Author: k9hi

Operating

KM1CC QRV for Marconi’s First Transatlantic Wireless Message Anniversary, January 18-19, 2019

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KM1CC signBill Kretschmer, N2KNL, writes:

On January 18, 1903, young inventor Guglielmo Marconi made communication history by sending the first public transatlantic wireless message from his station on the South Wellfleet bluffs to Poldhu, Great Britain. The KM1CC Marconi Cape Cod Radio Club operators will talk to hams around the world on January 18-19, 2019 beginning at 1000 Eastern Time (1500 GMT). Instead of operating at the Coast Guard Station in Eastham this month, we will operate from Russ Apgar’s home, K1RTA, in Wellfleet, MA, at 285 Old Wharf Road off U.S. Route 6 across the street from the original Marconi Site. Grid Square FN51av. Operators are welcome to attend. Here are the operating frequencies and modes:

80M 3.660-3.860 SSB / 3.535 CW
40M 7.130-7.260 SSB / 7.035 CW
30M 10.110 CW 
20M 14.260 SSB / 14.035 CW
17M 18.160 SSB / 18.080 CW
15M 21.360 SSB / 21.035 CW

UPDATE:

 

“Due to our usual operating site in Cape Cod National Seashore being closed as a result of the current federal government shutdown,  KM1CC will operate from multiple home operator locations.  SSB operations will still be from an amateur station located in grid square FN51 (a Wellfleet location close to original Marconi station site).  CW operations will be from amateur radio stations in FN42.

 

 When:  Jan 18   1500-UTC   through   Jan 19,  2100 UTC

 <…>

QSL card requests- best to use LoTW Log Book of the World.  Please do not direct mail QSL card requests to KM1CC until after the US Federal Government – DEPT OF THE INTERIOR shutdown ends as Cape Cod National Seashore is closed until the shutdown ends.

 

See also: “Marconi: Beyond the Horizon“

Licensing Education & Training

New England Sci-Tech Amateur Extra Course, Take Any 9 Sessions

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New England Sci-Tech is offering ongoing Amateur Extra study sessions for high school students, homeschool students, and adults who already have a General level license. This slower-paced course will get you ready to take the Amateur Extra license exam. You may jump into this course at any time, pay one course fee, and take nine weeks worth of classes. A different topic group is covered each week; all topics covered in nine-week intervals. Take the exam whenever you are ready.

The course runs most Thursday evenings, 6-9 PM from November, 2018 until March, 2019 as a combination “study group” and keynote presentations by experienced instructors. Study group meets 6:00-6:30, presentations run 6:30-8:15 approximately, and remainder of time is Q and A with instructors or more study group time. Regular homework reading and study is necessary to get the best results from this course.  [Full description]

Operating

Fessenden Commemorative Transmission Set for Christmas Eve

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From the ARRL Letter, December 20, 2018:

A replica 1921 CW and Heising modulated AM transmitter constructed by Brian Justin, WA1ZMS. [Brian Justin, WA1ZMS, photo]

As he’s done in years past, Brian Justin, WA1ZMS, of Forest, Virginia, will commemorate what may have been the first radio broadcast [from Brant Rock, Massachusetts] to include speech and music by experimenter Reginald Fessenden on Christmas Eve 1906. Justin will fire up his vintage-style transmitter operating on 486 kHz under Experimental license WI2XLQ to mark the 112th anniversary of Fessenden’s accomplishment. Justin will begin his transmission on December 24 at 1700 UTC and continue until December 26 at 1659 UTC. [Full story]
See also: Fessenden’s Christmas Eve Broadcast

Operating

Countdown to Third Annual AM Rally Has Begun

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Townsend amateur Steve Cloutier, WA1QIX, and others are spearheading the third annual AM Rally in February. The event is sponsored by Radio Engineering Associates (REA), in cooperation with ARRL.

