The weekend of October 19th is Parks On the Air (POTA) autumn activity weekend. Four...For those living within driving range of Summit Racing Equipment/DX Engineering headquarters in Tallmadge, Ohio, we hope you were able to participate in our first-ever Mobile Cruise-In October 3, 2024 in the Summit Racing parking lot. (Summit Racing is DX Engineeringβs parent company.)
The event was billed as an opportunity to meet other local hams, check out new gear and open-box specials in the DX Engineering Showroom, and, most importantly, display your vehicleβs mobile radio setup and see other unique ways hams install their mobile rigs.
Hams from the surrounding area arrived to show off a variety of ways they go mobile. Members of the DX Engineering team were there to capture the camaraderie and ham spirit that invariably happens when amateurs get together to make eyeball QSOs and swap operating ideas:
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Couldnβt make it to DX Engineering for the cruise-in? No problem. Our celebration of all things mobile radio never stops.
We understand that it was logistically impossible for most OnAllBands readers, who operate from every corner of the globe, to attend the cruise-in (for our New Zealand fans, for example, it would have required an 8,607-mile excursion).
But take heart. You can still go mobile at DXEngineering.com. There, youβll find everything you need to enjoy the fun and practicality of having ham radio communication at your fingertips when youβre on the road or off.
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Hope to see you at DX Engineering/Summit Racing headquarters for future Mobile Cruise-Ins and special sales events. Weβll keep you posted!
The post DX Engineering Goes Mobile! appeared first on OnAllBands.
Since the UK Labour party came to power several months ago, they have been mired in controversy with the media feasting on free gifts for leading politicians and the withdrawal of winter fuel payments for many. For a Labour party set up to support workers, neither looks great.
The UK Conservative government lost heavily with the right wing Reform party picking up much support. The Conservative party is about to pick a new leader and the choice seems to be between two right wing candidates.
Moderation seems to have gone from politics in many countries, with disaffected people often voting for parties with extreme views.
This isnβt a blog where I share everything that happens in my day to day life. The purpose here is to document the fun and challenges of my amateur radio hobby. But a hobby does intersect with life. Weβve all picked up and put down hobbies over time depending on life circumstances. I had a big change lately and Iβve had a few questions from people who read this blog asking if everything is OK.
TL; DR: It is. Everything is great!
In mid-September, I had my last day at work. Iβm in a state of semi-retirement right now trying to figure out, well, a lot of things. Iβm very, very fortunate that Iβm able to take this time to pause and think about whatβs next. My family has been incredibly supportive of this move and I couldnβt be happier about it.
With change come challenges. Iβve taken over the day to day running of the house. That means vet appointments, doctor appointments, groceries, meal planning, household chores, a million projectsβ¦all of the things. Iβm still coming up to speed on that stuff and as a result, radio has had to take a back seat. Well, no more!
I only had ONE activation in August and ONE activation in September. Thatβs appalling to me. One of the things that has kept my stress down over the past few years has been POTA and Iβm not happy that things slid off like they did. But as I said, big changes take a lot of time.
On a Wednesday morning, with all of my chores more or less handled, I put my IC-705 and assorted gear in my backpack and decided that Iβd head out to West Branch State Park β US-1999 after giving my dad a hand moving a few things over at the PCARS club site. As I was packing up, I decided to toss the Surface Go 2 into my bag on a lark. I havenβt done much FT8 lately and I do like mixing up my modes. Itβs what I didnβt toss in the backpack that would get me.
West Branch is a very busy park when the days are long and warm. People come out to boat or to sit on the beach. There are a million hikers with dogs. In fact, even on the rather remote peninsula where I usually settle in to do my activations, I get a lot of traffic and folks poking their heads in to ask what Iβm doing. Thatβs great! But itβs not why I go to the park. Itβs probably why I go to Cuyahoga Valley National Park in the summer: people are there to hike and keep moving. There is far less chatting.
On this rather cool (50dF) and windy morning, the only other people Iβd see at the park were the park staffer who was mowing part of a field around the disc golf course and a guy out on his boat fishing. If the water isnβt frozen, there is a boat on that reservoir.
The table was right where Iβd left it. Sort of. Someone moved it closer to the edge of the peninsula, so Iβd have to use a different tree for my antenna. Having thought about it on the drive over, one of my favorite things about my normal spot is being able to easily get my EFHW into a tree. I decided that Iβd pull that out (I keep it in the Jeep at all times) and use it. I was glad that I did!
I got the line in the tree after a number of frustrating throws. The lack of practice from this summer was really showing. With the line over a branch β as opposed to The Branch I was aiming for β I got the antenna in the air and got to setting up the rest of my gear.
Two things conspired to make this a digital only activation. The first was that thing I didnβt put in my bag: my headset. I had no headphones. There were high winds and really loud Canada Geese (providing quite intentional QRM) in the area. The second item was my friend from the park department who was mowing. There was no way Iβd hear CW on my 705βs speaker without a headset. I was quite glad Iβd tossed the tablet in my backpack!
My digital setup is fast and well-oiled. With my gear all talking to each other, I started up WSJT-X and got to the business of making contacts.
On my desktop I have been using WSJT-X Improved as my FT8 client of choice. There are a few little tweaks that the developer made to the UI that makes it so much easier to navigate. I hope that some of them find their way into the main branch. Things like being able to push the band button without navigating that finicky dropdown selector and a setting that will respond if it sees your call come up without the user clicking to get there. On a desktop, these are nice to have features. In the field on a small tablet with a touchscreen, they would be game changers.
I say βwould beβ because I didnβt take the time to install it on the tablet and was using the stock install instead. I really, really, really missed those features. As well as the ability to ignore a station. Thatβs a rant for another time.
In short, check it out. I find the UI changes to be refreshing and really helpful. YMMV.
