2024-10-04
Made a change to the station
Primarily, removed the N5 and installed a VE3. VE2 if I operate across the river.
2023-07-01
2022-12-08
Not dead - Radio Hobby
Yeah, an email thread from 2020 regarding MW DXing (AM radio for the unafflicted). Nothing to add except that I do a column for IRCA in addition to LWCA and have volunteered to help with the WTFDA newsletter as they re-organize. I think a SWLing Post article I did made it into the CIDX Messenger as well. So serious about the radio hobby as I said.
On Sun, Nov 29, 2020 at 9:10 PM Pxxx Bxxxxxxx <xxxxxxx@gmail.com> wrote:
> What I have noticed is that as the average age of radio DX’ers has increased and sadly with more passing on, we don’t seem to have many people coming along as “the next generation” who are willing and able to take on the hobby and see these in to the future. Those younger people generally seem to fit in to the first group.
>
> How seriously do you take the radio hobby? Do you see yourself taking on a more active / driving role in the future? Where do you see the radio hobby in 10 – 20 years’ time?
The age thing is just demographics. We're still burning through a
large cohort born after WW2 and stretching to the mid-60s.
Demographers and especially marketers like to lump all those people
into the "baby boomer" category. Demographically, that's true (exact
endpoints vary by country) but marketing-wise, it's specious, IMHO.
As someone born at the tail-end of the period, I don't share a lot
culturally with someone born in '46 - I'm a space age kid (Rockets to
the moon every damn week when I was 6!!).
Anyway, there aren't as many kids coming in to replace the ones dying.
ARRL in the (US) amateur world is very "gray" and it certainly shows.
I'm 57 and am annoyed at how un-savvy they are about things including,
but not limited to, amateur radio itself! And I include most of the
Board and most of the staff in "they".
IRCA, too, is very gray but long-ago embraced an all-electronic
newsletter instead of staying burdened with a paper version - bravo!
(See also recent "reprint server" ... more evidence of forward
thinking)
I have to say, I take the hobby pretty seriously. If you get the
electronic version of LWCA's The Lowdown, you can see some evidence of
that in the issue that was just distributed. :-) I mean, there are
15 receivers that cover from about 150 kHz to 1.3 GHz within arm's
reach. Oh, wait ... some HTs, too. And an RTL-SDR Blog SDR. And
I've been a ham for ~30 years. And a scanner guy before that. And a
CBer before that. And a MW DX guy, at some level, the whole time.
It's all radio to me. I am listening to a radio now, tuned to 107.7
MHz, HD2, here in the OKC market. That's for entertainment. Most of
the time, I'm not so interested in the *content* of the transmission,
just the transmission itself. When people say "I have a cell phone
and can call anywhere in the world - why would I need a ham radio?" I
just smile and say "gosh I don't know", knowing that they Don't Get
It.
10-20 years out? Well, if I am around, I'd like to think there will
be SOMETHING to listen to. The folks propping up AM today will be
gone so I expect that unless AM station owners get with the program
and either embrace HD/MA3 mode or come up with something better (a
national network of 500 kW stations running DAB+?) there will be no AM
stations left. FM isn't much better off. Again, if station owners
can punch their way out of the paper bag they are in and made good use
of the opportunities that HDRadio provides them with (run those AM
programs on "HD4" and get rid of the RF part of your AM station) but
I'm not sure that will be enough. At home, people have the network
(I'n in the boonies and have 100 Mbit/s up/down) and seem to be
content with corporate spy devices for audio and other entertainment.
There is still a good market targeting people in cars, but more and
more people just stream their entertainment from their mobile
computing device (that people still insist are "phones") to the better
speakers of their car.
In the year 2040, if man is still alive (rhyme is lost - sorry), I
expect their will be stuff to listen to, but likely not Top 40 music.
2019-05-05
Why have a blog if you never blog? (US Amateur Radio tests)
No idea. But a good question.
I have nowhere more appropriate to post this article than this blog, though, and I thought I'd stick it here for posterity.
Test elements are created by the National Conference of Volunteer Examiner Coordinators. Pools for each element last for 4 years.
The current General pool expires on June 30, 2019, with a new one valid the next day. Tests administered on or before June 30 will draw from the current pool and tests administered on or after July 1, 2019, will be drawn from the new pool.
Any study guide or online practice site should make it clear from which pool its questions are being drawn.
Here's the thing: Regardless of which pool you use, the subject matter is the same (save for any pertinent rule changes). And beyond that, the questions themselves don't change a lot.
Example:
This question is from the 2015-2019 General pool:
G1A05 (A) [97.301(d)]
Which of the following frequencies is in the General Class portion of the 40-meter band?