From the ARRL Hq. web site:

The third annual AM Rally is on the near horizon — just about 6 weeks away — getting under way at 0000 UTC on February 2 and continuing until 0700 UTC on February 4. The event aims to encourage the use of AM on 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, and 6 meters while highlighting the various types of AM equipment in use today. The event is open to any and all radio amateurs running AM using any type of radio equipment — modern, vintage, tube, solid-state, software-defined, military, boat anchor, broadcast, homebrew, or commercial. 

[Full story]

Licensing Education & Training

New England Sci-Tech Technician Course, December 21, 2018

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NE1AR logoNew England Amateur Radio, Inc. is pleased to offer as part of the school vacation-week workshops, a radio Technician license class course for adults, children, and child-parent pairs to facilitate their successful completion of the FCC radio license test on December 21, 2018 from 9 AM to 12 noon. This course is appropriate for children 4th grade and up. Details are at <https://www.ne1ar.org/event/amateur-radio-course-for-kids-tech-5>.

Licensing Education & Training

New England Sci-Tech Technician Course, December 20, 2018

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NE1AR logoNew England Amateur Radio, Inc. is pleased to offer as part of the school vacation-week workshops, a radio Technician license class course for adults, children, and child-parent pairs to facilitate their successful completion of the FCC radio license test on December 20, 2018 from 9 AM to 12 noon. This course is appropriate for children 4th grade and up. Details are at <https://www.ne1ar.org/event/amateur-radio-course-for-kids-tech-4>.

Licensing Education & Training

New England Sci-Tech Technician Course, December 19, 2018

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NE1AR logoNew England Amateur Radio, Inc. is pleased to offer as part of the school vacation-week workshops, a radio Technician license class course for adults, children, and child-parent pairs to facilitate their successful completion of the FCC radio license test on December 19, 2018 from 9 AM to 12 noon. This course is appropriate for children 4th grade and up. Details are at <https://www.ne1ar.org/event/amateur-radio-course-for-kids-tech-3/>.

Technical

China and Russia band together on controversial ionospheric heating experiments

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orbiting satelliteThe South China Morning Post carried this story, “China and Russia band together on controversial heating experiments to modify the atmosphere” December 17, 2018, describing  the continuing military “race to control the ionosphere.” The experiments are similar to the US program’s super-power High-Frequency Active Auroral Research Program ( HAARP) transmitters in Gakona, Alaska.

 

Operating

KC1DKY Fox Deployed, Billerica, December 14, 2018

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Nick Mello, KC1DKY writes on the fox-hunting list on December 14, 2018 at 1:37 PM:

The KC1DKY fox is hiding in Billerica on conservation land.  Fox is on 146.565 MHz.  Send a DTMF of 1 to activate the fox.  If the fox does not seem to be responding, send a couple DTMF # and then a 1 to possibly whack it back into shape.  The fox will signal for 30 seconds and be silent for 15 sec, and repeat for 15 minutes.  The fox is located around a third of a mile from the trail head and about 20 ft or so in from the trail.  Don’t forget to sign the log book in the plastic bag next to the fox.  I recommend some boots, as there are a few mucky spots.  And please, as it will be the topic of my daughter’s Girl Scout project, try to avoid stepping on the princess pines, which are very short plants, 2 to 3 inches tall, which look more like fern frons than pine trees. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lycopodium_obscurum

While not endangered like lady slipper flowers, they are protected…and they are found all along this particular trail.

*******SPOILER ALERT*******

OI24NF DNA NI24NF FO REDROB EHT NO

Operating

N1SV QRV on 630 Meters for the Weekend

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Les Peters, N1SV, in Townsend, MA writes:

Finally got my 160m inverted-L loaded up on 474.2 kHz using the variometer and impedance transformer I built.  I can only get about 1 mw out of my K3S so real QRPP!  So far only W1XP hears my flea signal (-20 SNR) but I’m hoping for more reports after dusk.  I’ll keep the signal on both Friday and Saturday nights and would appreciate any reports.

