l o n g w i r e . c o m

How to get the best signal, for the least $

N8KU — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 12:35:31 +0000

Here is the presentation, from the August 2011 meeting of our local club. We clear up a lot of myths regarding dipoles, SWR and tuning, and show you how to get a great signal on HF with very little effort!

where are all the hams?

N8KU — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 19:45:56 +0000

As I often explain to non-hams: the places we contact around the world are not easy or difficult based on how far away they are… the main thing is that there needs to be a ham in that country!

If you check this map, you can see the reality – we are trying to contact 324 “countries,” but most of the hams are actually living in about 5 of them: Japan, USA, England, Germany, Spain… not to mention Australia and New Zealand, which also benefit from “next-door” quality propagation to the US… then there’s Mexico, which really IS next door.

But there are “popular exceptions” – countries with no hams living there permanently, but where hams (and everyone else) love to go for vacations/DXpeditions: Malta, Canary Islands, Fiji, Luxembourg, Montserrat, and of course, the entire Caribbean (Jamaica, Bermuda, Barbados, Grenada, Aruba, Curacao etc.)

Also the “military exceptions” – countries with a military or scientific presence including some hams: Macedonia, Cyprus, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Easter Island, Galapagos Islands, Antarctica, and several West African countries.

I just thought the map was really cool, and gives an idea what we are up against…

The New DXers Handbook

N8KU — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 02:04:57 +0000

Thanks to the Utah DX Association, we have this excellent, FREE book for beginners and veterans alike – there is truly something for everyone. Chapters include:

Split Operation & How to Be Heard in a Pileup
DX Propagation Basics
The Art of QSLing

It also includes an azimuth chart, and an up-to-date country list.

Intro to HF and Shortwave

N8KU — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 03:01:19 +0000

FAQ for HF Radio

Don’t just talk with your friends across town – ham radio can give you the opportunity to talk with others worldwide. Here are answers to some of the questions that you may have.

What does “HF” mean?
What is “Shortwave?”
Who can I contact?
How far away can I reach?
Do I need a license?
How much does it cost?
How much room do I need for antennas? Do I need to put up a tower?
How will I understand people in other countries, do they speak English?
Do I need to learn Morse code?
How do I get started?

What does “HF” mean?
HF stands for “High Frequency,” specifically the range of 3 to 30 MHz – as opposed to “VHF” or “UHF,” which are in the hundreds of MHz. You can think of it as “from just above AM, to just below FM.”

HF is very popular with hams, who take advantage of direct, long-distance (often inter-continental) communications, and enjoy the “thrill factor” resulting from making contacts in variable conditions.

The “HF bands” are:

80 meters – 3.5-4 MHz – Best at night, with significant daytime signal absorption. Works best in winter due to atmospheric noise in summer. In the US and Canada the upper end of the sub-band from 3600-4000 kHz, permits use of single-sideband voice; often referred to as 75 meters.

60 meters – 5 MHz region – A relatively new allocation and only available in a small number of countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland. In most countries, the allocation is channelized and may require special application, and in the USA it is mandatory to operate in upper sideband mode.

40 meters – 7.0-7.3 MHz – Considered the most reliable all-season DX band. Popular for DX at night, 40 meters is also reliable for medium distance (1500KM) contacts during the day. Much of this band is shared with broadcasters, and in most countries only the bottom 100 kHz or 200 kHz are available to amateurs. However, due to the high cost of running high power commercial broadcasting facilities; decreased listener-ship and increasing competition from net based international broadcast services, many ‘short wave’ services are being shut down leaving the 40 meter band free of interference for amateur radio use.

30 meters – 10.1-10.15 MHz – a very narrow band, which is shared with non-amateur services. It is recommended that only Morse Code and data transmissions be used here, and in some countries amateur voice transmission is actually prohibited. Not released for amateur use in a small number of countries. Due to its location in the center of the shortwave spectrum, this band provides significant opportunities for long-distance communication at all points of the solar cycle. 30 meters is a WARC band. “WARC” bands are so called due to the special World Administrative Radio Conference allocation of these newer bands to amateur radio use. Amateur radio contests are not run on the WARC bands.