A. 7.250 MHz
B. 7.500 MHz
C. 40.200 MHz
D. 40.500 MHz
This question is from the 2019-2023 General pool:
G1A05 (A) [97.301(d)]
Which of the following frequencies is in the General class portion of the 40-meter band in ITU Region 2?
A. 7.250 MHz
B. 7.500 MHz
C. 40.200 MHz
D. 40.500 MHz
See how it's changed?
The only thing that's different is that they've added "in ITU Region 2" (because the FCC has jurisdiction over territories that are in ITU Regions 1 and 3 - important if you live there, not important if you live here).
I have nowhere more appropriate to post this article than this blog, though, and I thought I'd stick it here for posterity.
Test elements are created by the National Conference of Volunteer Examiner Coordinators. Pools for each element last for 4 years.
The current General pool expires on June 30, 2019, with a new one valid the next day. Tests administered on or before June 30 will draw from the current pool and tests administered on or after July 1, 2019, will be drawn from the new pool.
Any study guide or online practice site should make it clear from which pool its questions are being drawn.
Here's the thing: Regardless of which pool you use, the subject matter is the same (save for any pertinent rule changes). And beyond that, the questions themselves don't change a lot.
Example:
This question is from the 2015-2019 General pool:
G1A05 (A) [97.301(d)]
Which of the following frequencies is in the General Class portion of the 40-meter band?
A. 7.250 MHz
B. 7.500 MHz
C. 40.200 MHz
D. 40.500 MHz
This question is from the 2019-2023 General pool:
G1A05 (A) [97.301(d)]
Which of the following frequencies is in the General class portion of the 40-meter band in ITU Region 2?
A. 7.250 MHz
B. 7.500 MHz
C. 40.200 MHz
D. 40.500 MHz
See how it's changed?
The only thing that's different is that they've added "in ITU Region 2" (because the FCC has jurisdiction over territories that are in ITU Regions 1 and 3 - important if you live there, not important if you live here).
2016-12-09
December 9
December 9. Two notable radio-related things happened to me on this day, 40 years apart. Of little interest to anyone other than me, but this is a blog and that's what blogs are for.
1976
On this day in 1976, I bought one of these:
Well, almost like this. Mine was branded Lloyd's CB-2123 and not Spark-O-Matic. Otherwise, it was identical. I didn't realize it at the time but the reason this was being offered for the unheard-of price of $79.99 (about half of what the cheapest radios had cost all that summer) was that they were being dumped on the Canadian market.
On January 1st of 1977 -- mere weeks after I bought the radio in question -- the FCC was to increase the number of Class D CB channels from 23 to 40. While this was great for the CBers who would nearly double the number of available channels, it was a big problem for manufacturers.
Once the news of the FCC's new rules (surely a Report and Order after a Notice of Proposed Rule-making) got out, the bottom dropped out of the CB market as consumers didn't want to be stuck with "obsolete" 23-channel radios.
Some manufacturers reacted by including a coupon that would allow for a free "remanufacturing" of the 23-channel radio into a 40-channel unit after the first of the year. I have no idea how that worked given that most 23-channel rigs used a crystal matrix to synthesize the 23 (or, more often, 24!) channels; only the most expensive units had phase-locked loop digital synthesis.
The Canadian market offered a way out for some. The Canadian Department of Communications didn't plan their CB expansion -- legally the General Radio Service, or GRS, a name no one used -- until April 1st of 1977. So US-based manufacturers started dumping them north of the border. In this case, Spark-O-Matic evidently worked with or otherwise struck a deal with Lloyd's, a Canadian company that sold consumer electronics gear, to sell these radios in Canada.
Worked for me: I was finally able to afford a CB radio! Something I had coveted all through the summer of 1976. Many hams look down on CB for some reason and while in my area there were certainly a number of jerks on the air, most people were quite pleasant. We even had directed nets on busy nights and had RDF contests. We had fun.
2016
So today, 40 years later to the day, I'm in the car on the way to work. The radio stops scanning on AO-85's VHF downlink frequency and I hear the recorded voice of the little girl who IDs the satellite when the voice transponder is activated.
One of the regulars is on but there is not the usual cacaphony of stations trying to make contacts. There is a lull and I kerchunk (my radio is programmed with the UHF uplink and VHF downlink in the same memory slot). I hear a gap in the audible hash that is caused by AO-85's Data Under Voice telemetry (at least, I think that's the noise) and that gap is about the right delay given the distance to the satellite (over the Great Lakes at that point). So I decide to give out my callsign and grid locator. AND I GOT A REPLY!
