dxer ham radio dx news -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I’ve been told I can bounce signals off the moon with my FT-60. Yea or nay? How long will the EmComm foamers sit on Japan Earthquake/Tsunami Freqs? Our school club just got a brand new Icom 7600 today! Radio suggestions What kind of headsets are you guys using with your radios? Anything like chirp? Best antenna for 2m/70cm HT (Yaesu FT-60R) for outdoor/SOTA activation Hurricane Watch Net Monitoring Progress of Tropical Storm Otto 100,000w (106.7mhz) 295 miles away is coming in perfect on a 2m half wave dipole on a RF-3100, Does this sound sane? HF Mobile With Your Opinions/Advice Did some camping qrp over the weekend. Upcoming Solar Years … Can They Be Too Quiet? Ham Astronaut Peggy Whitson, KC5ZTD, Poised to Set Time-in-Space Record Hara Arena Items Going on the Auction Block Any Cheap Digital-Mode Kits? JOTA 2016 Report Shows Participation was Up China Plans Lunar-Orbiting Amateur Radio Satellites ANTENNAS: PART II For the DX University Presented by Pete Rimmel N8PR. – ppt download ELI5: CW, keys, keyers High SWR with DBJ2 slim jim? ARRL Sweepstakes: How’d You Do? New Technician Christmas List? Four State QRP Group is pleased to announce the ‘impending’ release of a new kit St. Maarten Intermittent reception issue with ID-51a I’ve been told I can bounce signals off the moon with my FT-60. Yea or nay? Posted: 21 Nov 2016 10:56 PM PST Was I being told stories or is this true? Even if I can’t talk to others it sounds pretty cool if I could return my own signal off the moon. submitted by /u/glutenfreetoast [link] [comments] from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8212326 http://ift.tt/2gfbMEG via IFTTT [] How long will the EmComm foamers sit on Japan Earthquake/Tsunami Freqs? Posted: 21 Nov 2016 10:56 PM PST Over/under? submitted by /u/charlieray [link] [comments] from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8212326 http://ift.tt/2flQUN5 via IFTTT [] Our school club just got a brand new Icom 7600 today! Posted: 21 Nov 2016 08:46 PM PST Our school club just got a brand new Icom 7600 today! submitted by /u/Vonmule [link] [comments] from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8212326 http://ift.tt/2fWMwCy via IFTTT [] Radio suggestions Posted: 21 Nov 2016 08:46 PM PST I do a fair amount of driving and in different vehicles because of work. I’d like to find a unit that would let me broadcast a fair distance but also be portable. I’m looking to just get into ham radio (just starting to read manuals,no licence yet). I also drive my own vehicle 4.5 hours home so at that point I wouldn’t mind having a bigger antenna on that. submitted by /u/Demonfear92 [link] [comments] from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8212326 http://ift.tt/2fWBFs5 via IFTTT [] What kind of headsets are you guys using with your radios? Posted: 21 Nov 2016 06:46 PM PST I’m doing some research on what kind of accessories/headsets you guys are using with your radios. The company I am doing this for manufactures headsets and I thought this would be the best place to ask since you guys would be the most knowledgeable with this. Please forgive me for being such a noob:/ I hope you guys can help me out! submitted by /u/mdizzle604 [link] [comments] from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8212326 http://ift.tt/2fllKp7 via IFTTT [] Anything like chirp? Posted: 21 Nov 2016 06:46 PM PST For whatever reason chirp wont work on my mac, i have wondows laptop as well, but its to slow for me to want to mess with. Anything else i can download similar to chirp. submitted by /u/vometcomet [link] [comments] from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8212326 http://ift.tt/2gawKmJ via IFTTT [] Best antenna for 2m/70cm HT (Yaesu FT-60R) for outdoor/SOTA activation Posted: 21 Nov 2016 04:46 PM PST I have been searching here and there for a good antenna to carry on my hiking, and it seems like it usually boils down to either a yagi antenna or a slim jim j-pole antenna. As someone who never used either, what are the pros and cons of each? I guess I am mainly looking for a lightweight, but effective antenna that could be used outdoor. submitted by /u/i-brute-force [link] [comments] from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8212326 http://ift.tt/2gDl5lj via IFTTT [] Hurricane Watch Net Monitoring Progress of Tropical Storm Otto Posted: 21 Nov 2016 04:26 PM PST ARRL The Hurricane Watch Net (HWN) is currently monitoring the progress of Tropical Storm Otto.”While November Hurricanes do occur, those that make landfall are rare,” said HWN Manager Bobby Graves, KB5HAV. “Over the past few days, the National