20 meters – 14.0-14.35 MHz – Considered the most popular DX band; usually most popular during daytime. QRP operators recognize 14.060 MHz as their primary calling frequency in that band. Users of the PSK31 data mode tend to congregate around 14.071 MHz. Analog SSTV activity is centered around 14.230 MHz.

17 meters – 18.068-18.168 MHz – Similar to 20m, but more sensitive to solar propagation minima and maxima. 17 meters is a WARC band.

15 meters – 21-21.45 MHz – Most useful during solar maximum, and generally a daytime band. Daytime sporadic-E propagation (1500 km) occasionally occurs on this band.

12 meters – 24.89-24.99 MHz – Mostly useful during daytime, but opens up for DX activity at night during solar maximum. 12 meters is one of the new WARC bands.

10 meters – 28-29.7 MHz – Best long distance (e.g., across oceans) activity is during solar maximum; during periods of moderate solar activity the best activity is found at low latitudes. The band offers useful short to medium range groundwave propagation, day or night. During the late spring and most of the summer, regardless of sunspot numbers, afternoon short band openings into small geographic areas of up to 1500 km occur due to Sporadic-E propagation. “Sporadic-E” is caused by areas of intense ionization in the E layer of the ionosphere. The causes of Sporadic-E are not fully understood, but these “clouds” of ionization can provide short term propagation from 17 meters all the way up to occasional 2 meter openings.

What is “Shortwave?”

Shortwave is synonymous with “HF,” referring to 3-30 MHz. However, in popular usage, the term tends to refer to Shortwave Broadcasting. It is the primary medium for applications such as marine communication, international broadcasting, and worldwide amateur radio activity, because it takes advantage of ionospheric skip propagation to send data around the world. The bands are conventionally stated in wavelength, measured in meters. Propagation behavior in the shortwave bands depends on the time of day, the season, and the level of solar activity. Most remaining English language broadcasters are located in the US, with a few major countries (China, Spain, Italy, Russia) continuing to offer short transmissions in English aimed at the US. The government-sponsored Voice of America also maintains transmitters around the world, directing some broadcasts in English to other countries. Shortwave broadcasts can best be compared to “National Public Radio” in the USA.

The Shortwave broadcast bands are:

90m band – 3200-3400 kHz- Mostly used locally in tropical regions, with limited long-distance reception at night.

75m band – 3900-4000 kHz- Mostly used in Eastern Hemisphere, not widely received in North and South America.

60m band – 4750-5060 kHz- Mostly used locally in tropical regions, though usable at night. Time stations use 5000 kHz.

49m band – 5900-6200 kHz- Good year-round night band; daytime reception is poor.

41m band – 7200-7450 kHz- Reception varies by region – reasonably good night reception, but few transmitters in this band are targeted to North America.

31m band – 9400-9900 kHz- Good year-round night band; seasonal during the day, with best reception in winter. Time stations are clustered around 10 MHz.

25m band – 11,600-12,100 kHz- Generally best during summer; said to be ideal during the period before and after sunset.

22m band – 13,570-13,870 kHz- Similar to the 19m band; best in summer.

19m band – 15,100-15,800 kHz- Day reception good, night reception variable, best during summer. Time stations such as WWV use 15 MHz.

16m band – 17,480-17,900 kHz- Day reception good, night reception varies seasonally, with summer being the best.

13m band – 21,450-21,850 kHz- Somewhat shaky day reception, very little night reception. Similar case to 11 metres, but long distance daytime broadcasting keeps this band active in the Asia-Pacific region.

11m band – 25,600-26,100 kHz- This band is seldom used. Day reception tends to be poor when the solar cycle is low, but potentially excellent when the solar cycle (generally indicated by number of sun spots) is high. Night reception is nonexistent except for local ground wave propagation. The Citizens’ Band allocation in most countries is within this band.

Who can I contact?

Amateur radio operators use their stations to make contacts with individuals, as well as participating in round table discussion groups or “rag chew sessions” on the air. Some join in regularly scheduled on-air meetings with other amateur radio operators, called “nets” (as in “networks”) which are moderated by a station referred to as “Net Control”. Nets can allow operators to learn procedures for emergencies, be an informal round table or be topical, covering specific interests shared by a group.

How far away can I reach?

It is very easy to contact other US states, as well as anywhere else in the world. There is actually a “minimum skip distance” – about 200 miles – because of the fact that the signal needs to “bounce” off the ionosphere, at a certain angle. This means that it is quite often easier to contact say, Australia – than it is to contact someone only 100 miles away.

