Wednesday, November 30, 2011

The ARRL 10 Meter Contest: Get On While the Bands Are Hot!

 Ten meters -- in case you haven’t heard, it’s alive in a big way! That means that the ARRL 10 Meter Contest -- coming up the weekend of December 10-11 -- is going to be the one of the best we’ve seen in years! During this event, many propagation modes will be available: Sporadic-E will help you work stateside stations, a touch of meteor scatter in the morning will give you split-second chances to work stations -- you’d better be quick, though! -- and DX stations will be plentiful, thanks to the return of F2 propagation.
Pictured: Austin KK4DAK and Sam W4KUM

Yes, 10 meters is back. During the CQ World Wide DX CW Contest this past Thanksgiving weekend, many stations worked more than 100 DXCC entities on 10 meters. ARRL Contest Branch Manager Sean Kutzko, KX9X, said that he keeps hearing from numerous hams who have been licensed only three or four years, telling him that they’ve never experienced a 10 meter opening before because they weren’t licensed during the last solar cycle peak: “A common phrase I’m hearing is, ‘Now I understand what all the Old-Timers in my club were talking about -- 10 meters is great!’ With a concentration of activity for the contest, there will be an opportunity for the first time in several years to experience the beauty of a wide-open 10 meter band. With so much excitement worldwide over the great conditions, the 2011 ARRL 10 Meter Contest could see the highest level of participation in a very long time!”
Single Operator entrants can use CW only, SSB only -- or a mixture of both. They can choose between High Power, Low Power (150 W or less) or QRP (5 W or less). Want to share the fun with your friends? Invite them over and enter in the Multioperator category. US Novice and Technician class operators can get in on the fun, too. Both classes are permitted SSB operation between 28.3-28.5 MHz with 150 W. You don’t have an antenna for 10 meters? Why not build one yourself! A dipole for 28.4 MHz is about 16.5 feet long -- build it and get it up in the air as high as you possibly can. According to Kutzko, it’s an easy construction project and you will work stations, especially with band conditions like this! Quite simply, this is a weekend not to miss!
In 2010, the ARRL added the 32 Mexican states as multipliers to the 10 Meter Contest. “Activity from our friends in XE spiked in 2010 as a result of the inclusion of Mexican states, and there’s every indication there will be even more activity from the XE’s in 2011, providing even more stations to work and increase your score,” Kutzko said. For a list of the Mexican states, download a free map, provided by Grupo DXXE.
The ARRL 10 Meter Contest runs from 0000 UTC Saturday, December 10 through 2359 UTC Sunday, December 11. Logs must be e-mailed or postmarked no later than 0000 UTC Wednesday, January 11, 2012. Paper logs should be sent to ARRL 10 Meter Contest, 225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

HAM RADIO CLASS



This introduction Seminar is FREE.

We have had an amazing degree of interest in HAM RADIO and the independence it provides for citizens to communicate with one another. As such we will be hosting a HAM RADIO class. This will be a combination of Lectures, Online Study and Test Review Sessions. We will have several test dates so participants can test when they feel prepared. We want everyone interested to achieve their license.
Schedule : DEC. 13th 7PM. KICK OFF - At this meeting we will have a lecture and orientation into the world of Amateur Radio. Radio equipment of all sizes, shapes and capabilities will be displayed and discussed. There will also be a Power Point and a live computer “overview” of how the online study guide works.
Cost: $20.00 There is not a charge to take the Technician Level exams (30 questions). If you prefer to buy a book to study with instead of using the internet those books are available from various resources for around $30.00. We have been offered a limited number of “scholarships” (free access) to the online study guide based on the number of folks who pay the discounted $20.00 online access fee. If you require free access to make this work financially, please submit your request by email to [masked]. These will be limited. If you would like to “sponsor” a scholarship, should the need arise, you may let me know that as well. Requests for, or offers to provide, scholarships will be kept in confidence.

We will have a couple of “study groups” in December (Dates to be announced)

Testing will begin towards the end of December but Definitely after the 1st of January.

Expectation – All interested persons should attend the DECEMBER 13, Regular Meeting of the Lakeland Tea Party and 9/12 Project at Liberty Hall (Special Guest Speaker) Ernie (KG4YNI) __________ on HAM RADIO. Sign-up sheets will be completed at the meeting and when submitted the internet access codes will be provided.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Ham Radio on Fox News

The newest trend in American communication isn't another smartphone from Apple or Google but one of the elder statesmen of communication: Ham radio licenses are at an all time high, with over 700,000 licenses in the United States, according to the Federal Communications Commission.
Ham radio first took the nation by storm nearly a hundred years ago. Last month the FCC logged 700,314 licenses, with nearly 40,000 new ones in the last five years. Compare that with 2005 when only 662,600 people hammed it up and you'll see why the American Radio Relay League -- the authority on all things ham -- is calling it a "golden age."

