 April 5, 2017 Editor: Paul Bourque, N1SFE | |||
IN THIS ISSUE
The ARRL Rookie Roundup is happening for 6 hours on April 16. Starting with the April 2017 contest, the definition of a rookie has been changed. For the purposes of the contest, you're a rookie if at least one of these conditions is true:
Of course, you should check the rules for all of the details, including the proper exchange to use, and examples of CQ messages. Rookies can work any station, while non-Rookies can only work rookies for points. Now that Spring has arrived in the US, it's a good time to check cables, tighten connectors, and inspect equipment. Temperature variations, vibration from wind, and Murphy can all work together to cause problems. It might be a good time to use an antenna analyzer to log the characteristics of your antennas for comparison over time. Same-band Alternating CQs Now Prohibited for HF and VHF ARRL Contests With updates to the ARRL web now in place, the ARRL's Contest Rules for HF and VHF have been updated (as a rules clarification) to clearly prohibit Alternating CQs on two or more frequencies in the same band. This is a clarification only to existing rules where "one transmitted signal per band" is discussed. Example is from the "General Rules for ARRL Contests Below 30 MHz", where rule 2.1.2 has now been clarified to read as follows:
2.1.2. Single-Operator stations are allowed only one transmitted signal per band at any given time, regardless of mode; alternating CQs on two or more frequencies in the same band is prohibited. Where "one transmitted signal per band" appears in HF or VHF rules, similar clarifications are now in place in the ARRL web rules (if you or anyone sees that I missed any, please advise). I noted the IARU International HF Championship already contained this verbiage. As a paragraph describing this action: "These rule clarifications now add clarity to the intent of prohibiting the use of more than one frequency at a time on one band for soliciting contacts (calling CQ) as well as simultaneous transmissions of any kind. The intent of the rules has always been that a participant would use/occupy only a single channel in a given band, changing frequency in-band from time to time leaving a CQ frequency to work a multiplier or to change the CQing frequency as band occupancy or changing propagation dictated, and this rules clarification will now give the needed added clarity to that intent." BUSTED QSOS Scott, KA9FOX, and Tom, K1KI, pointed out that Doug, W9IIX, makes tower-related equipment under the IIX Equipment Ltd label. Complete information for all contests follows the Conversation section 6 Apr - 19 Apr 2017 April 6 April 7 April 8
April 9
April 10 April 11 April 12 April 13 April 14 April 15
April 16 April 17 April 19 WRTC 2018 referees wanted! Referees are present with each competing WRTC team to monitor compliance with WRTC rules during the entire 24 hours of the contest. The ability to monitor two audio streams simultaneously, with either being CW or SSB, is one of the required skills in order to qualify as a referee. See the WRTC 2018 referee announcement for more information. 630 and 2200 meter bands are closer to being open for US Amateur use. The FCC adopted rules on March 28 that are necessary to allow amateurs' secondary use of these bands, but it appears use will come with preconditions. According to the ARRL's news article, "The FCC is requiring a 1-kilometer separation distance between radio amateurs using the two new bands and electric power transmission lines with PLC (Power Line Communication) systems on those bands. Amateur Radio operators will have to notify the UTC (Utilities Telecom Council) of station location prior to commencing operations. The FCC Wireless Telecommunications Bureau will provide details on the notification process later, but ARRL is urging radio amateurs interested in operating on either band to register at the earliest opportunity, to avoid having to protect any 'post-notification' PLCs." The Central States VHF Society, Inc. is soliciting papers, presentations, and poster displays for the 51st Annual CSVHFS Conference to be held in Albuquerque, New Mexico July 27-30, 2017. Papers, presentations, and posters on all aspects of weak-signal VHF/UHF Amateur Radio topics, including Contesting and Roving, are requested. You do not need to attend the conference, nor present your paper, to have it published in the Proceedings. Posters will be displayed during the two days of the Conference. Please see the Authors Guidance portion of the CSVHFS website for more information on topic areas, but note that the contact person for 2017 is Ed James, KA8JMW ([email protected]). Hamplus, a Brazilian company known for RF and control switching products for the Amateur Radio community, is now distributing its products through DX Engineering. According to DX Engineering: "Hamplus systems permit HF/6M switching from 6 up to 16 antennas and from 2 to 8 radios. They also make devices that connect multiple directional controls to as many as 8 different antenna rotators. The band-data reading, multi-function control consoles include support for all major brand transceivers with radio specific control cables. The Hamplus line includes smart Control Consoles and Antenna Switches that can read data from the radio and memorize antenna selections. Hamplus also makes a Four-Stack Remote Switching System for transmitting and receiving of any four antennas with a programmable control console." Waves in the Sun's magnetic activity, similar in nature to Rossby waves which drive the Earth's jet streams, have been detected with the help of NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and its Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) mission. Being able to observe and understand this activity may provide greater insight into the prediction of solar weather phenomena. The Helvetia Contest has new rules for 2017. This year's event starts April 29, 2017 at 1300 UTC, and goes for 24 hours. A summary of the rules changes includes a shorter exchange, and the opportunity to earn points for contact with any station. There are other established rules that influence single operators, please see the comprehensive rules for more information. (Dominik, HB9CZF)
Array Solutions announces the US availability of the OM Power OM-2000A+ amplifier, featuring 160 meter to 10 meter coverage plus 50 MHz with automatic operation. Capable of the full legal limit on HF for all modes, it has LAN connectivity, CAT control compatibility with most transceivers and protocols, and built-in amplifier protection features. The tube is a single FU-728F ceramic tetrode. See the OM-2000A+ web page for more information. Array Solutions has also lowered prices on the amplifier's non-automatic sibling, the OM-2000+.