Do I need a license?

All Amateur radio communications require a license. Three sequential levels of licensing exams (Technician Class, General Class and Amateur Extra Class) are currently offered, which allow operators who pass them access to larger portions of the Amateur Radio spectrum and more desirable call signs. Although the entry-level technician license grants limited HF radio privileges, those interested in long-distance communication usually obtain the General and Extra licenses.

How much does it cost?

Basic study materials for passing the FCC test and getting your initial license usually cost less than $40. There are also classes held by many local groups for people who want more interaction. If possible, taking part in one of these classes is the best way to go, but there’s even an online course you can take if your personal schedule is too hectic. Once you have your first license, most hams find it best to start with simple equipment and grow over time. It usually costs less than $300 to get your own first radio and start operating on HF. Many ham radio flea markets are held all over the country that sell good used equipment for even less.

How much room do I need for antennas?

Do I need to put up a tower?

The length of an HF dipole (the most popular type) antenna is directly related to the “wavelength” (or “meter band”) it needs to be used on. Usually, it is half the “meter band” length. Therefore, an antenna for 10 meters is usually about 5 meters, or 16 feet long. At the other end of the spectrum (160 meters) that jumps to 262 feet. Antennas should also be up in the air at least the same height as their length. However, there are MANY schemes for fitting HF antennas into limited space, such as an attic or rooftop – and many books are available on the subject. Many consider this to be one of the most enjoyable parts of the hobby.

How will I understand people in other countries, do they speak English?

Although English may be a “second language” for many hams around the world, there is a universal structure for radio contacts that allows a few common items, such as signal strength, location, and the operator’s names, to be exchanged. Nearly all hams, regardless of their location, will use English for this.

Also remember that when you are contacting a relatively “rare” country, there are likely to be MANY other hams waiting to make a contact with that station, so it helps to keep the information exchange brief.

Do I need to learn Morse code?

Demonstrating a proficiency in Morse code was for many years a requirement to obtain amateur licenses for the HF bands. Following changes in international regulations in 2003, countries are no longer required to demand proficiency. The FCC, for example, phased out this requirement for all license classes in 2007. However, more hams than ever are learning code, as it is very popular worldwide in radio contesting, DXing (contacting other countries,) and QRP (low power) operation.

How do I get started?

Many people start their involvement in amateur radio by finding a local club. We often provide information about licensing, local operating practices, and technical advice. Newcomers also often study independently by purchasing books or other materials, sometimes with the help of a mentor, teacher, or friend. Established amateurs who help newcomers are often referred to as “Elmers” within the ham community.

loading up

N8KU — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 13:58:20 +0000

By Richard Fisher KI6SN

reprinted from WorldRadio
Next time someone schools you on the Immutable Laws of Antennas, take note of what helicopter aviation pioneer Igor Sikorsky once said: “According to the laws of aerodynamics, the bumblebee can’t fly either, but the bumblebee doesn’t know anything about the laws of aerodynamics, so it goes ahead and flies anyway.” Oh, did Igor’s choppers fly.
What brought this to mind was a thread during the WRO Live Online Chat session on Super Bowl Sunday.
Richard Caruth, K3ZEZ, of Collingdale, Pennsylvania, asked if anyone had “ideas on what I can do for an HF (high frequency) antenna. I live in a townhouse.” Sadly, the borough he lives in “won’t let me put anything out front. There are electric wires across the back of my house.”
Turns out ’ZEZ is retired, on a limited income and “can’t buy anything expensive.” He doesn’t have an attic. “I currently have a half-wave 20-meter center-fed dipole out on my front lawn, about 18-feet high – not even as high as my house – but town fathers say I have to take it down . . . no eavesto run a wire.
“My house is only 16-by-35 feet,” he said, lamenting that “if I can (only) get someone to gain access to the roof.” He works VHF and UHF through a mag-mount mobile antenna on his room air conditioning unit. Does this sound familiar? Especially as condo and townhouse living grows in popularity? What to do?
First, don’t necessarily listen to the Antenna Gurus who may tell you, “It’ll never work.”
Back in the mid-1960s, my friend Randy Fisher, WA1ECC, had just gotten a Swan 350 transceiver. Technically, we’d have to wait until the next day to put up an antenna and get on the air. The impatience of teenagers, though, dictated otherwise.
His new rig had been set up in a room with a four-poster bed. Hummmm. We circled several turns of hook-up wire around the four posts, used the bedsprings as ground and proceeded to work up and down the east coast from Massachusetts on 75-meter phone. Just goes to show: You never know…
WRO chatters offered even more proof, and a lot of suggestions for K3ZEZ.
Gene Bartsch, WI7N, of Banks, Oregon, said he “loaded up the window screen in my dorm room when I was in college in 1967. It didn’t work real well, but I did make a few QSOs.”
“Try stringing wire around inside the condo and use a tuner against a counterpoise on the floor,” suggested Mike Herr, WA6ARA, of Ridgecrest, California. “I’ve used that in hotels with some success . . . I’ve been chatting with a guy on 60 meters in Tuscon (who) uses a screwdriver antennaon a tripod in his backyard. When he isn’t operating he puts it away. Good signal, too.”
To which Ray Lajoie, KB1LRL, from Fitchburg, Massachusetts added:

