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Scout Training Saves the Day for Backcountry Skiers:
As an Eagle Scout and current leader of Cub Scout Pack 283, Brent Read fully knows the Boy Scouts of America's motto, "Be Prepared." On Jan. 21, Read of Fort Collins, and his brother-in-law, Chris Haynie, set out to celebrate Read's 35th birthday with a backcountry ski trip near the Zimmerman Lake Trailhead by Cameron Pass. However, the snow proved to be a tough trek, and the two skiers, fully exhausted, were forced to abandon the trip back to their vehicle and instead prepared for a night in the snowy terrain. "The first thing we did was throw a bunch of snow into a big mound, letting it set up so it'd be stable for hollowing out a cave," Read said. "Then, when we had that ready, we built a fire." Read also carried a ham radio, an item he feels contributed to the rescue since he was able to establish communication on the Search and Rescue channels. As amateur radio enthusiasts, Read and his wife, Jana, set aside a frequency to use in case they ever had to contact each other. Although Read couldn't hear his wife on the other end of the radio as they were setting up camp, he could hear static, and that was just as good. "I listened to the frequency I had arranged with her to talk on," Read said. "I heard static on the one frequency and knew there wasn't going to be static from anyone else, so I knew she was in the area looking for us."

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 00:06:41 +0000

New Rules for 5 MHz (60 Meters) To Go Into Effect March 5:
On November 18, the FCC released a Report and Order (R&O), defining new rules for the 60 meter (5 MHz) band. These rules are in response to a Petition for Rulemaking (PRM) filed by the ARRL more than five years ago and a June 2010 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM). In the February 3 edition of the Federal Register, the FCC announced that these new rules will go into effect on March 5, 2012.

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:06:34 +0000

Propagation Forecast Bulletin #05 de K7RA:
Here are some yearly averages this bulletin neglected at the beginning of the year. These are the average daily sunspot numbers for whole calendar years, from 1994-2011: 48.1, 28.7, 13.2, 30.7, 88.7, 136.3, 173, 170.3, 176.7, 109.2, 68.6, 48.9, 26.1, 12.8, 4.7, 5.1, 25.5, and 29.9. You can see from these numbers that the minimum between Cycles 22-23 centered around 1996 was over quickly. But the next minimum before Cycle 24 centered around 2008-2009 was much longer. In 2011 we were back near the levels we saw in 2006, 1997 and 1995.

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:05:43 +0000

DX News -- ARRL DX Bulletin #05:
This week's bulletin was made possible with information provided by K1ZZ, NC1L, the OPDX Bulletin, 425 DX News, The Daily DX, DXNL, The Weekly DX, Contest Corral from QST and the ARRL Contest Calendar and WA7BNM web sites. Thanks to all.

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:05:19 +0000

Radio Waves a Boost for RNLI Life-Savers:
A RADIO fundraiser has highlighted the work of the RNLI in Wick and collected hundreds of pounds for the charity. Caithness Amateur Radio Society (CARS) and around 40 other radio clubs around the UK installed antennas, transmitting and receiving equipment in their local lifeboat stations.

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:02:13 +0000
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Welcome Lab Rats.                     "What will we be doing tonight brain?"

 

 

The Lab Rats section is the venue for local amateurs to showcase some of their homebrew engineering, as a way to elmer others through some of the technical aspects of our hobby. Feel free to try some of the projects listed here. If you have any experiments to share send it over to the webmaster and he will work on getting it posted.

Antenna Tech Talk presented

by Michael Brennan KA6PGN

 

