15. The North American High Speed Meteor Scatter
Winter Rally runs from December 11 to 16. Please see December QST,
page 66 and the ARRL and WA7BNM contest web sites for details.
NNNN
/EX

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Propagation Report November 29, 2010

2010-11-30T04:30:00Z

SB PROP @ ARL $ARLP047
ARLP047 Propagation de K7RA

ZCZC AP47
QST de W1AW
Propagation Forecast Bulletin 47 ARLP047
> From Tad Cook, K7RA
Seattle, WA November 29, 2010
To all radio amateurs

SB PROP ARL ARLP047
ARLP047 Propagation de K7RA

Average daily solar flux declined this week over 36 points compared
to last week, to 24.6. Our reporting week, which ran until November
24, showed the daily sunspot number declining from 40 to 11, but on
November 25 the sunspot number rose to 22.

Sunspot group 1125 disappeared on November 17, and on November 20
sunspot group 1124 was gone, after ten days of visibility. 1126 was
gone on November 23 (after 11 days), and 1127 is still visible after
ten days. On November 25 new sunspot group 1128 arose near the
eastern horizon, and may provide some needed propagation juice for
this weekend’s CQ World Wide CW DX Contest.

Solar flux during this week went from a high of 86.5 to 74.8, and
the predicted solar flux for November 26-30 is 78, 78, 79, 80 and
80. Solar flux is predicted at 78 for December 1-3, then 85 on
December 4-11 and 90 on December 12-14. Perhaps this bodes well for
the ARRL 10 meter Contest, December 11-12. That contest is also
during a time when ionization from meteors may enhance 10 meter
propagation.

The above solar flux forecast is from NOAA and USAF, and they say
planetary A index should be stable for the next couple of weeks,
with the index at five for November 26 through December 10.
Geophysical Institute Prague has a different outlook. They also say
that for the next week, look for quiet conditions November 26,
quiet-to-unsettled November 27, unsettled November 28,
quiet-to-unsettled November 29, and quiet November 30 through
December 2.

This weekend the STEREO mission (see http://stereo.gsfc.nasa.gov/)
will achieve 97.3% coverage. This means that only 2.7% of the Sun
is now not visible to us, and that is in the area on the side of the
Sun facing away from Earth. STEREO will achieve 98.7% coverage by
the end of this year, and should finally achieve 100% coverage some
time on February 6, 2011.

Things are still looking up in terms of increasing sunspot activity.
The first 25 days in November had an average daily sunspot number of
38, compared to 18, 23.1, 28.2, 35.7 and 35 for June through
October. If this average continues through the next five days,
November will have the highest monthly average of daily sunspot
numbers since May, 2006 when it was 39.6.

A brief report from Pete Heins, N6ZE of Thousand Oaks, California
(DM04): On November 19 at 0056 UTC with 100 watts and a vertical he
worked VP8LP in the Falkland Islands, with S5 reports both
directions. VP8LP was working mostly W6, W7 and VE7. For details
on Pete’s VHF exploits, see http://www.qrz.com/db/n6ze.

Larry Jones, K5ZRK of Sandersville, Mississippi lives on the edge of
the Tallahala Swamp. He wrote, “I operate only 30 and 60 meters. On
60 meters I have a separate receive antenna. The morning of November
17 while in QSO with Les, KG4QZV (in Rome, Georgia, about 300 miles
away), after Les un-keyed I heard a very distinct echo off his
signal. We were on 5.3465 MHz. The echo had less signal strength
than Les’s originating signal. I have only heard this happen once
before on 60 meters and I chase the gray line on this band every
day. Is this long path or diversity reception? I might also note
that the gray line was very productive this same morning.”

Hard to say what was causing that echo, but at 186,000 miles per
second, a 30 ms echo could emerge if the signal traveled 2700 miles,
bounced, and covered the same distance back. Seems unlikely to be
long path, but perhaps that gray line was propagating that signal a
long distance, and propagating the echo back.

Read more about Larry’s QRP activity on 30 and 60 meters at

http://www.qrz.com/db/k5zrk.

Some readers who read this bulletin in the html version on the ARRL
web site had trouble linking to the PDF provided by Dean Straw, N6BV
last week. Try the text version at
http://www.arrl.org/w1aw-bulletins-archive/ARLP046/2010 and
right-click and save via the link provided for the PDF of “Seeing
the HF Propagation Big Picture.”

Carl Luetzelschwab, K9LA has a piece on HF circular polarization in
his Propagation column in the current issue of World Radio at

http://www.worldradiomagazine.com.

Thanks to K1SFA for posting this bulletin to the ARRL web site from
her home on Friday, November 26. The email version won’t propagate
until Monday, November 29.

If you would like to make a comment or have a tip for our readers,
email the author at, k7ra@arrl.net.

http://mysite.ncnetwork.net/k9la/index.html.

Monthly propagation charts between four USA regions and twelve
overseas locations are at http://arrl.org/propagation.

Instructions for starting or ending email distribution of ARRL
bulletins are at http://arrl.org/bulletins.

Sunspot numbers for November 18 through 24 were 40, 37, 24, 25, 23,
12, and 11, with a mean of 24.6. 10.7 cm flux was 86.5, 84, 79.8,
77.6, 74.8, 75.3 and 75.8 with a mean of 79.1. Estimated planetary A
indices were 5, 2, 2, 3, 4, 8 and 4 with a mean of 4. Estimated
mid-latitude A indices were 4, 2, 2, 2, 4, 7 and 3 with a mean of
3.4.
NNNN
/EX

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AH6TD - Amateur Radio Resources from Paradise

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