“You could always set up a screwdriver on your vehicle, then run coax into the shack. The townies can’t fight a mobile setup!”
’LRL said he’d “seen an article where this guy modified a vertical and mounted it through PVC,” as well, “and put it on the side of his building.”
WRO Looking West columnist Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, wrote from Saugus, California, that he’d once loaded up “wet spaghetti on 6 meters. Actually it kept drying out and Larry Levy, WA2INM (SK) and I had to keep spraying it with a water hose.” It was sometime around the summer of 1960. “We were always trying to bust ham radio myths.”
Scott Hernandez, KD5PCK, from Mandeville, Louisiana, said, “after Katrina, I visited a friend who loaded up his FEMA trailer.”
Ron Erickson, KØIC, of Essex, Iowa, said “a random wire – 67-foot minimum – will work if you have a counterpoise and/or some ground returns . . . I knew of someone who loaded up his outside TV antenna and mast. It seemed to work OK on 80 meters.”
“I think I saw an indoor dipole taped against a wall some time ago in an article,” chimed in Angel Santana-Diaz, WP3GW, of Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico. “But it depends on what band K3ZEZ wants to operate.”
With tongue in cheek, KD5PCK said he’d tried tuning up his kids, “but as usual, they were of little help.” “You should try grounding them” first, KB1LRL shot back. “Might work better. LOL.”

Looking Ahead (And Back) At Repeaters and VHF/UHF Relay Communications

Sat, 26 Feb 2011 04:13:04 +0000

By Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF [ reprinted from WorldRadio Online]

