Meteor Scatter - Geminids 2010

The Geminids meteor shower last month, December 2010 got a lot of attention from amateur astronomers, Meteoritics and amateur radio operators. Here is a great article written by Dr David Knight of the Norman Lockyer Observatory Radio Club.
Dr Knight monitors a high-power transmitter close to the Alps on 143.049.
This article displays a Long head echo with pronounced overshoot, but no trail echo. This is probably due to a satellite in low Earth orbit. This is common, hearing reflections from aircraft. The question was asked by G4VXE, if this would work with Satellites and the ISS?
Read the article by Dr. Knight; click here

This Weekends Contest

I might give it a try, then again I have not been on the radio very much this week. Actually I think the last time I was on was New Years Eve.
This weekends contest. Good Luck.

QRP Fox Hunt	Jan 7
NCCC Sprint Ladder	Jan 7
PODXS 070 Club PSKFest	Jan 8
Hunting Lions in the Air Contest	Jan 8-9
MI QRP January CW Contest	Jan 8-9
WW PMC Contest	Jan 8-9
ARRL RTTY Roundup	Jan 8-9
North American QSO Party, CW	Jan 8-9
EUCW 160m Contest	Jan 8-9
SKCC Weekend Sprint	Jan 9
NRAU-Baltic Contest, CW	Jan 9
DARC 10-Meter Contest	Jan 9
NRAU-Baltic Contest, SSB	Jan 9
Midwinter Contest	Jan 9

ICOM's ID-E880

This looks like a neat little toy to have. One day I do hope to purchase an ICOM rig with the D-Star capabilities. At the moment there is a D-Star Repeater in my area but I am unsure how much activity it receives. One day I may listen online. If you are interested in listening to DSTAR audio feeds via the internet, then you have two options:

Listen direct on my server at http://radio1.ham-radio- op.net:9008 or via the Radio Reference Web Site at http://www.radioreference.com/apps/audio/? ctid=321 Users on Radio Reference need to scroll to bottom of page then click on the speaker icon next to the Dstar feed name.

Back to the ID-880;
Icom is pleased to announce the debut of the ID-E880 mobile VHF/UHF dual-band, D-Star transceiver. The ID-E880 is designed to be easy to use and contain a new ‘DV mode’ feature which allows the operator to access D-Star repeaters in just two steps. The ID-E880 mobile is the successor to the ID-800H mobile transceiver and retains many of the features of its predecessor including switchable dual-band capability, detachable controller and 50W power output. The usability of the ID-E880 has been improved with a larger LCD display and a high speed scan capability of up to 50 channels a second. The ID-E880 is ideal for a range of users including foundation licensees, anyone new to D-Star and Ham organizations such as Ray-net that are looking for a simple GPS position reporting system.
To read more on this rig, click here or click here

Videos for ID-E880

FTM 350 and Begali CW Machine Review

YAESU FTM-350R Review along with the Begali CW Machine.

KD8BIG; Additional Blog Topics

So I have put a lot of thought into the many hobbies I have such as Amateur Radio, Collecting Stamps, Sports Memorabilia and Fly Tying. Yes, Fly Tying. I use to really enjoy fishing since I was a kid till 2006.
Fly Fishing was something I done when I was 13-25, taught by both my grandfathers. When they passed away I had no-one to fly fish with.
Now my son is into fishing and wants to learn about tying flies and the art of being a Fly Fisherman.
I have found my old fly tying rig and it looks like I need to order new material. It’s a far cry from antenna building but it is something I can do in my radio room or in my recliner.
Back to my reason to this post, I started a Stamp Blog back on October 2nd. I just have not really had the ambition to log out of one blog and log into the other and visa-versa. So I am considering re-establishing my KD8BIG amateur radio blog to KD8BIG, Amateur Radio Operator, Fisherman and Stamp & Sports Memorabilia Collector.
However, I am not going to change the URL or anything regarding this site. You’ll just see post on other hobbies of mine as well as Amateur Radio topics.
Stay Tuned.

Amateur Radio Antenna and Power Lines

It's a story we hear of so many times. Amateur Radio Operators installing an antenna and not paying attention. Please my friends, look above before installation.

A 22-year-old Venice woman was hospitalized late Saturday after she was reportedly shocked by a power line.

According to the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office, Rachel Hinkle was erecting a structure in the 300 block of Sea Grape Road just after 11:30 p.m. when it touched the overhead electrical wires.

