On the Web : October 2006

If you enjoy reading 'On the Web', your ham radio club can publish this column on an exchange basis with SJRA. Contact Ted, , for the exchange details.		Our contributions to the South Jersey Radio Association club bulletin "Harmonics" includes lengthy Web addresses. As the URL's can be difficult or a nuisance to type into your Web browser, the postings here should make it easier to get to the Web sites SJRA members are interested in. Look for the posting at w2xq.com at the time "Harmonics" is scheduled for delivery in the south Jersey area. Questions, suggestions or contributions are always welcome.
		Solar X-rays  Geomagnetic Field  N 3 K L

Repeater News

K2AX on 145.15 (PL 91.5) in Winslow is the restaged K2BU repeater that was in Tabernacle. I do a Web page for K2AX: see w2xq.com/k2ax. The move was made to the Hammonton area, but a short tower limited coverage to the north and east. K2AX had an repeater antenna party on Saturday, September 30. Has the signal improved where you drive around? — E-mail Mark with your comments. — Ye Webbie arrived a bit late, getting misplaced in some of the back roads going cross country, but we arrived in time to take a few photos with our Canon 20D and Sigma 50-500 mm lens. Kevin Chew, a longtime non-ham friend of K2AX, was up on the tower, adding new sections and a Station Master. The ground crew included K2BU, N2SR, KC2TN, KC2HDR — and I know I missed a few who arrived early but had to leave before I got there.

And the next evening, October 1, the first DX net on K2AX had 9 check-ins with W2AF (Jack) as net control. Truth be known, I hadn't set a computer pop-up alarm to remind me of the net and I got engrossed in the work of producing the photo page. Though it is a DX net in name, topics range all over ham radio. Equipment, antennas, contesting, VHF-UHF operations... all are fair game. Check in weekly, Sundays at 7p on K2AX. PL is the same tone as the one for K2AA.

On the BEARS network, W3BXW (w3bxw.com), the seventh remote receiver on 449.200 was added to the network. This one is located about 1 mile north of the PA-DE state line, near I-95. A new section, explaining the voting network on 444.200 and 147.300, was added to the page. On these two repeater frequencies, it is better to set the transceiver power to low rather than high. Have a read to find out why.

The Willingboro 146.925 (PL 131.8) swap net on Thursday was finally put out of its misery in September. Net participation had dwindled to just one or two check-ins per session in the weeks prior to the net's termination. In my opinion, it seems that eBay and other Internet auction sites have taken its toll on hamfests and swap nets. Check the W2VTM Listing (www.qsl.net/w2vtm/hamfest.html), at the bottom of the page, for a current listing swap nets.

This Week in Amateur Radio

Just above the 40 meter amateur band there is an international shortwave broadcast band. Therein is WBCQ, in Maine, on 7415. The station is easy to listen to until the band goes long late in the evening. On Saturday afternoons, at 4 pm Eastern, there is an hour-long show called "This Week in Amateur Radio." Interesting material here, there are lots of voices and tight editing to make the show quite lively. On the show airing on WBCQ October 7, a "Ancient Amateur Archives" gave a fascination summary of the call licensing structure from the days of 1AW to date. It included dates of introducing the K, WA and WB calls, the evolution of the 1x2 Amateur Extra calls that changed in 1977, and the spark that ignited the vanity call structure in place today.

WBCQ streams audio from wbcq.com but you can also find the TWIAR show on its own Web site at www.twiar.org and there are several versions of the show to listen to. There are international repeater and streaming audio versions, in addition to the archives. Have a look. Is 4 pm inconvenient? Subscribe to the full 2-hour podcast or the 1-hour "international" version and the latest shows will automatically download to your fixed disk. You don't need an Apple iPod or other MP3 player to listen; just play the download with your player of choice. I recommend iTunes (www.apple.com/itunes) — a free download for Mac and Windows users — as iTunes handles the automatic scheduling and fetching of new broadcasts as they become available.

Quickies

Are you interested in HF propagation? If so and if you haven't read the ARRL Letter, Vol 25 No 40, yet, go look in your mail folder or get a copy from the ARRL Web site. A 160-meter beacon in Poldhu, Cornwall, England will be operating from December to February to explore how Marconi received a trans-Atlantic signal for the first time on December 12, 1901. The ARRL Letter says the interest of the beacon has reopened discussions on propagation on these high frequencies. On the Newfoundland end of the famous circuit, VO1NA has some interesting comments on whether or not the spark gap signal was ever heard. See www.ucs.mun.ca/~jcraig/marconi.html and have a listen.

Propagation at the other end of the other end of the medium wave band is getting a look too. The cessation of monitoring 500 kc worldwide has prompted amateur radio operators around the world to seek special temporary authorities for experimentation. See all the news at www.500kc.com.

Are you concerned about privacy in electronic communications? You already know that electronic mail and instant messages leave tracks all over the Internet. Old, even deleted, messages may be difficult to find, but it can be done. Now VaporStream is introducing a secure and private electronic communications system for confidential and recordless messaging. It is an e-mail and instant messenger hybrid, and works by disconnecting the message header from the body. No record, no trail. Interesting stuff. Watch the flash demo for information.

The weather is getting colder. Have you done your antenna work yet?

---
Newsfeed help - W2XQ - Keep up to date with breaking news, info as it happens!
Links open in a new browser window.
Revised 7 October 2006

Read the previous month's column or the next month's column.

This page's URL : http://w2xq.com/sjra/sjra_2006-10.html