I’ll start out by saying in my humble opinion neither D-Star,APCO-25 nor any other digital voice system is going to rebuild the level of repeater use to what it’s been in years past. The revitalization – or increased use of repeaters – is a human problem, not a technical one.
The human problem is a declining interest in VHF / UHF relay communications.
The overall interest in relay communications seems to be on the decline for reasons I’ll explain in this month’s column. Some people are swift to blame the decline on the latest round of restructuring of the service. They are quick to report – without any basis in fact – that all the folks who used to be on repeaters moved to the high frequency spectrum (HF) using so-called paper upgrades. But the spectral loading on HF belies this.
If all the folks now gone from repeaters across our nation were now on HF, the bands would be far more crowded than they have ever been. The manufacturers and dealers would be dancing with joy and issuing daily press releases quoting massive sales increases in HF transceivers and antenna systems. Neither has happened.
I suspect that many of those who became hams to use repeaters as an inexpensive, family-based utility communications service have moved to cellular telephones. This is because cell service is now affordable to almost every income level.
In many cases, multiple smart phones that can text, access the Internet, stream music and the like are given away free of charge by the service provider just to get entire families to sign up.
With smart cellphones providing at least the aura of privacy – if not the reality – I suspect a lot of former ham radio families are now there. Other repeater-only hams simply tired of the hobby in general and have moved on to other interests outside amateur radio.
In theory, a significant number of new licensees reported in the FCC database (as of this writing approaching an all-time high near 700,000) should be replacing those dropping off repeaters. And they should be showing up on the HF bands, as well. Again, neither seems the case. Tune the bands – HF or VHF. You just do not hear them.
Maybe those who want to operate on HF are awaiting better propagation? The upper HF bands – where DX tends to be and where antenna sizes are reasonable – are pretty dead. At this moment I’m monitoring 15 meters with an antique, but mint Kenwood TS-520S and ground-mounted MFJ 9-foot base-loaded vertical. This area tends to be electrically quiet and a decade ago, with the same radio and antenna, all of the bands were loaded with activity. Now, I can count the number of stations on two hands. (To be sure the TS-520 had not gone dead, I switched to the FT-847. It heard about the same number of stations, albeit more clearly than on the TS-520S.) Nonetheless, activity on HF is not what one would expect with all the supposed rollover of former repeater folks to HF. So, where are they? They are not on our repeaters or on HF. Likely, gone from the hobby.
In my opinion, digitalization of the hobby is not going to bring them back. D-Star, APCO 25 (or whatever other digital ciphering that may be introduced to amateur radio) will impact VHF and UHF emergency communications more than any other facet of the hobby. While these communications concepts might initially attract a small number of people who feel the need to be on the so-called cutting edge of technology, the rest of the rank and file will not jump on the digital bandwagon until there is enough of an established user and relay system base to make the switchover worthwhile. Likely, that base will come from those involved in emergency communications work and who see digital voice and data as a way to greatly improve their communications through-put.
Once they establish the digital user base and draw significant numbers away, will there be any real impact on those still on FM? In other words, when the only way for Joe Ham to talk with his old buddy who has gone digital is to go digital himself, will Joe make the leap? For most reading this column, it’s not likely to happen in our lifetime.
I think D-Star will prevail over APCO 25 or any other form of digital cipher in eventually replacing FM for VHF / UHF relay communications. This is mainly because ICOM has a very smart marketing division that is being very aggressive in putting as many D-Star radios and repeaters as possible into the hands of users before any competing radio system is brought to market.
It’s good business because the company is creating an exclusive market for a well-thought-out, hi-tech communications system. And with no competing product line, who is there to challenge them?
On the other hand, for APCO-25 proponents, there are no off-the-shelf, made exclusively for ham radio transceivers available in the U.S. marketplace and none on the horizon. Maybe it is a “better system” as its proponents claim, but without a radio that can be purchased brand new at a price comparable to or lower than that of D-Star and with all the “bells and whistles” features of D-Star – in amateur radio, P-25 is an also ran. The Betamax vs. VHS war of the mid-1970s to mid-1980s proves my point.
Unlike the early days of FM when we hams were a bit more technically inclined and converted Motorola 40Ds and GE Pre-Progs to two-meter FM, most of today’s radio amateurs are not going to buy a surplus radio and convert it to ham use – even if the conversion is simply a software change.
While there will always be experimenters using APCO 25 and other ciphers, the reality is that Joe Ham will buy the advertised product when the time comes to make the change. He wants to plug it in and have it work flawlessly, right out of the box.
Manufacturers are going in lots of different directions. ICOM’s D-Star is in the U.S. marketplace; the rumored Kenwood D-Star compliant radio may exist in Japan but it is not here as yet. Instead, Kenwood has integrated Echolink into a part of its product line.
Yaseu (Vertex – Standard) has its WIRES II system while Alinco has proprietary digital voice. At least for now, ICOM-supplied D-Star appears to be the digital front runner and by default may become the world-wide digital standard on VHF and UHF for combined voice and data utility and emergency communications. While D-Star will increase the utility of any repeater adopting it, whether or not it leads to an overall increase in the number of users is anyone’s guess. Only time will tell.

HF Digital presentation

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 03:29:51 +0000

Here is my presentation from the Morrow County ARES meeting – in Windows format. If you want the whole, editable Linux version, send me a note.

Larry N8KU

Getting started with Olivia

Sun, 09 Jan 2011 15:05:13 +0000

My name is Gary L. Robinson and I acquired my first ham radio call sign, WN8GIG, in 1963 at the age of 13. It expired a year later. In that year I operated mostly on 80mtrs CW and 2mtrs AM and MCW. After a 9 year lapse I took the Novice test again and became WN8PMF. A year later I took the General class exam at the F.C.C. office in Detroit Michigan and was so excited about passing it that I forgot to include my current novice call sign on the appropriate form. Henceforth I was issued the new call of WB8ROL which I still have. I later passed the Advanced class in Detroit and in 1984 passed the Extra Class at a temporary F.C.C. administered examination site in a hotel north of Cincinnati, OH.