Hurricane Center has been expecting a tropical system to form in the southwestern Caribbean. Early this morning, Tropical Depression 16 developed about 300 m from Ham Radio Update http://ift.tt/2gwpu92 via IFTTT [] 100,000w (106.7mhz) 295 miles away is coming in perfect on a 2m half wave dipole on a RF-3100, Does this sound sane? Posted: 21 Nov 2016 02:36 PM PST Im perplexed, 2m halfwave dipoles should perform like garbage on FM broadcast right? The weirdest part is no radios can get it here in Cheyenne but this RF-3100 with the vertical dipole. It gets it perfect with a 4 on the tuning meter! submitted by /u/SunosUnix [link] [comments] from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8212326 http://ift.tt/2fVJ6Q6 via IFTTT [] HF Mobile With Your Opinions/Advice Posted: 21 Nov 2016 02:36 PM PST I have really been wanting to get more active on HF. I have my dual band setup in my daily driver, which I listen to almost daily throughout the work week on my way to and from work. I sold my IC-7200 earlier this year because I just never got a good base antenna setup, to which I still don’t have, and I also needed the money to pay down another hobby. Now that I have my dual bander set up mobile, I find myself tinkering with it a lot more, and I figure I would be the same with HF mobile. I know a lot of people have HF mobile set ups, but I just don’t know a lot about the actual usages. Do you guys with mobile HF setups talk while moving? Or is it the kind of thing that doesn’t work well while moving, or does it even matter? I know antennae are subjective, as well as radios, but I’m looking at the TS-480SAT and the FT-891. Which would you go for, and why? submitted by /u/10151774 [link] [comments] from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8212326 http://ift.tt/2fkIMMx via IFTTT [] Did some camping qrp over the weekend. Posted: 21 Nov 2016 02:36 PM PST submitted by /u/knotquiteawake [link] [comments] from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8212326 http://ift.tt/2geY700 via IFTTT [] Upcoming Solar Years … Can They Be Too Quiet? Posted: 21 Nov 2016 02:06 PM PST [] Most of us LF/MF and topband diehards have been looking forward to the next several years of low solar activity maybe even ‘ultra-low’ as some of the solar gurus are predicting. An interesting posting on the Topband reflector a few weeks ago by noted propagation expert, Carl, K9LA, made me re-think my expectations! I flagged the post for a later blog topic but have since seen the information pop-up on a couple of other reflectors as well as on the ARRL News page. Apparently I wasn’t the only one to give the posting a double-take. If you missed it, here is Carl’s post: About a week ago Wolf DF2PY posted a message here commenting on the recent adverse levels of geomagnetic field activity and how it will now change for the good giving us good 160m propagation. > We’ll certainly see less geomagnetic field activity as we move into winter, but there’s another issue we should be aware of. The Sun’s magnetic field is weakening – probably to the lowest levels in our lifetime. With a weak solar magnetic field, more galactic cosmic rays will be able to get into the Earth’s atmosphere. We are now seeing unprecedented high neutron counts (neutrons are one of the by-products of cosmic rays) Since galactic cosmic rays are mostly *very energetic* protons, they can get down to low atmospheric altitudes, causing collisional ionization in the D region (and lower E region). A cursory estimate using cosmic ray ionization rates confirms more ionization in the lower atmosphere. 160m is not very tolerant of more absorption, so we may see an adverse effect of the weakened solar magnetic field. Many of us think that “solar min is solar min is solar min”. But maybe a solar minimum can be too deep for 160m. A good question to ask in the early 2020s will be “how was 160m?” So stay active on 160m and let’s see what happens. Carl K9LA My initial response was to think that perhaps there wouldn’t be as much to look forward to as I had been hoping for, when it came to improved LF, MF and 160m propagation. Carl’s postulation was also backed-up by another mention on the Spaceweather site, although the influence of cosmic ray bombardment on radio propagation was not discussed. As I thought more about this unfortunate possibility actually coming to pass, I thought back to my own on-air and listening experiences during previous solar-low years particularly the unprecedented low between our most recent cycle and its predecessor, Cycle 23. [] The low period between these two cycles, as most will likely recall, saw the quietest solar conditions observed in the past 