For a graphical chart of upcoming contest operations and DXpeditions, check out HamRadioWeb.org. For those that use a computer, smartphone, or online calendar application, an ICS file is available for download for import, so you can be reminded. If you're already using Google calendar, you can import the calendar of [email protected]. (via dxcoffee.com) KB6NU uses a force gauge to measure the actuation pressure on his CW paddle. In his web article, he found that he appreciated the ability to set the pressures consistently and symmetrically. The 20th annual Southeastern VHF Society (SVHFS) conference will be held April 28-29 in Charlotte, NC. This year's agenda includes a number of contester-oriented presentations including:
See the conference website for more information on all of the presentations, the banquet, flea market, vendor displays, and associated activities. Al, K7NHV, suggests the iPhone app MorseKey, described as "... a very simple touchscreen-based Morse Code straight key." You can download it for free from the App Store. (Ward, N0AX) How terrible were the conditions in VE8 for the recent CQ WPX Contest? John, VE8EV, commented in his 3830scores submission: "...Sunday was just as pitiful as Saturday was. At one point I decided to do something more pleasant and turned the radio off for a few hours to file my taxes. By the time the contest ended Sunday evening, the shack was also very clean and vacuumed... " Crepuscular: Adjective. Occuring during twilight. Example: Chasing Middle Eastern DX on 160 meters was a crepuscular activity. A link to a video walk-through of a 250 W Gates AM transmitter was contributed by Dennis, N6KI. The video, over 30 minutes long, highlights the robust construction of equipment meant to operate continuously for years. (Dennis, N6KI) The Icom IC-7610 was featured in a recently uploaded YouTube video. No narration, just someone playing with the radio. This direct-to-DSP radio will be available later this year. Adam, VA7OJ, maintains a number of links to information about this radio. The D4C Contest Team published a 1-minute video collage around the recent WPX SSB Contest. You can check out the D4C antenna list on their website under the "About" link. The results of the February ARRL School Club Roundup are available. Once again, K4SMS, the Schofield Middle School, earned the top spot in the Middle/Intermediate/Junior High School category. KM4RE, Georgia's Russell Elementary Amateur Radio Club, won the Elementary/Primary school category, K5LBJ, LASA High School Amateur Radio Club, won the High School category, and W8EDU, Case Western Reserve University, won the College/University category. Results of the 2016 CQMM DX Contest are online, and participants are now able to download a PDF certificate with their position in their category. The 2017 running of this CW-only contest will occur April 15-16, and is open to all amateurs worldwide. Raw scores for the CQ WPX Phone contest have been posted. If you think something is amiss, please contact the CQ WPX Contest Director via the web page. A database of all CQ 160 Meter contest scores from the contest's inception in 1960 has been completed and is online. According to Randy, K5ZD, "There have been 66,311 entries since the contest first started back in 1960. I must thank a group of people that are most responsible for making this new resource available to the contest community. They typed the 30,456 scores from 1960 to 2004. Thanks to AA4NU, CT1EKD, K1XX, K5ZD, K8FC, K9GX, K9VV, KC1CWF, KE3X, MM0LID, N1XS, NN3W, OR2F, SV1DPI, W0MU, and W4AU." Some data, such as the calls of guest operators at a station, may not have been available, so Randy is asking for the contest community's help to verify the information. Please visit the web page to type in your call, where you'll see every CQ 160 meter contest entry associated with it. Take a moment to confirm that the station call sign, QTH, zone, and category are correct, and that the score, QSO count, and multiplier counts look right. If you detect errors, please e-mail Randy. One additional feature is the ability to print a certificate including results placement for every contest since 2000. Try the wrong antenna If you can't hear the station you need well enough on your transmit antenna, try any antenna you do have. Especially at grayline, a "wrong" antenna used for listening may yield a contact. For example, if you have an inverted L on 160 meters but fade and receive noise is too great to copy the exchange, you can try listening on an 80-meter dipole, or a 40-meter vertical. The received noise may be diminished enough to make the contact. Don't forget to switch back to the correct antenna before transmitting. Joel, W5ZN, has published a paper comparing two vertical array antennas for receiving on 160 meters, available at his website. He found the Broad Side End Fed (BSEF) 8 vertical array comparable to the HiZ-8 vertical array in performance, and prefers either array over his Beverage antennas. Joel describes the construction of his BSEF antenna in another paper co-authored with Frank, W3LPL, and Bob, N4HY, that is also available on his website. Ed, KL7UW, has been a participant with the ARRL Experimental Group as WD2XSH/45, authorized for experimental operation on 600 meters, 495-510 KHz, and also 472-478 KHz. With the 630 meter and 2200 meter amateur bands getting closer to reality, I asked him about his experiences and the kinds of antennas it takes to be reasonably successful. Ed's opinion is: "472-479 KHz is a small band, so narrow-band modes will be desirable. There will probably be no voice or wide-band digital. 