In the 1970′s-1980′s I operated mostly on 15mtrs SSB and CW though I tried all the HF bands to some extent. I also operated on 6, 2, and 1 1/4 mtrs on FM and SSB.

Other than 2mtrs and 1 1/4mtrs FM, I was mostly inactive in the 1990′s and up until 2003 at which time I decided to get back on the HF bands. The decision to use HF again was largely a result of reading an article on the internet about the PSK digital soundcard mode. It interested me greatly – especially since I did NOT have a tower, gain antennas, or even a good ham QTH. PSK sounded ideal for a low profile station and since I had became enamored by computers and programming it seemed like a natural thing to get into.

I purchased a rig at the 2003 Dayton Ohio hamfest and soon afterwards got an inexpensive interface. I operated on PSK quite a bit that year and also a little SSB. Most of my activity was on 40, 20, 17, and 15mtrs. By the middle part of 2004 I was somewhat discouraged with PSK31 operation. I could make quite a few contacts and even a fair amount of DX but about 95% of the QSO’s were very short – primarily signal report, Name, QTH, and QSL info and 73 bye bye. Almost all were not perfect copy and QRN, QSB, and QRM killed off quite a few completely. I also found myself having to repeat information 2 and 3 times to get it through to the other station.

Part of the reason for the short QSO’s was my mediocre antennas and lackluster QTH – but in addition to that most of the operators I talked to were not interested in actually chatting. They seemed content to use macros and just pass minimal info for a complete QSO. By early Fall, in 2007, I was mostly inactive again and a little disenchanted with digital. I had tried MFSK16 a few times and while it seemed to be a more robust mode than PSK31 there was little activity and it seemed very picky to tune in. Luckily my brother, WB8PMG, who was a MARS operator told me about Olivia mode and how some of the MARS ops were getting real interested in it for message handling under weak and adverse signal conditions.

I did some online research and found some, BUT NOT tons, of information on Olivia – and decided to give it a try when I saw that Ham Radio Deluxe’s DM780 program had added it to their list of supported modes. I made my first Olivia QSO on Sept. 21, 2007 with WB2HTO in Reading MA and made about 8 more QSO’s over the next 2 weeks. I was impressed by how well the copy was on all of those QSO’s even with weak signals and QSB. On December 12th 2007 I had my first “Ghost QSO” on Olivia with N5UNB in Winnsboro Texas. It really impressed me since I NEVER heard his signal during the entire QSO but had over 90% cpy. I also never saw it on the waterfall. I was, however, on a “standard” suggested Olivia frequency and that is how we were able connect for the QSO – that and the fact that I, luckily, was also keeping an eye on the text printout and not just relying on my ears and the waterfall. I dubbed it a “Ghost QSO” since I could NOT see it on the water fall and did NOT hear the signal which was a little eerie the first time it happened.

I’ve had many more of what I call “Ghost QSO” contacts since then and really started loving the mode for it’s ability to get solid copy though QRM, QRN, and QSB even with weak signals. I was disheartend, though, that many of the Olivia guys I talked to said the mode was dying out. I had finally found a mode that worked well for having REAL chats with a low profile station – even under poor conditions and it was dying out. I was actually depressed by that for several weeks but finally decided that IF it was going to go bye bye – it would NOT do so without me at least making an effort to spread the word about this great mode. And I literally decided to go on a crusade to let a lot of hams know what they were missing out on.

I gave myself 2 goals to accomplish -

1. Make an average of 30 Olivia QSO’s a month so others would hear Olivia signals on the band. I put out a lot of Auto-CQ’s with macros every day. Just listening for other activity does NOT cut the mustard on a mode that is not utilized that much.

2. Write an article and either get it published in QST and/or publish it myself online. I had never written an article before so that took me a little time and a lot of effort.