Hinkle was taken to Venice Regional Medical Center in serious condition.

Power was restored to most of the neighborhood.

Continue Reading

Portable HF Station

This is cool. I got an e-mail and also discovered this is also posted on the SARC page.
It is a long video.

Graig VK3VCM has produced a 1080p HD video giving his ideas and tips on how to successfully operate full power portable HF.

The YouTube description reads:

My ideas and tips on how to successfully operate full power portable HF and have a great day operating an Amateur Radio HF Station outdoors.

There are two types of 'portable'... If you're planning on running a few watts QRP then 'portable' means a backpack and off you go... however if you want to run a bit more power portable, you'll need to consider a few extra things which are surprisingly easy to overlook... I know this because on a few occasions I overlooked them!

Hopefully this video helps or inspires someone, somewhere, to get out and operate portable! I'm keen to get your ideas and tips on how to make portable operation more fun and easier too.. please comment and reply with your own videos.

73, Craig VK3VCM

Watch How I operate my 100 watt HF Portable Amateur Radio Station by Craig VK3VCM

The Cool Thing about 2011

Just think, at 11:11:11 UTC time the date will read as 11:11:11 - 1-1-11.
The only thing cooler is November 11-2011. Then it will be 11:11:11-11/11/11

Happy New Years Noise Maker

Here we are again, some more Red Green. New Years Noise Maker

Happy New Year!!!!

de KD8BIG; Merry Christmas

Santa Claus Net

This is a re-post reminder

This was distributed to me via the
WestMichiganHams
yahoo group.

On December 24, 2010 @ 2200 hrs local time.

Gather your children, and grandchildren, around your radios for the annual Santa net.

While Santa is delivering presents around the world, the children can call for Santa, KD8DEG, and Santa will ask each child if they have been good little boy's and girls, and what they would like for Christmas.

Elf Radar Frank, N8UVI, will be giving Santa's location using NORAD, along with Elf Techno Dave, KC8PCL, scribing, both located at Santa's communications center at the North Pole.

You can find the "Santa Net" on the Lowell repeater 145.270 pl 94.8; also use IRLP: node 9617; & Echolink: Michigan Conference node 96170 .

73

The originator & Elf - N8UVI Frank
Santa - KD8DEG Tom
Elf - KC8PCL Dave

Please note the changes for the IRLP and ECHOLINK Node numbers. We have been given permission to use the Michigan Conference and IRLP nodes for the Santa Net. This enables the net to run Nationally and World Wide.

An Amateur Radio Christmas

A nostalgic look at the amateur radio operator's Christmas Holidays.

Amateur Radio Christmas Calls

Amateur Radio Christmas Calls.
-- G1FT -- **KR1S -- KR1NGL -- **NØEL -- N1CK--RE1NDR
**Issued Calls

de KD8BIG; Thank You

I just want to thank all of you who continue to stop by and read my little blog.
Yesterday I hit 10,000 visits on my blog.
Here is some of the break down;
631 =1-5 Returning Visits
315=5-10 Returning Visits
64 = 10+ Returning Visits
According to my site tracker 51% of my visitors are return visits. Not bad for an amateur. I realize much of my post are from others and I am just passing along the info. It still gives me something to do.

Thanks again

You can also follow me on Twitter.
http://twitter.com/#!/KD8BIG

SO-67 FM Suspended

Slow day for me today. Getting ready for the Christmas Holiday. The kids are home from school and the DX bands are already showing some congestion.

Got this in the E-Mail box this morning

Johann Lochner, ZR1CBC, reports that the FM Amateur Radio transponder on SO-67 is being temporarily suspended due to a probable radiation event.

On the AMSAT bulletin board he writes:

Last week the flash boot memory of a CAN controller on Sumbandila was corrupted by a probable radiation event. It does not affect satellite health but prevents activation of the amateur radio repeater, as the particular script detects an anomaly and aborts.

The same problem also occurred in October of 2009 and was corrected. However, the fix requires time consuming effort, which cannot be exerted immediately.

SO-67 repeater activations are therefore suspended. We apologize for any disappointment and hope to return to normal operations somewhere in January.

73 de ZR1CBC, Johann.

AMSAT Bulletin Board AMSAT-BB
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/tools/maillist/

Southern African Amateur Radio Satellite Association (SA AMSAT)
http://www.amsatsa.org.za/