Michael KA6PGN will be our Guest Speaker at our March 15th meeting. Michael and XYL Laura are the Hams who had that fabulous Army Communications Display at Palm Springs Hamfest. At our December "RATS in the Desert " Event some of us got to see their museum quality collection at his residence north of Salton City. Not just a display, it was the active demonstration of the collection that impressed me. New members of the Desert RATS in the last year, Michael designed Antenna set ups for Field Day at his former Club in Northern California; they came in 6th the year he organized their antenna set up. He's sent along a few photos and diagrams of some of his creations featured in this month's RATS NEST Newsletter. Michael is a very knowledgeable Techie person and antenna designer/ builder. I am in awe of his workshop and Antenna Farm on their acreage. At Tuesday's meeting, he will give an introductory talk on Antenna basic ending with some very technical information about Antenna Design and use. So there will be something for the New Ham as well as for some of our seasoned builders who still are not quite sure why some of these unusual designs work and how well they work. He'll use this presentation as a foundation for a new regular Club activity: an ongoing Antenna Clinic where we will build various antennas, hoist them up on his multiple towers and actively test them; in this way he will show us how to do it. As a bonus, some of the attendees will be able to take home what is built at that week's Antenna Clinic project. We will build a few at a time so most likely, if you attend, you will get a chance to keep some of the antennas built. By the end of the year all who attend will end up with one or more of the creations. A great reason to attend the full series of Antenna Clinics. Baluns, ladder line, Top Hats and coax mysteries, which are still confusing to me, will be part of the lecture and hands-on lab building series. It is less than one hour drive from Palm Springs to get to Michael's Ham Shack and Machine Shop and well worth ending up with your own series of antennas built under Michael's supervision. His collection of tools, lathes, metal working machines and testing equipment rivals his military radio collection. You could potentially end up with hundreds of dollars worth of antennas by attending this Series of Clinics. One can never have too many antennas! This upcoming meeting we will be registering participants. If for some reason you can't make it on your own...sign into our Web site where Evan has put up a registration area for our Clinics asking for a ride and we'll try and pair you up in a carpool We want to make sure you get to attend if you want to participate. Be sure to enter what types of antennas you wish you could have so we can help you build it. Need a hand putting it up at your house? mention that too and maybe you'll get help putting it up. Just like the good old days of Hams having antenna raising gatherings. Dates will be determined at the next meeting so plan on attending… Hope to see you there!

 

I.C.E. engineers and staff technicians have prepared a list of free technical publications for customer reference. These cover a variety of subjects related to the usage of I.C.E. products, facility design and construction, lightning and over voltage protection, and product comparisons with other companies' goods.

 

Written in easy-to-understand language for the non-technical:  Special Publications

Easy Digital EmCom

This method of sending Data for emergency communications is the best idea I've seen ...ever.  It can be used with any operating system...Mac, linux Windows whatever  all you need is a computer and a radio ...that's it no cables nothing else.  You play the encoded message from your computers speakers right into your microphone. It can be used on repeaters or without and it is also cross platform!  It's ideal as it requires almost no training to learn how to do it! Other forms of packet etc require special cable interfaces  or a TNC and a dedicated node to act as a hub in some cases.  This requires non of that!!! It's very simple......

 

The use of the NBEMS software requires nothing more than a laptop or desktop computer and an amateur radio transciever (even an HT) to send and receive data/text using the NBEMS soundcard-based digital software.

 

This site concentrates on only a few of the primary digital communications modes available within the FLDIGI software package that are best suited to Emergency Communications.

A key to promoting the widespread adoption of digital communications is to keep the protocols as simple as possible and providing means of conducting digital communications with the use of equipment and transceivers that are already commonly used.

The NBEMS/FLDIGI software is the perfect package for digital emergency communications because it is:

- FREE!
- Easy to configure
- Easy to use
- Easy to modify and standardize
- Works on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Linux systems
- Usable without the need for additional/complex/expensive hardware

 

For complete instructions on how to install and to use go to http://wpanbems.org/

To download Fldigi go to http://www.w1hkj.com/
WSPR-stands for Weak Signal Propagation Reporter-by VE7REZ
WSPR - Distant Whispers ( the following is courtesy of G4ILO )

One of the things that makes communicating with amateur radio more fun than using the Internet or the phone is that you never know where your signals will be received. Short wave radio propagation is never completely predictable, and can often surprise you. If this is an aspect of radio that fascinates you, then you'll enjoy using WSPR.

WSPR is a piece of software that enables you to participate in a world-wide network of low power propagation beacons. It enables your radio transceiver to transmit beacon signals, and to receive beacon signals from similarly-equipped stations in the same amateur band. Because participating stations usually upload spots that they receive in real time to a web server, you can find out within seconds of the end of each transmission exactly where and how strongly it was received, and even view the propagation paths on a map.

If you left WSPR running while you were doing something else, you can also search the database to find out later where your signals were received during the day. You can analyze past signal reports to see the effect of seasonal propagation changes or antenna improvements.
What is WSPR?

WSPR stands for Weak Signal Propagation Reporter, but it's pronounced "Whisper" - quite an appropriate name as it is all about sending and receiving signals that are barely audible.

WSPR is a software application written by Joe Taylor, K1JT, a Nobel Prize-winning Princeton physicist. It was first released in April 2008. It uses a transmission mode called MEPT-JT. The "JT" stands for Joe Taylor, while MEPT stands for Manned Experimental Propagation Transmitter.

Joe's web site has the software to begin your adventures with WSPR:

http://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/

This article is courtesy of G4ILO you can get more details from his web site http://www.g4ilo.com/wspr.html
 
Weak Signal Propagation Reporter Network [WSPR]

Attention Members! If you have a project of interest to contribute to this section, email step by step instructions with photos to the webmaster.