From Sept. 21, 2007 to this date (April 25th, 2010), I have had 1,633 QSO’s on Olivia digital mode – which includes 2000/32, 2000/16, 2000/8, 1000/32, 1000/16, 1000/8, 500/16, 500/8, 500/4, 250/8, 250/4, and 125/4 formats. That’s approximately 52 Olivia QSO’s a month on average. And I have had a ball doing it. Over 65% of those were ragchews – quite a few that were 1 hour on longer. Some that were over 2 hours and even a few over 3 hours. Over 60% of all the QSO’s were 100% copy and over 85% of the QSO’s were 90% or better copy. So far I have managed to work all 50 states and 42 countries.

I also wrote my article and was very surprised and elated that it was accepted and published by QST Magazine in their December 2008 issue. It appears to have stirred a lot of interest in Olivia and I am very gratified by that and grateful to the editors of QST for publishing it.

I am NOT an expert on anything and that includes Olivia. I am a “jack of many trades” but NOT the master of any – However, I hope this web site will inspire some of you to try Olivia and evaluate it for yourself. There are more than a few hams who do NOT like Olivia – most of which have seldom OR never used it. And some who have used it that just don’t like it. Some think it is too wide or too slow. Try it yourself and I am sure that most of you, especially those who like real QSO’s and not just contesting/DX type short exchanges, will see the value of Olivia digital mode AND feel the Magic!

Recently I have also “discovered” Contestia digital mode, a digital mode derived directly from Olivia, and I have been using it also. Contestia has been around since 2005 but just recently has been added to more digital programs and is more readily available now. It can best be described as “Olivia LITE” and additional information is available elsewhere on this site. It is already my 2nd favorite mode and has a little magic of it’s own too!

Put the Mad Scientist Back Into Ham Radio

KL7AJ — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 03:04:50 +0000

I finally figured it out!

I have, at last, identified the one glaring difference between my generation of Amateur Radio experimenters and the current batch of 2-meter obsessed appliance operators.

In OUR day, it was our job to CREATE emergencies. The new Emcom oriented hams are intent on “fixing” emergencies.

It’s all so clear now. And the solution to this sad, current state of affairs is on its way!

How many of our “Emcommers” ever stuck a screwdriver into a wall socket when they were toddlers? Precious few, I’d venture to bet.

How many ARES members in their youth set the carpet, the ceiling, or the family cat on fire while attempting to build a Tesla coil or Jacob’s Ladder in their bedroom? Nary a one, I dare say.

Far too much amateur radio “promotional” literature is wasted on trying to portray amateur radio as civilized, safe, or useful.

I say, let’s put the mad scientist back into ham radio where he belongs!

Take a look around you? How many people do you see of the younger generation? And I don’t mean the under 55 crowd.

We say we want young blood in the hobby, but do we mean it? Look at what we have to compete with…paintball, bungee jumping, body piercing, extreme skateboarding.

What do all these activities have in common?

They scare the tar out of you! That’s what!

When’s the last time you got a good scare out of amateur radio? Shucks, you have to really work at it to even get a tingle out of it these days. Something is very wrong with this picture.

On the exceedingly rare occasion when a youngster DOES deign to darken our doors, we generally drive him away with all kinds of excruciatingly boring things like club politics and repeater reports. Shucks, that stuff even bores the snot out of me, and I’m an old geezer!

I don’t know about any of you, but despite my decrepit old age, I lucidly remember what it was like to be a teenager. It was the smoke and flames and Moonbounce that attracted me to the ham radio in the first place. If I was a teenager investigating the hobby nowadays with its current emphasis on homeland security and similar useful-but-dull activities, I would have taken up the daring world of stamp collecting instead. At least there was the danger of getting a paper cut.

It’s obvious our “youth recruiting” efforts are not working, because we never see any of them show up more than once. Statistics across the board bear this out.

We’ve done a pretty good job of scaring kids out of ham radio. It’s about time we scared them back INTO it!

Ham radio needs to sizzle, crackle and bang!

Not to mention, SMELL! How many of this new generation of even know what Ozone smells like?

Come on people! Let’s have some action! We’ve put a lot of emphasis on responding to emergencies. We should at least devote an equal amount of time to generating them. Lots of hams get some sort of vicarious thrill following emergency responders to some disaster site. Once in a while, they should be coming to OUR doors!

My dad understood this, even though he wasn’t a ham. He was a helicopter design engineer in what is now Silicon Valley, in the very infancy of helicopter flight. He’d regularly come home with pieces of helicopter rotors that had embedded themselves in the walls of the hangar, or other such informative artifacts.