100 years. The solar-low winters saw week after week of a blank Sun, with solar activity virtually flatlining for the entire period. In 2008 there were 265 ‘zero sunspot’ days and the following year saw another 262 days of blank suns! [] These effects were well noted here for two winters that are usually prime ‘DX times’ if ever there were a period when cosmic ray bombardmentt should negatively impact low frequency propagation, surely it would have been then. So just what did I observe? What I saw was not only what I had been expecting but was much much better than I had ever believed possible. For west coast topband operators, the ‘holy grail’ of propagation is working Europe. Working Europe from here means that signals must travel through the polar regions, usually the kiss-of- death for weak signals, as the severe attenuation through the auroral zone means that it just doesn’t happen very often except for this prollonged period of ultra lows. In a word, conditions to Europe were ‘spectacular’ night-after-night, for several weeks over a pperiod of two winters, working Europe on 160 became normal. On most nights, European signals could be heard before local sunset, and on several occasions, CW contacts with Europeans, were completed up to one and a half hours before my local sunset. As darkness set in, more signals would appear and the band would rapidly become populated with Europeans and onnly Europeans. Most of the time there were no signals from North America evident, just Europeans a condition that had me shaking my heaad in disbelief night after night. It was something I had never observed before, as I watched 160m behaving more like 20m CW on a good day to Europe! During this period, my DXCC totals skyrocketed from 99 to 143 worked, as new Europeans and Africans were added to my logbook. [] [] Signal levels were also outstanding, often pushing the FT-1000 S-meter well past the S9 level. On one particular night, I recall hearing an SM4 calling CQ, with just such a signal. I set my output power level at 10 watts and gave him a call, to which he quickly responded. If cosmic ray bombardment was at a high level, it was not reeking any havoc as far as the west coast path to Europe was concerned! For the record, my topband system is nothing special, consisting of a simple ‘half-sloper’ over a poor ground and a very old amplifier running about 500W output. My other favorite winter pastime is chasing NDBs in the MF range between 200-500 kHz. Exceptional east west conditions were evident throughout the two winters of ultra-lows. On one such night, I noted a new strong signal where none had been previously heard. Because of its strength, I surmised that it was probably a new NDB in nearby Washington state. Noting its ident (‘NYA’ on 414 kHz), I was not able to find any reference to such a beacon being previously reported and turned to the Yahoo ndblist group for help, posting my catch as ‘unidentified’. Almost immediately I received a response, telling me that the signal I was hearing was located in Europe Svalbard to be exact, located midway between Norway and the North Pole! Now, European NDBs have never been heard from the west coast, other than occasional signals from some of Greenland’s powerhouses, so this represents a very rare event. Although I have often listened for this signal, it has yet to be heard here again and my logging of remains its only reported foray into any part of North America. Unfortunately, in 2015, it was listed as ‘decomissioned’. I have no doubts that this rare propagation was a result of the solar flatlining conditions of the time. As chilling as Carl’s warning sounds, he himself admits uncertainty with a ‘let’s wait and see’ attitude and after reviewing my own experiences under what surely must be similar conditions, I’m still very optimistic over what might be in store. Hopefully we shouldn’t have to wait too much longer to find out! from VE7SL – Steve Amateur Radio Blog http://ift.tt/2flaUiB via IFTTT [] Ham Astronaut Peggy Whitson, KC5ZTD, Poised to Set Time-in-Space Record Posted: 21 Nov 2016 01:21 PM PST ARRL New ISS crew mmembers Peggy Whitson, KC5ZTD, Thomas Pesquet, KG5FYG, and Cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy are settling in on board the International Space Station this week. The trio headed into space on November 17 for a 6-month stay. Welcoming the Expedition 50/51 crew members were Expedition 50 Commander Shane Kimbrough, KE5HOD, and crew members Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrey Borisenko, who have been abo from Ham Radio Update http://ift.tt/2gCWhtV via IFTTT [] Hara Arena Items Going on the Auction Block Posted: 21 Nov 2016 