600 meters is much like 160-meter propagation but offers a lot of interest for those interested in weak-signal work such as WSPR. I expect a lot of articles and new books to be forthcoming on "getting on 630 meters". To get a signal on 630 meters will require separate receive and transmit antennas. I suggest a Flag (rectangular loop) for receive, and top-loaded vertical for transmitting. The larger you can make them the more efficient they can be. I use a 43 foot high by 122 foot long inverted L, but a 43 foot vertical wire with four 30 foot long horizontal wires at right angles on top (a loading hat) will load the same as my inverted L. The higher the vertical wire can be, the better. Short verticals, and that means anything under 500 feet which is a quarter wavelength, need top loading (capacitance) and base loading (inductance). The simplest coil form for a base loading coil is a plastic bucket. These antennas need high voltage insulators as the RF voltages can be huge even with 100 W from the transmitter. "If you have a tower of 40+ feet that can be loaded as a folded monopole, you can run a wire parallel to the tower spaced about a foot away with a base coil at bottom which is fed by coax at a tap. The tower is assumed to be grounded and coax shield ties to the tower base. Top of wire is tied to top of tower with a short conducting strap (aluminum or copper). An advantage of the folded monopole is that it has a higher natural impedance (like half a folded dipole) that raises the feed impedance and in turn raises efficiency. "Any vertical antenna will need radials, as long as you can manage. They will also be short compared to a quarter wavelength at the transmit frequency. "My inverted L's impedance is Z = 0.8 -j686, so it takes a huge coil to make it resonant. My 100 W of transmit power results in an ERP (effective radiated power) of about 3 W or EIRP (effective isotropic radiated power) of 5 W. "Your receive capability will be determined in large part by your local noise. If you do not have a 500 KHz capable receiver, you can check the noise floor on 160 meters and 80 meters. If they are quiet enough for you to copy signals then it might be fine on 630 meters. I get S-5 noise on 80 meters with my inverted V using my Elecraft K3. Noise on my inverted L using the SDR-IQ receiver is about -112 dBm to -95 dBm (equivalent to about S-5 if -73 dBm is S9). The use of a small loop for receive can help reject noise, but requires a preamplifier. Small loops are only used for receiving." An EETimes contributor reviewed the relatively inexpensive CSI Premier soldering station. He even took it apart. Electrons may have stranger behavior than most of us thought. Elektor Magazine describes an experiment by the University of Kansas that seems to show that electrons can move from the top layer of a three-material "sandwich" to the bottom layer, without traversing the layer in the middle. Theoretical physicists seem to think that this is okay. Your next homebrew QRP transceiver might want to include a CW decoding function. Here's a CW decoder based on the ubiquitous Arduino processor, with source code so you can experiment with it. QRP Labs is offering the 630 meter and 2200 meter versions of their Ultimate3S WSPR Beacon Transmitter for only $25 each for the entire month of April. Remember, while the special offer is open to all amateurs worldwide, US amateurs are not yet authorized to transmit on these bands. The First Step: Begin While I was working on a few new projects recently, I had some time to consider how homebrewing of radio equipment is changing. One project was a commercial kit QRP transceiver, designed over 15 years ago, and still in production as a kit today. With printed circuit board construction, through-hole components, and an excellent construction manual, it is approachable by nearly anyone. While I enjoyed my time building the kit, and have a useful and fun new rig to play with, the most important skills necessary to build the kit were the ability to read and follow instructions, be patient, solder properly, and use a magnifying visor to read inscrutable component values. I'm not sure what feeling I should have about having successfully completed it. Should I be proud that my multi-hour build effort resulted in something that a pick-and-place machine could have done in a few minutes? Relative to the performance and features of today's commercially assembled radios, this radio represents a luxury, and probably would not be a practical choice for a newcomer just wanting to get on the air. But it sure was fun to build! I suspect that the declining availability of through-hole parts in general will eventually signal the end of this kit and others