“Well, THAT one didn’t work so hot,” he’d calmly announce.

It was a scary business, even if you weren’t actually flying them yourself.

We radio amateurs DO have the capacity to compete with paintball and skateboards. If we have the will. We just need to get back to the scary stuff of radio. The fun stuff.

I want to leave this hobby with my eyebrows smoldering and my ears ringing.

I think our kids want to enter it the same way.

Just ask them. I have.

Ultimate Linux Box

larryd — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 00:21:12 +0000

Why HP Workstations are the best hardware for Linux

[Disclaimer: I now work for HP, however the opinions expressed here are my own, and do not reflect anything having to do with my employer.]

Speaking as a white-box builder from Day One (1987,) please understand that I still enjoy it – for recreational purposes only. However, IMHO, there has never been a good economic reason to build a “custom” system. It is no different than trying to build a car out of parts bought from Auto Zone, or the junkyard for that matter. You often end up with what appears to be a good value, if you consider that your time is worth nothing… and support is non-existent.

“Barebones” are a close call – they can be a good (but not great) value, and they do save time. However, you will not find really excellent hardware (see below) available as barebones. The biggest advantage of barebones is the “no OS” option. This saves you about $60 (street value of the pre-installed Windows.)

HP workstations (originally Compaq, of course) have a long history of solid performance. For over a decade, they have been the standard for engineers and other serious users worldwide. They were out there, running UNIX, long before Windows was even on the desktop. They exist outside the retail market, and avoid the trendy hardware enhancements that tend to come and go, as in, “designed for home users.” They are the BMW of desktop computers.

Basically, they are HP servers, minus some of the redundancy features, plus support for a serious graphics card. Or two.

Today, they are designed to run Linux from the ground up. Of course they also support Windows. The two distributions officially supported are RHEL and SLED. They seem to be more fully committed to Red Hat. I have had no trouble with Fedora, Debian or Ubuntu. Most graphics are NVidia, with a few AMD (ATI) cards available.

These are “real” desktop computers, made out of metal (which also helps with RFI.) All are extremely expandable. Even though they have the capacity for serious cooling (dual Opteron CPU’s, multiple graphics cards, and eight or more DIMMS tend to require that!) they are also extremely quiet.

Another feature that is becoming increasingly important: these are green machines. HP has been building energy-efficient boxes for quite some time, introducing +80% efficient power supplies, low-power RAM, and reliable (meaning it actually works) “sleep” functions. All newer HP workstations are designed to consume less than 1W on standby (the “EUP” standard.)

This was the reason I transitioned away from white boxes for the last time – there is simply no contest when it comes to silent operation. HP (and to give credit, the other “majors” such as Dell and IBM) have the best engineering for cooling, without sounding like vacuum cleaners. Thanks to strong construction, custom baffles and quality fans, newer HP workstations such as the Z200 run about 22 dB in normal operation – this is quieter than the average bedroom at night… and they do it without resorting to holes in the side of the case, or super-sized heat sinks. Some models do indeed use liquid cooling.

Newer models have RAID on the system board. I won’t get into the argument of software versus hardware RAID… I believe this is a moot point on workstations today, since SSD’s have eliminated most of the reason for RAID 1. This brings me to…

The single biggest mod you can do for your newly-acquired marvel of engineering is to update it to SSD. Add a 64GB boot drive, and mount the existing (spinning) HD as /home. You can go from zero to login in less than 10 seconds.

You may be fretting over how much these things cost. Sure, a well-equipped brand-new Z200 or Z400 will run into many thousands of $. However, these boxes are plentiful on the used markets. They depreciate FAST. This was the second factor for me – I can find pretty much anything I want on EBay, from reputable vendors who buy these up from large corporations as they come off lease. Again, just like the car market… the going price for a 3-year-old workstation with a couple of Xeon processors (gotta love that L2 cache!) and a few GB of RAM is around $500. Note on RAM – almost all (until recently) use ECC memory, so don’t count on filling it up with sticks out of your junk box… If you really need the latest thing, go for refurbished.

Check hp.com/workstations – you should be able to find anything you need to know there – price, performance specs, options and documentation, all the way down to illustrated parts references. Happy hunting!