"Over the last five years we've had 20-25,000 new hams a year," Allen Pitts, a spokesman for the group, told FoxNews.com.
The unusual slang term -- a "ham" is more properly known as an amateur radio operator -- described a poor operator when the first wireless operators started out in the early 1900s. At that time, government and coastal ships would have to compete with amateurs for signal time, because stations all battled for the same radio wavelength. Frustrated commercial operators called the amateurs “hams” and complained that they jammed up the signal.
People like John Pritchett have used the slang term ever since.
“It takes an inquisitive mind that wants the challenge to speak with the rest of the world,” Pritchett told FoxNews.com. “I meet a lot of people as a result amateur radio. It’s a fascinating experience to meet somebody who you’ve talked to for years -- when you finally meet them and go, wow, that’s you.”
Pritchett has been a ham for over 35 years. He sits in his ham shack slowly turning the dial on his amateur radio and listening attentively for a voice through the high radio frequency. But he’s not looking for aliens: Pritchett is dialing in to make contact with someone around the world.
“W6JWK, This is John in Fresno, California,” he says.
Pritchett can communicate with people around the globe or even astronauts in space by talking through his microphone or using Morse code.
With more people joining the hobby, local ham radio businesses are growing as well. Amateur Electronics Supply in Las Vegas sells everything to do with ham radios, from transceivers, amplifiers and antennas to handhelds.
“We have clientele from all walks of life," manager Luke Rohn told FoxNews.com. "We have church groups who are interested in ham radio for a viable source of communication in times of natural disaster. We have young kids that find ham radio interesting. Maybe they’ve heard about it through their father and grandfather and it’s a lot of fun for them.”
According to the American Radio Relay League, retirees and emergency groups are among the main reasons for the nearly 30,000 new hams that pick up the hobby each year.
Ham is a boon for safety as well as a fun pastime: When normal communications methods fail and cellphone towers are jammed, ham radios will still work and can help out in disaster situations, because they don’t require towers to relay the signal.
“Amateur radio came into play very much during the major earthquake in the Bay Area in 1989. The only thing I had was a little handheld radio. Nothing else worked, telephones didn’t work, cellphones didn’t work, amateur radio just kept right on working,” Pritchett said.
Looking to ham it up a bit with some friends? Try a fox hunt -- the radio equivalent of ham-to-ham combat. In a fox hunt, local amateur radio clubs search for a transmitter (called the fox) using their homemade antennas.
“The fox hunting is really fun -- the thrill of the chase, the competition of being the first to find the transmitter,” said Rob Mavis, president of the Clovis Amateur Radio Pioneers club in Clovis, Calif.
Ham radio is inexpensive fun, as well: All you need is a couple hundred bucks to get started and a FCC license -- which is free, but requires a $10 to $12 fee to cover expenses.
So join the latest craze -- no iPhone app required.


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/11/17/radio-days-are-back-ham-radio-licenses-at-all-time-high/?test=faces#ixzz1eUOsN3xK

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Changes to 60M band are a GO!!!

On November 18, 2011 the FCC published its approval of changes to the US 60 meter band.

http://www.fcc.gov/document/amateur-radio-service-5-mhz

http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2011/db1118/FCC-11-171A1.pdf

Summary:

(1) Use of the existing 5366.5 kHz (carrier) is removed, replaced by 5357.0 kHz (carrier).

(2) Maximum ERP raised from 50 to 100 watts PEP.

(3) Three emission modes (CW, RTTY, Data) are authorized in addition to the existing USB mode.

Changes go into effect 30 days after publication in the Federal Register.

Monday, November 14, 2011

Society for the Preservation of Amateur Radio

SPAR Announces Winter Field Day 2012

Not only during Field Day in June, do the bands come alive with improvised signals proving the ability to respond to emergencies. Since emergencies and natural disasters don't always happen in the summer, during Winter Field Day, frigid winds, icy limbs and bitter cold replace the thunderstorms and blistering heat of summer. In 2007 SPAR established a Winter Field Day event and invited all Amateur Radio operators to participate. The event was repeated in 2008 and was considered a success, so it was then designated an annual event to be held the last full weekend each January. In 2007 - 2011 the event was enjoyed by many, but it is time to issue the invitation for the Sixth Annual SPAR Winter Field Day!

The 2012 Winter Field Day will be held from 1700 UCT (12:00 noon EST) Saturday January 28, 2011 through 1700 UCT (12:00 noon EST) Sunday January 29, 2012. The object of the event is familiar to most Amateur Radio operators: set up emergency-style communications and make as many contacts as possible during the 24 hour period. The rules encourage as many contacts on as many bands and modes as possible, because during a real emergency, the most important factor is the ability to communicate, regardless of band, mode or distance.

The official rules can be found at the SPAR web site. The event is open to all amateurs, although we encourage everyone to join in the discussions and other activities sponsored by SPAR. Information about SPAR can be found on the SPAR Home Page. Membership is free and open to all amateurs who want to encourage technical and operating skills. You can register by going to the SPAR Forum and registering, using your amateur callsign as your user name.

Please join with SPAR in promoting amateur radio and keeping our bands alive!