like it. The second recent project was a preamplifier for a double half delta loop DHDL receiving antenna based on a design by W7IUV. I elected to start from just the schematic and comprehensive design notes, and also wanted to try to develop some new skills useful in future projects. My build process started by installing printed circuit board (PCB) design software on my shack PC, and then entering the schematic. I wanted to use surface mount devices (SMDs), so I had to make choices about part package sizes (1206 seemed a good size for resistors) while consulting the websites of online parts suppliers. I got more experience than I bargained for -- I had to make my own PCB outlines for a few components that weren't represented in any commonly available parts libraries. After I laid out the board, and after a couple of final reviews, I submitted my order to an online PCB service. While I was waiting for my boards, I ordered the components. In three days I had the parts, and five days after that, the boards arrived in my mailbox. Putting the parts on the boards took a couple of hours, including winding the toroids, and hand-soldering the SMDs with the assistance of a magnifying visor. After assembly, the pre-amp worked from the first turn-on. The technical skills I learned revolved around how the particular CAD software worked for schematic capture, board layout, and designing parts. Emboldened by my "mad PCB skillz," I have added a number of new projects to the build list, confident that I can go from schematic to working circuit. My third project, one that's still ongoing, is a Raspberry Pi daughterboard to interface with some ham gear. With some especially close-pitched leads on some interface ICs, it's going to offer some new challenges. Because I'm laying out the board, I can choose how close to place the components to one another to make assembly easier. Conventional ham wisdom is that building our own equipment can provide a deeper understanding of our gear, and helps to hone technical skills. As the underlying technology changes so do the skills required to design and build with it. If you've enjoyed building your gear in the past, but you're still hesitant about trying surface mount technology, realize that the biggest barrier is just getting started. Once you get acquainted with some new tools, you'll be proud of the new projects you can build. Don't forget your magnifying visor. That's all for this time. Remember to send contesting related stories, flea market pictures, book reviews, tips, techniques, press releases, errata, schematics, club information, pictures, stories, blog links, and predictions to [email protected] 73, Brian N9ADG 6 Apr - 19 Apr 2017 An expanded, downloadable version of QST's Contest Corral is available as a PDF. Check the sponsor's website for information on operating time restrictions and other instructions. HF CONTESTS CWops Mini-CWT Test, Apr 5, 1300z to Apr 5, 1400z, Apr 5, 1900z to Apr 5, 2000z, Apr 6, 0300z to Apr 6, 0400z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; Member: Name + Member No., non-Member: Name + (state/province/country); Logs due: April 8. VHF+ CONTESTS 144 MHz Spring Sprint, Apr 17, 1900z to Apr 17, 2300z; (not specified); Bands: 2m Only; 4-character grid square; Logs due: May 1. Also see SKCC Weekend Sprintathon, Texas State Parks on the Air, New Mexico QSO Party, Georgia QSO Party, Yuri Gagarin International DX Contest, North Dakota QSO Party, Ontario QSO Party, Feld Hell Sprint, ARRL Rookie Roundup, SSB, above. 6 Apr - 19 Apr 2017 April 6, 2017 April 7, 2017 April 8, 2017 April 9, 2017
April 11, 2017 April 13, 2017 April 15, 2017 April 16, 2017 April 17, 2017 April 18, 2017 ARRL Information Click here to advertise in this newsletter, space subject to availability. Your One-Stop Resource for Amateur Radio News and Information ARRL membership includes QST, Amateur Radio's most popular and informative journal, delivered to your mailbox each month. Subscribe to NCJ - the National Contest Journal. Published bimonthly, features articles by top contesters, letters, hints, statistics, scores, NA Sprint and QSO Parties. Subscribe to QEX - A Forum for Communications Experimenters. Published bimonthly, features technical articles, construction projects, columns and other items of interest to radio amateurs and communications professionals. Free of charge to ARRL members: Subscribe to The ARRL Letter (weekly digest of news and information), the ARES E-Letter (monthly public service and emergency communications news), Division and Section news -- and much more! ARRL offers a wide array of products to enhance your enjoyment of Amateur Radio. Visit the site often for new publications, specials and sales. Donate to the fund of your choice -- support programs not funded by member dues! Reprint permission can be obtained by sending e-mail to [email protected] with a description of the material and the reprint publication. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ARRL Contest Update wishes to acknowledge information from WA7BNM's Contest Calendar and SM3CER's Contest Calendar. | |||
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