AMATEUR RADIO NEWS FROM THE NET

10326- 10360 of 10368 News Items

President Rick Roderick, K5UR, Heads ARRL Group on FCC Visits President Rick Roderick, K5UR, and members of the ARRL Board’s Executive Committee undertook a round of visits to FCC Headquarters in Washington on November 4 and 5. Topics focused on a number of pressing amateur radio-related issues. In addition to Roderick, members of the ARRL contingent included Atlantic Division Director Tom Abernethy, W3TOM; New England Division Director Fred Hopengarten, ... Via the ARRL: Amateur Radio News from Antarctica In Antarctica, Chris Cianflone, W2RTO, is on the air from KC4USV at McMurdo Station, mostly operating FT8 on 14.075 MHz. The station has a tribander for 20, 15, and 10 meters and a Kenwood TS-480 feeding a 500 W amplifier, which, he said “sounds like it’s on its last legs.” Given the 24 hours of daylight this time of year and the challenging terrain, the lower bands are unusable in Antarctica, ... SAQ, Sweden’s Alexanderson Alternator, Announces Scheduled Christmas Eve Transmission SAQ, the call sign of the 1920s vintage Alexanderson transmitter in Grimeton, Sweden, is set to be on the air for its annual Christmas Eve transmission. SAQ transmits CW with up to 200 kW on 17.2 kHz. Tune-up is scheduled to begin at around 0730 UTC, with the holiday message transmitted on December 24 at 0800 UTC. SAQ will livestream the event. SAQ has introduced a new reception report form for... W1AW to be on the Air for Winter Field Day Members of the Warren County (New York) Amateur Radio Club (W2WCR) will activate Maxim Memorial Station W1AW for Winter Field Day 2020 over the January 25 – 26 weekend. Winter Field Day is sponsored by the Winter Field Day Association (WFDA), which believes that emergency communication is important throughout the year. Winter Field Day is open to radio amateurs worldwide. Radio Amateurs of Canada Announces a New Section The number of Sections needed for a clean sweep in the ARRL November Sweepstakes (SS) will rise to 84 in 2020, with the addition of a new Prince Edward Island (PE) Section. Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC) announced this week that the new Section will become effective on April 1.RAC said its Prince Edward Island members have been working for some time to create a separate Section for RAC ARES act... New tropo records on 2m and 70cm Congratulations to Ian, GM3SEK who set a new 70cm world record distance on tropo on 28 December 2019 by working D41CV at a distance of 4,565km. That put him in the unique position of holding both EME and tropo records on that band as, back on 12 March 1989, he worked ZL3AAD at 18,970km. On 1 January 2020, Callum, GM0EWX on the Isle of Skye managed to work D41CV on 2m FT8. This now extends the 144MHz IARU Region 1 tropo record to 4,776km. Australian Bushfires Causing Major Telecommunication Outages, Hams Asked to Remain Alert Wireless Institute of Australia (WIA) President Greg Kelly, VK2GPK, says the bushfires in Australia have caused or are expected to cause significant disruption of telecommunication services in the states of Victoria and New South Wales. “The scope and range of these impacts is unknown at this stage but are predicted to cover all internet and phone (fixed and mobile) and other commercial radio s... Strong Earthquake Shakes Puerto Rico, ARES Standing By A strong magnitude 6.4 earthquake hit Puerto Rico early on January 7 on the heels of a smaller magnitude 5.8 tremor a day earlier. The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority reported widespread power outages after generating plants automatically activated protective shutdown systems following the earthquake. Puerto Rico Governor Wanda Vazquez Garced urged citizens to remain calm. Norway Experiences Unexpected Ground Current “Shockwave” Spaceweather.com reports that on January 6, unexpected electrical currents were detected in the soil of northern Norway starting at around 1930 UTC.