Once I was on the air, I was pulling in contacts like crazy. I started on 20-meters and it just took off. Given that it was about 14:00 UTC or so, that wasnβt so much of a surprise. But my EFHW and the bands conspired to give me contacts from California to Barbados and France. It was great!
As I sat and reeled in contacts, I started to notice that it was actually cold. The wind was blowing hard and I was in the shade of the massive trees that sit on the edge of the water. It made me think of last winter and the winter to come. Getting out in the less than comfortable weather is good for building character (as if I needed more) but itβs also a reminder to take the right coat. Sitting still in the shade means wear a warmer than you would if you were walking kinda coat. And maybe take some gloves? I need to restock my backpack for the season, it seems.
Toward the end of my time, I switched over to 15-meters and picked up a station in France. I wasnβt feeling like hanging out much longer as the wind was picking up further and the sun wasnβt going to be getting to me any time soon. I stopped and packed it in.
31 contacts for the activation but 2 were dupes. When someone comes back at me after Iβve logged the contact, I usually work it through even if I see itβs a dupe. Maybe the other operator didnβt close out the QSO on their end and really needsβ¦checks notesβ¦a park in Ohio? Maybe? Anyway, 29 contacts that count toward the activation and they came in from all over the place. Hereβs the QSO Map:
It felt so good to get back out to the park. I missed West Branch and I missed my little spot by the water. The cold wind and obstructionist geese? Less so. But it was a gorgeous day to be outside and the ionosphere rewarded me with many contacts. Thereβs nothing like getting outside with a radio to refresh a radio nerd!
Thanks for reading along. Lots more updates to come as projects move forward and some winter time radio experimenting starts up. I have a lot I want to do with packet radio and BBSes and the like. Not to mention some Hellschreiber POTA activation attempts as well! I have the time!
2024 Oct 10 0030 UTC NOAA
Solar activity reached high levels with an X1.8 flare. The event was accompani
ed by Type II and Type IV radio sweeps.The associated Halo CME is Earth directed and model analysis suggests arrival 10 Oct.
Solar activity is expected to be moderate (R1-R2, Minor-Moderate) with a chance for isolated X-class (R3-Strong or greater) flares
through 12 Oct.
KI5IKJ
Contests for Oct 12-13
Makrothen RTTY Contest
QRP ARCI Fall QSO Party
Nevada QSO Party
Oceania DX Contest, CW
SKCC Weekend Sprintathon
Scandinavian Activity Contest, SSB
Arizona QSO Party
Pennsylvania QSO Party
South Dakota QSO Party
PODXS 070 Club 160m Great Pumpkin Sprint
Argentina National 7 MHz Contest
UBA ON Contest, CW
Classic Exchange, Phone
SRCH CONTESTCALENDAR.COM FOR DETAILS
W5ORC
Here are some Fla. AUXCOMM freqs you may want to monitor during the Hurricane Milton event. 3.940 3.950 7.197 7.247 7.242
SARNET β Floridaβs State Wide Connected Repeater System
NI4CE Repeater System
THESE CAN BE FOUND ON THE POLICE SCANNER APP
KF5NA
On the 9th of October 2024, Roger Harrison VK2ZRH have a presentation titled 'Factors Affecting F-layer Propagation at 50 MHz as Solay Cycle 25 peaks' to the Madison DX Club.
In the video, Roger looks at the current sunspot cycle and the potential for some F2 layer and Trans-Equatorial Propagation (TEP) paths.
The presentation is about 25 minutes in length and is shown below...
Link... See my 50 MHz page for other presentations and posts about some long distance paths on 50 MHz.
We have been enjoying the nice autumn weather in these parts. 70 degree days, dry with very low humidity, endless sunshine, and 40 degree nights. It doesnβt get much better than that. The farmerβs have been taking full advantage as harvest time is well underway with all the fields being gleaned. Itβs the most wonderful time of the year in the Heartland.
Iβm still exploring the Elecraft K4, discovering its many features, while usually running a whopping five watts up the wire. I worked about a dozen stations that way yesterday. One of those was WB0RLJ who I have worked eight previous times according to my log. In this case, Jim was activating the Chalco Hills State Recreation Area (US-4011), a little southwest of Omaha, Nebraska.
What I didnβt know at the time was that he was activating the park using his handheld Elecraft KH1 transceiver with whip antenna. I discovered that later when I watched his video of that activation. Itβs rather interesting hearing/seeing your signal being received on the other end of the lash-up.
Thanks to this video, I also discovered there is an ADIF utility from VE2ZDX that apparently parses a log file to find specific call signs in a YouTube video. At least thatβs what it appears to do. I donβt make videos so you will have to work that one out for yourself, but if you look in the expanded βmoreβ section of this video you will see the call sign of everyone Jim worked during this activation with a URL pointer directly to each specific QSO time in the video.
Β The following have been notified Please check details before going a long way. Both are on Sunday October 13th.
So far, just spots by WESSEXSDR (267km) of my 2.5W to a dipole.
UPDATE 1040z: ZR1ADI (9777km) again coming through, but no QSO.
UPDATE 1356z:Β 2 spots from Poland and somebody signing "PA test" on 8m FT8 RX.Β Not sure if this is somebody trying their power amp or someone testing in the Netherlands.
Β Later, I hope to go on QRP 8m FT8 (2.5W) and 500mW WSPR beaconing on 10m.
SPRAT is published every quarter as a colour A5 magazine. It is packed full mainly of simple construction projects and annual subs are very low. It is entirely run by volunteers with back issues of SPRAT available on a flash stick at a very reasonable sum. Well worth getting.
SeeΒ https://www.gqrp.com/sprat.htm .
Β Solar flux is 220 and the SSN 107 . A=19 and K=2.
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