I had no idea that you could work satellites (of the low-earth-orbit variety in this case) on a regular FM dual-band mobile radio and basically a unity-gain antenna (Comet SBB-1NMO). Ironically, I had had no luck at all over the summer and fall with AO-85 using my HT and an Arrow-II satellite antenna, a setup I've used quite a bit with SO-50.
Interestingly, the FT-90 installation in the car is sort of half-assed, with power being drawn from the cigarette lighter. On most of the regular repeater channels, I have the power set down at the 5- or 10-W level so I don't blow the fuse (it's hardly needed for the local repeaters). When I checked the memory settings after I made my QSO this morning, I found that it was set to high for AO-85! I have no idea why the fuse didn't blow.
1976
On this day in 1976, I bought one of these:
Well, almost like this. Mine was branded Lloyd's CB-2123 and not Spark-O-Matic. Otherwise, it was identical. I didn't realize it at the time but the reason this was being offered for the unheard-of price of $79.99 (about half of what the cheapest radios had cost all that summer) was that they were being dumped on the Canadian market.
On January 1st of 1977 -- mere weeks after I bought the radio in question -- the FCC was to increase the number of Class D CB channels from 23 to 40. While this was great for the CBers who would nearly double the number of available channels, it was a big problem for manufacturers.
Once the news of the FCC's new rules (surely a Report and Order after a Notice of Proposed Rule-making) got out, the bottom dropped out of the CB market as consumers didn't want to be stuck with "obsolete" 23-channel radios.
Some manufacturers reacted by including a coupon that would allow for a free "remanufacturing" of the 23-channel radio into a 40-channel unit after the first of the year. I have no idea how that worked given that most 23-channel rigs used a crystal matrix to synthesize the 23 (or, more often, 24!) channels; only the most expensive units had phase-locked loop digital synthesis.
The Canadian market offered a way out for some. The Canadian Department of Communications didn't plan their CB expansion -- legally the General Radio Service, or GRS, a name no one used -- until April 1st of 1977. So US-based manufacturers started dumping them north of the border. In this case, Spark-O-Matic evidently worked with or otherwise struck a deal with Lloyd's, a Canadian company that sold consumer electronics gear, to sell these radios in Canada.
Worked for me: I was finally able to afford a CB radio! Something I had coveted all through the summer of 1976. Many hams look down on CB for some reason and while in my area there were certainly a number of jerks on the air, most people were quite pleasant. We even had directed nets on busy nights and had RDF contests. We had fun.
2016
So today, 40 years later to the day, I'm in the car on the way to work. The radio stops scanning on AO-85's VHF downlink frequency and I hear the recorded voice of the little girl who IDs the satellite when the voice transponder is activated.
One of the regulars is on but there is not the usual cacaphony of stations trying to make contacts. There is a lull and I kerchunk (my radio is programmed with the UHF uplink and VHF downlink in the same memory slot). I hear a gap in the audible hash that is caused by AO-85's Data Under Voice telemetry (at least, I think that's the noise) and that gap is about the right delay given the distance to the satellite (over the Great Lakes at that point). So I decide to give out my callsign and grid locator. AND I GOT A REPLY!
I had no idea that you could work satellites (of the low-earth-orbit variety in this case) on a regular FM dual-band mobile radio and basically a unity-gain antenna (Comet SBB-1NMO). Ironically, I had had no luck at all over the summer and fall with AO-85 using my HT and an Arrow-II satellite antenna, a setup I've used quite a bit with SO-50.
Interestingly, the FT-90 installation in the car is sort of half-assed, with power being drawn from the cigarette lighter. On most of the regular repeater channels, I have the power set down at the 5- or 10-W level so I don't blow the fuse (it's hardly needed for the local repeaters). When I checked the memory settings after I made my QSO this morning, I found that it was set to high for AO-85! I have no idea why the fuse didn't blow.
2016-09-04
New Stuff
Clearly have not posted more often even though I do, in fact, have a master's degree (in nothing RF- or computing-related!). I did, however, attend the Dayton Hamvention for the first time. I made a point of attending the AMSAT forum (even ducking out early from the HamNation forum to attend) and ended up being jazzed (again) about satellite operation. In college, I contacted both the Space Shuttle and MIR as well as making contacts via AO-13 and, I think, its predecessor AO-10. Not sure we ever operated any LEO sats, though at the time, most were packet and, for whatever reason, we weren't QRV on orbital packet (we certainly had all the pieces at the school's station). I do remember listening to DO-17 trying to make its voice synth work. Some stuff was hard 25 years ago. Anyway, other than occasionally copying the Shuttle or ISS mostly by accident, I'd done nothing spacey.