“It seemed to be some kind of shockwave,” said Rob Stammes, who monitors ground currents at the Polarlightcenter geophysical observatory in Lofoten. “My instruments detected a sudden, strong variation in both ground currents and our local magnetic f... Earthquakes Compromised Power Generation Capacity, Puerto Rico Section Manager Says ARRL Puerto Rico Section Manager Oscar Resto, KP4RF, says small tremors continue on the island in the wake of the 6.4 magnitude earthquake that struck the southwestern part of the island on January 7. A magnitude 5.8 quake struck a day earlier. The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) reported widespread power outages after generating plants automatically activated protective shutdown s... A J-Pole for 2-meters and 70-cm An Easy Dual-Band VHF/UHF vertical Antenna made with a TV twin lead and coax cable 6-Band Windom antenna Theory and construction of a novel trapless center-loaded off-center-fed (cl-ocf) dipole or windom antenna for the 80, 40, 30, 20, 15 and 10m hf amateur radio (ham) bands How to make an end-fed antenna work Here is a sure fire way to make end-fed halfwave antennas fed with a 50 ohm coupler work - without long radials, grounds, chokes, voodoo. A magnetic loop antenna for HF Able to cover all frequencies between 3.5 and about 10 MHz, the loop described here is directional, does not require a radial system, and stands just 1.8 metres tall. Most parts needed can be purchased at a hardware shop. The antenna can be put together in an afternoon and requires only hand tools to assemble. It should cost less than sixty dollars to build. by Peter Parker VK3YE ex VK1PK Trapped dipole for 40-80-160 meters Build a space efficient trapped dipole antenna for 40-80-160 meter bands using RG-58 and PVC pipe by W8NX W5GI Mystery Antenna W5GI Mystery Antenna is a multi-band wire antenna that performs exceptionally well even though it confounds antenna modeling software. This antenna covers 80 to 6 meters with low feed point impedance and will work with most radios, with or without an antenna tuner. It is approximately 100 feet long, can handle the legal limit, and is easy and inexpensive to build. It is similar to a G5RV but a much better performer especially on 20 meters. Homebrew your own inductors Cannot find the inductors you need for an antenna, a tuner or amplifier ? Build your own it is easy! Article by W3JIP 40 Meters Wire Yagi Antenna A wire yagi antenna model, easy to build, made using inverted vee elements and requiring just one support by ve3vn Building Helical Antennas - Seattle Wireless Photos and comments on building an helical antenna for wifi Solar Terrestrial Activity Report Solar data with current solar status, forecast and propagation report IPS - HF Systems MUF maps and prediction charts These pages provide general propagation advice for HF communicators. Information available includes inferred global propagation conditions, real time HF fadeout coverage charts, regional ionospheric vertical MUF maps and Hourly Area Prediction charts for Astralia and Asia, Europe and North America N0NBH Solar Terrestrial Data Add Solar-Terrestrial data to your website, by adding a simple html code to your pages by Paul L Herrman Geophysical Alert Message wwv.txt Broadcast via WWV and WWVH at 18 and 45 minutes past the hour. This message is updated every 3 hours. Reports current Solar-terrestrial indinces, Solar Flux, A-index, K-Index, forecast for space weather storms. Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Environment Center Basics of Radio Wave Propagation Exaustive introduction to radio wave propagation, includes a very detailed glossary on common propagation terms, composed by AE4TM. Solar Cycle 24 Current status, prediction, solar weather for the solar cycle 24 by VE3EN DR2W - DX Propagation DX Propagation by DR2W! High resolution SNR maps in pseudo color. Propagation based on the actual sunspot number. VHF Propagation Maps Experimental maps that show real-time VHF propagation derived from analyzing data gathered from the APRS-IS network. On-Line HF Propagation Prediction *One single page* gives you an immediate overview of current shortwave propagation conditions at your location. DX.QSL.NET Propagation This page contains dynamically updated propagation information. Printable SWL QSL log template Free printable template for QSL log reports. Mainly for shortwave listening. Pdf file by Mike Chambers IT2002SWL Personal (b)log by a SWL in north Italy The DX Podcast A podcast devoted to long-distance radio reception on the AM broadcast band. AM, or Medium Wave (MW), signals can travel thousands of miles. Family Radio Family Radio (WYFR) - Oakland California, U.S.A. Prime Time Shortwave The latest shortwave broadcast schedules with listings by time, country and frequency plus a DX program guide. DX-Antwerp A Flemish association of shortwave listeners