12:41 PM PST ARRL from Hamm Radio Update http://ift.tt/2gbqdf6 via IFTTT [] Any Cheap Digital-Mode Kits? Posted: 21 Nov 2016 12:41 PM PST Title. I kind of want to try some digital modes, but don’t want to drop several hundred on an HF rig to do it. Something like the Small Wonder Labs PSK kits would be perfect (I forget what they called those), but they’re discontinued. As far as I know, there is nothing else like them. Is there anything else out there? submitted by /u/ThisKarmaLimitSucks [link] [comments] from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8212326 http://ift.tt/2gvnP3z via IFTTT [] JOTA 2016 Report Shows Participation was Up Posted: 21 Nov 2016 11:21 AM PST ARRL The Boy Scoutss of America has released the final report on the 2016 Jamboree on the Air (JOTA), and the news is good. Participation was up from 2015 despite what the report called “terrible propagation.”According to the report, 10,761 Scouts took part, an increase of more than 50% from a year earlier, and the number of stations filing reports, at 267, jumped by 28% from 2015 (the record was 271 from Ham Radio Update http://ift.tt/2gdLmDo via IFTTT [] China Plans Lunar-Orbiting Amateur Radio Satellites Posted: 21 Nov 2016 10:41 AM PST ARRL from Hamm Radio Update http://ift.tt/2eZ9ADE via IFTTT [] ANTENNAS: PART II For the DX University Presented by Pete Rimmel N8PR. – ppt download Posted: 21 Nov 2016 10:21 AM PST submitted by /u/leonuys [link] [comments] from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8212326 http://ift.tt/2fxRWD2 via IFTTT [] ELI5: CW, keys, keyers Posted: 21 Nov 2016 10:21 AM PST You have learned/learning CW and it is time to get a key. What kind of key? Straight, one lever, two levers, a bug?!? (what’s that?), touch? Can one just plug it right into the the “KEY” jack and go or do you also need a keyer? Does any keyer work with a rig even it is has a keyer built in? I thought a thread with some explanation might be helpful. There is a bit more to learn about the CW mode than just the code. submitted by /u/FoxBugs [link] [comments] from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8212326 http://ift.tt/2gv3kUH via IFTTT [] High SWR with DBJ2 slim jim? Posted: 21 Nov 2016 10:21 AM PST I bought a DBJ2 antenna, the government pack from CountyComm. I wanted to use it with my Icom ID-800H as a sort of temporary base station setup. If I try transmitting at high power the radio detects high SWR and kicks the power down to the medium setting. Is this normal? For comparison I also have one of these Slim Jim antennas and when hooked up to the same radio it does not kick the power down. I realize that neither of these antennas may be well suited for 50 watts, so my question is more on whether this is normal for the DBJ2? The DBJ2 claims higher gain for UHF than other similar antennas without the UHF matching section. It would seem there is a tradeoff between higher UHF gain and higher SWR? I have also read that RF coupling may occur with the DBJ2, which the other slim jim addresses by using a ferrite bead near the feed point. Would it be worth adding a snap on style ferrite bead to the DBJ2? Maybe I am just overthinking things. I am wondering if the performance of the DBJ2 is really that great compared to the other slim jim that I linked to. I have not had a chance to put the DBJ2 on an analyzer either. Has anyone tried one of these Slim Jim with RG-58, and if so, what are your impressions? It seems to be similar to the DBJ2 with a UHF matching section, but it also incorporates a ferrite bead, so best of both worlds? submitted by /u/Oxyacetylene [link] [comments] from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8212326 http://ift.tt/2fUETfN via IFTTT [] ARRL Sweepstakes: How’d You Do? Posted: 21 Nov 2016 10:21 AM PST With the SSB weekend now over, another ARRL Sweepstakes season has come to an end. Those who participated, how did you do? How has the solar cycle doldrums affected your strategy or even your overall participation? Anyone get a clean sweep this year? submitted by /u/chuckmilam [link] [comments] from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8212326 http://ift.tt/2fUDeqx via IFTTT [] New Technician Christmas List? Posted: 21 Nov 2016 10:21 AM PST Just passed my Technician and General, and am looking for Ham related items to put on my Christmas list. I’m at the point where I don’t know what I need. I’ve got a good VHF handset, but that’s it. So what sub-$100 items are indispensable for you? submitted by /u/LongUsername [link] [comments] from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8212326 http://ift.tt/2eYzFTs via IFTTT [] Four State QRP Group is pleased to announce the ‘impending’ release of a new kit Posted: 21 Nov 2016 09:06 AM PST Southgate Amateur Radio News logo This page is brought to you in association with [] QRZ Callsign Search Page last updated on: Sunday, November 20, 2016 Four State QRP Group is pleased to announce the ‘impending’ release of a new kit The Four State QRP Group is pleased to announce the ‘impending’ release of a new kit, the Bayou Jumper. This is a high quality transceiver which has been in development for over a year, and is designed to be a modern version of the famous Paraset WWII spy radio. It sports a well behaved and sensitive Regen receiver by N5IB, and the transmitter is the well known NM?S None Simpler 5 watter with etched spiral inductors on the pcb. There is only only one easy to wind toroid in the whole kit! The panel is very similar to the Paraset, but smaller, and a beautiful wooden enclosure is specified. Parts are on order and the price has been set, however ‘pre-orders are NOT being accepted’. This note is just to inform the QRP community of a new kit coming soon from Four State. For an overview of the design please read the first 4 pages of the assembly manual, it’s a great summary by Dave Cripe, NM?S . http://ift.tt/2fV6spe For more info, the Bayou Jumper’s home page is here http://ift.tt/2fL7l66 Stay tuned, an announcement releasing the kit for sale will be made as soon as the first run is kitted and ready to ship. Our thanks to Stephen, G7VFY for the above information Share this page Follow us Advertisement Advertisement Latest news stories.. Virtual Ham Radio Build-a-thon KS-1Q telemetry signal DXpedition to St Barts Ofcom consults on spectrum auction rules DXCC Country/Entity Report IOTA news from OPDX Headlines by FeedBurner Get our News Headlines delivered in one daily email Enter your email address: Delivered by FeedBurner • News Front Page Submit your news story Please help to keep this website going Advertisement [] St. Maarten Posted: 21 Nov 2016 08:36 AM PST Southgate Amateur Radio News logo This page is brought to you in association with [] QRZ Callsign Search Page last updated on: Sunday, November 20, 2016 St. Maarten Tom, K2GSJ, is once again visiting his second home on Sint Maarten Island and is active as PJ7TM until January 10th, 2017. Activity will be primarily on 10, 12, 15, 17, 21, 30 and 40 meters using CW and SSB. Tom states, “I mostly operate SSB on 20-10 meters, but also can be found on 160, 40 and 30 meters CW.” Equipment on St. Maarten is a Kenwood TS-440S and a Hy-gain Patriot 640 vertical on the roof of the house. He also has a dipole for 160m, and states, “I will put up my 160m antenna in about 2 weeks and will operate mostly on CW on 160. I usually operate SSB, but enjoy CW on 30 meters. I am available for skeds if some-one wants to send me an E-mail. Please see my QRZ site for more details.” QSL via his home callsign. ADDED NOTE FROM TOM: “I will return to PJ7 mid-February until the end of April 2017.” OPDX Share this page Follow us Advertisement Advertisement Latest news stories.. Virtual Ham Radio Build-a-thon KS-1Q telemetry signal DXpedition to St Barts Ofcom consults on spectrum auction rules DXCC Country/Entity Report IOTA news from OPDX Headlines by FeedBurner Get our News Headlines delivered in one daily email Enter your email address: Delivered by FeedBurner News Front Page • Submit your news story Please help to keep this website going Advertisement [] Intermittent reception issue with ID-51a Posted: 21 Nov 2016 08:26 AM PST I’ve had this problem for a few weeks. I just resolved it last night, and thought I would mention this here in case anyone else has the same issue. Since I’ve had this radio, I’ve had an intermittent reception issue every 5-10secs or so. Basically, the reception drops out for about half a second, then comes back. Even if I open the squelch completely, this still happens, even on strong signals. Last night, while on a busy net, I finally figured out the problem. It turns out that the “Weather Alert” feature was causing the problem. I assume it was checking the weather frequencies during that brief break. This may be a “no duh” kind of thing, but I could not find this anywhere online or in the radio’s manual. But turning that feature off cleared up the reception problem completely. Hopefully this can help someone else here. submitted by /u/bobby_brb3 [link] [comments] from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8212326 http://ift.tt/2fKiYu5 via IFTTT [] You are subscribed to email updates from dxer ham radio dx news. To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. Email delivery powered by Google Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States