Operating

Experimental Station Heard on 30 Meters

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From the ARRL Letter:

IARUMS has received reports of short “beeps” exactly 1 second apart, as  well as frequency hopping between 10,108 and 10,115 kHz and 18,834 and  18,899 kHz. The signals are believed to emanate from a site near Chicago  associated with an FCC-licensed experimental operation involved with  low-latency exchange trading on HF (see “Experiments Look to Leverage  Low-Latency HF to Shave Microseconds off Trade Times  <http://www.arrl.org/news/experiments-look-to-leverage-low-latency-hf-to-shave-microseconds-off-trade-times>”).  Although Amateur Radio is secondary on 30 and 17 meters, Experimental  licenses may not interfere with Amateur Radio operations.”

YCCC member Fred Coelho, WX1S writes on the YCCC reflector:

“More on our 30 meter intruder.  I’m not sure if this is what we were  hearing last month but a signal (beep) at 1 second apart sounds about  right.  I copied this from the latest ARRL letter.”

Operating

WSJT-X with FT8 Support Now Available

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Randy Thompson, K5ZD, writes on the YCCC reflector:

There is a big event happening in ham radio today.  The new release of WSJT-X is out and it will require a major migration for FT8 users.  The new WSJT-X support for FT8 is incompatible with the old one.  I don’t think we have seen this kind of dramatic change in a mode before.  I installed the new version and got on 30 meters.  Lots of signals, but not many decoding. But, this is day 1.  I am sure people will upgrade quickly.

https://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/k1jt/wsjtx.html

The current General Availability (GA) release is WSJT-X 2.0.0The FT8 and MSK144 protocols have been enhanced in a way that is not backward compatible with older program versions. 

The new protocols become the world-wide standards starting on December 10, 2018, and all users should upgrade to WSJT-X 2.0 by January 1, 2019.  After that date, only the new FT8 and MSK144 should be used on the air.

Release Notes for Version 2.0.0:  
h
<https://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/k1jt/Release_Notes.txt> 

Upgrading from a previous WSJT-X version will be seamless.  There is no need to uninstall a previous version or move any files.

Technical

Joe Reisert, W1JR, Wins Third Place in the 2018 QST Antenna Design Competition

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Joe Reisert, W1JR

Congratulations to Joe Reisert, W1JR, on winning third place for his design of “The3/8-Wavelength Vertical for 20 Meters, a Hidden Gem”. Steve Ford WB8IMY described the “requirements for the 2018 QST Antenna Design Competition included an antenna for one or more bands between 2200 meters and 10 meters that could fit within a 30×50-foot area and be no taller than 30 feet above ground at any point.” 

A former resident of Chelmsford, Joe lives in Amherst, NH. He is a regular presenter at Boxboro. The full story is found at <http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter?issue=2018-12-06#toc02>

Operating

KC1DKY Fox Deployed, Billerica, December 6, 2018

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Nick Mollo, KC1DKY, writes on December 6, 2018 at 1:13 PM:

The KC1DKY fox is hiding in south west Billerica on conservation land.  Fox is on 146.565MHz.  Send a DTMF of 1 to activate the fox.  If the fox does not seem to be responding, send a couple DTMF # and then a 1 to possibly whack it back into shape.  The fox will signal for 30seconds and be silent for 15 sec, and repeat for 15minutes.  The fox is located around a quarter to third of a mile from the parking area and about 30ft or so in from the trail.  Don’t forget to sign the log book in the plastic bag next to the fox.  I recommend some boots, as there are a few mucky spots on the trail.  Dress warm too – cause baby it’s cold outside 😉

                GOOD LUCK and 73!

                Nick

                KC1DKY

*******SPOILER ALERT*******

DNAL EFILDLIW LAREDEF NO YLLAUTCA SI XOF EHT

Youth

Youth Survey

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Sean Waite, WA1TE, writes:

If you know any young hams, could you please direct them to this survey?

https://goo.gl/forms/4d0S5HpM5fV1jK1Q2

I’m in contact with the ARRL and am trying to gather information to feed them about how they can help get more of the younger crowd involved, and also retain others. I also have offered to yell from whatever mountains I can to help amplify any reasonable initiatives they come up with.

Target demographic is 26 and under. Like it or not, those of us in our 30s aren’t as young as we think we are.

Thanks and 73,

Sean Waite, WA1TE