I became an AMSAT member at Dayton and when I got back, I ordered an Arrow hand-held satellite antenna (with the diplexer and a mounting clamp). They aren't expensive and they work really well. Longer story short, I made a half-dozen satellite QSOs standing out in the yard back in June ... and then it got really hot, which took all the fun out of standing out in the yard. It's cooler now, so I need to get back at it. I've only been able to successfully work via SO-50, a Mode V/u FM satellite. I've not yet been successful with AO-85, Mode U/v FM. I need to figure out how to set up for AX.25 packet, too, since there are a couple satellites that will digipeat.
For several years, I've wanted an IC-910H multimode rig. After considering an IC-9100, Icom's replacement for the venerable 910, I decided that the extra kilobucks needed to get that radio weren't worth the money, since I already have the IC-746Pro for HF/6/2 and had no plans to get rid of it.
Looked and looked and found an IC-910H that had the UX-910 L-Band module and a single UT-106 DSP module. And I got it for a great price. Before I found the 910, I bought a used CD-II-type rotator, an MFJ 6-m Yagi and a Diamond 70-cm Yagi. I don't have the support to get all that in the air quite yet, but will soon get that 70-cm beam up in the air. Don't have anything for 1.2 GHz, either. If that wasn't enough, I also got an excellent deal on an Elecraft XV-222 1.25-m transverter.
So I've gone from having "weak signal" ability only on 6 and 2 but also 1.25 m, 70 cm, and 23 cm. This setup (once it's all set up!) will also allow me to work some of the linear transponder satellites, albeit only on near-horizon passes.
OK, off to do some repeater work.
I became an AMSAT member at Dayton and when I got back, I ordered an Arrow hand-held satellite antenna (with the diplexer and a mounting clamp). They aren't expensive and they work really well. Longer story short, I made a half-dozen satellite QSOs standing out in the yard back in June ... and then it got really hot, which took all the fun out of standing out in the yard. It's cooler now, so I need to get back at it. I've only been able to successfully work via SO-50, a Mode V/u FM satellite. I've not yet been successful with AO-85, Mode U/v FM. I need to figure out how to set up for AX.25 packet, too, since there are a couple satellites that will digipeat.
For several years, I've wanted an IC-910H multimode rig. After considering an IC-9100, Icom's replacement for the venerable 910, I decided that the extra kilobucks needed to get that radio weren't worth the money, since I already have the IC-746Pro for HF/6/2 and had no plans to get rid of it.
Looked and looked and found an IC-910H that had the UX-910 L-Band module and a single UT-106 DSP module. And I got it for a great price. Before I found the 910, I bought a used CD-II-type rotator, an MFJ 6-m Yagi and a Diamond 70-cm Yagi. I don't have the support to get all that in the air quite yet, but will soon get that 70-cm beam up in the air. Don't have anything for 1.2 GHz, either. If that wasn't enough, I also got an excellent deal on an Elecraft XV-222 1.25-m transverter.
So I've gone from having "weak signal" ability only on 6 and 2 but also 1.25 m, 70 cm, and 23 cm. This setup (once it's all set up!) will also allow me to work some of the linear transponder satellites, albeit only on near-horizon passes.
OK, off to do some repeater work.
2016-03-20
Not selling the Isopoles after all
Spouse finally got me to climb the ladder to do something about the Isopoles on the end of the house. I've got both the 2-m and 70-cm versions with a diplexer (band-pass filter) feeding them into the radio room. Since they've been up, I've never really been happy with their performance. I eventually stuck an Arrow Antennas GP146/440 up to replace them and just used the Isopoles for the scanners.
So when I got up the ladder and got all the dead vines away, I opened up the plastic box that holds the diplexer to start disconnecting things. First thing I noticed was that one of the PL-259s, the one on the VHF port, was loose. No big deal. Hmm, which antenna does this feed again? Maybe that's the problem. Hey, look! It's connected to the UHF Isopole. And naturally, the UHF port was connected to the VHF antenna.
Gee, do you think connecting it backwards is a problem?
Yeah.
So when I got up the ladder and got all the dead vines away, I opened up the plastic box that holds the diplexer to start disconnecting things. First thing I noticed was that one of the PL-259s, the one on the VHF port, was loose. No big deal. Hmm, which antenna does this feed again? Maybe that's the problem. Hey, look! It's connected to the UHF Isopole. And naturally, the UHF port was connected to the VHF antenna.
Gee, do you think connecting it backwards is a problem?
Yeah.
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